Knots Untied; Or, Ways and By-ways in the Hidden Life of American Detectives — John Shaqi
Knots Untied; Or, Ways and By-ways in the Hidden Life of American DetectivesMcWatters, George S.
General
Knots Untied; Or, Ways and By-ways in the Hidden Life of American Detectives
McWatters, George S.
Detectives
It will be recollected by all who watched the current affairs of the
war, that it was in regard to this seizure by Officer McWatters, that
Fernando Wood, then Mayor of New York, so infamously and cowardly made
an unasked apology to Robert Toombs of Georgia. Communication with the
South was not at that time suspended, and he telegraphed to the
secessionist his regrets at the seizure, and added assurance that if he
had had control of the police the guns should be restored, or that he
would have forbidden the seizure. Such was the substance of his
telegram. But fortunately for the honor of the nation, as well as of
the city of New York, the control of the police had, before that time,
been taken from Mayor Wood. But his telegram sent a thrill of shame
through all patriotic hearts, and added a new lustre to the merit of
Officer McWatters' deed, by the contrast in which it placed the two
men,--the dutiful, freedom-loving police officer, and the poor creature
who, having escaped the issues of a criminal trial by pleading the
statute of limitations, had been borne on the shoulders of a "Sixth
Ward brigade" of repeating voters to the questionable height of the
Mayoralty of New York.
It is, perhaps, worthy of note here that the virtues of Fernando Wood
have since been duly rewarded by an appreciative constituency in New
York, who have sent him for several terms as their fit representative
to the Congress of the nation. It is seldom that the historiographer
has the opportunity of recording such a lofty expression of the
"gratitude of republics;" and the writer hereof takes especial pleasure
in fixing it here "in eternal types." Officer McWatters' due reproof
for the seizure is fitly found in the fact, that a noble constituency
like Wood's, would, if they could, have annihilated him for the deed.
OFFICER MCWATTERS' SERVICES THROUGH THE PUBLIC PRESS.
Not only at his post of official duty was it that Officer McWatters
rendered efficient service to the government, but throughout the war we
find him frequently making noble appeals for aid to the Union in one
form or another, or setting forth some judicious plan of operations to
secure the same, in able and spirited letters to the Evening Post, the
Tribune, etc. It should give the writer pleasure to copy some of these
letters herein, especially one which appeared in the Evening Post of
October 2, 1861, but the limits of these biographical notes forbid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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