The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1910-03-04
ORDONSAYSFAREWELL
Depew Declares 1t the nost Impressive
Speech He Ever Heard.
Tells of War Experiences and Says He "Skedaddled' Many Times
Invites Hepburn to His Mississippi Plantation, and
Thinks He Will Change Views of Lee.

lamps. We are a little better off now;
we are independent because we nave got
electric lights, but we paid 40 cents a
gallon for oil, and now / can get it for
10 cents a gallon.
Il do not know whether Mr.. Rookie
down to 10 cents, but 1 think it will
be that way in Mississippi if they get the
c%onveniences that this pipe line business
proposes to give them, and 1 intend to
vote for the pipes. That is all there is
to it.
Fought, Bled. and '~Skedaddled.'"
well, | want you to understand that
| am a plain, blunt old Confederate sol
der. | wore the gray and l fought and
bled, but | did not die. But I 'skedad-
died. frequently. You understand that
word. These old soldiers will under
stand it.
Il had the honor, during my services,
to capture some prominent men in the
Northern army. Among them was Cen
eral Coburn, of Indianapolis, Ind. l
captured one great big man named John
Shafter, who was a major in the Ninth
Michigan. He was a poor shot, for 1 adj
vanced at him with my saber and he
shot at me five times and never
touched me.
"Now, l will tell another truth. That
fellow Shafter gave me an awful scare,
anyhow. When l approached him he
handed me his pistol and said:
"You are welcome to it, but it will
do you no good; I have shot all the car
tridges away; but over at stockdale, near
Franklin, Tenn, I have a yalise hat has
got a thousand cartridges in it, and you
are welcome to these if you will 90 after
them"
Il said, Thank you for the pistol. l
will go after Them
Never Fired a Shot in the War.
"In this fix | went down with Forrest,
and we went to Brentwood station and
captured the fort and got the cartridges,
but | never used them. I never fired a
shot during the war. That is a fact. l
had just about as much as I could do,
with the scare that was on me, to look
after the men that | had engaged, and
that is tie kind of a soldier | was. |
told the other fellows to do the fighting.
4 great many of them stayed at home,
and if [ had been as smart as they were
[ might have lone the same.
"Another time a gentleman, who is
living yet, by the name of Captain
Brown, of the Seventh nlinois-he and l
had some little engagement. That Sew
enth Illinois was the meanest regiment
| ever saw, for it never wanted to quit
fighting. The Seventh Illinois and the
Second Iowa were the worst men [ had
to fight, but / am glad when | see them
alive today.
"When we meet we shake hands. We
are the best of friends, and Captain
Brown, of the Seventh Illinois. and |
have kept up a correspondence ever since
the war. He is living at Leon, Ia, now,
and if you think L am not telling the
fact, you can call on him and prove it..
Wants Real United Country.
"Now, gentlemen, l did not get up
here just to make you laugh. l want
to tell o something that will not
make you laugh. Down in Mississippi,
where | live, when | go home and 90 to
my bed to sleep and dream sweet dreams
of the hours [ nave seen here in the SEN
ate, | will sleep with the sword of Da-
mocles hanging over my head. We nave
a problem to settle there that | want
! you to help me settle. l do not ask you
to agree with me, but | ask you to talk
with me and listen to what I have to
say in kindness and friendship. I want
to see Mason and Dixon's line obliterated
from the map of the United States and
On it the words written, Our country
4 Anp1a1co ON tho Aoor ,,I -, Al, COL
%leries).
Il am tired of sectionalism. God knows
1 got enough of it, fighting. 1 dc not
want any of it. I do not want to hear
any speech in the senate or anywhere
else that stirs up any strife between the
old soldiers or citizens who are not in
the army. I do want to bring about
peace.
Worthless Ones Seek Disputes.
81 am al old Confederate; you are old
Federals, perhaps. We disagreed and you
are the ~victors, but we still think our
generals were good men and our people
that yours We're just as good as ours.
Not at all. Our people are not quarrel
mig over these things down South at all.
I'VE have 4 few b labmouth' fellows
that always want to make a fuss, but
they are not even worth cussing. So I
will not use any invectives against them.
We have them down South, but they are
not my sort, and 1 ave got more influ-
ence with the people than they have. I
talk with them as l talk to you. [ tell
them the truth and the facts, and I tell
them we are friends here, and they do
not see things as we do.
w want you to think we'll of us,
and there is no use of calling us traitors.
They used to call George Washington a
rebel AND a traitor, but we d not think
so ourselves, and / do not think any of
us fellows, while we may have been reb-
cls-I do not deny that-were traitors.
We thought we ought to fight for our
state, and we disagreed just On a little
section of the constitutional small thing
to fight about, but it made an awful
big fuss when they got at it.
"This is my fathers house. I am
proud to be in it. I am proud to be
associated today with the men whom I
see around me. I have read the papers