The Romantic Life of Thomas Trenor [pp. 130-136]

Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 32, Issue 188

THE ROMANTIC LIFE OF THOMAS TRENOR Mr. Trenor, whose courageous and faithful wife had nobly joined her husband in his captivity, and who left in order to make room for the apparently dying youth in the apartments. His health soon improved, and Mr. Trenor then planned the sick man's escape. He told him to sham more illness than he felt, and hinted gravely to the doctor that the patient thought poison was being given to him, in place of physic. The doctor, justly enraged, stopped his daily visits, and was thus got rid of. Mr. Trenor's brother brought a long silken ladder into the prison, round his body. One evening, at a suitable moment, this was thrown over the wall, fortytwo feet high, two friends on the outside made it secure, and Corbett, when the prisoners were about to be locked up, secreted himself in the yard. Trenor saw him mount the ladder, evade the sentinel on top of the wall, and pass over, the night being stormy, the guards were not on the alert. From Ireland he reached France in safety, Trenor having loaned him one hundred guineas for his expenses, and the fleeing patriot lived to become a general in the French army. To prevent suspicion and a search, a sham figure was laid on the bed, and it was a fortnight before Corbett was missed by his jailer. Majors Sirr and Swan then came down to Kilmainham with a guard, and an inquiry took place. Mr. Trenor protested that he knew nothing of Corbett's escape, but had it not been for the influence exerted by a relative of Mrs. Trenor, he would have been sent in chains to the lowest dungeon. These last incidents bring to a close the narrative of his personal adventures in his native land. It is a tale that throws additional light on the history of the soul-stirring period in which his country last struggled to preserve the rank of an independent nation. Other patriotic efforts have been made since then in the same direction, but the strong hand of the British government has destroyed each attempt before it could be carried to any pronounced demonstration. After Mr. Trenor's release from prison, he took his family, consisting of his devoted wife and two little boys, four and six years old, to Portugal. But the strange incidents of his life did not end when his prison doors were opened to set him free. The ship on which he sailed was attacked by pirates, who at that time infested both the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea. The passengers, in order to save, if possible, their valuables from the marauders, threw them down the well-hole of the ship, the frightened children looking on open-eyed as this was being done. Soon an armed crew from the pirate came alongside, climbed to the deck of the vessel, and stationing a guard there, proceeded to search the ship. They could find but little of value, and on returning to the deck expressed their disappointment in no measured terms, until the deck guard informed them that he had made friends with the children on board (Mr. Trenor's), and one of them, the four-year-old chap, on being asked if he knew where the silver was hidden, replied, "Yes, I know; down there," pointing to the well. A search was again instituted, and to the grief of the passengers, the hidden treasures were all carried away by the pirates. This was the last adventure encountered by Mr. Trenor. He finally reached America in safety with his family, where with renewed energy and vigor he again engaged in active commercial pursuits; but his heart was in his native land, and the iron of her woes had entered into his soul; he never could refer to Ireland and her wrongs without bitter feelings of regret at the failure of the Society of United Irishmen to restore her freedom to their dearly beloved native land. On settling in America, Mr. Trenor was for seventeen years an extensive manufacturer of iron in Bennington, Vermont, where his name is still well known. His iron works gave employment to about one hundred and fifty men. But the vacillating tariff legislation of Congress prevented his ultimate success. Disposing of his iron works, he went into farming near Cooperstown, New York, and afterward entered into a general mercantile and commission business in Lansingburgh. He was a steadfast supporter of De Witt Clinton, one of the most eminent of New York's distinguished men, and an earnest friendship grew up between them. One of his sons, Eustace Trenor, was sent as a cadet to West Point through Mr. Clinton's influence. Eustace was graduated in 1822, served in the Florida war, and at his death, 135

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The Romantic Life of Thomas Trenor [pp. 130-136]
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McAllster, A. H. Trenor
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Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 32, Issue 188

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