The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-14

Pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla, Feb.
81 am surprised to see Georgia pa
pers print Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett's
name as walter" Byrons idea of
fame was a good one-to have your
name spelt wrong in the newspapers.
1 see that the Morning News
complains that severe cold weather has
killed peach trees in some sections Of
the country. This has been the coolest
winter ever known in Florida-I mean
continuous cold-but my peach trees
have peaches on them bigger than the
end of my thumb, and large crop is
in sight this early in the season.
Col. William P. Calhoun hav-
ing written to the Augusta Chronicle
that Allen Wardlaw, accidentally kill
ed in Charleston, S. c., was the first
blood shed by a Confederate soldier,
T. Perrin Wardlaw, cousin of Allen
Wardlaw (who was not killed. in the
interest of the truth of history'-if
there be such a thing-comes forward
and claims that the soldier killed was
James Clark Allen of Abbeville, S. Z.
Allen Wardlaw died in Savannah in
1865. Col. Calhoun is a well-known
newspaper correspondent but he seems
to have made quite miss in this case
1t is only another example of the diff
fculty in getting hold of facts.
Editors who consider it very re-
markable thing for Gov. William H.
Taft of Ohio to be made Secretary Of
War; an office once held by his hon
| ored father, must have forgotten that
Hon. Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania
was Secretary of War under Lincoln
from March 5, 1861, to Jan. 10, 1862,
which Office his son, Hon. James d.
Cameron, better known as "Don," also
held from May %, 1876, to March IL,
1877. He succeeded Gov. Taft'S father,
Judge Alphonso Taft of Ohio, who on
May %, 1876, was appointed Attorney
General by Grant. Both of the Cam
erons were also United States sena-
tors. An Atlanta paper says
Capt. C. E. West, U. S. N, is a son
of Mr.. r. H. West of Rome, Ga, but
there is no such officer in the navy. l
presume reference is made to Capt.
Ernest z. West of the Marine Corps,
who is from Rome. And another At
lanta paper says Mrs. Cleveland Will
coxon has gone to Madison Barracks,
N. Y, to join her husband, Maj" Will
coXon. This editor is too rank, as Will
coxon is first lieutenant in the Ninth
United States Infantry. A
Rome correspondent refers to Col. A.
B. Montgomery, lately deceased, as a
captain in the United States army,
when he resigned to join the Confeder-
ate army. Promotion was slow in those
days, and he went into the United
States army and came out a second
lieutenant.
Mr.. L. L. Knight, the Atlanta Jour
nalist, in the Sunny South, refers to
Hon. Matt. w. Ransom of North Car
DINA, as a Confederate major gen.
eral," in which he errs, as the highest
rank of this officer was brigadier gen.
eral. Mr.. Knight may have confound-
ed Maj. Gen. Robert Ransom of North
Carolina. with Ex-United States Sen
ator Matt. w. Ransom. The former
was a graduate QS50) of West Point,
and captain in the First United States
Cavalry, when he resigned, May "a,
1861, to enter the Confederate service.
The latter was, and is a politician.
Only recently l corrected Mr.. Knight
in making Gen. Howell Cobb, instead
of Gen. T. R. r. Cobb, commander
of the Cobb Legion. This young jour-
nalist, now studying for the ministry,
is a gifted writer, and an eloquent
VI clNOIs DuI lie illuSI lCdIll lIlelI cCSul-
acy of speech, and composition is of
greater Importance than flowery lam
guage or eloquent utterance. Our
young writers are too much given to
hAsty composition, ignoring the i'm
portant duty of verifying their state
ments. Old journalists, trained in an
earlier and l think, better school, de-
tect the errors of these more brilliant"
young writer's at a glance.
had to laugh out of both sides
of my mouth at the ridiculous reprint
yarn in Mondays Morning News about
Famous Playfellows," which repre-
scented, Jim Blaine, and "Cump"
Sherman as small boys and intimate
playfellows." Why, Sherman was born
in Ohio, in 1920, and Blaine in Penn
sylvania, in 1880. Sherman graduated
from West Point, in 1910, and Blaine
from Washington College, Pa, in 1847.
The editor of Lippincott's Magazine
ought to have had more sense than
TO print such yarn, one not fit even
to tell to the Marines" much less the
intelligent Naval Reserves of Savan-
nah. l have given up the prac-
tice of correcting ordinary Topographic
cal errors in my letters, even where
my handwriting might not be charged
with the offence; but important errors
cannot pass in silence. My wife's
Jasper verse in my last letter was
murdered outright, and therefore l re-
produce it here in the hope that it
will not meet similar fate again:
so long as deeds of great renown
Are told to listening ears with pride,
And thus is handed proudly down
The fame of those who bravely died,
Our Jaspers fame will thus descend.
With Count Pulaski's, to the end.
And now comes a press telegram from
New York, calling him Maj. Gen. Cor
DIN, commander-in-ch of the new di-
vision of the Atlantic" There seems
to be no end to this foolishness on the
part of ignorant or careless writer's
Ihere is but one commander-in-chief
70 the United States army, and he is
PRESIDENT Roosevelt. But a Pensacola
(FIa.) correspondent of the Times
Union makes a bad break in the opno-
site direction, when he says Col" Bar
ry, the commander of the Department
of the Gulf, is visiting Col" Taylor
at Fort Barrancas, as both these Off
GERS are brigadier generals. A
press telegram says is was an "un-
usual spectacle" when a Jewish rabbi
oHered the prayer in the United States
senate the other morning But it was
no more unusual than the offering
OF the prayer by Unitarian preacher
Rabbi Philipson and Rev. Dr. Hale
both ignore the doctrine of the Trinity
and are, therefore, hail fellows we'll
met in that respect. Cant
Earle Darcy Pearce of the Artillery
Corps, U. S. A, has been detailed to
inspect the militia of Maryland. Capt
Ean