The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-06-28


died suddenly at the seashore. Happily the
story proved to be a eanard, and the jolly inf
del is still IN the enjoyment of his doubts, and
unable yet to testify as to whether it was Moses
or himself who made the Mistakes"
#@@
Several of the doubtful States" are under
stood to be miaed at Indiana, who is declared
to be very immodest in her pretensions in the
matter of Democratic candidates for the Presi-
dency. She has assumed that no other State
has any available timber, and, worse than all,
has assumed that the West viii admit it. 1t is
a game of bluff the Others wont submit to, but
so far she talks SO fast about first one favorite
son and then another the balance of the family
cannot sandwich in a word anywhere. AS soon
as she stops to catch her breath Delaware,
Massachusetts,, and Illinois viii certainly lisp
the names of Bayard, Butler and Bill Morrison,
and perhaps q whisper will come from Gram
mercy Park.
Durbin Ward, the hard-he old Demo-
crat who was defeated at the Ohio State con-
vention for the nomination for governor, was q
gallant soldier. A veteran who knew him we'll,
from the fact that they commanded regiments
in the same brigade, gave me some remin-
iscences of the man yesterday. Said my in
formant: 't0ld Durbin was a good one in a
fight, but he could not drill his regiment
which was the Seventeenth Ohio. He never
got far before he had them all mixed up horri-
bly,. The rest of us would laugh at him, and
he would have to let the men straighten them
selves out the best they could When it came
to fight theagh, he was in his element, and
no officer had to q larger degree the confidence
of his men.
"After the battle of Shiloh I was present
when old Durbin and Jake Thompson talked
the whole war question over under a flag of
truce. It happened this way: A flag came in
from the Coniederates in front of our brigade
headquarters. l have forgotten now what it
was about, but q question arose, and they had
to send a messenger back, which caused delay
of about three hours. This gave the opportu-
nifty for the discussion. There were present on
our side, besides Ward, Bob McCook, who COM
nanded the brigade, Steedman, Geo. 2. Estey,
lieutenant-colonel of Steednan's regiment, and
several others. Estey is dead now, and Stced-
man. by the way, is chief of police OF Toledo.
They all knew Jake Thompson well. He had
been Buehanan's Secretary of the Interior, and
became famous from his ENLIGHTENMENT of the
Indian trust funds, after which he went over
TO the Confederacy, and was az this time colo
mel of a Mississippi regiment.
Ward was retlhot Union man, but still a
Democrat, and it was very amusing to hear
him and Thompson discuss the whole matter
of the rebellion as politicians. Durbin failed
to make much impression on his antagonist
but he could not be shaken in his own position,
and they had it not and heavy for three hours.
The other Confederates did not join in the talk,
for we were not acquainted with any Of them.
1t would be interesting now to hear cid Wards
recollections of that interview"
m#m
Said Southern Senator to me this morning:
I am just dreading the result OF the next
election, because think we shall win it."
Why So" l asked; THAT sounds inproba-
Bile"
us true though. Life will be a burden. I
hope the law will be so fixed by that time with
reference to the civil service that it will be q
perfectly well established custom that Senators
viii have nothing to sag about these little ap-
pointmeuts to petty offices. Do you know,
Hayes came near running u.s. He began, you
remember, by throwing cut a little bait to the
Southern Democrats, and gave them few Off
ees. saw sc once il was going to break us all
up Everywhere / heard men who wanted
places say, Well, l don'tsee what is the matter
with this man; l would just as soon have him
as Iilden, after ALL The Southern papers
jumped on to Hayes, and made him take the
back track. If they had not, we were gone.
As it was was badgered day and night, and
had scores of people after me to go to Hayes
and get them places. Finally, had to shut
down on the thing, and happily for us, Hayes
backed down on his policy of Cancellation. l
shall retire from public life before / will sub
NIT to being bedeviled, as we will be, should
we come into control of the Government,
without strict civil service law prohibiting
Congressional interference. For this reason /
am staunch civil service advocate and hope
to see the law passed last session carried out,
and given wider scope. Oh, l am civil sery-
ice reforner, tell you
took all this with grain Of allowance.
An Iiiinoisan gave me a scrap Of personal
history yesterday about Andy Sherman, late
| lieutenant governor of his State, that shows
how great oaks from little aeorns grow. Said
man, without dollar. S. 2. Rounds, who is
now the Government printer, was publishing
then the first Sunday paper ever printed IN
the city. lie hired Sherman at s. column
TO do his editorial work. The paper was called
at this rate for a year, aud then Charley Will
got an interest in the paper, and has been theirs
ever since.
The little tug Pinta, which was condemned
! as not being able to navigate In Chesapeake
Horn to Alaska. It is reported that the officers
| expect TO beach her along the coast of Pata-
| gonna and come home overland.
1