Very Pathetic Letter

VERY PATHETIC LETTER

FROM THE GERMAN POET HER MAN HARTWIG DANCER

Who Corrects Some Statements Concerning His Life Which Have Been Printed.-How He Lost His Flour.

Herman Hartwig Dineer, the German poet and editor, whose misfortunes have brought him to the county house writes us the following pathetic letter, which may prove of interest to many who have known him, or who, not having the pleasure of his acquaintance, have been touched by some of the gems of German poetry which have emanated from his pen :

County House, Dec. 19, 1898. editors Daily Argus :

Enclosed I send to you an article which appeared in the Daily Evening Times, of Dec. 1, 1898. I have never authored this article to be published and it sets me and my past life, in a false light. I never had any desire that the citizens of Ann Arbor should know of the hardships of my life, for I see no reason why it could concern them. If the editor of the Times who only knows very little of my life, had the opinion that he could do me a favor in thus bringing me into unwanted notoriety he was sadly mistaken. If my fate has been cruel or is cruel at present, it is not his business to herald his to the world. I am treated very well in the county house, and that I had to take refuge here is not altogether my fault. It is perhaps known to you that I am lame and cannot  expect to fill a position of some other kind. That I am compelled to be an object of public charity is certainly ruel to some extent, but it is far better than to be an object of contempt.

I hope that you will be kind and fraternal enough to correct the erroneous statements in the Times. You will give a sorely tried man an opportunity to set himself right in the eye of the public.

In the article under the caption, "A Cruel Fate," it is stated that I was in the union army during the war of the rebellion which is true, but I never was at the battle of Gettysburg, for I enlisted in the beginning of November, 1864, at New Haven, Conn. I was present at the battle of Hatchers Run and at Petersburg, Va. (March 29 - April 2, 1865.) I was not six months in the hospital of Fortress Monroe, but only six weeks.

After the war; I was for some months in Denver, Colorado, which state was at that time a territory.

Flour was very high in price (1866) and I took part in a speculation. We purchased a great quantity of flour in Leavenworth, Kas., where the article was cheap, indeed so cheap that we could have tripled the amount of money invested, had we ever come in possession of the flour - but we didn't. The foreman of the train which transported the flour across the plains, failed to make connection with a guarded government train. In reality he had been several times before across the plain, and was of the opinion he could go on his own responsibility, without government military protection against the Indians. It cost him and several others the loss of life, and us the lots of our goods, for that ill-fated train was attacked by Indians near the Little republican River. The same Indians under lead of Black Kettle were afterwards captured by General Sheridan and their village destroyed.

Gentlemen, from these facts you can see, that I was not on the way to Pueblo.

Further on I have to correct that my father was a man belonging to the nobility of Germany. His mother was of the French nobility (being one of the Huguenots, who had been expelled from France). Certainly, my dear father was a noble man, but with very little of the aspirations such as the men of blue blood have in common.

The article, "A Cruel Fate," is otherwise exaggerated, but I will abstain from dragging my experiences before the public, leaving that to a merciful writer of an obituary, when I have ceased to be among the living, and enjoy the rest of those who slumber in the City of the Dead.

"Very Respectfully,

HERMAN HARTWIG DANCER