Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-12-19
Massey.
Written for the Toledo Blade.
Written for the Toledo Blade.
The Amnesty Proposition
The Inhabitants of the Cross
Roads made the Victims OF n
Cruel and HeaFtIeSs Hoax.
CoNFEDRIF X ROABs,
(wich is IN the Stait NY Kentucky
December Sd, 1866.

CONFEDRIF x ROABs,
(wich is IN the Stait uy Kentucky
December Sd, 1866.
never wuz so elevated nor never so
cast down in my life ez last mite, and
the entire Corners wuz ditto. The cir
cumstanees of the case wuz ez fol-
lows: Ne and party NV friends wuz a
playln draw poker with a Moo Yorker
commershel travler, l believe they call
'em, feller with a mustash and side
WhIskers wich comes South talkin Sc
cesh and a sellin goods. He made some
inquiries about the standin Nv the deal
ers at the Corners, and wuz. after sed
inquiries, eggstreemly anxious to sell
'em goods for cash. They wanted 'em
on ninety days time, and on this they
split. He argued with 'em on prinei-
ple-he drank to jeff Davis, and
damned Linkin flOoently-but on the
cash question ne was inhexible and i'm
movable. To while away the rosy
hours, few choice sperits, him in
cioOded, gathered in the Post Orfis, TO
enjoy a game Nv draw poker. There
wuz me and Squire Gavitt, and Deekin
/ i bEI III dA-AA L4LuCI DAdLnCl6f anu lnC
Moo York drummer. We played till
past the Witchin hour Nv y NJ, when
graveyards yawn and costs troop forth
when the Moo Yorker suckumd.-
His innocent, unseasoned bowels,
hedn't been eddicated up to the stand
ard NV Kentucky whiskey. wieh, new
ez we drink it, is pisen to foreigners
The Deekin and Elder grabbed the
stakes wich wuz onto the table, and ri
I fled his pockets on the supisheu that
he wuz an ablishinist, and rolled him
out, and while in the very act, Pol
lock, the Illinoy store keeper, cum
rushin in, askin US ef we'd heerd the
news.
We answered yoonanimously that
we hedn't.
'Pm just from louisville" sed he,
Il Just rode over from the stashen."-
Louisville is in a blaze nv gloryH
wat" sez l chez Sumner killed
Thad Stevens and immejitly commit
ted sooicide?"
Mary" sez he, " but johnson and
Congress hev cum together on the ba-
sis Nv yooniYersal Amnesty, wich wuz
proclaimed yesterday, to be follered
by universal Suffrage ez soon ez the
South kin conveniently do it They
hev met and embraced on Horris Gree
ly'o PLAN"
Deekin Pogram bust into hysteric-
al laf and in his joy handed me the
proceed Nv his exploration Nv the
pockets Nv the Moo Yorker, and like
blessed old lunatic broke for the
meetin house. In a moment or two
the bell pealed forth it's joyous notes,
and in a mint more the half dressed
villagers wuz seen emergin from their
respective dOmiciles in all styles Nv at
tire. A few minits sufhced to make
them understand what wuz the occa-
sion NV the uprOar, and more enthoO-
siastic population never woke the ek-
kos. AfOre FIVE minnits he'd rolled Oft
into eternity, ther wuz q bonfire blazin
on the North side Nv the square, the
sed bonfire bein a niger skool house
wich the Freedmen's COmmishen he'd
erected, and wich our enthusiastic
citizens he'd in their deliTum Nv Joy set
fire to. 1t wuz emblematic. The smoke
ez it rolled South methawt assoom-
ed the shape Nv a olive branch-the
cry Nv the niger children wich Good
ent escape, sym holized their desertid
cundishen, and the smell Nv EN- ez
they roastid wuz like unto incense,
grateful to our nostrils.
A informal meetin Wuz to Wunst or
ganized, by the light Nv the burnin
skool house, to wich Deekin Pogram
J. 1 l,.~-,1f Il T,,oul-a1 Fhaf
this wuz a solemn occasion, so solemn
indeed that he felt inadekate to ex-
press the feelins wich filed him. His
mouth want big enough to give vent
to his sole, though if he didn't he'd
bust. "Wat are we met here for to-
mite" sed he, ''wat calls US together2
Wherefore these sounds Nv joy
wherefore this fire, and wherefore is
Bascom sellin Ticker at half price?-
Beeoz we are rehabilitated-tha'ts wot
we are Becoz the North hez gone in
TO the olive branch bizness agin, and
We hev wunst more our rites. We are
amnestied. We kin Vote-we kin go
10 Congress-we are agin citizens Nv
the great Republic
Pollock, the IllinOy store keeper riz
and begged permishin to say word.
He prOIestid agin these doins. He un-
derstoOd, akkOrdin to HOrrIs Greely's
plan, that yooniVersal suffrage wuz 10
follow yooniversal amnesty-Why then
this maxim John Rodgerses Nv the mig
gers? Wuz the South a goin to act in
good faith?
Deekin Pogram replied: The South |
never yit broke plighted faith save
when she Good make suthin by so doin. /
At this present junkter nv affairs he |
the South wood extend, not |
precisely universal suffrage to the mig |
gers, but the way wood be opened to
EN-. Sich a mass Nv ignorance Good |
never be trusted with the ballot with |
out preparashen, anu to prepare EN-
wood be q oYerturnIn the Kentucky /
theory, that the niger is a beast, and
the Northern Demokratic idea that the
niger wuz Gust by Noer and doomed
forever to be a slave.
The gentleman from Illinoy will to-
Tunst perceive the fix we are in. They
lint fit for the ballot now, and eff we
make EN- so, it overturns our theory,
Eich we cant do. Still we propose TO
be- Just to EN-. We shell give sich Nv
sm the ballot ez are sufishently intelli-
ent, and we shell not put the standard
too high nuther. We shel give every
Tun NV EN- the ballot who is able to
,eed the Greek testament fiuently and
pass a credible examinashen in Latin,
French, German, English
irammer and double-entry book-keep-
Il. The path to the polls you see is
,pen to EN-. Nv course we cant be ex-
1ectid to tolerate skool-houses for EN-,
,oz that wood raise EN- above their
lormal condishen. Also, ther must be
proper regulashens controllin EN-, for,
ny deer sir, they are mere infants, and
heir totterin steps on the road to free
lom needs directing. Society is a COM
promise in wich every one resigns ez
much NV his persnel liberty ez the good /
" the hull may demand. We count '
ourselves the hull, and the resinin NV 4
,ersnel liberty must come from them. 5
That Niger" sed he, pintin to wun &
yich the joyous citizens wuz stringin {
Up to Bascom's sign post, "that niger {
5 q resinin his persnel freedom for the /
,ood of the hull. No doubt in his {
leart he murmurs, and eff the cord wieh
5 chokin him Good be loosened, he v
wood repine. 1t is rough on him, but
I n !