The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-02-18
BLOODY-SHIRT PAPERS!
NUMBER XVIII.

What an incomprehensible thing is hui
man life, anyway A little while of joy, |
sorrow, ambition, despair, hope, disap-
pointment, and the man drops out of
sight, ofttimes out of memory. By the
announcement of the death of Gen. Han
which seems but few years off, bnt this
side of which a quarter of century in
tervenes. The picture comes up again in
all its buoyancy of excitement, all its hor-
ror of detail-its hopes, pleasures, sorrows
and successes. We seem to hear again
the stirring strains of martial music,
arousing the enthusiasm of every loyal
heart, and calling freemen to the dis
charge of duty. These scenes have been
written of by historians. painted in word
pictures by orators, and drawn in realist-
ic colors by the artists brush; but the
memory is the best record of these events.
Perhaps no Drawer man ever lived than
Gen. Hancock, and perhaps no more ter
rife fight ever took place than Hancock's
charge and the subsequent battle at Spott=
sylvania, Va. The Rebel General Cor
don, whose troops finally repulsed Han
cocks men, after the latter had broken
the Rebel line and made the position so
insecure that Gen. Lee proposed to lead,
in person, the eounter=charge Of Gordon's
men, declares that no such fighting was
seen elsewhere during the great struggle.
A large tree was literally torn to pieces
by rife-bullets, while the underbrush was
hxyf forriHo hoi1 Nor,
dubbed rifles, and fought hand-to-hand.
Such was the manner of Hancocks fight
ing-it was at the front, and where the
foe was to be found. 1t is said of him
that on one occasion, when the Army of
the Potomac was moving to a position
south of the James River, staff officer
asked Hancock; general, where is your
CORPSE" "Most of it lies buried between
the Rapidan and the james, was the sad
reply. AS commander of the Second
Corps, he knew no duty but to obey Or
ders, and this he did fearlessly, He was
considered by General Grant as the best
corps commander in the Army of the Po-
tomac. The sacrifice, the suffering, the
loss Of life, witnessed by this brave COM
mander would fill many volumes. All
these had cause, and that cause was the
Democratic party. The Northern wing
of the party divided at the beginning of
the war, and Hancock was one of those
who stood by the Union. He was an
avowed and outspoken Union man from
the first, and the only mystery connected
with the life of this great soldier is that
he could ever permit his name to be used
in connection with the Democratic party
in a Presidential campaign. He had been
through baptism of the fire of Demo-
cratic hatred, and knew the character of
the Democratic record. 1t stands to the
credit of the great soldier that he took
very little part, personally, in the cam
paign which resulted in his defeat.
Hancock was not the kind of soldier
the Democratic party loved. A type of
this class of Union soldier was Fitz John
Porter, who is knocking at the doors of
the Congress of the United States now,
bowling for that body to say, by official
act, that the history of nearly a quarter
Of century was wrong, and that he is
not a traitor, who deserved death. Where
Porter lay within hearing of desperate
battle and permitted his comrades in
arms to be slaughtered, and refused to go
to their assistance because he was jealous
of their commander, Hancock would have
dashed into the ranks of the enemy with
a resistless force. Porter had some fellow
Democrats over on the other side, and
possibly feared that some of them might
get hurt. Hancock regarded them as en-
emies TO the country, who deserved to be
shot. And we cannot lose sight of the
fact that in all of Hancock's desperate
fighting, he was fighting Democrats Not
man in gray stood up before the fire of
his troops who was not an earnest Demo
crat, and he had the thrilling experience
of fighting one of the most terrific battles
known to history, upon the soil of his na-
tive State, defending that State from
Democrats. Those Democrats were de-
feated, but they are the same Democrats
still. The sentimental talk of some of
the smooth-tongued Southern politicians
about the "fraternal feeling" between the
sections, must be taken with much allow
ance. No man would want to stir up
strife between the sections again, but few
men will lose sight of the characteristics
of the Democratic party. In Mississippi,
South Carolina, Alabama, and other
States, that party tried to destroy free
and fair elections and perpetuate the De-
mocracy in power by shooting the Gov
eminent to death. In Ohio the same par
ty is trying the same thing now by theft
and forgery. 1t is the same party, with
the same class of unscrupulous politi-
clans in command. The officer who con-
nives at forging election returns is to the
Democratic party to-day what John Nor
gan, and Wheeler. and Forrest, were to it
many years ago. The whole tendency of
the life of that party has been bad-its
record is bad-it is bad all over, awfully.
eternally had. The proper way to treat
the Democratic party is to vote against
it, at all times.
Need Roasting.
Murat Halstead of the Commercial
Gazette and Joseph J. Mcdowell of
Rbo or,,ooHoI H.,