Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-05-11
Preparations for the Centennial on tie
Twentieth Instant-Hhat Is said
About 1t Pro and Con.
What the Local Press is Doing
ersl Joe Johnson, Grsud Marshal:
and John Kerr, OratOr-Tha
Monument to the SigneTg.
Tbs "HOrRet's Nest" The Libels OF the
Washington RepIblic8n-E'Tbe Ia
dies, God Bless 'em"-PatrlOtIs
Memories Revived.

! Charlotte COrre7pon ence New \ Ork Herald.
/ I find the worthy people of t.is pleas.
| ant North Carolina city excited over the
approaching cOmmemOratiOn Of the one
hundredth anniversary OF the Meckien
CuTg declaration OF independence. l am
now convinced that the Mecklenburg
centennial will attract o numerous at.
tendance. II is claimed that tTemen.
dOus crowd will be here on the TWEEN
tieth; in fact, one enthusiastic gentle.
man goes SO far as to predict the attend
ance Of thirty thousand people, if not
more. Where they are all to be slowed
away at night surpasses my skill in sOlv-
ing cOnuDdrums. The Central hotel is en-
larging its accommodations by an addi-
ton of one hundred rooms, and there
are several other hotels, besides the
boarding. houses. The citizens, / am
told, will very generally open their hos
pitaOle doors to the influx OF pilgrims to
this new Mecca. But even then am
unable to see how this expected swarm
Of visitors, numbering five or six times
the resident population OF the city, is to
be lodged. unless two-thirds of them take
it on the floor. The visiting military COM
panies will bring their tents, and the
civilian cOmer5 may catch the idea and
camp out also, at least u part OF them. If
Barnum would only loan bis big can
vas for the occasion, s solution of the
problem might be arrived at. Or Lex
ington might send along the monster
tent under whose wide spreading canopy
the centennial dinner was discussed.
The Charlotte Observer, the Bulletin ani
General d. II, Hill's Southern Home
take lively interest in the coming cele-
I,pG tfly, az a. Io .
published at Wilmington, the Raleigh
Sentinel and nearly all the other papers
in the State. The impeachers Of the
authenticity Of the Mecklenburg decla-
ration have no newspaper organ, at least
not just at this time. They maintain q
discreet silence, and We hear nothing
from them. By the way, L find the fol-
lowing paragraph in the Southern Home,
which supplies an important pieces Of
information touching the mOoted
matter:
ave learn by a private letter from
Bolivar, Tennessee, that the distinguish
ed grandson OF Colonel Thomas Polk
Colonel Horace NJ, Polk, Of revOlu-
tionary fame, has some important facts
in regard to the Mecklenburg decl&ra-
ton. Among other things, an extract
from Raleigh paper of 1909, giving q
speech delivered at Chapel Hill, in
which there is an elegant allusiOn to the
great event of the twentieth OF May,
l775, The silly notoriety hunters OBJ
ject that not until 1919 did the declara.
tiOn attract public attention. But Col
Onel Polk can show by the record that
ten years before that, and in the life
time OF the actors in that grand move
msnt, 8 speaker at the university OF
the State claimed for old Mecklenburg
the honor of first prOclaiming independ-
-ence"
The press Of the State join heartily in
the suggestion that the twentieth of May
be generally observed as q holiday
throughout North Carolina. In the
event it is so observed, there will be any
number of little centennials. all taking
place simultaneously in every part Ct
the State. Why isn't the twentieth OF
May as good as the Fourth of July? II
never was thought necessary to go to
any particular place to celebrate the
Fourth. The day is the main thing
not the locslity-Which reflection ought
to console the stay at-hOme. The great
fire at Charlotte on the sixteenth ultimO
will not in any way interrupt or inter-
fere with the centennial preparations.
General Joseph E. Johnston, VINO sur
rendered to General Sherman in this
very city ten years ago, will act as chief
marshal on the occasion OF the celebTa-
ton; and John Kerr, one of the very
best public speakers in the State, will be
orator of the day. 1t is proposed to erect
a monument to the memory Of the i'm
mortal tWenty-siX-sOme accounts ssy
wenty.seven -signers Of the deciara-
ton. To have certain amount for this
monument, and to properly carry
out the programme at the centennial the
sum of twenty-five thousand dollars is
considered necessary by the committee
of arrangements. OF this amount four
thousand dollars is assigned for Char
lOtte TO make up, ami the balance is eX-
pected from the remainder of tbs State.
The money is duly coming in. A few
days ago Mrs. Cicero w. Harris, OF Viii
mingtOn, forwarded one hundred dollars
she had collected in that city, and the
ladies of HillsbOrOugh, in OranC e county,
are to give festival in that old historic
town during court week, the proceeds Of
which will be applied to the same object,
Raleigh will send her artillery company
to the celebration with two guns, and
the Raleigh light infantry expects TO
bring hither some forty members. The
steam fire engine company of Whining
ton will attend. This class of organiZa-
tiOns will undoubtedly be largely repre-
scented. Soldier boys and "bOys who run
with the machine" are also expected
from Virginia and South Carolina. The
procession will no doubt form an imTOs-
ing street pageant, such as is rarely wit
messed in this section Of the country.
mill 10 vic h,r
Twenty Canadians, residing at Bell
vile, Ontario, will accompany Dr..
Palmer, Of that place, formerly
o. Raleigh, who has accepted an invita-
ton to be present. The ladies of Char
lotte are to present flag to the "Hor-
net" fire company in season for the cen
tenDial. One of General Vancs's cons
has secured a huge hornets nest for the
occasion. This is intended by way of, a
of the Hornets Nest. |
a doughty little patriotic paper. claimed |
to have been published in Charlotte q
hundred years ago. Its name has two !
fold origin: First, an sllusion to the |
buzZing and stinging OF the formidable |
insect after which it was called, and sec |
Ond, from the remarkably close resem- |
blance in the grayish hue Of the printed |
pages to the peculiar neutral tint of the .
hornets nest. The first revisal OF the |
colonial laws Of North Carolina, made |
in 1852, was a small folio volume with
yellow binding, and was, for similar
reason, popularity called the "yellow
iacket.n / neither see nor hear any
thing here which gives any color what
ever TO the charge recently made by the
Republican, and echoed by
other administration journals, that 1.-the
celebration promises to be
z close communion, hide-boUnd and
cOrceitedly select affair."" whose con-
dUctors have been chosen with regard
solely to their State rights, south
ern, Democratic andHCOnfederate an
and that the objec, is "to
make treason respectable" l know
that the Republicans statement, that
''all ex-COniederate military companies
of North Carolina and the adjoining
States will be on hand" and that there
will be "abOut forty ex- Confederate gen.
erals as assistant-marshals," is a mon
strously absurd exsggeration. The idea .
that the whole Confederate army-whst /
there Is left Of it's to 9sse 70 hle at Char /
lotte On the twentieth OF Mayor on |
any other day-is ridiculous on its very |
face. The celebration will be no such |
"big thing" as all that. Itwouldn't paw.
The southern people are poor, and trav- !