The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-06-05
The Daughter Of the Dead Confed-
crate General Asks Tor an
Appointment
Blue and Gray Are United In Try.
Ing to Get It for the
Young Lady.
Under the circumstances II II Thought
the PFssident Win Make Her Post.
mistress 1t SewRnce.

| WARRINGTON, June 1.-TWO months agoI
In the most obscure pigeon. hole in the
postmaster generals office. the application
Of Carrie Kirby Smith Was fled away. II
was not wsighty with reasons why she
should be appointed. nor did IL lay any
particular claims 10 the attention Of Presi-
dent Cleveland. II bore no Endorsement.
II was simply an humble petition that the
applicant might b. given the postoffice At
Sewaneo, Tenn. The closing parsg sph
said: II am the daughter of the late Gen.
Edmund Kitby Smith,
The fair applicant kept Whist che had
done = secret for three weeks, whom. having
grown accustomed to hsr disappointment mt
at receiving no reply. she told some one
bow she had dared to ask TO distribute the
mail TO the residents about the mountain
station and TO the students Of the univcr-
sity Of the south. who depend on this Office
for their letters. Thus her secret became
known. and now two generationsa are watoh-
ing for her .; pointment-th which mace
it, record along with Kirby Smith and an
other which has grown up with his daugh-
ter on the Cumberland plateau. When
Gen. Sheup. tAs Indiana sharpshootsr. now
occupying the chair of applied mathsmatios
At SswAnes university. heard that Kirby
Smiths war baby" wanted. aa Office he
swore that she lhould have the place. 1--WE
will put her In II We have TO call out rsgi-
msnt Of war veterans to do it," he said.
From the Confederate Survivors assooia.
tion At Nashville The humble application
was made known throughout the south. and
finally reached thu line of the g and Army
of the Republic posts in the north. Tho
fact that brave ioldier and distingu she'd
general had died, leaving his family poor,
seeking to aid in their support. was all that
was necessary TO elicit the enthusiasm of
both sides. With scarcely an exception
every federal officer now living who had
fought against Kirby Smith has made q
personal 81 peal fol- his daughter. Soldiers
Of Bull RIM and Manassas scrswled out
letters Of recommendation, while the Cove
people in the mountains added their testi-
| monials 10 the worth of Kirby Smiths
daughter in characteristic dialect. such as
The students Of tho institution whore the
general had 30 long tsught ''math" sent
their Endorsements couohed in elegant
diotion and sophomore phrases. The
Alumni associations OF S0wanee through
out the country have also added their in
dorssments to help secure the appointment
for their fair friend Of old college days.
Il do not mind dying" said the general
once. "if Carrie is left. She is tower of
strength" His sstimation of her seems to
have been correct. She no sooner found
the main prop Of the family gone than she
began TO east about for other means OF
support for her mother and young brothers
and sisters. With unusual courage for q
womnn,. she decided to become the post
master where she had SO long been the un-
disnuted belle.
Miss Kirby Smith is we'll known in Wash
ington, whe she has shone moro than
once In its gayest set. There is scarcely .
large city In the south and west whore she
has not at enc time or another been the
recipient of social honors. What Winnie
Davis is TO tho a mes of the con fedeFacy
Carrie Kirby smith 10 to the soldiers of the
ransmississippi. 10 the remnants Of that
army she 10 still. even before Winnie Davis.
the daughter OF tho war. The appointment
she seeks 10 In the presidential Rifs, and it
10 hardly possible TINT President Cleveland
will turn a dea: ear to 90 many who have
como forward asking this boon at his
hands.