The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-06-20
rHEGATECITY.
kEOKUK, IOWA
fORNINA JUNE g.



The Toledo correspondent Of the Detroit
Pod r;ves an account Of "Nasby," now the
editor Of the Toledo Blade:
Everybody has read the Nasty letters, but
very few people know anything OF their origin
or their author. Those who have read the
book---lstely printed containing, according
"a the title page, HDivers Views, Opinions,
and Prophesies of yours trooly, Petroleum V.
Nasby.'' have undoubtedly made themselves
familiar with the portrait Of the ''Lait Pas
tori as drawn by Jones, and printed therein.
This is undoubtedly true likeness of Petro-
leum ". if not Of the gentleman who person
ates him in the Nasty letters and 1t IS not
improbable that many people would recognize
the former as a real caricature OF the latter
The picture was undoubtedly intended to have
some points of resemblance to the real au-
thor of "Nasby," and with this his many
admirinp readers should be satisfied. The
first of the Nasty letters appeared in April,
1863, but is printed third in the book. The
title is NEGRO Emgrashon." This paper
deprecates the alarming ssukcess" of negro
population at Wingert's Corners, calls upon
the "disnterested patriots" of all that place
Ito hold meetin to take this subjec into con-
siderashun," and proposes the " adopshun nv
series NV preamble and resolushens.h The
second clause of the proposed preamble
has in it the germ Of the entire series of Mas
by letters, and is printed as follows:
"Wareas, In the event of this imigrashun
our fellow townsman, Abslum Kilt, and 9th.
ers, whose familis depend upon their labor
for support. wood be throwd out OF their
employment
.'Abslum kitt' is not a mythe, but at the
time this letter was first published, lived at
Findlay, Ohio, his real name being Fenner.
Fenner was lazy, drunken, good fornoth-
ing sort OF fellow, seldom doing any work,
and making himself little less than town
charge In fact his father was already in the
poorhouse and if Flenner, Jr. had been there
too. he would cost the town less trouble and
money. About the time, a petition. emana-
ting from high Democratic authority, was
circulated in Ohio. asking the Legislature to
pass law prohibiting negro immigration, and
to provide for the removal of negroes then
residing in that State. The principal reason
offered by these 'disinterested patriots for
the passage of such law was that the great
influx of negroes from the South, which would
probably follow the expected emancipation,
that the white laborers could not live there.
A copy of this petition was sent to very
respectable Democrat Of Findlay, who, being
ashamed to circulate it himself, employed
Flenner to do the job
While III Flenner's hands, the petition was
seen by Mr.. d. X. Locke, publisher at that
time of the Findlay Jefersoniar, who was a,
once struck by its absurdity, especially when
presented by man like Flenner He. there.
tore, borrowed the petition, intending to
print II in the next issue Of his paper and
make some serious comments regarding it.
lfthis design had been carried out, the Nasty
letters would never have been written or pub
hshed; but SO extremely ridiculous did the
affair appear, that Mr., Locke, who is prac-
teal printer, finally gave up the idea Of writ
ing anything serious about it, and commenced
putting in type the letter referred to above
This he did without having written word OF
it, and without any welldeined plan, except
to make his solecisms humorous, and his
humor pointed, pungent. After the letter was
IN type Mr.. Locke hesitated about publishing
ii, and probably would not have done SO if he
could have found other matter to fill its place
before the time for the issue of his paper. So
the letter was published in the Jepersonian.
and in short time thereafter appeared in
many of the leading Republican papers
throughout the country, giving the writings OF
Nasty the stamp of success from the very
first Thus encouraged, Mr.. Locke contin.
ued to write over this signature, and the spb-
sequent career of Petroleum Y. is known to
every one. Flenner, indirect author of the
hrst Nasty letter, afterwards enlisted in the
United States service, and died in the army.
f. Az