From the San Antonio (Tex.) News |
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April 4, 1865 |
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Passports |
Of all the greatest humbugs of
the present day is the passport system, as established in the State of
Texas. A traveler when he sets
out on a journey on any of the railroads has to go before the Provost
Marshal and obtain a pass. No
matter who he may be, whether he be a
San Jacinto
soldier or member of the Legislature, he has to suffer this annoyance.
At the depot he finds able-bodied soldiers, with bayoneted
muskets, who demand his pass. The
soldier reads it, and knows as little of the genuineness of the
signature as we do of the "man in the moon," and the
traveler takes his seat in the cars.
Soon another chap comes along during the trip, and demands the
pass again, you show it, and O.K. is the response.
Well, reader, do you suppose that a Yankee spy would take the
trouble to go to the office of the Provost Marshal?
No, he has only to mount his horse and will not be again
molested until he has matured all his schemes and is safe under the
Yankee flag. We have
traveled over three-fourths of the State, a few months past, and was
never asked to show our pass only when we left Houston
— this was at the depot. Now,
what is the use of the system unless it be to trip up Yankee spies.
We expose this for the public good, and respectfully call the
attention of Generals Kirby Smith and Walker to the error.
We are posted and know what we say.
We cry, reform, reform! |
Freeman's Champion |
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