● ● ● write two toasts for a Democratic dinner, one denouncing Whiggery, the other praising Democracy.
Meanwhile, all was not going well with Glover’s business. He had put practically all his money into building supplies for a prospective cathedral in Haiti, undoubtedly the largest contract he had yet received, but there were delays that kept him in Wilmington. Moreover, he could not have been very happy about the prospect of taking his bride to such a troubled spot. By 1844 the revolution of the preceding year had been succeeded by new revolts and the island was in a ferment. The Wilmington newspapers of 1843–44 were full of alarming tales of Haitian massacre and terror.
It was reassuring to read on June 12 that “Captain Wescott of the brig Elizabeth . . . reports that when he sailed, May 22d, the island was gradually recovering its tranquility.”155 But there must still have been misgivings, and a poem by Mrs. Glover entitled “Written in Wilmington N.C. when expecting to leave for the West Indies” shows that now she felt she was really leaving her family and the “Home of my heart New England’s shore.”156
Suddenly two calamities fell. The building supplies in which George had invested his money were lost by fire or theft,157 and Glover himself came down with yellow fever.158 Stunned with horror, Mrs. Glover sat ● ● ●
155 “From Hayti,” Wilmington Chronicle, 12 June 1844, p. 2.
156 [Mary Baker, entry c. 1844, “Written in Wilmington N.C. when expecting to leave for the West Indies,” poem, A09002, pp. 45– 48, MBEL.]
157 The story accepted by Bates-Dittemore and other biographers is that the supplies were stolen from the wharf by one of the gangs of pirates or robbers who operated on a dramatically large scale up and down the coast. [Bates and Dittemore, Truth and Tradition, p. 36.] In her later years Mrs. Eddy could not remember whether the material was lost by theft or fire. The Wilmington Chronicle for April 24, 1844, reports a large loss of lumber and building materials by a fire on the wharf; it states that the material was not insured and adds, “A considerable part of the loss falls upon persons abroad, on whose account naval stores had been purchased” (p. 2). This would fit in with the Haiti cathedral project; so it is possible that Glover’s loss may have come from fire rather than theft.
158 The contemporary accounts all describe the disease as “bilious fever.” Mrs. Eddy’s explanation was that the authorities wished to cover up the fact that the dreaded yellow fever had appeared [see Eddy, Miscellany, p. 335]. The daughter of Dr. Repiton, chaplain of St. John’s Lodge, supported the claim that Glover had died from yellow fever (Mrs. Robert W. Lamb, “Biographical sketch of A. Paul Repiton,” 9 June 1920, 1920.026.001, LMC), as did Harriet Brown Huntington (see p. 95, note 148, also Elizabeth Earl Jones, “Mrs. Eddy in North Carolina and Memoirs,” c. 1938, Reminiscence, p. 48, MBEL). An item in the Wilmington Chronicle, September 25, 1844, began, “We are assured that reports of unusual sickness in Wilmington are in circulation” (p. 2), and sought to reassure the public. If a few isolated cases of yellow fever appeared, it is conceivable that the authorities might have wanted to keep the matter quiet until it became clear whether the disease was likely to reach epidemic proportions.