St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-26
GEN. JAMES SHIELDS
As He Appears in Fiction and in
Fact

1t is related Of Sir Walter Raleigh
that he discontinued writing his His
tory of the World" when he heard SO
many differing versions of an event that
happened under his own window and
observation.
The stoppage Of the work from such
a cause is to BE- regretted since it re-
vealS that at least the right temper Of
mind dominated the writer, and, alas,
1t inSlnuates sad prophetic hopeless
ness that all the takers and scrioblers
would have their say and day to the
end in spite of his own truthful appre-
tensions.
Today Raleigh would be more dis
heartened than ever, for the evolution
of facilities FROM his circumscribed
time to this of every Imaginable de-
pravitY of convenience and invention
for writing and printing made easy,
has rendered present reading uncertain
and often eXaSperating.
History and fiction are interviewer
until it is almost useless to disentangie
them. and as for large share of recent
biography, which should be more i'm
portant to us, remembering Disraali'S
dictun, Read no history-nothing but
biography"-that is suggestive of Pen
elOpe's web, done and nndone with an
assiduity of right and wrong utterly
confounding to the average reader with
no aids to just discrimination.
TO the majority of readers whose his
tory and biography are simply the
morning or evening paper. misinforma-
ton and misrepresentation must have
become natter of course, so prevalent
are they of many events ana persons.
A queer scrap-book might be made of
newspaper statements and c0ntradic-
tiUnS about Tue same great events and
men.
1t is the misfortune of certain names
to possess more than the ordinary faS-
cination for class of writers, who,
when other subjects flag, fall upon the
fayorite personality, whether in life or
passed out of it. and bestow all the
touches of a fanciful write-up in sort
of hlt-ormisS skirmishlng with truth or
its plentiful lack.
Since the statue of Gen. James Shields
was placed i'll the national capitol, his
name has been persistently tioated Oh
the current of newspaper mention in
odds and ends of the most inaccurate
memoranda the writer has ever seen in
print. In simple personalities the
plumbers, even to his very name, are
far-fetched aud original enough to de-
serve copyright Here is a metropolitan
specimen of recent date:
''President Abraham Lincoln and
Gen. Joe Shields. who married sisters,
once arranged TO light duel at Alton"
SAID l.. +. Taylor, OF that place, at the
Laclede. at is remembered yet by the
Old settlers. st. Louis Globe Demo
crat.
MIR. Taylor's Renaissance is correct
In nothing except arranged to fight a
duel at Altou." and, perhaps, that the
old settlers have it in remembrance yet.
Another item that was generally cir
culated in the summer of 1892, with a
pathetic and generous comment once in
a while. deserves place here. although
1t is not i'll chronological range with the
remarkable reading evolved from the
Illinois statue. Still it is remarkable
enough, as the subject of it had been
dead exactly thirteen years when it was
printed thus:
"GeD. James Shields. hero of every
American wJr he could get into. ana
United States senator at different times
from several states. is living in extreme
poverty on little farm in Ohio at the
age of eightytwo. A motion to give
HIM liberal pension is one of the
things nobody ought to object to-
While the much discussed soldier fig
ured with distinction in two American
wars. he had an uncle, a namesake, who
served i'll the Florida war, and thereby
the name came within one of being in
all the American wars. This uncle.
Col. James Shields, was a planter in
South Carolina early in the century,
and his more distinguished nephew was
III after years set down in some of the
records, which were about as accurate
and reliable then as they are now, as
being one and the same individual,
thereby merging the personality of the
South Carolina first settler and soldier
OF the Tyrone stock in the United States
"a merging which the general never
enjoyed, for it made him old-and that
was condition no woman ever depre-
Gated more than he, even when age was
upon him. To the last he would rather
De Hotspur than Dandolo.
Moreover Ill serious fashion he dis
liked his Carolina relative, and to such
sincere extent that when his fortune
was divided among the kindred the gem
eral refused to accept his share, which
ha nd
left it to a brother. Who came to this
country to settle the estate. For, through
this uncle he had received the first tell
ing disi!lusIon of his youth, which a
subSt quent career or success and fame
never dulled into Indifference, albeit the
rebuff probably developed the future
soldier and senator as nothing else
could. And here the Carolina Shields
must come before u5 for a brief space.
He was remarkable man essentially
characteristic In mind aud body of that
sturdy, indolnita0le section called the
''black north" of Ireland. Success was
born in h IN, and the rest was merely a
Slestion OF selection as 10 the sort he
sdshed. First of all, he craved a change
of base, for TO him Great Britain was
forever duplicating itself In the same
old types and ways and methods.
America was the land. and South Caro-
lima secured an uncommon, lntens e
and original emigrant, who was about
equally ready to make money or take
the field, just as inclination and duty
prompted.
A generous share of prosperity as the
years went by made him yearn TO see
his native village III far away Tyrone
once more before ne closed his eyes on
all earth'S scenes. AT that time an At
lant.;@v voyage was long and tedious, and