The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1867-06-20
rFrom the Detroit Post,
NASBY.
How Mr.. Locke Turned to be
Petroleum.

How Mr.. Locke Turned to be
Petroleum.
Everybody has read the Nasby let
ters, but very few people know any
thing of their origin or their author.
Those who have the bOOk-lately
printed-containing, according to the
title page, "Divers Views, Opinions,
and PrOphesies of yoors troOly, Petro-
Ieum V. Nasby," have undoubtedly
made themselves familiar with the
portrait of the ssLait PASTOR" as drawn
by Jones and printed therein. This is
undoubtedly a true likeness of Petro-
Ieum v, if not of the gentleman who
persOnates him in the Nasby letters,
and it is quite probable that many peO-
pie 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 author of "Nasby," and with
this many admiring readers should be
satisfied. .....- .-
The first of the Nasby letters ap=
peared in April, 1863, but is printed
third in the book. Its title is ''NegrO
Emancipation This letter depre-
Gates the alarming ''inkrees" of negro
population at Wingett's Corners, calls
upon the "disinterested patriots of
that place to "hold a mass meetin to
take this subiik in2 cOnsiderashun," T"
and propose the "adopshen NV a series
Nv preamble and resOlooshens.p The
second clause Of the proposed "pre-
amble'' has in it the germ of the en-
tire series of the Nasby letters, and is
printed as follows :r-
tt tWdreas, In the event of this emil
grashun, our rfeIIow-tOwnsman Abslum
Kit, and uthers, whose families de-
pend upon their labor for support,
would be thrOde out of employment" :"
HAbslum IEitt' is not a myth, but
at the time this letter was first pub
lished lived at FindIay, Ohio, his real
name being FIenner. Flenner was a
lazy, drunken, good-fOr-nothing sort of
a fellow, seldom doing any work, and
making himself little less than a town
charge. In fact, his father was al
ready in the house, and if Flen-
ner, Jr., had been there too he would
have cost the town less trouble and
money. About this time a petition,
emanating from high Democratic au-
thOrity; was circulated in Ohio, ask
ing the Legislature to pass a law pro-
hibiting negro immigration, and to
provide for the removal of negroes
then residing in that State. The
principal reason offered by these 'Edis-
interested patriots" for the passage of
such law was that the great influx of
negroes from the South that would
follow the expected emancipation
would so reduce the wages Of labor in
Ohio that white labOfeTs t6dld not live
there. a copy of this petition was
sent to a veryrespectable Democrat of
Findlay, who, being ashamed to cir
culate it himself, employed Flennet to
do it. While in Flenner's hands, the
petition was seen by Mr.. D. r. Locke,
publisher at that time of the Findlay
JeffersOnian, j who was at once struck
by its absTdity, especially when pre-
sented by a man like FIenner. He,
therefore, borrowed the petition, in
tending to print it in the next issue Of
his paper and make some serious COM
ments regarding it. Ifthis design had
been carried out the Nasby letters
would never been written or publish
ed; but so extremely ridiculous did
the whole affair appear that Mr.. locke,
who is practical printer, finally gave
up the idea of writing anything Sc
riOus about it, and commenced putting
in type, with his own hands, the let
ter referred to above. This he did with
out having written word of it; and
without any well-defned plan, except
to make his sOlecism humorous and his
humor pdihted and pungent. After
the letter was in type Mr.. Locke hesi-
tated about publishing it, and prOba-
bly, would not have dOne.sO 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 JeffersOnian, and in a 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 sigttature,
and the subsequent career of Petro-
leum V. is known to every one. Elem
ner, the indirect author of the first
Nasby letter, afterward enlisted in the
United States service and died in the
army.