New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-01-07
Tho Succial Correspondent.

Thu idle reader who abuses himself Tor
An hour or two over the pages OF bis news
paper. or the hurried man of business VINO
runs his eye up and down the cro"ded
columns while be Is waiting tor his break
fast, little thinks of the pains and cost and
sometimes deadly risk with which the jour
nalist collects his daily budget OF lnteili-
gence. Not only in every ward Of the great
~ity. in every town of the United States,
mt in all the countries OF Europe. IN track
less deserts, on vexed seas, and among In.
y hospitable strangers the correspondent ana
the reporter pursue from day to day their
difficult duty. They are found 10 the heat
of the battlefield; they sail with discovery
chips into the frozen Arctic; they follow the
police into the haunts of crime and scenes
Of violence; they travel in disguise through
hostile cities.
At this moment our special correspon-
dents are marching with British army
through the African bush, tossing with the
American navy On the waters OF the Gull,
listening in Cuban cafes to threats against
Americans and menaces of death to the
'.spies" of the New York press, and travel
ing through that disturbed island, where at
every step they take their lives IN their
hands. We have grown used to such stories
of dangerous adventure, and the journalist
nowadays takes no more thought OF risk
shan the soldier.
How keenly bave we been IT minded of the
duties of our profession by the mysterious
loss of one of the most accomplished and
conscientious of the correspondents who
have served rs during these last anxious
weeks in the island OF Cuba Mr.. Keller
was we'll aware, when he left New York. Of
the nature of the mission for which he had
volunteered. He appreciated, better even
than we did, its difficulties and its dangers.
He was not a man, however, to shrink from
a duty which he had once assumed. Hay-
ing undertaken the task, it was point OF
honor with him to perform it as perfectly
as his abilities would permit. At Santiag
he became conscious of spies DIGGING his
footsteps, and suspicious and untrieDd1y
ewes watching all his actions He passed
two nights on board the Juniata, under the
protection of the United States flag.
He might have remained with the ship
and come home with her. But this seemed
10 him like desertion while his work in
Cuba was unfinished; SO with chivalrO
resolution he went back to his duty, al d
that is all we know Of his fate. An expe-
giepced traveller, q man Of quiet demeanOr
and scrupulously correct life, he was not
one to invite attack or to expose himself
rashly to accident How he disappeared
from the steamer upon which he embark. d
for Havana is secret which will probably
never be known till the sea gives up Its
dead and the hearts of men are laid open
We shall not rashly infer that Ralph
Keller came TO his end through foul play.
merely because we know not how else to
account for his disappearance. But it is
certain that he had reason to apprehend
violence; that he had learned to distrust
the evil-minded and ruftianly vagabonds
Who are the curse of Cuban cities, and that
all his recent letters were written under
the dread that he might not be alive to dis
patch them. Another correspondent, whose
lonely ride along the coast from Havana to
Bahia Honda we chronicled the other day,
sought refuge from unfiiendly villagers by
going on board Spanish vessel of war. It is
clear that foreigner who travels in Cuba
ut this time, though he may meet with
courtesy, must face danger; and CORE,
spondent who asks questions. and prizes into
secrets, aud treads upon delicate ground at
every step "a of all men the most exposed to
molestation.-Nep York Tribune.