Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-04-25
CONCORD-LEGINGTON.

A DlsSruufied OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
ROWdyIsm-GFant Cheated out OfHIs
Special Carlow the Dinner was
''GrasshOPPered'-Punehiand Judy
A Dead-Head "SerOuxe.o
From stan Correspondent Of the New York
Tribune.
Don't think me growing. There is one
wide, universal grOan here over the abOmi-
nable mismanagement Of everything. It is
all very well TO say that few towns in the
country could have. drawn together three
such speakers to their celebration as Emer-
son, Lowell and Curtis. But, how didthey
treat them when they got them? The tent
was a shabby circus-tent, the seats broke
down, and nothing but the knowledge that
they were not far from the ground prevent
ed panic; and both outside the tent and
inside, between the seats and the tent-edge,
there was more disorder and rOWdyism than
is often seen at an average circus in the
country. You can judge what it must
have been when you read that Mr.. HOar
had TO appeal TO the mob as "American
gentlemen" to behave themselves with de-
cency, and to let Mr.. Emerson be heard.
The police were, all the day and every
where, purely ornamental, Of no more use
than pockets in a shirt. ! wrote you yes
terday that President Grant and his party
drove from the tent to the station of the
Middlesex Central, where a special car was
in waiting 10 take them to Lexing-
ton. As 1t turned out, however, the whole
party had to drive to Lexington, for the
swarming mob took possession Of the
train, and held it until the President
and his party had to succumb, when
the train unWillingly took its dead-head
load over TO Lexington. The cars as they
moved away from the station presented the
same extraordinary spectacle that all the
cars did yesterday, nothing being visible Of
them but strip Of woodwork below the
windows. Men and boys, standing. lying,
sitting on the top Of every car, loading the
platforms, and with legs and arms out at
the windows, from dozens of which the
glass was smashed. l fear the railroads
will say Of this day with Brahma, when
they come TO reckon the profit and loss Of
yesterday
"They reckon IN who leave me out"
Seeing that there was no chance of GET
ting to Lexington by rail, and as the stable
keepers laughed in your face when you ask
ed for a vehicle to drive, / footed the six
miles as had done the day before-thOugh
then did it for the pleasure of it. The
walk was a peaceful prelude to the grand
row that awaited me at Lexington, where
were such gOings on as might well give a
nightmare TO any one who should think
himself likely to prove q centenarian and
have to 90 through it all again. So far
as the streets were concerned the crowd
took complete and deSpCtic possess
~ savra-FrfHfrro- mi
that there was only the dimmest prospect
of getting away for those who were des-
perate with cold, hunger, aIs fatigue, as
crowds Of women, children, and even men
must have been. 1 have told YOU the fate
Of the dinner. VirgiPs TrOians who ate
their dishes were the great precursors of
THIS HOWLING MOB;
though the poets Harpies also came back
for the occasion in great numbers and none
the worse for wear. But yesterday, when
tired with the delay Of the Presidents par
ty, the hungry crowd had ''grasshOppered7
the table, and made it impossible for any
thing short Of a miracle TO pick up a basket
ful Of fragments, Caterer Smith must have
sadly remembered his Byron, and as he
thought Of his cold cuts and oranges ex-
claimed:
"He counted them at break Of day.
And when the sun set, where were theys'
The side-shOws of Lexington on the
fatal day carried us back to primeval man.
There was confidence man, in the tradition
al green spectacles, charming the currency
never so wisely from the green pockets Of
the youth Of the period. There was Punch
and Judy, the man with a gOi1Te, all the
impossible animals Of the shOwmEn's repre-
tory, a swarm of animals with superfluOus
legs, arms, and heads-as if Lexington
hadn't enough Of such superfuOus human
members within her bounds that dav-and
in the streets such a jam Of vehicles as to
make lOoomOtiOn we'll nigh impossible.
When YOU reached the station such
a scene awaited you as must make
any reasonable pen despair of wrestling
with it. ! won't attempt it. l was, be
sides, more fortunate than a good many
people, for, while was looking despair
ingly at line of thirty-six cars black in
side and outside with human beings, was
invited by three good looking gentlemen
inside to come in at the window, and after
some natural demur
PUT MYSELF INTO THE HANDS OF Ny
FRIENDS,
anu Was uAttA-Cu III lttu lOLEulOsLs anu SCI
up on end in a corner. In this way l got
to Boston, though / deyOutly pray 1 may
never have such a ride again. It seemed
an even chance all the way whether the
top of the car would be crushed in or the
bottom forced out, and prepared my mind
for either emergency. While we were going
on the long down grade at Arlington, there
was dead silence, and nobody swOre, nor
spit, nor smashed a pane of glass for
three minutes. As We slacSened up near
the bridge, the occupants of the roof and
the platform jumped off one by one to a
man and escaped all payment, and indeed
think the greater part Of the crowd must
have ridden "scOt free" If l had not
bought ticket in the morning for the
round trip, too should have been in the
dead-head category for there was no one to
ark for pay, no one TO take tickets, and not
a policeman nor a conductor to be seen.
So ended a Wretched day that might have
been a pleasant one but for the careless
ness, Indifference to the public comfort and
welfare, and the want Of common sense Of
the people who had the getting up Of the
Centennial. Yet the celebration has been
planning for several years. The Centen-
nial is dead. When comes there such m
other? Never, let us hope. G. C..