The leader., 1901-06-05

found man lying on the bare floor in
the water closet. Seeing he was vet.
eran, he inquired if he we're sick
"Yes," said the man, Il have hard
chill and wish you would spread some.
thing over me-" "What command do
you belong tor" asked Co. G. 81 be.
long to Co E., 22nd Miss" What is
your name?" LEA is my name.
And it proved to be the same Lea that
Co. G. covered with his own coat on
the same spot 40 years ago. They EN-.
braced each other and wept together
This incident was related to us by Co
g. whose cheeks we're wet with tears
as he told the story. Comrade Lea
lives in Amite county and will, nc
doubt, testify to the truth of the above
statement.
One striking feature of the reunion
was to see so many old negroes, who
went with their masters through the
entire war. Those true and faithful
old darkies, many of whom had come
hundreds of miles to see "de boys
fingered day and night around the
State headquarters, looking out for
"Marse John" or "Marse Billy" and
on seeing them and their once young
masters embrace each other, one
would think that the race problem
was solved. One old colored man
popped his hands and shouted, "Bless
de Lawd," when they sung:
I'VE will meet Lee and jackson,
That's good enough for me-
Another one of these old darkies
went away with sad heart when he
failed to see his once young master
who had written to him to meet him
there but failed to do so because of
serious illness. "I'll never see Marse
Tom anymore" he said as he turned
away and was lost sight of in the
great throng.
"How about the fare?" has been
asked by many. Well, that brings
about more talk. We don't believe
that more outrageous monopoly ever
struck any great gathering than that
which struck the Confederate Re-
union at Memphis. 1t is best never to
go to great gathering to stay over
night and expect too much. But we
have weighed we'll our words, and
what we say is not said with view of
ever making an apology, that a greater
outrage was never perpetrated on
any people than that which some peo-
pie of Memphis put upon the old Con-
federate soldiers and everybody else
that slept within her gates during the
reunion. Men and women were forced
to pay sl.00 for lodging that free ne
gro would not have had free gratis un-
der ordinary circumstances. We know
that with such environments, one can
not reasonably expect to sleep on
downy beds, but we do not think we
ought to be robbed for sleeping on
no bed at all.
On the first night many old veterans
stayed on the streets all night because
they didn't have the dollar to pay for
a cot and cover with their pocket
Many of them left on
the first train next morning and never
attended the reunion at all.
"What about those free cots and
that free grub that we read about in
the papers previous to the meeting of
the reunion? some have asked.
"The Bureau of Information"
or rather the bureau to sup
press information, took great pains
to say nothing about those
cots, while they were there by the
thousand. The Bureau of Informa-
tion didn't seem to be posted on the
free cot subject, but seemed to know
where one could get cot for s1OO and
up. In company with a number of
others, on our arrival we reported to
the Bureau of Information" and, aft
er long time rambling among papers,
they found man who had registered
to furnish lodging for 50 cents and
presented us card with directions
thereon. After much meandering, we
knocked at the door of the place just
at 1890 a. m. On presenting the card
we we're kindly informed that "dot
combitty ish mistaken; mine bedts
(cots) ish vun dollar" On receiving
this bit of information, Comrade Levi
White said, "Boys, let's go on strike;
we can beat that by looking at the
town the balance of the night"
In many instances, tired and worn
from the long, wearisome trip, two
and three old Confederates slept on
one piece of bed, each paying S1.OO,
while they could have slept on free
cots and blankets prepared for the oc-
casion by many good people in Mem
phis. AS to whether that Bureau of
Information" was tied up with that
robbing machine, We are not prepared
to say, but if any old comrade received
any information whatever from that
Bureau relative to those free cots and
free lunches, both of which were there
in abundance, we would be pleased to
hear from him. We never saw any
thing more thoroughly organized than
were those people who had cots "to
let" Many good people in Memphis
were mortified over this disreputable
state of affairs, but they were helpless
in the matter. If we have not given
the facts as they existed, we ask that
our old comrades in arms disown us
forever and let our gray hairs go down
in sorrow to the grave.
Cod hlaSS louisville XIV Right on