The Washington herald., 1909-04-03
Hold the Fort. We Are Coming ;

Plainly enough. il is up 10 The Wash
ington Herald to sally forth 10 the res
cue OF Deacon Hemphin of the Charles
ton News and Courier. The North Caro-
lima villains are on his trail-pursulng
him strenuously, indeed. That you may
understand Immediately just what his
sad plight is-they are writing poetry
about himi Heavens, That awful. awful
product OF Tarheels a-straddle Pegasust
Moreover. the vanguard OF this das-
tardly North Carolina posse poetatus Is
directed in its pernicious activity by
that arch enemy OF facts and siren
uous disseminator OF misinformation, FL
der Caldwell OF the Charlotte Observer.
And it is all because the deacon. as a
good, conscientious deacon. mindful Of the
truth Of history. should refuse 20 swallow
that old fairy tale about a so-caIIed
Mecklenburg Declaration Of Independ-
ence-a myth, pure and simple, and long
ago shattered even more effectively than
its twin iniquity Of distorted veracity,
the contention that Andrew jackson was
born in North Carolina.
Witness this outpouring from one OF
the Caldwell literary night riders:
In Charleston. South Carolina
That fair city by TIE sea,
Lives the Deacon IN his glory,
As happy be.
wise is the Deacon,
In all things up to date.
Save when It cones to history,
And the good old Tar Heel State!
Re simply cannot understand
land he takes it awfully hard.
Why good old Andy Jackson
Wasn't born in his ovn back yard.
And Mecklenburg Declaration,
Pride Of Tar Heels large and small,
Why. TO listen to the Deacon.
It happened not at all.
But We love you lots. Deacon,
And Ike 10 rad your stuff.
And we hope youu keep on. Deacon.
We viii never call your bluff
For are on TO you now, Deacon.
Though you have kept Us on pins.
But our greatest consolation is
Thank heaven. you amt twins,
We are not saying this poetry is not
quite worthy Of the cause in which II is
enlisted-poetry being very much in the
habit OF enlisting now and then. YOU
know. It Is as sound and well-fashioned
as the average TarheeI argument in sup
port Of the Mecklenburg mistake and the
Jackson jocosity. The bard contends
that the deacon cannot understand why
| good old Andy Jackson wasn't born IN
/ his own backyard This shows the slip
shod methods employed by these divert
ers Of history to their own sinister ends.
| The deacon, as a matter Of fact, under
/ stands very well why Old Hickory
wasn't born in his own backyard. "
There is absolutely no evidence to show
that Andrew Jackson owned a back
yard at that interesting period In his
career; to believe such fooIishness would
involve the necessity Of accepting it as
fact that Andrew Jackson owned a
backyard before there was any such per-
son as Andrew Jackson-a manifest and
palpable absurdity. but entirely charac-
teristic Of Tarheel claimants, neverthe-
less.
We think we may rest on our oars
here. Already we have exploded much
Tarheel fallacy, albeit much more yet re-
mains. We merely wish to cease firing az
this point with one further dissenting
opinion We distinctly and emphatically
do not thank Heaven that Deacon Hemp
hill "ain't twins" The more deacons, the
merrier. We cannot have too many of
them. They are great sticklers for ex-
actness and precision-and to whom else
should the important written records OF
history be intrusted?