Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1859-11-03
From the Steuben, N Y, Courier |
A THING TO LAUGH AT.

| The fact that seventeen white men and five ne.
groes could capture town OF two thousand inhab-
| Itants, strike terror to the hearts of two great
states and frightcn President ont of his boots, is
one OF the remarkable incidents OF this remarkable
age. We have notion that out here in old Steu-
ben, tho women of little village of Bath, would
have broomsticked General Brown and Captain
| Cook, and their twenty followers, into decent
submission to and respect for the law in about
ty minutes If they unhappily should fail, they
would certainly succeed by ralying to their aid the
| bose company of the town.
But this mad and ridiculous ensue happened in
Virginia, that boasts of being the mother of Presi-
dents, and overlooking with chvalrous courage,
and immortal daring and straightway the President
orders out the United States troops, and Governor
Wise orders out the State troops military men don
their uniforms artillery rattles in hot haste from
Washington, and artillery rattles in hot haste from
Richmond, banners flaunt in the breeze, and
swords CLEAN in the sunlight Minnie rifles, and
muskets' and shotg guns, single and doubie-barrel-
| led. are called into requistion with rush. The
| tramp OF armed men is along every highway
railroad trains pressed into the service Of
veying troops Expresses are hurrying to the south
and to the north, to the east and the west Con-
sternaton flashes along the telegraph wires in mes
sages of terrific import-Old Buck tears his night
| cap from his uprising locks and Governor Wise
bursts his breeches in the hurry of thrusting his
lean legs Into them, and War! Rebellion ! lnsur-
| rection! Blood and Death goes laundering from
|
Harner's Ferry caught up their inexpressibles in
one hand and their jackets in the other and made a
| straight wake from the Town, with hair streaming
in the wind and shirt tails flying the women shout
ed muIder and the chdred screamed with alright.
| Well, a thousand United States troops gathered
around Harper's Ferry and planted their cannon
against the insurgent towa, rather the town cap
| tured by the insurgents. Another thousand gath
cred there from Maryland, and other thousands
| from Virginia The battle was set in " dreadful
array'-ths word was given,
:"Cho rye, Chester! charge! On Stanley, on"
and the armed hosts rushed to the conflict.
WE'LL what came Of it? Seventeen white men
| and five 90 nggers' all told Not a white man
more, nor negro less twenty two men, all count
ed, dead, wounded and missing
Was there ever more ridiculous farce acted in
| the face of an intelligent people?
We do things differently in New York. When
twenty-five men, seventeen white and five black
set the law at defiance, We issue warrant and send
the constables of the town to arrest them. If the
Constables can't accomplish the job, we call upon
the Sheriff. and he calls to his aid score or two of
hard-tsted plucky chaps, and the job is done right
off.
When the doughty Dutchmen of the Helderbar-
| rack, some years ago, numbering seven or eight
hundred, swoIe in low Dutch that they would new
er pay permit to be paid, another skipple of
wheat, nor the first feather of hen fat or lean,
when they assembled themselves together with
arms in their hands. defying alike patroonery and
tans back of Albany, tarring and fcathering Off
GERS. and matreating citizens, the matter assumed
dimensions svmswhat larger and more serious than
a joke. People didn't care fig about their defy
ing patroonery, but defying and ar.nng against
the law was a horse of another color. Nobody,
however, thought of calling the President for
| aid, albeit there were plenty of cannon and RI
fles, and muskets and bayonets. and sharp swords,
and cartridges, and cannon balls and bomb shells.
and for powder, and all sorts of death dealing inn
p.ements in the arsenal at Troy.
True, there was ne "Ossawattame Brown" nor
tCaptain Cook" and marry negro in the camp of
the rebels but then there We're big Thunder"
and g Little Thunder and I" Yankee JOHN and
Peter Finkle," names that had already become
historical The Sheriff, unlike the people of Har-
per's Ferry, unlike President Buchanan, unlike
Governor Wise, took the matter coolly, called out
his posse, including the Burgess Corps and anoth-
er military company of Albany, marched up the
hill,'' dispersed the insurgent Dutchmen, though
five hundred strong, and then " marched down
again.
Seventeen white men. and five negroes capturing
a town of two thousand Inhabitants frightening
President into Mysteries, and whole state, inslu
ding Governor Wise, into fits!
Well, well, the world moves, and this is great
country