The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-01-09
FIERY KENTUCKIANS.
THE eURaRI0aE.aLAoKnuRN wAR.
HurbrIdES'a Answer to the Attacks of blackburn
on Ills Administration In Ksntasky-Ths
rsfiOu Fever Story flung In the Cong.
rsIsmaa'S Teeth Pistols for Two.

WAsnroSToN, D. O., January s.-Cen
eral Burbridge has furnished for publicu
tion statement in reply to the charge
made against him by Representative Black
burn. He bcginsby giving the latter's let
ter Of December 97th, 1881, which va.
telegraphcd hence last night, md FOLLOWED
it with the appended response thereto:
WASHINGTON, January @, 1882.
To Hon. J. S. 9. Blackburn, Member o.
Congress from The Seventh District of RentuckI
Sir: Your letter OF the 9th ult., in rei.
erenCe to mine Of the 2lst, is received, In
1t yos make the point that distinguished
gentlemen" who approved my conduct
must have acted without full KNOWLEDGE
OF the iaCts. Declining to assai the char.
acters Of men whose loyalty 10 their State
and country at the period OF my adminis.
tration in Kentucky is in striking contrast
to your own, you assume that they hayG
not full knowledge Of the facts
The deeds which received tho hearty
approval Of all Union men, and which in
the corresponding ratio provoked the wrath
Of the rebels In Kentucky In 1854, were NOT
done in the corner. They were planned
in accordance with orders from Secretary
Stanton and General Sherman, and execn.
ted in the light Of day. The letters copiss
OF which will be published in connection
with your letter and this reply: were
written after my military career had closed
and Mt time when the Democratic
press OF Kentucky was the loudest
in its denunciation :of my ofIlciai
conduct. They were written by men
who were fully conversant with all
OF the facts, both before and after thew had
been distorted by rebel hate. Il ia 10 he
regretted that in passing sentence mon me-
an officer to whom the execution OF orders
ior the suppression Of guerrillas was en-.
trusted, you faited to include in your dc.
nunciation the guerrillas themselves, Have
you ever heard how Berry's band mur-
dered MI kallus on the Borderstown turn.
pike while he was protecting his wife from
insult, and how the incensed neiphbors
arose and pursued them until Mr.. Roberts
the County Surveyor, was killed? linn.
dreds ot such crimes were com.
mitted by guerrilla bands who
roamed over the State. You refer TO men
whose acts put them beyond the paIe of
civilized warfare, in the twilight Of barbar.
ism, or worse, in the domain of crime
Would it have been an net OF This character
to hunt down Berry's band and hang every
one Of It's members? If your district was
dotted over with graves it was for such acts
rs these AS informed you in my previous
letter, not man was put to death by nv
order without first having been tried and
convicted by u regularly organized Court
Martial. N''
The acts which place the perpetrator be-
yond the pale OF civilized warfare in the
twilight Of barbarism, or worse, in the do.
main OF actual crime, were tiIe yerv acts
by which it became my duty to punish
that | was too ler,ient and allowed many
to secure pardon upon promise OF future
amendment. admit that WIS fre-
quently CenSured for this, At the time
when the Kentucky Legislature Ind no
power to command me appeared yolun.
tary before committee appointed by tle
Senate.
All the charges to which you now, refer
were in!ly investigated and upon the ad,
vice OF Hon. Asa Q. I. Grover, Of the Sem
Htci ule IuNcslISutlOu was abandoned by
the lower house. In conclusion allow me
to suggest that there were acts attempted
by the adherents to your cause who liko
those to whose death you so pathelically
Nllude, never risEed their lives in battle.
which only put the perpetrators beyond
the pale Of the civilized warfare in thc
twilight OF barbarism or worse in the
domain of actual crime, which so'hr sur
pass those above mentioned as TO provoke
the inquiry whether they were not con.
coeted by the prince Of darkness him
seiL: Sc H. allude, sig, to the attempted
Introduction oil clothing infected with yell
low fever into Northern cities during the
war. | don't know by whom this crime
against civilization was attempted by The
proofs OF the attempt are ample, and while
yexing your righteous soul about the bar
barous treatment of thieves and cut
throats in Kentucky, it might be well TO
allow some portion against the diabolical
attempt to murder Innocent women and
children. Respectfully,
S. G, BURnRTpCR.