Left Montgomery in a
crowded train of cars; when we reached the coal station found a suspicious
personage, of whom the guard took charge; he had no papers and said he was a
substitute for a nephew of Dr. Green, of Fort Valley, and that his papers were
in possession of a squad who had left him at Montgomery, he having some other
friends there, and becoming too convivial to leave. He said he had paid a
policeman one hundred dollars to let him out and then walked to the coal
station. I wrote a letter for him to Dr. Green, explaining the circumstance
and asking his assistance. This little affair gave the curious some excitement.
About the time I
reached West Point a gentleman named J. J. Thrasher, of Atlanta, introduced
himself and made inquiries about Mrs. Nelson, wife of Col. Allison Nelson, or
"Mary," as he affectionately termed her. He seemed to know all about
the family and gave me their history and said their father, Mr. Green, was one
of his best friends. He also asked after Mr. Knight; spoke very highly of him
and said that his father, his uncles and aunts, Mr. and Mrs. Mangum and Avery,
had all died within the last three months. I gradually became sociable enough
with Mr. Thrasher and his daughter to enjoy their lunch very much, the first
delicacies of the kind that I have seen since I left Texas.
Soon afterwards a
very kind old gentleman named John A. Broughton asked me to take a seat by him,
and informed me that he had once been to Texas and farmed in Fayette county,
but concluded to return. He is about the third man I have met who was ever able
to get away from Texas after being once fixed there. He is, however, worth a million
of dollars and has only two children. He offered me money and divided his lunch
with me. I parted with him at Madison about 12 o'clock at night.
The cars being very
much crowded, I offered a neat looking person a seat by me. He seemed to be
very communicative, and gave me a full history of his experiments in distilling,
and of his daughter's progress at Northern schools, which he greatly preferred
to Southern. He told me his name was ———, and that he was a first cousin of
Judge ———, of —— in Texas, whom I knew very well. He gave me a very minute
account of the circumstances under which the Judge left Georgia. It amounted in
substance to this: The Judge took part and assisted an editor in writing a very
scurrilous article, commenting on the conduct of a state senator, Mr. ———.
The senator was
offended and was about to call the editor to account for the article, when the
editor shot and killed him, and Judge ——— left because he feared that his
testimony would convict his friend. My informant added further that it was
thought by some that the trial would develop facts which might show Judge to be
accessory to the killing, etc. This entire circumstance, of which I had heard
vague and indefinite rumors in Texas, was related to me voluntarily, without a
hint on my part that I had ever heard of it before, and without a question to
draw him out particularly on the subject. He seemed to be very candid and
loquacious on all subjects, and gave me a very minute history of his own
domestic affairs.
SOURCE: John Camden
West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a
Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 37-9
