Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-07-20
HAMMQhp DEPARTS.
We Loved Him And Yet He Len Us.

HAMMOND DEPARTS.
We Loved Him And Vet He Lcn Us.
Editors Press & Dakotaian:
We fear that the great and good Ham
mand has left us, and forever-that sick at
heart over the sins of this people he has
brushed the dust from his feet and left us to
our fate.
Yesterday the Indian Office was disman.
tied and articles of virtu and necessity were
shipped up river. to be distributed We sup
pose among the different agencies to be
treasured as mementocs of one whose name
will ever be prominently associated with the
great reform wave that swept over this sim
stricken land in the first year of the second
century. .
The ruthless hand Of civil service took
away everything that We had loved as asso-
ciated with the great rctormer. The cooler
from which he got his water, and the urn
into which he put his water the maps of
the Sioux country, the bunk on which the
majestic form reposcd during the few mo-
ments snatched from labor, and the ten kit,
wonder of the continents, gone, all gone /!
True. there never was any necessity for the
Office here, nor was there any for its abrupt
abolishment, but we have learned to love it
and HamMond-and we mourn and will
not be comforted.
And to think we shall never see that
great chair again. That chair in which he
used to lean back and tell us how he spent the
afternoon in the park with Grant; slept at
the soldiers home with Hayes and how for
six long weeks he ran the Office of the com.
missioner, while that august person was ma
nipulating the other end of the rope in New
York how he built railroads in the south
and west, turned out $4,000 acres of land in
Kentucky rather than pay tax on it; how a
fellow in Missouri beat him out of a million
in one little business transaction, and how
he and Bill Sherman gave the rebels he'll
in the march through Georgia. Alas that
the good and great die young.
Our great reformer came in the spring
time, ere the chilly blasts of this frieid
region had allowed the buds to swell or the
lilies to bloom, and yet he blossomed az the
rose. He had left forty-two houses in Chi
cago, and bank-'my bank"-who does
not remember the swelling of that cuphone.
ous voice when discanting of the Chicago
possessions and "my bank"
And the great reformer was philanthro-
pist as we'll as reformer. He wanted several
several was the Thousand acres of
land around Yankton. All, land He
looked upon this goodly little city, and liked
it, and he wanted several thousand acres of
the adjacent soil, and expected to get it, we
think, by virtue of his great Office, without
money and without price-purely in the
spirit Of reform. And alas, these sordid
people could not see it, and now, he whom
we loved and have lost, has gone to shed his
fragrance in other scenes, and TO scatter his
benefactions on other and more appreciative
people.
Yes, he wanted lands, cattle, ponies robes,
&C., wanted to be able to point to his lowing
herds on thousand hills, and his great big
heart being filled with the socialistic ideas
IF progressive reform, he scorned the tender
If filthy luere.
And he has gone, and in our great sorrow
hose touching lines we have seen some
where, come yelling up
1--WE have never loved a tree or fower," &c.,
And we who knew him shall know him
10 more; his smile shall no more light up
hese streets, unless brought up by the
heriff to answer at the next assizes, and in
Inguish and sorrow we shall grope our way
n darkness, for great light to our feet has
oeen extinguished. REFORM.