Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-04-01
MACK" ON THE aOOMING MAN"

Il
Specimens Of the Original Benwadese.
On Friday last, Mack" 10 letter to
the Cincinnati Commercial, turned loose the
following tart and trenchant paragraph on
"0ld Ben Wade:"
STURDY OLD BEN.
''Lord, Lord, how this world is given TO
lying" But whether the lying is done by
sturdy old Ben. Wade is, with unparalleled
unanimity by all who undertake TO write
about him, not a settled question yet. i
had an interview with sturdy old Ben. last
fall-I wrote about it to the Commercial,
lengthily, and I'll swear truthfulIy-but
sturdy old Ben. said ii was all id lie.
He never said Grant talked horse; oh, no,
not he; and as for the profanity with which
that letter of mine was favored, why, bless
your soul, that was pure malice on my
part. "I'll be d-d to hell if l ever swore
in my life" said sturdy old Ben. in deny
ing the contents Of that letter, and made
other heightened remarks which I couldn't
insert in the Commercial without translating
from the original Benwadese-the Ameri-
can court language of the near future,
gentle reader.
Misery loves company" and ] am hap
py TO know that / am not alone in the en-
joynsent of sturdy old Ben.'s wr&thfpl de-
nunciation. had previously an associate
in the person of one of the editors Of the
New York Times, to whom sturdy old Ben.
gave the lie for a report of his agrarian
speech in Kansas, and on the question of
veracity thus growing up, Forney assured
the country that sturdy old Ben.'s word was
as good az his bOnd-which / take 10 be
fair warning to sturdy old Ben.'s bondhold-
ers TO sell out at a sacrifice. To Mr.. Sey-
mour of the Times, and the infamous and
unprincipled Mack of the Commercial, is
now added Mr.. George Alfred Townsend,
who, il seems, has been grossly slandering
sturdy old Ben. Forney decides the case
against Townsend as circumstantial evil
dence, to-wii: the use of profane and un-
grammatic language. He says il cannot be
true that sturdy old Ben. spoke i'll of Mr..
Chase because Townsend represents him
to have done il in language at once irreve-
rent and nnsyntactic. That's Forney all
over; but to my mind the representation
Of sturdy old Ben. without swear to every
other word, would be priuld facie evidence
OF hction. Fifteen minutes as gentleman
would ruin sturdy old Ben, by destroying
hiss strong hold upon the American heart
which is called bluffness in him, but goes
by the unsavory title of boorishness in
others.
But sturdy old Ben says it's d-d lie,
and the question of veracity comes up be-
tween him and Mr.. Townsend, as to whether
he did or did not abuse Mr. Chase and the
Cleveland Leader. ] have seen gentlemen
who were present at the conversation, and |
they concur in vouching for the truth of
Mr. Townsend's statement, except that it |
Omits much ofsturdy old Ben. sbasphemy |
Mr.. Townsend addressed him respectfully |
as an applicant for pass to the reporters |
gallery, as the correspondent of the Leader; |
Whereupon sturdy old Ben. launched forth |
into a torrent of blssphemous invective |
against the Leader as a &C id Chase |
paper" and all that sort of thing. | am |
glad of it. | rejoice that Mr.. Seymour, of |
the Times, and myself have found partner |
in distress. The Leader pounced on me |
last fall, picked up sturdy old Ben.'s dis. |
claimer and brandished it in my face. &C. |
id Chase paper" eh How does the |
Leader like it ? When the scripiural raga-
mullins made sport of a venerable gentle |
man who had no hair on the top of his |
head in the place where the wool ought 10 |
grow, grow, grow, the bears got after them.
The Leader made more than sport of me, |
and the bear has got after it. The Leaders |
experience will be like mine, that every |
time you refer to sturdy old Ben.'s record, |
you wake TO ecstacy the livingI lyre7 under |
slight orthographical modification. Won't |
somebody else try their hand at the bust
ness? The noble army of martyrs is in
creasing. Three id liars will do for a |
start-Seymour, of the New York Times, |
the undersigned and Mr.. Townsend. All |
who want TO join our brigade must first |
call on sturdy old Ben. and write some
thing about him. Sturdy old Ben bluff |
old Ben dear old Ben sweet old Ben 4! |
truthful old Ben