Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-06-05
Another Letter from Bill Arp.
Etn is Called Before tho Reconstruction
C0mmittee-(su6prcssed Te stimony.

Is
To the Editor Of the metropolitan Record.
Mr. Editor,-Murder will out, and so will
evidence. Having seen Dan Rice's testimo.
ny before the Destruction Committee. j have
telt sorter sighted because no mention saint
been made of mine. suppose it has been
suppressed, but am not to be hid out in OBJ
security. Our country isthc special jury, and
! by and by this business will go up before it
Oh appeal. Thearecord must cup fair and
complete, and therefore I'll take occasion to
make public what swore to- I said good
deal more than can put down, Mr.. Editor:
| and at times my language was considered i'm.
| pudent: but :hey thought that was all the
better for their side; for it-illustrated the re-
6cii'"ns SPIRIT heard one Of 'em say LET
him go on-the ruling passion strong in
death. He's good States eyidence.''
when was put on the stand. old Bout
well swore me most fiercely and solemnly to
speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth; and I observed that he was
then entertaining aboutu qdart of double rec
titled, and it looked like it had sourcd on his
stomach: Old. Blow was settin off on one
sIae with memorandum book, gcttn ready
to note down some garbled extracts''
Old Oron Works was chairman. and when
he nodded his Republican head, old Boutwell,
says he :. Your name is Arp, Ibelicye, sir ?''
$50 called,' says I.
'You reside in the State of Georgia. do
you?"
~ can't say exactly" says I. sI live in
Rome, right in The fork of two Iniun rivers"
I'm the State of Georgia, says he iercely."
"a state OF uncertainty about that
says |. "Wc don't know whether Georgia
| is a State or not. / would like for YOU to
state YOURSELF if you know The state of the
| cnUOfry T.acu;raC Al 81,
settled, and I will proceed to state''-
"Nevcr mind, SIR says lie. 'Hoy old
are you, Mr. Arp Z"
"That depends on circumstances" saws I.
81 don't know whether to count the last. Ave
years or not. During the war your folks said
that State couldn't secede, but that while
she was in State of rebellion she ceased to
exist: Now you say we got out, and we
shan It get back again until 1870. A mans
age has got something todo with his rights
and if We are net to vote, don't think we
ought to count the time. That's about as
near as | can come to my age, sir.''
''Well. sir" says he, ''are you familia% Sfth
the political sentiments of the citizens of your
State z"
Got no citizens yet, sir, that We know of.
Will thank you to speak of us as people, -
'.Well, sir" says he, "Ill humor your OBJ
stinacy- Are the people Of your State"-
"Don't speak of it as State, sir, if you
please. I'm on oath now and you must ex
cnse inc for being particular. Call it Sec
ton"
"Mr. Arp, are the people of your section
sufficiently humbled and repentant tc come
back into the Union on such terms as We NAV
think proper to impose Z"
''Not much they aims" says 7. "I don't
think they are prepared for it yet They
wouldn't voluntarily go it blind against YOUR
hand. They say the deal wasn't fair. and
you marked the cards and stole the trumps:
but at the same time they don't care darn
what you do. They've become Indifferent
and don't care nothin about your Guy -Fawkcs
business. l mean no respect to YOU. gem.
tlemcn, but / sw0rc to tell the whole truth,
Our people aiht noticin you, only out of Gu
rlosity. They don't expect anything decent
or honorable, or noble from you, and they've
gone to work dlggin, and plowin, and plantin,
and rai0in boy children
Right here the man with a memorandum
scratched down a garbled extract, and old
Boutwell, says he, "What do you mean BY
that, sir? What inference do you intend?
I'm statin facts, says 1. ''You must
draw your own differences. TAcv are raisin
d0y chil3"cn. Amy harm about that? ANY
treason? Can't a man raise boy children
Perhaps you'd like to amend the Con ,titution
and stop 1t: OId Pharaoh tried to stop it
among the Israeltes. but it didn't pay. He
finally caught the dropsy in the Red Sea-
We nre raisin boy children for the fun of it,
They are good thing to have in the house,
Mrs. ToOdles would say"
"Mr. Arp, are not the feelings of YOUR peo-
pie very bitter towards the north %
81 beg your pardon, sir, but you'll have to
split the question, or else I'll have to split |
the answer. Our people have very high |
regard for honorable men, brave men, noble !
hearted men and there's heap of 'em north. |
sir, aud there's heap Of widows and orphans
there we sorry for; but as for this here
radical party, they look upon cni like they
was hyenas a scratchin up the dead for livin. |
It's as natural to hate em as it is to kill a !
snake. It's utterly impossible for me to tell |
the strength, and length, and hight, depth
and breadth OF their contempt for that party. |
They look npon Radical as-as-as-weil, |
as beggar on horseback buzzard sailin !
round dead cagle-a suck>egg dog creepin
up to the tail of dead lion. They talk about |
hirin Brownlow to abuse 'em, to use language
on 'em, like he did 4 few years ago when he |
spoke against Pryne, .Ifthey do hire Brown
low, he'll spatter 'cm, he'll daub 'em all over.
and slime 'cm and siobber on 'em about right; |
and 1t will stick, for the pores are open. and |
their morals spongy. I'd like to stand off
about ten rods and hear him spread himself |
1t would be worse than squirt gun full of
COW sio9p, and 1 have no doubt would give
general satisfaction"
That's sufficient, sir, says old Boutwell,
''Et it was in their power to do so would your
people renew the fight 2''
"N OF unless they could fight the Radicals
all alone, and all the world agree to hands
of Even then there wouldn't be no fight,
for we couldn't cctch you."
"What do your people say upon the sib-
icct of negro oquality?'
"They say it's lie; sir-it don't exist by
nature, and never can in nractice. EolEs