The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1878-09-12
A Brace Of Heroes.

and the telegraph operator at that
place:
Bill Redding died yesterday morn
ing. O. E. Shearer had gone two or
three days previously, thou IN the
news did not reach us until last night
by the mails. They were a brace Of
heroes, though living hundreds of
miles apart and probably strangers
to each other-a brace of heroes
without any of the brass ornaments
or frippery of the battlefield to dis
tinguish them from other men, but
still with the heroic nature of the
highest school implanted in them.
Bill Redding was the telegraph opcr-
ator at Grenada, and at the same
time correspondent of the Enquirer
IA bright young fellow of only 23,
with tho vigor Of youth and the hope
of long life before him. When the
yellow fever broke out at Grenada he
telcgraphcd the Enquirer private
message, saying that the Yellow Jack
threatened to give them fierce tus-
sic, but no would stay, and might be
relied upon for the news. His dis
patches were graphic and cheerful,
coming from brave man, at first,
but day by day, as the situation be-
came more alarming, they changed
in their tone. They were graphic
still, but the horrible scenes through
which he was passing gave the elo-
quence of woe to what he wrote.
One day he commenced his dispatch
"To describe the scene is beyond
the power ofmortal man. Although
the deaths are decreasing, it is not
from an abatement of the disease,
but from the want of material. Our
little band of well ones are quickly
counted, and we miss them hourly,
requiring the strongest nerve and
courage for us to battle against the
plague-demon. We imagine we can
almost see il in the air, and we feel
like it was lurking around us, wait
ing for an unguarded moment to
strike us down."
That gave an idea of what brave
Bill Redding and his associates were
doing for humanity. A week ago
last night he sent another private
saying that he didn't know
how long he would live, and he
wanted the amount of his compensa-
ton fixed, that he was Drawing the
dangers for his mother and those de-
pendent on him. A liberal sum was
named for his services to that date,
and still more of his future pay. |
TWO or three days, later his dis
patches came with an apology at the
foot saying that he feared that he
could not write coherently, as the
room in which he wrote contained
persons down with the disease and a
corpse. The four persons were Bill |
wife, mother, and his two
sisters. The corpse was that of his
,hild. Was it any wonder that he
,ould not write coherently? Two
lays more elapsed and his dispatches
anne along as usual, only the wOeful
picture drawn in them Increased in
Is dark colors. There was no hope
It Grenada, but Bill Redding still re-
NAMED battling in the face of des-
,air. Then two more days passed,
md there was nothing from Grena-
10. The Office could not be reached
~ the wires. This was last Thurs
lay and Friday. The town seemed
o have dropped out of existence.
saturday the wire was opened again,
md with its opening came the mes
age: ''Bill Redding is down with
he fever. This for the. Enquirer n
Yesterday came still another "Red-
ling died this morning at half-past
light" The hero had fought his last
light and was conquered by Him
who conquers all.
Our other hero, Shearer, was the
correspondent at New
Drleans-a brave, sOldierly man,
who had faced death on a score of
to find it in another
iorm, though with him still at theI
post of duty. He had served the
Enquirer faithfully, though but a |
brief length of time, and his dis
patches from the Crescent City were
,mong the very best that came to
my Northern paper. His picturs OF
lhe panic-stricken city, and the gaunt
spectre of Death as il came up from
The bayous, were more vivid and |
but there was not the real
SIN of woe and desolation in them |
that pervaded those from Grenada. |
II was not to be expected in large |
city. One day, however, Shearer |
dropped out from the list of those |
our dispatches, and another
name appeared for New Orleans.
Last evening letter came in from
that city, returning draft we had
sent him, with the words, "Accept
many thanks, but it came too late to
do him any good. He died Wednes-
day morning at Q o'clock. VIII you
have the Kindness to mention his
death in your paper, and send copy
to his mother, Mrs. Il. Shearer, Oko-
Iona, Miss, for lam sure IL would be
some satisfaction to her to know that
her sons death was thought of so far
away %
Brave heroes both, Redding and
Not in the din of battle,
where courage Is a matter of emula-
ton, did they fail; not on the field of
glory melted by the example of
those around them but In meeting
the pestilence that walketh by day,
in the fulfillment of their duties TO
their fellow-men, were their lives off,
cred up--a sacrifice noble, heroic,
and pure.
The noblest death that man can die
Ia when he dies for man.
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q n