Connecticut western news., 1875-05-07
THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL.
Musings on the Events of a Hundred Year
 Ann.

York Tribune, the sexton of the Old N North Church, Boston, hung out from the steeple tho two signal lanterns which told Paul Revero that the British had marched "by sea. He, waiting " on tho opposite shore, sprang to the sad dle, and started upon his midnight ride, with tho "cry of alarm through every Middlesex village and farm." A hun dred years ago tho minutemen of Con cord and the raw militia of Lexington, Acton. Lincoln, and Bedford, stood at Concord bridge face to face with " Brit ish regulars. They had assembled at the alarm, and with such organization of forces as could be extemporized in the short time allowed them; had prepared for solemn and serious resistance to tyranny It was British sharpshooter who fired the first gun, wounding Luther Blanchard of Acton and Jonas Brown of Concord. It was followed by volley from the regulars, by which Capt. Isaac Davis and Private Abner Hosmer were instantly killed. Then for the first time the minutemen of Concord and the militia of Acton, Lexington, Bed ford and Lincoln, looked along their musket-sights at the soldiers of their king then was the rattle of musketry
 
 fusion, the retreat of trained and dis ciplined soldiers, and the advance upon them of the raw and untrained militia, and the war of the Revolution was begun. Then Noah Parkhurst said: "The war has begun, and no one knows when it will end"
 It was at Concord bridge hundred years ago that the birth throes of the new nation began. They did not end for seven long weary years. Those Con- cord minutemen with their dead beside them, and in front the enemy's dead who had fallen with the quick answering volley, knew only that this was war; that it had begun right here at Concord bridge; when or where it might end no one could tell. Noah Parkhurst looking along his musket saw something more than the puff of smoke from the muzzle, more than the fall of a man or two, more than bloody melee in defense of 0 bridge, more than the uprising of few hundred people in defense of their prop erty; but he saw only that 1t was war downright, earnest, bloody war, whose end and whose results no man could tell. Like the disciples on the way to Emmaus, the hearts of those men of Concord bridge burned within them, but they knew not in what grand company they stood, or how large place in history they had that day made themselves. The story of the repulse of the troops, of their hurried and disastrous retreat, of the vigorous pursuit, the marrying continuous fire upon the retreating foe by the colonists, who delivered the con tents of their muskets upon them from behind fences, hedges and walls, has been told thousand times already ill this anniversary year, md will be over and over again repeated at Concord and at Lexington.
 What Noah Parkhllrst said no man could tell, when with the first blood that fell in the Concord fight he said that the war had begun, was answered later, but not until the colonies had been baptized seven years ill war and had marched patiently and grandly through sacrifices and discouragements, through reverses and disasters, through tears and agony and bloody sweat. Men and women, who have seen what the Con- cord minutemen could not see and dared not dream, celebrated with appro- priate exercises and ceremonies the an niversary-the one hundredth turning of the year since a new nation entered into history over Concord bridge. It is the privilege of us all to do honor to the memory of the men who one hun dred years ago answered Paul Revere's alarm The fruits of that days work we are all witnesses and partakers of and whether we be at Concord or at Lexington, or anywhere between tho seas that wash the continent which the men of the Concord fight made free and | ward over all these hundred years and bless their memories, while we thank God for the lesson of their sacrifices and tho legacy of liberty they left us.
 The Gold Seekers.
 Meetings continue in every part of the West, and the Black Hills excitement daily increases. Nearly 5000 persons at different points are ready to enter tho hills if they were-certain they would not be arrested by the military. Meantime, says correspondent, the troops have be- come more active, and are investing the hills with cordon of posts and patrols. The only side of the hills now unguard- ed is that next to the Niobrara, in the State of Nebraska, and 1t will soon be closed by patrol of troops from Fort | II pOSJ Oll Ullc IciI(l Ol tuC NOEGu Loup river. The military authorities seem to be in dead earnest about keep ing out tho miners and enforcing the treaty to guard the Indian lands from occupation by white men. General returned to Fort Laramie, bringing with him all the miners at Hnrney's peak Some anxiety was felt lest conflict | ,ifr1,f l,a 1Not and citizens Black Hillers at distance boasted that the miners would not come in, that they would run away and hide when the troops approached, and do va rious other things, but they came quiet ly back, and it is reported they were mighty glad to see the blue jackets and get out of the country with the hair on their heads. As to their resisting the troops, no such thing was thought of; and as to scattering in the hills, nothing would have pleased the Indians more, as they would havo had good hunting for a month, and the hair taken would have furnished occasion for scalp dances all summer.
 The Case of Sharkey.
 The New York Xcraid says: There seems to be some delay about the return of Sharkey to the United States. The anticipation that Shnrkey would be SUI rendered anyhow as m net of courtesy by the Spanish government was prema- ture. We, as n government, have made no demand for the surrender. We have no such claim upon tue Spanish, and, of course, would not assert it. Between Spain and the United States there is no treaty of extradition, and in the absence of such treaty Spain can use her soveD> eign discretion without question from us. MT. Fish is understood us saying that he would not make q request on the behalf of the government for the return of Sharkey, because this would give the