| Show THE ARIZONA CAMELS times union along in the fifties when slavery won some ome portions of our country there resided in galves ton tex a man named thomai thom watson who was waa very wealthy and an ex dealer in negroes neg roea not atia fled i with the be traffic on shore he resolved revolved to send end a vessel himself hima elf to the coast of africa to obtain a fresh supply oi 01 the blacks and smuggle them into the country this was waa a risky place piece of business bual nees SO ae the MOD men of df war of all civi llred lazed nations were continually on the watch for the sl alavez slavers avers and the laws of the united states had long forbidden the importation impartation of any more ethiopian but watson was a man of many re sources ourore ou roee and he in company with ble hl wife a beautiful creole devised a scheme chome by which it was waa pout his ble to hoodwink the authorities they modelled modeller model led a bark of some tons ton burden which was practically one vessel within another aa other to look down the main hatch batch she appeared to be a shallow craft having no between deoh deck the keelson was about floreen feet between the deok oar carliles carl ices lines 82 and no one but the builders bui know knew that alia beneath this and between it and the true keelson was waa a dark hold bold about five lost feet deep to 0 o reach which a small mall hatchway was out well aft in the arun run P 1 the bark was loaded and to the west coast of africa ostensibly as an a legitimate trader but upon reaching the slave country the captain bargained for negroes neg roee all stalwart healthy follows fellows who were at once within the dark damp sub hold of the novel and nefarious vessel then the captain went in search of he claimed were wanted in america as beasts of burden but in reality these creatures were to be used as a blind to disguise the true errand of the craft fifteen of the animals were procured which with their feed and ana water comfortably filled the barks hold the passage across the atlantic was made without special incident and the slaver entered galveston with her valuable human cargo undisturbed the camels were publicly landed and for several days remained tethered upon the wharf but the poor blacks were stealthily smuggled ashore and at onoe once sent to northern texas where they were disposed of at great profit by mris mra watson who was now a widow this was in the winter of 67 58 the charming oreole creole w bone husband had been a united states senator prevailed upon the government to purchase the camels but not until the animals bad been taken to several places at one time they were in algiers opposite the city of now new orleans from here they were taken back to by the eidew heel steamer fashion when they became the property of the united states they were war transferred to mobile thence to brazos and put to work upon the fortifications then being built along the rio grande river while they were in calveston Ual veston the animals or rather one of them called lord nelson made themselves themi elves particularly obnoxious to many good citizens of the place one day a young american officer of a large ship then lying in pots port had to pass pan close by abe herd without warning lord nelson reached forth bis bin ungainly y shaped head and seized the unwary seaman by the arm armi Sinking his teeth so deep as to completely shatter the bone at this moment a constable named wm win who has since served as ae sheriff of calveston Oal veston rodia rode down the wharf and with the butt of bis big heavily loaded riding whip beat the animal until he was forced to release his ble victim but capt david H smith the injured carries the marks of his bis encounter with the came camel to this day and anyone any one visiting boston may call upon the retired sea master at 86 atlantic avenue and hear fron from his own lips a verification 1 I of the abe above facts facto capt smith brough suit against mrs mr watson for bis bin injuries and was wag awarded judgment in of 1500 which however we wai never paid for the own was waa hold held se ao dbrig in court that it was waa not decided until after the break ing out of at the late unpleasantness between the northern ard and southern states elates and captain home was in massachusetts was obliged to leave galveston at one time mrs watsons Wat aona wealth was wai enormous enor moue but re versee of fortune oame came all her property properly wars war swept from her she fled to the he island pt st thomas Thoma fl where she died in object abject poverty during the stirring times timea of the war the camels were allowed to shift for themselves them Belvet they hey wandered away over the plains of texas and into the wilds wilde of arizona the climate and food have agreed with them and hav ing been but little disturbed they have greatly increased in numbers num bere until now we find nearly four hundred of the progeny of the fifteen camels originally brought to galveston in the false bottomed bark built by an ex united states senator benator to convey slaves from africa to this country |
