Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1881 — LETTER FROM SIMONP THOMPSON, ESQ [ARTICLE]

LETTER FROM SIMONP THOMPSON, ESQ

No election of Senators at Albany to' this date. The “stalwarts” and “half-breeds” still hold their respective forts. In our supplement to-day will be found much information concerning the attempted assassination of President Garfield. The celebration in Rensselaer on the Fourth was a grand success, the throng present immense, the exercises entertaining, and, save for the anxiety and uncertainty manifested with reference to the condition of the President, everything passed off satisfactorily.

It was matter to convince our people, Saturday evening, that an attempt had been made upon the life of the President, but when on Sunday his death was announced to ' have occurred the evening previous at 7 o’clock, the Court House, Opera House. Post Office, most of the business places, and many private real- i deuces were draped in mourning. In j the afternoon, when the people were about to assemble in the Opera House | with a view to making arrangements . for a proper observance of the sad event. Dr. Washburn brought in the glad tidings that the President stil> | lived. A sense of relief mixed with anxiety as to what might be the pro- < bable outcome, took the place of gen- , eral gloom. The people now rejoice i over the favbrable reports received, 1 and pray for the recovery of the Pres- , blent. The latest news received is that the l President continues to improve.

For the Sentinel. Bloomington, 111., July 5, 1881. This sultry noon we droD a word or two to let the Jasperites know our progress toward the Centennial State. Yesterday was not only a national anniversary ih which joy and grief mingled in the popular assemblages thro’out the land, but locally it was the semi-centennial of this Blooming City. McClean county is rich in the quality of her soil and many industries, Tne University and State Normal make this county a very local Athens of learning. On a monument of 60 feet elevation, of pure marble, are engraved the army roster of her patriot dead. The literati well know that the brilliant Litta and the stately Davis have here their home. We took a pleasant ride amid the environs of this prairie eity. Senator Davis lives on a farm near the east end of Jefferson street. He has a mansion constructed of elegant free-stone and surrounded by spacious grounds. The Senator was leaving just as we rode up and we had no interview. The Fair ground is on the west limits of the' city, and in the races Rens sllaei: took first honors. Maloy's Classmate made the best time. Toe Cemetery is southeast and is a -st of 160 acres. The general features ore similar to Oak Hill at Wash itigtoi Ovi people made a great milstuke l not purchasing a larger spur* 4 or God’s acres while real e&-. could be had in its woodland garb. The drn e& az* unsurpassed in tii| Cemetery here and we were glad to have visit e? it. We halted here fi 'lm necessity, and hare made our stdy a pleasure, the air is sultry and we shall have a hot belt • f Uncle barn’s dominion to pass over before reaching the Garden or the Gods.

We are well, and will be glad to see a copy of the Sentinel at Canon City, Colorado. We close this letter withan extract from the speech of Hon. George R. Hendling, delivered on yesterday at Franklin Square. He is a Democrat and you will endorse what he says: “The things wherein some of us have differed with President Garfield seem so far away while he lies grievously wounded that they have, as it were, utterly vanished, and in their stead loom up to-day those great qualities of heart and brain which have made many love him. May Divine Providence restore him in perfect health to his country; may the breaking heart of that noble wife cease to suffer and soon be filled with gladness. His generous soul, his genial nature, his brilliant intellect, his scholarly acquirements, his conspicuous and unabashed worship of his mother, his devotion to all the interests which cluster about his family hearthstone—all these, and let me add, as one who is not his partisan, his patriotism, and fidelity to the cause of humanity; all these, I say, make James A. Garfield an example worth all men’s emulation and a fit object of every American’s pride.”

S. P. THOMPSON.

Well, we can endorse most of the above utterances. While we have nothing to take back that has from time to time been urged against his elevation to the| Presidency, in the presence of the great calamity and the outrageous and criminal wrong perpetrated upon the Executive, his family and the nation, all else can be hushed in the knowledge that, while elected by a party he is the Chief Magistrate of the whole nation.