New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-19


Colonel one bit the less account Of his can
dor But then they all knew that he could give
it TO the blasted Yankees even harder than
to the London fog or the House Of Lords and.
with it all, there the conviction that this
perfectly groomed man with the soldierly bear
ing ana the superby waXed mustache, who
would sell you threepence worth Of tobacco il
you wanted that quantity. and on whose word
you could always rcly-who never called a
cigar good unless it was good-had fought and
fought hard. led cavalry charges been wounded,
been made prisoner and had taken prisoners in
the service Of the Lost Cause, for which most
LonGoncrs. If not most Englishmen, always had
more Or less sympathy-especiay after it was
lost
The Colonel was a Georgian by birth. His
family gave its name to Of the counties
nearest to Atlanta. His father owned a large
tobacco estate in that neighborhood with many
slaves As boy the Colonel had been sent
to West Point. and thence had passed into the
United States cavalry He fought Apaches for
several years. off and on. Many Of his best
, stories were from that Apache fighting period.
Then, when Georgia seeded. he sent in his res
ignaton and male his way from Arizona to
Atlanta. whore he Joined the Confederate regi-
ment which he afterward commanded. Alter
the war his West Point record and the United
States commission he had held made things
particularly hard for him He could not get
possession Of even the remnant If his patrl-
mony without submitting to the "ironcad
oath" So ne stihed his aristocratic feelings,
took place in a New-York clothing store. made
a little money by introducing an Improvement
in the making Of shirts and went to Canada.
From Canada the Colonel went to Germany,
where as he spoke the language fiuently h.
managed 10 get along pretty well in the retail
tobacco business. From Germany he removed
to Hdvre France using. his knowledge or
French to equal advantage. But London held
out the strongest financial inducements to him
There. in spite Of the climatic. social and po-
litical drawbacks. he prospered and was popu-
lar Everybody who knew him liked him; the
British found him an honest man, with the feel
ings and the polished manners Of what they call
the upper classes" his humble business. his
eccentricities and his unique Georgian manner
Of speech Notwithstanding. The Americans, in
GLIDING Consul General Merritt. who was one
Of his close friends and frequent visitors. both
in the shop and at the Coloners suburban house,
must have felt that in spite Of his hopeless
, accountability and unreconstructedness. the
man was American to the tips Of his fingers,
| and a specimen Of the nationality Of whom they
could well be proud
This was one strikingly picturesque, and, on
| the whole. noble type Of the irreconciIable
| Southerner. There were others, generally less
picturesque and not always so noble. y billiard
/ marker. for example. in a suburban hotel Whom
the habituls. including several officers Of a resi-
| ment quartered near by. always addressed as
Major" proved on inquiry to be a genuine
] -. aft s1' 4
As a rule his conduct was respectable and his
manners entirely beyond reproach, but 1t
was understood that contrary to the rule in
English hotel billiard rooms, patrons Of those
particular tables were never to offer the marker
a drink This though necessary. all the
harder On both patrons and marker because no
on. would eyer have thought Of daring to offer
him coin. 1t was only in the alterations fol
lowing his occasional svrees that he spoke q
the VOW he had taken never again to set foot
/ on Am .rican soil or on the deck Of vessel fly
ing the American flag When not suffering from
/ the effects Of his weakness. he never spoke ~
/ America or Of anything connected with his own
past
The cases Of D. and Mel. were hardly in the
line Of the rreconcilable Southerner. These two
men-couyins-were before the Civil War both
officers NJ the British 92d Highanders, now the
1st Battalion Of the Gordons They resigned
their commissions and came to this country, N
| a romantic impulse. to fight for the South. AZ
/ the end II the war-and of the Confederacy-
they both found themselves without a career ana
both their small fortunes had been invested in
. Confederate Government loans. Knowing no
other way Of earning living but soldering
they took service in the Egyptian Army.
The Egyptian army. indeed, was. thirty Year,
ago. before the days Of Cromer and OF Kitchener
the refuge Of numberlrss ex-Confedefates ans
II those whp chose 20 expauiate themsfIve1
! .-.-n.r- u- -Lh..r .--LL-rs u lhe Lost CAusf