The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-14

under Judge Battle. and obtained Ii
cense. In 1857 he settled in Salisbury,
and in April, 1861, he volunteered as
Il member of the Rowan Rifle Guards
and went with that company to Fort
Johnston, at Southport. In June
kIS61, he was appointed a lieutenant
| in -Reiley's Battery. and went with 1t
/ TO Virginia.
| In January, 1862, he became a cap
| tam in 46th n. G. Troops, T.. ID. Hall
being the Colonel, and served with
| Cookies Brigade, Hokes Division, A. p
Hills Corps He was twice wounded
once at Fredericksburg i'm the right
cheek and again at the Wilderness, the
bali entering the mouth and passing
out at the back of the neck.
In 1852 he received his commission
| as Major; in 1863 as Lieuteuaut-Col-
onel: and on the first of January, 1854
| as Colonel of his regiment
| He served until the end of the war
| and surrendered at AppomattoX In
February. 1864, he married Miss Flor
| ence Cotton, q daughter of the late
John W. Cotton, of North Carolina.
who. however, died in July, 1865. In
I1S70 he served as Secretary OF the
Senate and again in 1872.
Then for four years he was with
Major Englehard. who was his broth
| er-in-law. on the Wilmington Journal;
and in November, 1876, he, with Mr..
| Peter M. Hale, founded the Observer.
| Major Englehard was then Secretary
| of State and upon his death, Colonel
| Saunders was, February IL, 1879, ap-
| pointed his successor by Governor
| Jarvis He has since been three times
elected TO that office.
Hale and Saunders.
Both were intense Democrats, but
| they had got to be by different pro-
| cesses. Mr.. Hale had an inborn and
| perhaps sentimental sympathy with
the weaker brother and the clannish
| instincts that outside of the Hlgh-
lands of Scotland are not quite so fine
| elsewhere as on the pineclad banks OF
| Cross Creek. By preference, then, the
| people that had been beaten were ms
| people. A Whig by education, by
grace of the unnatural rigors of re-
| construction he was forced into the
| opposition which became Democracy
| But the literal fire and sword of Sher-
man did not sere from his DISPOSE
ton some toleration for certain Re-
| publicans of the cleverer and pleas
anter sort. and he could be good COM
pany on occasions with such accom-
| rlished past-masters in politics as Col
| Ike Young, Governor Holden, Albion
Tourgee, John Nichols, Col. Shaffer
and the great and only Colonel Loge
/ Harris. There was a grand constella-
| ton of Republican planets in those
| DAYS and the brightest of these was
Richard Badger. If they had talents
and hadn't they?-if they had lives
worth reading or stories worth telling,
and kindliness, the latch string of the
copy room hung out to them. And what
shall be said of their feelings toward
him? They all called him Mr.. Hale
when addressing him; when speaking
of him it was Peter Hale" always.
Doesn't that tell the story? Is there
much softness or magnetism in the
/ love for the man who is never known
| by his Christian name?
There was surely a charity in his
| politics. and he differentiated between
| the doctrine and the doctrinaire. The
cne he knew was hostile, the other
| he believed could be friendly. In per-
scnaI appearance Mr.. Hale was strik
ing looking, very like the portraits of
! Hawthorne. The suggestion of the
poetic in his nature was manifested in
his attire. He wore his fine silken
| hair almost to his shoulders, and his
complexion was as fresh and pink as
a school girls. No one ever saw him
with a beard a day old, and his neat
ness was grateful. He had very dark
| brown eyes. They literally glowed in
strong feeling and laughed in humour.
When he was resisting your contention
and steeling himself against yielding.
/ the light seemed to retire into his eyes
aud produced the effect of blindness
So that the quick men around him
| would say among themselves: Some
thing is wrong; there is the blind lock
| in the Majors eyes" He had large
bones and a massive frame and was
very tall--over six feet, though a stoop
| in the neck from bending constantly
| over his work concealed his height
very appreciably. This is the picture
| in my mind of the man who could be
| editor, critic, foreman, compositor
manager of big daily papers, and who
| was.
| 1t is no disparagement to the work
| of any one to say on occasion Mr.. Hale
| could do his work better than he could
| do it himself. I've seen him stride
| into the office at day dawn and unlock
upset and rearrange the whole outside
| of the paper because it was not well
| balanced to his keen, tasteful eye, and
| he would set up a head line or a dis
| play ad, never in petulance or temper
| but with a kind Don't you think ii
would look better this way?" sort of
way that would simply stupefy the
average printer. 1t gave him great
prestige in the work shop and ensured
model paper i'm appearance. as well
as an excellent tone in matter. Mr..
Hale did not think it was possible to
print paper that was too good for his
subscribers. and he regarded a sub
scriber in the light of personal
friend. He had in the bottom of his
mind some theory like this, that if the
material condition of the people could
be made as good as possible they
would be happy, and they would gov
ern themselves in a satisfactory man
ner. Colonel Saunders acted on the
belief that if the Government was kept
along simple lines and approved for
it's Justice and economy by the people
that the development of the country
would come along in due course by
individual effort and he was not at
all impatient about it. In this you
can see the early party training of
the two men. Mr.. Hale's thoughts and
aims turned at once to the develop
nent of the State, and TO the day of
his death he wrote and contrived to
this end. His faith that the compile
tion of the Western North Carolina
Railroad would do away with the
Jealousies between the east and the
west has been justified. 1t is quite inn
possible to make plain TO those Of to-
day how strong the antagonisms once
Gt,1 &c ,nt Ea he, f.f m