The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-10-24
Two Heroes.

ing anu ". Il. Shearer, the frst named
a correspondent of that paper at Gre
NADIA, Miss, and the telegraph operator
at that place:
Bill Redding died yesterday morn
ing. o. E. Shearer had gone two or
three days previously, though the news
did not reach us until last night by the
mails. They were brace of heroes,
though living hundreds Of miles apart
and probably strangers to each other
brace Of heroes without any of the
brass ornaments or frippery of the
battle field to distinguish them from
other men, but still with the beoric ma
ture of the highest school implanted in
them. Bill Redding was the telegraph
operator at Grenada, and at the same
time correspondent of the Enquier-a
a bright young fellow of only %, with
the vigor Of youth and the hope of a
long life before him. When the yellow
fever broke out at Grenada he tele-
graphed the Enquirer private mes
sage, saying that the Yellow Jack thra-
tened to
GIVE THEM A PIERCE TUssLE.
But he would stay, and might be relied
upon for the news. His dispatches
were graphic and cheerful, coming
from brave man, at first, but day by
day, as the situation became more
alarming, they changed in their tone.
They were graphic still, but the hor
rible scenes through which he was
passing gave the eloquence of woe to
what he wrote. One day he commence
en- his dispatch.
ITO describe the scene is beyond the power
of mortal man. Although the deaths are
decreasing, it is not from an abatement OF the
disease, but from the want of material. Our
litil band of well ones are quickly counted,
and we miss them hourly, requiring the strong
est nerve and courage for us to battle against
the plaguedemon. We imagine we can almost
see it in the air, and we feel like it was LINK
ing around us, waiting for all ungarded
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 message saying that he
didn know how long he would live,
and he wanted the amount of his COM
pensation fixed, that he was Drawing
the dangers for his mother and those
dependent on him. A liberal sum was
named for his services to that date and
still more for his future pay. Two or
three days later his dispatches came
with an apology at the foot saying that
he feared he could not write coheren-
tly, as the room in which he wrote
contained four persons down with the
disease and one corpse. The four per-
sons were Bill Redding's wife his
mother and his two sisters. The corpse
was that of his child. Was it any Won
der that he could not write coherently
Two DAYS more elapsed and his dis
patches came along as usual, only
THE woEFUL PICTURE
Drawn in them increased in its dark
colors. There was no hope at Grenada,
but Bill Radding still remained battel-
ing in the face of despair. Then two
more DAYS passed, and there was moth
ing from Grenada The office could
not be reached by the wires. This
was last Thursday and Friday. The
town seemed to have dropped out of
existence. Saturday the wire was
opened again, and with its opening
came the message: Bill Redding Is
down with the fever. This for the
Enquuer." Yesterday came still any
Their:
''REDDING DIED THIS MORNING.
At half-past s." The hero had fought
his last fight and was conquered by
him who conquers all.
Our other hero, Shearer, was the
Enquiries correspondent at New Or
l,ans-a brave, soldierly man, who had
faced death on n score of battle fields,
to find it in another form, though with
him still at the post of duty. He had
served the E"qarer faithfully, though
but brief length of time, and his
dispatches from the Crescent City were
among the very best that came to any
Northern paper, His pictures of the
panic. stricken city, and the gaunt
spectre of death rs it came up from the
btyous, were more vivid and start
ling.
But there was not the realism of woe
and dosolntion in them that pervaded
those from Grenada. 1t was not to be
expected in large city. One day,
however, Shcarer, dropped out from
the list Of those sending our dispatches
and another name appeared for New
Orleans. Last evening a 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 COOL. He died Wednesday
morning at & o'clock. Will you have
the kindness to mention his death in
Your paper and send Il copy to his
mother, Mrs. L. Shearer, Okolona,
I hn a