The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1874-02-20

can he done aud how roadlly men
swallow the floating atoms Of Islander,
while truth aud Justice have to slWg'
glo for their own ylndlcaIlon, We
clip the above paragraph from u llrl
headed "nlgiilye,n copied from the
New York World into The Fan AUTO
Mo Herald, without comment
The cheek Of every old 'lrYlan, IA
mllar with the laots, win crimson on
reading the unjust statement, We
think Cod for the privilege Of delcnd-
Ing the menlory Of The deceased pa'
triot from tho nd c0plandum thUlsls OF
the mIslnlormed living Tho llnnio Of
Samuel Swnrtwout should be- honortd In
every TeXlan lltNrt Strangers II mny
sound 10 some, he never was u default
er, but AN honest man, Il patriot and u
lifelong friend Of Texas So beller-
Ing, we should feel rccreaut rs o 'rexRs
journalist to The honor Of our state To
remain silent, Let the facts epeNk
Colonel Swartwoul, who, 10y the way,
was II soldier Of 1872 aud lSli, was coli
lector of The United States custom
house under President Jackson he
was u devoted personal friend Of the
old hero, and u man OF some wealth,
He early espoused the cause Of Texas,
and, Notwithstanding General Jack
sons proclamation Of neutrality, which
he was bound 20 issue under the law Of
1918, commanding all government OIL
GERS toprcvcnt expeditions leaving for
Texas, h. riskod his high office toservc
our ease. A meeting of ,ho friends Of
Texas was called in New York, but
when assembled no prominent man
could be found 10 preside, so prccarlous
was our standing 1T Tie time, Swnrt
won't boldly took the stand saying
"Gentemen, | Twill preside "..ss.'rhc eff
feet was electric, and the cause Of
Texas rose rapidly in public favor tie
notified General Jackson at once, de-
clarng MS readiness to resign, but Old
Hickory secretly rejoiced at his course
and said "Now
In the spring Of 1885, when two yes
sels had been chartered, repaired and
freighted with supplies for the Texas
army, then on the verge Of starvation,
they We're seized for debts in New York
and detained. Swartwout took thous-
ands Of dollars from his own pocket,
paid the debts and sent the vessels for
ward. They arrived just in time to
prevent the disarmament Of our gallant
little army, then mcnacod by second
invasion. Up to this time Colonel
Swartwout's name stood unsullied,
In 1897 some eXparte Congressional
investigation proclaimed that Swart-
won't was dcfaultcr in the custom
house. A partisan storm burst over
his head so suddenly and furiously as
to bewilder and almost craze him. In
n hasty moment he sailed for Europe,
and thence wrote back, most solcmnly
voWing his innocence, and saving if
wrong had been done, of which he had
no knowledge, ii had been done by
others without his knowledge. The
howl went on and "Swartwouting" he.
came term OF reproach
But, by and by, theold man returned
and finally, after some years had
elapsed, thorough investigation took
place, when, to the establishment of
the public and the joy of his old
friends, ii was found that he not only
had never been II defaulter, but that
the government actually owed him'l
over seven hundred dollars.
But, in the meantime, his heart was
broken, his property gone aud he and
his venerable wife were almost pau-
pers in the great city wherein he had
so long been a man of power Texas
had paid the principal amounts adj
vanced by him, but without interest |
The money, however, hal gone to his
creditors, and this was his condition
when the Legislature of 1856 was in
session. The writer of this, then u rep
resentative from Galveston, in con-
Junction with Colonel Ashbel Smith |
and others, sought to get n bill through !
to pay the brolien-hearted old man Il
small interest on the amount from its
advance in 1886 to the payment of the
principal in 1851
II was in favor of this bill, and in
of the long and unjustly
slandered old patriot Swartwout, on u
hot August day in the house of repre-
of 1856, that the finest dis
play of impassioned eloquence ever
fell from human lips In Texas, so far
IS we know or believe. 1t was the
magnificent outpouring Of the heart of
he late Hon. William Il. Ochltree
moved to its profoundest depths by the
of facts to which we have
70 FREELY adverted. That scene, SO
sketched in the Texas
by Major Charles A. West,
n his biographical memoir of Judge
)chiltree, will never be forgotten by
hose who were present. The clarion
'oice of 0chiltree, sometimes melting
II its pathos, then rising in its denun-
'iatory Indignation, yet rings in our
ears us the grandest dis
Hay Of moving eloquencc to which we
'vcr listened.
But the noble old man has long since
lept witir'his fathers. The early and
teadlnst friend and benefactor of ,