The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-01-06
CHARLESTON LETrER.
Three Celebrities at the Permanent
Seat.
CHARLESTON, Dec. 81, 1871.

Seat.
CHARLESTON, Dec. 81, 1871.
Correspondence OF the IntcllIgcncer.
A few mornings ago three celebrities
appeared on the public square of the
Permanent Seal" who although as differ.
Gnt in their antGCedenis, aspirations and
purposes Us could well be imagined, yet
each were surrounded with their respec.
tive troops of intcrviewers and admirers,
each being possessed Of different tastes
and pecnliArities Gs were their respective
heroes. With your indulgence, Mr..
Editor, l will give your readers very
briet biography OF each Of tho above
mentioned worthless. ....
Our special artist on the ground kindly
promised to give me drawing of each,
but rs suppose these could not be trans.
lGrred to your columns very brief de-
scripliOn must suffice.
: The first is no other than the workable
Beverly Tucker, of Virginia, who has
made himself somewhat conspicuous in
public life-somc Of which, looking from
a loyal stand point, is not the most
creditable. Your readers will remember
the part he took in the late rebellion, par.
tiCularly in his connection with one Jacob
Thompson and others on the northern
frontiers and in Canada. in the attempt to
infect our country with most loathsome
diseases by scattering infected clothing
in which the paupers died. Our own
Rev. DR.. Stuart Robinson was said,
(though we would tain hope mott to be i'm.
plic0ted. Mr., Tucker 10 oI Ine real "Old
Virginia" type Of the "F. +. VS." be.
lieve he was a Minister under the ad-
ministration Of James Buchanan to
some of the foreign courts, where, it is
said that his salary of thousands of dol.
lars and outfit was inadequate to his style
OF living, that upon leaving he was ar
rested, and perhaps, imprisoned as an
"absconding debtor" allow are the
mighty fallen" He was here like his
great cxamplar and leader, Jefferson
Davis, ESQ, acting in the interest of some
insurance company" But nearly every
broken down politician and other persons
of large aspirations and little means
having been here before him-he did not
remain long. Whittier he went is not
known, but wherever he may it will be
plainly inscribed on his escutcheon las
was said by darkey here) "played out"
The second was Peter Matthews, late
member of the convention which formed
the present Constitution Of Virginia.
Peter is OF pure African extraction, as
appearances seem t. indicate. The time
honored mode Of linking the races"
about Richmond, where Peter says he was
"JOrM and raised" seems to have had
nothing to do in his composition. Peter
Is about five feet seven or eight inches in
height, some twcnty.siX years 0! age, and
his conversation is much after the De
Tnginny style, but strikingly marked
with common sense. He says he was q
slave until the close Of the 1dto, and nevo
had anythingto do with State alias until
after that time. lie, although extremely
modest, appears TO be somewhat proud Of
his history; does not seem ashamed to al.
ludG to his former servile condition, but
IS evidently proud Of the part he took in
forming the organic law OF u great State
which has been so marked for her
production Of so many great men.
There Is nothing about Peter Matthews
TO destroy the force of the poetic idea Of
Ed. lollard-that inlhc unpromising and
unsightly son Of Africa NAV vet be
found the type OF beauty long lost in
aesthetic history-a true orator; and
tIat some "forcst. born" Demos,hencs nj
n distant date may be q black man.
The third character interviewed On
that morning, and of whose history /
must necessarily be brief, was old l}illy
Hammock, the Hunter" whether n
lineal deSCCndCnt Of the Vcritable MIN.
rod, ! will not attempt TO say. Billy is
tho eldest, except one sister, Of family
of thirteen, all Of whom Except himself
and sister, have passed away. lie stands
six lcet three inches in his "moccasins," Is
somewhat warped, but his small, keen
blOck eye, which has always esch4ced
spectuclGS, although little shrunken, Is as
brilliant as ever. His age is near eighty
years, ycthe seems as hopeful for the fu-
ture us any Of his grandchildren, illus.
trating the idea that "all men think all
men mortal but themselves"
remember, something over half a cen.
fury ago, when old Parson Chaddock, of
charleston, was led by the father OF the
writer twelve miles over blind path to
unite as one our "hero Runter' and a
certain Sally, who also was the eldest
and is now, / believe, the only survivor
OF a family Of eleven, and who, in BflIy's
own laconiC language on the occasion oC
thp intRrviRV raIarrnd IN 10 attn a = ar