Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-06-30

81 am glad the good Lord let me
live long enough to see this" said
one of Shaw's old scouts as he look
ed upon the statue of his martyred
. comrade, Sam Davis, the one who
suffered death on the gal.ows before
he would betray the source of in
formation. The tears were stream
ing down his cheeks as he said It,
and there were hundreds of others
in the vast crowd whose tears were
beautiful tribute to one Of Ten
nessee's most steadfast sons Capt.
tol Hill was thronged with several
thousand people, who came to do
honor to his memory and to pay
tribute to his loyalty and his hero
ism.
The ceremonies were very simple.
Major E. G. Lewis, chairman Of the
monument commission, presented
the statue to Tennessee. Governor
Malcom r. Patterson, on behalf of
the people Of the State, accepted it
with one of the most eloquent ad-
dresses ever delivered on Capitol
Hill. Little Elizabeth Ewing Davis,
a grand niece, pulled the strings that
drew away the united folds of the
Stars and Bars and the Stars and
Stripes; the band played Dixie"
and five thousand Tennesseeans
cheered as the sculptured bronze
was given to view. The tune was
changed to the anthem OF "A United
the band in singing "My Country,
'Tis Of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty"
The statue is the work Of Zolney.
Of st. Louis, and cost nearly $4,000.
1t is Of heroic size, standing on a
pedestal of Tennessee marble near
the southwest entrance of the capt.
tol grounds.
God gave His only begotten Son
that men might see and know how
to live; and who can say that that
same God did not give Sam Davis
to Tennessee that men might see
and learn how to die" This was
the high tribute paid the hero by
Governor Patterson, and no persons
In all that crowd felt that there was
irreverence or misplaced admiration
in the words.
Governor PatcrSon'S Speech.
Governor Patterson spoke as fol-
lows:
Fellow Citizens: When boy in
school at Nashville ] witnessed the
ceremonies of dedication of another
figure in bronze on the other side
Of this picturesque hill, and well do
1 recall the awe and rapture of i'm
aginative youth as my eyes beheld
for the first time a heroic figure on
horseback-an incarnate force OF
action.
The man and the horse seemed
born the one for the other-the one
master with the erect and easy
grace Of martial bearing and con-
sciuos power of rule; the other as
If proud to bear his weight, restive
for action and breathing the very
fire Of war itself.
Little did | then think, even in the
day dreams Of youth, that one day
as Governor | would be called upon
to accept, in the name Of the State,
another figure in bronze, erected on
this side Of the grounds, not of a
man on horseback, but a young man,
scarcely more than a boy, who be-
longed to another and a later age Of
our history, who stands without the
marks and accoutrements OF rank,
without any other sign save that Of
soldier ready to fight and ready
to die. The name and fame of Jack
son fill the mind with wonder and
admiration; the memory of Sam
Davis with infinite love and tender
ness.
This bronze tablet in front re-
cords on its enduring face the fact
that Sam Davis was born Oh October
6, 1912, near MurfreeSboro, in Ruth
Hrford county, Tennessee. His life
was short. 1t scarcely began to un-
fold before it ended on the scaffold
at Pulaski on the morning of the
27th of November, 1868. Sprung
from splendid race, he was the first
born of large family Of children,
and grew from infancy to youth in
the pur"st Of all atmospheres, that
of Southern country home, pre-
sided over by a Southern wife and
mother.