Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-08-03
to catch lot of them in the

II
very act. Laughter. A gang OF
them were tarring railroad bridge
ready to burn it just before a train,
coming with large number Of sol
diers on board had reached it. Well,
in catching the fellows at it he hurt
some of them. Laughter and ap-
plause.
The first reports got Of the affair,
| were from some of the rebels.
"Mac," after attending to this gang,
had gone on to catching others. The
rebels came in whining, and COM
planning that my detachment of
troops had murdered some of their
friends or shot them after they had
surrendered. / told them 10 wait
awhile; and ! would inquire into 1T.
Pretty soon, "Macv and the boys
came in. j saw that "Mac" had
blood In his eye. Laughter
asked him what he had been doing.
He said he had caught some of the
devils, and had stopped 'em. Laugh
ter. He.had caught them tearing
down and burning the bridge and
they had got hurt. Laughter. |
asked him if he had killed them. He
said he guessed so-as they didn't
4 move any afterwards. j asked If il
was SO, that he had shot them after
they had surrendered. He. said il
wasn't so, that he wouldn't let them
surrender. [Cheers.I lie said, "Do
you think i could let those fellows,
who had already murdered some OF
our Union troops, and were trying to
do it again, come up to me, with
their hands all tarrdd over, In an at.
tempt to do it again, surrender? No,
sir, couldn't do it, and ] didn't
One lot of them have stopped their
deviltry now that / know of, and
more of them will If / can catch
Them" Applause. What did !
say? Did j rebuke "Macn and hi:
gallant squad? / said, "You have
done right, and do it again, when.
ever and wherever you catch ans
others at the same sort of deviltry.'
Those were the fellows | am charged
with having murdered after they
had surrendered. They didn't sur
render. "Mac" wouldn't let them
| Cheers. There were no more
bridges burned on that line while
was in command of that road. Soor
after we left they burned bridge
and threw train into the water
killing q number of women anC
children. They thought they were
laying the trap for a soldiers train
But the night passenger train hap
pened to come first, and so the sol
diers escaped. i only wish tina
"Mac" and his squad had been there
and caught them setting it on fire.
ANONYMOUS LETTERS.
These, fellow-citizens and neigh
bors, are some of the many charge
made against me, and sent to m'
daily by the score, in anonymous let
tiers. / cannot refer to all Of them
They can prove up many like things
on me, and on any Union officer o.
soldier who was in the war and triet
to do his duty. We were dowr
there to make war-not merely, likt
Ben Hills rebels, to hug the Consti
tuition.
In having done my duty as a sol
dier, in my humble, and yet earnes
and well-meaning way, l am nov
called, after / have left the Demo
cratic party, robber, burner o
houses, murderer!-just as Gen
Logan, honest, noble, true-heartet
and patriotic, was so stigmatizeC
after he had left the Same party. Dr.
you wonder, gentleman, that have
been stung into making publicly the
remarks that / have here? / have
no abuse to make of any one. / cal
no one by name. state simply
the general facts, that others may
see as well as myself that the wal
and the hate of the Union soldiers
did not die, rs the st. Louis platform
says, eleven years ago.
| THE ST. LOUIS CONVENTION.
That convention did not look ~
though treason was on odious thing
nor that rebels were any the less tc
be honored than patriots. That
gathering proved again what the
Democratic House had already
proved, that the old rebel element i:
running the Democratic party, and
that its whole hope Of success j:
staked on their solid support. They
were nll there at st. Louis, and were
the lions of the day, especially hon
ored and cheered by the convention,
end honored and lionized by the
same gangs of rebels who were
spouting treason and abusing soldiers
there In 1861, as we were going tc
the front, and who were talking the
same treason when / was there two
years ago. Applause Why is II
that the nomination of Tilden has
so revived and reinspired the old
L
rebel element? Why so much more
so than the candidacy of Greeley
four years ago, when there was some
hope of new party. and the death
for good OF the old Democracy? You
can answer as well as l can. 1t
looks like they knew their man.
Applause. The alarming demon-
STATIONS daily developing in the
South would look like it. / see that
the Leader interviewed my old
friend, Peter Myers, now living in
Missouri, to-day, and that Peter says
that the stories OF raising the rebel
flag In Missouri are untrue. / hope
u