Title: Autograph Letter, signed, from Louis LaGrill to the Mayor of Brownsville, Texas regarding his imprisoned renegade son Author: LaGrill, L[ouis] Place: Memphis, Tenn. Publisher: Date: December 13, 1866 Description: 4 page Autograph Letter, signed. Approximately 8x4¾". Front of original envelope present. To the Mayor of Brownsville, Texas: “Yesterday, I received a copy of the “Rio Grande Courier” dated Oct. 23rd, 1866. It records the capture of a Band of Marauders under one Col. Young. In the list of Prisoners appears the name of Joseph LaGrill, my oldest Son, a lad only 16 years. This is the first intimation I had of his whereabouts. He was an 'Apprentice' on Board of the U.S. School Ship Sabine... was persuaded… to desert from the Sabine and he finally fell into the hands of one B.S. Osbon, who prevailed upon him… by glowing tales, to accompany him on a cruise in the Mexican Republican service, without my knowledge or consent. How he came to leave Osbon or how he found his way into the Band with which he was captured I know not...I make no doubt he has been led into it by misrepresentations and false promises…The Paper says he with others was lodged in your County Jail. If in your power, will you confer a favor on a sorrowing Mother and Father to inform us of his whereabouts and the circumstances which surround him? I desire if possible that he be returned to his Ship and trust that his past experience will be a good lesson to him.…This B.S. Osbon is an Uncle to my son by marriage…I cannot close this letter without warning the Citizens against him both in regard to his honesty and integrity. I hope, Sir, that my son’s extreme youth and want of experience will plead for him…I hope and trust that your Authorities will be prevailed upon to deal mercifully with him and return him to his ship…” The chaotic events along the Rio Grande border in the fall of 1866 was later described by the alleged villain of this letter, Captain Bradley S. Osbon, in his 1906 memoirs, Sailor of Fortune, written with Mark Twain’s good friend Albert Bigelow Paine. Hired by the government of Benito Juarez, then fighting the French-installed regime of Emperor Maximilian, to form a Mexican Naval force, Osbon was ordered to capture the city of Matamoras, across the river from Brownsville, held by a group of drunken Mexican “Revolutionists” who had broken from the Juarez Army. Osbon successfully launched his assault in a Mexican gunboat, supported by the mercenary troops of an 'American Corps' led by an ex-Confederate Colonel. Osbon makes no mention of a Colonel Young and his 'Marauders'. If they too were supporting Juarez, then it’s a mystery why young LaGrill was jailed on the American side of the River, since the US military was covertly supplying Osbon. As for the young man’s fate, there is no record of Joseph LaGrill surviving his tragic Texas adventures. Lot Amendments Condition: Creased; near fine. Item number: 222994
Title: Autograph Letter, signed, from Louis LaGrill to the Mayor of Brownsville, Texas regarding his imprisoned renegade son Author: LaGrill, L[ouis] Place: Memphis, Tenn. Publisher: Date: December 13, 1866 Description: 4 page Autograph Letter, signed. Approximately 8x4¾". Front of original envelope present. To the Mayor of Brownsville, Texas: “Yesterday, I received a copy of the “Rio Grande Courier” dated Oct. 23rd, 1866. It records the capture of a Band of Marauders under one Col. Young. In the list of Prisoners appears the name of Joseph LaGrill, my oldest Son, a lad only 16 years. This is the first intimation I had of his whereabouts. He was an 'Apprentice' on Board of the U.S. School Ship Sabine... was persuaded… to desert from the Sabine and he finally fell into the hands of one B.S. Osbon, who prevailed upon him… by glowing tales, to accompany him on a cruise in the Mexican Republican service, without my knowledge or consent. How he came to leave Osbon or how he found his way into the Band with which he was captured I know not...I make no doubt he has been led into it by misrepresentations and false promises…The Paper says he with others was lodged in your County Jail. If in your power, will you confer a favor on a sorrowing Mother and Father to inform us of his whereabouts and the circumstances which surround him? I desire if possible that he be returned to his Ship and trust that his past experience will be a good lesson to him.…This B.S. Osbon is an Uncle to my son by marriage…I cannot close this letter without warning the Citizens against him both in regard to his honesty and integrity. I hope, Sir, that my son’s extreme youth and want of experience will plead for him…I hope and trust that your Authorities will be prevailed upon to deal mercifully with him and return him to his ship…” The chaotic events along the Rio Grande border in the fall of 1866 was later described by the alleged villain of this letter, Captain Bradley S. Osbon, in his 1906 memoirs, Sailor of Fortune, written with Mark Twain’s good friend Albert Bigelow Paine. Hired by the government of Benito Juarez, then fighting the French-installed regime of Emperor Maximilian, to form a Mexican Naval force, Osbon was ordered to capture the city of Matamoras, across the river from Brownsville, held by a group of drunken Mexican “Revolutionists” who had broken from the Juarez Army. Osbon successfully launched his assault in a Mexican gunboat, supported by the mercenary troops of an 'American Corps' led by an ex-Confederate Colonel. Osbon makes no mention of a Colonel Young and his 'Marauders'. If they too were supporting Juarez, then it’s a mystery why young LaGrill was jailed on the American side of the River, since the US military was covertly supplying Osbon. As for the young man’s fate, there is no record of Joseph LaGrill surviving his tragic Texas adventures. Lot Amendments Condition: Creased; near fine. Item number: 222994
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
