Milford chronicle., 1906-05-04
FITzHUeH LEES SPEECH.
How the General Captured n Dele
cation of Indiana Editors.

How the General Captured Dele
g cation of Indiana Editors.
+ A few evening ago a number Of tht
b notel habitues were sitting in the lobby
!. Of the New Willard swapping stories
s when one of them told how the late
: General Fitz-Hugh Lee captured a
5 large company of HoOsier editors.
5 1T was in June, 1890" said the mar
: rator, "and the Republican Editorial
Association Of Indiana was making a
tour of Virginia. At that time it was
, the custom of this association to make
summer excursions to some section or
other of the country, generally giving
from two to three weeks to their out
ing. On this occasion we had passed
through a part of Kentucky and had
4 entered Virginia, intending to make
several stops at various places of in
I terest We had given a couple of days
to White Sulphur Springs and several
hours to Clifton Forge, at last arriving
one afternoon at Natural Bridge. In
our party were about 120 men and
women and we had been having a
most delightful time.
AT Natural Bridge, after we had |
partaken of dinner. the landlord came |
to me and informed me that General /
Lee was then in the dining room, hay
ing just arrived. General Lee had only
a short time before that finished his
term as governor of the state asked
for an Introduction to the governor
and on being presented said to him
that l was the president of the asso-
citation touring Virginia, that the as
sociation was composed of Indiana
Republican editors and their wives and
that I felt sure they would be highly
pleased if he would address them. He
asked what he could say l told him
he could talk about Virginia-that we
were there to learn all we could about
the grand Old Dominion that had given
birth to so many great men - or he I
could talk on any topic that pleased
him. l noticed twinkle in his eye !.
rs he said:
How would your people stand a !
little talk on the late WARP
Il replied that it would suit them; {
hat a number of them had served in Il
he Union army and would not object
o hearing an ex-reb. He accepted the p
and word was sent around b
o the company to collect in the pa n
-ilion. Il
'The general branched off into a ci
;loriicatOn of the deeds of the south IL
,rn soldiers. I looked over the audi tV
'nce and thought l saw a disposition re
o resent this apparent glorifcation Of I'll
he southern soldiers and the southern
ause but the speaker was not inter- at
upted Presently the speaker began th
o talk about the courage endurance pa
nd heroism of the northern troops. Ike
II eloquent strains he pictured the di
wful struggle of those momentous ty
our years, the carnage the final des- Of
GRAFTON Of the south, the terrible de- rO
truction Of property and then the end. an
y this time his audience was enthu- in
astic. Tears had been seen in more mC
nan one eye as he depicted the suffer- wi
lg and death of so many brave sol 10!
Iers and the desolation Of so many wi
)mes He then changed his theme arc
gain and talked of patriotism and love mt
country and reverence Of the flag 4
I'd told of the new loyalty of the toy
nth and the acquiescence of the me
nth in the result of the war, closing at
ith declaration that should war Ca
er again come to the country his au- Eu
ence would find the south rlvaling ty.
e north in heroic devotion to the flag. per
is peroration was exceedingly elo- tina
ent, and by the time it ended the ger
posters surrendered Internationally the
the gallant Virginian and gave him the
as warm as he had ever ex- 90
rienced from the people Of his own her
tie. ."-Washington Letter in Buffalo VIII,
ws. trai