The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-04
JEFF DAvIS'S FAMILY ATTACKED
A Sarcastic Onslaught on Them Made
by the Birmingham Age-Herald.
From the New York Tribune.)

Atlanta, Ga, Sept 1.-(SpeciaD-
Something of a sensation has been Great
ed here by the appearance in the editor
ial columns Of the Birmingham Age
Herald of savage attack on Mrs. JEFF
ferson Davis and Miss Winnie Davis.
The Age-Herald is managed by E. w.
Barrett, formerly Speaker Crisp's secre-
tary, and the onslaught on Mrs. Davis
and Miss Davis is written by Mrs. Ball.
who edits the woman's department of
the paper and conducts column of COM
ment and criticism on the editorial page.
The article in question is as follows:
sit is stated that Mrs. Jefferson Davis
and her daughter, Miss Winnie Davis
(who will be remembered as having been
known several years ago as the Daugh-
ter of the Confederacy by loyal South
erners), have decided to visit the Nash
vile Centennial during October. The an
nouncement is made that Mrs. and Miss
Davis will be the guests of Mrs. Van
Leer Kirkman ut her handsome home
near Nashville. These ladies now reside
at New York City in the winter and Mar
ragansett Pier or some other Northern
resort in the summer, and it may be well
to state that they will be recalled with
out much difficulty by people below ma
son and Dixon's line as the wife and
daughter Of the President of the South
ern Confederacy. They so rarely visit
the South or evince any interest in this
section, which conferred upon their hus-
band and father the highest honor within
its gift, that it is refreshing to learn Of
their contemplated visit to Nashville. 1t
is to be hoped that neither distinguished
woman will be stricken with sudden i'll
ness, like unto the attacks of sickness
which have so frequently interfered with
their previous visits to the South.
Invitations to Confederate reunions
have been as productive of serious, inca
pacitating illness to Mrs. Varina Jeffer-
son Davis and her daughter, Miss Win
ME, as exposure to typhoid or malarial
germs is to the majority of people. Their
long, uninterrupted residence in the cool
err, calmer, more congenial atmosphere of
New York and New England may have
restored their depleted systems, which
at one time could not stand many miles
of travel through the hot, dusty, but en-
thusiastic South. 1t will not be necessa-
ry to make any elaborate plans for Mrs.
and Miss Davis's entertainment until the
New York newspapers announce that
they have condescended to spend few
days at Nashville"
1T is safe to say that this is the first
time such an attack ON the Davis family
has ever appeared in a Southern news
paper, and it is likely to start contro-
versy which will rage from end to end of
this section. While no expression has
been given to it before, the feeling Of re-
sentiment at the apparent aversion of the
Davises to visiting the South and their
choice Of the North as their place of per-
manent residence has long been smould-
ering in certain quarters. The Age
Herald's sarcastic onslaught will proba-
bly, be echoed to some extent, but it is
likely also to arouse fierce Indignation a.
mong the more extreme admirers of the
late President of the Confederacy, in
whose eyes his widow and daughter are
sacred and their acts beyond criticism.