Articles and Letters before/after The Battle of Mill Springs, Pulaski, 1862

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Updated 7/19/2017 with one additional source (#11).


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[December 24-26, 1861] -

Army Correspondence.

From the 17th Regiment.

The following extracts from letters of Captain Stinchcomb to his wife, we publish for the benefit of those who have friends or relatives in the 17th Regiment.

CAMP NEAR SOMERSET, KY., }
December 24, 1861. }

The Health of the Fairfield Boys.

Henry Laymen, Aston P. Berry and John W. Champman are so bad that Colonel Conneli directed us this morning to give them liberty to go home, while H. C. Hart, Daniel Johnson, Joseph Lockart, Abraham Ressley, John Dogan, John L. Elder, Elisha Hall, Wm. Barr, are all in the hospital. In addition, Thomas and Charles Shrieves are both taking medicine. Jams Hindman, Edward Thompson, William C. Holiday, Sargent Sears, George W. Spittler, Eli Tipple, John E. Sane, Joseph Delong and Enoch Berry, are sick at quarters. Many of the above, though sick, are able to perform duty. I will write to you each day in regard to the condition of the sick, and you will endeavor to inform the relations, by sending them word directly, or by publishing the above in the Gazette.

(The friends and relatives of the above named can learn all about their health, by calling upon Mrs. Stinchcomb as she will get letters every day from Captain Stinchcomb. -- Eds.)

Dec. 26, 1861. -- CHRISTMAS IN CAMP.

Christmas is over and we had quite a fine "Turkey and Chicken" dinner. We had 29 Turkeys and 28 Chicken. We invited all the Field Officers and Captains, and nearly all the Lieutenants, and any number of the boys. There were about 300 at our dinner, and we had plenty although at 10 o'clock we were informed that we had neither bread nor meal to bake bread of, but as soon as we learned this fact, Lieutenant Ashbrook, Sargent Ruffner, Corporal McNaughten and myself, and several others started out on a foraging expedition to the country to buy bread and meal. We soon found two and a half bushels of corn meal, and by half past 12 o'clock we had so much good corn bread as 500 men could eat. Enoch Shumaker baked three pones on the stove. I got a flat or "Dutch" oven and baked five Virginia Corn cakes -- which were pronounced by good judges, excellent. The balance we hired the negroes in Somerset to bake for us.

After dinner Lieutenant Colonel More, Captain Philips of the First Tennessee, Lieutenant Graten of the 38th, Captain Jackson and Captain Frye of the 31st Ohio, and Captain Fullerton, each made short appropriate speeches, filling the boys with enthusiasm. We then sung songs and adjourned with three cheers.

I never saw a Christmas pass over with so little drunkenness as there was in the 17th Regiment. I saw none drunk, although I learned there were three who got "How come you so." The boys were allowed to have as much liquor as they wanted, under a promise from all that none would get drunk, and I am proud to say that so far as the 17th is concerned, with the exception above, their promise was strictly and faithfully kept.

We now begin to feel the effects of the hard march from London and the exposure of the boys, in the shape of death, the 17th has lost seven by death and will lose a number more, probably 50 to 75 are dangerously sick.

It is enough to sicken the stoutest heart to hear the boys cough when awakened in the night and called into line. There will be, probably, one-half of the Regiment coughing at the same time, yet each trying to restrain his cough. We hope to be able to rest here, or at some point, a sufficient length of time, that the men of the Regiment may recruit their health.

The men have improved in health rapidly since we have been here. As to myself I have never had better health than at present. About the time of our exposure I caught a severe cold, and at one time I thought I would be sick, but by keeping close to quarters and using stews and hoarhound tea, I soon got rid of my cold, and in a short time found myself in good health.

THE PROSPECT OF A FIGHT.

I don't look for a fight now, unless, we attack the enemy, which will not be done, unless, we get force enough to make our victory sure. In which event you will hear of a victory, such as General Pope is said to have achieved in Missouri. I am not at liberty to give the details or places, but I think you may prepare yourself to hear of a battle and a victory before long, not a thousand miles from Gen. Schoephff's column.

HEALTH.

Noah Sites is apparently better this morning, though he is so low that it is difficult to ascertain his true condition. He is the only one of my boys that is dangerous, who are at present in our camp.

Frank Shoemaker of Company A, accidently shot off his right fore finger this morning. Company C, buried another of the boys this morning. He took colic and the Surgeon sent him a vial of laudanum to take in doses, and his comrade gave him too much, and from the effect of it he died yesterday morning. I find that nearly every death that has occurred has been the result of carelessness to some extent, either in eating too much or exposure unnecessarily.

JAMES W. STINCHCOMB. [1]

One Killed in Sheriff's Posse Standoff, Rockcastle, 1885

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[January 8, 1885] -

WHISKY AND BLOOD.

The Liquor Men of Livingston Stand Out Against the Late Prohibitory Law.

They Release One of Their Brotherhood From the Custody of County Officers.

And Defy the Authorities to Enforce the Enactment of the General Assembly.

The Result a Clash of Citizens and Sheriff, One Man Being Killed and Others Wounded.

THE END NOT YET COME.

[Special to the Courier-Journal.]

MT. VERNON, KY., Jan. 7. -- There is serious trouble in this county between the whisky dealers and the officials, and to-night the devil is to pay at Livingston, a railroad station on Rockcastle river, the junction of the Kentucky Central railroad with the Knoxville branch. For years there has been a local prohibition law in this county, and latterly the majority sentiment of the people has opposed the law. Last winter, however, the Legislature repealed the old law and passed another much more stringent in its application. At the same time the criminal code was so amended that a Magistrate was given the power to call persons before him and inquire of them, under oath, if any offenses against the law had been committed within their knowledge. The new plan was inaugurated by the County Judge of this county, and the County Court came to be known as a perpetual grand jury. Citizens from all parts of the county were brought into court and made to give information under oath concerning the misdeeds of their fellow-men. In spite of this surveillance, the whisky traffic blossomed like an aloe-tree. Whisky was sold in all parts of the county, and especially at Livingston, where eight saloons did a thriving business.

During the holidays the County Judge summoned S. H. Thompson and T. T. Wallace, two citizens of this town, to testify before him concerning the sale of intoxicants, carrying pistols, and so forth. These witnesses declined to testify, and were accordingly adjudged to be guilty of a contempt. They were assessed with a fine of $2.50 each and ordered to be imprisoned in the county jail for six hours. They paid their fines, went to jail and on their release at once brought suit against the County Judge, County Attorney and County Jailer and their bondsmen for $10,000 each. In the opinions of many prominent attorneys these suits can be maintained, while others say the County Judge did not exceed his powers by punishing the witnesses.

About the same time, or just before these suits were filed, there came to this place from Livingston one J. W. Goff, who has for years been engaged in illegal whisky traffic in this county and Laurel county. He opened a saloon there, but enjoyed a brief career. In a few days he was arrested on eleven bench warrants from the Laurel Circuit Court. The officer and posse started with Goff to London; when the train reached Livingston Goff was rescued by a party of friends said to be composed of James Burton, Henry Burton, Fred. Shuck, George Thompson, Mart. Goff, and others. Since then Goff has been at large, but not left this county. He is supposed to be hiding in the woods near Pine Hill. Warrants of arrest were issued against James Burton, Powell, Barlow, Mart. Goff and Fred. Shuck, charged with the offense of forcibly rescuing a prisoner. These warrants were placed in the hands of James White, Deputy Sheriff, and he went to-day to Livingston to execute them. The Burton boys have a whisky saloon at Livingston, and the officer found his men in this saloon. Attempting to enter, the door was closed in his face, and he was told that if he forced his way in he would be shot. Some reports say there were as many as ten men in the saloon, some of them negroes. The officer summoned a posse and surrounded the saloon, a little cabin in a field just beyond the railroad depot. The men persisted in refusing to surrender, and White, leaving his posse to guard the place, went to the depot and telegraphed to H. H. Baker, Sheriff of this [Rockcastle] county, at this place, to come to his relief with recruits. Baker, accompanied by ten men armed with shot-guns and pistols, went down on the train which passes here [Mt. Vernon] at 3 o'clock. Before Baker started the excitement here was running high and the reports from Livingston were to the effect that the denizens of that locality were anxious and expectant.

Telegraph News Editing, 1898

"The Telegraph Editor." Omaha World Herald, Omaha, NE. September 18, 1898. LOC.

[September 18, 1898] -

The Telegraph Editor

He Relates Some of the Woes That Fall to His Particular Department.

“So you are telegraph editor! Why, I didn’t know understand telegraphy!”

“Telegraph editor? O, yes; I know what that is.  You are the man who pads out the dispatches after they reach the office.  I used to know one years ago back east, and I tell you he was a good one.  He would take a telegram of a dozen words and with the help of an atlas and an encyclopedia string it out to a column.  Made it read just like a story.  Just let the name of some town down in Africa or over in Asia come to him and before that telegram got to the printer it would have a full description of the town where it was located and all its past history.  Yes, he was a bright fellow.  And so, that is the work you are doing?”

The above are two comments selected at random from a hundred or more that are made upon the duties of the telegraph editor by those outside the profession.  Ninety-five out of a hundred confound him with the telegraph operator and wonder how he learned to run a “telegraph machine” without any one knowing it, and if not corrected go out and spread the report that any one can pick up telegraphy in a few weeks, “for there is Smith, why, I’ve known him for years.  He hasn’t very good sense and never was particularly bright, and he has picked it up in no time.  Taking reports for a daily paper, too!  Think of that! If he could do it, any one could!”

Nine-tenths of these ninety-nine mens also labor under the delusion, if they labor under anything at all, that a telegraph editor’s duty, in addition to working a telegraph key, puts in his time reading up encyclopedias and filling out skeleton dispatches.  Were they readers entirely of an esteemed contemporary this latter might be accounted for.

If the telegraph editor was ever at any time the telegraph operator also, such a fact has never attained wide publication, but there was a time when there was no middle man between him and the compositor.  In early days the telegraph copy was sent to the composing room as it came from the wire and the man who set the type filled out the omitted words.  Those were the halcyon days of the “intelligent compositor,” upon whose shoulders rested the greatest part of the editor’s duties and all of the blame.

But times have changed.  Now the telegraph copy must be carefully edited and if a word or a comma is omitted, it does not appear in the printed proof.  At the same time that the intelligent reporter thus threw down stairs upon the editor the duty of editing his own copy, he also threw off his own shoulders the responsibility of errors in it.  The phrase “intelligent compositor” as a phrase of opprobrium has passed away.

Just where the very common idea originated that a newspaper was in a chronic condition of wanting to be filled, no one about a newspaper office knows.  The fact is that in every daily newspaper office enough copy is turned in every twenty-four hours to fill three or four papers the size of the one published.  The duty of the editorial force or copy handler is so as to cut this copy to fit it into the limited number of columns without abbreviating the sense.  A reporter comes in with what, in his opinion, is a rattling good story, and he spreads himself to the extent of a column.  His copy passes to the city editor, who, after eliminating unnecessary words, phrases and sentences, squeezes the gist of it into a couple of “sticks.”  The reporter howls but the city editor’s blue pencil “goes” in more senses than one.

What is true in the local department of a paper is true in the telegraph.  To the man on the telegraph desk comes every day long winded stories, padded, padded, padded to fill out the number of words each day the business office pays for.  And there he must cut down, not to fit the spaces allowed him, but also, alas! To avoid repetition.  Thus, a story comes in on a murder out in California.  At the place it occurred, of course, it was a matter of much interest; in Omaha of very little.  Yet the reporter out on the coast sent in as many details almost as would have been used in the home town.  The telegraph editor’s business is “to cut it,” sometimes to a stick, sometimes to a couple of lines, as its importance warrants.  Here is a sample dispatch, one above the ordinary in point of succinctness.  It is dated in Minnesota:

“A party of threshing hands had a dispute with a bartender at Kent, Minn., twenty miles west of here.  The bartender named Barton ejected the threshers from the building, but several hours later they returned and one endeavored to force open the saloon door, which was guarded by Barton from within.  As the door was pushed open Barton fired with a shotgun loaded with buckshot.  A thresher whose name is not known fell mortally wounded and expired in about an hour.  Sheriff Bureau of Breckenridge was at once telegraphed to come and take the prisoner and sent Deputy Sheriff Strachan.  On arriving at Kent, Strachan found a determined mob surrounding the saloon with the avowed purpose of lynching the prisoner.  The mob refused to disperse and Sheriff Bureau was telegraphed for assistance.  The sheriff with a posse left at once for the scene of the tragedy.”

People here in Omaha are not particularly interested in a saloon brawl back in M[innesota] and the telegraph editor cut it to:

“In a row at Kent., Minn., Bartender Barton killed an unknown thresher.  A mob gathered to lynch him and a posse is on its way to reinforce the sheriff, who is on the spot.”

Some of the details were left out, but perhaps the western reader got as many of them as he cared to read.

But it is not only such cases that the blue pencil is called into requisition.  Very few dispatches come in so carefully written that they cannot be abbreviated at least a third before superfluous words are eliminated.  Here is a paragraph from a political convention in Colorado:

“The beginning of the opening exercises of opening day began in the opera house this morning.  The opening exercises began with an address by the Hon John Jones.  His address was an eloquent one.  It was upon the tariff.  He said,” etc., etc.

This is not a sample page from a primer, although it sounds like it, but is a fair sample of the style in which telegraphic news comes to a daily paper at so much a word.  It is unnecessary to add that the telegraph editor does not fill it out any more.

The work of that person, in brief, is to take a column article and condense it to a half a column without leaving out any facts; to cut a half column article to a stick; to select the best story from three or four which may be coming in on the same subject; to know at a glance what deserves a “scare head,” a “slug head,” or is worth merely a “brief mention”; what deserves a head at all and what can be condensed into a couple of lines and run as “Short Bits,” “Brief Telegrams,” etc.  To know, the latter is fully as important as to know the former.  But, whatever a telegraph editor’s qualifications may be he must possess this one in common with every other man on the force who handles copy—the ability to cut, cut, cut from the minute he sits down at his desk until “30” comes and he leaves.

Attempt to Steal, Leak Manuscript from Harper's, 1842

From the New York Semi-Weekly Express, New York, NY on December 31st, 1842:

Audacious Roguery.

We suppose that nobody who reads the newspaper is ignorant that one of the publishing establishments of the Harpers was considerably damaged by fire, some months ago; but some may not know that strong suspicion existed at the time, that the fire was not accidental, but was wilfully caused to hide the theft of a copy or copies of a new work, then just printed and ready for publication.  An occurrence on Saturday evening tends strongly to confirm this suspicion.

The Harpers have received, lately, a new work from Sir E. L. Bulwer, in manuscript, and its speedy publication has been announced.  Of course great care has been taken to prevent a copy from "leaking out;" but on Saturday evening, when Mr. F. Harper went to the ware room to set loose the dog, he found a light burning in the office, a man's hat upon the desk and on the floor a hammer, which had been used in breaking open the desk.

The burglar had evidently been startled from his work by the noise of Mr. Harper's approach, but as all the doors and windows were closed and fastened, it is presumed that he did not break in but concealed himself on the premises some time during the day. 

His object is supposed to have been a copy of the new Bulwer novel: but it is believed that he did not succeed in getting one--at least not a perfect one.--We believe that a reward will be offered for any disclosures that may lead to the detection of this darling plunderer.--Com. Adv.

"Knife and Forkiana" 1861 (USIH Primary Source Reader)

This Northern article contains ideas on human equality, transcendentalist ideas about self-reliance and organized religion, and also references Southern secession, the tension over Fort Sumter, as well as the rumors and misinformation confounding Northern and Southern papers at the time.

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From the Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA on January 14, 1861:

Knife and Forkiana.

"Will you take fish, or oysters?" said the landlady.  Thank you; I don't care if I do; it is hard to choose between them.  But, did it ever occur to you, what a lesson we might learn from fish? "Why yes," said Miss Pallas, "I have read of 'books in the running brooks;' and I have heard 'sermons from stones;' so I can imagine lessons in fishes."  There is the trout, and the oyster; can there be a greater difference than that which exists between their conditions.  The one is of symmetrical form, beautiful in color, graceful in motion; is quick, alert, sagacious; the very dandy of fishes; he is a denizen of the mountain brook, as wild, free and dashing as himself; he inhabits an element so pure and transparent, that he flashes through it like a meteor through space; he is "noble game." 

Grave senators, reverend clergy, profound philosophers, keen witted lawyers, delight to inveigle him; they handle him delicately, view him admiringly, and exult over his capture, as the Palmetto men probably would over the capture of Fort Sumter; but whoever heard of one of these dignitaries raking for an oyster?  He, poor mudsill of piscine society, without form or comeliness, hidden in a rough shell; (which, like many another forbidding exterior, envelopes a rich treasure,) imbedded in slime and ooze; incapable of motion, save to turn his jaws to the advancing or the retreating tide; seeing no society, save goggle-eyed, idiotic looking jelly fish, or recalcitrant retrograding crabs; torn from his humble home by the ruthless tooth of an oyster rake, (not the only rake that has invaded peaceful and happy homes,) thrown carelessly into a scow, thence shoveled into a cart, thence dumped into a cellar; can anything be less desirable, to our views, than such an inglorious career? Yet, when brought to the table of the final arbiter, man,--he don't accord the preference to either (leastways I don't) but enshrines both in the chief place in his esteem (estomac, I was going to say.)  The moral to be deduced is this,--be content with your lot, whether lofty or lowly; we shall all, one day, be equal, if we act well the parts assigned to us here.

"That last clause smacks somewhat of the drama," said the quiet individual.  And is therefore inadmissible in this connection, I supposed: but Shakespeare is quoted more freely than Paul, in some pulpits; and I don't know why green room parlance should not be tolerated in a lay sermon.  "why, you don't mean to say that you  have been giving us a sermon?" said Pallas.  Why may not a man illustrate the truth in a homely way, even if he be not a preacher? Truth dwells (not lies) at the bottom of a well, and why may not I fish it up, with a rude oaken bucket; as well as your Andover graduate, with all the patent appliances.  I am sorry to say there is too much exclusiveness in this matter.  The haughty captains of the regular church militant say, in effect--"you must enlist in our companies, we will have no bush fighting, in the christian warfare, you can't be allowed to resist the devil on your own hook, your rough leather hunting shirt of a good conscience is insufficient. (Note--Somebody will say that "leather conscience" is an apt comparison, but no matter.)  You must put on the whole armor of God, which is only furnished at our armory.  (Note again--Somebody will say "our armory is the Bible;" well then it is only the clink of our busy hammers that should be heard closing rivets up.)  You must sign our compact, you must subscribe to the thirty-nine articles; it is of no avail that you live up to the standard described in the 15th Psalm; a moral life won't save you; you must be with us, or against us." Who is to be judge?

"But," said the landlady, good soul, "did you never hear your minister point out the folly of self righteousness?" Whether he did so or not, I have heard of that, where most of us have probably heard it, at a mother's knee; and if a mother's prayers and teachings, testified to an enforced by the example of her daily life and conversation, could have an effect proportioned to their faithfulness, I should long ago have ranked among the elect.  But don't, for goodness sake, don't dodge the question, (which I find is a common failing among professing Christians).  What I contend for is this--that a man may, solitary and alone, so far as human society is concerned, undergo that change of heart, and experience that peace of mind, which the world cannot give, but which is popularly supposed to be the result of what are termed revivals, whether on a large or small scale; that he may see his Saviour walking on the waves of a tideless sea, like that blue expanse which glitters beyond the pillars of Hercules; as well as behold him in the guise of a storm king, treading the surges of a Bay of Fundy tide of periodical excitement.  I maintain that a man may be a sincere and devout Christian, without making a public parade of his principles; that he may stand afar off, and say, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner--instead of crowding to the front, and ostentatiously putting dust on his head; that he may cherish a lively sense of gratitude to his Redeemer, every day of his life, without taking pains to let his neighbors know it, once in two months.  "Why don't he do so, then?"  How do you know that he don't?  Because a man don't commit his conscience into the keeping of his minister, to be regulated, as he would entrust his alarm clock to a priest of Chronos, to be tinkered, are we to infer that he sets no value on it, and don't care whether it strikes the alarm at the right moment, or not; or, worse yet, shall we say he has not got any?  

A loss of self-reliance seems to be one effect of the primal curse.  We seem to share the sentence of the serpent, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go," not stand upright.  In religion, as well as in fashion or politics, the many must submit to the dictation of the few.  The Bible tells us that the Creator made man in his own image.  It also tells us that he made him a little lower than the angels.  It further tells us that he is to live forever, and has an opportunity afford him, of passing his prolonged existence in the company of those superior beings, and in the presence of his Creator.  We feel that we are endowed with reasoning powers.  Now does it look reasonable, that such finished productions, or rather a vast majority of them, should be left destitute of a knowledge between good and evil, especially when they are bidden to make their choice between the two?  Some men are created with superior intelligences?  Yes, I know they are: and so too, some mugs and pitchers are made of finer clay than others; but one sort will hold just as good ale as the other; and neither will prevent it from turning sour, if circumstances tend that way.  The style of religious government nowadays, puts one in mind of the feudal system, when the word of the chief was law to his vassals; none presumed to question, none durst disobey.  From his impregnable castle he issued mandates, whence there was no appeal.  

So now, the spiritual adviser makes his pulpit a sort of ecclesiastical Ehrenbreitstein; his word is law, there; since nobody can have the hardihood to reply "in meeting," he illustrates the dogma of Free Speech, to his own satisfaction; he is monarch of all he surveys.  Oh, yes! such talk is flippant, sophistical, irreverent, and all those things; but don't be too fast.  I have a great respect for many of those gentlemen, as individuals; but, as parts of the iron system to which they belong, one is apt to lose sight of their individuality.  I dare say that many of them find themselves in the condition of U.S. Army officers of Southern origin; bound by oath to support the Constitution, they must turn their guns on their friends, or else resign.  I only wish they would exercise a little more clarity sometimes, in speaking of those who don't agree with them, some of that charity which suffereth long, and is kind; which speaketh no ill of its neighbors, etc. 

If they would only graft their "church charities" upon some such stock as that, they would realize the somewhat Quixotic idea, yelept[?] gilding the sunbeam or painting the lily.  By the bye, we are told that some parts of the South are, or soon will be, in a starving condition; this may be a canard, like the stories circulated at the South, about us, but I don't think Republican papers would lie: so, how would it pay, to take up a contribution for the purpose of sending our exciteable brethren something to eat.  A ship load of provisions entered the harbor of Charleston, Savannah or Mobile, might quell angry passions as effectually as a load of warlike stores.  It would be heaping coals on fire on the heads of the chivalry, ("if thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat" and they, being fire-eaters would doubtless appreciate the attention.  Anyhow, it would be killing two birds with one stone.

DASHWOOD.

Train Robbery Conspirator Accidently Sends Plan Details to Postmaster, 1861

From the Cleveland, OH Plain Dealer on April 9, 1861:

A Diabolical Conspiracy. 

Plot to throw a Train from the Track and Rob the Express and Mails--A Society of Burglars, Counterfeiters and Murderers Discovered--Letter of one of the Conspirators. 

The Pittsburg Post of Wednesday contained an account of a most diabolical plot to throw an Express from the track of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, for the purpose of robbing the Express and mails. Information having been received by the officers the company which led them to believe that such a plot existed, the matter was put in the hands of Allan Pinkerton, an accomplished detective officer of Chicago. His investigations led to the discovery of a regular organized gang of thieves, burglars, counterfeiters and murderers--criminals of the darkest dye. 

One of his detectives gained the confidence of some of the members of this organization, and was admitted to their meetings. It was discovered that divisions of the gang existed at Loudonville, Lakeville, Massillon, Mansfield, Bucyrus, Upper Sandusky, Crestline, Galion, Columbus, Cleveland, etc., and that they were bold and reckless men, fit for any crime. Also, that the parties suspected of the murder of Mr. Whit[??], a respectable citizen of Loudonville, Ohio, who was brutally killed and robbed about four years ago, and of assaulting a breakman of the railroad, were connected with the association. One of the principal conspirators and directors lives at Loudonville, and has manufactured large quantities of counterfeit money, by which means he has supplied his associates with funds. 

While the detectives were engaged in this investigation, and were waiting to get the conspirators fairly in the clutches of the law, the officers of the road were notified by the postmaster of Pittsburg of the contents of a letter intended for a member of the gang, but by accident addressed to the Postmaster. We give the extraordinary document entire: 

"Galion, March 21, 1861. 

"Dear Bob: I am just in receipt of yours, and have glanced hurriedly over contents; find every much to my liking. 

"Can't imagine why Potevine acted so d----d foolish. I think Banty will answer the place much better." 

A MURDER HINTED AT. 

"You should have burned the body--think you had better do it soon, and be certain. You must send Berry necessary instructions. But how will we do in regard to that letter you know Buck wrote to him some time since, and, I think since he left?

"It won't do to have it go the dead office--cant you send and get it out soon?" 

THE RAILROAD PLOT. 

"I am in great haste, so you must excuse me for touching everything lightly. We have had a special meeting to take into consideration our railroad scheme. We have agreed upon a plan at last--the originated by Thompson. He has just returned from New York, and has brought us some small batteries--some rockets, disguises, &c. We are to sink powder under the track and ignite it by means of the batteries. Between Lakeville and Loudonville is the place we selected for the mail train, and between Crestline and Upper Sandusky for the freight train. Then we are to destroy the nearest bridges and telegraph, to prevent any possibility of assistance reaching them, and then we are to illuminate some of the nearest towns, so as to cause a general confusion. We can then operate with perfect safety. We have another meeting on the 20th, at headquarters, to select suitable men; you must come up without fail, and send word to all your boys.-- You must excuse me for being so brief as I have about twenty letters to write, and want to call in boys that are out. 

"I am going down to Mansfield this evening to mail some of my letters, and I will just drop a line to the postmaster at Pittsburg, and have him forward Potevine's letter, and that will be better than to send for it. I went to Mansfield last Friday, and made some inquiries about that fellow you wrote about. I saw him, and from your description and his knowledge of you and some of our men, I think I can say positively he is the same man. He told me himself that it was currently reported that he was dead. He told me he had been in prison several years, and that he had sworn off. Said he felt no ill will towards you or any one else--thought he would remain home this summer. I think you had better go and see him yourself, and you will have more influence than any one else--believe him to be a flint, steel pointed. Davy and Jess made a little effort here a few nights ago, but only got a few empty letters. Jess has gone to Newark and Davy is in Mansfield waiting a chance. I shall be in Crestline until the 30th; don't leave Massillon unless you first inform me. Thompson and Fred and Jerry will stay at Cleveland. I will see Jess and get you some money by Saturday; you can see your own men, and go with them to Lakeville, but do not inform them of our business; you can stop with Bill Wolf--he is one of our Bride men--but don't be seen in daylight; and before you do anything else select some appropriate names for our men, so we can distinguish them. I had not time to use cypher, as it is so tedious and I am so busy now. I will see Jimmy again, and see if he can be come at, and let you know. 

"We have enough boys on trains now, and shall not trust any more--plenty of girls now in every place. George Cline visits Mansfield pretty often. Mrs. Shaw is his darling, but don't tell him I said so, or he may hustle that Bag business out. 

"Yours, in fidelity,

"CHARLEY GRIMES."

Pawnbroker Maxims, 1861

From the Providence Evening Press in Providence, RI on April 8, 1861:

The Pawnbroker's Golden Rule.--"If you expects to get on in this here world," said Mr. Cramp to Lorn, "you must look at both sides of everythink.  Man's natur is prone to deceive.  It ain't the gloss on a coat that makes it new; threadbare clothes is always the shiniest.  Handle folks as if they were the weskits and trowsies they comes to pop; hold 'em well up to the the light, try the strength of their scams and stitches, take care the moth ain't in 'em.  The uman art is full of wickedness, and all's not gold as glitters.  A man comes to you and says--so and so; don't trust him; plated goods ain't silver; if you wants to get at the real thing, test it with a strong mind and aquafortis.  Men's words is mostly outside show; they don't mean what they expresses; paste looks like diamonds till you gets at the foil that's under.

Never believe arf a man tells you, and don't offer more than a quarter what's asked.  Snakes often lies 'hid in the grass; they raises their painted 'eds and smiles; when a female puts a pledge in your 'and, look at the harticle, not 'er hies; think of the valley of the hobject, not of the 'oney that trickles from her tongue.  Charity begins at 'ome; 'arts is soft and 'eds is 'ard; you owes your duty to your 'ed; else what are you there for?  The simble of our profession is three gold balls, two at top and one at bottom.  When a man is in want, the world is two to one agin 'im; keep that in mind, when parties pops the necessaries of life--fire irons, bed furnitur', and all kinds of warrin' apparel--the more he wants, the less he's able to git.  Them's my maxims, and them's the pawnbroker's golden rule."-- Dudley Costello, in Bentley's Miscellany for February.

Scientist Says Only Nose Intended for Breathing, 1861

From the Baltimore Sun on July 20, 1861:

"Shut Your Mouth."

This is the advice of Mr. George Catlin, who is so thoroughly convinced that most of the ills of our humanity are caused by open mouths, that he has written an amusing little volume to prove his case and urge his point upon the men and women of America.

"If I were to endeavor to bequeath to posterity the most important motto which human language can convey," (says Mr. Catlin,) "it should be in three words--Shut--your--Mouth."

Mr. Catlin addresses himself chiefly to mothers.  He urges them to keep tightly closed not only their own mouths, but their children's, of both sexes and all ages.  he assures them that out of the mouth, or through it--when it is open--proceeds consumption, dyspepsia, rotten teeth, a crooked spine, ill temper, snoring; and if there be any other diseases which men fear, they too assail man's vital parts by way of the mouth.

If you want to catch a contagious disease, sleep with your moth open.  If you want to have disagreeable dreams, sleep with your mouth open.  If you want to spoil your teeth, your good looks and your temper, sleep with your mouth open.

"Bronchitis, quinsey, croup, asthma and other diseases of the respiratory organs, as well as dyspepsia, gout of the stomach, rickets, diarrhea, diseases of the liver, the heart, the spine and the whole of the nervous system, from the brain to the toes, may chiefly be attributed to this deadly and unnatural habit" of sleeping with the mouth agape, like an oyster in his last agonies.  "When a man lies down at night to rest from the fatigues of the day, and yields his system and all his energies to the repose of sleep, and his volition and all his powers of resistance are giving way to its quieting influence, if he gradually opens his mouth to its widest strain, he lets the enemy in that chills his lungs, that racks his brain, that paralyses his stomach, that gives him the nightmare, brings imps and fairies that dance before him during the night; and during the following day, headache, toothache, rheumatism, dyspepsia, and the gout."

Mr. Catlin believes that the nose was intended to be breathed through. He believes air should reach the lungs only through the nose, and never through the mouth; and to prove the correctness of his theory he cites a number of curious facts and experiences of his own.

He remarks that in times when cholera or yellow fever are prevalent, persons who habitually breathe through their mouth are most subject to these infections.  And here we may bring in the general voice of seamen to co[r]roborate his statement.  All experienced sailors sleep, habitually, with closely shut mouths.  One reason for this may be that roaches, which are very large and extremely abundant on board ship, are apt to crawl into an open mouth to investigate its contents--the large East Indian roach being, as is well known, an animal of highly inquisitive character.  But another and equally powerful reason is the general belief, among seamen, that the air laden with miasmatic poison is more or less purified by being inhaled through the nostrils.  They believe with Mr. Catlin, that--

"The air which enters the lungs is as different from that which enters the nostrils as distilled water is different from the water in an ordinary cistern or a frog-pond.  The arresting and purifying process of the nose, upon the atmosphere with its poisonous ingredients, passing through it, though less perceptible, is not less distinct nor less important than that of the mouth which stops cherry-stones and fish-bones from entering the stomach.

The Permanency of Typewritten Records, 1899

From the Omaha Daily Bee on July 23, 1899:

Typewritten Records.

The permanency of typewritten records is a subject of no little importance says the Albany Law Journal, and it is worthy of note that a series of experiments is being conducted in Boston with a view of establishing the relative value of the leading brands of typewriter ribbons.  Robert T. Swan, the state commissioner of public records for the state of Massachusetts, is doing some good work in this direction.  He finds that of the different colors used for typewriter ribbons, the red, green, blue and purple are not permanent, black being the only one that will stand the test to which he subjects the writing.

The legislature of Massachusetts, which recently adjourned, passed an act permitting typewritten records to be accepted as official when approved by the commissioner of public records, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey having previously taken similar action.  In other words, no such records will be accepted unless the materials used are up to the standard and the commissioner is expressly authorized by the statute referred to withdraw his approval at any time when he shall find that the articles used fall below such standard.  This is a very important matter which should be acted upon in every state, for the fading of public records so as to become illegible is something that ought to be carefully provided against, otherwise it were much better to keep in force the provision that legal records shall be written only with pen and ink.

It is possible, we think, to produce typewritten records that are quite as permanent as any produced by writing with a pen and in view of the greater legibility of the former, as well as their economy of production, it is desirable that this should be done.  While the states generally have no official corresponding to the commissioner of public records in Massachusetts, it out to be made somebody's business to supervise the matter of permanency of public records.

Some Georgia Newspapers That Folded in 1860

Bible Printing in the Confederate States

The following short article shows not only how little book printing was done in the South prior to the war, it also shows how slow news was getting out to the West.  This article was printed in October, referencing a July issue of a Tennessee paper.  For reference, the Pony Express operated from 1860 to 1861, and actually shut down in late October of 1861.

From the San Francisco Bulletin on October 7, 1861: 

Short of Bibles.--The Tennessee Baptist of July 13th contains a call for help to supply the Southern army with Bibles and Testaments.  It says:  The startling fact comes to light that there is not a set of stereotype plates for printing even the new Testament in the whole South; nor a set of plates for the Bible.  This fully illustrates how entirely the South has depended upon the North.  The Baptist calls for subscribers to an edition of the Testament, to be issued at the rate of $20 a hundred.  In New York the same Testament can be bought for $6 a hundred.

The Challenge of Reporting on Bleeding Kansas, 1856

I like these articles about the conflict in the Kansas Territory from the Tuesday, Sept 16, 1856, issue of the New York Tribune for several reasons, hardly the least of which is that they are highly entertaining to read. That is, if you enjoy reading antiquated insults aimed at politicians.  Another reason I like them is because they illustrate that people at the time were often confused about what was happening in Kansas, something I believe has persisted in historical treatments of the topic.  Although the author complains about the border-ruffian bias of the news reports coming out of Kansas, I think the free-state bias expressed in this article is relatively moderate and fair given its chronological proximity to the events at hand.

From the New-York Daily Tribune on Tuesday, September 16, 1856:

It would be absurd to look to the drunkard Atchison, to the drunkard Shannon, or to the drunken rabble of Missouri, or even to the miserable President Pierce, who, perhaps, can scarcely be held more accountable than they—it would be absurd to look to any of these as the really responsible parties for the atrocious crimes against both public and private rights, the rights of citizens as well as the ordinary rights of humanity, of which Kansas is now the scene.  Neither the ruffians of Missouri, nor President Pierce, heartless and soulless demagogue and doughface as he is, would have dared to venture, would have ever thought even of venturing upon such unheard-of atrocities, had they not been instigated to it, and encouraged and supported in it, by persons of vastly more social and political consequence and influence than themselves.  That which has been done is now doing in Kansas, is briefly this: A Missouri mob takes violent possession of the polls, elects a pretended Legislature, and through the medium of that pretended Legislature enacts a bloody and atrocious code; and that same mob are now in Kansas with arms and torches in their hands, murdering the Free-State men, burning down their towns and houses, and driving them, stripped of all their property, from the Territory, under pretense of enforcing order, sustaining the authority of the United States, and putting in execution the laws of the Territory! 

Now, admitting that the first violation of the rights of the people of Kansas, by driving them from the polls and returning as elected a body of the bogus legislators, was solely the idea and act of the Border Ruffians themselves, without any encouragement or instigation from Washington or elsewhere—which is more, we fear, than the truth of the facts will warrant—yet other persons, by upholding and sustaining as a legal body the bogus Legislature thus infamously imposed upon Kansas, and their infamous laws as a binding code, have made themselves the responsible parties for all the subsequent outrages.  And who are the parties who have thus taken upon themselves this terrible responsibility—a responsibility to which the people of these United States will most strictly hold them?  These responsible parties, these indorsers of the Missouri invaders and their bogus Legislature, are the Cabinet of President Pierce, the Border-Ruffian majority in the Senate of the United States, and, to a still greater degree than either of these, the Cincinnati Convention and the politicians who support the nominee and the platform of that Convention.  It is only the confidence of being sustained by, and the hope of giving pleasure and satisfaction to, these influential parties, that have emboldened the Border Ruffians of Missouri to enter upon the ferocious, bloody work in which they are now engaged.  They are but re-acting the part of the servants of Henry II., who, in the hope of pleasing their King and master, waylaid and murdered Thomas a Becket; and the politicians, to please and gratify whom murders and other outrages are now being perpetrated in Kansas, may rest assured that before they ever again can be recognized as Christians or political leaders, the same humble, barefooted penance which the proud and powerful Henry II. was obliged to pay at the shrine and grave of St. Thomas a Becket to purge his conscience of that murder, the people of the United States will force them to pay at the graves of the martyrs of Kansas. 

The Cabinet at Washington, the Senate of the United States, the Cincinnati Convention, and the politicians that support the Platform and the candidate of that Convention, will each and all, and every individual of them, be held responsible for the horrible deeds lately done and now being done in Kansas; but there are four individuals, all northern men and all doughfaces, upon whom the force of the public indignation may be expected to fall with a weight peculiarly crushing.  These four persons are, Marcy and Cushing of the Cabinet, Douglas of the Senate, and Buchanan, the nominee of the Cincinnati Convention—no longer (as he himself declares) the man James Buchanan, but a walking, writing, speaking automaton, to which the Cincinnati Platform serves as intellect and conscience, and which has neither wish, hope, intention, or sentiment beyond those embodied in that document. 

Pierce may be let off on the score of imbecility, natural or superinduced; but these four able men cannot set up the excuse of folly.  They have gone into this Kansas business with their eyes open; and, let them be assured, they will be held to a responsibility at which bolder men than they might well tremble. 

--------- 

Our readers have already been reminded that Missouri and the Border Ruffians lie directly between us and Kansas, so that the first tidings of all conflicts or outrages in that devoted Territory emanate from Pro-Slavery sources, and reach us through Pro-Slavery channels.  Even The Missouri Democrat forms no exception to this remark, since, though its correspondents mean to be fair and its editors just, yet their telegraphic news is mainly made up of the stories set afloat by the Ruffians in Kansas or hovering on her border.  Under such circumstances, we have no alternative but to publish the accounts as they reach us, fully believing that our dispatches and Missouri bulletins which are calculated to discredit the Free-State men, will in due time be corrected by more authentic advises, including the letters of our own correspondents.  It is hard to be obliged to give the falsehoods of the Ruffians ten or twelve days’ start of the truth, but we see no practicable alternative. 

The journals and politicians in vogue with the Ruffians pursue a different course.  They print the first Pro-Slavery bulletins, and carefully suppress those of the Free-State men; and when the former are proved false in any respect, they use this circumstance to discredit the true advices from Kansas and induce a belief that there is little or no trouble there—thus making the falsehoods or mistakes of their Missouri confederates do double duty.  Thus The New-London Star says: 

“Old Brown and young Brown, who were so badly ‘killed’ in Kansas lately, per telegraph, by the ‘Pro Slavery’ party have both turned up ‘alive.’ They were not in the ‘battle’ at all.  The people are beginning to appreciate these Kansas lies, and, as Dr. Olds said the Ohio Republican editor told him, he wouldn’t give a d---n a yard for them.” 

Now “Old Brown” and one or more of his sons were engaged in the defense of Osawattamie against a ten-fold force of Border Ruffians, who routed the Free-State men, killed several, wounded more, and sacked and burnt the town.  The victors reported that they had killed “Old Brown” and one of his sons; but it seems that they were mistaken—at least with regard to the former.  He probably lost his hat in fleeing across he Osage, which gave the Ruffians the impression that he had been shot and had sunk, leaving his hat floating on the stream.  His son, the last reports say, was killed, but the father appears to have been unaware of the fact when he wrote to his wife from Lawrence on the 2d inst.  No Free-State dispatch or letter has reported his death; yet The Star would fain improve this Border Ruffian mistake to the discredit even of the fact that there was a conflict at Osawattamie at all! 

--So The Albany Argus seizes on the fact that lawyer Phillips of Leavenworth, recently murdered in his own house for the crime of being a Free-State man, was in one dispatch termed a correspondent of The Tribune—a very natural mistake, since hundreds in Kansas and Western Missouri know that one of our Kansas correspondents is named Phillips, is a warm Free-State man, and has, in this discharge of his duties, spent considerable time in Leavenworth—to discredit all accounts of outrage and murder in Kansas—as if it made any difference, as to this, whether the Mr. Phillips killed by the Ruffians at Leavenworth were or were not our correspondent.  We exposed the error of the telegraphic dispatch on this point simultaneously with its appearance in the journals of the Atlantic States. 

--So Mr. Ely Moore (Indian Agent) took advantage of the fact that another Eli Moore had been reported guilty of an outrageous assault on a Free-State man in Kansas (see Investigating Committee's Report, page 963,) to deny most pompously that he had committed any such outrage, to assert that The Tribune had no correspondent stationed at Lecompton (where no known correspondent of this paper could live a week), and to assert that the Kansas correspondence of this and other Eastern papers was manufactured in their own offices! Comment would seem superfluous. 

--The Buchaneers are sweeping the votes of Missouri and all the South on the strength of what they are doing and confidently expected to do to make Kansas a Slave State.  We concede them the vote of every State south of Chesapeake Bay, knowing why they get them.  Now if they can make the North believe that there is no such region as Kansas, no effort to subjugate it to Slavery, and no violence, outrage or murder committed on its Free-State settlers, they may secure votes enough from the Free States to elect their men.  Let us see how they do it. 

--------- 

The Charleston Standard has a letter from Atchison, Kansas, which shows the purpose with which the invaders of that Territory from Carolina, Georgia and Missouri have entered upon the last foray against the Free-State settlers.  We quote: 

“We are ordered to march to-morrow, and I think will be stationed on the Nebraska line.  Reports have reached us to-day of a fight in that direction, in which fifty Abolitionists were killed and the rest driven back.  This is almost too good to be true.  

“Gov. Shannon has resigned (his successor not having arrived yet), and Hon. Woodson is now Governor pro tem.  By reliable information we hear that he has said hat, as soon as a sufficient force can be collected to warrant the move, he, as Governor, will issue a proclamation declaring the Territory in a state of insurrection, and take the field.  The United States troops are stationed at Lecompton to protect the Government property, but will not interfere in the fight.  Col.  Titus has not been killed, but was badly wounded, and a prisoner.  His ransom was obtained by the restoration of a piece of cannon, taken by the Palmetta Rifles at Lawrence.  Reinforcements are daily arriving, and I do not think 'twould be advisable for us to take the field with less than two thousand men.  We are very badly supplied with cannon, having only a few six-pounders, and the enemy have a greater number and larger pieces.  Our only chance will be to take their's from them.  

"We are regularly in for it now, and in a few days will actually be engaged in a civil war--which will, I presume, result in a dissolution of the Union." 

The writer clearly shows that the invaders of Kansas anticipate the dissolution of the Union as the result of the civil war which they delight to find themselves "regularly in for," and that Woodson, the acting Governor of the Territory, is an accomplice with the in the conspiracy.  In other words, the power of the Federal Government in Kansas is used with a view to destroy the Union.  That, however, is but a small part of the crimes of which the Pierce Administration and the "Democratic" party are guilty.

Tesla Predicted Television and Video Chat

This one didn't quite fit in with the topic of my last Nikola Tesla post where I shared clips of his more outlandish claims, but I liked this one too much to not share it as well.

From The Tacoma Times of Tacoma, Washington on October 14, 1915:

The Tacoma Times, Oct 14, 1915

...Tesla, "but believe me when I say it is only the beginning.

"Very soon it will be possible for us to see each other at distances of thousands of miles; we shall be enabled to hear an opera, sermon or scientific lecture, and be visually present in all kinds of meeting and transactions without regard to where we ourselves happen to be at that time.

"This will become a daily business experience, not only to transmit with unerring precision a signature to an important document, but enable the recipient in a distant country to see it affixed by the sender.

Wireless Telegraphy and the RMS Titanic

The RMS Titanic, as we all know, was seen as the foremost in ship-building technology when it launched in April of 1912.  Although much attention in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster focused on the failures of technology, The Day Book of Chicago, Illinois on April 17, 1912, two days after the Titanic sank, illustrates how another technological innovation of the day allowed for there to be any survivors at all.

Story in Picture of How Wireless Waked The Midnight Sea
Californian, Virginian, Prinz Frederick Wilhelm, Olympic
Prinz Adelbert, Baltic, Carpathia, Mauretania, Cincinati, Parisian

The Day Book, Chicago, IL - Apr 17, 1912

Although the steamer Titanic sank before help arrived, one of the most remarkable features of the disaster was how the great liner's dying call for help by wireless telegraphy awakened the midnight sea.  "S. O. S." (Send out Succor) flashed out over the silent wastes shortly before 11 o'clock.  Every few minutes the air waves carried "S. O. S." until 12: 17, when it stopped.  But in that hour and a half the cry for help was picked up by a dozen ships--ships that turned from their courses and sped under forced draught to the spot in the old ocean where grim tragedy was at work.  The picture illustrates how the sea responded.

Reminiscences of a Handwriting Expert

This is such a long article, instead of including a screenshot of the entire text as usual, here is a link to a PDF of it instead.

From The San Francisco Sunday Call, October 29, 1905:

Reminiscences of a Handwriting Expert

By Major Jno. B. Jeffery

The contest over the codicil of the will of the late Samuel Davis has brought to San Francisco the dean in the East of handwriting experts, Colonel Edwin B. Hay of Washington City, whose fame has spread far and wide, and who is known in his peculiar art from ocean to ocean, at home and abroad.  Being at the capital of the nation, his opinion has been sought in all departments of the Government wherein questioned documents have been the issue; and in the noted cases at court he has been called to assist Judge and jury in forming opinions upon both spurious and genuine writings; so that his advent upon the coast is a matter of some concern to those interested in the subject of the comparison of handwriting from a scientific standpoint.

Colonel Hay's experience, extended over a quarter of a century, very naturally would bring to one of keen observation as he possesses many interesting incidents wherein his art applies.

In the year 1877, when Simon Cameron was at the zenith of his political glory as the leader of his party in the State of Pennsylvania, being its senior Senator, he occupied the position of a central figure in the United States Senate, having been also the first Secretary of War in the great Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln.  He was brought into the brilliancy of a new light of notoriety when one Mary Oliver began a suit against him for breach of promise.  His immense wealth, public position, good reputation and high standing made him a shining mark for the arrows of any assailant of his character along any line of attack.  Whether he had in the mellow maturity of his age yielded to the subtle blandishments of fair women under the cloak of fascination made by stolen sweets was a subject that caused the social and political world of those times to put on its thinking cap, and very naturally the name of the venerable Senator was upon the lips of very scholar in the school for scandal and was tossed about for the time being unmercifully upon the vacillating sea of politics in both parties at the national capital and in his own big State.  The Senator with a feeling of indignation quickly said:  "Not one cent for tribute, but millions for defense!"  He made no offering to soothe Mary's bleeding heart.  "Blackmail!" was the word he used.  General Butler, the most hated relic of the war in the South, the most popular politician in Massachusetts and the most astute and able lawyer of his time, was the senior counsel to defend the Senator in the cause, which was tried in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.  It was the most noted trial of those days, second only to the famous Sickles trial, where the well known general was arraigned for killing Philip Barton Key, and the trial of the Surratt conspirators for the assassination of our beloved Lincoln, which trials were held in the same court.  Mary Oliver based her cause upon a letter, which she claimed was written by Cameron, in which he, it is alleged, said "will you be [m]y wife?"  The question, therefore, turned, as in the Sharon case, the Fair will case and the Samuel Davis codicil, upon the question of handwriting.