The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-08-21
NAsBK.
How M. 1osts ESsasa % % ,..re..o,

How MF. Locke Turned 70 be ttPetrO'
Everybody has read the Nasby let
ts, ttssTs, but very few people know any
Those who have the book-late ely print
ed-containg, according to the title
page, DIVERS Views, Opinions, and
PROPHECIES Of yoors trooly, Petroleum
| W Nashy," have undoubtedly made
themselves familiar with the portrait
OF the s4ait Pastor, = as drawn by
Jones and printed therein. This is un-
doubted1y trne likeness of Petroleum
", If not of the gentleman who per-
sonates him in the iNaSby letters, and
1t is quite probable that many people
would recognize the former as q real
caricature of the latter. The picture
was undoubtedly intended TO have
some points of resemblance to the real
author of Nasty, and with this his
fed. = = 80 -,
The first Of the Nasty letters appear
ed In April, 1868, but is printed third in
the book. Its title is 'FNegro Emigra-
tton.n This letter deprecates the alarm
Ing inkrees" of negro population at
W1ngert's Corners calls upon the "dis-
Interested patriots'' of that place to
hold mass meetin to take this subjtk
in2 considerashun, and proposes "the
adopshen NV series uV.preamble and
esolooshens.n The second clause of
the preamble" has in it the germ of
the entire series of the Nasty letters,
and is printed as follows: s,;-lf5
"Wereas, in the event ofthis emtgra-
shnn, our fellow townsman, AbsIum
Kilt and uthers, whose families depend
upon their labor for support, would be
throde ont of employment" ,egt.g
"Abslum Kitto is not a myth, but at
the time this letter was first published
1tUa6 In E1n1lnNy Ohio hfu
being Flenner, was lazy, drunken,
good-for-no othing sort of fellow, seldom
doing any work, and making himself
little less than a town charge. In fact,
his father was already in the poor
house, and If Flenner, ir., had been
there too he would have cost the town
less trouble and money. About this
time petition, emanating from high
Democratic authority, was circulated
In Ohio, asking the Legislature to pass
a law prohibiting negro immigration,
and to provide for the removal of me-
groes then residing in that State. The
principal reason offered by these "dis-
interested patriots" for the passage of
such law was that the great influx of
the negroes from the South that would
follow the expected emancipation
would so reduce the wages Of labor in
Ohio that white lRborers could not live
there. A copy of this petition was
sent to a respectable Democrat of
Findlay, who, being ashamed to cir
culate 1t himself, employed Flenner
to do the Job. While in F1enner's
hands, the petition was seen by Mr.. d.
r. Locke, the publisher at that time Of
the Ffndlay ,Je6erSo4IiGIt, who, was at
once struck by its absurdity, especially
when presented. by man like F1enner.
he therefore borrowed the petition, in
tending to print it intthe next weeks
issue of his paper and make some Sc
rious comments regarding 1t. If his
design had been carried out, the Nasby
letters never would have been written
or published; but SO extremely ridicu-
lous did the whole affair appear that
Mr.. Locke, who is a practical printer,
finally gave up the idea of writing any
thing serious about 1t, and put into
type with his own hands the letter re-
ferred to above. This he did without
having written word of 1t, and with
out any defined plan except to mako
his solecism humorous, and his humor
pointed and pungent. After the letter
was in type Mr.. Locke hesitated about
publishing it, and robably would not
have doneso If he could have prepared
other matter to fill its place before the
time for the issue of his paper. So the
letter was published in the Je6eF80Fidzl,
and in short time thereafter appeared
in many leading Republican Journals
throughout the country, giving the
writings of Nasby the stamp of success
from the very first, Thus encouraged,
Mr.. Locke continued to write over this
signature, and the subsequent career of
Petroleum v. is known to every one.