The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-10-24
THE DEATH OF OSBORN.

In the announcement of the death
of Mr.. Osborne in this issue, comes a
reminder Of the experiences OF the
pioneers in their business relation
with the Republic. 1t is a little thing
but significant in that it shows human
nature ever repeating its experiences
of the past. The thought we have in
mind was trivial thing to Mr.. Os-
born, and was mentioned one day in
reverie only, not knowing perhaps,
how it fits into the records and makes
him comrade of many men of his
tory.
We refer to the blacksmithing, he
did for General Conner that grew in
to an account of some hundreds OF
dollars and was never paid. That
busy fighting man. the Mad An
thony' of Cache valley and of our
own Cassia county. could fit out an
army for the field and scatter the
enemy to the four winds by his ter
rible onslaughts, but little matters
OF accounts and merchandise and
money to carry on the work could bt
forgotten in his campaign to carve
out peace with the sword, to establish
commerce and to provide great dig
nifty for the government.
In the early settlement of Oregon
there developed an Indian war, ant
the united settlements made rcquisi
tion on a Portland dealer for rifles
and took all he ad. He put in bill
to the government for $55 each, thu
price they were selling for at tht
time. The bill finally reached Wash
ington and was alternately put init
and taken out of pigeonholes bu
never allowed and paid. Years drag
ged along until the Civil War, ant
then it got buried until the war wa
over. The rifles began to be cheap
or, and the downward trend of price
continued until gun factories had t.
quit because the world seemed full
of rifles. TIE Portland merchant wa
getting to be an old man and was il
need of every cent he could get
About thirty years after the sale o
the rifles the wise assistant chic
helper of some department down il
Washington settled the matter by al
lowing the bill for the price which
the same rifle could then be purchas
ed for by the war department, an;
the Portland man lost about 81.
apiece on the guns besides the us'
of the money for half life time
Ericsson, the invet 1Dr of the ia
nous sea-fghting mAchiar. Monitor
had an unhappy experience. Ill
built the Monitor with his own mon
ey and credit, and it was rushed Of
to Hampton Roads to test it in tn
fight with the Merrimac which wa
also a new monster ready to be test
ed. If the Monitor had not stood III
test it would have been Ericcson's
but as it won the battle and promises
to revolutionize naval operations,
belonged to the government. Still
it was not paid for, and they KEEP
Ericsson SO busy building more :,
them for the government that he di
not have the time to make them pa
him for the one already in use. Ii
other words, they jollied him out o
it," and then igonred him altogether
But we were speaking of Genera
Conner and his blacksmith, and of
bill that is turning yellow somewher
waiting to be o. KID. They did no
attach much importance to it in life
and now they lie sleeping in the Ian
they helped subdue. Let us hope tn
reveille and the anvil's ring come soft
ly, sweetly on the waves of the Sc
unknown to us.