The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1879-02-02

i
the joke did put the idea into the Doctor
head or not, am fully Of the opinion tha
DPctor Luke P. Blackburn, "the hero o
Memphis" and hero likewise of half I
ecPre of other terrible yellow fever cpl
| denies, will, if he lives. be inaugurateC
TIP next Governor of Kentucky. At the
Democratic Convention of this county
| heRd in this city last week, the following
prfamble and resolution were adopted BY
actlamation
Vhereas, The people Of the County of Jeffsr
SOP have never nrged the claims of any oitizsr
fof any State cface, and there exists through
Out the country an unmistakAble disposition
T. Blackburn, with Substantial evidence oi
their appreciation by selecting him as the
standard bearer OF the Democratic party fol
the Office of Governor of the Stats Of Ken.
tucky, to be elected at the approaching An.
goet election; and whereas, we recognize the
eminent qualifications and fitness of Dr.. Black
nurn to discharge the duties of the offioe oi
Governor; therefore be IL
Resotredjf That our delegates to the State
nominating Democratic Convention, to be held
IN the CITY OF Lonisville on the lst day of May
next, be, and are hereby instructed to vote
for and ose all honorable mesns to secure the
nomination OF Dr.. Luke P. Blsckburn as the
Democratic nominee of that convention for the
Cffce of Governor.
County conventions in all parts of Ken
tucky have taken similar action, and the
Doctor will be likely to find himself, in the
terms of the spurious telegram of three
years before, pnt through the coming State
Convention indeed "With q rush."
The old Doctor, before his recent prom
inence in the yellow fever outbreak of last
summer, was chiefly, and people think
here, unfairly known to the people of the
North through his supposed connection
with the rumored plot to introduce infected
clothing into Northern cities in the time
of the war. Probably such an atroeious
idea never entered the head of any South :
ern man of note; but the matter had an
Investigation by g Congressional committee
at tho time, aud the Rev. DIR. Stuart Rob
inson, the famous Presby terian divine of
Louisville, was charged with being at the
head OF the scheme. After the war, two
newspapers, one in Chicago and one in
st. Louis, gave renewed currency to the
accusation. DR.. Robinson prom pity
brought suit for libel against both. From
the Chicago paper he got damages for
$25, 900. l think, and from that in st.
Lonis, $5 900. He remitted both judgments
only stipulating. that a fRll retraction
should be printed editorially by both jour
nails. which was done. 1t seems no more
preposterous that q clergyman who was
one of the most prominent figures at the
Evan geficat Alliance, aud more lately at
the great Edinburgh Conference of last
summer, man honored greatly at home
aud abroad for his learning and admirable
personal character, should be guilty of
such crime, than that this genial physi-
clan should be guilty of it-a physician
who has risked his life over and over again
in yellow fever epidemics, leaving a lnxu-
rious home ia far-off city to 20 down
among the stricken, without reward of any
sort except the consciousness of q self
lmpcsed duty that was well performed.
When he was hardly twenty years old.
OrqHnntan hn n
lege, the great cholera epidemic of 1886
was ravaging Kentucky. Villages were
almost depopulated by it. In Versailles
three of the Eve physicians fed. and the
other two died the same night. Young DR.
Blackburn volunteered his services and
worked faithfully until the last case had
disappeared from the town. There were
several like instances of self sacrificing
devotion during the next thirty years Of
his life but the doctor talks little of these
deeds. In the interval before the war
broke oUt, he had given up his profession,
had married Southern heiress, and had
settled down on Mississippi plantation.
l think he was attached TO one of the Con-
federate regiments during the war, but in
1864, when yellow fever broke out in Ber-
muda, he volunteered to go there. He
remained until the end and was rewarded
by special recognition from Queen Vic
toria, medal from Parliament, and ad :
dresses from NUMBER of British assOcia
tions. 1t was at the time of this epidemic
that the charge above referred to was made
against him.
In 1867 yellow fever appeared in Mem
phis. The doctor was down from Louis
Vile before the news had fairly been pro-
mulgated, and nursed the infected until
the disease had disappeared. In the cpl
demic of 1873 he was again prompt in offer
Ing his services, and you will remember
Ern tntn To-
at the time, of the old doctor seated by a
patients cot, holding tho thin band in his
and bending over to catch the dying word
DONE know how good a physician he is ;
out fancy the secret of his cnres rests as
much in his unfailing cheerfulness as in the
medicines he gives.
When Memphis was again stricken Last
summer the Doctor hastened. to his old
post. But the disease spread into southern
Kentucky, and the Doctor came back into
his own State. The stranger coming here
from the North will be struck with this
intense State feeling, and will then under.
stand why this con of Kentucky felt com.
PEELED to give up his patients in Tennessee
TO aucnOr thnba havonI tLa hor1ar