Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1865-12-23


His figure was short and heavy, but
in the saddle ho was the model Of Il
cavalier. lie seemed to "grow there"
His person moved with the move
ments OF his horse, so perfect that
horse and rider seemed one. lie
was an eXccllant swordsman, and
would have beon--nay, often was
| dangerous man in II charge. A
regiment of men like Stuart, with
the drawn saber, would go through
or over anything. 1t is certain at
least that they would die trying
SINGULAR LIFE-WoRK OF 4 LU-
NATIc.-Tho Scientific American
gives tho following account Of the
labors Of II lunatic on Blackwoll's
island, New York:
Has any one noticed the minia-
ture fort at the upper end Of Black
wells Island to the north Of the Lu-
matte Asylum? 1t is the work Of
an insane man, who lost his mind
in Mexico, or somewhere else, where
high privates were in demand, and
Just escaped being Mr.. Armstrong,
or Mr.. Parrott, or Mr. Whitworth
by going crazy.
Gunnery was what atled him-and
Notifications. AS he was found to
be quite harmless, and obedient to
his monomania, they gave him in
trcnchi g tools and told him to fort
ify the island. He took the geo.
graphical and geological bearings
with the sagacity Of a West Pointer
and concluded that any attack upon
it would come from the South. So
he devised sea- coast battery with
bomb-proofs, approached by Il dyke
with sluices and gates, and mounting
heavy ordinance.
There never was q moro patient
worker for humanity or patriotism
than this poor addlehead. Nobody
else being insane on the same point,
he could get no assistance. All the
other monomaniacs had oil on the
brain, or poetry, or capital punish
ment, OF negro suffrage, and were
quite as devoted and jealous as he,
upon their claims.
SO tho old soldier, with a long
sigh and brave heart, took up his
single shovel and commenced to
build the whole fort by himself. He
wheeled barrow after barrow Of
earth into the sea, tugged from
morning till night, until at last he
raised narrow causeway from the
mainland to rock at the end Of u
long sand bar With pebbles, shells
and stones from the river, he walled
this causeway until It became perm
anent. All this was not q months
nor years work-year after year
passed over his gray hairs, but he
kept on wheeling The great city
on the greater island required pro-
tection and he was making its @gis.
So he went on like the men who
threw up the Charleston redoubts;
and for fear he would be too late to
his task, he left his bed in the asy-
lum altogether, and built himself a
hut close to his place Of labor. Here
he slept and dwelt in the company
only Of his assuring conscience; and
when at last his path was done, he
set to work at his fort.
The result of all three years is
before us. His battery is sodded
with green, with parapet, beam,
ditch, magazine, reyertments, abat-
tis, and it mounts mock or Quaker
guns, upon carriages of capital con-
struction looking up from heSound
towards Hell Gate, like real arbiters
of Dominion.
The old lunatie is worn and failing
but he is not satisfied His fort is
done. but not his whole duty. So
he has projected a water battery and
sea-wall around the entire island,
and means to bring to bear upon it all
the knowledge of Nauden and To-
dleben. When the island is inn
prcgnable, he will wrap his mantle
about him and die at his battery
For the truth of all this story, let
anybody passing up the East river
look upon the island tip, and see the
old man ditching and building, and
the little fort close by him bristling
with pop-gnns.