The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-21
The Voice Of the eople.

1 ne Y DICE o
Ealtor Of The sns aa as.pis ,omas AAA
Slr--I have read Captain w. W.
ODDS article in tosday's tsun-
SIP touS ualsi AZ Aions s''n tse
not understand that Quoting from
me N. the question was 50 thoroughly
years q go that Mrs. Beers was tile &C.
know snn aq ren & that pee reaa,n
Ition was years. ago. threshed cui nd
discussion has been that there is not
an hneand t "a does not @
hesitatingly attribute the poem to
Sspsn oa further n 9 ,ss
author. The 4 evidence Proving this
may be found in Volume VIII, South
ern Historical PAPERS, pages 25b.sSO,9
land was long ago ''discounted''Sa at It's
real value. Evidently, the 8. supposed .ps'.se g
J. such critics as stedman, Browne, Trent
land many others. 4, .
Let us, see what this evidence"
really amounts to-
'1lssO, by the Rev. Hugh r. oliver, son
4 OF the claimant.
The hrst letter ia from Mr.; Frank 4
\ Indiana. and who clears his skirts az
the outset by stating explicitly that
!. he does not profess to have any ac.
anaintanee With the t facts ~ hlmhn as
: friend (whose whereabouts he does not
i know. but for whose word he has NE NE
greatest respect'9, Mr.. A. Shaw. VINO
assured him that he, was in camp anaI, w Msn
d Written rii that the latter showed hin,
the "origlnal manuscript Of NJ
Quiet Along the Po5omae and II tsa =
e times, and afterwards rewrote It from
! memory, This gent,ss;maan; Of s the
m supplemensed BY an Equally
i brilliant imagination) 'longed to pub
fish It," but knew that. owing to the
authors modesty,". ne could never e., 81
: 1t up.
3 Here we have the assertion Of a,s1 the ne
n claim made at SECOND, n eedN eiese''
gIyears after the event lls!2o. Z
The next Two letters OF the three
are bothf written by the same person
Mr.. j. D. Ashton, who believes eyes hrtn ~
e f M.Ht Rearing it read These two let.
tiers were written thirteen years after
the Supposed rst event of these letters MIR
H Ashton states that Mr.. Oliver showet
him the poem under tho promise 9,
as II s hi sge tf him 'af
l. onca for n cony but he resolutely re-
u fused" Later on. when leaving VT.
= ginia for Georgia. he prevailed on MT
gys MN b a9py al as .he solde
that he would neither read It IN IN
re giment. have It published. nor IN. men !,
ton his name n conns1,ion ~ With ..h NJ
an,h9rship so ss pi he secontinues,
4 am am, sorry to say only partially ful
! flied" for he tells us that he did rent
- the poem to aeveral&of his m 1,saaaads,
!. sstttraightway according to his seeon'
--|ietter) to write to his wife the nam IN
Of the author, though in the hrst , lst
ter he says he l, dia n t, ts.i r nep :.
In the second letter. written nearl!
eight months after the first. Nj Ash .sll
rs ton writes 70 the Rev. husn 1o U,ase g,
s. from near Centreville. Oct. 80. 1881.
in which he speaks Of the beauty u =
e Week Quiet Aloag TIE Rotom T1;sn;
te written by my girllshly modest, irisn !.
"a Thaddeus oliver, of the 'Buena Yi s.,
Guards. From this letter .s, me; Mr. n Asn
r r.. tiveness and certainty that these CO,
~ ebrated lines were familiar to me
L. least o. month or six weeks pelor
'e they appeared IN sHaIEpel 5, NJ n
a IF II all this is to be accepted q
captan 4 3hsn ln M are en asks
to believe that Mrs. Beers. a lady
,ly| refinement and position, and poe
~. ess OF no mean iepute, in some ex.r .
q ordinary. not to say supernta'ufha So
n manhey house a near New York. hundred
Of miles from the beleaguered Cor
'es federacy. a copy Of the poem l Ito,
no 10 the real author which ne nag int int
her own hand that cool septemb.'
pelsd W tsmRl o 9 9wh ssa ka ne
f nae Ts'i pay for the stolen goods. al
'so later on, as she lay a-dying; had "a a.
colossal mendaeity to bring out IT. una
oil All Quiet Along the Potomac To-Nigr
on- and Other Poems" -,
oy AS all people know VINO w. =, =
az, made up Weeks and weeks befo
the date of publication. One may s. ser !
ses a story or a. poem, have " a lee p,,e
tha receive pay for 1t, but IT must wa
Ind lits turn, and may not appear
weeks we in some cases, months. !,
mt Mrs. Beers's assertion was that s
In wrote the poem one cool Seglemp
lrst morning and sent It to the Week.
t. that it was accepted, but did n
an appear until November, IN al tn
! Ia she was fully 1corroDoIdleu Ny
a eaitor OF that journal.
nee Then comes Mr.. Lamar 70
81 taine with his most pdsiti
RI a assertion (made persistenty !
ira more than forty years, and srelt
der 10 tad most cr1lphatically within q I