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

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,
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