Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-04-22
THE BATrLE OF LITrLE ROCK.

dent 70 keep the peace at Little hocK,
and has at his command as we learn,
about one hundred men. He showed
his respect for civil law and the rights of
individuals yesterday by making a
charge in person on horseback through
brass band that had been serenading
Governor Baxter at the Anthony House,
and knocking down two or three of the
innocent tooters who had contributed to
the music and enthusiasm of the occa-
sion. No doubt the valiant Colonel, as
he advanced from the rear upon the
loud, warlike brass band, with his livery
stable steed under him and his little
pistol clutched convulsively in his
right hand, had in his mind the
charge of the immortal six hundred
at Balaklava. He saw horns in
front of him, horns to the right of him
and horns to the left of him, and no
doubt a horn of Cincinnati whisky in
the center of him. What spectacle
our hero presents, all booted and spurred
and plumed as he passes the raw pickets
unchallenged and plunges into the very
jaws of big bass drum. No wonder
the cornfeld negroes opened lane for
him as he came like an apparition of
the black knight upon the bloody field
of Ivanhoe, and that his goaded charger
carried him unheralded into the very
presence of militia Colonel who also
had pistol Such daring has seldom
been recorded in the annals of American
history. Truth has again been pro-
nounced stranger than fiction, but Or
pheus C. Kerr alone of living historians
could draw the picture to the life. Our
hero did not stop even here; he bore
down on the trigger Of his selfcocking
pistol until it was discharged in
the presence of one of Baxters
veteran regiments just from Pine Bluff,
and several of his compatriots opened
deadly fire from derringers, horse pistols
and navy-sixes from the windows Of
neighboring hotel, and some of them
made it very lively for a United States
flag which hung out on the balcony
where Overwhelmingly for him-had
just concluded patriotic speech to his
blood thirsty Ashantees. Colonel Rose
heroically returned to the defense of his
one hundred men, who had been left
alone and unprotected in their barracks.
He forgot his own safety for their sake,
and soon had them fortified in an i'm
pregnable position behind bombproof |
fire truck, where they doubtless re.
manned under arms all night. Two or
three unarmed men we're shot down to
preserve the peace, and few were
wounded slightly as warning to keep
away from brass bands There would have
been moEe blood shed, but it was about
supper time, and Bakers army could
not be Induced to break an engagement
of that nature. The Brooks army came
ont unscathed; it was securely in
trenched in the State-house, somewhat
in the rear of the intrepid Colonel Rose,
and was just as safe as if it had been on
the flights of Gibralter. The army
poked It's nose out once or twice from
an upper window after the battle was
over, but withdrew it in good order with
out the loss Of man. Altogether it
was a glorious victory for American
arms-one which will add luster to their
fame for ages to come. The command
ers in chief Of the three belligerent
armies issued rations Of whisky last
night, and will doubtless publish con-
gratulatory addresses to their forces To-
day, and unless some foreign power
intervenes to stop this bloody strife
another Magenta may be looked for in
less than a month. We hope this next
one will come off early in the morning
50 that the evening papers can lay the
thrilling particulars before the public
the same day. Now, one word in all
seriousness Baxter is proving mis-
cradle failure, and had better fight or
quit.