The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-06-13
MORTON VS.. THE STRAWBERRY
AND OYSTER.

The friends of o. P. Morton have expert
enced much perplexity in assigning the au-
thor of the bloody shirt his appropriate
place in the caravan of fame. In'the tragedy
of liberty he played fiend to perfection. The
spotted snake in the swamps of Louisiana
(where Murat Halstead found Eliza Pinkston,
the buzz-saw wench, who was made to damn
her soul with perjury that Hayes might be
president) is not more surcharged with
venom than Morton is with hate-a fact that
has always aided the senator to achieve sue
cess in the particular role assigned him when
a southern state was to be assassinated or rad
ical villainy condoned. But these are not
Just the traits of character desired
when man is to pass into history, or when
busted he is to occupy niche in the temple
of a nations affections. As the great war
governor the 'cow feed" facts made a
damned spot that can not be obscured. 1t
will stick out in spite of whitewash or paint
and has, therefore, puzzled those who were
anxious to present their idol for the applause
of mankind. As a statesman, on every page
of the record Morton is written down as a
failure. His most ardent friends, those
whom he has fed as farmer feeds his swine,
examined the chronicles with a scrutiny
that admitted of no oversight, but no word
of a statesman could be found. OF
hates there was an abundant crop; they
grew rank on every page. They stood out,
loathsome and 'hideous, like warts upon a
toad. Pestilential and death dealing in their
influence, they gave Morton a damning
prominence and an admitted leadership. If
a state was to be stabbed Morton stood ready
to applaud the assassin. If liberty was to be
cloven down Morton stood ready to pass
along the sword. bayonet or bludgeon, and
if he could not do that, he could whet his
tusks like wild boar and assure conspira-
tors of his sympathy. All these things APP
peared, but no act, or word, or sign of a
statesman was anywhere upon the record.
All at once happy thought struck the adj
mirers of Morton. The bright and beautiful
season of benevolence had arrived. There
were orphans to be fed and clothed, minis
tiers whose salaries are in arrears to be
helped, sunday-schools that needed books
and pictures to be supplied, churches to be
repaired and heathens to be supplied with
Bibles and tracts. Here was a field for the
display of the latent powers of the Indiana
renator. Oysters it was declared were about
played out. besides there is no 'r'' in June,
and strawberries are not expected unaided
to usher in the millennial. 1t was believed,
therefore, if Morton could be induced to en-
ter the race with the strawberry and the oys-
ter in aiding great moral, religious and be-
nevolent enterprises, he could do
much toward whitewashing himself, besides
adding to the almost exhausted exchequers
of various institutions which have for their
object the good of mankind. 1t is assumed
that Morton was approached, and that the
potentiality of oysters and strawberries was
fully discussed. The new opening for fame
was staked out and the chances of success es-
timated. 1t likely, though nothing is pos
itively known upon the subject outside of
the committee charged with arranging mat
ters, that Morton was not enthused with the
idea of this new departure. His religious
pulse was feeble; he had doubts about his
orthodoxy, and there might be questions
about the morality of the money raised by
his tournament with the sacred oyster
and strawberry, and he would not
like to fail-in fact fail
ure Just now would be damaging.
Hayes had to be disciplined. Blaine was
coming rapidly TO the front Kellogg had
to be seated by the agency of fraud, and to
give out that, at this critical juncture in ma
tional affairs, he had turned lecturer and
ix,iffad himself against the afro W harry and
oyster for, .semireligious enterprises, he
doubtless thought might deprive him of the
locks essential TO success when his great