Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-23
MEMPHIS.


Arrival of Jeff. Davis-HOW EEe was
Received and How ne Locks
Memories of the War TIme-An
extraordinary Railway Trslnsnc-
tiOn-President Brinkiey JimfinIEed
a Theatrical War.
Correspondence of the Union and American.
MEMpHrs, Nov. 19.-Yesterday ladies' in
great numbers and gentlemen as well, were
gathered around Mr. Jefferson Davis.
see little change in his personal appearance
since 1864. Then you may remember
that the genii of famine were said by ''S.
L." to conduct the revolution. Sedden
was Secretary of War whose bones guttled
when he descended the stairways Of the
Spotswood. His pallid face, sharp, angu-
lar, voe-stricken features and brilliant,
sunken ewes would have furnished
another Eugene Sue with st
original for another Rodin. The pale,
dreary, thin, weazen-faced Stephens
was then the important unrecognizsd Vice
President of the Confederacy. When Davis,
one bleak, cold, wintry morning, during
the winter designated, was ascending
capitol HILL l remember how frail he was
how the wind shook his attenuated frame,
and how, if he failed to walk in the eye of
the wind, turning either to the right OF left,
he was whirled about by the driving blast
like dry leaf in autumn time. Davis was
king in those days and his clerks and great
men were hungry looking, like the armies
they moved and people they ruled But
the chiefest of all these mighty men of the
mighty rebellion, was wholly different in
physical, as he was superior in most ele-
ments of intellectual greatness, to Davis,
or Sedden. Did you ever meet Benjamin
you were never in Richmond gambling
he'll, and never sought foreign mission
at the hands of the Confederacy, and nay
never have encountered the sleek, refund,
self-satisfed son of Isaac who welded at
will the fortunes of the South. He
enjoyed with the same keen zost a
game at faro, where thousands changed
hands every instant, and the results of cam
paigns planned by himself and suggested to
Davis. He was chess-player when he
moved Lee, Bragg or Price, and neither
more nor less interest than an ordinary
chessplayer didhe acknowledge in the result
of battles and campaigns. He is at this
hour as thoroughly British patriot as he
was true Confederate, and yet BENJAMIN
was the governing spirit and intellect of
the South. But for the soulless Benjamin
there might have beenpeace, as Lee is saidt
have insisted, Immediately after Gettys-
burg.
How naturally all these memories, now
growing old, are revived by the reappear-
ance of the once familiar face and form of
this extraordinary man, jefferson Davis.
He has won an immortal name, and it is
surely the essence of Immortality that pro-
tracts the present physical existence of this
almost disembodied spirit. I have imag-
med that his blood completes the circuit of
his being once month, and that it will
thus flow on while he wills it.
MEMPHIS JMFIsKED
Jim Fisk has won a share of fame as a
manipulation OF railways. Doubtless he Is a
| wonderful tinancier. But Arkansas outrivals
| New York, and boasts Of dabblers in stocks
| before the lustre OfwhOse genius and SPLEEN
| dor of whose achievements that of Fisk
| grows pale, nevermore to attract the gaze
of mankind. Years ago the city of Mem
| phis invested $3.50, 900 in q road TO Little
Rock. Citizens of Memphis became share
| holders for large amounts, until the city
and its citizens probably held 81, 900, 900 OF
this Arkansas railway stock There were a
few stockholders-cities, individuals and
counties-in Arkansas. Recently vigorous
efforts have been made to complete the
| road, only 30 miles being unfinished. Mr..
| Brinkley, President of the company, went
| to New York and has Just succeeded in Sc.
curing 100000 in greenbacks, $780,
| 900 worth or iron, and a future
| loan of half a million. While he
is absent on this mission a pair Of
shrewd Eastern contractors on the road,
cooperating, it is said, with Gov Clayton,
have gathered the few Arkansas stock.
holders, elected themselves and others, q
board of directors, and seizing the property
and franchises of the corporation, propose
to eject Brinkley and his Tennessee asso.
ciates. Epperson and Fremont of the
Southern Pacific, are thus deprived of al
the advantages ofcontracts they had mad,
with Memphis and with Brinkley and her,
in Arkansas and Memphis, we have a more
wonderful development of the villainy o
this railway ring building age, than wa,
ever recognized in Eastern cities lie
Fisk and Drew and the lesser light
of Wall street penetrate the Wild
of Arkansas and they will acquire
valuable lessons. The fame Of him whC
stole fire from heaven of the Spartan you'll
who stole the fox and suffered it to gnav
his vitals out; of Rutters accomphces il
depredations upon the school fund; o
those who plundered Phil Garvin, our sim
Pile minded Memphis tax-gather, who dice
poverty-stricken and of broken heart; o
that illustrious Ethiopian thief who stole
red hot cooking stove-the glory of al
these thieves pales before that of men whi
appropriate whole railroad The task la.
been executed, and Memphis stands herr
numbering like a spanked baby over thu
loss. 1t is alleged, with what de
gree of truthfulness / cannot tell, tina
this is a mere financial dodge of tive
sharp fellows, named Sawin i Sickles, con
tractors. They made no money by making
entertainments and furnishing cross-ties
and, in conjunction with the llustriou
| Governor of Arkansas, have devised thi
mode of raising the wind by levying blacl
mail upon Brinkley, Epperson and Ere
mont. This Memphis and Little Rocl
Railroad is only the first section of tn
Southern Pacific, and these Arkansas PEG
pie, for their own selfish ends, would al
rest the progress Of a work in which tn
whole country is interested.
ANOTHER TERRIBLE EXPLOSION.
We have here another smaller tempes
brewing, which begets deal Of local excite
ment. ThetwO theaters are atwar. Spaldlng
Bidwell 4 McDOnough, proprietors OF tn
New Memphis Theater, seek to destro
Broome of the Opera house. Broome ha
been in Memphis several years. He de
votes himself to the burnt cork, has a mu
titude of pretty dancing and singing girls
gives fine music, and, of its class, main
tains one of the best institutions IN tn
country. His wine room adioins tn
theater, while that of Spalding, Bidweu
Co., is in the basement Of their magnificeI
building Broome has paid taxes to tn
| city, county and State amounting to 81, SOI
while the Legitimate" theater, so-oallet
: has all its burdens lessened and asks fc
| further reduction of its-tax list. The Il
= ultimate Spalding Bidwell i Co, give I
, ''Formosa, more than the Black Crook {
1 White Fawn, and present farces that woul
: make Bacchus blush; and yet, tol
3 sooth, Broome must be suppressed. I'll
war between the rival houses extends t
the streets and its absurdest development
! have been made in the Legislature. L
l make general laws, imposing penalties IL
indecencies, spectacular or otherwise, ma
well become the province of the Gener
8 Assembly, but to suffer itself to be made
? party to this struggle between two instit'
tons equally worthy or unworthy of con
: mendation, would be disgraceful to IL
last degree. 5. L.
A GrINDsToNE, six feet in diameter an
, weighing about two and half tons, e
= ploded in a file grinding shop at Newarl
N. j., on Tuesday last, bursting into fra
. ments, one of which crushed through Il
floor above into the second story, and OF
or two others broke passages through Il
: wall Five men were severely injure
y while several others made narrow escape
THERE is something about the night a
at Chicago which operates singular