The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1873-01-03

hultlSNllutluiuiius Su ~ - NUllNN hNu-
mond. Richmond Is the cap Of Hen
rico county, and | suppose 1t is called
the cap because it is at the head Of
tide water. Tide water isn't so good
to drink as untide water. Who Hen.
Rico was is more than | know. Prob
ably he sprang from the same family
as Costa Rica.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND.
Richmond is 344 miles from New
York, and | knew \ party once-quite
a large crowd there was. too-wllo all
carried guns, that were four years 60
ing there. The soil of Richmond is
red clay, and Shockoc creek runs
through the town. The James river
has bed, and 1t hard bed--one Of
your healthy kind. It's made OF gran
lite.
The Richmond Theater was in Rich
mond once. 1t burned up the day
after Christmas, Dec. 20, 1871, and
sixty-six whites and six colorea per-
sons, including the Governor OF the
State, lost theirlives. The Monument
al Episcopal Church was erected on
the site of the theater.
The site Of Richmond was first
visited by white fellows in 1900. The
site of Richmond is called a site. be-
cause folks go to sea- from there. |
never forgot what remember, and
the town was founded in l742, aud it
came blessed near being found dead in
1865. 1t was made the capital of the
State in 1880. In 1857 it had 800
houses, and in 1894 the canal was COM
pleted around the tails. This canal
added immensely to its commercial
advantages.
TOBACCO AND THE LATE WAR.
Richmond is celebrated for its luxu-
rious tobacco, that brown pain mate
rial that has ruined so many carpets
and tempers. People who resided iii
San Francisco twenty years ago, can
remember when tobacco became such
a drug in the market it couldn't be
sold, and the solid cases OF plug tobac-
co were used as foundations for frame
houses. This was in either 1850 or
1851, | forget which, and this stuff all
came from Richmond, where the peo-
pie even wear plug hats.
There was war here once, aud
they fought with real guns, with real
bullets lii 'em. For some years the
trip from Washington to Richmond
wasn't very pleasant one, especially
to a nervous man. Although that
whole country was full of pickets, and
every man had his post, there was not
a fence anywhere.
BEN M'CULLOCH AND ROGER A. PRYOR.
The last time / saw Ben MCCulloch,
the great Texas Ranger, was in Vir-
ginia. We were on the railroad that
runs from Aqnia Creek to Richmond.
1t was in March, 1861. He was in
company with Doctor Carter, who
was to deliver secession speech that
night In the African Church at Rich
InOnd. Doctor Carter had lady with
him, aud heard Ben tell her, that he
had many a time killed deer in the
morning, and worn its hide for a dress
that same day. Ben was shot at the
battle OF Pea Ridge.
The first time ever saw Roger A.
Pryor was one Saturday in March,
1861, when he addressed a secession
meeting at Danvillc, Va. All | heard
him say was ~ am for secession, inn
mediate, and eternal.'' Just then,
there was a rew and left. went
down to the tavern, and had sat there
but few moments, when friend
who represented a big scale house on
Broadway, New York, came rushing
up to me, and we went under the rail-
road bridge that crosses the Dan River,
and that fellow laughed so long and
loud, that | was afraid we'd get mob
bed. Says !, :" What In thunder ails
you?''
Then lie told me. They had a col
ored band upsat the meeting Of about
four instruments, and just as Pryor
got agoing, that cllss went up aud
gave tie leader Of the band a dollar to
play Yankee Doodle" They COM
inenced to play 1t, hence the row.
Only think Of " Yankee Doodle, at a
Secesh meeting. If those darkeys had
ever gone back on us, the mildest
treatment We could have expected
would have been d present Of two
waterproof tar oyeTrOats.
A STRANGE PEOPLE.
There are more people here who
can't be boiled white than In New
York. They are called negroes, and
some people Ike tie dark meat III
cooked chickens: some prefer the
white. It may be interesting to those
who prefer fhe dark meat to hear that
!. c..,.tia,,,o,. 4. ~, Tl9nhtnnnd lag ,.aisa,l