The Republican journal., 1888-05-03
Letter from Minneapolis.
BATEMAN, BILLIARDS., BRIDGES AND
lNES s,

now? did not think that my playful remarl
about his being red-headcd would set hin
foaming like a soda fountain in July. l an
glad, however, that he corrected my mistake
and has given the true color of his hair-indigt
blue. Now | must correct mistake that he
made about me. Bateman says that | wa,
| short, stout-"rather inclined to corpueuce.'
He is all wrong. l was five feet four inche.
high, and weighed two hundred and ffteer
pounds-only about three times as heavy as
Bateman was, boots and all He was little, but
Oh! 1t was cold day when that little scamp
couldn't get a chicken or something better thai,
bareback and salt junk. l wish to say to Bate
man than if l was guilty of as many unchris
| tian like acts while in the army as he was
would not say much about a comrade. l have
got good cne on him for the benefit of the
| boys. Here it is One morning on the march
| through Georgia, Bateman presented himself
| to the surgeon and wanted pass for the ambu-
| lance. The surgeon looked him over, felt OF
his pulse, and told him he was rot sick, ard
could march as well as any man in the regt
/ Bateman stoutly contcnded that he rdS sick
hadn't any appetite, that all he ate for his
| breakfast was dozen hard boiled eggs. That
settled it, and he got the pass for the ambulance
| lie being a boy, and in such low condition
|
along. After we got into camp for the night
watched for the ambulance, which in due time
made its appearance. Lo! it contained no sick
Bateman. In about two hours after the ambu-
lance came in. was about to start out with 4
detail to find him. when | saw him coming
| through the brush loaded down like ii pack
mule. | asked him how he liked the ainbu-
lance, and received this reply: "Ambuanee he
ID! l had little business of my own on
hand to-day. l say, Lieutenant come down
and take supper with me- The invitation
| was cheerfuIly accepted lie had chickens
| eggs, cucumbers, WatermelonS, fruit of all
kinds, and canteen of appe-jack. to say moth
| ing of tobacco and other things too numerous
| to mention. Well, such was army life with
| the boys of the old 14th.
Yes, we get a blizzard out West now and
| then or rather we thought they We're blizzard.
| until we read the accounts of the grandfather
of all Billiards that recently swept over the
| Middle and New England states. As compared
with that our Western billiards are nothing
but gentle brecZes. We don't live in dugouts
| they would be of no Use in a blizzard, because
| the people couldn't find them. As a general
| thing Il Western blizzard comes on in the latter
portion of the day. The morning is pleasant
and the air balmy. Such beautiful weather ut.
| tracts the people to 20 out to the timber for
wood, to the mill, or perhaps to town fifteen
or twenty miles away. The first thing they
| know the wind Whirls around to the northwest
and becomes piercing cold. the air is full OF
| fine snow and the driver cannot see the horses
before him. That is the reason why SO many
perish in Il blizzard. If people are indoors
with plenty of fuel they a. well of and
comfortable as they would be in New England
| and much better OFT than they We're i'll New
York during the late storm, when coal was 81:
| per ton and milk fifty cents per quart.
We get cyclone out West now and then
Two years ago they had Il terrible cyclone at
st. Cloud and sauk Rapids. went down from
| this cityto look over the ruins. The sight was
| a terrible one. Many in this State have cNciUnc
| dugouts, and when they see one coming they
go into them for Il place of safety. No Sir.
| We live in nice houses summer and winter and
| in Christian-like manner. We are still build
| ing fine houses and shall continue to build them
| in spite of cyclones and billiards. Architect
| Burlington contemplates building block twcn-
| ty-eight stories high. If he does ! shall want
a suite of rooms on the upper floor for Prof.
| Bateman, and get him up there out of the way
at least until the next presidential election is
| over.
| This is going to be a busy season in this city
| for building. There are many fine and costly
buildings to be erected, and the city is going to
| make many improvements in the way of parks
| paving, etc. The number of miles OF water
mains already amount to III, thirty-eight OF
which We're laid the past year. There are
! thirty-eight miles of sewers and fifteen miles of
paved streets Forty miles tell the story OF
the curbs and cutters. We have III policemen,
| and $50 licensed saloons. besides any number
of ''blind pigs There are 1920 licensed ca
| mines in the city, and 5000 more that are I'M
| licensed. The old Latin warning. "Core Ca
nun', can we'll he onnJioJ here The Lri,i,e~
of the Nissssinni river have coSt tho rity of
Minneanojis in the aooregatc 81 ooI GOO NV.
mouth Avenue and the Howe truss bridge.
which was replaced by the present structure in
cost so54 OOO more The suSnen~ion hriltc
fuured I'M IN sI15 600 tho stone ,rrb hril,a ~,
the island SAG 900 Washington Nyrnne hr,ro
S104 600. the state arch hriJ~r 600 000 Frank
lin Avenue bridge sl39. 900. and the Lake street
bridve SI5O 600 on will thu. SEQ that vn are
we'll sunnlied with heautiful and costly hri'i~es
Our cifv Government is divideI into n,onv
denartmentS Tho schools ara nnaer :, snhnnI
board: tbe nolire unler a noliee commission
| the water works have n superintcndeut. the
BRIDGES. etc, are under The care of the civ en-,
gneer. who has been engaged in fiat de,,art-
ment for seventeen wears The n,rks or, inan-
aged by a mark board and we have some of the
finest in tbe west. I wish I had time and snace
TO tell your readers sometime about orr fine
mills and elevators Inf will reserve ,h,t far
another letter
We have many people in this city from Maine
and Waldo co,ntv / often 500 mon from old
Waldo ont here. Two YEAR. a~o next .June
T. s. Staples. of Rrooks was here and ,nent a
few DAYS with mo. We had a very uIpa.nut
% He.
left nv nIace and want to Sti]lw,.er tn attend
the races for n few DAYS and ! have not seen
or heard from him since. 7 have been very
anxious ahout him. knowing Thai Ike had \
verv lorga .mount ~ momav ,ha,It III. n,y.n,,
and have bcen fearful that he mirht h,r. met
with foul MAY. However nv mini is at r1,t
now rs I see bv the Journal that he is hack in
old Rrooks and elertoI to :, f,t ott.n | SEQ h,.
another nancr that one Crockntt Of Dnypr
cioimS to he tho Tonnmos+ SnI,lia,. frg,,, N.ina
in tho armv Laino, * ,nars nn1 nina ,nonths
old t. iuce of Rra;IfnrJ Centre wa. tiffenn
wears and one month Now Mr. Elitnrs if
nv memorv j. rorrnnt ,,,a h,J two sol,jinr.
from Rroots in tha arm, Who n', ,yora Not f;ftnon
vaors ola Frnamn, Pamoo,, Eon,'e. cons
of ZoJacL Eorhan Erna,,"n ! th;nl va. ,nt
o,or ts,nan aoI III ;'i na'i' : ln'" n',',,,
was no, fa,,rtann M Jun'f' e ninn, ,,a
IoI of ~; "' nu p"'''e ~ .'ie " ',.on IL,
f ~ ELI W t.I ne, ,iie. @ io1 w ~ ~
% al, III thnn ~ ~ ~ .o',. NJ 'ti y ~ ~,
I e De mnof .iiat ne was lo, >io, III 'nJ
,h ,,, ,o. ne,', was o'i's ~ Ao"'s o''I
no ~, WIZ. u, ~, ne li alIay l'i Ne''
~ nse io'tns anu lecei.e ca an ho''pl
1. I - ~ MS e'li'siilt III 'hc
!lal ,fen' nc mus, nave peeh coisl4eIan'l less
til"h 10 WIN ne lllst elI,steu ne iio,''s W.
'n Ia; DUN Sranieu ptloie ne hc
nau eonapIcteu ms ioth year. l tliihh lie Is the
so4nSes't iNlns =. so.Ger III name to-ua!i
~ .;.t ~ ~ ~ .'!al .ne o'o soi''is "',N ~.
sun ~ "St%lo 'he queS.oh W ni'e o"l Soneiii
% nlent pay ,he,' she ulherehce pet"eeh :le.h- .,
@ nnuMs ''nI So, ior lne te .ney ser,tu III tne
In Inc other Words the soldiers Ie % loaned th he y"Ter