The Journey to Delphos Read online

  THE JOURNEY TO DELPHOS

  KOPP CHRONICLES

  By Gregory Kopp

  Copyright © 2017 Gregory Kopp

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:9781520717432

  BY GREGORY KOPP

  KOPP CHRONICLES

  AN IMMIGRANT AMERICAN (English edition)

  UN INMIGRANTE AMERICANO (Spanish edition)

  EIN IMMIGRANT AMERIKANER (German edition)

  UN IMMIGRANT AMÉRICAIN (French edition)

  A TRACE OF ROYALTY (English edition)

  EINE SPUR VON KÖNIGSHAUS (German edition)

  UN RASTRO DE LA REALEZA (Spanish edition)

  UNE TRACE DE LA ROYAUTÉ (French edition)

  This book is dedicated to my two sons and their families who also experienced a journey to their new homes.

  Cover Images courtesy of https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Charles-François Daubigny - Harvest - Google Art Project.jpg

  AN IMMIGRANT AMERICAN

  A TRACE OF ROYALTY

  THE JOURNEY TO DELPHOS

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Afterword

  Appendix One – Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie in 19th Century Paris

  Appendix Two – Antebellum New Orleans, Louisiana

  Appendix Three – The Western Reserve and Cleveland, Ohio

  Appendix Four – Cincinnati, Ohio, an American boomtown

  Chapter One

  Spring, 1853. On the outskirts of Karlsruhe, the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Baden.

  He was running as fast as he could through the clearing towards the woods. He heard a shot ring out. A Prussian officer on horseback was galloping behind and gaining on him. He began to take off parts of his uniform, dropping his rifle, then his coat, the vest and finally the sword and belt. He tossed them aside and ran faster. He hoped his legs would hold out until he reached the bramble bushes up ahead. He hoped the thorns on the bushes would stop the officer’s horse.

  The Prussian officer was holding his sword as he spurred his horse forward shouting “Halt, come back here, you deserter!”

  He ignored him and ran faster. Finally, he reached a small break in the bramble bushes at the edge of the woods and dove head first into a hole in the ground left by a farmer. He crawled quickly on his belly through the bushes, scratching himself on the thorns, to another small hole and covered himself with dried leaves and tried to quiet his labored breathing.

  The Prussian officer’s horse suddenly reared up its front legs as it reached the thorn bushes and the officer grabbed the reins more tightly to avoid being thrown headfirst onto the ground. He cursed loudly and walked his horse back and forth around the edge of the clearing and stuck his sword into the bushes looking for an opening. There was no movement and he soon grew tired. Slowly, he turned his horse and headed back to camp. Meanwhile, another group of Prussian soldiers came galloping up with swords raised.

  “Did you catch him?” The lead soldier on horseback cried out. The Prussian officer shook his head and pointed at the bushes. The other soldiers started to swing their swords at the bushes, but again with no result. “Come on, let’s go, and leave him to the wolves!” The Prussian officer cried. The other soldiers gathered their reins and turned their horses back towards camp.

  Chapter Two

  The runaway soldier’s name was Johannes. After the 1849 Baden revolution collapsed, he was impressed into the Prussian army because of his previous military experience gained in the Grand Duke’s army.

  Earlier that day, he was given his orders from the Prussian officer to evict any of the remaining revolutionaries out of their homes in the small village outside the capital city of Karlsruhe. Good loyal Prussian soldiers and their families would then move into these vacated homes after the former residents were evicted. He was becoming more and more disgusted as whole families were being uprooted and or killed by the Prussian soldiers when they refused to leave. He knew it was only a matter of time before it was discovered that he harbored sympathy for those citizens that marched and fought with him in the revolution. Bounties were being awarded to anyone who could point out a Baden revolution sympathizer.

  The Prussian officer ordered him to remove the woman and her children from the first house they encountered as they arrived in the village. He banged on the front door and ordered the occupants to leave as he had done a hundred times before. A tired looking young woman with disheveled hair and worn clothing answered the door with a small child in her arms and another one holding onto her leg. He raised his rifle and pointed it at her and told her to move out of the doorway.

  She suddenly looked up in surprise as she recognized him. He was with her husband who was killed during the final battle of the revolution at the Rastatt Fortress. In fact, he was the one who carried her husband’s body home after the battle was finished. She stood there staring at him with tears in her eyes holding her youngest child in her arms blocking the door entrance. He hesitated to look in her eyes and was afraid for what would happen to the two children.

  The Prussian officer shouted at him “Move her out of the way!” and he began to climb down from his horse. As he walked up to the doorway, the Prussian officer pushed Johannes away and struck the woman in the head with his sword. She fell to the floor, dropping her small child and moaning in pain. She tried to raise herself on her hands and knees, but the Prussian officer raised his sword again and stabbed her in the abdomen before she could stand up. The youngest child screamed as the blood began gushing from his mother’s body and held her tight. The other child too terrified to move stood whimpering while watching her mother die.

  Johannes was frozen and began to shake uncontrollably as the scene unfolded. The Prussian officer wiped off the blood from his sword and put it back in its sheath. “Now, get rid of her”, he said to Johannes and climbed back on his horse. Johannes continued to stand and stare at the small child covered in his mother’s blood as he was dragged away by the other soldiers. They also grabbed the older child and threw both of the children into the wagon full of other prisoners from a nearby village.

  “What should we do with them?” A soldier asked the Prussian officer about the two children in the wagon. The Prussian officer turned and pointed to the dead woman and said “Take care of them!” and turned away.

  Johannes’s face turned white and suddenly he backed away from the doorway and began to run past the other soldiers towards the forest at the edge of the village. As he ran, he heard two shots and the anguished cries of pain from the two children which caused him to stop briefly and vomit on the ground. Meanwhile, the Prussian officer spotted him running towards the woods and shouted at him to stop while he gave chase on horseback.

  After a few hours of hiding under the leaves and twigs in his hole in the bramble bushes, Johannes suddenly remembered the letter he received from his dear friend Karolina. Trembling, he reached into his pocket and slowly unfolded the letter and began smoothing its edges to read.

  Karolina had written of her family’s voyage to America after they were forced to leave their Baden home in the middle of winter by the Prussian soldiers. She wrote that she and her husband had forgiven him for helping the soldiers evict them. They knew that Johannes was only obeying orders. She inquired whether Johannes would help her family return to their home in Baden for she was frightened f
or her family’s future in America. She went on to describe her family’s trials and hardships they endured on their journey to Cincinnati, Ohio. She ended the letter saying she hoped they would always remain friends and she missed his gentle touch.

  He shuddered as he read her final words and began to weep, for he thought that he would never forgive himself for what he had done to her and to her family. Johannes received the letter while he was in Karlsruhe, and had discretely inquired how to get to Ohio. The passage from Le Havre would be the least expensive option possible, but he would have to travel across France. He slowly began saving a small portion of his soldier’s wages unlike many of the other members of his company who spent all of their money drinking and whoring. He knew he would need the money for passage to America.

  Johannes decided that he would continue to hide in the bushes until dark. Luckily, it would not be that cold tonight, as he now was only wearing a shirt and pants. He tucked the letter from Karolina securely into his shirt.

  Chapter Three

  May 1853 Traveling through Ohio

  The letter which Johannes received from Karolina had been written shortly after her arrival in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she and her family were staying with her cousin. They had met her cousin, his wife and son at the wharf when their ship from Antwerp docked in New York City. The immigrant family was excited to see familiar faces in the large crowds on the wharf waiting for the ships to arrive from Europe.

  After arriving in New York City they were fortunate enough to be helped by several old friends from Baden who rescued them from thieves and afforded them a place to stay. After exploring the city and meeting its people they traveled by train to Dunkirk, New York, continuing through Erie, Pennsylvania, and on to Cleveland, Ohio. They planned to take another train to Columbus and then to their final destination, Cincinnati, Ohio.

  Karolina’s cousins from Ohio had purchased food and drink during their stay in New York City and shared it with Karolina, Stanislaus, and their family on the train. Stanislaus and Karolina looked in wonder from the windows of the drafty train car amazed at the building activity taking place within the small towns along the rail line as they traveled. New York City and their final destination Cincinnati, Ohio were the biggest cities in America at this time and immigrants were pouring into these cities.

  At each stop on their rail journey, the two families stayed on the train as other passengers disembarked and new ones climbed on. They slept fitfully on the wooden seats of the train cars, as best they could. Their bodies were constantly jerked as the train cars rounded corners and the uneven rails under the wheels caused the cars to bump and knock each other. Several times, their train was forced to come to a screeching halt as livestock would cross the railroad track and they would have to wait until the animals passed before resuming their journey.

  They needed to switch trains in Cleveland, Ohio to continue their journey to Cincinnati. Their train pulled into the brand new Cleveland Union Depot, on the shores of Lake Erie stretching all the way from Bank Street to Water Street. The Union Depot was built in order to house all of the trains coming from the eastern part of the United States and those bound for the western states and cities including Cincinnati and Chicago. The Union Depot itself consisted of many wooden sheds serving as small stations for each of the various railroads connected to the main concourse. This is where the passengers could walk to the different passenger trains pulled by 30-ton wood burning locomotives built right in Cleveland.

  As soon as they arrived in Cleveland, the conductor told them they had to get off of the train and pointed them in the direction of their next one. A new lightning train had started service between Cleveland and Cincinnati and promised to cut the travel time to eight hours. The weary travelers gathered their belongings, disembarked and walked through the huge center concourse along with hundreds of other newly arrived immigrants to America.

  Chapter Four

  As Karolina walked through the concourse, she was growing increasingly worried about her youngest son Albert whom she carried off the train. He continued to be ill with the chest congestion he had suffered during their ocean voyage from Antwerp and he coughed constantly during the entire rail trip from New York City. The drafty train cars appeared to make him worse even as she tried to keep him warm during their journey.

  He had contracted a fever and became more and more listless as she held him. He even refused to eat and would sit staring blankly out of the train car window. As they got off the train, she asked her cousin if he knew of a doctor in the city that could help her boy. Her cousin shook his head.

  As she was speaking, a young boy looked up from selling his newspapers and overhearing her request, he said: “I can help you ma'am” He was a serious-looking fourteen-year-old boy with a deliberate manner and he understood a small amount of the German language which he picked up from his grandparents.

  Karolina looked at him in surprise inquiring in English, “Do you know a doctor?” She asked. “Yes, my Pa is a doctor and I’ll get him right away cuz he’s just over there” and the boy pointed to an old wagon decorated with bright banners and a sign stating “Doc Rockefeller and his Miracle Cure”.

  She asked, “What is your name, boy?”

  “My name is Johnny”, he said and ran over to his father’s wagon trying to get his attention while dragging Karolina by the hand.

  Bill “Doc” Rockefeller had set up his small wagon right at the end of the concourse where incoming train passengers from the east disembarked. The passengers needed to walk past his wagon in order to board departing trains heading for the new western cities. He was a tall and powerful man well dressed in his finest clothes with a diamond cravat instead of a tie. Another sign above his head said “Doc Rockefeller’s Best Tonic this side of the Mississippi!”

  “That’s my Pa”, Johnnie said proudly to Karolina as he pointed to the smartly dressed tall man standing on the back of a wagon. There was a crowd of newly arrived immigrants standing around him. He was shouting at them as they disembarked from the trains, selling his patented potion that would cure everything from warts to cancer.

  While they were watching him, he pulled out his trusty rifle and exclaimed to the crowd. “This medicine has made my eyes sharper and my hands steadier” and he pointed to a spot on the wall of the Union Depot several yards away where he had set up a small paper target. He pulled the trigger of the rifle and a deafening roar was heard and the target fluttered to the ground as most of the bystanders covered their ears and looked astonished.

  The crowd began to applaud and cheer the marksmanship exhibited by the medicine man. Several members of the audience laughed as “Doc” Rockefeller put down his rifle and placed an old medicine man’s hat on his head complete with feathers. He received it from a Native American during his travels and his audience loved seeing him wear it. He held up a small bottle filled with a brown liquid. “Now”, he said, “How many want one of these miracle elixirs?” Several members of the audience surged forward and pulled out worn dollar bills and waved it at him while the others laughed and continued on their way to the nearest trains headed west.

  Johnnie ran up to his father. He whispered in his ear as “Doc” was taking dollar bills from the crowd and handing out bottles of the brown liquid. “Doc” Rockefeller turned his head and saw the small group of immigrants standing off to the side. He motioned them over to his wagon and he held up a bottle for Karolina to see.

  “I have one bottle left for a dollar and this sure can help your ailing son, ma’am.” He said it loud enough for the other bystanders to hear him. Karolina mentioned they would need all of their money to continue their journey to Cincinnati. She offered to pay him half, but he took one look at her tattered traveling clothes and said: ”This one is on the house.” He knew the other newly arrived train passengers were watching him closely and would look at him kindly for his generosity and would, in turn, buy more of his bottles of medicine for their own families.

  Johnny beam
ed as he grabbed the bottle from his father and gave it to Karolina. Johnny told her, “I told you my Pa would help.” She carefully opened the bottle and gave her infant son a small sip. He coughed but began to relax in her arms as the medicine began to take effect. In a moment, he was fast asleep. Karolina thanked him and turned back towards her traveling companions.

  Stanislaus patted Johnny on the head and also thanked him in his broken English. Johnnie turned to go but took one last look at the tired immigrants as they walked quickly to the lightning train. They would have to hurry before the train left without them or they would have to spend the night in the drafty train station. He felt sorry for them as they continued on their journey.

  Johnny ran back to the wagon to help his father hand out more of the bottles to his customers. His father stopped when he saw him, turned towards Johnny, and held out his hand and said: “Give me a dollar for that bottle you just gave away, Johnny.”

  Johnny looked at him in surprise and fished down to the bottom of his trousers where he kept all his money he earned from selling newspapers. He counted out one dollar in coins to his father. Bill Rockefeller put the change in his pocket and said: “Now hurry and go sell more newspapers, Johnny, we have to eat!” And boxed him on the ears. Johnny went back to the newspaper stand with his ears ringing.

  Johnny grabbed another stack of newspapers and began to hawk more papers to the arriving train passengers. He was shouting at the top of his voice to the arriving immigrants. “News read all about it. President Pierce and his stand on slavery!”

  Meanwhile, Bill “Doc” Rockefeller used the dollar given him from his son to buy a beer at the local tavern. Later his son walked back home in the dark resolving to continue to help those in need when he could despite his father’s poor attitude.

  Chapter Five