Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1864-02-24
Nashville as it Is.

Once the home of the educated and re-
fned-the metropolis of Southern states
manship and high moral worth-is now>e
den of vagabonds and thieves. Read what
a Yankee correspondent says of that once
proud city:
At one day Nashville was the most haugh-
ty and aristocratic city South of Mason and
Dixon's line. 1t would take many para
graph to accurately describe the ease in
which the inhabitants lived. But such a
change! I will give you a little idea Of
what Nashville is just now. First, disease
and disorder reign supreme. Years ago,
one case of small pox would drive the peo-
pie almost frantic. Now, no one seems to
be disturbed, although there are eleven hun
dred cases of that odious disease, besides
FIVE times that number who lie sick with
other disorders. The city is full of thugs,
assassins, highwaymen, and robbers
Scarcely night passes that a man is not
killed or knocked down and robbed, while
a multiplicity of burglaries occur daily
There are more places where ardent spirits
are sold than in the city of Boston, while
the mansions de p1aistr blastthe reputation
of most of the prominent streets.
The newspapers Of this morning mention
that three or four horses were stolen in
broad daylight, in front Of Gen. Changers
headquarters; that five houses were. broken
into and robbed the night before that three
men we've assaulted by highwaymen; that
one man was killed, and that brigade of
one hundred and sixty had been Gagged for
drunkenness in the past twenty.four hours.
1 am just giving you stern facts, and doing
it as briefly as possible. I do not desire to
be sensational, and merely state in small
paragraph what might be extended into a
page. And tho reader will naturally ask,
who are the prominent actors? Who are
the authors of these Wholesale crimes? Is
it the citizens of Nashville, who have al
ways lived in opulence and ease, that have
turned robbers, and highwaymep, and MUIR
derers? Is it the daughters Of Nashville
who fill the houses of shame which flourish
upon every street?
The writer then proceeds to answer his
own questions as follows:
1t is admitted by gentlemen in Office, who
should be thoroughly posted, that there are
at least thousand deserters in the city;
that there are at least two thousand of these
rascals here who have received large boun-
ties from different States and subsequently
ran away. 4.-, .-, ..
There are hundreds af teansters and
others who have been discharged from the
army, and who, having no visible means of
support, have taken the desperate chances
of life on the road, while the remnant of
the Trousdale gang still infest the city, and
the Lord only knows what atrocities they
are not matched for; and lastly, there are
great number of viciously inclined negroes,
who, unwilling to work or join the army,
are professionally living up to their instincts
and exc out an existence by what they can
steal. 1t is this unfortunate race that has
so fearfully disseminated the terrible disease
of the small pox, as in many cases the poor
victims have been seen upon the streets in
the fullest stage of the disease. This is
true picture of Nashville, without any COL
oring or exaggeration.