The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-06-05
BILL ARP.
Used Wash the Faces of Fed
eral Soldiers
Bill Thinks She Ought to be Paid for 1.-THE
Boom in His "Settlement"-A Chi
cago Mans Liberality.

The Kew. Mr.. Bradwell is q good man, a
good citizen and goad preacher. He Is q
colored man with form and face that attracts
attention. he is the presiding elder, and was
we'll raised by Savannah gentleman and has
the manners of gentleman. He is my neigh
Dor, and we like him. for he sets good OK
ample to his race. Congress has just passed a
bill to pay him nearly four thousand dollars for
four bales of cotton that Sherman's bummers
picked up and carried away to keep for him
and forgot to return. The bill was passed
unanimously, and we are glad Of it. A thous-
and dollars bale is a right fair price for cot
ton. That claim was allowed because Mr.
Bradwell Is coiored man, and it shows the
kindly feelings OF the people both north and
south to the colored race. Maybe this is the
beginning of the great restoration. Maybe our
white folks will come next and get some Of
that surplus that is in the treasury.
II they will pay us what they owe us and
took from us with malice aforethought we
won't say q word moro about the tariff nor in
ternal revenue. l see there are q lot of claims
being filed from the south, and wonder if the
claimants were union men so called or ourssour
members of congr ess just taking them up pro-
miscuous. If they are all from union men
they are getting pretty numerous of late, and,
reckon will get more thicker, more denser,
as Cobe says, if congress is going to pay them.
Most all of the original secessionists re dead
but the union men are lively-quite lively.
Well, the fact is, we Were all for union on fair
principles. A few wanted to fight just for the
Jun OI Un0 tulHSy Dub uOG many. MOSU OIL us
| just wanted to secede-to dissolve the partner
ship--that's all. We never proposed to invade
| their territory nor interfere with the govern
ment at Washington. We never
| hankered after fight and we never believed
there would be any. 1 hollered and shouted
| with the boys for secession, but when the fight
| ing come on quit holering and became as
| gentle as sucking done. Mrs. Arp wanted to
| fight little, but 1 didn't. Most everybody
would have compromised but the women and
| the preachers, but we were in for it and had to
| fight or back down. We never invaded their
| territory and if they had let us alone we would
| have let them alone and so L don't consider
myself responsible and therefore they ought to
tote fair and settle up. My wife lost barrel
of soap that we left in the smol1ehouse and she
| wants pay for it. 1t was good old-fashioned
/ lye soap made in the dark of the moon. Gen
eral Vandiver occupied our house and used up
| all that soap In six weeks. He must have
been an awful dirty man. 1 wasent
doing very much fighting. then-I was run
| ning-and that was our principle business for
several months, just lodging around with no
rest for the soles of our feet. The foul invader
! kept us trotting. 1 met friendly yank the
| other day who was with Sherman perusing this
us, and asked him il he didn't know Bill Arp.
"Bii Arp" said he. "Bill Arp, the Roman
runagee. Why, yes, of course. / never saw
| his face before, but his back is quite familiar"
| ! met another one, the next day, who said he
was up in the valley with General Banks, and
| monkeyd around Stonewall Jackson until he
could run like deer. He said that Banks
was Jackson's commiFsary, and the boys
| thought it was cheaper to feed old Stonewall
than to fight him, and so they always
! fought runnin' and when their
wounded men got to the hospital the
surgeons always turned them over face DOWN
wards, to see whereabouts in the back they
were shot. 1--WE were tho backbone of the
army" said he, land always tell fighting with
our feet to the foe and our face to the ground.
! Stonewal jackson was spirit-a Joan of Arc
! and we never knew where ne was, or when
| he was coming"
L have been mixing up with good many of
our northern brethren of late, and like them.
I If they are fair samples, we will take Il
load and make contract for more. 1 believe
/ they will pay Mrs. Arp for that barrel of soap,
| with compound interest. The fact is that no.
| body but libera-minded, conservative people
| will come down here from the north. The
mean, bigoted, fanatical class who were born
| hating us, don't want to come, and they are
not coming, blizzard or no blizzard. That's
all right. We will have select population
| after while, and get up cross that will har-
monte the sections.
One Of these friendly yanks stopped here
! last Tuesday and looked at our big pile of iron
ore that is in the front yard near the depot,
and asked where it came from. We pointed
to the hills and mountains all around us
"Why, don't you do something with it," he
said in surprise We told him we hadn't been
! in hurry about it: that man by tho name
| of Sherman came along through this country
lis SO mad it took us twenty-five years to get
over it, but we have swaged down right smart
| ly now, and are going to do something. He
came round to a town meeting that night and
took twenty shares of stock in our new fur
| mace and paid the first installment and went
away, and said we would hear from him later.
His name is Quincy, and he lives
in Chicago SO it seems that the
came from Chicago, and Mr. Quincy said that
! Sam Jones could 90 there and get hundred
| thousand dollars of stock taken in two days,
for he is very popular in Chicago, and all that
was necessary was for him to say that he lived
here and knew the quality and quantity of
these ores. But our furnace is now rs
sured and will be built right away. We will
| let some outsiders build furnace number 2,
! and then comes the rolling mill, and stove fac
! tory, and the railroad to Gainesville, and the
waterworks, and electric lights, and a brass
| band to toot our horn. Aleck Willngham
! says his next ambition is an iron tower OH Pine
mountain high enough for us to look around at
! all our suburbs such as tanta and Rome and
| Chattanooga. Since Cartersvie has got on a
| little boom Aleck steps as high as a blind
horse, and is pricing himself by the front foot,
which is a number twelve.
Sam Jones is boomer, too He made O
! rollicking tax the other night and drew six
| thousand dollars of stock out Of the boys in
few minutes. One fellow got behind a post
! and hid, but Sam got him and nailed him for
! five hundred. He got two men to quarrelinR
| as TO which had taken the most stock accord
| ing to means, and he sicked EN- at one another
until he made them both double. / never saw
J such a man to loosen up the people and open
| their pocSetbOoks. lie ran over here from
! Rome that evening and ran back next morning
| to work on the Romans.
! Tom Miner made a talk. He began soft,
sweet and low, like the gentle rumbling of far
| distant thunder. Nearer and nearer the storm
came and finally was precipitated upon us with
terrific outburst of Give me liberty give
me DEATH" and then the furnace was consd-
cred built. 1t was good, old-fashioned town
meeting, and Mr.. Quincy made about the best
speech OF anybody, for he had the
money in his hand instead Of his
pocket. Hurrah for Chicago. When
yank is clever he is the cleverest man
in the world, but when he is mean he Is the
meanest. was powerful mad the other day
| when learned that that contemplate cuss
Higgins or Virgins or Piggins or Whatever
| his name Is, had written and published his
tory Of the war in which he had Jefferson
| Davis caught in woman's clothes, and that the
book was actually used in the Ward seminary
nj Nashville. / was mad enough TO fight and
| let them whip Us again. That same old io
that has been nailed TO the wall hundred
| times and now reissued and being crammed