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Franklin Repository: May 22, 1867 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Anecdote of Stephen Girard
(Column 8)

Summary: An anecdote stressing the importance of learning a trade, which, if all else fails, will provide a good living "to fall back upon."

Beauty of Irish Women
(Column 8)

Summary: The piece celebrates the beauty of the Irish women, and proclaims the Irish race is as "strong as it is handsome, as vigorous as it is charming."

Tragedy And Farce
(Column 1)

Summary: In no unclear terms, the editors condemn the decision to release Jeff Davis, which they construe as a signal to southerners who continue to reject the authority of the federal government that "treason is not a crime."

Full Text of Article:

By an unfortunate combination of circumstances treason and rebellion have to all appearances gained an important triumph. Open hostilities ceased two years ago, but treason and rebellion are still actual realities nevertheless, and still capable of receiving and inflicting injury. It may be impossible for treason now to win a triumph that will restore to it its lost power and give to rebellion the horrid front it once presented, yet it can be revived and encouraged to such a degree that it may again boldly assert itself and bring new trouble and disgrace to the Republic. For this reason we deplore, in common with a vast majority of the loyal people of the country, the summary release of Jefferson Davis.

No event has occurred since the disaster of Appomatox exploded the Confederacy, that has so encouraged and emboldened those who gave themselves to treason's work to seek someway out of its wreck to rise in. The huzzahs, and jubilations, and general congratulations that followed Mr. Davis's release were not unmeaning, but on the contrary illustrate beyond all question the lingering devotion to treason, the enduring hostility to the Republic and the cordial sympathy with its implacable foes that yet characterize the people we have conquered. To them it was a triumph, not of civil law over military force, as some of our own people have professed to regard it, but of the Rebellion over the Republic--of treason over loyalty. They gave to their joy the widest manifestation, not because of a restoration of civil law, but because of this tacit acknowledgement that treason is not a crime and that Rebellion can protect its own supporters. Who can say that they deceive themselves in this when the Chief Conspirator to-day travels through the land as free and undisturbed as the most trusted loyalist?

There may be those whose natures are so fine and whose hearts are so full of benevolence and human sympathy that they can see in this only a noble magnanimity, and a commendable clemency on the part of an outraged government. They may be right, but they are certainly not appreciated. The people look upon the release of Davis as an outrage upon them; a mockery of justice and law, and a triumph of treason. They know Davis as the head of a great rebellion, the individual in whose name and by whose authority that rebellion was conducted, and the one above all others responsible for the unparalleled atrocities and barbarities that were perpetrated in its interests. They have no legal knowledge of these facts it is true, but no one will question that they are plain, open and palpable facts, at least sufficiently evident to warrant his arrest and trial as an offender against law and justice. They do not ask his punishment in advance of a fair and impartial trial, but they do ask that the man to whom suspicion of such horrible guilt attaches be held to answer, and if guilty, then punished according to his deserts. Jefferson Davis was arrested two years ago, charged with complicity in the assassination of President Lincoln. The public prosecutor was President Johnson, who had him arrested and confined. He preferred the charge, and by his orders he was detained in custody two whole years. Why he was so long imprisoned without a trial, no one knows but Mr. Johnson, who is solely responsible for whatever departure there has been in this case from the usual and constitutional methods of procedure. We do not justify this denial of rights, nor indeed can it be justified. The prisoner has been within the power of the President ever since his arrest, and a proper regard for the laws demanded his discharge, so far as this particular offence was concerned, whenever it became evident that the charge was unfounded. Others were tried and punished for participation in that crime, why was not Jefferson Davis? We have all the Surratt tragedies; why the Davis farce? But be this as it may, we have the fact that he was held as prisoner of State beyond the reach of civil process, until the beginning of the present month. He was then surrendered by Mr. Johnson, immediately to be arrested on an indictment found, charging him with treason, the highest crime known to the law. The prisoner's counsel were ready to proceed to trial; the counsel for the government was likewise ready, but the private counsel of Mr. Johnson asked for a continuance. It is not strange that the prisoner asked for a release on bail, but that such a request should be joined in, at least not resisted by, the opposing counsel, and be finally granted by the Court, stamps the whole proceeding as a farce, amusing to some no doubt, but an indignity and outrage upon the loyal people of the country.

The fact of Davis's long imprisonment does not in the least relieve it of this character. He was confined not upon a charge of treason, but for suspected complicity in President Lincoln's assassination. He had never been imprisoned a single day on suspicion of having committed any other offense. Must the law deal more leniently with such a suspected criminal because he has been suspected of other offences, heinous enough in all conscience, and confined therefor? Ought not the officers of the law to be rather the more vigilant and strict when dealing with such a man? Instead of this we see an eagerness on the part of those concerned to aid the prisoner to his freedom and to make the farce as disgusting to loyalty as possible. This eagerness ill became the Judge who presided, the council who should have prosecuted and several of the bondsmen who should have been about their own business.

We fail to see one single reason why Jefferson Davis should be set at liberty, and can detect not even one circumstance in his case that could appeal to the generous, magnanimous or the philanthropic for interference. As it is, immunity is granted to treason and the law cheated of its victim. A disgusting farce has followed close upon a painful tragedy, and while thousand of brave spirits sleep in the dust and thousands of others linger out a painful existence for the crimes which this one man perpetrated, he walks up and down unrestrained, protected in his life, his person and his property.

Demagogsim
(Column 2)

Summary: Assailing the Presidential aspirants for their attempts to solicit votes, the editorial lambastes the men for their ambitions.

Far Off Chats With Old Friends
(Column 3)

Summary: In this installment in his series of correspondence, McClure details the segment of his journey between Omaha and Denver, during which time the specter of possible Indian attacks kept the Repository owner and his entourage continuously on guard.

Harrisburg
(Column 7)

Summary: "Horace" welcomes the apparent willingness of Republicans throughout the state to re-evaluate the character of their representatives in the wake of the previous legislative session. If the representatives are not "made to feel that there is such a thing as personal accountability to their constituents for all their official acts," he notes, "we can but expect a repetition of the recklessness which characterized our last legislature."

Trailer: Horace

Local Items--Good Templars' Convention
(Column 1)

Summary: Relates that the Cumberland Valley Quarterly Convention, which includes delegates from the local chapters in Cumberland, Franklin, and Fulton counties, met in the Hall of McMurray Lodge on last Wednesday and elected officers.
(Names in announcement: Dr. R. S. Brownson, John R. Turner, Ella D. Creigh, C. D. Rockafellow, Mary Coyle, William E. Tolbert, E. A. Thrush, Rev. N. Schlosser, H. S. Gorley, Ada Murray, William H. Wanamaker, Hennie Heck, G. H. Martin, Henry Dorn)

Local Items--Sheep Disease
(Column 1)

Summary: Notes that at the meeting of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture held on May 1st, Dr. McClure advised the organization the "Cachesia Agusea, or Rot," an illness reportedly caused "by the sheep feeding on low, wet marshy lands which generate the common fluke worm in ducts of the liver." According to McClure's estimates, in 1829 or 1830, the disease infected two million sheep in France, and now it has broken out in West Chester.

Local Items--Laying on of Hands
(Column 1)

Summary: The article reports that several local residents have been cured of their ailments after visiting a healer currently staying at the National Hotel.
(Names in announcement: Jacob Heller, George Dessam, George Eckert, W. Etter, Henry Keyler, Goldsmith, Mrs. Bushman, James Shank)

Local Items--Horse Thief Arrested
(Column 1)

Summary: Officer Houser arrested a horse thief named Isaac Shaffer last Sunday after receiving a hand bill sent out by the animal's owner, James Menown, of Allegheny county, Pa. Houser caught Shaffer at Gordon's Hotel when he noticed that the horse he was riding fit the description of the bill. Shaffer was brought before Justice McElwain and committed to jail while awaiting transfer to Allegheny.
(Names in announcement: Officer Houser)

Local Items--Be Prepared For The Cholera
(Column 1)

Summary: Warns readers that the "cholera season" is approaching, and urges them to take the necessary precautions to avert an outbreak of the disease in Franklin county.

Local Items--Gypsies
(Column 1)

Summary: The article reports that gypsies arrived in Chambersburg last week, and notes that the gang of "roving malcontents" engaged in their "usual a avocations of fortune-telling," "horse-trading," and "pilfering."

Local Items--Child Lost
(Column 2)

Summary: Considerable excitement was generated last Saturday when a child went missing and was presumed carried off by the Gypsies who were in town. The child was found later that afternoon "quietly sleeping under a bed in a neighbor's house."

Local Items--Pennsylvania Reserves
(Column 2)

Summary: Announces that the Pennsylvania Reserves Association will meet in Harrisburg on May 30th where "a grand time is anticipated."

Local Items--Not Sold
(Column 2)

Summary: The sale of the Old Market was postponed, says the article, after residents in South Wared objected. Equally important is the fact that subscriptions to the new market house are not "very encouraging."

Local Items--I. O. G. T.
(Column 2)

Summary: At the last meeting of the I. O. G. T. Mercersburg Lodge, No. 285, John Gilmore installed a number of officers for the quarter commencing May 1st.
(Names in announcement: Dr. R. S. Brownson, I. Y. Atherton, Ella D. Creigh, M. J. Stick, Junie Shirts, A. R. Long, W. Stine, F. S. Fauss, H. Murray, Rev. A. M. Whetstone, Eliza Bradley, Eliza Burkholder, C. McKinistry, C. Agnew)

Local Items--Street Sprinkler
(Column 2)

Summary: The businessmen whose shops are on Main Street between Washington and King have made arrangements with William H. McKinly to sprinkle the street in front of their shops.
(Names in announcement: William H. McKinly)

Local Items--Immersion
(Column 2)

Summary: Ten people converted last Sunday during the revival at the Church of God, reports the article. The newly blessed were immersed in Conococheague Creek by Rev. Hunter.
(Names in announcement: Rev. Hunter)

Attack On Judge Kelly
(Column 3)

Summary: While on tour of the South, relates the piece, Judge Kelly was attacked by a mob in Mobile, Alabama. The "tumult" started during a speech delivered by the judge when a group of onlookers rushed the stage. Soon after the outbreak of violence, guns shots were fired sending the crowd off in a panic. Scores of people were killed or seriously injured in the mayhem, though Kelly escaped unharmed.

Full Text of Article:

MOBILE, ALA., May 14, midnight.--A murderous and bloody affair occurred here this evening. A desperate attack was made upon Judge Kelley and the body of gentlemen who surrounded him, on the steps of the Old Court-house, at the corner of Government and Royal streets, during the meeting held this evening.

The Judge had been speaking about a quarter of an hour in a frank and temperate manner, when there appeared to be a disposition to create a disturbance on the outskirts of the meeting. Cries of "put him down" were heard, to which Mr. Kelley replied: "I tell you that you cannot put me down. The 15th infantry are at my back, and if they cannot keep the peace in Mobile, the United States army can."

The tumult suddenly broke out at this point by a sudden rush toward the platform, and a general scattering of the crowd. About 100 people were on the platform, including many eminent citizens, reporters of the local press, and the correspondent of the New York Herald, who sat beside Judge Kelley, and the correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer. This rush seemed to be the signal for the melee to commence. The Chief of Police attempted to arrest a ringleader on the borders of the crowd, and he drew a pistol on him. The cry of "fire" was then raised at the corner of Royal street, and instantly a perfect fusillade of pistols was opened on the crowd who occupied the platform. In a moment a colored man who stood beside your correspondent fell, being struck in the head. Again the cry of "Oh, God!" and a heavy fall announced that an other had been laid low. Some friends dragged Judge Kelley from out of the range of fire, and finally succeeded in getting him away unharmed.

For several minutes the fire continued to be directed to the platform, the occupants of which were hastily making their escape, while others endeavored to protect themselves by getting behind the table, which afforded little protection, and those nearest the platform were evidently firing under it. One man was badly wounded by a shot thus aimed, and a ball glanced off a water bucket which fortunately stood between your correspondent's head and the assassin's benevolent intentions.

The firing, by this time, was directed right and left among the crowd in the street, who were flying in all directions. There seemed to be no attempt on the part of the police to arrest the violence, or if there was it was ineffectual, for the rebels had it all their own way.

It is impossible to tell, at this hour, how many were shot. I saw three fall in my immediate vicinity, but I occupied the place of a target. I saw one poor boy carried off the ground, moaning piteously.

It was evidently a preconcerted affair, and was probably stimulated by incendiary articles in the rebel press for the past few days.

Col. Shepperd, who commands the military here, at once dispatched a body of troops to the Battle House, where Judge Kelley is stopping. There are now on the ground in front of the hotel, where Col. Shepperd has taken up quarters for the night.

The city at present is quiet. The Republican party is not as strong here as New Orleans. All the municipal offices are filled by secessionists, whose hostility to the government has not abated a jot.

Judge Kelley very coolly descended from the platform, amid the fire, pushed his way through the crowd, reached his hotel in safety, his only disguise being your correspondent's hat, who subsequently got off with the only hat left on the table, which fortunately proved to be Mr. Kelley's, and, therefore, there was no loss of property in hats.

MOBILE, May 15--During the melee last night the following were killed and wounded:

Killed--Tabril Alsen, white, and Samuel Britton, colored.

Wounded--Whites--Thomas Taylor, D. H. Hord; David Parsons, of the police; two boys; James Barnes, and Colonel D. S. Sedbury, a goldsmith. I. Gough is reported having since died.

Dr. Nicholson, colored; Pierce Mitchell, and a number of men, both whites and colored, were slightly injured, whose names could not be ascertained.

Judge Kelley was invited by Mayor Withers to remain and speak, offering the protection of all good citizens. Col. Shepperd also offered protection. The Judge declined, and left for Montgomery to-day.

A call will appear in to-morrow morning's papers, signed by many of the best citizens of Mobile, for a meeting, to express unqualified condemnation of the parties engaged in the disturbance of the Republican meeting last night.

Married
(Column 4)

Summary: On May 16th, Samuel A. Mowers ands Jennett B. King were married by Rev. S. H. C. Smith.
(Names in announcement: Samuel A. Mowers, Jennett B. King, Rev. S. H. C. Smith)