The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1879-04-25
TWO OF OUR 1915 VETERANS.
An Interessing Meeting After Their
sight is Restored to Them.
IN. O. Democrat

The military pageant of yesterday
muat have stirred tho hearts of the
few veterans now left, who SO gallant
ly defended our city against the adj
vance of the British in 1915. Two
that we happened to meet we know
felt the old soldierly spirit come back
when the ssear-piercing fife'' sounded
ON the street. These two were Messrs,
Joseph st. Cyr and Charles Raymond
Mr.. st. Cyr ia eighty-two years Of
ago, and belonged to the rifle company
Of the Battalion d'Orleans, which was
commanded on the memorable eighth
of January, by Major Plauche. He is
still an active man, and moves about
with all the elasticity of youth.
Mr.. Raymond is eighty-fve, and
was q member OF the came battalion
In the battle at Chalmette. Full of vfgor
and well-preserved strength, he, like
his fellow veterans, looks twenty years
younger than he is. Both, strange 70
say, enjoy the companionship of the
wives they married sixty years ago.
It was interesting yesterday to listen
to their story of the battle, to note how
the eye would sparkle, and the chest
heave as they recounted the fighting
Of that day. Plauche,s command was
ON the right, they said, and had for its
protection only low breastwork of
earth. In the embrasures for the cam
non there were two or three bales of
cotton, but none in the breastworks.
The battle was hot from the time the
last gun was fired, until the red coats
withdrew from the field.
Plauche's command, Mr.. Raymond
says, was composed Of a rifle company,
one of dragons, the Blues of Capt.
Maunsel White, the LIE Francs and the
In -
but six are now alive, and they are G..
Raymond, J. st. Cyr, 8. st. Cyr, Jean
Gervais, Jean Lamothe and p. M. La
pice.
The occasion which brought about
the meeting with these tried veterans
was to congratulate them on new
lease of life they had just received.
For some years they were almost
blind from cataract of the eye, and
could barely tell daylight from dark
ness. The skillful hand and knife of
that celebrated oculist here, DIR. Cor
nelius Beard, opened the portals of
vision to these old soldiers, and they
see again. The cure must have been
wonderful, for nature at eighty-five
years has but little vital force of reviv-
ifcation left. Both were happy over
tho gift of a sense of which they were
SO long bereft, and spoke of the doctor
In feeling manner, of his delicacy
and extreme tenderness. The doctor
has, it seems, been remarkably FORUM
ate In all of his cases of cataract
amongst elderly men. Our fellow
towns,nen, Adolph Dupre, Esq, G..
TOledano aud many others have also
been restored to sight.
Mr.. Dupre is one of the nobiest ex-
amples of our true creole stock. Sew
enty-efght years of age, he has all the
vivactty of his youth, and in CONVEX
sation Is more agreeable than those
whose years fall short of him two
score. His face is classical and shows
the true type of a Louisianian, and
now that his sight is nearly restored
will enjoy for years to come the ca
resses OF his grandchildren. I'm. 1918
he was too young to enlist in tho cause
of lew Orleans, but since our victory
he has ever been a firm and untlinch-
ing defender OF the peoples rights.
1t Is somewhat remarkable that such
II number of our.Oldest families should
be SO successfully operated upon by the
same physician.
During the long conversation Mcssrs
st. Cyr and Raymond gavo many in
ctdents of the Sth of january which
we have not space to publish. We
left them looking as happy and con-
tented as young lovers.
Mr.. Goidie, the naturalist, who has
passed eighteen months in New Guinea,
has, among other matters, informed
the Brisbane Courier that his party
came In contact with tribe of natives
In the interior, whose custom "suggest-
Ell to him the probable origin of the |
rumors that have been always current |
OF a race OF tailed men in some remote
corners of tho srlolo x,.A:..