xt77sq8qc57m https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt77sq8qc57m/data/mets.xml Walton, Augustus Q. 1855 books b92f396m96w22009 English U. P. James? : Cincinnati, Ohio Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Stewart, Virgil A. (Virgil Adam), b. 1809. Murrell, John A. Criminals --Southwest, Old. A history of the detection, conviction, life and designs of John A. Murel, the great western land pirate : together with his system of villany, and plan of exciting a Negro rebellion : also, a catalogue of the names of four hundred and fifty-five of the mystic clan fellows and followers, and a statement of their efforts for the destruction of Virgil A. Stewart, the young man who detected him : to which is added a biographical sketch of V. A. Stewart. text A history of the detection, conviction, life and designs of John A. Murel, the great western land pirate : together with his system of villany, and plan of exciting a Negro rebellion : also, a catalogue of the names of four hundred and fifty-five of the mystic clan fellows and followers, and a statement of their efforts for the destruction of Virgil A. Stewart, the young man who detected him : to which is added a biographical sketch of V. A. Stewart. 1855 2009 true xt77sq8qc57m section xt77sq8qc57m
PRICE

CENTS.

LIFE

AND A.

ADVENTURES IYIUREL,

JOHN

THE

GREAT

WESTERN

LAND PIRATE.

LIBRARY 9 N( ffSli^KENTUCI(V
CINCINNATI: PUBLISHED F OR T H E P U R C H A S E R .

PREFACE.

I s presenting the history of the great Western L and P irate, J >hn A . M o rel, and his followers, to the world, I have discharged the duty and trust committed to my care by my much esteemed y oung friend, Mr. V irgil A . S tewart; and fulfilled the promise which I made him at the time I took charge of his papers, documents and business, when it was thought he was o n his dying bed with the illness produced from a wound which was inflicted by the hand of an assassin. E v e n in this extremity of pain and misery, his greatest concern was, that his country should have his information on that subject. There is no country under the canopy of heaven, which has, i n any other age of the world, produced so formidable a banditti, so extensive in its operations and so scientific in its plans, as the North American L and P iracy, o f which J ohn A . Murel was the leader and master spirit who directed its operations against community ; but it was the w ill of heaven that this enemy o f the human family and destroyer of the lives and happiness of man, should be stopped in his fiendish and destructive career; and that he should be delivered into the iron grasp of the offended laws of his country, to satisfy the demands of bleeding justice. T h e marvellous circumstances attending his detection w ill be highly calculated to amuse and entertain the reader, while it shows the power and protection of our Creator to those who look to him for support and defence; and may be a warning to others who may be posting the road which leads to misery and degradation, and convince them of the final justice of their Creator, before their consciences are for ever steeled to his reproofs by progressive crimes, which must eventually end in the fato o f J ohn A . M urel. If any one individual should be reclaimed, whose c onscience has begun to be seared by transgression and crime, I w ill consider m y labor more than remunerated. It must be acknowledged that J ohn A . Murel has never beer, surpassed i n cold-blooded murders, by any whose names have been recorded on the pages o f history, and his other villanous feats have never been surpassed by any w ho have preceded him. H e may justly claim the honor of reducing villany to an organized system, and he may as justly claim the most important station among adepts in crimes and iniquity of the blackest dye. T h e extent o f the designs of J ohn A . Murel and his fellows are awful to reflect on. T h e blood, carnage, confusion and universal devastation which were meditated by that daring and presumptuous banditti against their country and fellow beings, without the least regard to age or sex. T h i s proves that their adamant hearts are cold to every emotion which swells in the bosom of humanity. B eings who can coolly and deliberately deprive an unoffending human being of his life, and mangle his body with as little emotion or feeling as if he was a b rute and what is still more awful to the imagination, to think of seeing whole cities wrapt in smoke and flames, and houses and human beings together swallowed up by q uirling sheets o f fire; and hear the desponding screams of the innocent sufferers while in the agonies of death, without being moved to compassion, or deterred from their awful purposes.

PREFACE.

A s to the names given in J ohn A . Murel's n r V i c catalogue, there is m person responsible but Murel himself, he being tht, p c s o n who gave them a his followers. T here is a large portion of this publication g i v t i l i J ohn A . Murel's owr language, some of which is quite obscene and presumptuously profane. T here is likewise the language of V irgil A . Stewart, given in many dii logues between himself and J ohn A . M u r e l ; and I would further r eirtr^ that I have given the language of M r , Stewart's own notes on many o. i < ions. A U G U S T U S Q. W A L T O r

INTRODUCTORY

REMARKS.

It has been a notorious fact, for a number of years past, that negroes and fine horses arc frequently missing from the farms of planters and the citizens o f the Mississippi valley, and never again heard of by the unfortunate owners. T hese occurrences in many parts of the southern and western countries are so frequent, that they have become a matter of the greatest concern to persona whoso capital is invested in property of that k ind, there being no security of its safety, as they do not know on what night their farms may be robbed of a part of their most valuable horses and negroes. T h e number of detections for offences of this k ind have been inconsiderable w hen compared with the great number of outrages which have been committed by a mysterious banditti, whose deep laid plans and well organized system of villany have heretofore evaded every effort of the law to bring its vicious and destroying members to justice. There have been many imaginary suppositions concerning the means which were employed by this mysterious banditti in effecting so much destruction and distress to community. O n the night of the 18th January, A . D . 1834, Parson J ohn H cnning and his son, of Madison county, in the state of Tennessee, lost two negro men from their farm; and it appears that Providence in the wise dispensation of his mercies to the slave-holding states, used the outrage committed on the property of Parson Henning as a blessing to community, in developing an organized system of villany, and exposing a piratical clan and detecting the leader and master spirit, who directed its operations against society. It was i n the investigation of this felony, that J ohn A . M urel, the great western land pirate, and his clan, were detected and their aivful deeds exposed, and their m ire awful plans and designs defeated.

HISTORY

OF JOHN

MUREL.

J O H N A . M U I E K L , the far-famed personage who, by reason of his distinguished acts of villany has acquired the title of the Western Land Pirate, was born in the State of Tennessee, and at a very tender age he acquired considerable fame for his s kill i n the performance of feats o f v illany. H i s notoriety in his native county had become a matter of considerable inconvenience to his designs, so he concluded to hunt a position better adapted to his profession. H e selected a home in the western district of Tennessee, in M adison county ; in this new country, where society was not much refined, M urel expected to enjoy the profits of his s kill and ingenuity in villany in an uninterrupted state ; but a rich and fertile country like the western district o f Tennessee, held out too many inducements to the industrious and enterprising world to remain long in a state of rudeness. Wealth and fashion have superseded the rough forerunner of the country, and the western district o f Tennessee can now afford ample materials for Murel and his mystic clan to work on, which are negroes and fine horses. T h e infamous character which followed him from his native county, and his ravages in the adjoining neighborhood, soon taught the citizens of that vicinity to abhor and dread h im. T h e frequent thefts which were committed in the adjoining counties and country, and the long trips and absence of Murel from home, w hich no person could account for, convinced the community of his guilt; t hough by his unparalleled s kill and management, he still evaded the laws o f his country ; and so paved the way to his acts of villany that the law w ould not affect him should he be detected. T he first grand detection of Murel which was satisfactory to the community i n the vicinity of his new home of the baseness of his character, was the case o f a M r . L o n g , of Madison county, state of Tennessee. It appeared that Murel had decoyed three of M r . Long's negro men from his possession, and had harbored them in a rough wood near his house for a considerable time. Mr. L o n g believed they had run away, and were harbored by some negro in the neighborhood: but at length the time was drawing near when M urel intended to remove them and convert them to his own use. One of the negroes had left some c lothing at home which he wanted, so he emerged from his lurking wood that Murel had placed him in, and ventured home for his clothing. The overseer happened to discover him, and took h i m ; and extorted from this fellow where his fellow servants were, and the designs of M urel. M r. Long gathered a company and went to the lurking wood, and surrounded his negroes, having the one he first took for a pilot. T h e negroes told M r. L o n g the time that Murel would come to feed them. Mr. L o n g instructed his slaves to ask Murel certain questions concerning his moving them, and then disposed his company around the thick wood so as to hear M urel's answers to the interrogations of the negroes. A t the time the negroes had said, Murel appeared in the wood with a basket of provisions on his arm. M r . Long, after hearing the questions answered by Murel, w hich he had instructed his slaves to ask, gave the signal for them to seize him, and hold him fast, which they did. W h e n Mr. Lung

HISTORY OP J O H N A. M U R E L ,

and his company advanced forward, M urel, with much plausibility, informed M r. L ong that he had found his black boys, and had been feeding them there so as to detain them until he could give him word where they were : but Mr. L o n g had heard his sentiments before in their purity. Murel was lodged ill p rison; but his friends enabled him to give bail, and many persons thought he would not appear on the day of trial, but Murel appeared. O n an investigation of the law against negro harboring, it was found to be a finable offence, and not (as was supposed by ninny persons) a penitentiary crime; and that it could not be brought under the penal code. Murel was fined several hundred dollars, and in case the amount could not be made out of his property, the decision of the court was, thst he should become M r . Long's slave for five years. M urel made an appeal to the supreme court, and took exceptions to the constitutionality of the law against negro harboring. Every person appeared astonished that Murel had escaped the penitentiary ; and on an investigation of the law he was about to come clear, and overset the law entirely against that offence. Murel and his friends appeared much elated and became quite insolent and daring. D uring the trial for the ollence against Mr. Long's property, all good men in the vicinity appeared to take some interest in the matter to get rid of so dangerous a characttr. A l l of these M urel singled out as victims of his vengeance. H e was not i n the habit of stealing in his immediate neighborhood before. H e worked at a distance; but now his revengeful nature was excited against many persons in his immediate neighborhood; among this number he had enrolled the good old Parson, J ohn H enning, and his Km, who on the night of the 18th of January, A . D . 1834, lost two negro men from their farm in Madison county, state of Tennessee. Circumstances convinced them their negroes were stolen so soon as they were missing, and tht same negroes were known ' to be in the habit of going to the house of Mure} before they were missing. T he movements of Murel were watched by persons appointed for that purpose. Parson Henning believed that if Murel wa& the thief, he would be likely to go where the negroes were as soon as suspicions against him had apparently subsided ; some time had elapsed, and all search for the negroes had ceased ; but there was still a strict watch over thn movements of M urel. M urel became very impatient to be off; but he was too keen, and had too many friends, not to discover that suspicion rested on him. T h e Parson determined that if he went off, he would try to know where he went to, if it was possible to follow his track. He thought that if he could not come up with his negroes, that he might get on the course that they were taken, so that he might follow them. The Parson's watch learned tbiw. Murel was going to start for Randolph, a little town on the Mississippi Aver. P arson H enning solicited a young friend of his, who was at his hou-.v on a visit, to accompany his son on the expedition of following M urel. T he Parson knew him to be of untiring perseverance, and well schooled in the disposition of m a n ; and possessed of an inordinate share of public spirit. The Parson in sisted on remunerating him for his trouble; but he refused to be remunerated for any services he might render on that occasion, but parted with the Par son, under the promise to do all in his power to reclaim his propcity. T h i s y oung man had lived in the neighborhood two years, not far from the P arson's, but had been gone from the state nine months. He had seen Murel once in his life to know him ; but he was not close to him, and cosld not have a very correct idea of his features. The young man stayed all nir.ht at a friend's house, not far from the Parson's, the night before he was to start with the Parson's son. They had agreed to meet i n Denmark, a little coun

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n y hamlet four miles from the Parson's, the next morning. The young man was prompt in his attendance, but young Henning failed to attend. H e waited for him several hours, and he still failed to come. The young man became impatient, and started on, believing his friend had taken sick, as he was complaining when he parted with him. H e had concluded to undertake the trip by himself. He left Denmark about ten o'clock, and proceeded towards E stanaula, a little hamlet on Hatchee river, seven miles from Denmark. T h e weather was very cold and the road much cut up with carriages, and then hard frozen and covered with sleet. It was bad traveling, and he got o n but slow. B otb man and beast were every where housed, and nothing seemed moving but himself. His meditations were not interrupted, on the lonely road from D enmark to Estanaula, by the appearance of a human being. T h e smoke that rose from a group of small cabins thinly scattered along a little island of high ground near Hatchee river, informed him that Estanaula was near at hand. There was nothing in this scene to inspire or animate. T h e smoke from the cabins had settled among the heavy timber of an extensive bottom in large black columns, and seemed to wrap all nature in deep m ourning. S uch a scene was calculated to impress the idea, that nature was weeping over the miseries of the irdiabitants of so desolate a spot. H e a rrived at the toll house and called the keeper to the door, and was i nquiring of h im i f Murel had passed, and whether his gates could be passed in the night without his knowledge; and while he was making his inquiries, the keeper turn _'d round, and observed, " Yonder comes M urel now ! " T h e young man turned r ound; but Murel was too near for him to reply. Murel rode up, paid his toll and passed on without any ceremony. The young man discovered that Murel did not know him. After Murel had passed by, the young man asked the keeper if he was certain that it was Murel that passed 1 T he keeper asserted that it was; that he knew him well. T h e young man paid his toll and started after hiirn M urel had not started at the time the Parson had learned he would, and the young man was astonished to find himself ahead of the man whom he thought he was following. He had passed Murel in Denmark. Murel had stopped at the house of one of his friends in that village; and was engaged in w riting a letter to young Henning. His friends had given him intimation that young Henning intended to follow after him. These friends were plenty, and many of them respectable, so Murel had the advantage ; but no person knew that this young friend of the Parson's was going, for he did not know it himself until late in the evening the day before he started. Mured wrote to young Henning that he had learned that he charged him with taking his negroes, and if it was true, he could whip him from the point of a dagger to the anchor of a ship, and made use of a variety of expressions highly charged with irony and sarcasm; and then concluded by saying, that if what he had heard was false, he wished him to receive his epistle as a friendly letter; and stated that he was going to Randolph on some private business, and desired y oung Henning to come and go with him and satisfy himself that he was not on any dishonest business. T h i s letter was immediately sent to H e n n i n g ; but Murel did not wait to see whether Henning would accept of his company or not, but pushed on ; in fact he did not wish his company, but this was an artifice to prevent his following. While the young man was in D enmark there was not much passing. It was extremely cold, and all was closely housed and around the fires, so he passed out of the place without seeing M urel, and traveled just before him all the way from Denmark to E s tanaula.

HISTORY O F JOHN

A. MUREL,

After Murel had passed the young man at the toll-house there was no difficulty in getting on his track. The young man followed on behind Murel a short distance; but it struck him that he would venture a trick on him, and see i f he could not impose himself as a horse hunter, and travel i n company with h im so he rode on and overtook him. H e spoke very politely to M u rel, and Murel returned the civility i n equal address, but glanced a severe look o f inquiry and scrutiny at him as his head turned away, when the following dialogue ensued : Stranger. W e have disagreeable traveling, s ir. Murel. E xtremely so, sir. Stranger. T h e traveling and m y business correspond very much. Murel. P ray, sir, what can be y our business, that you should compare it to traveling on such a road as this '! Stranger. Horse hunting, sir. Murel, Y es, yes, disagreeable indeed; your comparison is not a bad one. W here did your horse stray from, sir ? Stranger. Yallobusha river, i n the C hoctaw Purchase. Murel. W here is he a iming for, sir? Stranger. I do not k now; I am told that he was owned by a man in this country somewhere ; but it is an uncertain business; and a cross and pile chance. [ He had been requested by a friend i n the Purchase to inquire for a certain nag, as he was going to Tennessee, so he made it the description.] Murel. H ow far down w ill y ou go ? Stranger. I do not k now. T h e roads are so very bad, and the weather so excessively cold, that I am very tired of such an uncertain business, and I am quite lonesome traveling by myself. How far down will y ou go on this road 1 Murel. A bout eighteen miles, to the house of a f riend; I am anxious to get there to-night, but it will be very late traveling in such cold weather. S ir, perhaps your horse is stolen. Stranger. N o , I guess n ot; though I had much rather some good fellow had stolen him than for him to be straying. [Here the y oung stranger discovered that Murel was much pleased at the expression which had just fallen, apparently inadvertently, from his lips.] Murel. S ir, are you acquainted i n this part of the country 1 Stranger. I am a stranger, sir. Jlliirel. W here arc you from, sir? Stranger. I was born in the state of G eorgia, and raised there; but I have moved to the Choctaw nation, and have been there about nine or ten months. Murel, H ow do y ou like that country, sir ? Stranger, Very well, sir. Murel. Is there much stealing going on i n that country I Stranger. N o , not m uch, considering we are pretty much savages and forerunners. Y ou know how all new countries are generally first settled, sir? Murel, C ertainly, sir, I am well acquainted with these things. H ere the young stranger discovered that Murel became m uch more free and open i n his manners, and that i nquiring look all disappeared ; for he did not know but what he was some person that would be acquainted with his character; but when he learned that the stranger was from Georgia, and that he had been in the Choctaw nation only nine or ten months, he knew that he could know nothing of h im or his character; and the young man had nothing to do now but dissemble well, to remain i n M urel's company without being suspected, and Murel having said that he was going to the house of a

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friend, made t],e young stranger much more anxious to continue with h i m ; tor he was in hopes to meet w ith the good old Parson's negroes at this house. M urel and the stranger .traveled on, conversing quite free, for several miles, and had exchanged ideas on several matters; the stranger endeavoring to learn the bent of the mind and disposition of the master spirit that he had to deal with. T h e conversation turned again on stealing, which was Murel's favorite subject; a topic on which he could dwell with the utmost pleasure and satisfaction, as in the following dialogue. Murel. T h i s country is about to be completely overrun by a company of r ogues; and they are so strong that there can be nothing done with them. T hey steal from whom they please ; and if the person they lake from accuses t bem, they jump on more of his property ; and they find that the best p lan is to be friendly with them. There are two young men who moved down from middle Tennessee to Madison county, keen shrewd fellows. The eldest brother is one of the d dest best judges of law that there is in the United States. H e directs the operation of the banditti; and he so paves the way to all his offences that the law cannot reach him. Stranger. W ell, sir, if they have sense enough to evade the laws of their c ountry, which are made by the wisest men of the nation, let them do it. It is no harm. It is just as honorable for them to gain property by their superior powers, ns it is for a long-faced hypocrite to take the advantage of the necessities of his fellow-beings. W e are placed here, and we must act for ourselves, or we feel the c hilling blasts of charity's cold region; and we feel worse than that, we feel the power of opulent wealth, and the sneer of pompous show; and, sir, what is it that constitutes character, popularity and power in the United States i Sir, it is property ; strip a man of his property i n this country, and he is a ruined man indeed you see his friends forsake h i m ; and he may have been raised in the highest circles of society, yet he is neglected and treated with contempt. Sir, my doctrine is, let the hardest fend off. Murel. Y o u have expressed my sentiments and feelings better than what I could myself; and I am happy to fall in with company possessed of p rinciples so congenial with my own; I have no doubt but these two brothers are as honorable among their associates and clan as any men on earth, but perfect devils to their enemies; they are undaunted spirits, and can never be found when they are not armed like men of war. T h e citizens of Madison have once attempted to arrest the eldest brother for having three of a certain M r . L ong's negroes in liis possession, and they carried near a whole captain's company for a guard; and if they had not taken a cowardly advantage of h im, he would have backed them all though he cared nothing for the cliarge. H e knew that they could not hurt him ; but they took him prisoner, and carried him before a d d old jackass of a squire, who neither knew nor cared for the law or his duty; and would have committed him against positive proof; and there is no doubt but L o n g perjured himself in endeavor i ng to convict him. T h e people thought he was good for the penitentiary but he laughed at them, and told them that they were all fools: that it wni only a finable offence to make the worst of it. H e had plenty of friends tc bail h im. On the day of the trial the house was thronged to hear the trial H e had employed the most eminent lawyer at the bar, Andrew L . M a r t i n , and d uring the trial he took his lawyer to one side and cursed him, and told h im d n h im he paid him his money to work for him, and that he could not get him to work the way he wanted him. H e showed M artin thn law, and got him in the way ; and he gave tbem h ell. H e is a flowery fellow.

HISTORY OF JOHN A. MUREL,

but he has not dived into the quirks of the law like his client. T h e y mulct ed him with a fine and the costs of suit; and in case his property would not make the amount, he was to become Long's slave for five years. When the verdict was read he winked at L ong and called him master B illy. H e took an appeal to the Supreme Court, and there is no doubt of his getting rid of the whole scrape at the May term, in spite of all the prejudice that is against h im. T hough there has been bad consequences attending the matter, one of his strongest friends has suffered in consequence of suspicion of being his friend. H e was the deputy-sheriff, and as line a fellow as ever lived. After they found that they could do nothing with him at law, they formed a company which they called Captain Slick's company, and advertized for all honest men to meet at a certain school house in the neighborhood on a certain d ay. They met and bound themselves in certain matters ; made rules and laws for the government of the company : and in this company he had some o f the strongest friends, who would inform him of their movements in the shortest time. He got several guns, and made an immense number of cartridges, and prepared his house and buildings with port-holes ready for an engagement. On the day they published that they would be there to slick, him he had eighteen friends who came to his assistance. H e disposed of tbem in different buildings, so as to command a fair fire to rake the door of his dwelling; but they got a hint that it would be a dangerous undertaking, and they gave it out as a bad j o b ; and a fine thing for them; for if they had gone be would have been apt to have cut them all off, situated as he was; and the law would have protected him in the course he intended to pursue. B ut all who had any thing to do with it have got d d sick of it, and are trying to make fair weather with him. Not that they love him, but because they dread him as they do the very devil himself; and well they may, for he has sworn vengeance against some, and he w ill comply. He is a fellow of such smooth and genteel manners that he is very imposing; and many of the more credulous part of community are induced to believe that he is persecuted by L ong, when he only intended friendship and kindness in catching his negroes for him. H e well krrows how to excite the sympathy of the human heart, and turn things to his advantage. He rarely fails to captivate the feelings of those whom he undertakes; and what is more astonishing, he has succeeded in many instances where the strongest prejudice has existed; and where his revenge has been excited he never fails to effect either the destruction of their property or character, and frequently both. H e has frequently been comjielled to remove prejudices of the strongest k ind for the purpose of getting a man into his power whom he wishes to destroy. In a matter of this kirrd he has never-tiring perseverance; and many have become wise when it was too late, and sunk under the influence of his great managing powers. T here is an old mcthodist preacher and his son who have had two very fine negro men stolen a short time back ; and this old Parson Henning and his son were officious in procuring counsel and expressing their sentiments about him and his brother, and saying what the country ought to do with them, and all such stuff as this; and I have no doubt but those two young men have got them. They live within about two miles of the old preacher, and he and his son are as afraid of those two young men as if they were two ravenous beasts that were turned loose i n the forest; if they were sure of finding their negroes by following them off, they would sooner lose their property than to fall into the hands of those dreaded men. In fact, they have managed with such s kill, that they have become a complete terror to the country; and when property is missing in that country, and there is any suspicion that those two

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2-c

young, men are concerned with it, all is given up as lost, and it is considered time and money spent in vain to follow them. Stranger. T hese two young men must be men of the first order of talents and acquirements, or they could never sustain themselves among people, and a community where there are such strong prejudices against them. A n d that elder brother whom you speak of must be endowed with some, supernatural power, or an extraordinary capacity and practical experience; for the erasing prejudices of a stubborn nature are considered to be the hardest change to effect in the human mind. I would warrant them to be devoted friend^ and noble spirits in the sphere they move, and this old preacher you speak of is no more, even if he is what he pretends to be, and that you know we can doubt as we please, or rather as it best suits our convenience. H e was their enemy, and treated them as such when they had not been hostile to him, and they are his enemies now, for cause; and if they are what my imagination has made them, he will have cause to repent in sackcloth and ashes for his sins. But, sir, to my doctrine; let the hardest fend off. They are enemies, and let them lock horns. What age is that wondrous man you speak of 1 Murel. H e is about thirty I suppose, and his brother just grown u p ; and as smart a fellow as the elder brother, but not half the experience. I w ill tell y ou of one of his routes on a speculation a few months past, and you can judge for yourself whether he is possessed of talents or not. There was a negro man by the name of Sam, that had been sold out of the neighborhood of those two young men to a man by the name of Eason, near Florence, A l abama. T h e elder brother was passing that way on one of his scouts, and h appening to see Sam, inquired of him how he liked his new home and master? " H e is hell 1" said Sam. " W e l l , " said he, " S a m , you know me, and y ou know how to leave the rascal; run away and get back into your old range, and all things are safe." It was not long until S am was at his house. H e harbored him u ntil E ason advertized him as a runaway, and offered a reward for h i m ; that was what he wanted to see. H e procured a copy of the advertisement, and put it and the negro into the hands of his brother and a fellow by the name of F orsyth, and told them to push and make hay while the sun shines. They were gone about seven weeks, and his brother returned w ith fourteen hundred dollars in cash, seven hundred dollars worth o f ready made clothing, and a draft on Thomas H udnul, of Madison county, state of Mississippi, for seven hundred dollars, which is as good as gold dust; though he has to sue for the draft, but the recovery is sure for they can never get the negro, and without him they can never prove that he was Eason's negro, and will recover the amount of the draft in spite of h ell. H udnul became suspicious that they got the negro egain, and wrote on to the house w hich the draft wa