In the main it contained no unusual features. Through the personal
influence of D'Iberville at Louis' court, Alphonse de Beaucaire had
originally received a royal grant of ten thousand acres of land
bordering the west bank of the Mississippi a few miles above St. Louis.
When his master returned to France leaving him unemployed, Beaucaire,
possessing ample means of his own, had preferred to remain in America.
In flatboats, propelled by _voyageurs_, and accompanied by a
considerable retinue of slaves, he, with his family, had ascended the
river, and finally settled on his princely estate. Here he erected
what, for those early days, was a stately mansion, and devoted himself
to cultivating the land. Twenty years later, when his death occurred,
he possessed the finest property along the upper river, was shipping
heavily to the New Orleans market, and was probably the most
influential man in all that section. His home was considered a palace,
always open to frontier hospitality, the number of his slaves had
increased, a large proportion of his land was utilized, and his name
was a familiar one the length of the river.

His only son, Felipe, succeeded him, but was not so successful in
administration, seriously lacking in business judgment, and being
decidedly indolent by nature. Felipe married into one of the oldest
and most respectable families of St. Louis, and, as a result of that
union, had one son, Lucius, who grew up reckless of restraint, and
preferred to spend his time in New Orleans, rather than upon the
plantation. Lucius was a young man of twenty-six, unsettled in habits
when the father died, and, against his inclination, was compelled to
return to Missouri and assume control of the property. He found
matters in rather bad condition, and his was not at all the type of
mind to remedy them. Much of the land had been already irretrievably
lost through speculation, and, when his father's obligations had been