Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-01-14
THE DYNAMITE CORRESPOND
ENTE

The official world of the Sixth Collec-
ton District of Virginia caught the re-
bound of the late earthquake the other
day upon the explosion of the dynamite
correspondence which had been shipped on
that unsuspecting Government steamer,
the "Valley Virginian." 1t was taken on
board as a friendly correspondence, ''the
free offerings of hearts, to quote the last
words Of Collector Boris, uttered few
hours before the explosion, presented by
those sshearts" at 'sfestal season. which
had been captured as a fitting opportu.
nifty" And oh horror the ''small testi-
monial" blew everybody into kingdom
come with the exception of a few who
were "waiting ORDERS" and whose names
were luckily not on the fatal list, and to
whose s'zealous cooperation the Col
lector is not so much indebted. Twenty
nine ofice-holders slain at one moment !!
How little did they think that so few
s'passing moments wou Id be indicated
on the dial:plate of t he gift'' ere they
would be hurried into another world to
1lcCU blO awful L nal lcCC w loCCs OCdUu
official death is always awful, but that
it should come to a man on the blessed
Christmas day, when everything is joyful,
and in the midst Of a sweet surprise, F"
and strike from his hands ''present in it.
self very handsome" is shocking. But it
will be a comfort in our bereavement to
know that the last words Of the Collector
were those of peace and kindness. ''If''
he wrote, s'during the six years that l
have been Collector of this district there
has ever been word expressed by myself
that seemed unkind to any one of you, be-
lieve me, it emanated from sense of
duty, and not from any desire to wound.
and am happy to say that I can recall
none now.o He might have added in the
same spirit, eff I have done anybody any
harm, forgive 'em;" but we must remem-
Der that Death does not give a man time
to dress his manuscript up.
Looking over the remains of the remain
ing twenty-eight, we find some good Con-
federates among the slain, some of those
that the cruel FORT, in Congress the other
ton that soldiers who had fought for the
Union should have the preference in the
filling of offices. Their removal from the
official world saves them from his clutches
and their memory will be cherished in Vir
ginia long after FORT shall have passed
into oblivion. There is one touching in.
cident connected with the disaster that
we cannot refr ain from mentioning fol-
The credit of human nature. The morn
ing this journal announced the sad intelli-
gence, more copies Of it were mailed to
Washington to the friends of the deceased
by their friends here than have been sent
to that city for many a day. Everybody
seemed anxious to let the Washington PEG
pie know what had happened as early as
possible. The pla ce in the paper was ten
derby marked by loving hands, and sped Oh
by mail. II showed the popularity o. our
departed friends. These attentions were,
we are happy to say; spontaneous let
ter writing, no canvassing, no assessing
but the "free offering of kindly hearts. y
AS our share of the parting tribute to the
official dead, we beg to contribute mod
est couplet, custom for which we have
the sanction of the eminent funeral poet,
GEO. W. CHILDs:
Dear off1ce-holders you have left us,
We thy loss most deeply feel.
Gone to meet Commissioner PRATT.