172. CLXXII.
MR. NASBY FINDS A NEW BUSINESS WHICH
PROMISES AMPLE PROFITS.
Post Offis, Confedrit × Roads, }
(wich is in the Stait uv Kentucky),
January 20, 1869.
[1]
I hev it at last! I see a lite! A grate lite! a brite lite! I
shall not go to Noo York, nor shall I be forced to leave the Corners,
at least permanently. I hev at last struck ile! I shel live
like a gentleman; I shel pay for my likker, and be on an ekal
footin with other men. Bascom, whose smile is happiness, but
whose frown is death, will smile onto me wunst more.
To Miss Soosan Murphy I owe my present happiness. The
minnit I notist that she hed put in a claim agin the Government
for property yoosed doorin the war by Fedral soljery, I
to-wunst saw where my finanshel salvashen wuz. Immejitly I
histed my shingle ez a agent to prossekoot claims agin the
Government for property destroyed or yoosed doorin the late
onpleasantnis, by Fedral troops. That shingle hedn't bin out
an hour before Joe Bigler hed red it to half the citizens uv
the Corners, and in two hours I hed biznis on my hands, and
money in my pockets. Ez a matter uv course, I insisted upon
a retainin fee uv ten dollars in each case.
Issaker Gavitt and his two younger brothers wuz the first
clients I hed. Their case is one uv pekoolyer hardship, and I
feel ashoored that Congris will to-wunst afford em the releef
they ask. The property destroyed wuz a barn and its contents,
wich wuz destroyed by Buel in the second yeer uv the war;
that is, the contents wood hev bin destroyed only they wuzn't
in the barn, ez they hed bin sold jist previously to the Confedracy.
But ez the Elder, peace to his ashes, took Confedrit
munny for sed contents, wich munny he, in a moment uv enthoosiasm,
invested in Confedrit bonds, wich finally got to be
worth nothin, we put in a claim for the valyoo uv the contents
ez well ez uv the barn. Bein 70 years uv age when the war
broke out, he did not volunteer in the Confedrit service, and
consequently never fired a shot at the Old Flag. His two
youngest sons did, it is troo, but the Elder can't be held
responsible for them boys. The estate is entitled to damage
jist the same ez tho the Elder wuz alive.
Elder Pennibacker hez also claims to a considerable amount,
wich is for fences, crops, barns, and sich, destroyed by Fedral
armies. The Elder is not quite certain but that the fences wuz
destroyed by order uv a Confedrit General, wich wuz retreetin,
and it is possible that the crops, barns, and sich, wuz yoosed
up at the same time. It wuz doorin the war, at any rate, and
ez the Fedral Government wuz, in his opinyun, to blame for the
war, wich never wood hev bin carried on hed it yeelded ez it
ought to hev done, why the Fedral Government ought to pay
all these losses. Uv course I shan't put all the Elder's talk
into the petishen.
Miss Jane McGrath's case, wich is the one I shel push the
hardest, is one wich, ef Congris does not consider favorably, it
will show that Congris hez no bowels. Miss McGrath is a
woman. Uv course doorin the war she wuz loyal, ez she
understood loyalty. She beleeved in her State. She hed two
brothers wich went into the Confedrit servis, and she gave em
both horses. But wood any sister let her brother go afoot?
Them horses must be set down to the credit uv her sisterly
affeckshun. It will be showed, I make no doubt, that when
her oldest brother's regiment (he wuz a Colonel) left for the
seat uv war, that Miss McGrath presented to it a soot uv colors
wich she made with her own hands, wich soot included a black
flag with skull and cross-bones onto it. Sposin she did? It
wuz loyalty to wat she considered her State. And the fact
that doorin the war she rode twelve miles to inform a Confedrit
officer that four Fedral soljers wich hed escaped from Andersonville
wuz hid in her barn, shood not operate agin her. Onto
her piano ther wuz a choice collection uv Southern songs, and
ther is a rumor, that in Louisville wunst she did spit in the
face uv a Fedral offiser; but wat uv that? Is a great Government
goin to inquire closely into sich trifles? Miss McGrath
give me the names uv three Fedral Generals who campt on her
place doorin the last year uv the war, wich wood certify to her
loyalty, wich, ef they didn't, wood show that there wuzn't any
gratitood in humanity.
Deekin Pogram hez uv course a claim. The Deekin's horses
wuz all taken by a Fedral offiser, wich wuz the more agravatin,
ez the Deekin hed, in addishen to his own, jist bought 25, wich
he wuz to hev delivered to General Morgan, uv the Confedracy,
the next day, who wuz to hev paid for em in gold. They were
gobbled. For these horses the Deekin claims payment. He
wuz, doorin the war, strictly nootral. Kentucky did not secede,
neither did the Deekin. His boys went into the Confedrit
service, and on several occasions he mite hev cleaned his
trusty rifle and gone out at nite to git a crack at Fedral
pickets. Habit is strong, and ez ther were no schoolmasters
to shoot, the Deekin must shoot somethin. He considered the
war a great misforchoon, and many a time hez the old patriark,
with teers streemin down his cheeks, exclaimed, “Why won't
Linkin withdraw his troops and let us alone?” He hez bin
since the close uv the struggle a hankerin arter Peece. “Let
us hev Peece!” is his cry. “Give me back my niggers; let
me hev things ez they wunce wuz, and I shel be soothed into
quietood.” He voted for Micklellan in 1864, and for Seymour
in 1868, but that uv course won't count agin him in the matter
uv the claim. The minnit he decided to put in the claim he
withdrew from the Ku-Klux, uv wich associashun he hez bin
chief for this seckshun. He's sorry now that he shot any
niggers since the close of the war. He is an inoffensive old
man, whose pathway to the tomb needs soothin. The horses
he lost he counts worth $10,000, and he uv course wants
remuneration to the amount uv $10,000 more for the anguish
he suffered seein uv em go.
Almost every white citizen uv the Corners hez a claim, uv
wich I shel hev the prosekootin; that is them wich kin raise
the retainin fee. Some hundred or more who never hed anything
before or doorin the war, and who are in the same condishen
now, hev put in claims for sums rangin from $10,000 to
$20,000, offerin me the half I git. I may take em. They kin
swear to each other's loyalty, wich will redoose the cost uv
evidence to a mere nominal sum.
I shel hie me to Washington and get Mrs. Cobb to take hold
with me, giving her a share. Ef she succeeds with Congris ez
well ez she did with the President, the result will be all that I
kin desire.
Petroleum V. Nasby, P. M.
(wich is Postmaster).
