The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-04-16
A FUNNY INCIDENT.
A FRAGMENT OF HISTORY THAT is
FULL OF HUMOR.

Explaining an Attack ON Grant Shan
non, iii Associate, Was an Ambitious
Fried Chicken Eater.
Mrs, John A. Logan once gave to a
newspaper reporter i'll this city a letter
from q southern editor that created ii
lot of talk. 1t was Immediately after
the death of General Grant. The re-
porter had gone to the Logan residence
to interview the general about some
matter then before congress. The gen
eral was in bed, and the Exporter was
shown to his room. in the course of the
evening Mrs. Logan entered the bed
chamber and took part in the CONVERSE
ton. In her hand she held a letter, the
contents of which her husband knew
about. She wanted to give it to the re-
porter. but the general objected. But
as the newspaper man started to leave
Mrs. Logan slipped the envelope into
his hand. The next morning nearly
every newspaper in the country printed
n cop of it. 1t was a rare and racy
document.
Colonel Alexander G.. Horn of Meridi-
an, Miss. then the editor of The Daily
Mercury, was its author. The letter
was intended as an explanation of an
editorial that had appeared a few weeks
before in The Mercury. Colonel Horn
and ]. J. Shannon were associates in
the publication Of the aforesaid journal.
On the morning following the death of
the hero of ~Apponattox The Mercury
contained one of the most cruel articles
about General Grant ever printed by a
press 1t dared any true southerner to
grieve Or show signs of sorrow over his
'emise. 1t called upon the people of
Dixie land to exult and rejoice at the
death of the man who had slain their
soDs and burned their homes The peo-
pie If Meridian were astounded They
went to til, editor, Colonel Horn. and
asked him, Ill the name of peace, to
write another article withdrawing it
He was obdurate and instead of doing
as his neighbors wished dictated anoth-
er one equally as fierce as the first.
At that moment the name of Colonel
Shannon was before the senate awaiting
confirmation as postmaster at Meridian
An enemy of his, knowing the love that
General Logan had for General Grant,
inclosed copies of the paper to him, ex-
peoting that Logan would oppose Shan
mons nomination. Shannon and Horn
had a dispute over the editorial, and
their relations became SO strained that
@ street duel was only averted by the
interference of mutual friends. Colonel
a Horns letter to General Logan was to
the effect that Colonel Shannon was in
! nocent of the article and had known
nothing about it until he saw it in the
paper. / cannot quote the letter with
literal eXactness, but a part of it was as
! follows:
Y "No; Shannon had nothing to do
with it. In the first place he hasn't
D sense enough to conceive such a senti-
, ment as was expressed in the editorial
and if he had he would be too cowardly
to write it. He is my partner, I am sor-
ry to say, but by making him postmaster
e you will afford me the opportunity of
getting rid of him.
0 "And why not take him, John? There
is a mighty narrow strip between the
radical republicanism that you repre-
sent and the Cleveland Mugwumpery
J that Shannon tries to represent. He is
not a Democrat, never was and never
will be. | predict that you will soon
have him over on your side, and God
speed the day! We Democrats down
here don't want him.
. 81 am growing old, but l am still in
possession of my mental faculties, and
l hope to live many years longer to tell
o the truth from day to day about the
v despised Yankees and their politics. ]
~, .n1io,,c1- afflicted with hon,in1ouia
, else I would have mauled hi out OF
Shannon long ago.
ID "Logan, you ought to remember me
as one of the fellows that figured some
20 what conspicuously i'll the Kempel
county trials. | guess l can take tht
credit to myself of having had the Dem
10 ocrats who killed the Radicals there
acquitted before the courts. l would
C. like another job of the same kind.
"You and | ought to be friends. OPP
- posites beget liking You have been
a broth of Il boy i'll your party, and l hav'
been Il sheol of IA fellow i'll mine"
General Logan replied good natured
ly to this epistle, after which a friend
u ly correspondence sprang up between
=. the cratic genius at Meridian and tn
~ senator. Logan reau the shannon lette
i'll the committee room of the senate
IA and then l%aughingly said that inasmucI
~ as his friend Colonel Horn wante
Shannon confirmed he didn't see hoy
he could oppose him. Colonel Horn
As unreconstructed, has long since passe
into silence, and a few years later Cole
mel Shannon was buried at his oil
- home i'll Paulding, Miss, "a town one
made famous by the publication OF Th
-, Weekly Clarion, many years ago {
y. which paper he was Il of the founders
During the Sullivah-Kilrajn trial &
~ Purvis some years g | sat at the breal
fast table with Sullivan and Colont
~ Shannon. Sullivan ate three fried chicl
ems, Shannon four. Charlie Rich, ii
great sportsman, got the W to enter
ng fried chicken eating match. Some OIL
in asked Sullivan how many he though
lsk he could get away with, and Sulliva
le- said about eight,
eighth spoke up Shannon. "Wel
ed you will have to do better thai tina
ct. You may be the champion prizefighte
SIS; but you will have to whet up that a
pg petite of yours before you can tai
away the chicken eating champion
ship"
Tho chickens were bought and cleant