Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-12-07
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence Of the Bulletin.
WA crrrHrcmo~ n N NJ On

Correspondence OF the Bulletin.
WASHINGTON. D. G.. Nov. 30. ~. ]
Last nights 'Norther" has given I'd
our first experience with ice, and though
we have to-day brilliant November sun
pouring his modifying rays down upon
us from a cloudless sky, yet the cold
piercing wind continues, and those who
venture upon the streets are as closely
wrapped in shawl, furs and overcoat, as
had the thermometer been at zero in
stead OF "a degrees. The river has sub
sided from its devastating height, and
those to whom the food brought such
great disaster are now repairing their
disasters as best they can. But for the
signal service at Harpers Ferry advis-
ing our merchants in advance of the
Hood, the damage would have been ten
fold greater. This forewarning enabled
many to remove their goods to safe pla-
cess, and thus confined the losses here
principally to wharves, shipping and
houses. AS in 1870, the losses upon the
upper Potomac and tributaries have
been fearful, Of life as we'll as property,
while here few people were drowned. A
man driving pair Of horses attempted
to cross one of the flooded streets, at
the foot of the White House lot, but
sunk in washout, and all we're drown
ed. His death was not discovered un-
til some colored men, seeking plumber,
fished up his body from the wagon.
When high water meets the incoming
tide, the Potomac backs over all the low
grounds near the White House, and oft
en-, as in this storm, does great damage.
The proposition is to erect dykes on the
bank Of the river and cut off floods, just
as Holland keeps out the sea, or as the
marshes near New York are reclaimed
from the tides, and turned into the best
OF agricultural and building lands. Boss
Shepherd in filling up the old canal
which ran through these low grounds.
not only made available for the govern
,ment, lands worth millions of dollars,
but thereby indicated clearly the practi-
cability of wholly combining our diurnal
floods to the river banks, and vastly i'm
proving the sanitary condition of the
city. generally, as well as the occupants
OF the White House, particularly. The
notorious unhealthfulness of the White
House arises from it's close proximity to
tide water, and it's marshes. 1t is fur
Their proposed to reclaim the hundreds
OF acres of river bottom which lie above
the Long Bridge, and which are daily
covered and uncovered by the tide. The
exhalations Of these marshes are waited
directly upon the White House, and
should the river be dyked as indicated
and confined to its channels, any one can
appreciate the benefits to be derived
from the city.
The shipwreck of the Huron brings
deep sorrow in many families here, for
all its officers have families who reside
IN the District, or extensive circles of
acquaintance gained by past residence
here. Lieut.. Palmer leaves a widow
with two young children, one an infant:
and draughtsman Evans widow and
one child. These reside here, and are
left with little provision for the future.
We are glad to note that the press gen
orally is discussing why the vessel
should have been sent to sea in storm,
right in the face of cautionary signals of
the Signal Service, and that, too, near
Cape Hatteras, where the sea is paved
with the bones Of shipwrecked dead who
have been lost upon its rocks and treach-
erous currents. Some one is deeply in
fault, and as dead men tell no tales, we
presume the real blame never will be
fixed upon any one. 1t seems singular
that all such disasters involve no per-
sonal accountability. During the war
2,2OO soldiers were crowded upon one
boat at Memphis. and before it had
steamed mile from it's wharf, it sunk,
carrying every man with it. The Miss
issippi. unlike the sea, never gives I'D
its dead, and not one Of the poor soldiers
could ever be found, though hundreds of
dollars were spent in dragging for bod
les, nor was any superior officer ever
held amenable for the terrible catastro-
phe 1t was mere incident of the war.
and the loss of the Huron mere Incl
dent OF navy life. A singular statement
is made that former officer of this i'll
fated vessel deserted it, and suffered
court martial rather than remain upon
1t. he had SO strong presentiment of
its loss that he preferred to suffer dis
grace rather than 60 again upon it. The
navy department has full record of his
this one reason for his cowardly act.
The intense excitement exhibited in
the Senate over the admission of the
South Carolina and Louisiana Senators
us of the closing scenes in last
springs Presidential contest. Now, as
then, every available seat and vacant
space is taken by some deeply interest
ed Senator or spectator, and seemingly
there appears in every one face that
look which betokens the
of some great exigency or al
formation on which hangs individual
veal or woe. just prior to the opening
OF battle, or charge upon the enemy'a
lines, we have seen the lips firmly clos
ed, eyes fixed, and an expression of de-
upon each soldiers counte-
nance to meet the coming danger, let the
result be what it may, whether in man
gled body or sacrifice of life. And here,
in the eventful struggle of this and last
week, there is much, indeed, as we
watched the spectators rather than the
proceedings, to recall the memories of
the war, where life rather than party
was at stake to the participant. We
have before spoke of those contests be-
tween those intellectual giants, Senators
Edmunds and Thurman, and this week
has given us another in the endeavor of
Mr. Thurman to seat Butler, Of South
Carolina, and Mr., Edmunds to defeat it.
Every sort of parliamentary tactics has
been resorted to by both, and we think
there never has been finer display of
their peculiar talents than upon this
issue. FELIX.
GROCERIES.