Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-29
SHEPARD AS A FREAK.
A Proposition TO Exhibit Him at the
Lee Monument dwelling
AROUSES THE COLONEL'S WRATH.
Another Conflict Between the North and
South Inevitable.
WHY HE WILL NOT VISIT RICHMOND
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH. ,

.
Shepard received this letter to-day from Mr..
d. c. Richardson, a lawyer and former
Police Justice of Richmond, Va:
SIR-We have heretofore been Of the opinion
that the Constitution our fathers made guar
anteed citizens of the several States the enjoy
ment of life and liberty. but your recent edi-
torial breathes of threatenings and slaughter,
and we quake and tremble. We have thought
that in pursuit of happiness we would receive
the protection of this great Government, but
in seeking to promote our happiness the all
potent Mail and Express inteTposes its stern
command to prevent us. We hoped the
favor would have been granted to do
honor to the memory of our loved Ones
but the editorial dictator prohibits us from
doing so. We therefore ask that you Will re-
lent in your wrath, fold the ensanguined gar
ment, realize that the war is over, allow the
holiest emotions of unity to find place in your
bosom and permit us, the citizens of common
hearts, and do honor to the memory of great
and good man-Robers E. Lee. IT this favor
should be granted us we cordially invite you to
be present. and to show our gratitude, we
promise you all the notoriety you seek by pub
licly exhibiting you before 500 600 of our people
as the only man in this country who ever con-
ceived the thought that our sincere desire to
honor our dead meant disloyalty to the Union
CALL ON THE COLONEL.
The letter was prompted, OF course, by
some of the articles that nave appeared re-
Gently in the Mail and Express on the sub.
ject OF carrying Confederate flags at the un-
yelling of the statue to General Robert E.
Lee. Colonel Shepard was seated in his
sanctum in Park Row, this afternoon, when
a reporter of THE DISPATCH called. His
silk hat was tilted back on his head and ne
was gazing longingly into a tureen of con-
: somme that a clerk had just placed on his
desk. He offered some bread and crackers
to the reporter, but regretted that he had no
knife to butter them, nor any spoon to get at
the soup with.
"I am almost famished," he said, as he
seized at piece of bread, "and I guess
fingers were made before knives, so here
goes" The temperance of the clerk with
knife and spoon saved the Colonel the
necessity of demonstrating his democratic
spirit.
81 don't think anybody wants to 60 down
to Richmond in its present condition" he
said between spoonfuls, "but I've said all
that care to in answer to this letter in the
Mail and Express of tonight"
The reporter thereupon went out and
bought copy of the Colonel's paper. This
is what the Colonel says:
A PARTICULAR VISITOR.
whom the foregoing letter is addressed, by
former police justice of Richmond. would visit
the capital of Virginia, would be the burial of
the statue of General Robert E. Lee in the
same grave as his perishing form, and the final
entombment of all the Confederate insignia,
flags, colors badges, tunes buttons. epaulettes,
swords, cannon, songs, muskets, commissions.
kind. He warns the ceiebrants of secessionist
glorles that 1t is Just as true now as it was in
1860. when Abraham Lincoln first pronounced
the solemn warning that "A house divided
against itself cannot stand"
The people of Virginia then paid no atten-
tion to the warning. The result was a bloody
war, entire victory all along the lines for the
union of the whole house, and a subsequent
rekindling of the principles of discord by the
minority white ruling classes" in that portion
of the house inhabited by them. These princI-
pies VIII either burn on till they, produce
another civil war, or will be extinguished. The
trst opportunity to stamp out these flames of
discord is afforded to the rebels themselves
But If they refuse the opportunity and fan
them still higher they need not be surprised to
find million patriots marching to put out the
fire. The glorious Union will be preserved at
all costs and every hazard. And the only flag
that can wave within it is the glorious Stars
and Stripes. And there is going to be unity of
loyalty throughout the whole length and
breadth of the Union. The
PATRIOTISM OF THE COUNTRY
is no longer to be deceived by such specious
and deceptive arguments as are advanced by
Mr.. Richardson. The country sees the old
rebel element organized, solidifed and defiant
in the rush of so many rebels to glorify the de-
feated traitor Lee, and the dishonored, pollut-
ing Confederate rag 1t is one of the many ways
used by the statesmen of the Southeast to fire
the Southern heart" to prevent the spread of
patriotic Republican sentiments, to hold their
hosts together till they will, if they can, elect
Democratic President aud then make him per-
form the same reasonable role as did Presi-
dent Buchanan, and sell the country to the
Southeastern white ruling class; when, goodby
to the Constitution of the United States, to
equality of political rights. to freedom and
everything for which the war for the Union
was fought.
To foresee these evils is to be warned against
them. To destroy them in the germ is to pre-
vent the bloody catastrophes that will follow
their living The way to destroy them in the
germ is to do those things indicated above
which will make Richmond place which can
be visited with self-respect and delight by pa
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