Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-08
BUTLER ANDERSON.

6NAA1h HNhhhnJNs
There will be meeting this after.
noon at 1 o'clock at the rooms of the
Howard Association, No. 10 Madison
street, TO take action toward raising
funds for the education and support
Of the children Of the late Butler P.
Anderson. All who sympathize with
the movement are invited to attend
and participate in the proceedings.
Large contributions will not be asked,
as it is felt that many will desire to
give something, and that it will be
more appropriate for whole com
munity to assume the care Of these
orphans than for a few to give all.
Butler Anderson was a martyr to his
humane impulses and his sense of
duty. He did not go to Grenada, as
some have supposed, in a spirit of ro-
nance and adventure, but from a
stern sense of duty, when others would
not go. When the mayor of that
stricken city sent an appeal to the
Howards Of Memphis for nurses, Gen.
W. j. Smith and Col. Anderson
and other Howards found it a difficult
matter to find nurses at once. Several
hours were spent in the effort, and
finally ten we're assembled at the depot
to take the special train. They were
inexperienced nurses, the most of
them, and without head would have
been useless. The question arose as to
who would go with them. One after
another had reasons for saying, 81
pray thee have me excused" General
Smith, as the first vice president of
the Howard Association, said he was
going. No one else volunteered. 1t
was critical moment. Just at
the last Colonel Anderson stepped on
the train and said, " l will go myself. "
After making the decision he had
only time to send a verbal message to
his family. That was the last ever
seen Of him alive in Memphis. He
and General Smith found the city in
the widest confusion and fright.
They went to work, forgetting them.
selves and bent only on relieving the
sick and dying. They often worked
from early in the morning until long
after midnight The mayor fell the
day after they arrived and soon died.
The six physicians of the
place who remained all died. The
mortality of the place was ap-
palling. They could not leave.
The highest sense of duty and human
ity impelled them to remain as they
did, until one fell at his post and the
other was brought away with the fever
throbbing in every vein. And Incl.
dentally here we will say that all the
terrible trials and emergencies of the
yellow fever period of 1873 did NOT
develop a nobler, braver, and more
unselfsh man than General w. j.
Smith. Of English birth and ideas
entertaining political opinions at vari.
ance with those of most Southern
people, he had been the object
of dislike and GOODNESS. But
when the occasion was pre-.
sented, he went to the relief Of
those who, in a sense, might have been
considered his enemies at the risk o.
his life. From this circumstance We
may learn lesson of forbearance ant
wisdom that should never be forgot
ten. But it is in behalf of the orphan
children Of Butler Anderson that al
appeal is to be made. 1t will be ;
pleasure and duty to contribute t
such a fund; The penny of the chile
will be as welcome and as expressive
of heart moved by good motives al
the larger gifts of the rich. Gentle
men have taken charge of the move
ment who are responsible and will Sc,
4hnt nrnr,, nnnt 10 ,,ro,,nrl,.n,