Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-04-25
EDWARD CANEVHELL, Esq. Is
HE POETl


the people to answer it.
EDWARD CANTXyELL, Esq. is
HE A POETl
This being Term time of New Hano-
ver Court and the Grand Jury being
IN session, it might be imprudent to
charge gentleman with SO grave an
offence as that of being a poet without
giving the reasons for our belief We
propose, therefore, this morning, to
glance briefly at the salient points in
the life of the gentleman whose name
heads this article. Our argument will
be somewhat similar to that by which
the old negro satisfied himself that his
dog was good possum dog. Said he:
90 Old Massa made every ting for some
good, I hab tried dat dorg for every
ting in the world 'cept 'possums, and
he aint wuf a cent, you know den, boss,
he's bound to be good for 'possums.'
Let us see whether Il like process of
exclusion viii show that Mr.. Cantwell
has or has not genius for poesy.
t Mr.. Cantwell went to Mexico and
fought the Greasers but, according to
the latest dispatches, the Greasers have
continued to indulge in their favorite
recreation of robbing and murder, ap-
parently in blissful ignorance of hise
ristence. Failure No |. He became
! lawyer Failure No. 2.
/ a1.fl.nr i,ovive0 writ
| ten q book called 'Cantwell's Justice,
that had the honor, for a time, to sup |
ply the place of one written by the dis |
! tinguished &" Judge" ODDS, the distin- !
crished son-in-law of the distinguished |
Holden. Everybody, doubtless, has /
pretty clear idea of what sort Of thing |
Cantwell's Justice must have been. .
Failure No. 3.
He edited newspaper, but the con-
Germ got top heavy and became failure
No. I, probably because of the short
ness Of the subscription list and the
length OF the editorials.
The great war of Secession ap-
preached, and Mr.. Cantwell, snufiing
the battle from afar, before even a
breath of the. first gale that brought to
our ears the clash of resounding arms,
mounted red cockade: a glorious,
luscious, refulgent, blood-red cockade.
How wen we remember the solemn
awe with which we beheld the Inagniii-
cence Of that Respondent red cockade.
AlCr t1o~ t. ~
We presume that even he will not /
deny that his cockade episode was 5
failure No. g.
But Mr.. Cantwell Was not man to
keep out of the fray. He went into
the army, and in due time was put jim s
command OF the Provost Guard, or in
some other position that gave him {
some charge of the city Of Norfolk,
state with certainty. If we mistake !
not, however, he was wont, in those +
halcyon days Of war, to describe him @
self as the Military Governor of l.
we know, L. which a Confederate +
officer was ever designated as a il
g Military Governor" On Confederate S
soil. Alas Alas for the dreams of , =
and the hopes of glory. Our L
friends, the enemy, concluded they e
needed s,crfolk for their own use, and
one fine day TOOK possession of it not, :.
however, until the Military Governor b
IL. II, lr,,lY -
No. s. P
He next joined "creetur company" y
regime nt, and became a Lieutenant a.
Colonel of cavalry, Gre Of your gay p
md dashing Yellowstone OF sour o
estive youths-a perfect centaur. ~
LAS Alas The paths of glory a
cad geaae.llly to jail or the grave, tt
II some other "deninn4ie I .daisagreeable" n
,lace, and ere long our hero founa him. y y
elf in prison at Johnson's Island, where Il
le remained more than a twelve h
month, VIC think, on exceedingly short I'd
and in close quarters, We ~
resume the cavalry episode may T
afely be set down as failure No. 7. ht
After his return from prison our 81
zero no longer shot Yankees at the -"
ront, but hsying been assigned to
uty on Military Court, SHOT an oc- in
asional Confederate, .ir the aaar. 81
While thus engaged, the spirit moved W
i'm one bright Sabbath day in April -
D leave fair Petersb,..g's hustling p. ~
treets and seek rural retreat. On ;,e
nat eventful occasion several SOLITARY til
orsemen might have been seen slowly.
ending their way toward the lovely rn
ills of Appomattox. Alas d! Alas La
bur unfortunate hero, who was one of th
ais numerous band of solitary hors1- Pl
len, never reached his destination, We
ut was taken in out of the wet once be