New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-10-17
The Friend Of Horace.
JeT. Davis Under "A social Cloud at Mem
phis-IIow He Prospers In the Insurance
Business.
George Alfred Townsend In the Chicago Tribune
JEFF. DAVIS AT HOME.

IGeorge Alfred Townsend In the Chicago Tribune
JEFF. DAVIS AT HOME.
Jefferson Davis is the president Of the
Carolina Insurance Company, and resides in
Memphis. For some time he lived Mt Pea
body House, which is named in honor OF the
philanthropist, George Peabody; but, since
the late sleeping-car scandal, the old chap
has gone to housekeeping. I heard different
statements as to his effectiveness in the in
surancc company. Some said that the large
salary paid to him was as good as thrown
away, for the company had derived no popu-
larity or confidence from his connection:
others said that he still retained considerable
general popularity in the South, but that in
Memphis he was the deadest man resident
there. asked the reason for this, and found
it entirely attributable to the slceping-car
affair. Nobody familiar with the facts en-
tertains particle of doubt that Davis dis
graced himself and played the traitor to his
family, in the most public manner, in view
of his fellow-travelers of the sleeping-car,
the conductor, and even the negro porter.
Some palliatc his oflensc by saying that he
was drunk at the time, and that the first
thing he did after being ordered out was to
take pull ut the bottle. He is not gencr-
ally, however, drinking man, and the act
which disgraced him sits so incompatiblv
upon his aristocratic shoulders that the man
has lost recognition even to himself. In
youth Davis was brave, positive, and I'M
yielding man; but he had not the qualities
to command the confidence of General Tay-
Tor, whose daughter he married, and that old
hero refused TO recognize him rs 4 sOn-in-
law until he was wounded ut Buena Vista.
by his second marriage Mr.. Davis has half
a dozen OF children, and during his confinc-
ment at Fort Monroe, and during all the sub
sequent scenes, he was borne up by his wiies
steadtast domestic sympathy and comfort.
Had he been person of real force of cha
racter, he would have identified himself, like
Gen. Lee or Gen. Malone, or even Gen For
rest, with some of the material interests OF
the South, and labored to rchabilitatc the
land, and inspirit it to new hopes under the
new condition of things. But jefferson Da-
Wis has regarded the whole war of the rebel
lion as merely part of his personal bio
graphy, and, in the fall of the Confederacy,
he has regarded his life as ended. and has
labored ever since to make it consistent by
sincerely and bitterly hating the Union.
Soon after his release from Fort Monroe he
began to make speeches in Georgia. which
lost the Democratic party and the South the
charity of the nation, and cost Mr.. Seymour
his defeat. The Southern people were re-
solved not to stand this foolishness from any
man, and they laid hands on Mr.. Davis and
compelled him to silence, so that his promise,
whatever 1t is worth, now stands on record
never to utter political sentiment again.
So committed, he was made President of the
Carolina Insurance Company but his man
ner continued to be Overbearing, and some
Memphis gentlemen told me that Mrs. Davis
went by the name of empress and was in
the habit of saying to ladies who called upon
her:
/ am very glad to see you, and hope you
will come again; but you must excuse me
| from calling in return, as | have so many
callers that it is impossible to answer the de-
mand, any more than when Mr.. Davis was
President at Ricnmond.''
One gentleman, a Staunch rebel, who had
just taken his seat in Mrs. Davis room.
| when this remark was made to his wife. rose
under the sole condition of social equality,
and, when you say that, Mrs. Davis, you
must permit me to take my wife home.'
However, the loyalty of the Southern peO-
pie to that unfortunate cause, where they
| contributed so much and so calamity, rem
dered Mr. Davis an intellectual idol. He was
looked upon as the type of the South, and
worthy of such recognition as Frenchman
might pay to the dethroned Napoleon. As
he was an old man, the young ladies and
girls, with the Southern warmth of DISPOSE
tiOn would kiss him in the street and on the
stairway familiarity; and no pains were spared
to show the man that he might have the
respect of Southern society, his political OBJ
stinacy and errors to the contrary notwith-
standing. But, when the indubitable evil
dence came that this man, on whom the
South, and all his neghbors had conferred
the highest confidence, and labored, through
his malignant temperament, to find some
spot for affection to center, had made HIM
self a spectacle before the travelling public
by following toward Nashville a woman with
whom he had been suspiciously familiar for
several months, and had been ordered out of
her berth by a negro porter, the respect of
Memphis fell. That city has its own private
obligations of a religious and family charac-
ter to maintain, and, feeling that Mr. Davis
had not appreciated the respect shown him,
he was cut dead on the street by scores of
people; and the ladies shrank before him,
and woudnot permit him to touch them with
his hand.
THE DIFFERENCE IN MAN.
1.-THE girls don't rush up 80 kiss old .Ieti.
any more" said one to me. "They give
him wide berth now, since he took that
narrow berth on the train
| endeavOred to find somebody who did not
believe that Davis was guilty; but the opin-
ion was universal, and the evidence cumuat-
i've, that he had not been traduced, and had
received merely his deserts. Said an old cit
izen, in rcpOnse to my inquiry: "My heart
sunk down when l received Davis tele-
graphic dispatch from Baltimore. | knew
then that he admitted the whole thing. The
negro and some of the passengers had related
the story of Jeff.'s plight upon the tram, and
the same was published in the Louisville
Commercial, and in papers further North, and
was then copied back into our country. We
conferred together and tcleGraphed to Mr..
Davis, at Baltimore, that the severest cal
mpies were made upon his character and