The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-31
Governments Are Not Grateful

Rather pathetic story concerning a war
veteran OF the union army has just been
told in the press dispatches from Buffalo.
1t is another recital of the enthusiastic
patriotism Of a man and the base ingrati-
tude of his state when the hour of need had
passed. According to the story Carr Car
penter was, about the beginning of the war,
one of the wealthiest New Workers in Erie
county. Believing, as a great many other
enthusiasts did, that the conflict between
the states was started with no other object
than the philanthropic one Of freeing all
the slaves in the country. he entered into
the spirit of the crusade with all the fervor
OF an honest desire to secure the liberation
of the people whom he had, in common with
many others, thought quite as barbarously
treated as the incendiary psmphleteers Of
the country had described them to be.
Mr.. Carpenter allowed his fervid patriot
ism to SO far get the better of his Judgment
that when men and money were called for
he loaned the county Of Erie s240, 900 with
which to buy the services of 403 mercenary
recruits By this time the mans philan-
thropic fervor had reached the point of an
actual mania. Consequently he invested
an enormous sum. embracing the whole
residue of his fortune, in establishing a line
of boats on the Mississippi river for the pur-
pose OF triumphantly bearing away the
vast multitudes Of negro refugees whom he
expected to find lining the banks of the
muddy stream, anxious to be hauled up into
more northern ATTITUDES, and each armed
with small sum of money boarded up to
pay his passage. These expectations were
apparently a grievous disappointment.
Pecuniary success utterly refused to perch
upon the pennant of his line 1t slumped,
as it were. 1t went to pieces completely
Disaster was all he had left of it.
Then Mr.. Carpenter turned his face east
ward to see how his military hiredmen were
earning the money paid them, and with a
faint desire that the county OF Erie might
be ready to return him the large sum he
had loaned her. For Mr.. Carpenter was
almost dead broke by this time and in dire
distress. Gradually his enthusiasm had
somewhat oozed out of him and he began
to long to get back at least portion of the
money that he had so freely advanced. But
that proved to be no easy matter. Although
the state is said to have forwarded the sum
to Erie county for his benefit, IL was
''swiped" by an acquisitive county super
visor. and in order to avoid compulsory pay
ment the friends of that treacherous official
are said to have concealed the records SO as
to prevent Mr.. Carpenter from proving his
claim.
Meanwhile the unfortunte man had been
suffering from virulent attack of peculiar
fever known as bone-break, which eventu-
ally turned his skin as black as any negro
he had ever attempted to rescue. With his
accommodating ills the poor man suffered for
years, while he made what Roadway he
could in litigation against the county with
out means except such help as he could get
from kindly disposed people on whose
charity he lived. Finally one Of the men
guilty of defrauding him became conscience
stricken and disclosed the hiding place Of
the missing records. With such evidence
MIR. Carpenters case was beyond contest
But even then the county took advantage
of the mans abject poverty to force him at
20 years of age and broken down in health
to accept a compromise of less than per
cent. of his claim.
So it may be seen that although cause
is ostentatiously virtuous and powerful and
completely successful, and therefore indis-
putably right, it may even then develop
some phases that are positively contempt
IDLY mean.