Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-30
AN ANOVERDUEACCOUN
Uncle Sam Sinking Like Smaller
People Who Do Not Pay Bills.
A "REMINISCENCES 2S YEARS OLD.
Cost of Burial Of Arsenal Explosion Vic
tins Unliquidated.
AN UNDERTAKE. is In A BROWN STUDY

The explosion at the arsenal in what was
Lawrenceville in 1862 was at q time when q
great national tragedy was being played,
and In consequence received less attention
than it would had it occurred in peaceful
times, and generation having since grown
to manhood and womanhood and an un-
usually large portion Of the city's present
population having come here from foreign
countries, the tragedy does not occupy as
much attention now as it would had it oc-
Cured either some years sooner or later.
Aside from the relatives of the victims,
however, there is one man in this city whose
memory is refreshed by each recurring an
niversary, and that man is Mr.. w. d..
Devore, the veteran undertaken. Mr..
Devore buried the majority of the victims
and the fact that he has never received
compensation for the interment of 60 OF
Of them assists to impress the dreadful oc-
currence in his memory.
THE COUNTY WOULDN'T PAY.
At the time the inquests were held Coro-
ner Uclelung directed Mr.. Devore to inter all
not claimed by relatives and charge to the
county. The friends of number remuner-
ated him, but there were go interments
charged to the county, the rate allowed be-
inV SO for each coffin furnished. Mr. De-
vore in due time presented his bill to the
county authorities, but in the mean
time they had conferred and had decided
that it was the province of the Federal
Government to pay the bill, as the victims
had been in its employ.
Legal opinion generally leaning to this
view of the matter, Mr.. Devore called the
attention of the late General j. Z. Moor
head to it, while the latter represented this
district in Congress. General Moorhead
pressed the matter upon the attention OF
Congress and it was referred to a committee.
What the committee did has never been
discovered, but Mr.. Devore says he knows
he never got his pay, and he thinks he is
entitled to it. The original bill was for $500,
and with % years interest on it it now runs
close to $4,000. Mr.. Devore thinks his
claim fully as sacred as some others that are
persistently urged on Congress. and with
more profitable results.
DEFEATED THE TRAITOR.
In this connection Mr.. Devore recalls the
fact that he was one of the party of patriotic
citizens who figured in one Of the early SEN
sations preceding the rebellion. That was
the preventing of the carrying out of the
order of Secretary Floyd for the removal Of
arms and munitions of war from the
Pittsburg Arsenal to Southern forts, where
they would have fallen into the hands of
the Confederates. The steamer Silver Wave
had gotten an order to transport them, but
an uprising of citizens prevented the execu-
ton of the order, and in the light Of subse-
quent events the action was not regarded as
reasonable.
compensation for his services in this case,
but he does undertake to say that in the
matter of the interment of the victims of the
explosion he wants his money and does
not consider the request immodest.