New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-14
A KENTUCKY TRAGEDY.

The latest phase of the NattersoAsliill-OIeVo
land epstolary mbroglio is a sudden ana totally
unexpected eruption in Louisville. Dlslhter-
os,ed observers of this affair prior to yester-
day. had supposed that the Colonel was IN a
TRANQUIL and contcnted frame of mind as man
should be who has acquitted his own conscience
and at the same time incidentally lhaue /"
troublesome fellOw-cOuntry uncomloltaD'e
Everybody knew that Governor Hill had loSt
his temper and said nasty things, but MI at
terson's demeanor had been faultleSS. Lven
under the pleasurable excitement OF an inter-
view with a correspondent of TIE TRIBUNE, III
the course of which he permitted himself to Iuo
y little CAYENNE pepper into the Governors
wounds, he remained suave and complacent'
But all ut once. and without warning, he sends
for a local reporter and informs him, not neceS-
sarily as a guarantee OF good 1alth put uhllS-
takably for publication. that the county is max
ing a tool of itself; that the New York papers
must have very little to do if they are still talk
ing about the letter to Hill; that the matter
was garbled in the first place and has since oeeh
converted into a mares nest; thai there are
hounds after him but he shall not help them 20
find the scent that he and Mr.. Cleveland nave
had voluminous correspondence, which Is their
own business that Newly or< politics emit an
offensive odor, and that anxious seekers after
the truth may 60 to the devil with his blessing
Amid the gloom thus engendered there Is one
ray of light Colonel Watterson has the grippe
Ordinarily we should find no comfort IN THIS
discovery and announcement but as an expisha-
non Of his mental condition his physical maiauy
is dear to us We suspect, too that his suffer-
ings have been aggravated by the lack OF dei-
cate and consoiing attentions to which he has
heen accustomed in recent years. Neither the
Louisville reporter nor our own accomplished
correspondent was presented to the Star-tyed
Goddess of Reform, for if he had been he could
not have failed to record the interesting event.
and hence we are forced to conclude that She i
absent Just when the dcvoee most needs het'
Her departure was probably colncldeht WIN
the discovery that the letter to Governor nlH
had not been received and presumably, there
fore. was never mailed; but whether she as
missed the Colonel or was herself dismissed, II
is impossble TO say. The only distinct gamer
by this unheraded explosion il Governor HI.
Oh. that mine enemy would write book Is
a time bonoled aspiration 1t is moved To
amend by striking ont the last three words ana
inserting &" catch the grippe"
Governor Hill gains by Colonel WaterSon :
cxacelbation but the public loses we had
hoped in the interest Of fair play, honest POI
itics and general hilarity, that he would insist
on giving to the world that letter TO Mr.. Cleve-
land with which, according to his own tesu-
mony, the letter to Governor Hi Is not Ill 10
be compared in the matter OF impertnence ana
downright cussedness. The recipient doeSh
! q
identity 1t; but the sender has pretty accurate
| ,ocollections of its character and contents, and
he is no mean Judge of epistoary art. How
painful is it. therefore, to realize that we shall
never behold and pcruSe this document Inc
world pines for the missing decades OF Lvy
and Cicero's Republic, and mourns over the poor
mutilated fragments of Alcaeus and Menander
but the day will surely come when the loss OF
lIcnry's letter to Grover will be reckoned the
supreme literary catastrophe Of all time.