Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-05-22
GENERAL LESLIE COMBS.
From The Paris (Kentucty3 KentuclE,an ]

GENERAL LESLIE COMBS.
tFrOm The Paris (Kentucky) Kentuck,an
regard Kentucky as the most unfortunate
State IN the Union. think her people the
unhappiest of any on the continent of North
America. Nay, L would not hesitate to
compare their wretchedncss with that of the
Hottentots, the Patagonians, the Digger
Indians, or, to exhaust the matter, the Door,
contemplate patch of Radicals in the State,
who have just vitality enough to stink, and
consciousness sufficient to know their HELPLESS
condition. l sometimes think that, as an
individual, have been the recipient gilmore
unsolicited confidence, have listened YEARLY.
y, SO YEARLY, to more unwritten autobiogra-
ph!es than any man living. To have poured
INTO the unressting ear all the real and
unreal cares and grief of a long lifetime, the
d'sappolntments, the failures, the wrongs of
many years, the things hoped for, but never
realized, the things realized, but never salts
lying expectations-to listen, say, to all
this, and never nlurmur, requires an amount
of patience that, in my humble opinion, Job
IN his saddest days never dreamed Of But
when to this afHiction as private man and
FREUD is added the uuutterable misery to
which kentuckians are doomed, what pity
can be too profound, what sympathy too
earnest and heartfelt what prayer to heaven
too dcvOUt over our condition
General Combs is to the poor people of
this State-what shall say! The plaques
OF Egypt were hard to bear, I doubt not.
10 have the corn and fruit IF the country
swept away, to have the leaves of the trees,
the grass Of the fields and the plants and
flowers all devoured; to have bugs and flies
crawling into our ears and eyes, and swaru.ing
over our food at the table; to have touds in
b0J HrI
to Il certain extent, be troublesome and
perhaps disgusting, but in thinking Of those
sad days Tor the Egyptians, it would be we'll.
Ior our sins, to bear i'll mind that they had
no General Leslie Combs. The .'Boy
Captain is now nearly one hundred years
Oh, and Tor fifty years at least he has af-
hicted our people. l not prepared at
present to say why the war Of 1912 was
fought, or what we gained in glory and cou-
quest, and, therefore, as an American. NAV
or may not approve Of it; but us Ken
tuck'an, do say l wished it had never been
wagcd.
The battle of the River Raisin is to me
the most melancholy event in all history
The ''adventures by flood and fcld' Of General
Combs during that war have weighed upon
my spirits, from earliest rccotlections, ike
some horrible nightmare. That trip of his
God knows how deep, has been dinued into
our ears, as the Alpha and Omega. the be-
ginning aud the end of heroic suffering and
lortitudc. Many time, as a school boy,
have attempted to conceive OF any instance
OF sublime devotion to country-of something
outside the hackneyeI cases in classic or
modern story, but that dreary adventure Of
the Generals would force itself upon my
mind in spite of all could do, and / would
fairly give over in sheer despair. Who
fought fer Kentucky! Who upheld her
name and her honor on the well contested
field! Who braved the horrors Of the
scalping knife and the burning faggot? [
do not know; | cannot tell. My memory is
strangely affected; my historical readings
all broken down. Others may have done So
but can think Of none now save General
Leslie Combs.
The general is candidate for c-elcction
to the Clerkship OF the Court Of Appeals.
lie has had the office for six years, with Il
realization Of $4,000 year, and now lie
wants 1t Tor SIX years more, aud he comes out
in card to that effect If anything on
earth could cause me to forget the unhappy
effects that this old incubus has had upon
my mind and to vote for HIM, it is the perfect
gush OF joy | felt when | read his card and
saw that he Was not to canvass the State
again. But the ef1ectiOn is too serious.
The poor ''boy" tells us that he has ruined
himself i'll building up the internal improve
mcnts OF the State; that in his phiIanthropic
attempts to enrich his leIlow-citzens he has
impoverished himself Now, is not this too
bad! That General Combs should take stock
in railroad company, along with hundreds
of others, not because he thought with them
that the shares would prove profitable and
yield him fat per ccntage, but simply and
solely because the road would be a conve-
nIence and benefit to the State at large, and
rebound to the interest, the welfare and the
happiness of his fellow citizens
Too enfeeblcd with age and the wounds of
hundred battles to longer stand in the front
OF war and guard Kentucky from the red
man, the British, the devil, or, If need be,
all combined, he enlsts in the Philan-
thropic Corps, and the State rings with the
self-Sacrifces he has made. But | put it to
the good people Of kentucky if We have not
had enough of General Combs. Enough?
Ic Gods of Safety! We have had Combs
for breakfast dinner and supper for years
and years. We have had Combs fried, slowed
roasted and in the she'll We have had
Combs drunk and Combs sober. Combs, the
Indian fighter, and Combs, the railroad phil
anthropist; and now, if the good Lord will
forgive us and not put upon us more than
poor, trail human nature can bear, we will
have Combs no longer. If he is poor-and
who believes it?-pension him off; give him
an annuity, anything that will get him out
OF the way, provided, always, that in the
donation OF such pension or annuity, it shall
be expressly stipulated that he shall keep
quiet tor the next two hundred years-f0r
die he will not-and never breathe a word
OF the River Raisin again as long as he
lives. ONE OF THE EXHAUSTED
AN Oily SToRY.-Somc boys went bath
lrg In one ofthe streams near Oil Creek, aud