The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-09-02

cbi5pIhte thls month, VIII enaDio US All 10
soc it at It's best
Pages might be covered with the part
Now Bedford has taken in tho history of
her country. | was tho Dartmouth tho
first ship built in New Bedford upon
which the indignant citizens %! Boston
hold their famous ton party in 1913. IL
was tho ship bedford, owned by William
kotch O. New bedford. which first dis
PLAYED the American dag in Great Britain
IN 1893, when she proudly iloatod tho 10
stripes OF tho ''reboi' colOrs AS she sailed
up the Thames in February of that year.
1t was New Bedford fitted priyateors
which so harassed the British fleets dur
ing tine wars Of the revolution and 1872
that the British doomed IL necessary TO
punish the town by landing armed forces
and destroying the dwellings and ship
ping
IL was New Bedford sailors who, dur
Ing the civil war fought so nobly for the
preservation OF tho Union. IL was the
gallant Randall. New Bsdiord born and
bred, and still an honorcd citizen, who
fired the last shot from the Cum bgrland
as she sank under the fire OF the Morrimao
Just hololo tho dreadful rebel irOnolad
was sunk by tho famous little cheese box
on raft in Hampton Roads.
1t was Scrgt Carney, now the oldest
New Bedford letter carrier, who so bravely
bore the colCrs OF tho Fifty fourth Massa-
chusetts--CCl. X. q. Shaw's regiment
during the famous sortie on Fort Wagner,
whom TIE "old flag never touched the
ground, boys" Tho pen could run on for
columns il unchecked with the bravo
deods Of Now Bedford men and women.
In all these things New Bedford rojoioes.
ana all these things will enter into tho
anniversary celebration, but it is un-
necessary TO call them in detail.
There is one page in her history, how.
over, which should be referred to the
page In which are Inscribed the deeds of
philanthropy performed in connection
with the underground railroad" Of
slavery days New Bedford was one of the
principal stations on that famous subway,
ana many "a 1oor slave owed his Ii Iteration
TO the abolition loyalty Of New Bod
ford citizens. It was here that the
lato Frederick Douglas first breathtd
freely after his escape from bondage
worse than death; and here no first
earned his bread as freeman by work
ing in wood yard. New Bedford's in
terest in the underground railroad is the
reason that she now possesses such "A large
colored population-the descendants of the
men and women who found "a refuge from
slavery in her elm shaded streets.
Breathe it gently, and lot the bushes
of New Bedford pass unheeded but IL
must be owned, too, in spite cf sUrOng
abolition feeling, that some Of New Bed.
ford's vessels brought Efrom Africa the
1argoes of " black ivory" which were the
oil for the mainspring of the accursed in
stitution OF human bondage. This is one
of the things which New Bedford will
not ceebrate--sho hangs her head with
shame at the mention. Tho fact cannot
be gainsaid and is better forgotten. This
part of New Bedford's history has never
been written i'll detail, please God it
never will be.
understand that New Bedford is sem
sitive about being called quaint old
wha-n port, these days 30 you'd bet
ter DO careful about that when you go
down TO the ceebration.
THE TATTLER.