Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-04-03
THE NORTHWEST
Vetrans Who Have Had Enough of
Harrison.

During the campaign Of 1888 the
Benjamin Harrison War Vetrans" OF
Kings County, New York, were organ
lied under the command of Col. Will
liam II. Butler, OF Brooklyn, for cam
paign work.
They did good work, being in the
midst of that arduOus fight for four
months. They marched in all the pa
rades, and held meetings In every
ward and district. They canvassed and
organized in every workshop and fac
tory where old soldiers were employed.
Their uniform was the regulation blue
of the late war, with natural leather
buckskins. They were distinguished
by their full ranks and most excellent
drill. They were always selected by
Grand Marshal John w. Jones for eth
er the right of the Guard Of Honor or
one ofthe divisions. To this Republi-
can organization there has come a
change, the "spirit of their dream"'
been disturbed. They are now known
rs the Abraham Lincoln War Vetrans
The following letter was received by
Henry A. Phillips, who was recently
dismissed as chief of the Middle Divis-
ion of the Pension Office by Green B.
Raum, from the colonel of the regiment,
will explain why they dropped the
name of Harrison:
BROOKLYN, N. Y, March, 1890.
MY DEAR FRIEND PHILIPS:
l am In receipt Of your business cards
and advertising matter, and am proud
to know that you had the pluck to start
in business for yourself In this line,
right under the eyes of the d-n rascals
who cut your throat. This will be an
other proof to them, that we old "vets,"
have got lots of nerve left in US yet, and
we want you to stay and bother the
life out them, make it as hot as hi for
the d--m sneaks, this is the sentiment
of all of us. Let us hear from you more
frequently, every man in this regiment
isyour friend, and after Harrison, whose
name we were foolish enough to bear,
refused to listen to our protest in your
behalf, we dropped him at once and are
now known as the Abraham Lincoln
War Veterans. We have no kind ofuse
for Harrison or for men of his kind he
is no good, and the party will get the
devil knocked out of 1t next fall on his
account. The rank and file are sick of
him and you can not blame them after
such treatment. We were promised
everything, and now he only recon-
mends the 'pauper" bill, while Raum
keeps grinding out two dollars per
month pensioners to keep us quite, and
his son and other claim agents get over
one year of each of the poor devils pay
then.
Nothing has been or is being done to
fulfill the many promises of the past,
and they can not expect the old veterans
to support the party on broken pledges
any longer. We are only demanding
our rights and it is small wonder that
we are disgusted with such treatment. |
The sooner Harrison's time is up the |
better 1t will be for the country in gen.
eral, and the old soldier in particular. |
1 will take your circulars to our meet |
ings and distribute them among the |
boys, and hope you will take time to |
write good long letter that I can read |
ut our meetings, they often speak of
you and would appreciate good letter,
for they look upon the insult given you
by the (would-be-great) unknowns of
this Administration, as personal to |
each of us. We have now 10 full COM
panies mustered. Flat Bush is organ
lzing a company, and two are being
formed in New York, look out for hi
next fall. Twill send you a copy of
Dur bylaws. Tell Tanner to write a
good strong letter. He must remem-
Der that he is still on our honorary roll
" members.
Yours, ever in f. G. and L.,
w. III. BUTLER,
Col. Abraham Lincoln War Veterans.