The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1879-11-22
Our BrOadbrim Letters.

Ihe f0ltlcal hllkenny Uets-A Qtl6
! Election Gen. Hookers Obsequies-
Extraordinary suioides-A Case o
Starvation-Defeat Of Tammamy, etc
! NEW YORK, Nov. Is, 1879.
EDITOR CHIEF:
I! I recollect hearing story of a sen
tinel on guard Oh the banks of til,
james, in the winter Of 1862. TIL,
night was dark and stormy, aud til,
heart o! the poor soldier kept leapinl
in his mouth, as breaking twig, ol
the cry Of some wild animal, disturbed
his lonely vigil. At last he heard {
splash in the river, and straining lii
eyes far into the gloom, lie saw q
moving object on the surface Of tht
water; nearer aud nearer the object
came, aud the sentry cooked his
musket, as he caught the short, SHARP
breathing of Il man, who was evi.
IDENTIFY battling for life. At last lie
houudercd out of the river and
craw]ed upon the bank, and throwing
himself down among the brush, he
exclaimed in IL voice of thankfulness
that could not he mistaken, "Thank
God, oat Of h-ll at last" Now,
don't propose to use exactly sucl,
fOrcible Saxon in expressing my
thankfulness at the election being
over, but in the language of the Geor-
gia Major when asked to take a drink,
+" must say them's my sentiments"
1t is indeed a supreme relief after all
this bitterness ard strife, and beating
Of drums, to see the army which
naingled in the death grapple but yes
terday, to-day swallowed up by their
mother earth, like the warriors of
Roderick Dhu. The fight which is
just closed, has beer marked by a
bitterness between two of the candi-
dates, unexampled in the history of
political contests. Mr.. Kelley and
Governor Robinson, the rival Demo-
cratic candidates, were once the
warmest and most devoted Of friends,
aud now they hate each other with
that good, hearty, enduring hate.
which will be satisfied with nothing
but the absolute destruction of its
rival. The Republican candidate oc-
cupied the position Of the monkey in
the fable, who divided the cheese for
the cats, and l presume, as lie woke
up on the morning of the fifth of No.
vember, that as far as he was con-
cerne'a, he found the division exceed
ingly satisfactory.
1t has indeed been a busy week,
startling events have followed eac,,
other in quick succession. The cleo
tion was one of the qnictest and most
orderly that we have had for many
years. Even the fourth, sixth and
twelfth wards seemed to stand upon
their good behavior, and though it
was very evident that all of tile
whiskey shops had back doors to
them, on the whole, think that our
temperance friends will admit, that at
least decent outward respect was
paid to the cold water clause in tie
election laws. There were a few
broken heads, black eyes and bloody
noses, which were mostly confined
to our foreign population, sufficient
however, to give zest to the exercise
Of the elective franchise, and enable
us to appreciate the blessings Of that
freedom, which declares that "every
fellow is as good as another fellow,
and a burned eight better"
Wednesday brought out lots of old
veterans to pay the last tribute of re-
spect to fighting Joe Hooker. As he
lay in state, III the Governors room
in the City Hall, thousands passed in
rapid procession, urged ON by the at
tea'aant police; at last there vas
auN, aud General Burnside, who was
dressed in citizens clothes, stepped up
to the coffin and looked down on the
face of the dead hero, to whom, in the
April of 1863, he had surrendered the
of an ARMY Of one hundred
and fifty thousand men. General :
Burnside paused for moment. and
perhaps his memory was busy. No
doubt but he remembered the terrible
sacrifice of Charlottesville, when Ire
saw thousands melt away like snow
under !: summer sun, and then that
heroic fight up the mountain side uf
which has secured to
fighting Joe a lasting place in tire
hearts of the people, Who readily for
get his faults, and remember only the
sterling patriotism aud pluck of the
soldier and the man.
Two extraordinary suicides have
taken place during the past week.
AMtieF G.. Tunison was one Of the
ncst popular hotel keepers on Long
Island, who for many years past has
kept the best known wayside i,ostelry
gu the road between Coney Island and
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