The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1885-04-01
pecadsnse of Buslness 10 the south-The
Death of Heroes.

I
Geo. ". Cable IA csnilry AdOasiat.
There had come q great silence upot
trade. Long ago the custom warehouses
had first begun to show a growing roomi
ness, then emptiness, and then remained
shut, and the iron bolts and crossbars o
their doors were gray with cobwebs, ont
Of them, where had earned my wages Al
a self.supporting lad, had been turned
into a sword-bayonet factory, and hac
been turned out. For some time later thu
levee hadkept busy; butts stir and nois.
had greatly declined, taltered, turned int
the comment OF war and the clatter OF calk
era and ship carpenters and faded out
Both receipts and orders from the interior
country had shrlnk and shrunk, and the
brave, steady fellows, who at entry and
shipping and cash and account desks
could no longer keep up show Of occu-
patton, had laid down the pen, taken up
the sword and musket, and followed attel
the earlier and more eager volunteers
There had been one new, tremendous
sport for moneyed men for q while, with
spells to make 1t interesting. The sea-
going towboats OF New Orleans were long,
slender side.wheelers, all naked power
and speed, without either freight or pas
senger room, each with a single, tall, slim
chimney and hurrying walking-beam,
their low, taPering hulls trailing behind
scarcely above the water, and per-
petually drenched with the yeast Of the
wheels. Some merchants OF the more
audacious sort, restless under the strange
new quiet OF Tchoupitoulas street, had got
letters OF marque and reprisal, and let slip
these sharp nosed deerhounds upon the
tardy, transporting ships that came sail
ing up to the pisses unaware OF any de-
claratfon OF war. But that game was up.
The blockade had closed in like prison
gate; the lighter towboats, draped with
tarpaulins, were huddled together under
Slaughterhouse point with their cold
boilers and motionless machinery yielding
to rust; the more powerful ones had been
moored at the long wharf vacated by Nor
CANS Texas steamships; there had been
great hammering and making OF chips,
and clatter OF railroad iron, turning these
towboats into iron-clad cotton gunboats,
and these had crawled away, some up and
some down the river, to be seen in that
harbor no more. AT length only the
foundries, the dry.docks across the river,
md the ship.yard in suburb Jefferson,
where the great ram Mississippi was
being too slowly built, were active, and
the queen OF southern commerce, the city
that had once believed 1t was to be the
greatest in the world, was absolutely out
OF employment.
Gold and silver had long ago disappear
ed. Conf :derate money wasthe currency;
and not merely was the price Of food and
raiment rising, the value Of money was
going down. The State. too, had a paper
issue, and the city had another. Yet
with oil these there was first famine OF
small change and then deluge OF shin
plasters." Bah! What a mess 1t was !!
The boss butchers and the keepers Of
drinking-hoases actually took the lead in
issuing money" The current joke was
that you could pass the label Of an olive.
oil bottle, because it was greasy, smelled
bad, and bore an Acknowledgment
Freres, II I remember rightly. did my
first work as q cashier In those days, and |
can remember the smell OF my cash draw
er yet, instead OF i've cent pieces We had
car tickets. How the grimy little thines
wosid stiek toge.hef! iney Wousd 1 P !sis
an9 pass uhtii ttley were 80 sol, anu i:le.
glo!e WIN gtoSsfs anu putchefs itala ta;as
that you eoutu teil ohiy " some iaih !.
snow OIL their Original Color "n IA company
had Issued them. itogues ala nyneiy
business IN splt uckes, ntetally sPns. nv
ing them ana making one ucket setse iot
Two. -.
decay haa come IN. IN that warn, niois.
climate eI Jus Always hungry, anu wherever
aIioWeu ~ ieeu' eas W st sieeu
that is strange.o see .ne VIA, s;ss
always expensive anu m, y nain: :M
~ maae nasoS. ine osSa has;Ia .L iu.e'
weather stained sup Moofea oeslue tnein,
ana resuhe on Tue wafer ALMOST as hsl y,
ana VOID as an empty peascou, r Souia a nafa.
y ma pace 70 ,asten ~ ,; une stt oa,
ie in1o saa aegIett pas anS saeo ~ tbair
nerce Was nos ~ tnen,, aAt s soae u Snel.
round'stohe pavenenls ai.er sno"e "
wouia nave w n1elaiicnoiy siea anu. "
weather; pleaehea bones. 1 10y qa;et anu
lonely the barDor gIe@! me pis uryii
DOCKS against tne iatthef slote weie ~
empty. NOW ana then az tug lussea a9o ol.
with tne yelioW river al 10 ilse!l; anu one
or TWO steamooats came anu went eaen
day, put tney moved dfowsily, anu, aGtoss
on the olner sue Of Tue riVer, wnole
heet OF the'r dlngy Wnile SISTERS ny leq
up 70 the pahk, slhe ule; ny iay9itse VI
Of all the sea steamers tne little haoana,
thatIhad-beeni wont 70 arrive Twice .
month IRON onos, dlsgorge her spanish
American cargo, ana bustle away again,
and that had watched the saipWrients, az
their very elbows, razee ana NJ WIN tnree
big, raking masts IN place Of her Two small
ones, had long ago shipped down the nyer
and through tne plockadets, ana was now now
no longer tae naoaha. pu1 Tue 'ar nnanta
and dreaded .sampter. opposite
the rear OF the store was now
employed.,tor It ironted on Common
street and stretched through 10 Canal