Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-12
CORDOVA.
Thc story ~ Magnificent FaiIare.

correspondents New Orleans Pioayune
CoKDovA, MEXICO, January 25, 1857.
The colony at CordOvs is gOing-home.
1t rows smaller as the weeks ONE and
90. Only E year old, and already dead
going back Ia the States e. mdsSe. The
land Of Washington Is better yet than
the thickets and greasers Of Mexico.
How heartily were the old homes am
p0oned and the new ones lsUded. Only
i vear ago that was aye, only six
months ago. Then five hundred persons
pe1pled the valley. To-day two families
swarm the streets OF COrdova. The old
luutr was not half as much abused
going home as coming here. Universal
suffrage Is better than civil war, and
unlicensed robbery and hard work The
trees did not besr silver dollars as they
expected, and coffee and sugar planta-
tions were not offered gratis before they
landed 81 Vera Cruz.
Fortunes did not rise like e~xhalatiOns
snd fall into every ones hands. Then
the natives were up to snuff they were
A. keen and sharp IN a trade as the en-
thusisstic adventures nom the flower
flag country. Three hotels grew into
being in a dsy, but they are dead now.
The sharpest thieves that came and
sWindled unfortunately, native and
American, went down with the csneTal
wreck-went back to the states in debt
stole away, leaving Others involved and
bankrupt, and with characters, even
among the greasers OF this gambling ma
ton, no better than those who serve in
the changing on the streets, or the
pirate who infests the highways. MeXi-
cans had not the best opinion of AmeTi-
cans when they came-that opinion has
not improved by subsequent aequaint-
auce.
The good men of the Colony were put
TO shame by the reckless Proceedings Of
those who came to obtain a living by
their wits and their s~windliDgs. The
good have suffered for the bad the hon.
est been stripped by the wary and dis
honest. Not uninteresting would 8 his
tory Of this settlement be. Strange, in
deed would appear the record Of many
brave men, who came like birds Of prey
and departed amid general rejoicing.
Hotel bills, livery bills, all kinds Of bills
Of these gentlemen are thick as leaves
in ValsmbrOsia. And though many
were stopped by the law before clearing
for the states at Vera Cruz, many more
stole away with an army OF creditors
behind.
Thestate prisons must have poured out
the refuse here-the immoral, the robber, 4
the libertine, the thief, all came here 1
and fastened themselves upon honest
men, identified themselves with citizens
Of America, north and south, add
damned the colony and heeced it and
were the whole truth told, the head and
front OF native Interference and native
Tobber attacks the collected facts bound
IN a volume would be rich il good and
bad things. Stranger than any fiction
would it be; full OF human weakness
and f~railties curious, and grave, and
gay. The sad mingles in contrast with
the ludiCrOus. For some noble men
went down 10 the prison house of the
dead, suddenly and without help and
~ mpsthy.
Old men and young fell victims to the
fever, and were carried out TO the grave
with less ceremony and feeling, with less
and sorrow and respect than is
shown ~ the funeral Of a slave. Not all
went thus, for great and generous souls
were scattered here and there among the
mass. There are the mango trees sway
ing 10 the breeze on the plaza Of the
town he busy feet there no aged men
bare their heads to the cool breeze set
ting from the valley above the CHEEKY
voices OF the children are heard no more
aud the whir Of the machete TesOunds no
in the chapaTTal. There are houses
inhabitants, the gardens over
grown; the plaZ2 in a wilderness OF
weeds and shrubs the bucket hanging
in the we'll and the night birds
and wild animals crossing the deserted
thresholds and possessing themselves
o. them.
One year ago Gen. Price and Gov.
selected this spot for a town, and
r0ughed It there for months without roof
- hrraua nnf ~ha I'D ranarnl IT, .l.I D
old man, wanted TO see the bursting Of
the bubble, and then went sadly home.
Gov. Harris has followed, but not to the
states. Perkins has gone to Paris.
Shelby waits AZ COrdOva for the compile
lion Of his Tuxpsn enterprise. Hind f,
man, in the capital, preparing for his
lomeWBrd journey. So the fathers and r
founders Of the colony have abandoned
l.. Only a few remain; the quiet
men, not the Missionaries and boosters, /,
determining somewhere here, to wait
and see the end. The takers have gone; I
lll the indignant ones, the enthusi-
istic ones, the fortune hunters, the dead
Ocks, the bitter, uncompr0mising gen.
and some good men, too, struck {,
heir tents, lsOme struck their bosoms,) A,
md shook the Mexican brown dust from (
heir shoes, and are now safe under the
Itars and stripes. 1t was a disappOint- :
nent. {
In their anger, the boisterOus did not
the venerable founders Of the col :
the sage old man, who spent 80 I
dark, cold nights under the man. :
yOes OF COTdOya the unconQuered eX- Z
governor Of Tennessee the coldly polite I
lad genial ex-judge Of Louisiana; the !
earned author and scientific Maury, s
world renowned and honored /; the ehiv- !
.lrOus ~Shelby-all these, and others, +
anne in for their share Of abuse, and I
we're slashed and slaughtered without I
and without remOrse. A picture 3
4 these injured adventures taken before I
md after their return at New Orleans. N
IL -a..An.nA n-..-- D