Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1886 — Page 3

REMINISCENCES.

Old Soldiers Rehearsing the Stirring Scenes Through Which They Passed. Anecdotes of the Battle-Field, the Camp-Fire, and the Merry March.

Spy-Glass Sharpshooting. “The narrowest escape I ever had,” said a well-known Lieutenant of police in Baltimore, “was in front of Petersburg. ” “My regiment was in Pickett's Division of Longstreet's Corps, and another fellow and I were in a trench together. We were at the front of the line. The other fellow’s name was Dick. The trench was about six feet deep, and there was a groove cut in the top of the front, through which we did our snooting at the Yankees. When v® wanted to pop away we’d lay the gun-bar-rel along that groove, get quick sight on the enemy, pull the trigger, and then jump down. Dick was a pig-headed sort of a chap. I told him a dozen times he didn't jiave sense enough to hold his head on his shoulders. r “There was a lot of Y r ankee sharpshooters in front of us, and I cautioned Dick to look out how he exposed himself. I tell you it was dangerous for even so much as a man’s ear to get in sight of those fellows. I heard the bullets whistling lively over our trench, and I knew by the sound that they •were forced balls. A forced ball, you know, is a bullet from a breech-loader. It is a little bigger than the diameter of the gunbarrel, and consequently it goes out with greater force than the ball from a muzzleloader. The way we could distinguish between the two kinds of guns was, that if it was a breech-loader the bullet got to you before the report; but if it was* a muzzleloader the report got to you before the ball. Most all of the Yanks used the breechloaders, and you can just bet your boots we were mighty careful how we got in their way. “As I was saying, the bullets were whistling pretty lively over our trench. I was loaded, and was about to put my gun in the groove and pick off a blue-coat. Dick was standing in front of the groove putting in a charge. He had his eye at the breech of his gun examining it, and the side of his head was turned toward the groove. While he was standing there —it was not more than half a minute altogether—one of the ‘forced’ balls came singing through the groove and bored a hole clear through his head as big as a walnut. He fell dead. I stepped across to him, and in doing so passed in front of the groove. Just as I got on the other side of the trench another bullet passed through the groove and buried itself in the rear wall of the trench. Two other balls followed it, and buried themselves in the identical hole made by the first bullet. The sharpshooter who did that neat job was a h ilf-mile away.” 7 “Pretty good shooting,” suggested one of the listeners. “I should say so,” said the with an expressive shrug of the shoulders. “Some of those Yankee sharpshooters were marvelous. They had little telescopes on their rifles that would fetch a man up close until he seemed to be about only one hundred yards away from the muzzle. I’ve seen them pick a man off who was a mile away. They could hit so far you couldn’t hear the report of the gun. You wouldn’t have any idea that anybody was in sight of you, and all of a sudden, with everything as silent as the grave and not a sound of a gun, herg would come skipping along one of those ‘forced’ balls and cut a hole “ clear thiuugh you. —?- ■ “How we used to lay for these sharpshooters, though,” he said, chuckling at the rememberance. “We’d keep a lookout for every little puff of smoke. The sharpshooters, you know, mo tly climbed trees and hid themselves in the branches. So, every time they'd shoot there’d be a telltale puff of smoke come out of the tree. Just as soon as we’d see one of those little puffs of smoke the entire battery would rain shot and shell into that tree* and we’d make it so hot for the ’sharpshooter that he’d either tumble or crawl out, dead or alive. The best shooters were in the Union army. Most of them came from the West, and many of them had been scouts in the Indian count rarely missed a man at the distafice of‘ v a mile, .Indeed, they could hit any object as big as a pievdate that far away.” \ i \

Wouldn’t Surrender. The following story is too good to be lost. No wonder the Alabama crew was made happy by a little fight. It was becoming monotonous: I was one of the first men who signed papers with the much-vaunted Confederate cruiser, the Alabama, and my service in her did not end until she sailed into an English port with the Confederate flag flying. You will thus realize that I participated in the capture of several dozen Federal merchantmen and whalers. There Was a sameness about our manner of making captures which we were glad to have broken now and then. It was but rarely that a vessel was overhauled during the night. If we were in chase of her we simply kept her in sight, or tried to. until daylight came. While we could not anticipate any stubborn resistance, the right sort of a skipper might fire a volley into a boat’s crew, or go to some other uncomfortable extreme. As a rule we had only to close in on our victim, Are a solid .shot across his course, and he would heave to and pnt the best face possible on a bad matter. The First Lieutenant would be sent off to him with a boat and a halfdozen marines, and in the course of half an hour his fate would be decided. If it was thought best to bond him the papers were made out and signed and he was permitted to go his way. If his craft was to be destroyed, the men were allo ived to bring up their clothing and knick-knacks, the officers to pack up their personal effects, and inside of an hour the craft would be ablaze, and we would be sailing away in search of another victim. When we ran around in search of whalers we came upon a Yankee skipper who didn’t know what surrender meant. We were just well to the west of the stormy cape when, one morning after breakfast, we raised a whaler. He headed up the coast, and about noon we overhauled him. He paid no attention to the first shot, and it was only when the "second one hulled him that he came into the wind. It was then seen that he had fifteen or sixteen aboard, and that allwere armed with muskets, and meant to defend (he ship. The Lieutenant was sent off with his boat, but no sooner was he within fair musket range than the-whaler opened on him,killing one man and wounding two at the first voliey. The officer pushed and demanded a surrender, but he got another volley and the reply that the whaler “would go to the bottom before he would surrender to a d—— rebel!” The boat was recalled and our gunners were instructed to hull the whaler with solid shot. We approached him withinrifle range and opened fire. Every one of the balls plumped through his side and above the water-line, and’ he answered with his muskets, severely wounding two men. He was repeatedly hailed to surrender, but in reply he encouraged his men to maintain their Are. We soon had the sea pburing into his starboad'eide through a dozen holes,

and when it won seen that he would go down we ceased firing md again demanded his surrender. I remember just how he looked aa ho sprang on the rail—tall, gaunt, hair flying and eyes biasing, and shouted in reply: “The Ben Scott don’t surrender! Come and take ue—-if you can." Five minutes later his craft settled down, bow first. We lowered the boats to save his crew, and strange enough not a man was lost. When we brought them aboard the Yankee skipper walked up to Semtnes, bareheaded, barefooted, and coatless, and said: “If I'd only have had one old cannon aboard we’d licked you out of; your bates! Here we art, and what are you going to do with us?” He was voted a jolly good fellow; and the crew were better treated than any othea ever forced aboard. In order to give them their liberty, the very next capture we made was bonded and they were put aboard to sail for home — Chicago Ledger.

Individual Army Experience*. I was a corporal in Company F, Seventysevpnth New York Volunteer Infantry. In mentioning our army experiences, I hardly know where to begin. L As on incident causing considerable excitement at the time, I mention the following: We were marching in the spring of 1862 through the abandoned works of the Confederates near Yorktown, when a sharp explosion like that of a pistol was heard at the feet of the center of the column and directly under the colors of our regiment. The men scattered. A piece of old cloth was lying on the ground, and Colonel McKean lifted it with the point of his sword, disclosing a torpedo, carefully buried in the ground, except the nipple, which had been filled with fulminating powder and had caused the noise we had heard; by good luck failing to explode the torpedo below. It would have caused sad havoc had it exploded, as it was in the center of our column. I was in the Army of the Potomac during its great retreat down the peninsula in the summer of 1862. Our march was by night, from nine until morning. Brigades, regiments, and divisions were mixed, broken, and disorganized. I was so weary and sleepy many times that it was with difficulty that I could put one foot before the other. It took us several nights to accomplish that retreat. Toward the end of the march the men would, along toward morning, lie down anywhere out of the way, and go to sleep with their knapsack for a pillow. We finally got under cover of our gunboats, where we breathed free. In the great battle of the Wilderness nearly two years after the retreat above mentioned, I was wounded. I had just loaded my gun and was putting on the cap when a minie ball struck my arm near the shoulder. I tried to get in another shot, but I had to give if up. ’ This was May 10, 1864. I shall never forget the charge we made that day, before I was wounded. Several regiments were picked from our corps, two from our brigade. We charged right into their works, capturing over 1,000 prisoners. We went over three lines of their works, coming upon their artillery, which we could have spiked had we been provided with the necessary files. One has peculiar sensations in thus charging upon works filled with hostile guns. I kept hearing the noise of bullets passing, sounding like water dropping fast upon a hot stove, zip-zip-zip. Besides our fire in front we were also exposed to an oblique or cross-fire. I was also conscious that our ranks werg being coustantly thinned, but it was our business, in the face of that fire, to run as long as our running gears kept in “tune,!’ and we ran and ran until wejjot there. v-* Before closing I must again mention my wound. My arin became very painful after I was sent to the hospital at Washington. I could not sleep. A nurse syringed the wound with water until there came out a piece of my woolen blouse an inch square, carried in by the minie ball. Albert Snydeb. West Oswego, N. Y.

Consecrated Soda. In 1863 the Thirteenth Vermont was camped at Camp Carusi, Virginia. It was a glorious place for foraging, and was improved by the boys. Fish from the ferry, rowl from across the ferry, veal and young pig this side of the ferry, was the fare up to the time we started on our long, quick march to Gettysburg. We became fat and full of tricks; one of these, which has just been brought to my memory, may do to tell. Pat Donovan belonged to the “Bully Company —, last in field and first out.” He was a tall fellow with a dark face, and where he shaved it looked blue. Donovan thought he knew more than any other persofa in the regiment, consequently Charles Estes and Ad Stone, Company H, resolved to come a “Yankee trick” on him. One Sunday Stone was at the river doing his laundry work, using “concentrated lye,” then a new and almost unheard-of article. Estes and Donovan happened to come down. Estes at once stripped and went into action on his underwear, then upon his body, talking all the time to Donovan as to the excellence of “concentrated soda,” etc. “Will it kill these haythin graybacks, Challus?” .„“-Qf_course. Put; jse&jme -use - it,” and Estes, who had some white soap, proceeded to lather himself. “Faith, thin,” said Donovan, convinced, “I will try u myself.” “Better put your clothes to soak in it, and wash them after you scrub yourself,” said Stone, with a wink. “So I will,” replied Pat. Well, to make a long story short, those jokers prevailed upon the uninitiated Donovan to lather his body and hair with strong suds of soap and “concentrated Ive” and wash his woolens in the same. The effect and result you all know. The woolen cloth washed in the strong lye had all the life and strength shrunk out of it. : His garments fitted nim like “paper on de wall;” they split and tore at every step, and when camp was reached Pat was in rags and howling with smarting pain, for the warm wool shirt had heated the eating lye and blistered his body.' Estes became alarmed and explained Pat’s condition and came to Captain Slayton, who visited Donovan and asked how he felt. “How I felt, is it?” yelled Donovan, whose face looked like raw beef, and head almost bald from loss of hair. “Howly Moses! I’m dying; send for the priest.” The surgeon came and greased Pat, remarking he used the “concentrated soda too strong.” “Yes,” howled Donovan; “consecrated be d—d; it was twice consecrated, or the divil wud ’a had me.” Stories and tricks always get out; so with this. Donovan’s brag and blaster melted into a soft whine when the concentrated lye trick was wh spered to him. W. A. Phee. The Little Zouave. The following incident was given by Major Magoffin, of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry. On Thursday afternoon the regiment was engaged in a severe fight three miles east of Gettysburg, Captain Magoffin commanding. They had dismounted, every fifth man to the rear with five a fence, the Captain had ordered the men to lie close to the ground. They

were armed with a new kind of carbine which was doing deadly work among the advancing Confederates. In the midst of the fight a little zouave, in hi* brilliant uniform, appeared at hie side. His first words were,' “Captain, I want a share in this fight. I’m tost from my company, but must have a hand in it somewhere.” He was told to fall in. “But where is something to fight with?” he said. The Captain pointed to the carbine of a fallen man, saying that be should take it. Finding it to be a different shooter from anything he had ever seen, he called out. “Cap, show me how to use this.” Quickly seeing the working of it. he sang out, “That’s glorious; won’t that fetch ’em; now I’ll pick my man.” Then deliberately taking aim, he would exclaim with great satisfaction, as one after another of the victims of his unerring aim fell over, “Look at that, Cap; did you see how quickly that fellow dropped?” He kept talking all the time, the Captain begging him to lie down under the shadow of the fence and not show himself. The Zouave’s bright uniform was a shining mark, and the Captain felt that the Zouave added to his own danger by standing at his side. But lie down he would not. At every sljot he told the result, talking as if to his victims. "When his ammunition gave out he said, “Now, Cap, I’ll leave you, as I can be of no more use,” and he walked away, in full view of the assaulting line, and scores of bullets that were sent after him whistling as he went. The commanding officer afterward tried to ascertain bis name and regiment, but was unsuccessful, and he is known to those who witnessed his skill and coolness only as “the little Zouave.” — Chicago Ledger. ______

Sailors Take a Hand. During the campaign on the peninsula in 1863, the following laughable incident occurred: A detachment of tars to the number of seventy-five landed on the left bank of the Nansemond, with a little howitzer and a mule-cart load of ammunition, and proceeded toward the village of Chuckatuck, a short distance from the river. As they approached the place they found it in possession of a squad of rebel cavalry’, that appeared to be the rear-guard of a retreating force. Firing immediately commenced, whereat the mule attached to the ammunition cart became greatly “demoralized,” as the rebels call being afraid, and he broke and ran for the enemy. Seeing that they were in great danger of losing all their ammunition, our nautical allies, regardless of rebel shots, went on the double-quick after the supplies, meanwhile peppering away at the enemy. This movement was a new one to the rebels, and in a short time nothing could be seen but the tails of their horses. The tart caught their refractory animal, and found a rebel captain and three soldiers killed, and captured three horses, and last but not least, the “town” of Chuckatuck. The end of the adventure corresponded with the beginning. One of the sailors attempted to ride one of the captured horses home, and the animal,' not used to marine methods of steering, ran away with his rider, who shouted, “Avast!” “Belay!” - and all the terms he could think .of, in vain. Not liking his position, he drew his revolver and plunked a ball through the head of his horse, and literally brought him to.

Stonewall Jackson’s Courtesy, When Harper’s Ferry surrendered to “Stonewall” Jackson, in September, 1862, General Jackson halted his horse in front of the Ninth Vermont, and, taking off his hat, solemnly said: “Boys, don’t feel bad; you could not help it; it was just as God willed it.” One of Jackson’s staff asked Colonel Stannard, of the Ninth Vermont, if he “had anything to drink.” Stannard courteously handed hie flask, and the arrogant young Confederate Captain poured out a horn and mockinglv said:. “Colonel, here’s to the health of the Confederacy.” Stannard answered, “To ask and accept a courtesy of a prisoner and then insult him is an act that an honorable soldier would scorn.” Jackson turned on his staff officer and gave him a severe scolding, saying the repetition of such an insult to a prisoner would cost him his place. Then turning to Colonel Stannard, General Jackson apologized for the conduct of his officer, saying that it wasan exceptional act of insolence on the part of a young and reckless man, and bowing gravely the famous Confederate captain rode away. The fatalism of Jackson seemed eccentric, but it was a part of hi* religion to treat a captive soldier with high-minded courtesy.” -

The Darky’s Melons. I enlisted at the age of sixteen in the Twenty-ninth Michigan, and while lying at Murfreesboro, Tenn., in camp one day, 1 heard a great uproar among the men outside. I was reading at the time, and laying down my book I ran out to see thoughts enacted rather than reading them and employing the mind in producing them. Well, when I got out there I discovered a darky with a big load of watermelons, and, the boys beginning to help themselves without paying for them, he undertook to drive along. But they caught and held his wheels, and held his team so they could not stir the wagon. Discovering that he was captured, he mounted the front end of his wagon, and stood there with a broad grin on his face, while we captured and made off with the entire load. I secured a bouncer, which I hid in my bunk for another day. I presume the darky got as much for his melons as if he had peddled them, and it was more fun for the boys, and he seemed to enjoy it himself. Perry E. Newman. Lake View, Mich.

Saved His Ration*. In the fall of 1864 we were in West Tennessee on short rations. Our regiment had been fighting hard. One day Captain G and myself sat eating—only beans and coffee—when a shell lit close to our tentdoor. We could see the blue smoke curling from its fuse. The Captain at once Clapped his hat over our coffee and beans, and went down under the table, while I went under our bunk. With a fearful report that shell buret, covering everything about us with sand. Jumping up, the Captain took the hat off from over the beans, put it on his head, sat down, and finished his eating, remarking, “Ration* are too scarce to lose any by foolishness.” 7i.; Corporal P——. Pomeroy, lowa. t ~7>

Buying the Battery. Judge Fish told the following while looking at the Atlanta panorama. He said to a friend at his side: “That scene makes me think of a little incident at Kenesaw. There was a rebel- battery to be taken, and the order was sent to one brigade: ‘Get that battery the first thing in the morning.' It meant death for a good many; and, sitting around the camp-tires that night, there was a deal of anxious talk. One said, drearily, 'I reckon the oqly way to get those guns is to take ’em,’ and every one was gloomy when the stutterer of the camp spoke up: ‘I s-s-say, boys, can’t we c-c-chip in ’nuff to b-b-b-buy the old things for spot c-c-cash?’ The grim humor of the thing tickled the boys, and many a one went to sleep that night with a smile on his lips that never smiled again.”

THE STORY OF SEDGWICK.

Hi* Disgraceful Escapade at the Mexican Capital The Alleged True Story Told in Detail. The Half Has Net Been Told—His Debauch at the Jockey Club and the Hotel Iturbide.

The Orgie at a Disreputable House—Effort* of the Envoy and His Friends to Suppress the Truth. V So many conflicting statement* have been made concerning the recent escapade of Envoy Sedgwick at the City of Mexico that it has been difficult to arrive at the exact facts in the case. An El Paso letter to the Galveston News —good Democratic author-ity-gives the following as the true story of the disgraceful affair: The News' correspondent conversed with a number of persons, strangers to each other, who had just arrived from the City of Mexico. They say that the half has not been told in the Sedgwick scandal. They are all respectable and trustworthy men, whose names can be given" when necessary. The stories they tell agree substantially, and one will do for a sample. The News' informant was an eyewitness to part of the occurrence related, while he is Intimately acquainted with other respectable persons who witnessed other parts of it. The whole City of Mexico is talking about it, he said, and the Americans feel the national disgrace keenly. There Is no question whatever that the main points of the story against Sedgwick are true. It is a matter of public knowledge, and the American Consul has officially reported it to Secretary Bayard. "What were the circumstances as you understood them?” asked the reporter. The reply was - "I stopned at the Iturbide Hotel, the same at which Mr. Sedgwick staid. The first I knew of my own knowledge was Saturday morning about 6 o'clock, when Mr. Sedg-wick-same in, accompanied by some Mexican dudes, after his night of revel. is, as I understand, a matter of common knowledge that almost as soon as Mr. Sedgwick arrived in the city he became intimate with the Jockey Club, composed of wealthy but rather fast young men. These fast young men invited him to an entertainment at the club house Friday evening. He went. As said before, it was 6 o’clock in the morning when he returned to the hotel, and then he did not remain, as you will see. My informants say that in the early part of the evening there was a great cordiality shown Mr. Sedgwick, who repeatedly expressed his friendship for the Mexicans and his desire for peace and good-will between the two Republics. As the evening flew on the wine flew faster, and one party became uproarious and the other maudlin. Mr. Sedgwick's protestations of friendship became more ardent. He reads Spanish, but does not speak it well, and was unable to understand what they were saying about him. “When the Mexicans saw that he was drunk they began to guy him and take advantage of his ignorance of the language. There were no ladies present “At this time they began to drink toasts, Sedgwick drinking with them. Of course, they made up the most vile, indecent, and obscene toasts they could think of, applying them to Sedgwick personally, and to the United States Government and to the American people. Sedgwick was either too full or too ignorant of the language to know what the toasts were, so they mode him drink to the shame of himself and his country. Amid the roars of boisterous laughter they applied to him and his countrymen the vilest epithets, and then slapped him on the back approvingly when he drank them with gustol They kept this up till morning. “There is part of the published story tnat is not true. They did not festoon him with flowers and put a placard on his back. They did put a flower in his hat; that soon fell out. “As to what happened at the Iturbide Hotel: It was there that 1 became an eye-witness. The other things I have related as they are commonly reported and believed in Mexico. You know the It&bide is built like a hollow square, with a large courtyard in the center. Mr. and Mrs. D , of Chihuahua, who were stopping there, saw what happened. Sedgwick and a party of Mexicans came in at 6 o’clock Saturday morning to the central court, all very drunk and uproarious. Among them they began dancing in imitation of the cancan. Sedgwick/wanted to go to bed, but the others would not let him, They proposed to go to a noted disreputable resort of Americans known as the Four Minnies. Mr. Sedgwick appeared to understand only that it was something about women, and was off with them in a moment. They went to Minnie’s, and were ushered into a room with some of the abandoned women of the house. It is alleged that while Sedgwick was reclining on the sofa with two of them he suddenly fell forward on the floor in a dead stupor. The Mexicans pulled his legs out straight and turned him over on his back. Two of them then mounted his body, and flapping their arms for wings, emitted the triumphant crow of a rooster. Turning to the girls, all of whom were American, they said: ‘See what fine representatives your Government sends here to investigate the Mexicans. Here is a fair sample of your countrymen.’ “After this the proprietors of the house took possession of his watch and money for safe keeping, and had him carried to a room alone and locked in. At half-past ten on Saturday morning two American gentlemen who had heard of the affair went to Minnie’s in a closed carriage to take him away He would not go with them. It is alleged that through the crack of the door he made this reply to their, entreaties : ‘ You go to h—l ; I know what lam about. I can take care of myself, and you will take care of me, won’t you, girls?’ He did, it is averred, not leave Minnie s until two o’clock that day, and remained in his room at the Iturbido.until Sunday. “Sunday the American Consul, Geo. Porch, accompanied by two well-known American citizens, asked him what he was. going to do about it. Mr. Sedgwick, it is alleged, expressed contrition ; said he had only a faint recollection of what had happened, ana asked to be informed of the particulars. They were related to him, and it is alleged that he begged the Consul ana the other gentlemen to keep the matter quiet and not let it become public. “One of them replied - ’lt has become public already, and, more than that, I fear it will get into the papers up North.’ “ 'My God I’ Sedgwick is alleged to have re--plied,’’has it come to that ? ’ “He then begged the three gentlemen to use their best endeavors t o hush the scandal up, and they promised to do so, Sedgwick promising, it is claimed, to have nothing more to do with the members of the Jockey Club, against which he bad been warned when he first came to the city; but that very evening he dined with some members of the club, and they, it is said, urged him to deny the whole thing and they would back him in it, while money or other pressure would make the proprietor of the hotel do the same. “Monday morning, and this I saw myself,” said the News’ informant, “he was walking on the street arm in arm with two of the same men who had got him into trouble. That afternoon a meeting of the American residents was called to consider what was best to do. I was present at this meeting. General Frisbe, a highly honored American resident, was the chairman. I was obliged to leave before the end of the meeting, but while 1 was there the ConsulGeneral said: ‘Gentlemen, I want to read you a telegram which I sent to-day to Secretary Bayard. I sent it on my own responsibility as Consul, but if you approve it, so much the better.’ He then read, as nearly as I can remember, as follows: “ ‘City of Mexico, Aug. 30. “ "T. F. Bayard, Secretary of State, Washington, "D. C.: “ The special representative of the United States, Mr. Sedgwick, has disgraced himself and his country, bringing shame to the face of every American in this city. The American citizens here ask his immediate recall. It is sufficient to say that he waa found' drunk in houses of assignation.’ “ ‘Porch, Consul. “Why,” said the News’ informant, “some of these old resident Americans in the City of Mexico couldn’t speak of it without their eyes filling and their voices faltering, they felt so bad about the national disgrace.”

THE SOUTHERN QUESTION

Strong Words by Mr. Blaine, Uttered In His Speech at Etna, Me. I spoke a few days since of the determination of the Democrats in Congress to keep Dakota knocking at; the doors of the Union for admission, even after she has ten times the population that certain Southern States had when they were admitted. The wrongfulness of this step is made the more marked and more intolerable when it is remembered that a material proportion of the vote by whieh the Democrats aocom-

plished the exclusion of Dakota is obtained by the disfranchisement of 6,000,000 of the Southern population, thus enabling them to cast from thirty-five to.,forty vote* in Congress to which they have no moral title, nor legal title, nor constitutional title, and no title at all except that which is founded upon force and fraud. I know it is regarded by a large number as uselees, if not unwise, to continue the discussion of the Southern vote. But in no feature connected with that vote can the end be so deplorable and destructive as that the whole nation should acquiesce in the outrage. I have only the voice and influence of a private. citizen, but as long os I have that I will protest against a wrong which not merely blots out all the rights of the colored men, but absolutely seize* the vote* to which they ere entitled, and with thati wrongfully acquired electoral strength controls the legislative power of the United Slates. [Cheer* and cries of “good.”] If the matter involved only the exclusion of the colored man from the ballot, and thus from the highest right of citizenship, it would surety-'be bad enough, but he is marked with the possession of the ballot and hi* electoral strength is turned to the support of the party whose success is his lasting injury. A Southern gentleman with whom I have long held personal relations of kindness, said to me, with a candor which was as surprising as his lack of perception of the enormity which he was apparently indorsing, that in a recent election in Mississippi and also in South Carolina, the colored men, who are in a large majority in both States, were actually well organized for the election, and would have carried it but for the great activity and vigilance of the white men at the last moment. I said to him, “Did these colored men intend any violence or fraud?” “Oh! no,” says he, “but they would have outvoted us if they had the numbers, and it took great exertion on our part to outvote them.” He was apparently quite unconscious of the magnitude of the crime which was involved in the destruction of the electoral rights of an entire race, and yet this incident shows the extent to which this disregard of natural and legal rights has proceeded in the South. The refusal to allow the colored men to vote, and the cool appropriation of. their electoral strength by the white men, has become the common custom and the common law of the South, and will remain so until some great moral shock shall awaken those people to the enormity of the offense. -It will read very strangely in the future history of the United States, that a minority of the white citizens of the country could neutralize and destroy the franchise of 6,000,000 colored people, seize their representative and electoral strength, and control the administration of the National Government against a large majority of the undoubted legal voters. And yet that is what is going on in the South, and what has gone on in the South ever since 1877. Acquiescence in its practice does not change its character, but only involves others in the moral responsibility attending so grave an offense. It is an extraordinary fact that the wealthiest, the most educated States of the Union quietly acquiesce in the wrong of giving the white men of Mississippi and Carolina double the political power in the country that any equal number of Northern white men possess. Government, by the free suffrage of the people, proceeds upon the assumption that the voting shall be legal and fair. When it becomes corrupted, either under the domination of violence or tfirough the influence of bribery, the whole republican system is impregnated with a deadly poison, which, if long continued, will flip its life. [Applause.] And yet we find many gentlemen in the Northern States justly and keenly alive to the evil influence of bribery, even in the smallest and most indirect manner, setting out to check it by the most stringent legislation, and yet constantly turning a deaf ear when it is suggested to them that the corruption.of the ballot in certain Southern States is chronic and universal, working out results that utterly destroy the principle of a majority government. Let me state the case in an arithmetical way. If you deprive the colored people of the right of suffrage and exclude them from the basis of representation, the Republican party would have had a majority in Congress at any time within the last ten years, and a majority of the electoral strength of the country; or, if you secure to the colored men perfect freedom of suffrage and include them in the basis of representation, the Republican party would readily have controlled Congress for the same period. But Democratic success has been attained by including them in the basis of representation, and excluding them from the enjoyment of suffrage, thus appropriating the electoral strength of the colored men for the sole benefit of the Democratic par±y. When the old . Scotch covenanter was stripped of all power to change the current of events against which he decreed, he still had the power to give his testimony and to enter protest. For myself, I said two years ago, and I say now, regardless of its popularity or its unpopularity, looking only to the injustice which oppresses and the wrong which outrages, that I will steadily give my testimony and enter my protest against it as a rank and odious injustice to the colored and white citizens alike. I protest against it as utterly destructive to republican government.' I know that I am thus protesting against consolidated power in the North, whieh gets the advantage, and the profit, and the gain of this unjust aggregation of political power in the hands of Southern white men. When the Southern States can say: “We are solid; we have the entire white vote of our States, aud we have seized the colored vote; we offer you a partnership; we offer to any minority of the Northern States that will join us in the complete government of the country,” the temptation, I say, is very strong. It imposes upon the party that entertains a proposition for such an alliance, the duty of carrying but three or four States in the North, and, when three or four States in the North find that they can cement the alliance, the temptation becomes so strong that poor human nature is not equal to resistance. Thus, in addition to the power of the white man of the South, they get a portion of the North committed by all the instincts of self-interest, to perpetuate the odious destruction of free suffrage. Ido not assume that my voice will be in the correction of a wrong so monstrous, of an evil so gigantic, of an injustice so flagrant; but I can, at least, be one of that great cloud of witnesses certain Jo arise in time, and of that great host, which in the future will find a remedy for the wrong and redress for the grievance. To doubt that the right will, in the end, is to despair of human justice, and to distrust the eternal law of God.

Ohio Sorely Republican.

Congressman McKinley, of Ohio, said to-day in answer to an inquiry concerning the political situation in Ohio: “The State will go Republican by a great majority. There will be at least five, and perhaps six, additional Republicans elected to Congress. If all other States could do as well as Ohio the next House would be Republican; but it will be a close pull, anyway.”— Washington special to Chicago News. Barnum will be an octogenarian when he has lived as many more single years as he will then have lived scores. What is his age?

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—A man at Fort Wayne, a few night* ago, captured a singular-looking bird that had flown into the open window of a paint shop. Its body look* like that of an owl, but this is the only resemblance. The head and face resemble those of an ape, and its bulging eyes are surrounded by * fringe of gray beard tipped with black, while its ears are exactly like those of • human being except that they are almost entirely concealed by the growth of fine gray hair that cover* the cheeks and forehead. It is an uncanny looking creature, and attracts the attention of crowds of people every day. —A man is now in Clay County placing on record the phenomenal size of various farm products. He has already found squashes weighing 188$ pounds, grape* 3J inches around, tomatoes 19$ inches in circumference and 8 inches long, and radishes 25 inches in girth, 21 in length, and 10 pounds in weight. He has only seen * small section of the country a* yet, and there is no telling what he may discover in the way of vegetable Jumbos by the time he reaches the river bottoms. —A man at Leesburg, aged 80 years, while riding home in a buggy, was taken with an apoplectic fit, and fell forward out of the buggy, and became fastened between the shaft and wheel, and before the horse could be stopped he was dragged over 200 yards. When extricated his head was badly injured, one ear tom off, and he sustained injuries which render his recovery doubtful. ' —A farmer at Wea, Tippecanoe County, built a fine new bam, and then signed a contract with a lightning-rod man for one point to be placed on the structure at * cost of $6.50. A few days later he was confronted with a note for $260, and, rather than get into a legal fight with the swindlers, he compromised the matter by paying $l6O. —The nude body of a white man was found in the Ohio River, near Evansville. It was horribly mutilated, both legs being cut off below the knees, the right arm off just above the elbow, and a large piece of the skull missing. It is thought the man had been murdered, the body stripped, mutilated, and then thrown into the river. —A press used in the manufacture of counterfeit coin in 1832 will be one of the flurious exhibits at the Huntington County fair. It was plowed up by Farmer Wernerder, two years ago, in a locality which used to be a rendezvous for the Helvey brothers, long ago noted as venders of spurious money. —Valuable beds of kaolin have been discovered near Etna Green, Kosciusko County. 1 Vessels manufactured from it, when struck, give forth a clear, ringing sound, like porcelain. It is the intention of the owner to fully develop his find with expensive machinery. —A bam four miles porth of Washington, and all Its contents, consisting of 600 bushels of wheat, fifteen tons of hay, and* lot of farming implements and machinery, were'destroyed by fire It was the work of an incendiary. Loss $1,500; no insurance. —The 4-year old daughter of a man at Logansport fell out of a third-story window to the pavement below. The distance was over thirty feet, but the child, after remaining unconscious for a short time, resumed her play as if nothing had happened. —A St. Joseph County farmer, aged about 70, drove to South Bend and drank so much liquor that his wife would not return home with him. The next morning he was found lying in the roadway with a broken neck, having fallen from his wagon. —While excavating for a new bridge under the old canal aqueduct at Fort Wayne, workmen found a Mexican silver coin of the date of 1782 and a horse-shoe of primitive construction. They lay ten I feet below the bottom of the river. —The South Bend agent of the Michigan Central Railroad has an old appletfee, which, to all appearances, has long been dead. Recently it suddenly showed! signs of life, and is now covered with a profuse crop of blossoms. —Clam bakes are the rage at Huntington just now. If the clams in the Tippecanoe are anything like those found it White River, the people in that section must have cast-iron stomachs to be able to survive more than one bake. —A Baptist minister who has resided at Crawfordsville ever since the first cabin was erected iff Montgomery County, has performed 577 marriage ceremonies, and is still hale and hearty, although stooped with age and hard labor. —A very uncommon occurrence happened near Decatur recently. A hardware merchant was driving a short distance in the country, when a small whirlwind formed under the vehicle, lifting it from the road , and carrying it several rods. —A potato and carrot firmly grown together, so that it is impossible to tell where the potato begins mid the carrot end*, is one of the vegetable freaks exhibited by a St. Joseph County farmer. —A man employed on the Kentucky and Indiana bridge, at New Albany; lost his footing and fell a distance of nearly forty feet. He received injuries in the spine which may prove fatal. —The apple crop is so large in the neighborhood of New Albany that the best command but 75 cents per barrel, while common stock sells at 40 and 50 cents. —A white pelican four feet seven inches high, and five feet four inches from tip to tip of wings, was killed near Corydon. —A child with six well-developed toes on each foot and six fingers on the right hand was born at Albion recently. —Evansville will bring suit for SIOO,OOO damages against the Air-line Railroad for violating its contract with the city in removing its shops to Huntingburg. - T - —Knox County has a female assessor; and let it be said to her credit that her report was the neatest and most explicit of any filed by the various assessors. —The Knox County schools will probably have to suspend for want of funds, owing to the Treasurer’s defalcation. —Natural gas competition has made a hill in the Brazil coal trade, and lower rates are threatened.