The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-03-08

quiet"
The Great Issue In Connecticut-The WoolIy
Horse Ticket for Congress-.
The wooden clocks and other "Yankee no
tons" of Connecticut made to sell at half
price, have given to that State through all the
country southwark very peculiar reputation.
To this day Connecticut Yankee beyond the
Potomac is apt to be regarded as that ira
ditional Yankee, that old time swindling vaga-
bond whose F" smartness' consisted in his 'cute
avoidance Of the meshcs of the law and in
keeping out of Jail. For the purpose Of an
the traditional Connecticut wandering Yankee
we publish to-day, from the autobiography Of
p. T. Barnum, the worthy nephew OF his uncle,
"O.d Phin," his statement concerning his
adventures with that aforesaid woolly horse.
Barnum, however, who does not stick at triaes,
is too modest in this case. He says that after
Colonel Benton failed in court to convict the
woolly horse exhibitor as an impostor, obtain
ing money on false pretences, the poor beast
out Of respect for the feelings Of Colonel
Benton, was Withdrawn from Washington,
after profitable run Of some days, in conse-
quence of the sensation raised by this prose-
cution.
We understand, however, from person who
was in Washington at the time, and who was
taken in to see the woolly horse by Colonel
Benton, in view OF this prosecution, that the
Snowman was let of, as deponent remembers
it, on the condition that his woolly horse was
to be shown no more in Washington that the
defendant accordingly shut up shop, and, to
make both ends meet got up a lecture
against Benton, at which the chop-fallen
Snowman afforded some amusement to the
boys present in such calls as, "Where's your
nondescriptw "Go on, Old Woollyw "Half
horse, half alligator, and runs like wooden
clock ~ "Who shaved his tail % and in other
remarks in the same vein, interjected from the
audience into the lecture. 1t was morally GER
tain that had Barnum kept "Old Woolly"
few weeks longer anywhere on the stage, as
Colonel Fremont's nondescript, the Snowman.
under prosecution from Fremont himself
(then in California;, would have ended his
woolly horse campaign behind an iroEAgrating.
1t was, then, not "respect for the feelings OF
Colonel Benton" but respect for the Tombs,
that turned the woody horse out to grass
This case, therefore, aptly illustrates that
Southern idea Of the strolling Connecticut
Yankee-a fellow of false pretcnces, whose
'cuteness consists in the 'cuteness of keeping
out Of jail. The difficulty of proving q mega
tive, which was the making of Barnum, failed
him in his woolly horse. But how nicely he
example, is no more to be believed than Joyce
Heth. 1t u, we must conclude, an imposture,
with all the other impostures of the author,
though purporting to be bona .tide and boast
full account of his successful experiments of
Yankee 'cuteness.
This Barnum is now q candidate for Con-
gress in Connecticut, the head Of the radical
ticket, the embodiment of the new radical
'platform-the woolly horse. The woolly man,
the negro, is played out; and now they fall
back on Barnum, his niger turning white, and
the woolly horse. All right. We only ask
fair field in Connecticut to secure . COM
plete vindication Of her traditional Yam
kee. She will stand by her tradi-
tons. She owes it to herself to sus-
tain her representative mantle living
type Of all her peculiar qualities as understood
beyond her borders, wooden clocks, wooden
nutmegs, woolly horse and ALL Shall Barnum,
who sunk all his profits from long procession
Of Yankee notions" in the great Connecticut
business Of wooden clocks, shall Barnum, after
these sacrifices, go unrewarded by his peoples
Don't point to New York and John Morrissey.
Morrissey has been to church, has made confess
sion, has recorded his vows TO bung up no more
eyes, to knock out no more teeth, to mash no
more noses into jelly and to keep no faro bank
or keno bank in Washington, and he is new
man. Barpum Is the identical Barnum Of the
woolly horse, and the question, the vital ques-
ton before the good people Of Connecticut is,
shall we not stick TO our representative man,
the walking embodiment of Connecticut, and
shall we not in the name Of the State, send
him trumphantly into Congress on his woolly
horsef That's the question upon which this
whole election in Connecticut turns.
Men may say what they like. They may say
tna' Barnum's election will be shame 10 the