The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-26

Washington. July 25.-(special)-one of i the most useful, most intelligent ana most accomplished negroes m Wasnlnga | ton one of that inestimable kind whose worth is greatest in preserving pieas"hhe ,ess he relations between the races. because ne
 phoSoph,erc cbIsf Snd Messsnser of the Department of Commerce and LaooT' Murrell is Southerner. born and pred
 No man who followed the stars Sd ana thrnn9h Dar1 with the tune of Dixie was eyer inors III tense a Southerner than Wllham MuI rell. solored His occupaso,93n sdr3n-two Q, years years A messenger now for Federal cabi- net ofleer he was in lSsi: a6 6r tbe pn'gfg gConfeg crate cabinet. He was engaged As such by Judah P. Benjamin. Attorney General identified with the executive department of the Confederate government Murrsll became infusd with the enthusiasm or tne and went to the front in the Army of Northern Virginia Too impatient 10 ask permission. when the 3rd Alabama Tran departed for the field, William Murrell had slipped away and was with them Tn the camp as in the executive once. ne gave aid and comfort to those who were Trying to break up the government the same government he is now serving Wltn erninently useful and ornamental ndei- ity.
 After adding to his varied experience vigorous campaigning with the ganans Alabamians, he had the misfortune to ne captured by the enemy. But he was not long in durance, for he made his escape and went straight back to Alabama: At Montgomery he sought the saIer ana peacefuller occupation of trade. He went into the business of raising vegetables TOT
 the market and he he gs hed papers to sell to the early literary niros. One of these papers was the old Mont gomery Mall and nre AdyefdSef sdrdd eentnre t The proceeds of his sales went for the most part to the support of the family or ms was during the war, at the front as an | officer of the Confederate army.
 Soon after the war he went to New or 1 leans and worked for some. years on dif, ferent steamboats plying the Mississippi between the Crescent City and St. Louis; | There were other negroes who happened came distinguished and well known thro.Nhout the country. One of then them was was
 r&as IrntaG States senstor E from sippa, Recorder of Deeds. of the District of Columbia. Register of the Treasury. property owner and Mississippi planter and a man universally esteemed for su- perior qualities of head and heart. The second was P. B. s. Pinchbeck. who be- came Lieutenant Governor of Loulsianna ington. The third was Robert Church; now one of the large property owners and prosperous citizen of Memphis:
 l Murrell was what was known as a
 'shiner" It was his duty to keep clean | the table cutlery and silverware It may safely be remarked f,t that he biaS mas pc beep haa held. When he retired from the river life. 1 just as the other capable. colored men left 1 1t with larger favors of fortune. after en- | toying the thrilling luxuries of entertain ment on such queens of river craft as the
 Lady Gay. the Grey Eagle and the Gen. | eral Quitman and such grand river racers
 as the Natchez and the Robert E., Lee l Murrell came to Washington and ob
 tained employment as a messenger in the ago when Hugh McCuloch was Secre- 1 tary. Ever since that time he has been | the most prominent colored messenger on
 years in the Treasury Department he | was transferred to the White House and
 thence came naturally with Secretary | Cortelyou, who was Private Secretary to | the President to be chief messenger Of
 the new Department of Commerce and | Labor.
 Murrell is great favorite, especially
 with Southern members of Congress. He
 has not, stinted himself in deserving their
 Eood the w te ne people just % the
 they tried living and fighting out of the
 has aoh onf e ega as HsmeTs the dety to
 the restored union. He has given the best
 years of his maturity to the public ser I
 country the best of his good blood, for
 when Murrell Is no more his stock is
 done. His only sons were killed VI the
 battle of Santiago. both at San Juan Hill. One was Wellington MurrellA a sergeant
 in the 9th and the other, William Fred
 erick MErell. a sergeant in the 10th Cav 1 airy Both are buried in the national
 cemetery at beautiful Arlington, where
 sleep the dead of Northern and Southern l armies. There too are ashes of white
 and black who died for home and coun- | try Last spring impartial patriotism | heaped flowers upon the graves of all; | with rosy wreaths of mutual love; | Unmindful who had lost and won. They sconed the jargon of name | No North, no South at Arlington.
 Murrell is a philosopher. The grievous loss of his only sons, both promising fel- lows. has in no wise darkened his vision.
 Nature made 1t sanguine and kindly The l great English jurist, Francis Jeffrey said:
 Men of truly great powers of mind have generally been cheeful, social, indul- | gent; while a tendency to sentimental whining or fierce intolerance may be | ranked among the surest symptoms of little souls and inferior intellects. | Murrell comes up to that high scale of
 being He has had as grievous loss as the proudest man may suffer But he is as ready to smile as and to whom fate in conversation over the folks and scenes | of the Southland more fondly.
 "I love the Southern people," he says; | 'I know them. they know me; l always | got along with them to suit"