The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-04-21

the poor man had In that line, and, besides this,
nearly every particle OF subsistence he possessed
was taken by the thieves, leaving him In very
unpleasant predicement, and most of his neigh
bors were In no better situation. Mr. Scissor
could, very justly, have presented claim for
three or more times the amount he did, but he
preferred not to do it. He is a thoroughly loyal
man, and every con he had capable of bearing
arms was, ut the time of this occurrence, and
all through the war, in the Union army battling
for his country, and II was only the advanced
years of the father that prevented linn being
there also.
I submit to your candor whether this Is O case
to be held up to the people of Pennsylvania to
be scoffed at, and yet you present 1t as sample
Again The case of claimant in Ayr town.
ship. which you hold up as a subject for scandal,
is that of a widow lady whose only two sons
were In the Unien army. The claim she pre-
sents amounts to $247, the principal item of
which is for a horse pressed into the Union SER
vice by some of the soldiers of Milroy's army in
the retreat from Winchester. This horse she
had then but recently purchased to aid her In
the hills. She paid S240 for the animal
About seven or eight months afterwards the
horse turned up at Chambersburg, where some
cavalry regiments had returned to reorganize
and the horse was recognized by some persons
who had previously known him, but he was
now STAYED, spawned, and so badly broken
down that he was condemned and turned into a
corral 10 die, or to be sold, with the brand "U.
made to obtain compensation for the horse at
Government price from the United States off,
cials without success, but instead the horse was
ordered to be returned to the owner. So badly
was he used up that it took two days to get him
home, distance of thirty miles, and after much
trouble and considerable expense In doctoring,
the horse, for which less than year before this
widow lady had paid $240, she now sold for $50,
which, with the claimlshe now presents for his
services, ETC., would aggregate her $212 for the
$240 she paid for him, without adding the ex-
| pense she was at In recovering him. and without
having any services from him OF any account.
The next most important item in her claim is
| for field of oats, which, IL she had been per-
mitted to harvest and market at the then price
| of OATS would have realized her at least, so said
| by. .competent judges, $3.50, while her Claim for
| passed that way (and not tor the first or second
| time ether, and turned their whole force of
several regiments of horses into the field to
'browse, SO that what was left scarcely paid
| for gathering and threshing.
The third and last item in this claim is for q
| pair of new and superior blankets taken by the
'Johnnies," for which she asks $40, but which
cost her more money than that in those days.
| This makes the sum total of her claim but not
| OF her loss. Her house was at different times
| sacked and ransacked by the ipcarnate devils of
rebeldom, and much was destroyed or carried
away. Instead of $247 she could Justly have
summed up claim of $500 or $600 and even
more; but she chose not to do so.
This widow lady, who deserves better than to
be treated with 0pprobrium, was intensely loyal,
ard willingly, but naturally with a sad heart
sent her only two sons into the service of her
| country, content to struggle along under diff
culties as best she could with the assistance of
| her daughters. She always welcomed to her
| house and fed and sheltered any Union soldiers
who passed that way, to the extent of her ability
| to do, and never accepted one cent of compen-
| sation for so doing. Herself and daughters, like
all the patriotic ladies in that community,
always labored to provide for and freely gave
| from their depleted stores to the Sanitary and
| Christian Commissions, and yet because she
| deems it just to ask for compensation for a
| tithe of her losses (not her willing sacrifces),
| her claim is paraded in the public prints az un-
worthy, and herself proclaimed, by implication
| at least, as disloyal and unpatriotic.
| Such is the history of these two cases, truth
| fully stated, which you have selected good
odium on the lust claims of the border people,
who made not only all the ordinary sacrifices of
war, but suffered these extraordinary spolia-
| tions besides, and the paralyzation of all busi-
ness, growing poorer and poorer, while the
| communities outside the repeatedly invaded
| district enjoyed a degree of prosperity and
realized returns from capital and labor unpre.
| cedented in the history of the State.
And these two claims which you seek to bur-
| lesque and the claimants whom you aim to be-
little in the eyes of their fellow-citzens abroad
| are but fair average specimens of the Others
you publish, and, indeed, of the ninety-nine one.
| hundredths of all of them. FULTON.
McConnellsburg, Fulton CO., April 18, 1871.
|