Old time notes of Pennsylvania : a connected and chronological record of the commercial, industrial and educational advancement of Pennsylvania, and the inner history of all political movements since the adoption of the constitution

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Old Time Notes
of Pennsylvania

A Connected and Chronological Record of the
Commercial, Industrial and Educational Ad-
vancement of Pennsylvania, and the Inner
History of all Political Movements since the
adoption of the Constitution of 1838

BY

A. K. McClure. LL.D.

Illustrated with Fartraite of over one hundred
distinguished men of Pennsylvania, including
all the Governors, Senatois, Judges of the
Courts of to-day, leading Statesmen, Railroad
Presidents, Business Men and others of note.

VOLUME II

Library Edition

Philadelphia
THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY

1905

vi Contents

LVII. — CuRTiN Re-elected Governor.

PAOl

Justice George W. Woodward Nominated for Governor by the Demo-
crats When Lee Was Approaching Gettysburg — From the Demo-
cratic Standpoint He Was Their Strongest Candidate — The
Union Victories of Gettysburg and Vicksburg Decided the Con-
test of 1863 — Chairman MacVeagh's Adroit Handling of the
Soldier Element — Soberness of Political Discussion in 1863 —
Woodward Defeated and Curtin Re-elected — Woodward's Dis-
tinguished Career 5J

LVIII. — The Great Conscription Battle.

The Complete Story of the Efforts Made to Declare the National
Conscription Act Unconstitutional by a State Court — Volunteer-
ing Had Ceased and Conscription Was the Only Hope of Filling
the Union Armies — Proceedings Instituted at Nisi Prius Before
Judge Woodward, Who Summoned the Entire Court to Hear and
Decide the Important Question — After Exhaustive Argument
Decision Delayed Until After the Election — The Court, by Three
to Two, Declared the Act Unconstitutional — Chief Justice Lowrie
Was Defeated by Justice Agnew — On Final Hearing Justice
Agncw, Successor to Chief Justice Lowrie, Reversed Preliminary
Hearing and Declared the Conscription Act Constitutional 64

LIX. — Lee's Invasion a Necessity.

Hooker's Brilliant Strategy in Crossing the Rappahannock to Meet
Lee When Hesitation Lost Him the Battle — The Story of
Hooker's Wounds — Great Depression Among the Loyal People
of the North — The Blunder of the Confederacy — The Northern
Invasion Was Enforced with a Hope of Winning a Decisive Vic-
tory over the Union Army, and Securing the Recognition of Eng-
land and France 74

LX. — Maneuvering for the Battle.

Hooker's Suggestions Rejected by Lincoln — Hooker's Strategy De-
feated Lee's Movement to Cross the Potomac near Washington
— Meade Suddenly Called to Command — Large Emergency Force
Called to the Field — Severe Discipline of Lee's Army — Jenk-

Contents vii

PAGE

ins*s Raid into Chambersburg — Ewell's Requisition for Supplies
Including Sauerkraut in Midsummer — Lee's Headquarters at
Shetter's Grove 85

LXI. — Lee Defeated at Gettysburg.

General Lee and His Leading Lieutenants in Chambersburg — Per-
sonal Description of General Lee — Why Lee Moved to Gettys-
burg— Remarkable Feats of Volunteer Scouts — Stephen W.
Pomcroy Gave the First Word of Lee's Movement to Gettysburg

— A Week of Appalling Anxiety at Harrisburg and Through-
out the State — Lee's Retreat from Franklin County — Intense
Passions That Denied Burial to a Confederate Soldier 96

LXII. — Pennsylvania's Lustrous Record.

The Declaration of Independence Proclaimed in Pennsylvania —
Washington Assigned to the Command of the Army — The Con-
stitution Framed in Carpenter's Hall with Washington Presiding

— Gettysburg, the Decisive Battle of the War, Fought in the
State — General Meade of Pennsylvania the Victor — Reynolds
Killed and Hancock Seriously Wounded — Gregg, Another Penn-
sylvanian. Fought and Won the Great Cavalry Battle of the War

— How Gettysburg Was Made the Battle Ground — Why Meade
Did Not Pursue Lee — Lincoln Was Disappointed 108

LXIIL — The Senate Deadlock in 1864.

General Harry White, a Republican Senator, in Libby Prison, Leav-
ing the Senate with Sixteen Democrats and Sixteen Republicans
— ^All Offers for White's Exchange Refused by the Confederate
Government — Speaker Penny Retained the Chair — The Demo-
cratic Senators Refused Him Recognition — General White's
Father Delivers the Senator's Resignation to the Governor — Dr.
St Clair Elected at a Special Election Restoring the Republicans
to Authority — The Movement to Care for the Soldiers' Orphans

— Curtin's Extraordinary Efforts to Give it Success — Violent
Partisan Legislation Governing Elections in the Field — Jerrie
McKibben, One of Curtin's Commissioners, Imprisoned by Stanton

— The Story of His Release 120

viii Contents

LXIV. — How Lincoln Nominated Johnson.

PAGE

The Inner Story of the Sagacious Political Movements Which Nom-
inated Andrew Jackson for Vice-President over Hamlin — How
Lincoln Managed to Unite Pennsylvania for Johnson without His
Movements Being Known — Cameron First in Lincoln's Con-
fidence to Start the Johnson Movement — A Shade of Distrust
Between Lincoln and Cameron — Why Lincoln Forced the Author
to Become a Delcgate-at-Large to the National Convention —
How Cameron and the Author were Elected without a Contest
— The Delegation Finally United on Johnson 133

LXV. — Lincoln Re-elected President.

Pennsylvania Republicans Heartily United in Support of Lincoln —
Cameron Made Chairman of the State Committee — Severe Re-
publican Depression During the Summer of 1864 Because of the
Failure to Achieve Victory in the Field — Lincoln Predicts His
Own Defeat on the Twenty-third of August in a Note Sealed and
Delivered to Secretary Welles — Pennsylvania Faltered in Her
Republicanism at the October Election — The Author Called to
Co-operate with Cameron in the November Battle — How Penn-
sylvania Was Made to Vote for Lincoln on the Home Vote 146

LXVI. — The Burning of Chambersburg.

Chambersburg Destroyed by the Brutal Vandalism of Hunter in the
Lynchburg Campaign — Its Destruction Made Possible by Hunter's
Military Incompetency — Reports of McCausland's Movement
from Mercersburg to Chambersburg — The Vandalism of Many
Intoxicated Confederates While the Town Was Burning — A
Heroic Woman Saves One of the Author's Houses and
Bam — Chambersburg Could Have Been Fully Protected by the
State Force Organized by Governor Curtin, but It Was Sent to
the Potomac to Save Hunter 158

LXVII. — The Border War Claims.

James McDowell Sharpe and the Author Elected to the House to
Secure Appropriation for the Desolated Town — How William

Contents ix

PAOE

H. Kemble Became State Treasurer — Debate on the Amendment
to the Constitution Abolishing Slavery Forced Sharpe and the
Author to Participate — Sharpens Admirable Speech — Why the
Relief Bill Failed — How the Appropriation of Half a Million
Dollars Was Passed a Year Later 170

LXVIIL — ^The Political Struggle of 1865.

Chambersburg's Midnight Jubilee over the Surrender of Lee — The
Long Strained Border People Had Peace at Last — Peculiar Polit-
ical Conditions — How Cameron Lost His Candidate for Auditor
General by His Struggle to Obtain Control of the Party Organiza-
tion— Senator Heistand Defeated When He Expected a Unan^
imous Nomination — Hartranft Suddenly Forced to the Front —
The Organization for Chairmanship of the Republican State Com-
mittee Taken from the President of the Convention by Resolution
of Stevens — A Sluggish Battle Resulting in the Success of the
Republican Ticket 181

LXIX. — Geary Nominated for Governor.

Cameron's First Complete Control of the Republican Organization of
the State — Geary Bitterly Opposed by Prominent Republicans
Because He Had Been Willing to Accept the Democratic Nomina-
tion — Quay and Tom Marshall Among the Foremost Belligerents
— Geary Visits the Author After His Nomination — All Personal
and Factional Interests Forgotten to Elect Geary to Rebuke
President Johnson's Apostacy — Clymer, the Democratic Candi-
date, Made a Gallant Struggle and Fell in the Race — Interesting
Sequel to Geary's Pledges to the Author 192

LXX. — Cameron-Curtin Senatorial Battle.

A Majority of Republican Senators and Representatives Pledged or
Instructed for Curtin — Cameron Adroitly Combined the Can-
didates to Defeat Quay, Curtin's Candidate for Speaker — Stevens,
Moorehead, Grow and Forney in the Field with Cameron —
Governor Geary Aggressively for Cameron — Cameron Finally
Controlled the Majority — Quay, After a Conference with the
Younger Cameron and Curtin, Decided to Move the Unanimous
Nomination of Cameron After He Attained a Majority — Quay's
First Step Toward Affiliation with the Camerons — Republicans
Lose the State in 1867 203

xii Contents

PAGE

Interposition of President Grant Led to the Author's Final Ac-
ceptance of the Candidacy — Colonel Scott Dined with President
Grant and Cameron and Urged to Force the Author to Retire
from the Contest — A Tempestuous Political Struggle of Ten
Days — Nineteenth Ward Rounders Decide That the McQure
Meeting Should Not Be Held — How They Were Finally Per-
suaded to Peace 290

LXXIX. — The Contested Senatorial Election of 1872.

The Author Returned as Defeated by 891 Majority — Protracted
Struggle to Get a Petition for Contest before the Senate — Inter-
esting Incidents of the Struggle — A Special Law Enacted to Try
the Case — Plan of Leaders to Draw a Set-up Committee —
Clerk Hammersley Refuses to Do It, and Informs the Author —
A Democratic Committee Obtained — Appalling Fraud Developed
in the Trial of the Contest — Jail Birds Hired to Swear Falsely
That They Had Repeated for McClure — Colonel Gray Acquits
Himself of the Frauds 302

LXXX. — Grand Jurors Protect Ballot Thieves.

Interesting Story of the Failure to Bring to Trial Parties Guilty of
Open and Violent Frauds — District Attorney Mann's Honest
Effort to Convict Two of the Guilty Parties — Two Grand Juries
Set Up to Ignore All Bills — The Prosecution Delayed for One
Term Hoping to Get a Better Jury — The Next Jury Worse Than
the Last, and the Author Forced the Prosecutions, Knowing That
the Bills Would be Ignored — The Testimony Taken before the
Magistrate That Had Been Given to the Grand Jury Presented to
the Court — Court Remands the Bill Back to the Grand Jury —
The Bills Held Until the Last Day and Then Again Ignored —
Henry C. Lea Renewed the Prosecution, and the Next Grand Jury
Ignored the Bill and Made Him Pay the Cost — Struggle in the
Senate for a Better Election Law — The Party Leaders Decided
to Have No Discussion in the Senate, and the Author's Bill
Passed Unanimously — How Senator White Was Brought to
Renew the Battle, and How the New Election Law Was Finally
Enacted 31S

Contents xiii

LXXXI. — ^The Grant-Greeley Contest.

PAGE

Grant's Special Efforts to Harmonize the Curtin Elements in Penn-
sylvania— The Author Twice Urged to Visit Grant with a View
of Harmonizing the Party on a New Cabinet Appointment —
Organization of the Liberal Republican Movement in the State

— The Author Chairman of the State Committee, and of the
Delegation to the Cincinnati Convention — Greeley's Visit to
Philadelphia to Secure the Support of the Delegation for Presi-
dent— Final Agreement on Davis for President with Greeley
for Vice-President — The Brief Greeley Tidal Wave — Business
Interests Aroused and Suddenly Halted It — The Sad End of the
Life of the Great Philanthropist 327

LXXXII. — Democrats Nominate Curtin.

Peculiar Political Complications in the Contest of 1872 — The Evans
Scandal — Some $300,000 Awarded a Qerk for Collecting Govern-
ment Qaims — Investigation Moved in the Senate — How It
Ended — Hartranft and Buckalew Nominated for Governor by
Their Respective Parties — Curtin Nominated by the Liberal Re-
publicans for the Constitutional Convention — Governor Bigler
Retired from Democratic Ticket, and Curtin Taken in His Place

— State Contest Unusually Desperate — Leaders Would Have
Withdrawn Hartranft But for the Younger Cameron — Geary
Forced to Grant Pardon to Yerkes and Marcer — Attempt of
the Roosters to Make Cameron Pay for His Re-election — How
the Governor's Salary Was Increased from $5,000 to $10,000 340

LXXXIII. — ^The Constitution of 1874 Adopted.

Desperate Efforts Made to Defeat Its Approval by the People —
Mayor Stokley Halts a Stupendous Fraud in Philadelphia When
It Was Found to be Unavailing — Earnest Legislative Work to
Carry Into Effect the New Fundamental Law — A New Liberal
Salary Bill for City Officers Vetoed without Benefit to Those
Who Accomplished It — Ballot Reform Accomplished, and Many
Machine Leaders Overthrown 352

xiv Contents

LXXXIV. — The Stokley-McClure Mayoralty Battle.

Formidable Revolt Against Stokley's Administration — The Author
Peremptorily Declines to Become a Candidate for Mayor — James
S. Biddle Nominated by the Democrats, but soon Thereafter
Declined — Democrats and Citizens Nominate the Author without
Consulting Him — His Acceptance Seemed to Be an Imperious
Necessity — Remarkable Galaxy of Republican Leaders Who Sup-
ported Him — Interesting Episodes of the Campaign — The
Author Advised Four Days before the Election of the Majority
that would be Returned Aaginst Him — Stokley Returned Elected
by over 10,000 Majority 363

LXXXV. — Battle for the Great Exposition.

Party Leaders Made the Issue of the Republican Centennial Mayor
the Prominent One in the Contest — Democrats in the Legis-
lature Provoked to Hostile Action against the Centennial Appro-
priation— A Direct Appropriation Impossible — How an Ap-
parent Appropriation of a Million Dollars Had Been Passed in
1873 — The Desperate Struggle to Obtain the Million Dollars
Needed — Finally Saved by the Positive Intervention of Colonel
Scott — The Financial Revulsion Keenly Felt and Private Sub-
scriptions Retarded Z7^

LXXXVI. — Wallace Elected U. S. Senator.

Republicans Lose the State at the First Election under the New Con-
stitution — Wallace Carefully Organized the Democrats, and had
a Large Majority rf Friends in the Legislature — Nominated for
United States Senator with But Few Dissenting Votes — Buckalew
Hostile to Wallace, and Controlled Enough Votes to Defeat Him
— Buckalew's Attempt to Deal with Mackey — Mackey Saves
Wallace 387

LXXXVII.— The Philadelphia "Times."

The Author Fir«:t Purchased the Press from Colonel Forney — Con-
tract Revoked — How the Times Was Founded — Personal
F: i'^nd^ T.iko a Fourth Interest for the Author — Collins Gives

Contents xv

PAGE

Instructions to the Editor — Final Success of the Newspaper —
How the Original Partners Protected Collins in His Misfortune

— Independent Journalism a Surprise to Philadelphia — Liberal
Return to the Stockholders of the Newspaper — Personal Rela-
tions of the Author with Political Leaders 398

LXXXVIII. — Venality in Legislation.

Corruption of Legislators Practically Unknown until Half a Century
Ago — The Original Old Time Lobbyist Who Never Debauched
Legislators — The Struggle Between Ignorance and Prejudice on
the One Side, and Progfressive Elements of the State Looking
to the I>evelopment of Wealth, Gave Importance to Venal In-
fluences— The First Open Debauch in the Senatorial Contest
of 1855 — Again Visible in 1858 in the Sale of State Canals to the
Sunbury and Erie Railroad — War Brought Demoralization and
Quickened Venality — Many Sternly Honest Legfislators Sup-
ported Measures They Knew to be Corrupt — Venality Largely
Ruled in Legislation until the Adoption of the New Constitution

— Political Power Largely Ruled Legislation, But Diminished
Individual Prostitution 410

LXXXIX. — Hartranft Re-elected.

Mackey and Quay Take Early and Vigorous Action to Retrieve the
Defeat of 1874 — They Perfect the Republican Organization —
Obtain Absolute Control of the Greenback and Labor Organiza-
tions— Greenback Sentiment Very Formidable in the State —
Hartranft Unanimously Renominated — A Protracted Contest
for the Democratic Nomination — Judge Pershing Finally Chosen

— The Labor and Greenback Parties Held from Fusion by Re-
publican Leaders, and That Ejected Hartranft by 12,000 Plurality

— The Democrats Carried the Popular Branch of the Legislature

— Hartranft's Creditable Career as Governor — Later Collector
of the Port and Postmaster — Finally Suffered Financial Disaster,
and Made Earnest but Unavailing Efforts to Save His Friends. . . 422

XC. — The Molly Maguire Murderers.

The Most Appalling Chapter of Crime Ever Recorded in the Annals of
Pennsylvania — History cf the Molly Maguire Organization —
The Onterowth of the Ancient Order of Hibernians — Its Crim-

xvi Contents

pajos

inal Methods — Offensive Mining Bosses and Operators Murdered

in Open Day — Political Power Contracted for Protection to
Criminals — The Wonderful Story of James McParlan as De-
tective Inside the Order — Gowan's Masterly Ability in Conduct-
ing Prosecutions — Sixteen Molly Maguires Executed — Many
Others Imprisoned, and a Dozen or More Fugitives from Justice. . 4 19

XCI. — National Battle of 1876.

Republicans Had Not Recovered from the Overwhelming Defeat of
1874 — Democrats Held the House Most of the Time for Twenty
Years — Tildcn Nominated for President — His Strength and
Personal Attributes — Receives a Large Popular Majority for
President — John I. Mitchell Brought to the Front — Nominated
for Congress to Defeat Strang — Senatorial Deadlock of 1881
Made Him United States Senator — Advised of His Selection
by the Author in Washington — Made President Judge and
Later Superior Judge — Retired for Physical and Mental Dis-
ability 441

XCII. — Anarchy Ruled in 1877.

The Darkest Year in the History of Pennsylvania — Culmination of
the Revulsion of 1873 — Business Depressed and Working Men
Without Bread — Anarchy First Asserted Its Mastery in Pitts-
burg by Destroying Several Millions of Pennsylvania Railroad
Property — Took Possession of All the Railroads of the State,
and Generally Throughout the Country — Governor Hartranft
Absent in the West — Adjutant General Latta Rendered Timely
and Heroic Service — Appalling Condition in Philadelphia —
Mayor Stokley Calls for a Committee of Safety — The Author a
Member — Interesting Incidents in Preserving Peace in the City
— Stokle/s Magnificent Administration to Preserve Peace —
Exceptional Military Service Rendered by Col. Bonnaffon's Regi-
ment 453

XCIII. — ^The Great Oil Deveiopment.

The Humble Beginning of a Trade that has Risen to Hundreds of
Millions— Professor Silliman's Chemical Investigation of Petro-
leum—Colonel E. L. Drake Sank the First Oil Well — His
Difiiculty in Raising One Thousand Dollars to Start the Oil De-

Contents xvii

PAGE

vclopmcnt— He was More than a Year in Getting His Well
Completed — Representative Rouse Regarded as a Hopeless Crank
by his Fellow Legislators in 1859 — The Tidal Wave of Specula-
tion in Oil Companies, Resulting in Sweeping Disaster — Des-
perate Battles of the Oil Men to Reach Markets — The Annual
Oil Product Now Over One Hundred Million Barrels — At First
Worth Twenty Dollars a Barrel; now Worth One Dollar or
Less 465

XCIV. — ^James Donald Cameron.

Became Prominent National Political Leader in 1876 — Member of
the Grant Cabinet — He Forced the Struggle that Made Hayes
President After an Overwhelming Popular Defeat — Hayes Re-
jected Cameron for a Cabinet Office — His Father Resigned His
Place in the Senate and the Younger Cameron Elected — Cam-
eron Power Supreme in Pennsylvania Authority — Both the Cam-
erons Four Times Elected to the United States Senate — How
Governor Pattison and Secretary Harrity Saved Cameron's Fourth
Election in 1891 — Marvelous Record of Political Achievement
by the Two Camerons in Pennsylvania — The Younger Cameron's
Dominating Influence in Tranquillizing South Carolina and Other
Southern States — His Personal Attributes 475

XCV. — HoYT Elected Governor.

The Democratic Victory of 1877 — How Trunkey was Made Supreme
Judge — Trunkey Defeats the Late Chief Justice Sterrett — Patti-
son's First Victory by Election to the Controllership — Quay and
Mackey Reform Their Lines for the Election of Hoyt — Notable
Contest for Supreme Judge Between Chief Justice Agnew and
Judge Sterrett — Quay Side-tracks the Greenback Party Against
Fusion, Then Declares for Sound Money — Ho3rt Elected by
22,000 Plurality with Over 80,000 Greenback Votes Side-tracked —
Death of Mackey, Leaving Quay Supreme Party Leader 487

XCVI. — Political Events of 1878-9.

Quay Makes Himself Recorder of Philadelphia with Large Com-
pensation— Locates in Philadelphia at Eleventh and Spruce —
Chairman of Republican State Committee — Succeeded by David
H. Lane as Recorder— The Office Finally Abolished — Quay

xviii Contents

PAOC

Becomes Secretary of the Commonwealth Under Hoyt — The
Pittsburg Four Million Riot Bill — Defeated After a Bitter Con-
test— Convictions Followed for Legislative Venality — Quay
Nominates Butler for State Treasurer — Serious Hitch When
Butler Assumed the Office — How the Treasury Deficit was Cov-
ered— Cameron and Quay Make Earnest Battle for Grant's
Nomination for a Third Term 498

XCVII. — Political Events of 1880.

Quay and Cameron Call Early State Convention, and Declare in Favor
of Grant for a Third Term — Cameron Chairman of National
Committee — Ruled Strongly in Favor of Grant in Preliminary
Proceedings — Reluctant Support Given to Garfield — Blaine's
Appointment as Premier Offensive lo Quay and Cameron — State
Offices Filled at the Election — Memorable Speeches in National
Conventions by Ingersoll, Conkling and Dougherty 509

XCVIII. — Senatorial Battle of 1881.

Galusha A. Grow Made an Active Canvass for Senator — Henry W.
Oliver the Organization Candidate — Serious Revolt Against
Quay-Cameron Rule — Forty-seven Republican Legislators An-
nounce Their Refusal to Enter the Caucus — Oliver Nominated
on Second Ballot — Received a Majority of the Entire Republican
Vote of the Legislature — Senator John Stewart Leader of the
Revolt — Oliver Withdrew and General Beaver was Made Organ-
ization Candidate — February 23d Both Factions United on Con-
gressman John I. Mitchell — He Received the Full Republican
Vote and Was Elected — Wolfe, Independent Candidate for
Treasurer 520

XCIX. — Pattison Elected Governor.

The Independent Republican Revolt — Davies Defeated for State
Treasurer — This Led to Full Independent State Ticket in 1882 —
Futile Offers of Compromise — Pattison Nominated for Govern-
or by the Democrats — Senator John Stewart as the Independent
Leader — Character of the Campaign — The Democratic Ticket
Elected by Independent Republican Votes 531

Contents xix

C. — Governor Pattison's First Term.

PAGE

An Administration of Both Successes and Failures — Appoints Lewis
C Cassidy Attorney General — Pattison Assailed on Account of
Cassidy — Attacks that Forced Cassidy to Accept — A Legis-
lature Divided Against Itself — Futile Efforts at Reapportionment
of the State — Except as to the Judiciary — An Extra Session of
the Legislature — The Governor Became Unpopular on Account
of This Session — How He Lost His Mastery of the State —
The Election of 1884 — Pennsylvania Heavily Republican, though
Geveland Elected President 542

CI. — ^The Great Steel Industry.

Steel Was Used Wholly for Edge Tools a Generation Ago — Struc-
tural Steel Practically Unknown and Steel Unthought of for Rail-
ways— Disston Developed American Steel for His Saw Works;
for Many Years Had to Stamp Them as English — America Now
Produces the Finest Steel in the World — Colonel Wright's View
of the Helplessness of the South — Believed War Impossible in
1861 Because the South Could Not Tire a Locomotive — Advent
of Andrew Carnegie — Started at Five Dollars a Week Under
Colonel Scott — Became the Great Genius of the Steel Trade —
Raised Up Half a Score or More of Multi-Millionaires — He Is
Now Among the Half-score of Richest Private Citizens in the
World — His Gifts of Millions to Libraries and Education — His
Thorough Self-reliance — He Alone Directed the Movements
Against the Great Homestead Strike of 1884 — The Monuments
Reared by Scott and Carnegie 553

CII. — Quay Elected Senator.

Quay's Senatorial Battle Begun in 1885 — His Earlier Political Re-
lations and How He Stood toward Senator J. D. Cameron —
Quay's Candidacy for State Treasurer — His Turning Down of
McDevitt of Lancaster — His Geverly Managed Campaign and
Election — The State Battle of 1886 — General Beaver, Who Had
Been Defeated in 1882, Easily Chosen Governor — Quay Before
the Legislature of 1887 — Triumphantly Chosen as U. S. Senator
— Soon Becomes a Great National Leader — His Relations to
Blaine — State Offices Filled in 1888 — How a Democrat Reached
the Supreme Bench — The National Campaign of 1888 558

XX Contents

cm. — Quay and Wanamaker.

Aftermath of the 1888 Election — How Wanamaker Became a Great
Political Factor — Personal Choice of President Harrison for
Postmaster General — Appointment Distasteful to Cameron and
Quay — His Masterly Administration — He Acquires Powerful
Influence in State Politics — The Contest for Governor in 1890

— Delamatcr Made the Republican Nominee — Pattison Renom-
inated by the Democrats — Ex-Senator Wallace and W. U. Hensel

— Hensel's Important Position — Pattison Re-elected — Harrity
and Hensel in Pattison's Cabinet — J. D. Cameron Re-elected to
His Last Term in the Senate — The Bardsley Defalcation —
How Quay Counteracted Its Effects 570

CIV. — Pennsylvania Politics, 1892-1895.

Quay and Cameron not Heartily for Harrison — But He Was Re-
nominated— Cleveland a Presidential Candidate for the Third
Time — Tammany's Intense Opposition to Him — Local Penn-
sylvania Interests — Quay's Second Election as U. S. Senator —
General Hastings Elected Governor in 1894 — His Relations with
Quay not Very Cordial — Democratic Opposition not Formidable

— Old-Timers Recalled to Public Life, Especially Galusha A.
Grow — Governor Hastings and the State Committee — Organized
Action Against Quay in Philadelphia — Penrose Sacrificed for
Mayor — Creation of the Pennsylvania Superior Court 583

CV. — Wanamaker versus Quay.

Wanamaker's Ambition to Be U. S. Senator — Aspiration Hopeless
Without Quay's Aid — Negotiating With Quay — An Agreement
Reached — How a Rupture Came — Wanamaker as an Open,
Aggressive Candidate — The Contest for the Party Nomination —
Penrose Nominated and Elected — The National Politics of 1896

— Gubernatorial Battle of 1898 — Quay Forced to Accept William
A. Stone as Candidate — The Wanamaker Opposition of That
Campaign — The Battle Fought in the Legislative Districts —
Quay Prosecuted for Misappropriating State Funds — Fight for
U. S. Senator in the Legislature — The Famous Deadlock of 1899

— Quay Acquitted in Criminal Trial and Appointed U. S. Senator

by Governor Stone 595

Contents xxi

CVI. — Quay Re-elected U. S. Senator.

PAOB

The McCarrell Bill of 1899 and the Quay Trial — Democrats Divided
by Bryanisxn — A Faction of Them for Quay — Quay Appointed
Senator by the Governor, but the Senate Refused to Admit
Him — The Grounds for His Exclusion — A Memorable Political
Gjntroversy — Senator Hanna's Position — A Great Humiliation
to Quay — The State Convention and the Quay Battle in 1900

— Wanamaker in State Politics — Overwhelming Republican
Triumph — Quay Re-elected by the Legislature of 1901 — A
Famous Declaration by Him — Death Ends His Career Before His
Term Expires 608

CVII. — Republican Revolt in 1901.

Political conditions in Philadelphia started an Aggressive Revolt —
Rothermel Rejected by the Party Leaders Because Fugitives,
Charged With Political Crimes. Could Not Return While He
Prosecuted — Formation of the Union Party — Judge Yerkes,
Democratic Candidate for Supreme Judge, Endorsed by the Union
Republicans, and Representative Coray Nominated for State
Treasurer — The Violent Contest in the City — Colossal Frauds
Practised in Philadelphia — Rothermel Returned as Defeated —
Potter and Harris Elected by a Large Majority — The Revolt of
1901 Made Quay Crucify Attorney General Elkin and Nominate
Pennypacker for Governor 621

CVIII. — After Quay the Deluge.

Quay Died Just in the Omnipotence of His Political Power — His
Death Developed Antagonistic Party Elements — The Struggle for
United States Senator — Offered to Ex-Senator Cameron, Who
Suggested Attorney General Knox — All finally Agreed to Sup-
port Knox, and the Governor Withheld Proclamation for Extra
Session — Knox First Appointed and Then Elected by Unani-
mous Republican Vote — Revolution Developed in Philadelphia

— Estrangement of Mayor and Party Leaders — Independent
Ticket Elected in the City — Democratic State Treasurer Elected
by Over Eighty-eight Thousand — Comparative Vote of 1904 and
1905 — Justice Stewart Received a Unanimous Vote 625

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Volume II

JAMES G. BLAINE FrontispUce

State Legislator, Congressman, United States Sen-
ator, Secretary of State and Candidate for Presi-
dent in 1884.

PACING PAGE

SAMUEL J. RANDALL 24

State Senator, Congressman, Speaker and Father of
the House, following William D. Kelley, and died
as such in 1890.

CHARLES R. BUCKALEW 32

State Senator, United States Senator, Congressman
and Candidate for Governor.

GEORGE W. WOODWARD 56

Common Pleas Judge, Supreme Judge, Chief Justice
and Congressman.

SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 64
SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA . 80
GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE 96

Commander of Union Army in Decisive Battle of
the War, Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 ; died 1872.

Illustrations

PAOE

GENERAL JOHN F. REYNOLDS 112

Opened Battle of Gettysburg and Killed on the
Field, July i, 1863.

GENERAL DAVID M. GREGG 116

Major-General Cavalry, Defeated Stewart at Gettys-
burg.

HARRY WHITE 120

State Senator. Prisoner in Libby and Anderson-
ville for a Year. Congressman. Common Pleas
Judge.

WILLIAM D. KELLEY 152

Common Pleas Judge, Congressman, Father of the
House; died 1890.

J. McDOWALL SHARP 176

State Representative and Member of Constitutional
Convention, 1873-4.

JOHN CESSNA 184

State Representative, Speaker and Congressman.

THOMAS M. MARSHALL 192

Aggressive Campaigner Who Never Accepted
Office.

JOHN SCOTT 224

State Member of Legislature and United States
Senator.

Illustrations

PAfflfi

ROBERT W. MACKEY 256

State Treasurer and Great Party Leader.

BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER 272

Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, and of the
United States.

NEW STATE CAPITOL BUILDING 296

HENRY W. GRAY 304

Candidate for Senator at Special Election of 1872;
Memorable Contest for His Seat.

HENRY C. LEA 320

Prominent Philadelphia Publisher, and One of the
Earliest Reform Leaders.

WILLIAM H. ARMSTRONG 352

State Representative, Congressman and National
Commissioner of Railroads.

WILLIAM S. STOKLEY 368

City Councilman, Mayor of Philadelphia, 1870-79;
Director of Public Safety, 1887-91.

JOHN WELSH 384

President of Centennial Exhibition and Minister to
England, 1877-79.

Illustrations
WILLIAM A. WALLACE 392

State Senator, United States Senator.

FRANK Mclaughlin 400

Founder and Publisher of " The Philadelphia
imcs.

CYRUS L. PERSHING 430

State Representative, President Judge Who Con-
victed " Molly Maguires."

JOHN I. MITCHELL 441

State Representative, Congressman, United States
Senator, Common Pleas Judge and Judge of the
Superior Court.

SYLVESTER BONNAFFON 456

Raised Rec^imcnt of Veterans in Two Days, 1877;
Last Troops Discharged after Riots; Cashier of
Customs in Philadelphia.

EDWIN LAURENTINE DRAKE 465

The Man Who Bored the First Oil Well in Penn-
sylvania.

J. DONALD CAMERON 480

United States Senator Four Times, and Secretary
of War Under President Hayes.

Illustrations

PAGK

HENRY M. HOYT 488

Governor, 1879-83 ; Soldier and Judge.

ANDREW H. DILL 496

State Representative, Senator, Candidate for Gov-
ernor in 1878, and United States Marshal.

HENRY W. PALMER 504

Attorney-General and Representative in Congress.

WINFIELD S. HANCOCK 512

Major-General Who Received Pickett's Charge at
Gettysburg; Commander-in-Chief of the United
States Army, and Candidate for President in
1880. Died in 1886.

HENRY W. OLIVER 520

Leading Manufacturer, . Pittsburg. Republican
Nominee for United States Senator in 1881.

GALUSHA A. GROW 528

Congressman, Speaker During First Congress of
the War. Recalled to Congress after a Long
Interval and Closed his Service Fifty-two Years
after his First Appearance.

Illustrations

ROBERT E. PATTISON 544

Comptroller of Philadelphia, and Governor of Penn-
sylvania, 1883-1887, 1891-1895.

ANDREW CARNEGIE 552

Master of the Steel Industrv of the World.

LEWIS C. CASSIDY 560

Assemblyman, District Attorney and Attorney-Gen-
eral, 1883-^.

MATTHEW S. QUAY 576

State Representative, Secretary to Governor Curtin,
Military State Agent at Washington and United
States Senator, three times; died 1904.

JOHN WANAMAKER 580

Prince of Merchants, Postmaster-General and Can-
didate for Governor and United States Senator.

WILLIAM F. HARRITY 584

Secretary of Commonwealth, 1891-95; Postmaster
of Philadelphia, 1885-89, and Chairman of Demo-
cratic National Committee, 1892.

W. U. HENSEL 588

Attorney-General, 1891-95. President of the State
Bar Association.

Illustrations

PA«iM

DANIEL H. HASTINGS 593

Adjutant-General and Governor from 1895 to 1899.

BOIES PENROSE 600

State Representative and Senator, United States
Senator, elected 1897 and re-elected 1903.

WILLIAM A. STONE 608

Congressman and Governor, 1899-1903.

CHRISTIAN L. MAGEE 612

City Treasurer of Pittsburg, and State Senator.

SAMUEL W. PENNYPACKER 616

Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge and Governor,
1903-1907-

HARMAN YERKES 624

State Senator, Common Pl^as Judge of Bucks
County, Candidate for Supreme Judge.

PHILANDER C. KNOX 628

United States Attorney-General and since 1904
United States Senator.

LIV.
RANDALL AND WALLACE.

The Varied Careers of the Two Great Democratic Leaders in PenxiS3rlyama
for Nearly a Generation — Both Were Weakened by Leading Opposing
Pactions Against Each Other — Leading Characteristics of the Two
Men — Interesting Incidents of Their Factional Disputes — Wallace's
Last Battle and Defeat Closely Followed Randall's Death.

EIGHTEEN hundred and sixty-two brought to the
front the two ablest of the Democratic leaders
that Pennsylvania had for a full quarter of a
century, after they became recognized Democratic
factors in the politics of the State. These men were
Samuel J. Randall, of Philadelphia, and William A.
Wallace, of Clearfield. Wallace was elected to the
senate in the fall of 1862, defeating Senator Louis W.
Hall, of Blair, who had been elected in the same dis-
trict three years before by a decided majority. Wallace
served continuously in the senate for twelve years,
when he resigned to accept the United States Senator-
chip, to which he was elected in the legislative session
of 1875. Soon after he entered the National Senate
he was recognized by the Democrats as their leader of
the body. After he had served his full term in Wash-
ington he returned to the State senate, where he served
until 1886, making sixteen years' service as State
senator, and six years as United States Senator.

Randall had served in the city councils, and was
chosen in 1857 to fill an unexpired term in the State
senate. I was first elected to the house the same year,
and, although on opposing political sides, our acquain-
tance of that session ripened into a friendship that
lasted until he died, the father of the National House of

»-. (17)

i8 Old Time Notes

Representatives. He was chosen to Congress in 1862
from the First district of Philadelphia, composed of
the Second, Third, Foiirth, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh
wards, defeating Webb, the Union candidate, by i ,447
majority.

Randall and Wallace were equally able in the varied
political conflicts they had to accept, but they were
iinlike in temperament and in method. Wallace's
finely-chiseled face, surmoimting his sjnnmetrical,
manly form, always appareled in scrupulous neatness,
would attract the attention of any one meeting him;
while Randall's strong face, of heroic mold, with his
often-careless dress and shuffling step, might pass
through the multitude without special observation,
but those who took a careful view of his features
would see determination and self-reliance very clearly
portrayed.

Of the two Wallace was much the greater organizer ;
indeed, for a quarter of a century after his entrance
upon the political stage of Pennsylvania the Demo-
cratic party had no leader who equaled or even
approached Senator Wallace in the power of organiza-
tion, while Randall was a fighter rather than a strat-
egist. Wallace would methodically and in detail plan
a battle and then fight it to a finish, while Randall
was always ready for battle regardless of method or
preparation. Randall was impulsive, while Wallace's
Scotch-Irish courage was greatly tempered by dis-
cretion. Both were fast friends and implacable ene-
mies, and the greatest misforttme that befell these two
men during nearly a quarter of a century of varying
tritunphs and defeats was the fact that they speedily
became rival leaders, and their best energies were
often entirely and desperately directed to the over-
throw of each other.

Each aimed at the mastery of the Democracy of

Of Pennsylvania 19

the State, and great as they were, neither was great
enough to understand that the State was quite great
enough for two such men, and that they could and
should be in harmony with each other. I served with
both of them in the Legislature, and, regardless of all
the mutations in poUtical conflicts which at times
made me support and at other times oppose them in
their political struggles, the closest friendship was ever
maintained between both of them and myself. I
enjoyed the confidence of both, and in then- many fac-
tional conflicts both conferred with me with absolute
freedom.

On several occasions when they were about to engage
in a factional struggle I brought them together in my
office face to face, and appealed to them to pool their
issues and cease their factional warfare. In every
instance they left me after agreeing to do so, and in
every instance the agreement, was broken within a very
few days, and each accused the other of precipitating
the breach. In point of fact they, like all factional
leaders, had dependent followers who hoped to profit
by the triumph of their chief, and harmony would have
lessened their importance.

A pointed illustration of the difficulty of reconciling
opposing factions was given in 1884, when RandaU
had wrested the control of the party from Wallace,
and had made himself so strong as a candidate for the
Presidency that Wallace was powerless to oppose him
with any measure of success. W. U. Hensel, later
attorney general under Governor Pattison, was then
chairman of the Democratic State committee, and a
short time before the Democratic State convention met
at Allentown, in 1884, Randall and Hensel were in my
editorial office discussing the situation, and I proposed
to Randall that he should, without consulting Wallace,
or asking any pledges whatever from him, place him

20 Old Time Notes

at the head of the Randall delegation to the National
convention. Randall's belligerent qualities asserted
themselves with some violence at the suggestion, but
Hensel heartily seconded the proposition, and Randall
finally agreed that he would consider the matter
ftdly and meet us again at dinner the same evening to
decide it.

Randall was very positive in the conviction that he
should place his most devoted friends at the head of
the delegation, but after discussing the matter he
finally yielded reluctantly to the positive advice of
Hensel and myself, and assented to Wallace as the
head of the delegation. The plan was that it should
be done without approaching Wallace on the subject,
as even Randall had to confess that if Wallace accepted
the position, as he certainly would, he would feel that
his personal honor and manhood required him to make
exhaustive effort for Randall's nomination.

Wallace happened in my office on the following day.
He spoke with some bitterness of the fact that the
coming State convention would not be at all in sym-
pathy with him. When I told him that he had been
determined upon by Randall and his friends for the
head of the Pennsylvania delegation to support Ran-
dall for President, Wallace, on the impulse of the mo-
ment, said it would be impossible for him to accept,
but after a brief discussion of the matter he realized
that it would be a high compliment to himself, and that
in no way could he show his greatness more distinctly
than by accepting the trust without condition and dis-
charging his duties with the utmost fidelity. He left
my office much gratified, but within forty-eight hours
I received a curt letter from him stating that it was
evidently meant to crucify him at Allentown by pre-
senting and defeating him as a candidate for delegate-
at-lai;ge, and advising me that the incident was closed.

Of Pennsylvania 21

I wrote him in reply not to bother himself about the
Allentown convention, for he wotiM be unanimously
elected, and that I knew he would oe highly gratified
not only at the expression of confidence from the con-
vention, but by the manly performance of his duty as
chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation. He was
imanimously elected, and I saw him at almost every
stage of the conflict in Chicago, where he seemed to
have but one inspiration, and that was to promote
the nomination of Randall. His speech presenting
Randall's name to the convention was one of the great-
est and grandest of his life.

When the delegates met at Chicago and were lined
up on the Presidency, it finally became evident that
BLandall could not be nominated, as his views on the
tariff were not acceptable to a large majority of his
party. I doubt not that Wallace shed no tears over
the failure to nominate Randall, but in every public
and private effort relating to the nomination he was
tireless and earnest in support of Randall.

It would naturally be asstmied that these two great
leaders, when they were brought into such close rela-
tions in 1884, would have ceased to be opposing fac-
tional leaders, or at least had their factional hostility
greatly tempered, but such was not the fact, and while
Randall fully appreciated Wallace's manly exhibition
of fidelity at Chicago, the battle of factions went on
and continued until Randall's death on the thirteenth
of April, 1890, when new political conditions arose over
which neither could have exercised a mastery, and only
a few months after Randall's death Wallace was
defeated for Governor in the Democratic State conven-
tion at Scranton.

It was the final defeat that comes to almost every
great leader, but he did not appreciate it fully tmtil,
after the election of Pattison, his successful competitor

22 Old Time Notes

for the nomination, he found it impossible to command
the attorney generalship of the State for himself. He
was then broken in fortime, and his home, that he ever
appreciated as the most sacred altar of his devotion,
had long been shadowed by a most accomplished and
beloved wife and mother groping her way through life
by his side in the starless midnight of mental infirmity

Randall and Wallace had little opportunity for
successful State leadership, as they came into political
control after the Democratic party had committed
the fatal mistake of a doubtful or hesitating attitude
in support of the war, and the only hope of Demo-
cratic triumph in the State was by defection in the ranks
of the majority party.

Wallace was for a ntmiber of years chairman of the
Democratic State committee. He struggled against
fearful odds to maintain a hopeful Democratic organi-
zation. In the United States Senate he was soon
accepted as altogether the ablest of the Democratic
Senators in defining the policy of the party on all
important questions, and he fully sustained the repu-
tation he achieved. Randall became Speaker of the
House after having first suffered a defeat at the open-
ing of the session. With the aid of Wallace, then a
United States Senator, Kerr, of Indiana, tritmiphed
over Randall in the caucus, but Kerr died a few months
thereafter and Randall was then successful, and he
was twice re-elected to that responsible position.

Randall was a thoroughly loyal Democrat during
the war, and was in the three months' service with
General Patterson as a member of the Philadelphia
Troop. He ever exerted a most wholesome influence
in restraining his party from its general trend to array
itself in opposition to the war, and his devotion to a
liberal protective policy that cost him the nomination
for the Presidency in 1884, twice defeated his party

Of Pennsylvania 23

in earnest efforts to return to a revenue tariff. After
his retirement from the Speakership in 1880, he was
made chairman of the committee on appropriations,
where his strong integrity commanded the confidence
and respect of all parties. His severe economy was
often criticised, as he resolved all doubts against appro-
priations and saved the Government many, many
millions by his tireless efforts as watch dog of the
treasury.

It was chiefly through his efforts in the very closing
hours of the session of Congress that General Grant
was restored to the roll of the army as General, retired.
Mr. Childs had been to New York and learned for the
first time the exact character of the malady from which
Grant was suffering, and that his life could not be pro-
longed beyond a very few months at the most. It was
just about the close of the Congressional session, and
Mr. Childs urged me to proceed to Washington at once
to present the matter to Randall, as without his aid
it could not be accompUshed. I hastened to Washing-
ton, Randall took hold of it without delay and forced
its passage through the House, and nearly, if not quite,
the last act that President Arthur signed in the Execu-
tive office, where the President usually attends at
the close of Congress, was the act restoring Grant to
the army roll, and the last commtmication sent to that
Congress by President Arthur, even after the hour of
adjournment, when the clock had been halted in mark-
ing the flight of time, was a message sending Grant's
nomination to the Senate, which was promptly and
unanimously confirmed.

Randall never enjoyed fortime. He lived most
frugally on his salary as a member of Congress, but
his services were so highly valued as a Ph^delphia
Congressman that a few business men, headed by
Drexel and Childs, provided all the political expenses

24 Old Time Notes

for his district from year to year, and when a func
was raised by Childs and Drexel jiist before Randalls
death, to give a very moderate income to his family
he refused to assent to it, and I was again sent to Wash
ington by Mr. Childs to insist that he should not inter
pose against a gift to his wife and children, who woulc
be left dependent. He was then on his deathbed witt
only a few days of life before him, and it was my las^
meeting with Randall until I stood beside his lifeles^
body at the tomb.

He finally consented that, as the gift had no relation
to public aifairs, it might be carried into effect. The
money was invested by Drexel to jdeld an annual
income of $2,000, and, since his death, when some of
the investments proved imfortunate, the full value
was restored by the original contributors.

The one impassable chasm between Randall and
Wallace was the fact that both could not be President
of the United States. Both were very earnest candi-
dates for that position for a number of years, as I
know from very many conferences with them on the
subject, and each was constantly in conflict to repress
the other.

After Wallace retired from the United States Senate,
Randall won the control of the party and became chair-
man of the State committee. He held the position for
several years, but he was not ani organizer. He was a
political fighter rather than a manager, and defeat
came to him as it had come to Wallace, although
Randall narrowly escaped the Presidential nomination
in 1880 at Cincinnati. The convention was held in
the balance for two days awaiting the final decision of
Tilden, who would have been nominated by the con-
vention had he not decided to withdraw. After
delaying quite too long he sent a declination and
advised the nomination of Randall, but it was too late.

Of Pennsylvania 25

The Hancock feeling had been well managed and
reached a tidal wave, and Randall fell through the
indecision of his friends.

Wallace never was presented for President by his
State, as Randall was in 1884, but for fifteen years
before his retirement from active participation in
politics he always looked hopefully to his election to
the Presidency. Had Wallace been for Randall in
1880, as he was in 1884, Randall would have been nomi-
nated and might have been elected, as Hancock was
crucified by Tammany.

Thus, in striving to accomplish the great ambition
of their lives, the only thing that they accomplished
in that line was to hinder the advancement of each
other.

In 1886 Wallace had retired from the United States
Senate, only a few years before, and had decided to
become a candidate for Governor. He explained his
purpose to me, and I well understood that his chief
inspiration in the movement was to obtain such posi-
tion in the party as would indicate his continued mas-
tery in the State. I suggested to him that there was
no reason why he and Randall should be at war on
the subject, and proposed that they should meet in
my office together, and in a few days they were there
to confer on the subject.

Like all intensely * inflamed factional leaders, they
did many childish things in factional warfare, but I
had a very plain talk with both of them, reminding
them that they were lessening their own manhood and
political importance by political conflicts, and I sug-
gested to Randall that he should declare in favor of
Wallace for Governor, to which he assented, and then,
for the first and only time, as they shook hands at
parting, I supposed the factional fight was ended, at
least for a season.

26 Old Time Notes

But within ten days, doubtless because of the vio-
lence of the followers of both the party leaders, Ran-
dall conceived that he had good cause to break the com-
pact, and he fought out at the State convention at
York one of the bitterest struggles of his life, where he
succeeded in defeating Wallace for Governor and nomi-
nating Chauncey F. Black.

Wallace was greatly mortified at his defeat, and
intensely embittered against Randall, but his own
senatorial district, after his defeat for Governor, gave
him a unanimous nomination, and next to a imani-
mous re-election to the State senate.

Important incidents in the lives of public men best
illustrate their qualities. When Randall transferred
his force and thus assured the nomination of Cleveland
for President, in 1884, it was understood, if not more
formally agreed to, that Randall should control the
patronage of the administration in Pennsylvania if
Cleveland succeeded, and as his friends and the friends
of Wallace were at daggers' points in every locality,
Randall was naturally inclined to appoint his friends
and offend his Democratic opponents. He at first
carried this policy to such an extent that a tempest
of protest reached the President, and a somewhat
tempered line of policy was accomplished by a rather
interesting incident. He had recommended for post-
master of Huntingdon a devoted follower of his against
the candidate presented by ex-Congressman Speer
and Senator McAteer, whose political control of the
Democracy of the cotmty was absolute. Randall
succeeded in having Postmaster General Vilas endorse
his candidate to the President.

Speer called upon me and made an earnest appeal
to save him if possible from such a fearful humiliation
in his own home, that would practically destroy his
usefulness in the party. I told him that I would give

Of Pennsylvania 27

it immediate and earnest attention, as Randall's
affront to Speer and McAteer was unpardonable,
although forced upon him by his factional supporters.

It happened that Randall was in Philadelphia on the
day that Speer visited me, and called to see me early
in the evening. I said nothing to him about Speer *s
complaint, but asked him whether he would do me the
favor to deliver a letter to the President in person as
soon as he returned to Washington. He answered that
he would certainly do so promptly. I wrote a brief
letter to the President, stating that Randall had ad-
vised the appointment of a postmaster in Huntingdon
who was opposed by ex-Congressman Speer and Senator
McAteer, the absolutely controlling leaders of the
Democracy in both the town and coimty, and that if
the appointment was made neither Randall nor Cleve-
land would be likely to carry a delegate in that section
of the State for some years.

After writing the letter I said to Randall that I
thought I shotdd read it to him before it was given to
him for delivery in person, and I read it. The masterful
combativeness of his character was instantly exhibited
in his strong face, but he made no other reply than that
he would deliver the letter as he promised, and nothing
further was said on the subject.

Immediately on his rettim to Washington he called
upon the President and delivered the letter. Natur-
aUy, the President was greatly surprised at its contents,
and turning to Mr. Randall he inquired whether the
statements were true. Randall said that he was not
prepared to dispute them, to which the President
answered that the contest for postmaster in Hunt-
ingdon might be considered as settled, and Speer's
man was appointed.

Wallace made his last battle in 1890, and his old
rival was borne to his grave in the early part of the

30 Old Time Notes

LV.
BUCKALEW ELECTED U. S. SENATOR.

Democrats Elected Their State Ticket in 1862 and One Majority on Joint
Ballot in the Legislature — A Bitter Struggle for the Senatorship-^
Cameron Claimed the Support of One or More Democrats, and Re-
ceived the Republican Nomination — Charles R. Buckalew Nominated
by the Democrats — Democratic Apprehension of a Repetition of the
Lebo, Maneer and Wagenseller Defection That Elected Cameron in
1857 — Organized Rioters Crowded the Capitol and Declared That
Any Democrat who Betrayed His Party Would not Leave the Hall
Alive — Open Charge of Corruption Made Against Democratic Repre-
sentative Boyer — Buckalew Elected by a Strict Party Vote — His
Career in the Senate.

THE election of 1862 was the first tritimph the
Democrats had achieved in Pennsylvania
for five years. They had elected Packer
Governor in 1857 with an overwhelming majority of
the Legislature, but they were defeated in every con-
test thereafter, tmtil they won out in 1862, electing
Slenker auditor general and Barr surveyor general by
about 4,000 majority.

The Unionists, as the Republicans were then called,
had acctmitilated a very large majority in the senate,
and held control of the body by nearly two to one even
against the adverse vote of 1862. The Legislature
stood 21 Republicans in the Senate to 12 Democrats,
giving a majority of 9 to the Republicans, and the
house stood 55 Democrats to 45 Republicans, giving
the Democrats a majority of 10 in that body, and a
majority of one on joint ballot.

A United States Senator was to be elected and the
closeness of the Legislature again brought Cameron into

Of Pennsylvania 31

the field, as he was a master mampxilator of close or
tangled Legislattares, having elected himself to the
Senate to succeed Buchanan in 1845 as an Independent
Democrat with the aid of the Whigs and bolting
Cameron Democrats, and re-elected himself in the
Democratic Legislature of 1857, when he defeated
Forney by the votes of Lebo, Maneer and Wagenseller.
David Wilmot had been elected to the Senate to succeed
Cameron when Cameron retired from that body in
1861, having two years to serve, and as he was the
ablest of the Republican leaders, it was at first expected
that he would receive the nomination of his party for
re-election; but Cameron called a number of the
Republican leaders in cotmcil and he informed them
that if he received the Republican nomination and the
solid Republican vote, he could command one or more
Democratic votes and thus assure his election. Wilmot,
who was above all things manly and frank, said that
he could not be elected ; that he knew of no Democratic
votes he could command, and did not believe that any
Republican could break the Democratic lines. He
stated, however, that he would not interpose his
interests to embarrass Republican success, and if the
leaders believed that they could elect a Republican
Senator by taking Cameron, he was entirely satisfied
that they should do so. The result was that Wilmot
was retired from the contest; Cameron became an
aggressive candidate and received the Republican
nomination, and many beUeved he would be elected.

The factional bitterness between the Curtin and
Cameron wings of the party had not been in any degree
tempered, and at an informal conference of four of the
leading anti-Cameron members of the Legislature,
which I was invited to attend, the whole matter was
fully discussed and the four members declared that
they had fully decided not to vote for Cameron and

32 Old Time Notes

bring upon the party the stain of a corrupt election to
the Senate if Cameron controlled one or more Demo-
cratic votes. Two of those men, Thome, of Philadel-
phia, and Laporte, of Bradford, who were prominent
among the Republican leaders, had organized the
revolt and declared that the policy was to give no sign
of their purpose to vote against Cameron until the roll
was called for the election of Senator. With four
members of the house thxis positively and volimtarily
pledged to defeat Cameron, his success was made abso-
lutely impossible. Doubtless more could have been
added to this list, but it was not deemed expedient to
have it discussed, and the whole arrangement was made
under a sacred obligation to secrecy.

I doubt whether Cameron ever knew that such a
movement had been consunmiated to defeat him, as
the men who had decided. to carry out the programme
never discussed it outside of their own circle.

There was no visible defection against Cameron in
the Republican ranks, and Cameron threw himself
into the contest, and exhausted his vast and varied
powers of control to command one or more Democratic
votes. The assertion was openly and positively made
on every side by his friends that he had the necessary
Democratic support assured, and it soon became whis-
pered that the Democratic vote upon which he relied
for his election was that of Representative Boyer, of
Clearfield, Boyer was silent on the subject for some
time after his position had become discussed as a pos-
sible or probable supporter of Cameron, but a condition
speedily confronted him which compelled him to
define his position, and he finally did so by declaring
that he had been offered a large sum of money, vari-
ously stated at twenty or twenty-five thousand dollars,
to vote for Cameron for Senator, and that he had
apparently entertained the proposition solely, as he

Of Pennsylvania 33

alleged, to prevent Cameron from debauching other
Democratic members of the Legislattire ; but the
friends of Cameron, and those who had conducted the
negotiation with Boyer, boldly declared that he had
willingly entered into the compact, and would have
executed it but for the fact that his life would have
been imperiled if he had voted for Cameron. I do not
assume to decide which of these explanations is the
true one, but it was generally accepted at the time by
those who viewed the conditions intelligently and
dispassionately, that Boyer did not thus expose him-
self to public scandal and general distrust simply to
prevent Cameron from dealing with some other Demo-
cratic member of the Legislature. It is due to Boyer
to say that, thirteen years later, when Wallace was
elected to the United States Senate, leaving an tmex-
pired term of one year in the State senate, Boyer was
elected as his successor.

The Democrats were greatly inspired to energetic
action by the triumph they had achieved in the State
after a series of defeats, and they well remembered how
Cameron had been elected in a Democratic Legislature
only six years before by diverting the votes of Lebo,
Maneer and Wagenseller to the support of the Repub-
lican caucus candidate; and at the first whisper of
Cameron entering the field they asstimed that their
slender majority of one in the Legislature made the
battle an inviting one for Cameron. There were a
ntimber of Democratic candidates for the Senatorship,
but Charles R. Buckalew had so strongly entrenched
himself in the confidence and respect of the Democrats
of the State by his thoroughly honest, able and wise
leadership in the senate, that he easily distanced his
competitors, and was made the Democratic candidate
for Senator with the hearty support of the entire party.
There were no wounds within the Democratic house-

34 Old Time Notes

hold, such as had been caused by the forced nomina-
tion of Colonel Forney in 1857, and there was no
shadow of excuse for any Democrat to desert his party.

The Democratic leaders took time by the forelock,
and long before the Legislature met the most emphatic
declarations were made in every section of the State
demanding that there should be a imited party for
Senator, and that if any Democratic senator or repre-
sentative deserted his party to elect Cameron, he
should be driven from the State, or made a stranger
in his commimity. In Philadelphia the expressions
were even more belligerent, and as the reports came
from Harrisburg after the Legislature met that Wilmot
had been forced to yield the field to Cameron becatise
Cameron had given assurance of commanding Demo-
cratic votes, the more violent elements of the party
were inflamed to revolutionary action, and meetings
were held in Philadelphia where it was openly declared
that no Democratic member of the Legislature should
be permitted to escape from the hall of the house alive
if he cast his vote for Cameron. This was not mere
bravado; it was deliberately planned, and I speak
advisedly when I say that it would have been executed
regardless of consequences.

A week before the day fixed for the election of Senator
it was well known to all that a Democratic vote for
Cameron would mean a violent death for the man who
cast such vote. All professed to deplore violence in or
about the hall of the Legislature, but fair-minded men
could not but feel that the Democrats were not wholly
to blame for resolving to gain the fruits of their ad-
mitted victory in the State, or leave a bloody land-
mark to deter all future Democratic apostates. I was
in Harrisburg at the time, and was the senior military
officer on duty as assistant adjutant general of the
United States, but was engaged chiefly, if not wholly,

Of Pennsylvania 35

in closing up the complicated affairs of the State draft
that had been made several months before. I have
seen many bitter conflicts in the Pennsylvania Legis-
lature, but none that eqtialed the Cameron-Buckalew
contest of 1863. Cameron's friends did not doubt
that they had his election secured if their Democratic
friends could be protected in deserting the party, but
they also well understood, what was an open declara-
tion on every street comer, that any Democrat who
voted for Cameron would imperil his life. It was not
only known that the Democrats meant to kill in the
hall of the house any Democrat who voted for Cameron,
but they knew that several organized bodies of men
from Philadelphia, who had been assigned to the task,
had accepted it and were more than ready for its
execution. Such was the condition of affairs when
Boyer made a public statement that he had been in
apparent negotiation with the Cameron people for the
sale of his vote, but that he had never intended to
desert his party.

A few days before the election of Senator, Governor
Curtin had been called to Pittsburg in the performance
of important public duties, and he sent for me before
he left for Pittsburg, and informed me that he was
advised of the pxirpose of Cameron's friends to call
upon him and demand that he protect the Legislature
by a military force. He told me that he would not be
back in time to dispose of the proposition, and it would
naturally come to me, as I was the military command-
ant of the city. He asked my views on the subject, and
I promptly answered that if a military force was to be
thrown in and about the Legislature, he would have to
summon the militia to perform that duty, as I would
not permit any military force that I could command
to commit such a violent exercise of military power.
The Governor was entirely satisfied with my answer,

36 Old Time Notes

and as he knew that I was quite willing to accept the
responsibility, he was content that the issue should be
left to be disposed of by me from a military standpoint.
Cameron called upon me and informed me that he
could be elected United States Senator if the members
of the Legislature were protected in voting as they
wished to vote. I, of course, knew that he had no
chance whatever of election, even if he obtained two or
three Democratic votes, but I could not give him any
information on that point. He made a most earnest
appeal to me to assent to the announcement that a
military force would protect the members of the
Legislature in voting for United States Senator and
protect them also from violence after they had left the
hall. I answered Cameron, as I had answered the
Governor, that I would never permit the gleam of the
bayonet in the legislative halls to intimidate or protect
legislators in the discharge of their duties, and that
such an atrocious violation of the ftmdamental prin-
ciples of civil government was not a question even to be
discussed. There was no bitterness exhibited by either
in the full discussion of the question, but he was most
persistent in urging me to assure his election by order-
ing the military force to take possession of the Capitol.
I knew how hopeless the effort was, even imder the
most favorable conditions, as he viewed it, but I was
not at liberty to express any views as to the defection
in his own party. He imdoubtedly believed that a
military force to protect all who entered the hall of
the house would assure his election, and it was only
natural that he should feel greatly disappointed and
grieved at my refusal to assent to his programme. After
a conference of more than an hour Cameron left me
without any exhibition of temper, but he certainly
felt then that I was the one insuperable obstacle to
his election to the Senate.

Of Pennsylvania 37

It was known to all the next day that the civil
authority of the State would not be put under any
restraint or offered any protection in the election of
the Senator, and that practically ended the contest.
Until then Cameron's friends were all absolutely certain
that he would win. Several hundred men from Phila-
delphia had come to Harrisburg solely for the purpose
of making it impossible for a Democrat to vote for
Cameron, and when they found that there would be no
interference by the military, declarations could be
heard in any of the hotels or on any of the street
comers that the Democrat who voted against his party
would never emerge from the hall of the house alive.
The declarations were not only made, but the men who
made them meant just what they said. The Demo-
crats had control of the house, and with the officers of
the body subject to the orders of Democratic leaders
they had absolute control of the spectators to be ad-
mitted to witness the Senatorial election. It is need-
less to say that the "killers" and "bouncers** from
Philadelphia were given the advantage of positions in
the hotise, and they were very earnestly determined
on the immediate death of any Democratic member
who voted for Cameron.

They knew that Boyer would vote for Buckalew, but
they remembered that, when Cameron was elected
over Forney, Lebo, Maneer and Wagenseller were not
even suspected by the Democrats tmtil they cast their
votes on the ballot for Senator. They had no knowl-
edge of the determinedly organized opposition to Cam-
eron within the Republican lines; they assumed, as
they had every reason to assume, that Cameron would
receive the tmited Republican vote, and they were
apprehensive that the Cameron Democratic vote might
come from a wholly unexpected quarter. It would
hftve Qome, I did not then doubt, and I 4o JiQt now

38 Old Time Notes

doubt, but for the fact that every Democratic member
of the Legislature well knew that he could hope to live
over the day only by voting for Buckalew.

The hall was crowded to suffocation, but the Demo-
cratic officers of the house had taken care that sufficient
of the Democrats who might be needed in an emergency
should be admitted. George V. Lawrence, of Wadiing-
ton, was speaker of the senate and presided over the
joint convention, and by his side, on the speaker's stand,
was John Cessna, Democratic speaker of the house.
Lawrence was an accomplished parliamentarian, and
heartily supported Cameron. He doubtless completely
understood the situation, and knew when he called the
convention to order that Cameron's election was im-
possible solely, as he believed, because the Democrats
who would be willing to vote for Cameron could do so
only at the sacrifice of their lives. There was profound
silence in the hall when the clerk of the senate began
the roll call of the mcmlwrs, and it continued unbroken
as the clerk of the houses proceeded to call the roll of
representatives. There was not an expression from
aT)y one until the name of Representative Sehofield, of
Philadelphia, was called. He was a fearless and
rather dramatic character, and he resjX)nded by rising
in his ])lace and saying that in the face of an offer of
$100,000 to vote against his party, he cast his vote for
Charles R. Buckalew. Thoni(» and the other Republi-
can members of the houses who had made the compact
to defeat Cameron's election voUmI for him, as thev
knew that no Democrat would su])])(^rt him, with the
exception of Bartholomew La|K)rte, who had become
so thoroughly divSgustc*d with the* C/ameron contest
that he voted against him. After roll call the vote was
tabulated and SjKjaker Lawrence announced that
Charles R. Buckalew had received u majority of votes
and was elected United Stat(*s Scimtor. As sum as

Of Pennsylvania 39

the election of Buckalew was announced the crowd
broke out of the hall of the house, and from that time
until long after the midnight hour the roystering Dem-
ocratic element that had come to Harrisburg expecting,
and rather wishing, to carve out a record that would
make future Democratic apostates impossible, made
their cheers echo throughout every part of the city.

Charles R. Buckalew was one of the ablest men of
the Democratic leaders of his time. He was not an
organizer, he had little or no knowledge of political
strategy, and was entirely imfitted for the lower strata
methods of modem poUtics. He came to the senate
in 1852 hardly known outside of !iis own district; he
was singularly quiet and imobtrusive in manner, and
never in any way sought to exploit himself. He won
his position in the party solely by the great ability he
possessed, his practical efficiency in legislation, and
the absolute purity of his character. He was ordinarily
a cold, imimpassioned speaker, but eminently logical
and forceful.

Only on a very few occasion^ did I ever see him
aroused to the exhibition of emotion in public debate.
He took the floor only when there seemed to be a
necessity for it, and always brief and incisive in the
expression of his views while presenting his arguments.
Had he entered the National Senate under different
conditions he would have made a more creditable
record in that body, but during his entire six years of
service his party was in a pitiable minority, and with
his old-school Democratic ideas he could not advance
with the new revolutionary conditions which surroimded
and overwhelmed him.

Buckalew was an old-time Democratic strict con-
structionist, and he had no sympathy with the violent
advances precipitated by war or the overthrow of
slavery, by methods as violent in politics as were the

40 Old Time Notes

deadly struggles in the field to sustain it. He com-
manded the imiversal respect of his Republican asso-
ciates in the senate, and the unswerving confidence
of his own party in State and country. In 1872, when
the Democrats had every prospect of electing a Gover-
nor, because of the Liberal Republican movement,
they nominated Buckalew without a serious contest,
and that meant that the party wanted Buckalew
rather than that Buckalew wanted the office. He
was not capable of manipulating the nomination for
himself, and he was made a candidate solely because
the party preferred him and presented him as the
strongest and cleanest standard bearer that could be
offered to the people. He accepted the nomination
and spoke in a number of the leading centers of the
State, but did not attempt a systematic canvass. The
collapse of the Liberal Republican and Democratic
coalition at the October elections is well remembered,
and Buckalew fell in the race. Later he was elected
to Congress, where he served two terms, and that
ended his public career. In both the National Senate
and House he seldom participated in debate, but was
a most faithful and efficient practical worker in all
matters relating to legislation. Soon after his retire-
ment the work of a highly honorable and useful life was
ended, and he crossed the dark river to the echoless
shore beyond.

Of Pennsylvania 41

LVI.

CURTIN RENOMINATED FOR

GOVERNOR.

Curtin*s Broken Health Made his Retirement an Apparent Necessity —
Curtin Movement to Nominate General Franklin, a Loyal Democrat,
to be Supported by Both Parties, Rejected by the Democrats — Curtin
Tendered a First-Class Mission by President Lincoln to Enable Him
to Retire from the Contest — Interesting Interview with Lincoln
by Cameron, Forney and the Author — Republican People Refuse to
Accept his Withdrawal, and a Number of the Leading Counties
Instructed for Him — He Was Renominated on the First Ballot.

AS SOON as the desperate contest for the United
States Senator had ended in January, 1863,
the consideration of the gubernatorial con-
test was the absorbing topic in political circles. It was
not doubted at any time that Governor Curtin could
command a renomination from the Republican party
regardless of the opposition of Cameron, but two very
important considerations made him and his friends
take pause. He had been suffering for more than a
year from a malady that required severe and exhaus-
tive surreal operations, and his devotion to his exacting
political duties never gave him opportimity to regain
his strength. In the spring of 1863 there was every
indication of a general and final breakdown of his
physical system, and all felt that it was not possible for
him to assume the responsibility and labors of another
State battle for the Governorship. It would not have
been possible for him to make a canvass of the State,
and the general conviction of his friends was that if
he accepted the nomination and attempted to make
the fight, he would not survive the struggle.

42 Old Time Notes

The other consideration was one that was also a
very grave one for himself and his friends to consider.
Even with a thoroughly united party he cotild hardly
hope to command success, and with Cameron *s implaca-
ble hostility there was no reasonable prospect of his
re-election. Our soldiers were disfranchised unless they
could be furloughed home to vote, and with 75,000
Pennsylvania soldiers in the field, a very large majority
of whom would support Curtin, and denied the right
of suffrage, the contest appeared to be utterly hope-
less. Curtin fully realized the gravity of both con-
siderations, which forbade an acceptance of a renomina-
tion, and he was very earnestly desirous to be able to
retire from office at the end of his term and have a
successor who would be thoroughly loyal in his devo-
tion to the cause of the government in its struggle
against armed rebellion. He felt that the question
of placing Pennsylvania in the attitude of giving the
highest measure of moral and material support to the
government was paramount to all pacrty interests, and
had the Democrats of Pennsylvania accepted his sug-
gestion, they would have had a Democratic Governor as
his successor, and the party would have been planted
on a platform of unquestioned loyalty to the Union.

General William B. Franklin had won distinction
in the army as a corps commander under McClellan.
He was a native of Pennsylvania, a pronounced Demo-
crat and earnestly loyal. When the Pennsylvania
Reserve Corps was organized in 1861, Curtin first
offered the command of that corps to General Mc-
Clellan, who was then employed as a railroad engineer
in Ohio, but on the very day that Curtin *s invitation
had reached him, the Governor of Ohio had asked him
to accept a major generalship and take command of
a number of Ohio regiments then just organized, and
the Legislature had in a very few minutes passed an

Of Pennsylvania 43

act making him eligible, notwithstanding he was not
a citizen of the State. McClellan had given his con-
sent to accept the Ohio command, and was thus com-
pelled with great reluctance to decline the command
of the Reserve Corps. Curtin then offered the command
to Franklin, who had just been promoted to a colonelcy
in the regtdar anny, but as the government had refused
to accept the Reserves in immediate service, Franklin
felt compelled to decline it, as it would retire him from
active operations in the field. The command was
then given to General McCall.

When the question of Curtin 's candidacy was being
very carefully considered by himself and his friends,
I received an urgent despatch from him to come to
Harrisbtirg, and I arrived at the Executive mansion
in the evening. He told me that his purpose in sending
for me was to inaugurate a movement for the nomina-
tion of General Franklin as a candidate for Governor
on a non-partisan platform. He believed that as
there was no question of Franklin *s devotion to Democ-
racy the Democrats would be glad to accept him,
and Curtin *s plan was that the Republicans should
endorse the nomination, and thus bring the two great
parties in Pennsylvania to the support of the war in
solid phalanx. It was a grand, patriotic conception,
and one that I believed, as Curtin did, the Democrats
would be willilig to accept, and there would have been
no serious difficulty in securing for Franklin the endorse-
ment of the Republicans. Franklin would have made
a model Governor, and his election would have relieved
the Democrats of the last vestige of disloyalty and
greatly strengthened them for future contests.

It was decided to call into private consultation a
ntmiber of the Democratic leaders, and if possible get
them enlisted in the Franklin movement, but we were
both stirprised at the opposition at once developed

44 Old Time Notes

throughout the Democratic circles. The Democrats
believed that they could elect the next Governor,
becatise of the absence of the soldiers from the polls,
and there were a number of earnest candidates, embrac-
ing Judge Woodward, of the supreme court ; ex-Speaker
Hopkins, of Washington; ex-Speaker Cessna, of Bed-
ford ; Senator Clymer, of Berks, and half a dozen others
who were most prominent on the surface. I was utterly
amazed to learn that not one of the potential leaders
of the party was willing to accept Franklin, and the
chief objection to him was that his views on the war
did not accord with the dominant sentiment of the
party. It was a great opportimity for the Democracy
of Pennsylvania, but the Democracy that had favored
and prosecuted every war in which the country was
engaged, and boasted that it was the war party of the
country, was greatly demoralized and weakened in its
most vital quality, and it could not throw its powerful
energies into the support of the war for the maintenance
of the Union. Its great leadership was dwarfed and
paralyzed, and a very large projx)rtion of even the
more intelligent Democratic people of the State be-
lieved that the war must finally be ended by compro-
mise, as the South could not be conquered into sub-
mission to a reunion of the States.

I conferred with Cassidy, who was then a great
power in the Democratic organization of the State,
and who was thoroughly up-to-date, not only in polit-
ical management, but in complete knowledge of his
party. His answer was very significant, as he said
that the Democrats would not accept Franklin solely
because it was the wise thing for them to do. He
declared that the Democratic leaders had lost their
power and were political suicides. In conference with
Cessna he admitted the force of the argument in favor
of Franklin, but as Cessna had been pronoimced in his

of Pennsylvania 45

loyal support of the Government, and as the Governor-
ship was the one dream of his life, he was tmwilling
to retire from the contest in favor of Franklin, when,
as he put it, his own election would be just as pro-
noimced a victory for loyalty as that of Franklin.
It soon became evident that the Franklin scheme must
be abandoned, and he was dropped out of the contest
without his name ever having been in public discussion
as a gubernatorial expectant. Franklin had no knowl-
edge of the movement until after it had been abandoned.
He told me later that he would have accepted the
position because of the high honor it brought to him,
but that personally he was very glad he would not be
called from active service to civil life.

After the Franklin episode it was evident to all that
the battle for the next gubernatorial election would be
a square struggle between the two parties in the State,
and Curtin was very anxious to find some method by
which he could retire without discredit. The delegates
were being elected from week to week, and in most
instances were instructed for him, but he still hoped
that some conditions would arise by which he could
escape the responsibility and labors of the campaign.

Soon after Franklin's name had been dropped I
received a message from Mrs. Curtin to come to Har-
risbtirg at once, and I was with the Governor and his
family the same evening. I was surprised to learn
from Mrs. Curtin, the first opporttmity she had to inform
me on the subject, that she had sent for me without
the knowledge of the Governor, and that she wished
to have a talk with me alone. When an opportunity
presented she said that she had viewed with great
anxiety the efforts made to have the Governor retire
from the gubernatorial contest, but now she saw that
his nomination was ahnost certain to be made, and that
he would not decline it even though he felt that it

46 Old Time Notes

would be likely to cost him his life. He was in a very
feeble condition, and Mrs. Ciutin said it would not be
possible for him to accept the struggle of another cam-
paign and siuvive. She pleaded with me with tears
scalding her cheeks to find some method by which the
Governor could be at once relieved from his position
as a candidate, as it was a constant source of vexation
and aggravated his illness.

Later in the evening I had opportunity to confer
with the Governor alone and told him frankly what
Mrs. Curtin had done and said, and I added that she
was entirely right, and that he must in some way be
retired from the field as a gubernatorial candidate.
He suggested that if a foreign mission were tendered
to him it would be a plausible excuse for his retirement
in view of broken health, and added that I might find
some way of bringing that about. I said to him that I
would go to Washington at once, and did not doubt
it could be accomplished if he would permit me to do
it in my own way. He agreed to leave the matter
entirely in my hands, and I went to Washington
on the night train. I had no settled plan of action
tmtil I reached Washington. I had decided to confer
with Forney, through whom I hoped that Cameron
could be brought into co-operation with the arrange-
ment. If I had intimated to Curtin that I contem-
plated any relations with Cameron, he would have for-
bidden it. I called at Forney's private office in the
old building on Capitol Hill, where he often entertained
friends, and where Cameron often went for a rest in the
afternoon, as the relations between Cameron and
Forney were then very friendly. I told Forney of
my mission, and the necessities which had inspired it.
It was necessary for Curtin to be retired, first, because
he could not survive the battle, and second, because
his election seemed doubtful in view of the Pennsyl-

Of Pennsylvania 47

vania soldiers in the field and the factional hostility
that would be arrayed against Curtin. Forney was
very warmly attached to Ctirtin and very cordially
assented to the suggestion that he shotild be retired
by the offer of a mission, and thus harmonize the party
on a candidate who would not be offensive to any fac-
tional interests in the State. I suggested that I be-
lieved Cameron would favor the movement, as he would
be gratified to have Curtin out of the Governorship,
and also gratified to have him out of the State. Forney
responded that Cameron would doubtless approve of
it, and said that he could be called at once, as he was
lying down upstairs in one of his rooms.

Cameron was sent for and appeared in a few minutes.
The matter was presented to him by both Forney and
myself, and he said that he very heartily approved of
the suggestion. I said to him frankly that he wanted
Curtin out of the field because he was not his friend,
and that I wanted him out of the field because I was
his friend, and asked him to go with Forney and myself
at once to the President and present the matter to
him, to which both Forney and Cameron assented.
Forney ordered a carriage and we went directly to the
White House, where we foimd Lincoln alone. He
was quite amazed to see Cameron, Forney and myself
come together, as it was seldom that we were entirely
in accord on any of the many political disputes which
were before him. I stated the situation in Pennsyl-
vania to the President with entire frankness, telling
him that Curtin was too ill to survive the struggle,
that his election was certainly doubtful because of the
political conditions in our State and the absence of
the soldiers from the polls, and that if he could tender
Curtin a mission at the end of his term, so that public
annotmcement could be made of it, it would entirely
eliminate him from the race, and the factional bitter-

48 Old Time Notes

ness of the State wotdd not enter into the contest.
Lincoln had a very high appreciation of Curtin and
thoroughly understood the conditions. He said of
course he would not offer Curtin anything but a first-
class mission, to which Cameron replied that a second-
class mission would serve the purpose, but I answered
Cameron by stating that if a second-class mission was
to be considered for Curtin, the conference was ended.
Lincoln's face brightened as it always did when his love
of humor asserted itself, and he said that he had but
four first-class missions, all of which were filled by men
who very much wanted to remain in them, and he
added that he was much in the condition of Sheridan,
the celebrated Englishman, whose rakish son had
brought scandals about himself and his father. The
father remonstrated with him about his life and in-
sisted that he should take a wife, to which the young
rake answered: **A11 right, father, but whose wife
shall I take?'* He said he wanted a mission, but
whose mission should he take? After some further
conversation on the subject, Lincoln said that we
could consider the suggestion as accepted and it would
be carried out. He said that he did not yet know in
what form he would put it, but if I would call back
again in the morning he would give a formal answer
that would be satisfactory to all. We retired soon
after, and the next morning when I called on the Presi-
dent, he handed me a letter in his own hand-writing
to be delivered to Governor Curtin. The letter was
as follows:

Executive Mansion, Washington, April 13, 1863.
Hon. Andrew G. Curtin:

My Dear Sir: — If, after the expiration of your present term as
Governor of Pennylvania, I shall continue in office here, and you shall
desire to go abroad, you can do so with one of the first-class missions.

Yours truly,

A. Lincoln.

Of Pennsylvania 49

I rettimed to Harrisburg by the first train and
delivered Lincoln's letter to Cnrtin. He was greatly
delighted, and at once had me prepare a statement
for the Associated Press annotmcing that the President
had tendered to Governor Ctirtin a first-class mission
at the expiration of his term ; that he had notified the
President of his acceptance of the position, and that
he would not, therefore, be a candidate for re-election
as Governor. The annoimcement was a regular bomb-
shell to the earnest Republicans of the State, who were
enthusiastically devoted to Curtin, and , to the surprise
of both Curtin 's friends and foes, within a few days
thereafter half a dozen of the leading Republican cotm-
ties of the State, including Lancaster and Chester, elected
their delegates and instructed them to support Curtin
for Governor regardless of his announced retirement.

At the meeting with the President the question of
who should take Curtin 's place as the Republican candi-
date for Governor was freely discussed by Lincoln,
Cameron, Forney and myself, although I did not intro-
duce the subject. Forney suggested that John Covode
would be the most available candidate, to which
Cameron cordially assented, and after considerable
discussion all agreed that the nomination of Covode
would be almost certain to be generally accepted. I
had informed Curtin on my return of the views ex-
pressed as to Covode, and he at once said that he had
no objection whatever to Covode 's candidacy, and
would heartily support him. Senator Ketchum, of
Luzerne; ex-Congressman Henry D. Moore, of Phila-
delphia; Senator John P. Penny, of Allegheny, and
several others were at once pressed into the field by
their friends, but the Republican coimties continued to
demand Ctirtin's nomination, notwithstanding his
definite announcement that he was no longer in the
race, and the pressure became so urgent for Curtin 's

«— 4

50 Old Time Notes

acceptance that the several opposing candidates for
the place cotdd make no progress.

Large committees were appointed in many of the
counties to visit the Governor in person at Harrisbtu^g
and demand his acceptance of the nomination. Curtin
repeated his declarations that his condition of health
forbade him accepting further contests, but to all his
protests the Republicans of the State turned a deaf ear,
and within ten days of the meeting of the convention
it had become evident that Curtin would be nominated
in disregard of his public declination. He came to
Chambersburg to spend a day or two with me and
decide in what manner he should meet the new emer-
gency that confronted him. He was entirely convinced
that he ought not to accept the nomination, because
his defeat would be quite probable, and because his
health was such that he would be compelled either to
let the contest go by default or sacrifice his life in the
struggle to save himself and the party; but he was
profoundly appreciative of the sentiment that demanded
his nomination after he had publicly declined and in a
manner that should have been entirely satisfactory
to his personal friends.

The question then to be decided was whether, after
the convention had nominated him, he would answer
with a perem]')tory declination, or bow to the judgment
of the party and accept the issue with all its seriously
threatened consequences. I very earnestly urged him
to announce that he could not, under any circum-
stances, accept the nomination, as I believed that he
owed it to himself, his family and his friends to do
so, but he did not reach a final decision until \s4thin an
hour before he left me. We had sat up until after the
midnight hour, going over every phase of the question,
and while at breakfast he announced that he had
reached a definite conclusion, and that if nominated,

Of Pennsylvania $1

he cotald not reject such a generous expression of
devotion from the people of the State.

Our county delegation had been chosen soon after
his declination, and I had declined to serve as a dele-
gate. I told him that I would obtain a substitution
from one of our delegates and attend the convention,
which I did. The convention met in Pittsburg, the
hotbed of opposition to Curtin, and it was intensely
inflamed by the old railroad war and Curtin *s approval
of the repeal of the tonnage tax. It was publicly
announced that if Curtin 's name was presented to the
convention in Pittsburg it would be hissed and jeered
by the galleries, and the statement was not entirely
unwarranted. It was an imusually able convention
with Mann, MacVeagh, Dickey, Judge Maxwell, Tom
Marshall, Lawrence and many others who stood in the
front of Republican leadership, and the opposition to
Curtin, although a scattered and feeble minority, was
intensely bitter in the struggle. At the first session
of the body when Curtin 's name was mentioned it was
hissed and jeered, but Tom Marshall, himself a delegate
from Pittsburg, arose and apologized for the black-
guards who had, in some way, foimd their way into the
lobby, and gave notice that if there was any repetition
of insult to the convention when any name was men-
tioned he would at once move to have the gallery
cleared, as a matter of justice to Pittsburg. There
were no more offensive demonstrations from the gallery.
Curtin 's friends had scrupulously avoided all provoca-
tion and reached a ballot as speedily as possible.
Covode, seeing that his case was hopeless, did not per-
mit the use of his name, and the ballot resulted in 90
for Curtin, 18 for Moore, 14 for Penny, 3 for Brewster
and I for Moorehead. The opposition moved for
the tmanimous nomination of Curtin, and it was
received with the wildest enthusiasm.

52 old Time Notes

LVII.
CURTIN REELECTED GOVERNOR.

Justice George W. Woodward Nominated for Governor by the Democrati
When Lee Was Approaching Gettysburg — From the Democratic
Standpoint He Was Their Strongest Candidate — ^The Union Vic-
tories of Gettysburg and Vicksburg Decided the Contest of 1863 —
Chairman MacVeagh's Adroit Handling of the Soldier Element —
Soberness of Political Discussion in 1863 — Woodward Defeated and
Curtin Re-elected — Woodward's Distinguished Career.

THE issue of the memorable gubernatorial con-
test of 1863 was irrevocably decided by the
repulse of Pickett's charge and the retreat
of Lee's army from the battlefield of Gettysburg. It
was not fully understood at the time, nor indeed at
any period during the contest, that the mandate for
Curtin 's re-election came from the decisive battle-
field of the Civil War, but it was none the less the truth.
Had Lee's campaign in Pennsylvania been crowned
with any important measure of success it would have
been accepted very generally in the North that the war
was likely to be indefinitely continued, with none able
to foretell the final result with any degree of certainty ;
but when, on the Fourth of July, 1863, General Meade
announced the retreat of Lee's army, and General
Grant annoimced the surrender of Vicksburg, the con-
fidence of the loyal people of the country was greatly
strengthened, and the feeling was very general that the
military power of the Rebellion was broken, assuring
the overthrow of the Confederacy.

The readers of the present day who did not live during
the appalling trials of the war can have no just concep-
tion of the dark clouds of doubt and despair which

Of Pennsylvania 53

hung over the North until after the victories of Meade
and Grant in 1863. The Army of the Potomac had
fought battle after battle, and suffered defeat in every
struggle, with the single exception of the drawn battle
of Antietam, and Grant had been twice repulsed at
Vicksburg when he had attempted to carry the enemy's
works by assault. So strong was the feeling in some
of the great centers of the North that New York city
was pltmged into bloody riots, with anarchy reigning
for days because of the attempt to enforce the National
conscription law, and the MoUie Maguire combination in
the anthracite region of Pennsylvania was not entirely
alone in the disposition to resort to revolutionary
measures against the further prosecution of the war.
When the enemy was on the border, with a large army
threatening the invasion of the North, I saw regiments
march away from the front to enforce submission to
the law in the Schuylkill region. Congress had just
enacted an effective National conscription law, and
that was an invitation to all who were willing to accept
violent measures against the government to precipitate
their action. In fact until the defeat of Lee at Gettys-
burg, and his retreat to his old battle lines of Virginia,
there did not seem to be a ray of hope for the election
of a Republican Governor in Pennsylvania with 75,000
Pennsylvania soldiers disfranchised.

The Democratic State convention met in Harris-
burg when the thunders of Lee's guns were heard on
the border in the Cumberland Valley. It was a great
opportunity for the Democrats to give General Frank-
lin a unanimous nomination, as it would have empha-
sized the attitude of the party and relieved it of the
crushing millstone of actual or apparent disloyalty
that always more or less hindered Democratic success.
It was one of the ablest conventions the Democrats
ever held in the State, and it is safe to say that nine-

56 Old Time Notes

of the political centers of the State made him a miaster
in directing the details of the struggle. He was aided
by experienced men of tireless energy, and the organi-
zation of the party in every township of the State was
speedily accomplished. It required little more than
intelligent and judicious direction, as never in any
political contest that I recall were the people of both
parties so soberly earnest in political effort.

When the home organization was thus perfected, a
great work, and the only one that gave promise of
success, was systematically undertaken and carried
out with a degree of perfection that has never been
surpassed in political management. The 75,000 sol-
diers in the field were generally devoted to Curtin.
They had learned to accept him and speak of him as
the ** Soldiers' Friend." Every Pennsylvanian in the
field, however humble, who addressed the Governor on
any subject, however trivial, received a prompt answer
bearing the Governor's signature, and always heartily
aiding the soldier's wishes or fully explaining why they
could not be acceded to. The Pennsylvania soldier
sick or wounded in a hospital, even though far off in
the Southwest, felt the sympathetic touch of Curtin 's
devotion to the soldiers by the kind ministrations of
the Governor's special agents assigned to the task of
caring for the helpless in the field. He had annoimced
his purpose to have the State declare the orphans of our
fallen soldiers to be the wards of the Commonwealth,
a promise that was more than generously fulfilled, and
the Pennsylvania soldiers killed on the field, or dying
from sickness or wounds, were always taken possession
of by officials representing the patriotic philanthropy
of the Governor, and their bodies brought home at the
expense of the State, for sepulture with their loved
ones at home.

Thus had Curtin not only won the personal affect irn

of Pennsylvania 57

of Pennsylvania soldiers by his practical devotion to
their interests, but he was known to be in earnest
sympathy with their cause, and even Democratic
soldiers, of whom there were many, believed that the
issue directly affected their attitude as soldiers and the
care of the State for themselves and their famiUes,
and their party prejudices largely perished. These
Pennsylvania soldiers were disfranchised when the
"Soldiers' Friend" was upon trial before the people
of the State for the continuance of his loyal and humane
administration. The election was held early in Octo-
ber, a period very favorable for military operations,
and it was not possible to expect any considerable
number of them to be furloughed home to vote.

The great problem of the campaign that Chairman
MacVeagh had to solve was how to bring the influence
of the disfranchised soldiers in the field into practical
effect upon the fathers, brothers and immediate
friends at home. There were very few families in the
State which were not more or less directly interested
in individual solders in the field. Most of them had
fathers, sons or brothers offering their lives in the
flame of battle for the preservation of the Union, and
the hearts of every one at home, of fathers, mothers,
sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, were ever
thoughtful of their friends at the front, and ready to
do anything within their power to add to their comfort
and strengthen their hopes of success. One of the
duties performed by Chairman MacVeagh 's committee
was to ascertain every Democratic family that was
immediately represented in the field, and there were
thousands of Pennsylvania soldiers, officers and pri-
vates, who needed no special appeal to make them take
up the cause of the "Soldiers' Friend" in the contest.
In their midst around the campfire the question was
disctissed by the Pennsylvania soldiers, and certainly

s8 Old Time Notes

three-fourths of them sent home the most urgent
appeals to their fathers, brothers and friends to vote
to sustain the patriotic and philanthropic Governor
of the State as a matter of duty in support of the sol-
diers' cause. Not only did the soldiers appeal to the
members of their immediate families, but to their
many personal friends whom they knew at home, and
the result was a mute but omnipotent expression from
oiu" soldiers jn the field to their relatives and friends
at home, that turned the scales and made Pennsylvania,
with not less than 30,000 majority of Democratic
voters at the polls, re-elect Curtin by over 15,000
majority.

Curtin had also strengthened his cause with the
soldiers by pressing upon the Legislature of 1863, that
had adjourned before he was renominated, an amend-
ment to the State Constitution, authorizing the soldiers
to vote in the field, and it had been passed by both
branches, but without cordial support from the Demo-
cratic party. It was well understood that if the Re-
publicans carried the Legislature at the election of 1863,
the new Legislature, to meet in January, 1864, would
pass the proposed amendment the second time, as re-
quired by the fundamental law, and thus bring about
the right of the soldiers to vote in the field. The Re-
publicans carried the Legislature along with Curtin;
the proposed amendment to the Constitution relating
to soldier suffrage was promptly passed and a special
election called by the Legislature for its ratification by
the people in midsummer, so that at the Presidential
election of 1864 the soldiers were given the right of suf-
frage in the field.

Governor Curtin was physically unable to make a
general campaign of the State, but he made a few brief
speeches, and the desire to see and hear him was such
that when an appointment was announced for him in

Of Pennsylvania 59

any part of the State, the people as a rule came regard-
less of party, and his broken health, that was so visible
to all, aroused his friends to tireless action in his behalf
to relieve him as far as possible from the necessity of
exhausting his enfeebled powers in the contest. Judge
Woodward made few deliverances in the campaign,
and they were always of the most dignified and coiu*- ^
teous character. He avoided discussion of some of
the vital issues pressed by his opponents because of
his position as a judge. The constitutionality of the
National conscription law had been brought before the
courts, and the case of Kneedler vs. Lane was pending
in the supreme court, of which he was a member, and
it had been argued by able counsel on both sides before
the October election. The fact that the decision of
the supreme court was delayed until the 9 th of Novem-
ber, a month after the October election, made the ques-
tion of sustaining the National conscription act a vital
one on the side of Curtin and his supporters, and Wood-
ward was silent on the subject, as he was a sitting judge
who had heard the case, and must join in delivering
final judgment upon it.

Had the supreme court decided the conscription act
to be tmconstitutional before the election, as it did on
the 9th of November, a month after the election, that
decision alone, if supported by Woodward, would have
defeated his election, and the fact that the decision
was held until after the election became an important
factor in hindering Woodward's success. Additional
embarrassment was given to the Democrats by the fact
that Chief Justice Lowrie was the other candidate on
the Democratic State ticket, he having been renomi-
nated to succeed himself. Thus the two leading mem-
bers of the supreme court who held the constitutionality
of the conscription act in their keeping, and failed to
announce a judgment before the election, were aggres-

!

6o Old Time Notes

sively antagonized on the conscription issue, as it was
well understood that without a National conscription
act the armies could not be maintained in the field,
and both from their judicial position were compelled to
maintain silence, while their party leaders could not
assume to speak for them.

In all my long participation in and observation of
political campaigns in Pennsylvania I can recall none
that approached the contest of 1863 in impressive
soberness. The wide-awakes and the marching clubs
which made the air ring with hearty hurrahs in i860,
were imfelt as a factor in 1863. There were marching
clubs, of course, but they were not the rollicking, shout-
ing, caped and lanterned boys who had enlivened the
Lincoln campaign three years before. The hurrah
speeches of ordinary political campaigns would have
jarred harshly upon the sensibilities of the political
audiences. The people came to hear words of truth
and soberness; they came to unite soberly and ear-
nestly for political action, and their convictions and
their earnestness of purpose were ever with them. It
was a struggle eye to eye and face to face, not for the
triumph of a party, but for the triumph of a sacred
principle involving the life of the Republic. Such
were the convictions which ruled the contest, and they
were universal. Never were so few doubtful voters
returned by political committees; never did positive
and aggressive conviction assert itself with so little
ceremony and ostentation. The vote polled was the
largest ever cast in the State, considering the absence
of 75, 000 soldiers, as is shown by the fact that while
Lincoln received 268,930 votes in i860, giving him some
50,000 majority over all, Curtin in 1863 received 269,506
votes, giving him a majority of over 15,000.

I met Judge Woodward frequently during the cam-
paign, and, like all who knew him, I cherished not only

Of Pennsylvania 6i

the highest respect but a strong personal affection for
him. He was a man of strong partisan prejudice,
resulting from the fact that he was a Democrat of the
old school, a strict constructionist and sincerely con-
vinced that there was no safety to popular govern-
ment in the revolutionary iimovations which are ever
precipitated by civil war. He regarded coercion as
imwarranted by the Constitution, and logically held
that the Emancipation Proclamation was an act of
Executive usurpation. On a journey one afternoon
from Philadelphia to Allentown, where I was to deliver
an address for Curtin in the evening, Judge Woodward
was my companion on the train, and we discussed the
poUtical situation and the war with entire freedom,
and, of course, with the utmost courtesy. He expressed
his views very earnestly, because on aU the great ques-
tions of the day his convictions were as earnest as they
were sincere. As we approached Allentown I asked
him in a jocular way whether he would permit me to
declare to the audience I was to address that evening
the views he had expressed on various subjects relating
to the war, to which he answered that *' a conversation
in the free intercourse common among gentlemen is
of course not for public criticism." He knew of
course that I was incapable of violating the sanctity
of casual intercourse among friends I reminded him
that he had two sons in the army who had won distinc-
tion and stood among the heroic soldiers of the State,
and asked him whether he or I in the opposing positions
with the soldiers was best supporting the cause of the
soldiers in the field. He answered with visible pride
that his sons were soldiers, and as soldiers they would
do their duty.

His defeat was not only a great disappointment, but
a severe humiliation. By the retirement of Chief
Justice Lowrie, who was defeated at the same election,

62 Old Time Notes

Woodward succeeded to the chief justiceship, and he
was one of the few members of our supreme court
whose judicial deliverances ranked as approaching
the ability of Gibson as a jurist. After his retirement
from the supreme court, his taste for political life that
had brought such keen disappointments in his defeat
by Cameron for Senator in 1845, and his defeat for
Governor in 1863, made him willing to accept a nomina-
tion for Congress, and he was twice elected. In the
House he at once took high rank as one of the ablest
of the Democratic leaders, but entirely tmskilled in the
political strategy that often makes men of moderate
intellectual force the masters of intellectual giants in
legislation. During his service in Congress he was
prominently discussed as the Democratic candidate
for the Presidency, but his political life was ended,
and he never was formally presented as a candidate
by his State.

He had roimded oujt his patriarchal years, and he
turned back to his first love, the court of contimon pleas,
and annoimced his willingness to accept the nomination
from the Democracy of Luzerne for that position,
intending to end his career in the calm and quiet of
local administration of justice. He was promptly
nominated,, but those were times when local and general
political tempests were common, and to the surprise
of friends and foes, and to the fearful htimiliation of
the great jurist himself, he was largely defeated by
the Republican candidate. Soon thereafter he went
abroad, where his culture could find pleasant enjoy-
ment, and on the nth of May, 1875, "the swift message
that traverses the seas with the rapidity of the lightning
flash, told the story of his death. The supreme court
was sitting at Harrisburg, and a case was on for hearing
in which I was to make the closing argtmient on the
following morning. The cable despatch was received

Of Pennsylvania 63

axmotmcing his death just a few minutes before the
period of adjournment. Soon after the adjournment
I was notified by the chief justice that I should deliver
my argument in the pending case the next morning,
and when it was concluded, announce the death of
Chief Justice Woodward to the court, and then move
adjournment. The next morning I delivered my
argtiment on the pending case, and when through with
it aimounced the death of Chief Justice Woodward
in a brief address, of which the following was the con-
cluding paragraph:

" And now in the fullness of his days, ripe in years and
wearing the chaplet of honors that even malice would
not d^e to stain, he has passed away. The fitful
clouds and angry tempests of prejudice and passion,
which at times obscure the attributes of greatness,
have long since vanished like the mists of the morning,
and in the calm, bright evening time, he who so justly
j udged between man and man appears before the great
Judge of all the living. But his blameless life, his pure
example, his reverenced judgments remain, and like the
beautiful dream of the departed sun that throws its
halo over the countless jewels which soften the deep
lines of darkness, so will his lessons of wisdom and
honesty illumine the path of public and private duty
for generations to come. In respect to his memory I
move that the court do now adjourn."

64 Old Time Notes

LVIII.
THE GREAT CONSCRIPTION BATTLE.

The Complete Story of the Efforts Made to Dedare the National Con-
scription Act Unconstitutional by a State Court — Volunteering Had
Ceased and Conscription Was the Only Hope of Filling the Union
Armies — Proceedings Instituted at Nisi Prius Before Judge Wood-
ward, Who Summoned the Entire Court to Hear and Decide the Im-
portant Question — After Exhaustive Argument Decision Delayed
Until After the Election— The Court, by Three to Two, Declared the
Act Unconstitutional — Chief Justice Lowrie Was Defeated by Justice
Agnew — On Final Hearing Justice Agnew, Successor to Chief Justice
Lowrie, Reversed Preliminary Hearing and Declared the Conscription
Act Constitutional.

THE most momentous question ever submitted
to the supreme court of Pennsylvania for its
arbitrament arose in 1863, and was doubly
momentous because of its immediate bearing upon the
gubernatorial contest of that year, and also upon the
power of the State to furnish its quota of troops to the
Union army. The case is known to the profession as
Kneedler vs. Lane (9 Wright, 238), but there were
really three plaintiffs in the case, as three conscripts
joined in the legal proceeding to restrain the provost
marshal from forcing them into the military service of
the government. The parties to the action were
Henry S. Kneedler vs, David M. Lane, Charles S. Bar-
rett, J. Ralston Wills, Isaac Ashman, Jr. The second
was Francis V. Smith, against the same defendants.
The third was William Francis Nickells vs. William E.
Lehman, N. N. Marsellis, Charles Murphy and Eben-
ezer Scanlan. Lane and Lehman were provost mar-
shals imder the conscription act, and their associate
defendants were the men who made up what was called

Of Pennsylvania 65

the enrolling board, of which there was one in each
congressional district.

Voltmteering had ceased, and it became a necessity
for the government to fill up the ranks of its armies by
conscription, or permit the Union to be overthrown
by armed rebellion. Congress responded to this con-
dition by passing **An act for enrolling and calling
out the National forces, and for other purposes, ' ' that
was approved March 3, 1863. The plaintiffs received
notice that they had been drafted into the military
service of the United States, and that from the time
of receiving such notice they were under military regu-
lations and subject to military rules, although not yet
mustered into the service, and if they failed to report
for duty at the time and place specified, the act pro-
vided that they should be ** deemed as deserters and
subject to the penalty prescribed therefor by the rules
and articles of war."

In those days one member of the supreme court usually
was assigned to sit at nisi pnus, and the plaintiffs filed
bills before Judge Woodward asking that the defend-
ants be restrained from forcing them into military
service, and that they be discharged. The importance
of the case made Judge Woodward decide that it
should be heard by a full court, and he fixed the 23d
of September, 1863, for the plaintiffs and defendants to
be heard by counsel before a full court in Philadelphia.
On the day named all the judges of the supreme court
were present, consisting of Walter H. Lowrie, of Alle-
gheny, chief justice, with George W. Woodward, of
Luzerne; James Thompson, of Erie; William Strong,
of Berks, and John M. Read, of Philadelphia, justices.
The political complexion of the court was four to one
Democratic, Justice Read being the only Republican.
George A. Coffee, United States district attorney;
John C. Knox and J. Hubley Ashton, who were under-

66 Old Time Notes

stood to be associated with the district attorney in
the case, were notified by the court of the time and
place of hearing, but when the case was called no
counsel appeared for the defendants, and George M.
Wharton, Peter McCall, Charies IngersoU and George
W. Biddle appeared for the plaintiffs. The court re-
fused to proceed with the case until ftunished proof
of ample notice to the counsel who represented the
defendants, and a special messenger was dispatched
by the court to ascertain whether such notice had been
received, but the only answer given was that the
defendants would not be represented by counsel in
the proceeding.

I do not doubt that political considerations had
something, perhaps very much, to do with the failure
of the defendants to appear by counsel. The Repub-
licans assumed that the supreme court of the State
had no authority whatever to pass upon the constitu-
tionality of a National law, and the fact that Justice
Woodward had entertained the proceedings and stam-
moned the entire court to hear the case within two
weeks of one of the most important elections ever held
in the State, when Chief Justice Lowrie was the nom-
inee of his party for re-election and Justice Woodward
the nominee of his party for Governor, gave the Repub-
licans what they regarded as an opportunity to em-
phasize their aggressive hostility to such interference
by the State judicial authority to obstruct the execu-
tion of a National law that was the government's sole
dependence in filling up our depleted army in the field.
The case was ably argued chiefly by Mr. Wharton and
Mr. Biddle, and the decision was withheld tmtil the
gth of November, one month after the October election,
when Chief Justice Lowrie had been defeated by Judge
Agnew, and when Woodward had been defeated for
Governor by Curtin.

Of Pennsylvania 67

This case entered into the State campaign at an early-
stage, and it himg like a shadow over the loyal men of
the Commonwealth, as they feared that a court com-
posed of four Democrats with only one Republican
might decide to declare the conscription act tmconsti-
tutional, and thus not only hinder the reinforcement
of our armies, but bring the State into actual conflict
with the National authority.

The RepubUcans were tirelessly aggressive in assail-
ing the Democrats and the court, of which both of the
Democratic candidates on the State ticket were mem-
bers, as interposing to prevent the government from
preserving its own life, and it was the common theme
of every Republican orator on the hustings. The
Democrats could only answer that the case was before
an able and upright court, whose decision they "were
prepared to accept, and that it was not an issue for
popular discussion in the campaign.

It was not then known, but Curtis' "Life of Buch-
anan" brings out the fact, that ex-President Buch-
anan felt that the issue was one of such magnitude
that he departed from the generally tmiform rule of
his life, and wrote an earnest personal letter to Justice
Woodward, urging him to sustain the constitutionality
of the Nation^ conscription law as the only means of
safety, alike for the nation and for the party.

Long before the battle ended it became whispered in
political circles that Justice Strong was qtiite likely to
sustain the conscription law. He had always been an
earnest Democrat, had represented the Democrats of
Berks in Congress, and was elected to the supreme
court in 1857 along with Judge Thompson. The law
then provided, as it now does, that when two supreme
judges are elected at the same time they must decide
by lot which shall receive the senior commission and
thus become chief justice. Judge Thompson drew

68 Old Time Notes

the senior commission and rounded out his highly
creditable judicial career by four years' service as
chief justice.

When Thompson became chief justice in 1867, Judge
Strong resigned, chiefly because there was no hope of
him obtaining the highest judicial honors of the State,
and he located in Philadelphia to resume the practice
of law. The position occupied by Judge Strong was
one of peculiar embarrassment. He had represented
the Democratic party in high civil positions, both
political and judical, and he certainly cherished the
highest personal respect for his associate, Justice Wood-
ward, who was the Democratic candidate for Governor;
but he felt that the issue was so grave, and his duty so
clear and imperative, that he voted against his friend
for Governor, and when the supreme court gave its
decision in Pittsburg, on the 9th of November, 1863,
Strong wrote an able and earnest dissenting opinion.

The question was considered of such exceptional
importance that each member of the court filed an
elaborate opinion. Chief Justice Lowrie delivering
what was given as the decision of the court. The
opinion of Lowrie is temperate in tone. He opened
with an expression of regret that the defendants had
not been heard by cotmsel, to which he added : " For
want of this assistance I cannot feel such an entire
conviction of the truth of my conclusions as I would
otherwise have. I cannot be sure that I have not over-
looked some grounds of argument that are of decisive
importance, but the decision now to be made is only
preliminary to the final hearing, and it is to be hoped
the views of the law officers of the government will not
then be withheld." This declaration of the chief jus-
tice, who delivered the opinion of the court, becomes
specially important when it is read in connection with
the final dissenting opinion of Justice Woodward.

Of Pennsylvania 69

Chief Justice Lowrie declares that the decision is only
preliminary to the final hearing, while Woodward
declares that it was the fiinal judgment of the court in
the case.

The chief objection presented by the three judges,
who declared the conscription act unconstitutional,
was that while Congress had power to raise and support
armies, it was required to call out the nwlitia of the
several States to execute the laws, to suppress insur-
rection or to repel invasion. The conscription act did
not call for the militia of the several States, although
it called upon precisely the same men who constituted
the militia of the Commonwealths, but they all agreed
that if Congress did possess the power to call upon the
men composing the militia of the State to reinforce
the armies, the method of executing the law was
entirely unwarranted.

• The opinion of the supreme court, as delivered by
Chief Justice Lowrie, concluded with the order dated
November 9, 1863, granting a preliminary injunction
in each of the cases, but requiring the plaintiffs to give
bond with approved surety in the sum of $500, and the
injunctions refused for any other purpose.

Justice Woodward in his opinion was much more
emphatic in his condemnation of the National conscrip-
tion law. He denied that Congress had the power to
draft the militia into the service of the government
when engaged in a foreign war, and he added that " the
power of draft to suppress insurrection is not to be
employed, since another mode of suppressing insur-
rection is expressly provided." Again he said, "The
great vice of the conscript law is that it is designed on
the assumption that Congress may take away, not the
State rights of the citizen, but the security and fotmda-
tion of his State rights, and how long is civil liberty
expected to last after the securities of civil liberty are

70 Old Time Notes

destroyed?** Justice Thompson's opinion was quite
as elaborate as the others, in which his constitutional
objections to the conscription laws are stated in the
most dignified and courteous manner. He insisted that
the act ''plainly and directly destroys the militia
system of the States as recognized in the Constitution. "
While thus denying the right of Congress to reinforce
our armies under the provisions of the conscription law,
he expressed himself with great emphasis in favor of
suppressing the Rebellion. He said : ** There is nothing
on earth that I so much desire as to witness the sup-
pression of the imjustifiable and monstrous Rebellion.
It must be put down to save the Constitution, and the
constitutional means for the purpose I believe to be
ample, but we gain but little if in our efforts to preserve
it from assault in one ciuarter we voltmtarily impair
other portions of it.'*

The dissenting opinion of Judge Strong attracted
very general attention not only in the State, but
throughout the count r>% as he was known to be trained
in the same Demcx^ratic school with Judges Lowrie,
Woodward and Thompson, and had worn Democratic
honors. He sustained the constitutionality of the act
in all its details, and Judge Read delivered a more
elaborate dissenting opinion broadly sustaining the
National law and refusing an injunction for the pro-
tection of the plaintiffs.

As previously stated, both Chief Justice Lowrie and
Justice Woodward had been defeated for supreme
judge and Governor just a month before the preliminary
injunction had been granted, and less than three weeks
before the retirement of Chief Justice Lowrie to be
succeeded by Justice Agnew.

On the 1 2th of December, 1863, when Agnew had
taken the place of Lowrie in the court, Judg(* Strong
was holding court in nisi prius in Philadelphia, and

Of Pennsylvania 71

ex- Judge John C. Knox appeared before him for the
defendants in each of the several cases, and appealed
to the court to dissolve the injunctions which had been
granted. Judge Strong received the motion and
appointed the 30th of December for their hearing, and,
as in the former case, requested his brethren to sit with
him so that the case might be heard by a full cotut.
On the day named a full court appeared in Philadel-
phia, and the case was fully argued by Kjiox for the
defendants and by Biddle, McCall and Ingersoll for
the plaintiffs.

On the 1 6th day of January, 1864, the final decision
of the court was rendered, Justice Strong writing the
opinion, which was concurred in by Read and Agnew,
and dissented from by Woodward and Thompson.
The order of the court was as follows: "And now, to
wit, January 16, 1864, it is ordered by the court that
the orders heretofore made in all these cases be vacated
and the motions for injunctions are overruled." The
concluding sentence of the opinion of the court, delivered
by Judge Strong, is in these words : "I am satisfied that
the bills of the complainants have no equity and the
act of Congress is such as Congress has the constitu-
tional power to enact."

Justices Read and Agnew also delivered separate
concurring opinions. Justice Read's opinion concludes
in these words: "The armies of the Union are not
fighting for any single State, but they are fighting for
their common cotmtry, the United States of America,
as Americans, and those who have perished in this con-
test for the preservation of the Union have died under
the National flag which, I trust, will soon wave over
the whole undivided territory of our glorious and once
happy Union." Justice Agnew delivered his first
opinion in this case, and he approaches the important
duty of reversing a former judgment of the same court

72 Old Time Notes

in a somewhat apologetic manner. He referred to
the fact that the claim was made that a new member
of the court was bound by the rule of stare decisis. He
said he bowed to that doctrine as a safe maxim wherever
it applies, but he added: ** I must decide as my views
and conscience dictate, and why not now? I find the
case before me and I certainly cannot decide it against
all my convictions of law, duty and patriotism." His
opinion is the most elaborate of all those delivered by
the court.

Chief Justice Woodward, who had succeeded to the
head of the court by the retirement of Lowrie, delivered
a most vigorous dissenting opinion, in which Chief
Justice Thompson concurred. He declared the pro-
ceeding to be extraordinary, as the decision given on
the 9th of November, at the preliminary hearing, "was
as regular, fair and solemn a judgment as this court
ever rendered." He insisted that it was final, and it
was not within the power of the court to reverse it,
even though the personnel of the judges changed.
Chief Justice Woodward was a man of strong and earn-
est conviction, and his elaborate dissenting opinion in
the case bristles with fearless criticism of the action of
the court in permitting a change of judges to change its.
judgment, and also with the most pronounced expres-
sions against the power of Congress to enforce such a
conscription law.

I have given in brief the story of the National con-
scription crisis that convulsed the State in 1863. The
three Democratic judges, Messrs. Lowrie, Woodward
and Thompson, who decided against the constitution-
ality of the conscription law, were bitterly denounced
at the time for disloyalty to the government and
unfaithfulness to their high judicial office, but as the
intense passions of fratricidal war and of the partisan
Strife that was accentuated by it have gradually per-

Of Pennsylvania 73

ished, all have accorded to those three great judges the
credit of sincerity in the exercise of the highest judicial
qtialities in rendering the decision. They had been
trained in the political school that accepted the resolu-
tions of 1798, which came from the great poUtical
teachers — ^Jefferson and Madison — and with their long
judicial experience and the isolation it involved from
the world's progress it is not surprising that they
revolted against the violent, indeed revolutionary,
methods which become imperious when grave peril
confronts the government. They were simply immind-
ful that ''uncommon things make common things
forgot," and that revolutionary perils often demand
revolutionary protection.

The considerate judgment of the State and of the
country to-day is that their judgment was erroneous,
but all of them retired from the judicial position that
they had adorned without public or private blemish,
and they are all named to-day among the men who have
added to the luster of the first judicial tribimal of the
State.

74 Old Time Notes

LIX.

LEE'S INVASION A NECESSITY.

Hooker's Brilliant Strategy in Crossing the Rappahannock to Meet Lee
When Hesitation Lost Him the Battle — The Story of Hooker's
Wounds — Great Depression Among the Loyal People of the North —
The Blunder of the Confederacy — The Northern Invasion Wa«
Enforced with a Hope of Winning a Decisive Victory over the Union
Army, and Securing the Recognition of England and France

THE struggle between the legions of Caesar and
Pompcy on the Plains of Pharsalia was not
more decisive of the destiny of Rome than was
the battle of Gettysburg in deciding the destiny of
the Confederacy. Many bloody battles were fought
thereafter between the Union and the Confederate
armies before the war ended, solely because the most
earnest and most heroic of all the jx^oples of the world
were engaged in fratricidal conflict, and surrender was
un thought of while battle could be waged. After all
the bloody conflicts between the armies of Grant and
Lee, and Sherman and Johnson, in 1864, Appomattox
was simply the echo of Gettysburg.

To reach an intelligent understanding of the battle of
Gettysburg and its decisive judgment against the Con-
federacy, the whole situation from military, political
and material standpoints should be well considered-
Much discussion has been inspired and many con-
flicting views presented as to the considerations which
decided the Confederate leaders to inaugurate the fatal
Gettysburg campaign. The peo])le of the North were
greatly discouraged by the failure of the Union armies
to achieve the victories so confidently expected. The
North had overwhehning numbers in the field, but their

Of Pennsylvania 75

different armies were operating in an enemy's coimtry
with long lines of supplies which greatly reduced the
effective fighting force, and they had the generally
more serious disadvantage of being compelled, as a rule,
to attack the enemy in chosen positions where his
inferior numbers were more than atoned for by strictly
defensive strategy and tactics.

Hooker had opened the campaign of 1863 by moving
out with his grand Army of the Potomac to attack Lee
south of the Rappahannock. He was a magnificent
specimen of the American soldier, a bom fighter and
possessing absolute faith in his ability to march the
Army of the Potomac to Richmond, or to any other
points in the South. I saw him in the war office a
fortnight before he made his movement, and he was a
most interesting study. His handsome features, with
a complexion as silken as a woman's, and his bright
blue eyes grandly reflected the enthusiasm of the new
commander. He conversed with great freedom on the
campaign he was about to open, and I well remember
his answer to my question as to the sufficiency of his
force to meet the enemy in chosen and fortified posi-
tions. He said he would cross the Rapidan without
losing a man, which he did, and that he could then
march the Army of the Potomac from the Rappahan-
nock to New Orleans. To use his own Westemism, for
he was among the " Forty-niners" in California, he told
me that when he crossed the Rappahannock he would
take the enemy ''where the hair is short."

His march imtil he crossed the river is admitted by
all experienced military men of the country to have been
a masterly strategic movement, but when he was face
to face with the enemy, then for the first time his
limitations were exhibited. If he had marched directly
from the Chancellorsville house, with Lee's command
immediately in his front, and forced the battle, his

76 Old Time Note.

overwhelming ntimbers could hardly have failed to
break Lee 's army in the center, and he then could have
defeated it in detail; but he hesitated, and his hesita-
tion was fatal.

While standing on the veranda of the Chancellors-
ville house, a solid ball from the enemy's artillery
struck one of the pillars of the house, split a large piece
from it that was hurled with great violence upon Hooker
and struck him squarely on the breast. He fell insen-
sible and remained so for a half hour or more. Stimu-
lants were applied, and, when he was restored to con-
sciousness, his first utterance was a command that no
movement should be made by the army until he gave
the orders himself. General Couch, senior officer of
the army next to Hooker, was present, and greatly to
his regret he was thus forbidden by his commander to
make any movement.

It was this hesitation and this accident, and this order
from Hooker, that enabled Jackson to divide Lee's
army in front of Hooker, make his rapid detour and
strike the right of Hooker's army on front and flank,
defeating and routing Howard's corps and compelling
the final retreat of the army back to the northern side
of the Rappahannock. This disaster to Hooker's right
wing deprived General Sedgwick, commander of the left
wing, then occupying Fredericksburg, of the sujjport he
had been promised and confidently expected, and an
overwhelming force of the enemy attacked him and
compelled him to retreat with very serious loss.

Such was the unpromising opening of the third year
of the war, and the patriotic sentiment of the North
was greatly chilled by our multiplied disasters. Gen-
eral Grant was then besieging Vicksburg, and he had
twice attempted to carry the enemy's defenses by
assault, but was repulsed with heavy loss, and very
grave doubts were cherished as to his final succe^ in

Of Pennsylvania 77

winning that Confederate stronghold, the final capture
of whidi, as Lincoln so well expressed it, enabled the
Father of Waters to "again go im vexed to the sea."
The miUtary situation tmtil the Fourth of July was
such as to offer little encouragement to the North to
hope for substantial victories over the Confederate
armies.

The government had exhausted its resources and
energies to create an ironclad navy. It was the con-
struction of the little Monitor by Captain Ericsson in
its battle with the iron-mailed Merrimac that revolu-
tionized naval warfare in a day, and we had in the early
part of 1863 an iron-clad fleet that was regarded by
many as invincible. It was believed quite capable
of fighting its way into Charleston, and capturing that
city, the fountain of rebellion, and it was decided that
the despair of the people over military failures should
be dissipated by a triumph of our ironclads in Charles-
ton. TTie ironclad fleet was concentrated and hastened
to the South Carolina waters. There was no secrecy
in the movement, and it became generally known that
on a particular day the fleet would be there and fight
its way into the harbor and captiu'e the forts and city.

The loyal North turned to this expedition as the one
movement that was certain to turn the tide of battle
and inspire the North by a substantial victory in the
one place in the South that was regarded as most
responsible for the fratricidal conflict. I accompanied
Governor Curtin to Washington the day before the
attack was to be made, and we spent the entire day
and night until long after the midnight hour waiting
for news at the Navy Department, but none came.
Greatly disappointed, we returned to our hotel and
were back in the White House immediately after break-
fast, and found President Lincoln in the office of his
secretary. He informed us that no news had yet been

78 Old Time Notes

received from the fleet. I have many times heard him
discuss the sorrows and sacrifices of war when his great
S3mipathetic heart poured out upon his sleeve the sorrow
that he keenly shared of those who suffered from war,
but I never heard him discuss the war as earnestly as he
did on that occasion. He knew that the loyal North
was struggling on in despair, and he felt that if Hooker's
disaster at Chancellorsville and Grant's repulses at
Vicksbiu'g were followed up by a repulse of our fleet
at Charleston, the effect would be most serious.

Suddenly the door opened and the face of Secretary
Welles was partly thrust in as he beckoned the Presi-
dent from the room. The moment we saw him all
knew that he had no welcome message to bring. The
President left, asking us to remain, as he would return
as soon as he could give definite information. In half
an hour he came back with his sad face deepened in
sorrow as he told us that the fleet had been repulsed,
and that the attempt to capture Charleston was abso-
lutely hopeless.

Such was the military situation in June, 1863, when
the Confederate government committed the fatal error
of transferring the war to the North by the invasion
of Pennsylvania, whereby Lee's army, that was always
outnumbered in men and gims by the Union army,
gave up the advantages of defensive campaigns in
which the strength of the enemy could be neutralized,
and marched into Pennsylvania, weakening his army
as he moved by the necessity of protecting his lines of
supplies, and challenging the Union army to battle
where its largest numbers could be best concentrated.
The movement was entirely at variance with Lee's
military policy and certainly never was advised by
him as a desirable movement from a military stand-
point. Viewing the Gettysburg campaign from the
surface as presented by history, it will be pronounced

Of Pennsylvania 79

by all as a blunder worse than a crime, but when the
facts are carefully winnowed out from the chaff of
conflicting disputation it is not difficult to understand
why the invasion of Pennsylvania was decided upon by
the Confederate government.

I have had many opportimities of conversing with
the leading Confederate officials of that time, including
such as President Davis, Vice-President Stephens, Post-
master General Regan, Senator Orr and others, and with
such military chieftains as Johnson, Longstreet, Beaiuie-
gard, Pemberton, Hamilton, Fitzhugh and Custis Lee,
Imboden, Chief of Staff Taylor, Alexander, and many
othere, who were well informed on the subject.

During a visit to Jefferson Davis, at his home in
Mississippi, some ten years after the war, where he
received me most hospitably, he spoke with great free-
dom on all matters relating to the war, after exacting
the assurance that no publication should be made of
his utterances without his approval. I asked him
why he had decided to send his army far from its base
to meet an army that largely outnumbered it, in the
enemy's country. His answer was that the move-
ment was a necessity; that it was believed that Lee's
army could defeat die Army of the Potomac wherever
they might meet, and that such a victory won on
Northern soil was most important to the Confederacy.
I asked him distinctly whether General Lee had advised
the Gettysburg campaign as a wise movement from a
military standpoint, and he answered evasively by
saying that it would not have been undertaken if he
had not approved it. General Longstreet has criti-
cised this statement when I gave it in another place,
and declared that General Lee advised the Gettysburg
cam|>aign and that he had personal knowledge of the
fact. General Longstreet stated what he believed to
be the exact truth, and what was the truth at the time

8o Old Time Notes

had he conferred with General Lee on the subject, bat
no one who appreciates Lee's consummate ndHtiXaiy
abili'^ and disoiction will ever assume that he advised
the invasion of Pennsylvania simply as a desiiBUe
military movement. It had become a military neces-
sity; aJl questions of the expediency of the movement
were silenced and Lee bowed to the inevitable.

The one paramount reason for the Gettysburg
campaign was the necessity for the Confederacy to gain
the recognition of England and France, and the Gettys-
burg campaign was solely the result of that imperious
necessity. Lee bad then the largest Confederate army
that ever was formed in line of battle, but he well knew,
as did the Confederate authorities, that the supply of
men was almost entirely exhausted, and that the South
could not stand the strain of a long-contintied war.
If the recognition of the Confederacy by Fruice.Aiid
England could have been accomplished, it would prw>
tically have ended the war, as the North would bave
been unable to maintain the conflict with such odds
against it. The campaign was most carefiUly planned,
and it was expected that Lee should cross the Potomac
east of the Blue Ridge, defeat the Union army in battle,
and thus open the way for the speedy capture of Balti-
more and Washington. Could that have been achieved
there is little doubt that England and France would
have promptly recognized the Confederacy and thus
established it permanently among the nations of the
earth.

But while the question of winning recognition from
England and France made an aggressive movement
necessary on the part of the Confederacy, there were
other reasons which, in the opinion of the Southern
leaders, fully warranted the belief that the chances
were largely in favor of the complete success of such
a campaign. The officers and men of Lee's army

9^

«

Of Pennsylvania 8i

firmly believed that they could defeat the Army of the
Potomac wherever they might be brought face to face
in battle. They greatly underestimated the valor
and fighting qualities of the Northern troops, who had
been compelled to fight Lee 's army in chosen positions
which often largely outweighed all of the Union army's
advantage in numbers. A considerable portion of Lee's
army during the invasion was in and about Chambers-
burg for a week, and conversed freely with our people.
Some of them doubted the expediency of an aggressive
campaign in the North, but aU felt absolute confidence
in achieving victory over the Army of the Potomac
whenever and wherever they should meet in battle.

In addition to the confidence that the Southern
leaders all felt in the success of Lee 's army in any battle
with the Army of the Potomac there was, in the judg-
ment of most of them, a strong incentive to a campaign
of invasion in what they regarded as a divided senti-
ment in the North that would be developed into revo-
lutionary action by the success of Lee's army in a
battle on Pennsylvania or Maryland soil. General
Lee himself refers rather vaguely to this condition,
which certainly was regarded as one of the strong argu-
ments in favor of the movement in his official report of
the Pennsylvania campaign. After stating the military
reasons for the movement, he adds : " In addition to
these results, it was hoped that other valuable results
might be attained by military success. ' '

Congress had enacted a National conscription law
that was approved on March 3, 1863, ^-^^ ^ large draft
had been ordered by the government. There were
murmurs of revolutionary opposition to the draft in
some sections of the country, notably in New York
city, where fearful riots were the result of the enforce-
ment of the conscription act, and in the anthracite
r^ons of Pennsylvania, where the Mollie Maguires,

82 Old Time Notes

who had many s)rmpathetic followers, were in open
rebeUion, and in Indiana, where powerful secret organi-
zations were maintained to hinder enforced military
service.

It was naturally believed by the Confederate gov-
ernment and by General Lee himself that if he suc-
ceeded in defeating the Army of the Potomac on North-
em soil, and captured Baltimore or Washington, not
only the recognition of the Confederacy by European
governments would follow, but that the North, in
the face of such a hopeless conflict, would be precipi-
tated into open rebellion against the war. The National
conscription act was assailed before the supreme court
of Pennsylvania, and the issue of its constitutionality
was pending at the time of Lee's invasion, with the
general belief that the decision of the court would
be adverse to the validity of the law. Strong reasons
were thus presented to both the civil and military
authorities of the Confederacy in favor of the inva-
sion of the North, and there is little reason to doubt
that had success crowned Lee's struggle at Gettys-
burg, and the capture of Washington or even Balti-
more accomplished, the recognition of the Confederacy
by foreign governments would have been prompt and
general and the success of the Confederacy assured.

Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens, Presi-
dent and Vice-President of the Confederacy, with their
trusted advisers in the administration of their govern-
ment, had very carefully planned in all details the dip-
lomatic aid that was to be given to the Gettysburg
campaign in forcing the recognition of the Confederacy
by European governments. None of them seemed to
entertain any doubts as to the victory of Lee over the
Army of the Potomac wherever he might happen to
meet it on Northern soil, and a very important part of
the great scheme was to have the government at

Of Pennsylvania 83

Washington refuse to receive Vice-President Stephens
on a peace commission. It was believed that with the
Union army defeated in Lee's campaign of invasion,
and the Washington government rejecting peace pro-
posals coming directly from the President of the Con-
federacy, England and France would at once lead the
way in recognizing the Confederacy.

This is clearly established by a letter addressed to
Vice-President Stephens by President Davis, dated
Richmond, July 2, 1863, when the battle of Gettysburg
was in progress, and when the only information from
the field told of the overwhelming triim^ph of the Con-
federates in the first day's conflict. In this letter
President Davis prepared very careful instructions to
Stephens, who was to proceed to Washington as mil-
itary commissioner under a flag of truce. The letter
was given to Stephens in duplicate. One was signed
by Davis, as President of the Confederacy, but assum-
ing that such a letter would not be received, because of
the refusal to recognize such an officer of the Confed-
eracy, the duplicate letter was signed by Davis as com-
mander-in-chief of the military forces of the Confed-
eracy. Of course, Davis well knew that President
Lincoln would admit no Confederate commissioner
with a peace proposal involving the perpetuity of the
Confederacy, and in order to put the Washington gov-
ernment in the position of having even refused a
military commissioner to confer on matters relating
to the conduct of the war, the duplicate letters were
written.

The Davis letter was written with scrupulous care,
not for the ptirpose of instructing Stephens, who needed
no instructions on the subject whatever, but to present
the strongest possible case against the Washington
government when it refused to receive the Southern
commissioner after Lee had defeated the Union army

84 Old Time Notes

on Northern soil. In point of fact, it was a very
shrewdly devised movement to force the Union gov-
ernment into the attitude of going somewhat beyond
the mere recognition of the belUgerent powers of the
Confederacy or refusing to hear peace proposals. It
was a paper most adroitly framed to inspire prejudices
abroad to aggressive action in recognizing the South-
em government, and Stephens proceeded at once on
his mission, hoping that by the time he reached the
Union lines he would learn of a decisive victory gained
by Lee over the Army of the Potomac; but when he
reached Fortress Monroe, and made his application for
permission to proceed to Washington tinder a flag of
truce as a military commissioner of the Confederacy,
Pickett's charge had been repulsed and Lee was retreat-
ing with a defeated army, and the officers of Fortress
Monroe were promptly instructed from Washington
to refuse Stephens permission to visit the Capital, or
to enter the Union lines.

Mr. Pollard, in his *' History of the Civil War, *' who
was often the severe critic of Davis, but always the
ardent supporter of the Confederate cause, states that
Stephens, by verbal instructions, was ** fully empow-
ered, in certain contingencies, to propose peace; that
President Davis had sent him on this extraordinary
visit to Washington anticipating a great victory of
Lee's army in Pennsylvania, but the real design of the
commissioner was disconcerted by the fatal day at
Gettysburg, which occurred when Stephens was near
Fortress Monroe,'* and that it was **in the insolent
moments of this Federal success that he was sharply
rebuffed by the Washington authorities. ' ' Thus is
the evidence cumulative from every side that the
Gettysburg campaign was dictated solely by the inex-
orable necessity of gaining the recognition of foreign
governments for the Confederacy.

of Pennsylvania 8$

LX.
MANEUVERING FOR THE BATTTLE.

Hooker's Suggestions Rejected by Lincoln — Hooker's Strategy Defeated
Lee's Movement to Cross the Potomac near Washington — ^Meade
Suddenly Called to Command — Large Emergency Force Called to the
Field — Severe Discipline of Lee's Army — ^Jenkins' Raid into Cham-
bersburg — E well's Requisition for Supplies Including Sauerkraut in
Midsiunmer — Lee's Headquarters at Shetter's Grove.

AFTER the defeat of Hooker at Chancellorsville
the opposing armies fell back to their former
positions, and remained there tmtil the Gettys-
btirg movement began. On the 2d of Jtme Lee's army
was encamped on the south bank of the Rappahannock,
near the city of Fredericksburg, and Hooker's army
was on the north bank of the same river among the
Stafford Hills and nearly opposite that city. Hooker's
army consisted of eight corps, commanded by Rey-
nolds, Hancock, Sickles, Meade, Sedgwick, Howard
and Slocum, with Pleasanton's cavalry corps, and
Lee's army consisted of four corps, commanded by
Longstreet, Ewell, and A. P. Hill, with Stuart com-
manding the cavalry. There has been much dispute
as to the strength of the two armies which met at
Gettysburg, but after a careful investigation of all the
varied statements on the subject, I think it safe to
assume that Lee's army numbered 80,000, and that
Meade's army, as stated by himself in his testimony
before a committee of Congress on the conduct of the
war, numbered 95,000. His precise language was that
his "army numbered a little imder 100,000, probably
95,000." They were nearly or quite equal in artillery
and cavalry, and Lee's army, flushed with repeated

88 Old Time Notes

plank road between Fredericksburg and Chancellors-
ville, the animal must be very slim somewhere ; could
you not break him?"

On the 5th of Jime Hooker began a movement to
keep in touch with Lee and gradually advanced his
different corps to hold the interior line between Lee
and the Capital, and also between Lee and the Poto-
mac. He had a very efficient cavalry force, and kept
it constantly employed in reconnoissance to ascertain
the movements of the enemy. On the 8th of June
Hooker had his cavalry corps making a reconnoissance
in force south of the Rappahannock. Pleasan ton's
cavalry crossed the river at night and, protected by a
heavy fog, struck the main force of Stuart's cavalry
corps, compelled it to retreat, and came into possession
of Stuart's headquarters, in which Stuart's important
papers were captured, including Lee's orders outlining
his movement into Maryland and Pennsylvania. A
heavy infantry force came to the support of the Con-
federate cavalry, and the purpose of the reconnoissance
being fully accomplished, Pleasanton retired, but that
cavalry conflict, and the information derived from
General Stuart^s orders received from Lee, defeated
one of the most important features of Lee's plan.

Lee's purpose was to move along the east base of the
Blue Ridge, cross the Potomac near Washington, where
he could operate on an interior line. Hooker's army
was promptly hastened forward and Lee was compelled
to make his invasion by first entering the Shenandoah
Valley, thus greatly lengthening his line, and making
Baltimore and Washington, his objective points, twice
or thrice the distance from him after he crossed the
Potomac that they would have been if Hooker had not
discovered his plans and compelled him to change
them. If he had crossed the Potomac in the neigh-
IxnrhQod of Poolsville and the Monocacy as was indi-

of Pennsylvania 89

cated in his instructions to Stuart, he woiild have been
saved long marching to the upper Potomac and back
again to Gettysburg, and cotdd have delivered his
decisive battle certainly ten days sooner with less
depletion of his army because of a shorter line from
its base.

On the 2 1 St of Jime Hooker had his army so placed
that every approach to Washington south of the
Potomac was completely guarded, and Lee was in the
Shenandoah Valley and tmable to obtain information
of Hooker's movements. Hooker's strategy in meeting
Lee's movements was masterly, and when he foimd that
Lee was certain to cross the Potomac he was moving
with his army in Maryland extended on a long line
north and south to enable him to concentrate speedily
against Lee whether he moved by the Susquehanna or
the Potomac Hne toward Washington. He urged that
Milroy, who had some 8,000 men at Winchester, should
evacuate that place, retire from the valley and join his
conmiand. General Schenck, with headquarters in
Baltimore, in whose department Milroy was operating,
ordered Milroy to retire from the valley, but Milroy
was a soldier with more courage than discretion, and
begged to be permitted to remain, declaring that he
wotSd defeat any force of the enemy that could be
brotight against him. Schenck, imfortunately, left
the question to the discretion of Milroy, and the result
was that Milroy *s 8,000 men were defeated, routed,
several thousand of them captured, along with vast
stores of gtms and supplies, and that entire force was
lost to the Army of the Potomac.

It became known throughout Pennsylvania early in
June that Lee's movement was reasonably certain to
lead to the invasion of the North, and the government
at Washington created two new military departments
in Pennsylvania — that of the Monongahela, with head-

Old Time Notes

quarters at Pittsburg, assigned to Major Genera! W. T.
H. Brooks, and the Department of the Susquehanna,
with headquarters at Harrisburg, assigned to Major
General D. N, Couch. On the 12th of Jime Governor
Curtin issued a proclamation to the people of the State
warning them of the danger of invasion and calling for
volimteers to meet the emergency, but as the peril was
to the National cause quite as much as to Pennsylvania,
President Lincoln on the 15th called upon the States of
Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Ohio
and West Virginia to funish 120,000 of their militia for
temporary service. The Governors of the States
seconded the call of the President ; but there was then
hardly any organized mihtia remaining in the States,
and the response was 25,000 from Pennsylvania,
1 5,000 from New York, 5,000 from Maryland. 3,000 from
New Jersey, 2,000 from West Virginia, making a total
of 50,000. Most of them reported at Harrisburg, and
General William F. Smith, better known as "Baldy"
Smith, and General Dana were each given a division
under General Couch. This emergency mihtia gave
no aid to the Army of the Potomac in the battle of
Gettysburg, but it is probable that the presence of
General Smith's division at Harrisburg prevented
General Rhodes, who occupied Carlisle and whose
pickets were at one time within a few miles of Harris-
burg. from ca].)turing the State Capital. Beyond that
the mihtia rendered no service whatever.

It was not the fault of the emergency troops, as they
did all that was in their power. They were hastily
throwTi together, without discipline, quartermaster
or commissary organizations, and when marching
through the Cumberland Valley lived upon the country
and were vastly more destructive foragers than were
the Confederates. Lee's anny was under strict dis-
cipline and also under severe orders against the need-

Of Pennsylvania 91

less destruction of private property. E well's corps
occupied the 200-acre field on my farm, at the edge of
Chambersburg. The middle fences had all been de-
stroyed by military visitors, and more or less of his
corps remained there for a week. His 22,000 men did
less injury to private property in a week's occupation
than did one regiment of New York militia in a single
day when it made its camp in the same field.

General Jenkins, with a large cavalry force, led the
advance of Lee's invasion, and he crossed the Potomac
at Williamsport on the evening of Jime 14. The peo-
ple in the Cumberland Valley had notice of the ap-
proach of the enemy by the scattered fragments of the
Milroy forces which covered all the highways reaching
north in squads of ten, twenty or more, thoroughly
demoralized, and well calculated to terrorize the com-
munity. On the 1 5th of June the people of the border
commenced a general exodus northward with their live
stock, and the wildest excitement prevailed. Mer-
chants hurried their goods away to points in the East,
banks shipped all their money and families sent their
valuables, while all the roads were crowded with fleeing,
terrorized people, driving their stock away from the
enemy. There was no military force whatever to
impede the advance of Jenkins, and early in the even-
ing of the 1 5th it was known in Chambersburg that his
force was rapidly advancing upon the town. He
reached Chambersburg about eleven o'clock at night,
took possession of the town without a conflict, passed
throtigh the main street leaving a strong guard in the
town, and made his camp on my farm, as did all the
armies of both sides in their valley campaigns during
the war. He made his headquarters in my comfortable
farmhouse, and used the large bam as a hospital, where
Mrs. McClure provided the sick soldiers with all the
necessaries, including medicines. I was impressively

92 Old Time Notes

reminded of this fact thirty years after the war, when,
on a visit to Montgomery, Ala., while a guest of the
hospitable Governor of the State. Notice was brought
to the Governor that a man at the door specially de-
sired to see me. The Governor did not recognize the
name, but invited him to join us. When he came into
the room he apologized in his awkward way for his
intrusion, and said that having heard that I was visit-
ing the city he had walked a number of miles that
morning to meet me, and thank me personally for the
kindness he received from my family when, as one of
Jenkins' privates, he was on the sick list and was cared
for in my bam. It seems like the irony of fate that
this same command, imder the lead of McCausland,
who became its commander after Jenkins fell, burnt
the town of Chambersburg only one year later, includ-
ing the bam where its sick had been ministered to, and
the house where Jenkins received generous hospitality
while he made it his headquarters.

Jenkins' command did not destroy much property.
There was little left in the country that was useful to
the army, as stores were empty of goods, banks without
money, and farmers generally without horses or cattle.
His first order required all persons in the town possess-
ing arms, whether guns or pistols, to bring them to the
front of the court house within two hours, and the
penalty for disobedience was that all who refused
would expose their houses to search, and make them
lawful objects of pltmder. A ntmiber of gtms and
pistols were brought and delivered to him, but few of
them were considered of sufficient value to be retained
by the soldiers.

Early in the morning of the 17 th of June Jenkins
ordered the stores and shops to be opened for two hours
to enable his men to purchase such goods as they
desired, all of which were to be paid for, but, of coxxrse,

of Pennsylvania 93

in Confederate money. The order was obeyed to the
extent of opening the stores and shops, but as most of
them were nearly or entirely empty, there was little
traffic. There were odds and ends of valueless stock
not deemed of sufficient value to ship away, but the
Confederate customers cleaned out the remnants and
paid liberal prices in Confederate money that was
printed by the army as it moved along. Jenkins then
withdrew his force and fell back to Greencastle, and
spent four days in that rich portion of Franklin County,
gathering in all the property that could be made usef td
to the army. On the 2 2d Jenkins' raid ended, and on
that day he rejoined the advance of Lee's infantry
between Greencastle and Hagerstown, when the inva-
sion of Lee's army in force began.

About ten o'clock on the morning of the 23d, Jenkins'
cavalry returned to Chambersburg as the advance of
the infantry that was closely following him. E well's
corps was in the advance, and made liberal requisitions
upon Greencastle on the 23d, and on the 24th it entered
the town of Chambersburg to the music of the " Bonnie
Blue Flag."

Many requisitions were made by Ewell upon the
citizens of Chambersburg, all of which were impossible
of fulfilment, as all valuables that could be removed
had been sent away. One of the most amusing
features of his several requisitions was a demand for
the immediate delivery of nine barrels of sauerkraut.
He knew that sauerkraut was regarded as a very
valuable antiscorbutic, and as some of his troop
suffered from scurvy because of their unwholesome
rations, he assumed that sauerkraut would be an
invaluable remedy for those who were threatened with
that malady. He was quite incredulous at first, when
informed that sauerkraut was a commodity that could
not be kept in midsimimer, and that such a thing was

OT ' i ":rs where
he :he table.
tc ■> - --ambers-
si ^ "■ ^-"-y T.lace
n: '--^T :eature
tl • - : ^r. article

•

11"

ii - :-:::T::ajid-

1< - . . :' i ricarin-

3 . .-■-::•■ rdinatl*

f < ""rr.-; or IL'V,

t

:-.:r.mand

V -->^ -":-rc was

1 -'.\.:e prop-

1 . . r : . rbidding

V. - y :he amiy,

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. ..-/.vd. It is

■/.-.: the order
: ..-. . v.as gener-

: :f:";'.»wcd how
. sC'iTows and
.•.r.dcd wholly
r ..'..y suj)])]iVs of
::..:r.s had been
.-. ::\ 'light ill. it
• ^^ :he ])er)])lc of
/"•\ :r.ills were all
-.. : :.' their utmost
. ..:-::: y, and Mi-s.
v. ..s <»ne of the
•/ y law jAirtner,
^ .'t::eral Lee, who
. . . v vis. only several

Of Pennsylvania 95

squares distant from Mrs. McLellan's residence. She
was promptly admitted to his presence and appealed
to him to permit supplies to be brought in to the people
of the town without being seized by his army. Lee
promptly arranged with her to have sufficient supplies
of flour furnished to the people, and after his generous
order she thanked him and asked him for his autograph,
to which he replied : ** Do you want the autograph of a
rebel?" Mrs. McLellan said: "General Lee, I am a
true Union woman and yet I ask for bread and for your
autograph." His answer was: **It is to your interest
to be for the Union and I hope you may be as firm in
your purpose as I am in mine." He gave her the
autograph and Mrs. McLellan brought bread to her
starving neighbors, and among her most cherished relics
during her life was her autograph of Robert E. Lee.

q6 Old Time Notes

LXI.
LEE DEFEATED AT GETTYSBURG.

Goneral Lee and His Leading Lieutenants in Chambersburg — Persona]
Description of General Lee — Why Lee Moved to Gettysburg — Re-
markable Feats of Volunteer Scouts — Stephen W. Pomeroy Gave
the First Word of Lee's Movement to Gettysburg — ^A Week of
Appalling Anxiety at Harrisburg and Throughout the State — Lee's
Retreat from Franklin County — Intense Passions That Denied
Burial to a Confederate Soldier.

ON MONDAY, June 29, 1863, General Lee, with
the largest Confederate army that ever en-
gaged in battle, had his entire command within
the limits of Peimsylvania, with his headquarters at
Chambersburg, and General Meade, who had just been
assigned to the command of the Army of the Potomac,
had his somewhat larger force on the line north and
south in Maryland and Pennsylvania, with his head-
quarters at Frederick City, ready to concentrate
against Lee whether he moved eastward by the line
of the Susquehanna or on the more direct line to Balti-
more and Washington. Lee himself, with his staff,
entered Chambersburg on the 26th, accompanied by
General A. P. Hill. When they reached the center
square of the town Lee and Hill, mounted on their
horses, conferred alone for some time, and they were
watched with great interest by the citizens, who were
intensely anxious to ascertain the line upon which Lee
would advance. After the consultation it was with a
measurable sense of relief that they saw Lee turn east-
ward on the Gettysburg pike. He proceeded to the
little grove known then as Shetter's Woods, just out-
side of the borough, where he made his headquarters,

Of Pennsylvania 97

and remained there until he started to Gettysburg on
the 31st of June.

The most careful and dispassionate observer among
the people of Chambersburg of the movements of Lee 's
army was Mr. Jacob Hoke, a prominent merchant, and
his ** History of the Great Invasion of 1863," a volume
of over 600 pages, is the most complete and accurate in
all details of the Gettysburg campaign that has ever
been presented. He witnessed the entrance of Lee
and Hill into the town, and thus describes Lee on page
167 of his admirable work: " General Lee, as he sat on
his horse that day in the public square of Chambers-
burg, looked every inch a soldier. He was at that time
about fifty-two years of age, stoutly built, medium
height, hair strongly mixed with gray, and a rough gray
beard. He wore the usual Confederate gray, with some
little ornamentation about the collar of his coat. His
hat was a soft black without ornamentation other than
a military cord arotmd the crown. His whole appear-
ance indicated dignity, composure and disregard for
the gaudy trappings of war and the honor attaching to
his high station."

Lee's army was then located as follows: Of E well's
corps, Barley's division was at York, Rhodes' division
at Carlisle, Johnson's around Shippensburg and Jen-
kins' cavalry was at Mechanicsburg, less than ten miles
from the State Capital. Of Hill's corps, Heth's division
was at Cashtown, with Pender's and Anderson's be-
tween Fayetteville and Greenwood, both in Franklin
County and west of the South Mountain. Of Long-
street's corps, McLaws and Hood were in the neigh-
borhood of Fayetteville, Pickett's division was near
Chambersburg to cover the rear of the advancing army ;
Imboden's cavalry was at Mercersburg and Stuarts
cavalry was in the neighborhood of Union Mills, Mary-
land, north of Westminster. Lee was greatly em-

98 Old Time Notes

barrassed for two days at Chambersburg in deciding
upon what line he shotild move, as he had no knowl-
edge of the movements of the Union army. Stuart,
who should have been between Lee and the Union
army, and giving information to Lee of its move-
ments, was driven from his course by the Union cavalry
in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and it was not until
Simday night, Jime 28, that a scout reached Lee's
headquarters and gave him the first information that
the Union army had crossed the Potomac and was
concentrated, with Frederick as its center, ready to
imite against Lee whether he should march by the Sus-
quehanna or the line of the Potomac.

This information quickly decided Lee to move to
Gettysburg, and orders were sent by swift messengers,
as all telegraphic commimication was interrupted, to
Earley and Rhodes and all the other outposts to con-
centrate as speedily as possible at Gettysburg. The
celerity with which Hooker had moved his army across
the Potomac on a line that always gave the fullest
protection to the Capital, and compelled Lee to cross
the Potomac west of the Blue Ridge, decided Gettys-
burg as the great battlefield of the war. Had Lee
crossed the Potomac east of the Blue Ridge, as he
originally intended, or had he been advised of Hooker's
crossing the Potomac two days earlier, his army would
have been far east of Gettysburg by the time that the
battle was fought, and he would have escaped the
fatal necessity of fighting the Army of the Potomac
in probably the strongest natural position it could have
foimd between Williamsport and Washington. The
only opposition that Lee's advance met with in the
Cumberland Valley was an occasional feeble skirmish
with the undisciplined militia commanded by General
Knipe, of Harrisburg, who, being unable to give battle
to the overwhelming numbers of the enemy that always

Of Pennsylvania 99

confronted him, discreetly retired down the valley until
he landed in Harrisburg.

Such was the attitude of the two opposing armies
immediately before the battle of Gettysburg began.
The entire Cumberland Valley was isolated from Har-
risburg, as all communication by railway or telegraph
was broken up, and every highway in the valley was
covered by Lee's troops. My experience in enter-
taining the Confederate officers in 1862, who had orders
to take me as a prisoner to Richmond, but who waived
their knowledge of my personality because of the
hospitaUty they requested and received, taught me that
it would not be discreet for me to remain at home to
entertain our Southern guests. I went to Harrisburg
on the last train that passed through the Cimiberland
Valley before the battle, and remained there until Lee's
retreat from the great struggle that inexorably pro-
nounced the doom of the Confederacy.

The more active men of Chambersburg well knew
how important it was for information to reach Harris-
burg of the movements of Lee 's army, and scouts were
sent out every day and night when any movement of
importance was made. It is marvelous how quickly
the yoimg men of the town and neighborhood developed
into the most daring and skillful scouts. The most
prominent of them were Shearer Houser, Benjamin S.
Huber, J. Porter Brown, Anthony Hollar, Sellers Mont-
gomery, T. J. Grimeson, Stephen W. Pomeroy and Mr.
Kinney. The only way that they could reach Harris-
burg was by getting out on the northwest toward Stras-
burg, and by climbing several spurs of the motmtains
into Tuscarora or Sherman's Valley, and reach the
Pennsylvania Railroad at Newport, in Perry Cotmty,
or Port Royal, in Jimiata County. When the concen-
tration toward Gettysburg began scouts were sent out
generally with information written out by Judge

100 Old Time Notes

Kimmell on tissue paper either sewed in their garments
or carred in a pocket where they could be promptly
fingered into a little ball and swallowed in case of
capture.

The movement of the infantry toward Gettysburg
was sent out at once, but was not regarded as decisive
of Lee crossing the motmtain to Gettysburg imtil on
the night of the 29th, when the wagon train of the army
was hurried through Chambersburg on the way to
Gettysburg. It was then accepted as conclusive that
the battle center of the campaign was to be transferred
from the Cumberland Valley to the line between the
South Motmtain and the Potomac, and it was con-
sidered of the utmost importance to have the infor-
mation sent speedily to Harrisburg, as the only way
to reach the Union commander. Among the yoimg
men who happened to be in the town was Stephen W.
Pomeroy, of Strasburg, whose father had been an
associate judge with Kimmell on the bench, and Kim-
mell knew that he would be one of the safest who could
be trusted with such a mission. Kimmell prepared a
despatch without date or signature, briefly telling of
Lee's movements, and the certainty of his concentra-
tion on the Potomac line. This despatch was carefully
sewed inside the lining of the buckle -strap of Pomeroy 's
pants, and he was hurried off on his important mission.
He went on foot to his father's home in Strasburg,
where he managed to find a horse, and hurried across
the mountain spurs into Path Valley and to Concord at
the head of the valley where the mountain gap opens
into Tuscarora Valley. He secured a fresh horse there,
and rode rapidly down the Tuscarora Valley, exchanged
horses again with an acquaintance near Bealtown, and
he reached Port Royal on the Pennsylvania Railroad,
between two and three o'clock in the morning, after hav-
ing walked nearly twenty miles at a rapid gait and ridden

Of Pennsylvania loi

over forty miles. He walked up tx> the telegraph oper-
ator and delivered his despatch, but he was in such
an exhausted condition that he did not think of the
necessity of signing it, or indicating in some way from
whom it came.

I was one of the most anxious party in the Gover-
nor's room at Harrisburg waiting for some information
of the movement of Lee's army, and not knowing at
what hour Lee would swoop upon Harrisburg and hoist
the Confederate flag over the Capitol. For three days
we had no information, excepting that furnished by
scouts, and while it was at times important, all of the
reports received up to that time gave no inforaiation
as to Lee 's purpose to deliver battle in the Cumberland
Valley or south of the South Motmtain. There had
been no sleep, except broken naps forced by exhaus-
tion, and not one of the Governor's circle had been in
bed for three nights. The whole State was simply
paralyzed by the appalling situation, and one of the
aggravating features of it was that no information
could be obtained of Lee's movements or pur-
poses. Colonel Scott was present, but rarely left
the little room in which was the telegraph battery.
About three o'clock in the morning of the ist of July,
Scott brought into the Executive chamber an tmsigned
despatch dated at Port Royal, telling that Lee's entire
army was marching toward Gettysburg, and that the
wagon trains rapidly followed, to which the operator had
added that the messenger had left Chambersburg the
day before and reached Port Royal through Path and
Tuscarora Valleys, but no information was given as to
his identity.

The operator at Port Royal closed his office immedi-
ately upon sending the despatch, and all efforts to get
him for further explanation failed. General Couch,
who was present, finding that in no way could th^

I02 Old Time Notes

account be verified by reaching the messenger, at once
crossed the river and advanced a strong picket force
toward Carlisle, and early in the forenoon he discovered
that Rhodes had withdrawn from Carlisle, and moved
directly toward Gettysburg, and he at once advanced
his force up the valley that was then entirely free from
the enemy and re-established telegraph and railroad
communication. As soon as the tmsigned despatch was
received, it was repeated to Washington, and General
Meade received it probably within less than an hour
after it reached Harrisburg. It was the information
given by this despatch that prompted General Meade to
order Reynolds to make his reconoissanoe in force to
Gett3rsburg, resulting in the first day's battle disastrous
to the Union army, and the death of Reynolds.

Events of overwhelming moment multiplied so
rapidly upon the worn-out men at Harrisburg that the
question of the author of the despatch giving the im-
portant information was forgotten, and it was not until
twenty years later that Governor Curtin, or any of
those about him at the time, discovered who the mes-
senger was. The Presbjrterian synod was meeting in
Belief onte, and Governor Curtin was entertaining
several of the ministers. At the breakfast table one
morning the Governor mentioned the remarkable
circumstance of the important information received
about Lee 's movement to Gettysburg, and that he had
never been able to learn who the scout was who brought
the message. One of his guests, Rev. Stephen W.
Pomeroy, a member of the synod, then told them for
the first time that he was the scout, and at Curtin 's
request wrote out for him a detailed account of his
journey.

News from the battlefield was awaited with the wild-
est interest, but none came imtil the morning of the
second day, when the information of the death of Rey-

Of Pennsylvania 103

nolds and the ovenvhelmmg defeat of the two corps
engaged, with the capture of some 4,000 prisoners,
reached the North through Baltimore, and the first
authentic accotmt of the battle was brought by Major
Rosengarten and Captain Riddle, of Reynolds' staff,
who brought the body of their fallen chieftain to sleep
with his kindred. During all of the second of July
many bloody conflicts occurred on the Gettysburg
field, and there was continued tmcertainty and fearful
apprehension as to the final issue of the conflict. Gen-
eral Meade had communication with Washington so
that any important event could be ascertained. The
most hopeful view that could be taken of the reports
of the second day's conflict was that it was without
special advantage to either side, and all of the night
of the second, and the morning and day of the third
passed with the most painful tmcertainty prevailing at
Harrisburg. Wayne MacVeagh was among the men
who gave anxious days and sleepless nights to the
occasion, and he spent most of his time close to the tick
of the telegraph. About five or six o'clock in the after-
noon he rushed into the Governor's chamber, and with
a wildly tremulous voice read out Meade's despatch
annotmcing the reptdse of Pickett's charge. All knew
that such a charge was the last desperate effort of Lee
to win at Gettysburg, and that his defeat was almost
absolutely assured. It was the first moment of relief
or anything approaching repose the worn-out men at
the Capitol had been able to welcome for fully a week.
Some immediately sought their beds for rest, while
within half an hour there were many sleepers in the
chairs and on the sofas of the Capitol rooms. Curtin,
because of his feeble condition, was forced home to
take his bed and remain there several days with the
assiuance that he would be notified of any new peril
that ^ose.

\

I04 Old Time Notes

The following morning, the natal day of the Repub-
lic, the sun arose to spread its refulgence over a cloud-
less sky, and the first news received from the battle-
field was that Lee's trains were retreating toward the
Potomac, and later came the message from Grant telling
of the surrender of Vicksburg. The people of Pennsyl-
vania not only felt that they had been rescued from
invasion and the desolation of war upon their own soil,
but they knew that the military power of the Confed-
eracy was broken, and the dark cloud of imcertainty
verging on despair, that hung over the great State for
nearly a fortnight, speedily gave way to the strength-
ened conviction and delightful hope that the Union
could be restored by the valor of our arms.

The sudden change made by the report of Lee 's defeat
and the capture of Vicksburg was visible on every face,
old and yoimg. The terrible strain was ended, the
invasion was repulsed, and the many thousands of
people in the Cumberland Valley, scattered all through
the interior and eastern part of the State, with their
stock and other valuables, began a general movement
homeward. Many of the farmers had left their golden
wheat fields ready for the reaper, but fortunately the
Confederates expected to occupy the valley and harvest
it, and no destruction of the grain fields was permitted.
Most of the crops were thus saved, and in a few weeks
industrial operations in the shops and valleys were
very generally resumed. General Couch moved his
forces forward through the Cumberland Valley and
rapidly repaired the railway and telegraph lines, and
by the loth of July he established his headquarters at
Chambersburg. A large portion of Milroy's command
had scattered off through the motmtains in squads of
half a dozen or more, and in the general demoralization
foraged upoii the country recklessly and often destruc-
tively. It required nearly two weeks to get them re-

Of Pennsylvania 105

united. They were scattered along the Jtiniata Valley
and in the mountains as far west as Altoona. Most of
the people as they returned to their homes were amazed
to fold their property in comparatively well-preserved
condition, as Lee's orders against the wanton destruc-
tion of property were scrupulously enforced by the
infantry.

The last echo of Lee 's army in the Cumberland Valley
came from his immense train nearly twenty miles long,
that left Lee at Gettysburg on the 4th and led the
advance of the retreat. To escape the dashes of the
Union cavalry, this immense train recrossed the South
Motmtain and turned southward at Greenwood to the
Potomac along the tmfrequented road on the mountain
base, and where only the two small villages of New
Guilford and New Franklin witnessed it. The wagons
of this train were largely filled with the severely
wounded, and accompanying it were all the wounded
who were able to travel on foot. This train was thirty-
four hours in passing a given point, and General Imbo-
den, who had charge of it, and whose cavalry command
protected it, stated in an article contributed to the
Annals of the War that when compactly in line the
train was seventeen miles in length. The number of
wounded in the wagons and wallang was not less than
10,000 or 12,000, and many of those who attempted to
walk with the train fell by the wayside. These were
gathered up and brought to Chambersburg, where a
Confederate hospital was improvised, but the intense
passions inspired by civil war made the people of even
so intelligent and Christianlike a commtmity as those
of Chambersburg at fo*st withhold kind ministrations
to the woimded of the enemy. Dr. Senseny, my own
family physician, was in charge of this hospital, and in
the multiplicity of cares that crowded upon my return
to Chambersburg I had given no attention to it.

io6 Old Time Notes

After these wounded Confederates had been in Cham-
bersburg for a week Dr. Senseny called upon me, and
made a personal appeal to inaugurate a movement to
give much-needed relief to many of the suffering. It
would not have been discreet for any other than a pro-
nounced loyal citizen to take the first step toward
relief for these sufferers, but my attitude was not one
that could be questioned, and Mrs. McClure at once
went with the doctor and visited all of the sufferers
personally. That movement made an open door for
all, and thereafter they had even more generous
ministration than most of them could have obtained at
home. A message was brought to me by Dr. Senseny
from Colonel Carter, I believe a native of Tennessee, but
then a resident of Texas, who had no hope of recovery,
and had appealed to the doctor to bring him some one
who would give him the assurance of Christian burial.
I called at once and fotmd the sufferer, an unusually
bright and handsome man, calmly watching the rapid
approach of death. With beseeching eyes that would
have melted the sternest enemy, he begged of me to
give him the assurance that his body would receive
Christian burial, and when he was told that I would
personally execute his request, he reached out his
trembling hand and gave most grateful acknowledg-
ment. A few days thereafter he died, and I at once
applied to the authorities of the Presbyterian church,
of whose congregation I was a member, for permission
to bury him in the cemetery, but it was promptly
refused. A new cemetery company had been organ-
ized a short time before, of which I was an officer, and I
applied to that company to sell me a lot for the burial of
the Confederate soldier, but that was refused. I then
announced that I would set apart a lot on the comer of
my farm on the public highway, and dedicate it by deed
as the renting place of Colonel Carter. The incident

Of Pennsylvania 107

caused very general disctission, and finally several
prominent members of the Methodist church decided
that it was un-Christian to refuse burial to a fallen foe,
and they permitted his body to be interred in their
cemetery. Such were the appalling estrangements
caused by civil war that a community noted for its
intelligence and Christian character hesitated to give
even decent sepulture to one who had fallen in the
battle as conscientious in his convictions as were the
brave boys who vanquished him in the conflict.

io8 Old Time Notes

LXII.
PENNSYLVANIA'S LUSTROUS RECORD.

The Declaration of Independence Proclaimed in Pennsylvania — Wash-
ington Assigned to the Command of the Army — The Constitution
Framed in Carpenters' Hall with Washington Presiding — Gettysburg,
the Decisive Battle of the War, Fought in the State — General Meade
of Pennsylvania the Victor — Reynolds Killed and Hancock Seriously
Woimded — Gregg, Another Pennsylvanian, Fought and Won the
Great Cavalry Battle of the War — How Gettysburg Was Made the
Battle Ground — Why Meade Did Not Pursue Lee — Lincoln Was
Disappointed.

PENNSYLVANIA furnished the most lustrous
chapters in the annals of the achievements of
the Republic, not only in creating free govern-
ment for the united colonies, but also in preserving it
when it was assailed with monstrous power and deadly
purpose. It was in Pennsylvania that Jefferson wrote
the Declaration of Independence, and it was in Inde-
pendence Hall that Jefferson^s immortal declaration
was unanimously adopted and proclaimed to the col-
onies and to the world on the Fourth of July, 1776. It
was in Pennsylvania that Washington was called to
the command of the army, and it was in Pennsylvania
that the Constitution, framed by a convention that
sat in Carpenters* Hall, with Washington presiding,
framed what was generally accepted as the grandest
fundamental law ever prepared by any country of the
world. It was in Pennsylvania that sad records of
Washington's winter in Valley Forge were written,
when even the stoutest-hearted of the patriot leaders
were trembling on the verge of despair, and it was in
Pennsylvania that Washington started to cross th^

of Pennsylvania 109

ice-bound Delaware to turn the tide of battle on New
Jersey plains and give renewed hope to the cause of
independence.

Just three-quarters of a century after the inaugura-
tion of constitutional government the decisive battle
that halted the dismemberment of the Republic was
fought on the hills and plains of Gettysburg. It was
the final arbitrament of the sword proclaiming the inex-
orable judgment that "government of the people,
by the people and for the people shall not peridi from
the earth.*'

The battle of Gettysburg was not only fought on
Pennsylvania soil, but in no other important battle of
the war was Pennsylvania heroism so generally and so
conspicuously displayed. General Meade, a Pennsyl-
vanian, was suddenly thrust into the command of the
Army of the Potomac only three days before the battle
of Gettysburg began, and he was the chieftain who won
the greatest of all the Union victories in the fratricidal
strife. Reynolds, another Pennsylvania soldier, was
charged by Meade with the responsible duty of making
the reconnoissance in force that precipitated the
battle on the undulating plains between Gettysburg
and Cashtown, where the heroic Reynolds fell early in
the action when his single corps was driving the enemy.
Hancock, another Pennsylvania general, was hurried
to Gettysburg by Meade after the report of the defeat
and death of Reynolds, and authorized to decide
whether the discomfited corps at Gettysburg should
fall back upon Meade's line or whether Meade should
advance the entire army. It was Hancock's command
that received and repiilsed Pickett's charge with the
Philadelphia brigade in the Bloody Angle. Hancock
lay on the field severely wounded until he was able
to send the cheering report to his chief that the final
charge of the enemy not only resulted in failure, but

112 Old Time Notes

condition with the means at my disposal, and earnestly
request that I may at once be relieved from the position
I occupy. ' *

Hooker's request to be relieved of the command of
the army was promptly acceded to, and on Sunday,
Jime 28, Colonel Hardie, of the War Department,
reached Frederick with the official order relieving
Hooker and placing Meade in command of the Army of
the Potomac. Meade had on several previous occa-
sions peremptorily refused to permit himself to be con-
sidered for the command of that army, but he was a
true soldier, and with imconcealed regret at the neces-
sity that compelled his advancement, he accepted the
gravest responsibility assigned to any Union officer
from the beginning to the close of the war. No braver
and no more conscientious soldier than General Meade
ever wore his country's blue.

I first met Meade at the camp of the Pennsylvania
Reserves on the day he first wore his brigadier's star
and came to take command of a Reserve brigade. He
was an imusually modest man imder all ordinary con-
ditions, but he was the fiend of battle and regarded by
all as the fiercest fighter of all the corps commanders.
He was not at all elated by his promotion to the com-
mand of the army, nor did he permit himself to be
depressed by the terrible responsibility that had been
thrust upon him. He felt that the safety of the Cap-
ital, and indeed the safety of the Republic, were com-
mitted to his keeping, and soldier-like he did not shrink
from the appalling duty that had been assigned to him.
He was compelled to take command of a widely-scat-
tered army, wisely placed to be able to concentrate
against Lee either on the Susquehanna or the Poto-
mac line, nor did he even know where the different
corps of his army were posted. He knew that he must
meet Lee in battle, and he never thought of fighting

of Pennsylvania 113

any other than a defensive battle, as Lee would be
compelled to attack him in his advance on Philadelphia
or Baltimore.

Asstiming that Lee was likely to cross the South
Moimtain and follow the line of the Potomac to keep
in closer touch with his base of supplies, Meade ordered
General Humphrey to choose a position for defensive
battle in the vicinity of Emmittsburg, resulting in the
selection of the general line of Pipe Creek, where Meade
expected to accept battle if Lee should move toward
Gettysburg. So careful was he to prevent confusion
in the movements of his army that he issued an order
to the several corps commanders informing them of
the line chosen for defense, and defining the position
each corps should assume if ordered to that position.
Gettysburg was chosen by neither conmiander; it
was controlled by inexorable events. When informed
of Lee's positive movement toward Gettysburg by the
dispatch sent by Governor Curtin about three or four
o'clock on the morning of July ist, he immediately
ordered Reynolds to take his own and the Eleventh
corps and make a reconnoissance in force, resulting in
the death of Reynolds and the disastrous battle of the
first day. As soon as advised of the result of the first
day's battle, Meade ordered Hancock to the front to
take command of all the forces there, and to advise
whether the army should be concentrated at Gettys-
burg or fall back to Pipe Creek. In the meantime
all file different corps had been ordered to make forced
marches toward Emmittsburg.

Hancock arrived on Cemetery Hill during the night
after the first day's battle, and after a careftS examina-
tion of the position sent an urgent request to Meade to
accept battle there, and Meade himself came upon the
field early in the morning of the 2d. One of his first
acts after deciding upon his new battle line was to issue

a— 8

ii6 Old Time Notes

ceased and Pickett's division emerged from the woods
and formed in line for its desperate charge upon the •
nearest point of the Union line. A cltimp of small
trees just behind the Bloody Angle made an objective
point for the assailing forces, as the stone wall behind
which the Union troops were defending at that point
extended out a considerable distance, nmking the angle
that is now known in history as the ** Bloody Angle ' '
of Gettysburg. Pickett's division was compelled to
march three-quarters of a mile over an ascending plain,
and the two fences which lined the Emmittsburg road.
From the moment that they formed in line in the open
field and commenced the advance they came imder the
fire of 150 Union guns, which not only struck them in
front, but enfiladed both flanks, and when they crossed
half the distance a hail of infantry bullets met them.
There was not a single general officer in the charge
who did not fall either killed or wounded, and a divi-
sion of some 5, 000 men retreated with the broken
fragments under the command of a lieutenant colonel.

Meade reached the battle near the Bloody Angle
before the final repulse of Pickett's men, and personally
witnessed the strangely heroic sons of the South who
had fought their way through such a hurricane of death
and crossed the stone wall to die or surrender in the
Union lines. Thus late in the evening of the third
day of the battle Meade had repulsed what he had
reason to believe was, and what proved to be, the final
charge of Lee's army, and he has been criticised because
he did not immediately take the aggressive and assail
Lee's broken columns.

Lee's entire command was in strong position with
Seminary Hill as its center, and if Meade's army had
even been fresh and ready for exhaustive effort, it
would have been midsummer madness for him to take
the aggressive. If he had done so he would simply

4

Of Pennsylvania 117

have imitated the error of Lee in Pickett's charge, and
the fruits of Meade's victory might have been measur-
ably or wholly lost. Meade's entire army had been
engaged in forced marches, repeated battles and severe
labors to strengthen entrenchments, with nearly one-
fourth of its number killed, wounded or captured, and
it was not in a condition for aggressive movement,
and Meade profited by the severe lesson that Lee had
been taught. He held the safety of Washington and
Baltimore in his hands, when the loss of either might
have decided the issue of the war by the recognition of
the Confederacy abroad, and I accord him the highest
measure of heroic soldierly qualities in deciding to
hold his defensive position of safety.

On another occasion Meade exhibited a degree of
heroic soldierly qualities that not one commander in a
hundred would have had the courage to exhibit. Late
in the fall of 1863 he discovered that Lee's army was
divided, and he made a sudden movement to Mine
Rim to strike Lee's forces in detail, but a mistake in
the movement of one of his corps advised the enemy
of the approach, and when Meade reached Mine Rim
he found Lee's united army entrenched in an invul-
nerable position. At a council of war it was decided
to make an assault, and on the morning just before the
assault was to be made, Meade personally inspected
the position of the enemy and was brave enough to
order his army to fall back without firing a gun.

If Meade could have taken position in advance of
Lee's retreating army, he could have greatly impeded
it and made it suffer serious loss in the many moimtain
gaps and ravines through which it was compelled to
pass, but if Meade had attempted to pursue, there
were many passes where a brigade could have held a
corps at bay, and fight imder every possible advantage.
Knowing this, Meade moved by the more open route

ii3 Old Time Notes

to the Potomac, and at Williamsport Lee was in posi-
tion where, if Meade had attacked him, Lee would
have had every advantage that Meade had in Lee's
attack on the hills of Gettysbtirg.

Lincoln was greatly disappointed that Lee left
Gettysburg and crossed the Potomac without being
forced to give battle again, and he never fully justified
Meade 's failure to take the aggressive. I saw him soon
after the battle, and as Gettysburg was in my senatorial
district, and I understood the highways and moimtain
passes, he made very minute inquiry as to the roads. I
said to him that he did not seem to be entirely satis-
fied with what Meade had done, to which he answered
in these words : " I am prof oimdly grateful to Meade,
down to my very boots, for what he did at Gettysburg,
but I think if I had been Meade I would have fought
another battle. ' ' While Grant and Meade were never
in open or actual discord during the campaign of 1864,
I speak advisedly when I say that Meade did not ap-
prove of giving battle in the Wilderness, where the army
suffered such frightful loss without seriously injuring
the enemy. Some time after Grant's election to the
Presidency, and before he was inaugurated, I was a
guest at a dinner given to Grant by John Rice, Twenty-
first and Walnut, Philadelphia. There were forty or
fifty guests, and my seat happened to be by the side
of General Meade, who was not very far from the guest
of honor. In the course of our conversation I made some
inquiry about the Wilderness campaign, and, to my
utter surprise, Meade became much excited and spoke
in terms of the strongest condemnation of the wanton
sacrifice made by the army in that campaign. He
said that if his suggestions and reports in relation to
that campaign ever reached the public, the movement
would be severely criticised. He spoke with so much
feeling that I had to quietly remind him that he might

Of Pennsylvania 119

be heard by Grant himself. It is not surprising,
therefore, that when Grant came to appoint a lieu-
tenant general to succeed Sherman, he preferred
Sheridan, whom he loved, to Meade, for whom he
cherished no kindlier feeling than respect for him as a
soldier.

The nation has not justly appreciated and honored
the incalculable service rendered by General Meade
at Gettysburg, but in Pennsylvania, the grand old Com-
monwealth that was his home, and where he now
sleeps in the City of the Silent, his name should ever
be lisped with reverence and affection.

I20 Old Time Note's

LXIII.

THE SENATE DEADLOCK IN 1864.

General Harry White, a Republican Senator, in Libby Prison, Leaving
the Senate with Sixteen Democrats and Sixteen Republicans — All
Offers for White's Exchange Refused by the Confederate Govern-
ment— Speaker Penny Retained the Chair — ^The Democratic Senators
Refused Him Recognition — General White's Father Delivers the
Senator's Resignation to the Grovemor — ^Dr. St. CUir Elected at a
Special Election Restoring the RepubUcans to Authority — ^The
Movement to Care for the Soldiers' Orphans — Cortm's Extraordinary
Efforts to Give it Success — Violent Partisan Legislation Governing
Elections in the Field — ^Jerrie McKibben, One of Curdn's Commis-
sioners. Imprisoned by Stanton — ^The Story of His Rdease.

THE re-election of Curtin in 1863, with 75,000
disfranchised soldiers in the field, and the
leading Cameron men sincerely anxious for
his defeat, gave Curtin a position of apparent political
omnipotence in the State that would have made almost
any other than General Cameron despair of being able
to wrest the control of the party from the Governor, but
Cameron was not only one of the most sagacious
political leaders of this or any other State, but he was
a man of tireless energy and would rise up from defeat
after defeat to renew his battle for the mastery. He
had taken no part in the gubernatorial contest imtil a
short time before the election, when the intensity of
patriotic sentiment in the State made it necessary for
him to show his hand distinctly in favor of Curtin. A
Republican mass meeting was called in Harrisburg to
K^ addressed bv General Ben Butler, at which Cameron
presided, and declared himself with emphasis in favor
of the siicct^ss of the party candidate.

Of Pennsylvania 121

It was not then expected that Ctirtin was likely to
live to complete his second term. Although he took
little part in the campaign becaxise of his greatly en-
feebled condition, it was, nevertheless, very exhausting
because of the anxiety naturally felt, and the constant
pressure upon his time by political as well as official
duties. He was confined to his room for a week or
more after the election. Although the severe strain
was over, the reaction greatly prostrated him, and his
family and friends were very apprehensive of an early
collapse. He frequently appeared at the Executive
office, but avoided all official duties which could be
transferred to any of his subordinates. With all the
care that he exercised for the restoration of his health,
as the time approached for the meeting of the
Legislature, to be followed soon by his second inaug-
uration, there was no perceptible improvement in his
physical vigor.

I saw him at the Executive mansion on Friday, when
his inauguration was to take place two weeks from the
following Tuesday. He was quite feeble, and spoke
about the difficulty of tmdertaking his inaugural ad-
dress, saying that he had put it off from day to day
until it had become a source of worry to him. I asked
him to come to Chambersburg the next day and stay
with me over Simday, adding that I would help him
out with the inaugural, to which he answered: " Well,
if you will write an inaugural for me and have it ready
when I come to Chambersburg to-morrow evening, I
will dismiss the subject and join you to rest over Sun-
day." I told him I would have it ready. I returned
home that evening and before retiring to bed wrote
the address. I met the Governor at the depot the
next evening and his first question was: ** Well, is the
inaugural ready?'* To which I answered that it was.
He seemed delighted that the inaugiu-al was disposed

122 Old Time Notes

of and he never made any allusion to it, nor any inquiry
as to what it contained, until Sunday evening, when I
suggested that as he was to return to Harrisburg the
next morning it would be well for him to look at the
draft of the inaugural I had prepared, and handed him
the manuscript. He read it carefully, without remark,
until he was through, when he said : " That's all right. **
He folded it up and put it in his coat pocket. No
change was made in the draft I gave him, excepting
the addition of the last two paragraphs, which were
added by Attorney General Meredith.

It must not be inferred from this statement that
Curtin relied largely upon others for the preparation of
his important State papers. If he had been enjoying a
reasonable degree of health he would have prepared
his second inaugural as he did his first, and all his other
important State papers, excepting only such as involved
legal questions, which were written by the attorney
general. No Governor of the State ever was called
upon to present so many imix)rtant official State
papers as were called for by the varied emergencies
which arose during Curtin *s administration, and with
the few exceptions I have stated, he always prepared
them himself. While Quay was his private secretary,
he usually dictated and Quay would take it down in
abbreviated notes, and as he was a master in the use
of the best English, he always presented the copies to
Curtin in faultless style. When dictating on a subject
of special importance he was always on his feet, walking
leisurely back and forth in the room with his snuff-box
in hand, and when warmed up on his subject he was
liberal in the use of the snuff. Curtin was unusually
fluent in speech and when writing became irksome he
soon learned to dictate with ease without impairing the
vigor of his composition.

After Curtin *s second inauguration it was decided

Of Pennsylvania 123

by his physicians that lie mtist take a season of abso-
lute rest, notwithstanding the presence of the Legis-
lature. They declared that he could not survive a
winter in Harrisburg with the constant pressure that
wotild be upon him even with the exercise of the great-
est care. His system seemed to be entirely broken
and his recuperative powers exhausted. President
Lincoln had Secretary Welles tender him a government
vessel to take him to Havana, where it was decided
that he should spend part of the winter, and I well
remember how despair was pictured upon the faces of
his many friends who bade him farewell in Philadelphia
when he started on his cruise for the South. Not one
of us believed that we would ever see him again alive,
but in Cuba his health improved rapidly, and by the
middle of March he was back again in the Executive
chamber enjoying a degree of vigor that he had not
possessed for more than a year. There was then no
Lieutenant Governor and the speaker of the senate
could exercise executive powers only in the event of the
death or resignation of a Governor. Thus Pennsyl-
vania was for more than a month without an executive
officer, which did not embarrass legislation, excepting
that it saved the Legislature from the veto power of
the Executive, as all bills passed by the senate and
house became laws at the expiration of ten days after
received in the Executive office, without the signature
of the Governor, unless within that time the Governor
exercised the veto power.

It happened, however, that there was little or no
legislation during the Governor's absence, as the senate
had sixteen Democrats and sixteen Republicans, with
Senator Harry White, of Indiana, in Libby Prison.
He had been captured in Milroy's retreat from Win-
chester, and it became known to the Confederate
authorities at Richmond that as long as White was a

124 Old Time Notes

prisoner the Republicans, regarded by the South as the
war party of the North, could pass no legislation.
Liberal offers were made for the exchange of Senator
White, but they were stubbornly refused, and the
deadlock was finally broken by White's resignation
and the prompt election of his successor.

Many amusing incidents occurred in the senate dur-
ing the deadlock. Partisan prejudice was then at its
zenith and it was at times difficult for even grave sena-
tors to maintain the courtesies which were always
expected in the first legislative tribunal of the State.
The Constitution was silent, and there was no law as
to the particular method of organizing the senate,
although it had been uniformly accepted by both
parties that the senate was always an organized body,
as the speaker was chosen at the close of every session
to serve during the recess and take the office of Gover-
nor in case of a vacancy. The uniform custom, how-
ever, had been for the speaker who served during the
recess to allow the clerk of the Senate to call the body
to order, instead of the speaker taking the chair him-
self, and call the roll of senators to elect a speaker. In
point of fact, and I doubt not equally in point of law,
Senator Penny, of Allegheny, who had been chosen
speaker at a previous session to serve during the recess,
was the speaker of the body until a successor was
chosen, or his term as senator expired, but there had
been no occasion for a speaker of the senate to exercise
such authority, and it had never been done. The
house was called to order by the clerk, because there
was no other official of the body competent to exercise
any authority tmtil a speaker was chosen.

Of course, the Republicans well knew that they
could not elect a speaker with sixteen Democratic and
sixteen Republican senators, and the distempered con-
dition of political affairs at that time made it impossi-

of Pennsylvania 1^5

ble for the two parties to reach a compromise organi-
zation that wotild have been easy to accomplish tmder
ordinary conditions, as the leaders of the two parties
could have harmonized by a division of offices and
committees. Such a solution of the problem, how-
ever, was imthought of on either side in January, 1864,
when the Legislature met and the Republicans decided
in caucus that the senate was always an organized
body and that Senator Penny should take the chair
and continue to preside imtil his successor was chosen.
To the surprise of the Democrats, when the senate met,
Speaker Penny took the chair and called the body to
order. He was one of the ablest lawyers of the State
and a man so blameless in his public career that even
his bitterest political enemies f oimd it difficult to assail
him. The Democrats refused to recognize him as
speaker, and exhausted their ingenuity to embarrass
him in the position he asstmied, but he maintained
himself with imbroken dignity during the long weeks
through which the deadlock continued. The Demo-
crats assumed that the senate was not an organized
body and, therefore, incapable of any legislation. No
matter what proposition was presented, the Democrats
tmiformly voted against it on the grotmd that the
senate was incompetent to consider the question, and
as the Republicans were powerless to legislate they
exhausted their ingenuity in making the Democrats
vote against the divinity of the Bible, the Declaration
of Independence and nearly every other vital feature
of Democratic faith.

Finally the elder Judge White, the father of Senator
White, brought into the Governor's office Senator
White's resignation, written on tissue paper that, as
the father reported it, had been concealed in the Bible
of an exchanged prisoner. The genuineness of the
resignation was very generally questioned by the

126 Old Time Notes

Democrats, while the Republicans were qtdte willing
to accept it without inquiry. It was promptly ac-
cepted by the Governor, a writ issued for a special
election to fill the vacancy at the shortest possible
notice, and Dr. St. Clair, Republican, was chosen and
entered the senate the morning after his certificate was
received, when Senator Penny was promptly elected
speaker and legitimate legislation began.

The Legislature of 1864 inaugurated the Soldiers'
Orphan School system of the State, but in a most
hesitating and grudging manner. When on his way to
church on Thanksgiving Day, of 1862, Governor Curtin
was met on the street by two children begging alms.
His sympathetic nature was attracted to the children,
and he stopped to inquire into their condition. The
first answer that came to him touched his heart. It
was in these words: ** Father was killed in the war."
He promptly gave them a liberal contribution and
passed on to church, but he was so profoimdly impressed
by the pathos of the remark made to him by the begging
children that he gave little attention to the Thanks-
giving sermon that grated harshly on his ears as he was
called upon to give thanks for the prosperity and happi-
ness the country enjoyed when the orphan children of
fallen soldiers were begging on the streets. A few
weeks after the Legislature of 1864 met, and in his
annual message, he said: **I commend to the prompt
attention of the Legislature the subject of the relief
of the poor orphans of our soldiers who have given, or
shall give, their lives to the country during this crisis.
In my opinion their maintenance and education should
be provided for by the State. Failing other natural
efforts of ability to provide for them, they should be
honorably received and fostered as the children of the
Commonwealth. ' *

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company had contrib-

Of Pennsylvania 127

uted $50,000 to be used by the State authorities in any
way deemed best to aid in the prosecution of the war,
and the Governor recommended that this $50,000 be
made the nucleus of a fund for the care of the orphans
of otir fallen soldiers, and a bill was introduced on the
8th of April, 1 864, when the Governor had returned from
his visit to Cuba, prepared by Professor Wickersham,
at the request of the Governor, providing for the ap-
pointment of a superintendent of schools for orphans,
with authority to select from any of the schools estab-
lished by the Commonwealth a certain number adapted
for the use of schools and homes for the orphans. The
Legislature hesitated to adopt a measure that would
bind the State to the probable expenditure of millions
of dollars, and finally passed a substitute bill simply
authorizing the Governor to accept the $50,000 con-
tributed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for
the education and maintenance of the soldiers* orphans
in such manner as the Governor might deem best.

The Legislature of 1864 was severely criticised for
its alleged want of liberality in dealing with the soldiers*
orphans, but it must be remembered that in 1863 the
financial condition of the State was not such as to
warrant any severe extra strain upon it. The Gover-
nor was greatly disappointed at the action of the Legis-
lature, and decided to inaugurate the system with the
$50,000 at his disposal and he appointed Thomas H.
Burrowes as superintendent of soldiers* orphans, who
placed a large number of children, from six to ten years
of age, in the charitable institutions of the State. The
first institution to accept and heartily second the
movement was the Northern Home for Friendless
Children, in Philadelphia, and it was the first soldiers'
orphan home established in the State.

The Governor felt assured that the system once
wisely inaugurated would be heartily maintained by

128 Old Time Notes

the people, and at the close of the year 1865 there were
eight schools for the older and seventeen homes and
asylums for the younger children, making a total of
1,329 pupils, but the only additional appropriation the
Governor was able to obtain was $75,000. When the
Legislature met in 1866 the Governor stormed the
Legislature into hearty accord with the soldiers'
orphan system by inviting 345 pupils of the soldiers'
orphan schools of McAUisterville, Mount Joy and Para-
dise, and asked permission of the house of representa-
tives to have them appear in the hall. They came in
the uniform of the schools, and Governor Curtin, in
the presence of the members of both branches of the
Legislature, an inspiring spectacle with the orphans
clustered around him, delivered an appeal to the Legis-
lature that silenced the opposition, and thereafter the
soldiers' orphan schools were liberally supported by
the State — supported, in fact, in later years to an
extent that justly invited criticism. The system is
still maintained imder the steady enlargement of its
aims tmtil over $12,000,000 have been expended by the
Commonwealth in obedience to Governor Curtin 's
command that the orphans of our soldiers and sailors
who fell or were disabled in military service should be
made the wards of the State. No other State of the
Union approached Pennsylvania in the care of the
children of its fallen heroes, and with all the abuses
which have crept into it long after Curtin 's control had
ceased, it stands to-day as one of the grandest monu-
ments of the beneficence of a great Commonwealth.

Another very important act of the Legislature of
1864 was the final passage of the proposed amendment
to the Constitution of the State authorizing the sol-
diers in the field to vote in their camps at all Pennsyl-
vania elections. In order to make the amendment
effective in the Presidential election of 1864, it was

Of Pennsylvania 129

necessary to call a special election to enable the people
to vote on the amendment, as required by the Constitu-
tion. A special election was fixed for early in August,
and the amendment was sustained by an overwhelming
majority. It was well known that the amendment
would be ratified by the popular vote, and the Legis-
lature of 1864 had a most bitter struggle in the passage
of an elaborate election law providing for holding elec-
tions and certifying returns by soldiers in the field.
Partisan bitterness was then at what might be called
high-water mark, and even the legislators who, under
ordinary conditions, would have been conservative
and just in framing an election law, were driven by the
intensity of partisan prejudice to support an election
law that practically gave the whole election into the
hands of politicians, with little or nothing to restrain
them in the perpetration of the most flagrant frauds.
I was not then a member of the Legislature, but was
requested by the Governor to join him in an earnest
effort to temper the violent partisan features of the
proposed measure, and secure an election law that
wotild be accepted as at least reasonably fair to all.
The bill as reported by the committee, and generally
accepted as the party measure, bristled with invita-
tions to fraud and opened the widest doors for its
perpetration. I was present in the Executive chamber
with Curtin when he had summoned ten or a dozen of
the prominent Republicans of both senate and house
and made a most earnest appeal to them to maintain
the integrity of Pennsylvania elections by framing a
perfectly fair bill to govern soldiers' elections in the
field. All admitted the justice of the Governor's
appeal, but none had the courage to brave the tidal
wave of partisan passion that ruled.

The result was that the Pennsylvania statute was a
dishonor to the Commonwealth. Among other pro-

I30 Old Time Notes

visions it authorized the Governor to appoint State
Conmiissioners to be present in the field on election
day, but without power beyond the right to report
irregtdarities or frauds. The bill was passed very late
in the session, and the Governor could not withhold
his approval. I urged him to appoint a number of
Democrats of high standing among the State conraiis-
sioners to vindicate his own sense of fairness, but his
answer was: "Where can I find Democrats who will
go?" I replied that we could certainly find half a
dozen or more who would accept the Governor's com-
mission, and among others I named Jerrie McKibben,
of Philadelphia, and he was appointed along with
several other Democrats. I notified McKibben of his
appointment, and requested his acceptance, but his
answer was that he couldn *t accept, as Stanton would
have him in Old Capitol Prison in three days. I told
him that Secretary Stanton would not attempt to
imprison an officer holding a commission from the
State of Pennsylvania tmless he committed some
flagrant wrong, and that as I knew he was too discreet
to tmdertake to interfere with the election in any way
whatever, he was entirely safe from the Secretary. He
did accept, and in three days after he joined the army,
then around Petersburg, he telegraphed me to come to
Washington at once, as he was in Old Capitol Prison.
I hastened to Washington, reaching there about nine
o'clock in the evening, and proceeded directly to the
White House to present the matter to the President.
I told him that several Democrats had been persuaded
reluctantly to accept these commissions with the
full knowledge that they would perform no official
duties beyond delivering election papers committed
to their charge, and that they had been appointed by
Governor Curtin solely to give some semblance of fair-
ness to the elections in the field. He at once sent to

Of Pennsylvania 131

the War Department for the papers on which the
arrest had been made, and when he received them, in
five minutes he saw that the order of arrest was made
on the grotmd that he had delivered fraudtilent election
papers, although he had delivered precisely the same
papers prepared by the conmiissioners of Philadelphia
that had been delivered by the Republican commission-
ers. A typographical error that could not in any way
afifect the election had been overlooked by the com-
missioners, and McKibben was held responsible. Lin-
coln pronotmced the arrest "a stupid blunder," and
told me that he would at once discharge McKibben.
He said he thought it was due to Stanton, who had
ordered the arrest, to release McKibben on parole, to
which I answered that McKibben could be at once
released on parole and that I would call at the Presi-
dent's room at ten o'clock the next morning, where I
hoped Stanton would be present, and would have
McKibben absolutely discharged. The President wrote
out himself the order for McKibben 's release, and I
hastened to Old Capitol Prison and supped with him at
the hotel.

I called at the White House the next morning at the
appointed hour, but Stanton had not appeared. A
few minutes later he came in. He entered the room
in a violent passion and his first remark to me was:
" Well, McClure, what damned rebel are you now trying
to get out of trouble?" I told him that he had im-
prisoned McKibben, whom he hated for no other
reason than that McKibben 's father and family had
been his friends in Pittsbtirg when he greatly needed
friends, and that if he had looked for a moment at the
papers he could not have committed such an outrage
as to order the imprisonment. Stanton was flagrantly
offensive in all he said, and refused to order McKibben
discharged from parole, but said a formal application

132 Old Time Notes

should be made which he would consider. I told him
that I did not know what Jerrie McKibben would do,
but that if Stanton conmiitted the same outrage upon
me, as there was a God above I would not leave the city
until I cropped his ears. Stanton made no reply, but
after rushing back and forth several times across the
room, he suddenly left the Executive chamber and
slammed the door violently after him. Lincoln said
nothing during this belligerent interview, but after
Stanton left, in his quaint way, he remarked that I had
not been very successful in persuading the Secretary
of War. He added, however, that the incident was
closed, that McKibben was free and that his parole was
a matter of no moment. I filed a formal application
for McKibben 's release from parole, and after a week
received a formal notice, all in the bold scrawl of Stan-
ton's handwriting, stating that the subject of the parole
of McKibben had been fully considered and that the
interests of the service required that it should not be
granted. The result was that Jerrie McKibben died a
prisoner on parole some fifteen years later, and nearly
ten years after the great War Minister had gone to his
final account.

Of Pennsylvania 133

LXIV
HOW LINCOLN NOMINATED JOHNSON.

The Inner Story of the Sagacious Political Movements Which Nominated
Andrew Johnson for Vice-President over Hamlin — How Lincoln
Managed to Unite Pennsylvania for Johnson without His Movements
Being Known — Cameron First in Lincoln's Confidence to Start the
Johnson Movement — A Shade of Distrust Between Lincoln and
Cameron — Why Lincoln Forced the Author to Become a Ddegate-
at-Large to the National Convention — How Cameron and the Author
were Elected without a Contest — The Delegation Finally United on
Johnson.

THE political condition in Pennsylvania at the
opening of 1864 was anything but serene.
While the Republicans generally accepted
and sincerely desired the renomination of President
Lincoln, he was very earnestly and even bitterly opposed
by some of the ablest leaders of the party, and among
them Thaddeus Stevens, then the commoner of the
House, who was violent against the policy of the Presi-
dent, while such distinguished leaders as Chase, Wade,
Sumner, Chandler, Henry Winter Davis and others
openly proclaimed their purpose to make exhaustive
effort to retire Lincoln. The Republicans at that time
were in the attitude toward Lincoln that the Demo-
crats were toward Cleveland in 1892. In both cases
the people of the party were absolutely and earnestly
in support of the candidates, while the leaders of the
party were largely against them. The Republican
people had absolute faith in Lincoln as the Democrats
in 1892 had in Cleveland, and Cameron saw his
opportimity to gain power and prestige by taking
the lead in an aggressive movement in favor of Lincoln's
nomin^tipu.

136 Old Time Notes

because of the terrible pressure that was upon him.
He proposed that Lincoln should be seen the next
morning, and he asstired Cameron that Lincoln would
permit Cameron to antedate a letter of resignation and
Lincoln write a kind acceptance. Scott saw the Presi-
dent early the next morning, and Lincoln readily
agreed to Scott's suggestion, resulting in the with-
drawal of the original letter from Lincoln to Cameron
and the substitution of the correspondence embracing
Cameron's formal resignation and Lincoln's formal and
very kind acceptance. Stanton had no knowledge
that he was considered for the cabinet until he was
notified that his nomination had been sent to the
Senate for the Secretaryship of War, nor did any mem-
ber of the cabinet know of the changes made. Even
Chase, who delivered the letter to Cameron, had no
knowledge of its contents.

It is only just to Cameron to say that when a reso-
lution of censure on his administration of the War
Department was adopted by a Republican House,
President Lincoln sent a brief special message to the
House stating that the censure of Cameron was not
wholly just, as in many things for which he was cen-
sured the President himself was equally responsible,
and a few years later the resolution of censure was
rescinded by the House and expunged from its record.

While the relations between Cameron and Lincoln
were somewhat strained by Lincoln's method of retir-
ing Cameron from the cabinet, Cameron did not hesi-
tate to take advantage of the opportunity presented
in the early part of 1864 to throw himself into the
breach and become the ostensible leader of the move-
ment to sustain Lincoln in Pennsylvania. The action of
the Legislature that was inspired by Cameron brought
out a very hearty and generally cordial response from
the RepubUcans of the State in favor of Lincoln, and

Of Pennsylvania 137

from that time until the meeting of the State con-
vention there was practically no Lincoln issue in the
Republican politics of the State. I was then enjoying
at home a season of reUef from public care, and trying
to give some attention to private affairs. My devo-
tion to Lincoln made me desirous to go as a delegate
to the National convention from my own congressional
district, and I was chosen by the unanimous action
of the different counties without the formality of a
conference. A few weeks before the meeting of the
convention the President telegraphed me to come to
Washington, and, notwithstanding the fact that at
that time more than a majority of all the delegates to
the National convention were positively instructed for
him, without serious opposition to him in any of the
States, I was surprised to find Lincoln apprehensive
that he might not be renominated. He knew that a
considerable number of very able men were earnestly
against him, and when I told him that it was not pos-
sible for him to be defeated with a majority of the
delegates instructed for him, and nearly all of the
remainder pledged to him, his answer was: "But I
don't forget that I was nominated for President in a
convention that was two-thirds for the other fellow. * *
He surprised me by saying that he had sent for me
for the purpose of having me made one of the delegates-
at-large from Pennsylvania. Considering that I was
already a member of the delegation, in which a man's
usefulness was measured entirely by his ability and
influence and not by the distinction of a delegate-at-
large over a district delegate, I could not but regard
the proposition as absurd, besides being, as I then
believed it to be, entirely impossible. I told the Presi-
dent that I could not, with any decency, appeal to
the State convention to elect me a delegate-at-large
when I was already imanimously chosen a delegate from

138 Old Time Notes

my district ; but Lincoln was persistent to an extent
that I cotild not imderstand, and I finally asked him
what he meant by asking me to attempt so imgraciotis
and, to my mind, impossible a thing. He informed me
that he had a letter from General Cameron, who said
he would be a delegate-at-large from Pennsylvania,
and he added that while he had no question of Camer-
on's fidelity, he thought it most desirable that if Cam-
eron was a delegate-at-large I should be one with him.
He was most importvmate on the subject, and finally
said: "I think you can accomplish it, and I want you
to try." I told him that if opportimity offered I
would accomplish it, but that I had not the remotest
idea that it was within the range of possibility.

I knew enough of Lincoln at that time to know that
he had a settled purpose in view, but what it was I
could not conauve, nor would he explain. He knew
that my election as delegate-at-large could not, in
any way, influence the action of Cameron, but he made
it a command and I told him that I would see if it
could be accomplished. On my return from Wash-
ington I stopped over at Harrisburg without any
definite purpose, and dropped in to see George Berg-
ner, who, while a warm personal friend of mine, was
a devoted follower of Cameron. Cameron was anxious
to be a delegate-at-large and could not have been
defeated, but his great desire was to be elected by an
overwhelming vote, and he knew that could be accom-
plished only by the concurrence of the Curtin people.
After a few minutes' conversation with Bergner he
remarked that we were now all for Lincoln, and there
ought not to be any division in the party at the next
State convention; that there was no State ticket to
nominate and only electors and delegates-at-large
to be chosen. He then broke the ice by stating that
"the old man," meaning Cameron, wanted to be a

Of Pennsylvania 139

delegate-at-large and hoped there would be harmony
in his selection. For the first time I saw a glimpse of
an opening to accomplish what I had been instructed
to do, and I answered Bergner by saying that certainly
there should be no division in the convention as we
were all for Lincoln and that Cameron and Curtin
should be made delegates-at-large by a unanimous
vote. I knew that Cameron would object to Curtin
as they were not on speaking terms, and Bergner
promptly answered that '*the old man" and Curtin
couldn't get along together, but he added: ''We'll
take you and Cameron. *' I asked him what assurance
he had that Cameron would assent to the arrangement,
and he informed me that if I would wait twenty min-
utes he would see Cameron in person and bring me his
assurance. He was delighted, of course, at the pros-
pect of getting Cameron the support of the Curtin
element. He rushed arotmd to Cameron's home, came
back in a short time and stated that every friend of
Cameron in the convention would heartily support
me. I informed Curtin of the situation and he insisted
that the plan should be carried out. The result was
that Cameron and I were elected delegates-at-large
by a practically imanimous vote on the first ballot,
and John Stewart, my law partner, now justice in
the supreme cotirt, was chosen to fill the vacancy in
the district delegation.

What special purpose Lincoln had in view in urging
me to an effort that only by the merest accident could
be accomplished, I could not understand, but three
days before the meeting of the National convention
that was held in Baltimore in Jvme, the President
telegraphed me to come to Washington ; and then I dis-
covered for the first time his masterly poUtical strategy.
He startled me by stating that he desired me to support
Andrew Johnson for Vice-President. I had no par-

I40 Old Time Notes

tictilar affection for Hamlin, but had not thoiight of
voting for any other, and I especially distrusted John-
son, whom I estimated as a very able and danger-
ous demagogue. I did not then know that Cameron
had been taken into the confidence of Lincoln several
months before ; that Cameron was present when it was
finally decided by Lincoln to make Johnson the candi-
date for Vice-President, and that Cameron, at Lin-
coln's request, had made a personal visit to General
Butler, then commanding the Army of the James,
to confer with him on the subject of nominating a
War Democrat such as Butler, Holt, Dix, Dickinson or
Johnson for the Vice-Presidency. Cameron was accom-
panied on that visit to Butler by William H. Armstrong,
the Republican leader of the House in the early part
of the war, later a member of Congress and National
Commissioner of Railways, and yet living in Philadel-
phia. Lincoln doubtless knew that I would readily accede
to his request to vote for Johnson, and as the movement
required the severest discretion, he permitted no one
of those to whom he confided his purpose to know of
others whom he had consulted. He knew that Cam-
eron was for Johnson at the time he insisted upon me
becoming a delegate-at-large, and knowing that I
would readily accept his advice, he logically argued
that with Cameron and myself delegates-at-large
representing the two great factions of the State,
enlisted in the support of Johnson, the entire delegation
would be certain to follow, and it did follow precisely
as Lincoln had planned it.

So cautious was Lincoln in the movement that
Cameron did not know of my position on the Vice-
Presidency, nor did I know what Cameron's was.
Soon after I reached Baltimore to attend the conven-
tion Cameron came to my room, where the present
Judge Stewart was chatting with me. Cameron

Of Pennsylvania 141

pulled the bell, ordered a bottle of wine for the room
and informed me that he had come to disciiss the ques-
tion of the Vice-Presidency. His first proposition
was that the Pennsylvania delegation should unite
and give a complimentary vote to himself, which he
knew I would object to. I told him that we had a
very important duty to perform and that we would
settle down at once, without playing marbles, to decide
what the delegation should do. Cameron said that he
was very friendly to Hamlin, but was entirely satis-
fied that Hamlin could not be renominated, in which
I concurred. He next stated that he was inclined to
favor Johnson, of Tennessee, in which I also concurred.
He next proposed that, as he was somewhat embar-
rassed by his personal relations with Hamlin in the
Senate, we should line up both sides of the delegation,
cast a unanimous vote for Hamhn when the State
was called, and at the end of the roll call before the
vote was computed, change the vote of the State to a
unanimous vote for Johnson, to which I readily con-
curred. Then, for the first time, Cameron knew that
I was to support Johnson, and I, for the first time,
knew that Cameron was^to do the same . The delegation
lined up on our programme to a man on both sides,
with the exception of Thaddeus Stevens, who sat by
my side in the delegation conference. When I voted
to have the delegation give a solid support to Hamlin
first and next to Johnson, Stevens turned his cold,
gray eye upon me with an expression of profound con-
tempt, and said: " Can't you get a candidate for Vice-
President without going down into a damned rebel
province for one?" Stevens saw that he stood alone,
however, and he permitted the vote of the State to be
cast in accordance with the programme.

After the death of Hamlin, a score or more years
later, in an editorial review of his life I referred to the

142 Old Time Notes

fact that Lincoln had accomplished the nomination
of Johnson over him in 1864, and it was fiercely and
insolently contradicted by Mr. Nicolay, who was Lin-
coln's private secretary, and who gave the Associated
Press a statement that I had misrepresented Lincoln's
attitude, as Lincoln was heartily in favor of Hamlin's
renomination. Quite a controversy ensued, and I
gathered the oveiwhelming evidence proving Lincoln's
position and efforts entirely outside of my own state-
ment. Mr. Nicolay was a very faithful secretary;
but I never met or heard of him in consultation with
Lincoln in any matter, political or otherwise. He
honestly believed that he knew what Lincoln was
doing about the Vice-Presidency, and as he had stated
in his "Life of Lincoln" that Lincoln was favorable
to the nomination of Hamlin, his sensitiveness led him
to commit the error of assuming and declaring that I
had stated a palpable falsehood, as it could be no less
if I was in error in declaring that I had voted for John-
son in obedience to Lincoln's request.

Most of those who had any inner knowledge on the
subject have passed away, but there are yet enough
living in Pennsylvania to fully establish the fact that
Lincoln nominated Johnson over Hamlin for Vice-
President in 1864, outside of my own testimony. Mr.
Armstrong was with Cameron on his mission to Butler,
sent by Lincoln to arrange for the nomination of a
War Democrat. Judge Stewart, who succeeded me as
district delegate, and knew all that transpired at Balti-
more, is also cognizant of the fact that both Cameron
and myself obeyed Lincoln in the matter. Ex-Con-
gressman J. Rankin Young, still living in Philadelphia,
some years after the war prepared an interview from
General Cameron on the subject that was carefully
revised by Cameron himself, and published in the
New York ''Herald," telling how he had co-operated

Of Pennsylvania 143

with Lincoln in thQ early part of the year in a move-
ment for the nomination of Johnson.

Lincoln was nominated on the first ballot, receiving
the ftoll vote of every State but Missouri, whose dele-
gation was instructed for Grant, but it promptly
changed to Lincoln before the vote was announced,
making his nomination imanimous. On the roll call
for Vice-President, Johnson received 200 votes, Ham-
lin 150, Dickinson 108, with 61 scattering; but before
the vote was announced Pennsylvania changed from
Hamlin to Johnson and other changes followed rapidly,
making the final announcement of the first ballot 494
for Johnson, 17 for Dickinson and 9 for Hamhn.

Lincoln was not influenced by prejudice or resent-
ment in opposing the nomination of Hamlin. The
reasons he gave me in support of the nomination of
Johnson were so logical and conclusive that I would
have voted for Johnson as a matter of duty to the party
and to the country, regardless of my willingness to
accede to the wishes of the President. They were:
First, that the nomination and election of a Vice-Presi-
dent from a reconstructed State in the heart of the
Confederacy, who was a distinctly representative man,
and had filled every office in the gift of the State,
would add more strength to the friends of the Union
in England and France, who were struggling against
the recognition of the Confederacy, than could be
accomplished in any other way, save by the complete
overthrow of the Confederate mihtary power. Second,
the strong pohtical necessity for nominating a distinc-
tive War Democrat not then connected with the
Republican party, to bring to the support of the
administration the many thousands of War Demo-
crats who were followers of men like Johnson, Dickin-
son, Butler, Dix, Holt and others; and, third, the nomi-
nation of Johnson, would desectionalize the Republican

144 Old Time Notes

party. Recognition of the Confederacy was yet a
fearftd peril to the Union catise, and the nomination
of Johnson demonstrated that substantial progress
was being made in the restoration of the Union by the
accomplished reconstruction of the State in the inner
circle of rebellion.

The convention met in Baltimore on the 7th of June,
and I never saw a more hearty welcome given to any
man in a public assembly than was given the Rev.
Robert J. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, when he was
made temporary president of the body. It was a
brave act for any man from the South to confess him-
self a RepubUcan, but when a man of the high char-
acter and intellectual and moral attitude of Dr. Breck-
enridge took the chair in the Republican National con-
vention, it gave courage and hope to scores of thou-
sands in the Southern States. Governor Dennison,
of Ohio, was made permanent president, but the con-
trolling mind of the convention was that of Henry J.
Raymond, who acted in closest confidence with Lin-
coln. He not only withdrew his State from the support
of Hamlin, but was compelled to sacrifice Dickinson,
another War Democrat, whose friends felt that he
should be preferred to Johnson. He wrote the plat-
form, became chairman of the National committee,
wrote the campaign life of Lincoln, and he was, in
fact, the ''leader of leaders'* of that great contest.

There were many inharmonious elements in the con-
vention. All felt that we were then approaching the
period when the military power of the Confederacy
would be overthrown, and the grave problem of recon-
struction would be presented for solution. On that
question there could have been no common ground of
agreement in the National convention of 1864. There
were many who, like Stevens, demanded the severest
pimishment of the officials who engaged in rebellion,

Of Pennsylvania 145

the confiscation of their property, and the absolute
denial of citizenship, while a majority were in favor
of various shades of generous methods to accomplish
reconciliation and reunion. While there was a general
feeling of confidence in the re-election of Lincoln, the
more intelligent of the leaders knew that they had a
severe battle before them and most careful methods
were developed to guard against disaster in November.
It was known that General McClellan would be the
opposing candidate; that he had many sincere sup-
porters in the army and that the conservative elements
of the coimtry had absolute confidence in him, while
all the shades of the entire anti-war elements would be
certain to support any candidate nominated by the
Democrats. The Republican leaders did not assume
that their victory was assured, and many grave con-
ferences were held on the various subjects which might
have a bearing on the conflict. It was a convention
of great force, and it was most judiciously guided
by wise leadership to place the party in the best atti-
tude for a desperate conflict. The student of to-day,
who looks over the history of that campaign, will
naturally assume that Lincoln was re-elected without
a struggle, as the vote appears to be overwhelming;
but all who were at the Baltimore convention, and all
who actively participated in the struggle, will remem-
ber the gloom that hung over the Republican party
diuing the summer months, and how triumph was
finally decided by the victories of Sherman in Atlanta
and Sheridan in the Valley.

•le

»46 Old Time Notes

LXV.
LINCOLN RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.

Pennsylvania Republicans Heartily United in Support of Lincoln — Cam-
eron Made Chairman of the State Committee — Severe Republican
Depression During the Summer of 1864 Because of the Failure to
Achieve Victory in the Field — Lincoln Predicts His Own Defeat on
the Twenty-third of August in a Note Sealed and Delivered to Sec-
retary Welles — Pennsylvania Paltered in Her Republicanism at the
October Election — The Author Called to Co-operate with Cameron
in the November Battle — How Pennsylvania Was Made to Vote for
Lincoln on the Home Vote.

WHEN the Republican State convention met at
Harrisbtirg in the early spring of 1864 there
was a very general feeling of confidence that
the Republicans would have little more than a picnic
in the struggle for the Pennsylvania Presidential elec-
tors. Curtin had carried the State the year before by
over 15,000, with 75,000 soldiers disfranchised in the
field, and as the army vote was certain to be added in
1864, by a special amendment of the Constitution, the
State was accepted as anchored in the Republican
coltimn without any special effort. I was not a mem-
ber of the convention and had no thought of being in
any way responsibly involved in the contest, as I
shared the belief that the State was entirely safe for
Lincoln. Entirely without my knowledge, a paper
was prepared by some members of the convention
asking the president of the body to appoint me chair-
man of the Republican State committee, and it was
signed by two-thirds or more of the delegates. There
were no State offices to fill that year, and the selection
of the chairman of the State committee natiu-ally

Of Pennsylvania 147

devolved upon the president of the convention. The
paper was presented to the chair by Representative
Olmsted, since senator and president judge of the
Potter district.

George V. Lawrence, who had served in the house
and two terms in the senate, was president of the con-
vention and a close friend of Cameron. He received
the paper and announced that it would be given due
consideration. When I was advised of the movement
I refused to take any part in the struggle for the place,
as every consideration of personal interest made it
undesirable. Lawrence held the matter ostensibly
under advisement a few days, and then announced the
appointment of General Cameron to the position. No
man in the State was better equipped for the manage-
ment of a campaign than was Cameron, and as there
were no factional divisions in the State, with only
National candidates and interests before the party,
there was no disposition on the part of Curtin's friends
to complain of the appointment. Cameron saw what
he believed to be an opporttmity to achieve a great
victory for the party without any serious effort or sac-
rifice on his own part, and he committed the error of
assuming that the campaign would manage itself and
gave little thought or labor to the important task he
had accepted.

When Lincoln was renominated in Jtme the Republi-
can leaders had just begun to realize that they might
have a desperate contest before them, as Grant had
fought desperate battles with fearful sacrifice of men
williout attaining any material victories, and Sherman
was struggling with Johnson in the Atlanta campaign,
and grave apprehensions were felt that as he approached
Atlanta and lengthened his line, and necessarily weak-
ened his forces, he might fail in his movement for the
capture of the city tlmt was the gateway of the Con-

148 Old Time Notes

federacy. Nor did political conditions improve during
the summer months, and I well remember that during
August the gravest apprehensions were cherished by
the Republican leaders as to the National verdict, but
none had any doubt about Republican success in Penn-
sylvania. Lincoln, who was a close observer of the
campaign, finally became discoiu'aged to the verge of
despair. On the 23d of August he wrote the following
memorandum :

" This morning, as for some days past, it seems ex-
ceedingly probable that this administration will not be
re-elected. Then it will be my duty to co-operate with
the President-elect so as to save the Union between
the election and the inauguration, as he will have
secured his election on such ground that he cannot
possibly save it afterward.*'

Lincoln sealed this paper and delivered it to Secre-
tary Welles, with notice that it was to be opened only
when the result of the election was known. I saw him
about the middle of the same month and he was greatly
depressed. He was human, as are all men, differing
only in degree, and was naturally most solicitous for
re-election to the highest civil trust of the world, but
I believe that his anxiety for success in the contest was
even greater for the preservation of the Union than for
a mere individual triuniph. It was then that he first
startled me with the proposition to pay $400,000,000
to the South as compensation for their slaves if they
would accept emancipation and return to the Union.
Of course, the suggestion was made in the strictest con-
fidence, because if it had been made public in the then
high- water mark of sectional and partisan passion, even
Vermont and Massachusetts might have been made
doubtful ; but his reasons in support of the proposition
were absolutely unanswerable. He said that the war
was then costing about $4,000,000 a day; that none

Of Pennsylvania 149

could hope to close it by battle within the next hun-
dred days during which period the war itself would cost
the full sum he proposed for compensated emancipa-
tion. He did not doubt that the military power of the
Confederacy would be broken, but he feared that with
the generally impoverished condition of the South the
Confederate soldiers would not return to their deso-
lated fields and breadless homes, but would precipitate
anarchy in that section. After his election and after
his conference with Confederate Vice-President Ste-
phens, he prepared a message to Congress urging that
$400,000,000 be oflFered to the South for compensation
if emancipation and reunion were accepted. He read
it to the members of the cabinet, by whom it was nearly
or quite unanimously disapproved, and Lincoln folded
the paper and endorsed on the back of it that it had
been presented to the cabinet and disapproved.

The burning of Chambersburg on the 30th of July,
by General McCausland's force, precipitated new con-
ditions in my section of the State. Most of the resi-
dents in the town were entirely homeless and business
was suspended. An extra session of the Legislature
was promptly called by Governor Curtin and $100,000
appropriated that was apportioned among the most
needy. While nearly all the property destroyed was
insured, the insurance was lost, as the destruction was
caused by a public enemy. The people of Chambers-
burg were, therefore, largely without capital or credit
to resume their varied occupations, and despair very
generally prevailed in all business and industrial circles.

J. McDowell Sharpe, the leading Democratic member
of the Chambersbiu-g bar, was then a member of the
house, and after various conferences on the subject, it
was decided that I should accept the Republican nomi-
nation for the house, with the general expectation that
both of us would be elected, to have an active Demo-

'jtl _IH

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H^. "r T== i ^TfTsn-i that I

-n ^==- ^-i ievcted my

of the
I was in

ini- -r=r -ZE ^^^'^ nen of the

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election I

a statement

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—r jr rrr^ m "ie subject

z:.: -ttt f raie wotild be

7":- rrs;:!:: was prac-

- - ^rr-^ TPre no State

- : - v-r:icl:can Congress-
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- ■_:: ;v Tr.r-.LT: interest fek
: --^^ iZ*- z^=r:erally throxagh-
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Of Pennsylvania 151

the choice of the Democrats for the Presidency, but
they were generally and enthusiastically earnest in his
support and hopeful of his election. He was a native
of Pennsylvania, and strong appeals were made not
only to Pennsylvania pride, but to the soldiers of the
State, most of whom held McClellan in high respect.
The Democrats had delayed their nonmiation of a
National ticket imtil the 29th of August, when they
assembled at Chicago, and they were most imfortunate
in not having delayed their convention at least a week
longer. When Horatio Seymour arose as presiding
officer to call that convention to order, he addressed
one of the ablest representative political bodies that
ever met in the country, and every member was entirely
confident of the success of their candidate for Presi-
dent. The campaigns of Grant and Sherman up to
that time had brought nothing in return but reports of
desperate battles and appalling sacrifice, and the feeling
was very general among Democrats and largely shared
by Republicans that the Union could not be restored
at the point of the bayonet.

It was this political condition of fore-shadowed
Republican disaster that Lincoln recorded in the
private memorandum only a week before the convention
met, that made the Democratic National convention
commit the fatal error of declaring the war a failure
and demanding the cessation of hostilities. The text
of that portion of the platform was as follows:

** That after four years of failure to restore the Union
by the experiment of war, during which, under the pre-
tense of military necessity or war-power higher than
the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been dis-
regarded in every part and public liberty and private
right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity
of the country essentially impaired — justice, humanity,
Uberty and the public welfare demand that immediate

1 52 Old Time Notes

efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities with a view
to an ultimate convention of the States/ or other peace-
able means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable
moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the Fed-
eral union of the States."

That momentous declaration at the time of its de-
liverance honestly reflected the views of nearly the
entire Democratic people of the coimtry, and very
many Republicans weie profoundly apprehensive that
the declaration was only too true, but just when the
convention had concluded its labors, the trained light-
ning flashed the news to Washington from Sherman
saying: ''Atlanta is ours, and fairly won.*' The loyal
sentiment of the country was at once inspired, and the
Democrats' delegates returning to their homes found
every center of population -illtmiinated at night and
full of waving flags by day, as the people hurled back
upon them their fierce resentment at the declaration
of the failiu'e of the war and at the demaryi for peace by
compromise with rebellion. Sherman's victory at
Atlanta was supplemented by Sheridan's victories in
the Valley, and Sherman and Sheridan, and they alone,
were the great campaigners who gave victory to Lin-
coln and to the Republican party in the great struggle
of 1864.

On the morning after the October election the Presi-
dent telegraphed me to come to Washington, as the
result in the State was humiliating in the extreme,
when Ohio and Indiana, the other October States, had
large Republican majorities. As my personal contest
for the Legislature was ended, Lincoln asked me to join
Cameron and co-operate with him in getting the State
into position for the November election. He realized
the fact that the friends of McClellan were greatly en-
couraged, and entirely confident that they would give
the electoral vote of Pennsylvania to the one they

Of Pennsylvania 153

esteemed as Pennsylvania's great soldier. I reminded
Lincoln that I cotild not mak^ such a proposition to
Cameron, but that if Cameron desired it, I would be
very glad to join him and give my entire time to the
struggle. The day after my return home I received a
letter from Cameron requesting me to join him, that
had evidently been inspired by Lincoln himself, and I
hastened to Cameron's headquarters at the Girard
House, in Philadelphia, where I fotmd Wayne Mac-
Veagh, who had been Republican chairman the year
before, and had also been sent for by Cameron, and
whose political relations at that time with Cameron
were about the same as my own.

Cameron was greatly distressed as he realized that
he was to blame for having assumed that the battle
would win itself. An address to the people of the
State, that was written chiefly by MacVeagh, was signed
by Cameron and sent out before the first conference
ended, and I informed Cameron that I would remain in
the city tmtil the election and would be subject to his
orders at any time to aid him in the contest. I took a
room at the Continental, as it was necessary that
everything should be done in open and frank recogni-
ton of Cameron as the head of the organization, and I
advised Lincoln every night by letter of any changes
in the situation. His election was not at that time in
any degree doubtful, but the two most important
States of the Union were admittedly trembling in the
balance. New York had Seymour as Governor, and
was so desperately contested by the Democrats that
Lincoln carried the State only by 6,000 majority in a
vote of 1,000,000. There was a reasonable possibility
that McClellan might carry both Pennsylvania and
New York, and although he could not even then ap-
proach an election, the failure of the two greatest of
the Northern States to sustain the administration

154 Old Time Notes

would have seriously weakened the power of Lincoln
in prosecuting the war and attaining peace.

It was of the utmost moment, therefore, that Penn-
sylvania should be saved and by the home vote, as the
vote in the army would be decried as a bayonet vote
and would not carry the moral effect of a victory at-
tained independently of the army. It was an absolute
necessity, alike in the interest of war and peace, that
Lincoln should carry Pennsylvania on the home vote
as New York was considered more than doubtful. So
anxious was Lincoln about the vote of Pennsylvania
that he sent Postmaster General Dennison to see me
privately at the Continental and go over the situation.
He came and spent several hours with me and then
returned to Washington the same night, without hav-
ing seen any other person in the city. Abimdant means
had been supplied to Cameron to organize the party in
view of the adverse current presented, and he doubtless
made the best possible use of it, but I had to tell Denni-
son that I saw no perceptible advantage that had been
gained, as the Democrats were as earnest and active as
we were, and had concentrated all their efforts to carry
Pennsylvania for McClellan. I told him to say to the
President that if matters did not materially improve
in the next few days, I would visit him in Washington
to confer on the subject.

Two days thereafter I telegraphed the President that
I would see him that evening, and reached the White
House about nine o'clock. I told him that I saw no
reasonable prospect of carrying the State on the home
vote. While the army vote would be reasonably cer-
tain to give the electoral vote of the State to Lincoln,
the mond force of the victory would be seriously im-
paired. Lincoln was greatly distressed. He then
expected to lose New York, and he felt that if Pennsyl-
vania's home vote was in his favor, the power of his

of Pennsylvania 155

administration would not be seriously impaired even
with New York adverse to him. I told him that Penn-
sylvania could be saved by the home vote if he was
prepared to do it, and that he could do it without any
serious interference with army movements. By fur-
loughing 5,000 Pennsylvania soldiers home from the
Army of the Potomac, then besieging Petersburg, and
5,000 soldiers from Sheridan's forces in the Valley,
where fighting had been ended by the repeated defeats
of Earley, he would be certain to have a home majority
in the State. I knew that he had saved Grant when
Congress and the country demanded that Grant should
be crucified for the battle of Shiloh, and suggested to
him that of course Grant would be glad to furlough
the soldiers upon any expression of the President's that
he desired it done, but Lincoln, for some reason, hesi-
tated to make such a commtinication to Grant. I then
said to him that Meade was commander of the Army of
the Potomac, a soldier and a gentleman, and that he
certainly could send an order to him with the request
that it be returned, and that the order would be obeyed.
He did send a subordinate of the War Department that
night to General Meade, who furloughed the 5,000
Pennsylvania soldiers home for the election, and per-
mitted the order to be returned to the President. I
asked him how it was with Sheridan, and Lincoln's
face brightened up at once as he said: **0h, Phil, he's
all right." A like order went to Sheridan and 5,000 or
more of his Pennsylvania soldiers came home to vote.
The result was that Lincoln carried the State by 5,712
majority on the home vote, and that, with over 14,000
majority in the army, gave him the State by over
20,000.

Never was a State more earnestly contested than was
Pennsylvania between the October and November
elections, in 1864. McClellan was personally poptdar,

156 Old Time Notes

was a man of the loveliest attributes and was univer-
sally respected and generally beloved by all who knew
him, while a large portion of the Democrats regarded
him as the ideal soldier of the war. But for one grave
political error that he committed the year before in the
Curtin-Woodward campaign for Governor, I doubt
whelJier he could have been defeated in the State by
the home vote. Curtin had been his sincere friend,
stood by him long after most of the Republicans had
deserted him, and he had made earnest effort to have
McClellan restored to the command of the Army of
the Potomac when it was marching to Gettysburg, in
which the leading business men of Philadelphia actively
joined.

McClellan was then at his home in Orange, New
Jersey, awaiting orders where he had been since he was
reUeved from the command of the army in the fall of
1862. He was doubtless sorely pressed to make a
declaration in favor of Woodward and against Curtin,
and he hesitated long about acceding to the demand,
but finally, just on the eve of the election of 1863, he
wrote to a prominent Democrat in Pennsylvania for
publication a brief letter urging the election of Wood-
ward. That certainly lost him more than enough votes
in the State to have given him the home majority.
McClellan was then in politics without political train-
ing, and his judgment and inclinations wen* overruled
when he gave the deliverance against Curtin. Grant,
who was then at the head of the army and owed his
position entirely to Lincoln, was severely discreet, and
never gave an utterance during the contest bearing in
any degree on the Presidential issue, but when Lincoln
was re-elected he promptly sent him a generous con-
gratulation. Lincoln was somewhat grit-vcd at Grant
because he had given no utterance at all during the con-
test, and that was his reason for not sending to Grant

Of Pennsylvania 157

his order or request for the furlough of Pennsylvania
troops at the October election.

I was much prejudiced against Grant when I found
that Lincoln was unwilling to communicate his wishes
to Grant while he did commtmicate with Meade.
Some time after Grant's retirement from the Presidency
I lunched with him at the invitation of Mr. Drexel and
Mr. Childs, at Mr. Drexel's office, and in the course of
conversation I led him back to that conflict and re-
ferred to the fact that he had been discreetly silent.
Grant's answer, which was doubtless the honest truth,
was that he certainly could not inject himself into a
political contest between the President, who had
assigned him to the command of the army, and the
general whom he had succeeded in the army. There
never was a candidate nominated for President by so
enthusiastic and confident a party as that which nonw-
nated McClellan in Chicago, in 1864, who finally fell in
such overwhelming and humiliating defeat, with a
popular majority against him of nearly half a million,
and receiving only twenty-one of the 233 electoral
votes, from the States of Delaware, Kentucky and New
Jersey.

158 Old Time Notes

THE BURNING OF CHAMBERSBURG.

Chambersburg Destroyed by the Brutal Vandalism of Hunter in the
Lynchburg Campaign — Its Destruction Made Possible by Hunter's
Military Incompetency — Reports of McCausIand's Movement from
Mercereburg to Chambersburg — The Vandalism of Many Intoxicated
Confederates While the Town Waa Burning — A Heroic Woman Sav«
One of the Author's Housea and Bam — Chamberaburg Could Have
Been Fully Protected by the State Force Organized by Governor
Curtin, but It Was Sent to the Potomac to Save Hunter.

"V TEXT to the battle of Gettysburg, the echoes
j^ of the most thrilling event of the Civil War
■*• ^ in the North come from the burning of Cham-
bersburg on the 30th of July, 1864, by a Confederate
cavalry force under the command of General McCaus-
land, and it is only in vindication of the truth of his-
tory that I state that the destruction of Chambersbiu|[
was chiefly, or wholly, provoked by the brutal vandal-
ism of General Hunter in the Lynchburg campaign,
and its execution was made possible by his military
incompetency.

Hunter succeeded Sigel in command of the Shenan-
doah Valley in the spring of 1864, and was ordered
by General Grant, then battling with Lee south of
Spottsylvania, to advance upon Lynchburg and destroy
the enemy's lines of communication and resources at
that point. On the 5th of June General Hunter met
a comparatively small force of the enemy at Piedmont,
and defeated it, and after its retreat he formed a jxmc-
tion with Crook and Averill at Staunton and marched
toward Lynchburg by way of Lexington, where he
arrived on tiie 10th, Hunter lost his opporttinity -to

of Pennsylvania 159

captirre Lynchburg by his delay at Lexington, where
he was gtulty of many brutal acts of vandalism, such
as the burning of the private residence of Governor
Letcher, the Military Institute, and taking away or
destroying memorable statues connected with the
university founded by Washington and bearing his
name. When Hunter arrived in front of Lynchburg,
he foimd that General Earley had been ordered by
Lee to make a forced march to meet him, and Earley
occupied a position of such strength that Hunter
declined to give battle. He explained that his failure
to engage Earley for the capture of Lynchburg was his
want of adequate ammunition, but if the statement
is to be accepted as the true one, it simply proved the
incompetency of a commander going into an enemy's
country, so far from his base, with an army helpless
for want of ammtmition.

Htmter retreated along the Gauley and Kanawha
Rivers to the Ohio, and returned to his base at Harper's
Ferry by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. His circu-
itous retreat uncovered the valley, and enabled Earley
not only to take possession of it, but to advance upon
Washington, defeat General Lew Wallace at the Mon-
ocacy on the 9th of July, and compelled Grant to send
Wright's corps from the Army of the Potomac to save
the Capital. When Earley reached the outer defenses
of Washington he found that General Wright was
there with his corps, and that it was impossible for
him to make a hopeful assault upon the Capital. He
hastily fell back and reached Martinsburg with a vast
train of supplies that had been gathered in his march.
Hunter had arrived from the West when Earley reached
Martinsburg, and he crossed the river and gave battle
to Earley, but was defeated and compelled to recross
the river and place his command in a defensive posi-
tion between Hancock and Harper's Ferry. General

i6o Old Time Notes

McCausland's cavalry brigade was on Barley's left,
and General Averill's Union cavalry brigade on Hun-
ter's right.

On the 28th of July General Barley directed McCaus-
land to take his own mounted brigade and the cavalry
brigade of General Bradley T. Johnson, numbering
in all nearly 3,000 men, and proceed to Qiambersburg,
where he was ordered to levy a tribute of $100,000 in
gold or $500,000 in United States currency, and to
bum the town if the requisition was not responded to.
On the 29th McCausland crossed the Potomac at
Cherry Run and McCoy's Ford, and advanced by way
of Clear Springs and Mercersburg upon Chambersburg.
The people of the town were advised by telegrams
from Mercersburg of the advance of McCausland 's
command, and a scene of indescribable confusion
ensued. The money in banks and as much of the
property in stores as could be gotten away were hur-
riedly shipped to distant points, but it was known that
General Averill's command was somewhere near Ha-
gerstown with railway communication, and General
Couch, who was in command of the department with
his headquarters at Chambersburg, confidently ex-
pected to have Ganeral Averill's force there before
McCausland could arrive, if he continued his advance
toward the town.

When McCausland started on his raid the enemy's
division of Rhodes and Ramsler, and the cavalry
brigade of Vaughan, crossed the river at Williamsport.
Vaughan moved on as far as Hagerstown, Md. Averill
was thus threatened on both flanks, and fell back into
Pennsylvania, reaching Greencastle, only twelve miles
from Chambersburg, by sundown of the day that
McCausland marched from Mercersburg to Chambers-
burg. Averill's command could easily have been
brought to Chambersburg in two or three hours.

of Pennsylvania i6i

When General Couch found that McCausland was con-
tinuing his march to Chambersburg, having passed
through Mercersburg to the Pittsburg pike, he sent
three urgent despatches to Averill, at Greencastle,
which were given to Averill 's own orderlies for immedi-
ate transmission to him, but to these Couch received
no reply, and near daylight, when McCausland had his
command in line on Federal Hill, where his guns com-
manded the town, Couch was compelled to hurry away
in the last train held for the purpose, with his staff
and a few orderlies, they being the only force he had
in the place. He had a home guard in the town, of
which I was a member, and we were sent out to picket
the road along which McCausland was supposed to be
advancing. As we were expected to hide in fence
comers, I changed my dress for an old suit that could
not be damaged by any amount of exposure, and left
my watch, pocket-book, etc., in the bureau drawer at
home. We remained out on the picket line for two or
three hours, when General Couch sent word for us to
return, as the enemy was approaching, and we should
not be exposed to danger as we could accomplish
nothing.

I went directly to the headquarters of General
Couch, and remained with him xmtil early the next
morning, when McCausland 's command was within a
few miles of Chambersburg. Couch had no force at
Chambersburg beyond a little squad of less than
twenty men under the command of an Irish corporal.
They were sent out early in the day, and they advanced
until they saw the signs of the enemy's approach,
but they did not permit themselves to be seen, nor
their presence made known to the enemy tmtil after
dark, when the gallant corporal so maneuvered his
handful of men that McCausland supposed he was
confronted by a regiment, and so stated in his official

'It

.i62 Old Time Notes

report. The corporal knew the roads perfectly, and
he had his men scattered, and every now and then
fired as the enemy appeared to be approaching. So
admirably did he manage his little force that McCaus-
land was not able to advance between Mercersbtirg
and Chambersburg any faster than two miles an hoirr.
Toward daylight the corporal returned to headquar-
ters and reported that the enemy *s force was about
3,000, and was then within two miles of the town.
As Couch could get no commimication from General
Averill, he was entirely helpless and notified his staff
and the little band of men who had been fighting all
night, that the train he had had in readiness for some
time would leave in half an hour.

I had left my home the year before, when Lee's army
came, because of reliable admonitions that I should
avoid capture, but as this was only a raid that could,
at the most, last for a few hours, as we hoped to have
Averill come to our aid at any time, I refused General
Couch's earnest appeal to accompany him, and started
out to my home, only to find my wife and family much
more concerned about getting me away than about
the advance of the enemy. Couch sent a staff officer
to my house renewing the appeal for me to leave,
and just then a close friend drove up in front of my
house in a buggy, stopped and insisted upon me going
with him. I accepted his invitation, as I hoped to
be able to return to Chambersburg the following day,
and we drove to Shippensburg, but before noon we
had the first reports from Chambersburg that the town
was in flames and vandalism running riot. In the
evening my wife and family joined me at Shippens-
burg and reported that only the family Bible had been
saved from the house, as it was picked up by Mrs.
McClure's mother as she took her departure, and an
oil portrait of myself that himg in the parlor had

Of Pennsylvania 163

been hastily torn from the hook by Miss Reilley, who
escaped with it through the back door.

The Rev. Dr. Niccolk, then pastor of the Chambers-
burg Presbyterian church, resided quite close to my
home, and when he found the squad enter it he hastened
to the house and gathered up a number of my clothes,
but they were rudely taken from him and thrown into
the fire. The work of burning the town was performed
in the most hurried and brutal manner. Many of
the command became wildly intoxicated from the
liquors they foimd in the saloons and cellars, and while
a large portion of the command revolted at the vandal-
ism exhibited by many, they were powerless to prevent
it, and for several hours the command was engaged
in plundering and firing all the buildings in the center of
the town. Bradley Johnson was the active commander,
and he was most vindictive and merciless. He had
left his home at Frederick, where he was a lawyer in
good practice, to join the Confederacy, and when Lee's
army marched through Frederick two years later,
by Johnson's order his own home was burned, as he
never expected to be able to occupy it again, and his
lot was cast with the people who regarded all in the
North as implacable foes.

Fortimately, this burning of Chambersburg occurred
in daylight of a simny midsummer day, and the sick
and feeble were all removed from the peril of the flames.
When the work of the destruction of the town had been
well under way, two squads were ordered out to destroy
the property that belonged to me on a farm at the edge
of the town. Captain Smith, son of ex-Govemor
Snfiith, of Virginia, headed the squad that burned my
residence and bam. Mrs. McClure was ill, but able
to be about in her room; and Captain Smith himself
entered her chamber and notified her that she must
be out of the house within ten nndnutes. She asked

i64 Old Time Notes

permission to take some valuable mementoes from
the home, but it was rudely denied. She then reminded
him that the same command, or part of it, had camped
on the place under General Jenkins, who commanded
the advance of Lee's army in the Gettysburg campaign,
that the bam was their hospital, and that she herself
ministered to them, and handed him a letter written
to her by one of the sufferers when they moved toward
Gettysburg; but in ten minutes both bam and house
were enveloped in flames — ^the bam containing the
entire crops from the large farm. Mrs. McCliu*e and
those with her walked several miles in the country,
where they were finally taken charge of by a neighbor
and driven to Shippensbiu*g.

On the southern end of the farm there was a brick
residence and small bam, and Colonel Gilmore, of
Baltimore, commanded the squad that was ordered
to destroy the buildings. He rushed into the house
and found Mrs. Boyd and her two children at break-
fast. They were rudely and peremptorily ordered to
leave the house at once, as he had orders to bum it
and could not delay for a minute. She asked per-
mission to finish her breakfast, but it was refused.
She was a woman of heroic mold, and the wife of one
of the most gallant troopers of the border, Colonel
Boyd, later known in Philadelphia as connected with
the publication of our **City Directory." She arose
from the table, bidding her children to prepare at once
to leave, and while they were gathering their little
belongings, she said to Colonel Gilmore: **Do you
know whose house this is?** To which he answered:
"Certainly, it is Colonel McClure*s, " and Mrs. Boyd
replied: **The house belongs to him, but it is now the
home of myself and children, and of my husband,
Captain Boyd, of the Pennsylvania cavalry, ' ' to which
she added that Colonel Gilmore could now proceed

Of Pennsylvania 165

to the destruction of the property. He at once lifted
his hat and answered that he wotdd not bum the home
of so gallant a soldier, and he made a hurried retreat
from the place.

Captain Boyd was the most notorious scouting
trooper on the border, and his name was as familiar
in Virginia as Moseby's was in Pennsylvania. Gilmore
well knew that if he burned the home of Captain Boyd,
a score or more of Virginia homes would pay the pen-
alty. Fifty suburban houses were passed on the out-
skirts of the town by the squad of burners to reach my
home and destroy it, and a like number of suburban
houses were not disturbed by the Gilmore party that
went to destroy the improvement at the southern
end of the farm. At eleven o'clock in the morning
McCausland received word from the scouts that Averill
was approaching, and he gathered up his force hastily,
and moved rapidly across the North Mountain into
Ftdton County. Averill reached Chambersburg a
few hours after McCausland had left the town, and
he pursued McCausland, finally brought him to bay
after three days of pursuit and defeated and scat-
tered his command. He fotmd in the enemy's camp
many of the valuables which had been taken from
the homes of Chambersburg.

The actual losses sustained by the people of Cham-
bersburg in the destruction of personal and real prop-
erty were finally adjudicated by a State commission
that gave $1,628,431.58 as the aggregate value of
individual property destroyed. Such a loss in a town
of 4,000 poptilation made up entirely of residences
and business places, without any large manufacturing
establishments, plunged the entire community into
the starless midnight of despair. Many were at once
hopelessly bankrupted, many more struggled to rebuild
th^ir homes and places of business ^t ^ time when

1 66 Old Time Notes

everything commanded inflated prices, and struggled
for years to save themselves, but finally had to 3deld,
as property depreciated while debts acctmiulated.
The few who had wealth in country farms or securities
could afford to rebuild their homes, but that number
made up a very small percentage of the sufferers of
the town.

The burning of Chambersburg would have been
utterly impossible if the steps the State had taken,
imder Governor Curtin's earnest efforts to protect the
border, had been allowed to serve their purpose. The
Governor had a number of regiments organized solely
for border defense within the State, but they were
accepted in the military service of the government
only on the very proper condition that in any enler-
gency they should be subject to the orders of the gov-
ernment. More than enough of these regiments than
would have been needed to defeat McCausland in
Chambersburg passed through the town within a few
days before its destruction to reinforce Hunter on the
Potomac, as he was then threatened by Earley, and
Averill, whose force alone would have been sufficient
to protect the town, was not at his headquarters near
Greencastle when the despatches reached there, but
was finally found, when too late to be of any service,
sleeping alone in a fence comer some distance from his
command, and his orderlies did not know where to
find him. He was a gallant soldier, had been making
forced marches to save his own command that he
supposed was threatened on one flank by Vaughan, and
on the other by McCausland, and he never dreamed
of McCausland making the raid by Mercersburg to
Chambersburg. He was doubtless exhausted, and
thought that the only duty he could have for immediate
performance was to save his command from destruction.

I stated ^.t the outset of this chapter thac the destruc-

Of Pennsylvania 167

tioti of Chambersbtu^ was chiefly or wholly provoked
by the vandalism of Hunter in his Lynchburg cam-
paign, and that its execution was possible because of
his incapacity. Already sufficient facts have been
given in this statement to show that he was utterly
incompetent to handle his army, not only up to the
time when McCausland started on his raid, but if he
had been equal to his important trust McCausland
never would have been permitted to escape on any such
mission. In his march through the VaUey from Lex-
ington to L)mchburg he had been guilty of the most
flagrant violation of the rules of civilized warfare. He
had burned the homes of Senator Hunter, of Charles-
town, his own first cousin, and bearing the name of
General Hunter's father; of Confederate Congressman
A. R. Boteler, whose wife was a cousin of General
Hunter; of Governor Letcher, then Governor of the
State; of J. T. Anderson, connected with the great
Tredegar Iron Works, in Richmond; of E. I. Lee, a
leading private citizen of the State, and the Virginia
Military Institute. All of these were grand old colon-
ial homes, and they were destroyed without any war-
rant or even decent excuse whatever. In addition
to these, many private homes were gutted by his troops,
their contents wantonly destroyed, and the historic
statues at Lexington were broken or taken away.
Of course, he destroyed all the mills and factories on
the line, as is common when a movement is made to
impair the resources of an enemy, but from the
time he started on his campaign until he was driven
into retreat by a circuitous route, there were unmis-
takable marks of the most brutal vandalism along
his entire track.

Earley had driven Hunter from Lynchbui^, where
he retreated without accepting battle. With Lee's
crippled condition in front of Grant, it was not possible

i68 Old Time Notes

for Earley to remain on the Potomac, and he gave the
order to McCausland to proceed to Chambersburg and
demand a ransom sufficient to cover the private prop-
erty wantonly destroyed by Hunter in his raid, or
faiUng in that to inflict a like punishment upon Cham-
bersburg.

General Earley, in a pamphlet published some time
after the war, entitled **A Memoir of the Last Year
of the War for Independence by the Confederate
States of America, ' ' speaking of the burning of Cham-
bersburg, said: **For this act I alone am responsible,
as the officers engaged in it were simply executing
my orders and had no discretion left to them. ' *

In the same paper he recites in detail many acts of
vandalism committed by Himter in Virginia without
excuse or provocation, and adds that it was necessary
to carry the same method of warfare into the North
to insure the safety of homes and properties in the
South.

While Earley does not give any special reasons for
selecting Chambersburg on which to inflict this retribu-
tion, it was well known then that throughout the South
it was believed that John Brown made his base in
Chambersburg, where he planned his wild raid on
Harper's Ferry in 1859, solely because the people of
Chambersburg were in sympathy with him. It was a
natural supposition, but entirely tmtrue. There was
not a single citizen of Chambersburg who knew John
Brown as John Brown, during the six weeks or two
months he made that town his residence. He was
known only as Dr. Smith, and not a single resident of
the place had any suspicion of his real ptirpose, as he
announced to all that he was planning important
mineral developments in Virginia. I saw John Brown
a score of times or more during his stay there, conversed
with him on several occasions, and never doubted that

*

Of Pennsylvania 169

he was the man he represented himself to be; but the
fact that Chambersburg was made his base created
deep-seated prejudice in the South against the town,
and it is more than probable that, but for the John
Brown raid, Chambersburg might not have been
decreed to crucification for General Hunter's vandalism
and incompetency.

General Earley doubtless believed that he would
halt the destruction of property in the South by the
burning of Chambersburg, but from the 30th of July,
1864, until the close of the war, not a single State in
the South, where our armies penetrated, entirely
escaped fearful retribution for the destruction of the
old Ctimberland Valley town. On the slightest pre-
text the Union soldiers, then scattered all through the
South, were urged to deeds of vandalism when some
desperate leaders would give out the cry: ** Remember
Chambersburg. ' ' I met a Southern lady in Columbia
five years after the war, whose home and all it con-
tained were burned by Sherman's army. She told that
the squad rushed into her home, ordered her to leave
it, and to the cry: ** Remember Chambersburg,"
applied the torch and left it in ashes; and a hundred
Southern homes were destroyed for every half -score
that were destroyed in Chambersburg. It was a costly
retribution to Chambersburg, but it was a twenty-fold
more costly retribution to the South. Fortunately,
before another year had passed away peace came at
Appomattox, and the inmates of Southern homes no
longer shuddered at the cry: "Remember Cham-
bersburg. ' '

i7o Old Time Notes

LXVII.
THE BORDER WAR CLAIMS.

James McDowell Sharpe and the Author Elected to the House to Secure
Appropriation for the Desolated Town — How William H. Kemble
Became State Treasurer — Debate on the Amendment to the Con-
stitution Abolishing Slavery Forced Sharpe and the Author to Par-
ticipate — Sharpe 's Admirable Speech — Why the Relief Bill Failed —
How the Appropriation of Half a Million Dollars Was Passed a Year
Later.

THE McCausland raid that destroyed the beauti-
ftd town of Chambersburg was the last visita-
tion the people of that section had from the
opposing armies of our civil war. General Patter-
son's army, the first to march against the South in the
Shenandoah Valley, in the early spring of 1861, en-
camped on my farm at Chambersburg, and made that
his base for a week or more. That occupation saved
me the trouble of harvesting luxuriant fields of clover
and timothy, as all the fields in grass were occupied
by the anny and the crops destroyed. In 1862 Gen-
eral Stuart made the first great raid of the war around
McClellan's army after the battle of Antietam, and
spent the night in Chambersburg, as I have already
fully described, leaving me minus ten horses. His
raid was followed by what were always the most
destructive military movements in our valley, with
the single exception of the burning of Chambersburg,
the invasion of the militia or emergency men, sud-
denly called out to protect the border, pitched together
into companies and regiments without discipline,
and hurriedly marched away without quartennast(^r
or commissary resources. They practically lived on

Of Pennsylvania 171

the country, and they were necessarily very costly
visitors.

In 1863 two-thirds of Lee's army had its base in
Chambersbtu^ for nearly a week, and E well's corps
of over 20,000 men followed all previous military forces
by camping on some 200 acres of level groimd on my
farm, with railroad on one side and water on the other.
Lee's army, however, was under the strictest discipline,
and Eweirs entire corps, or most of it, was on the
farm for a week ; and the officers occupied my residence,
but they did much less damage than a single regiment
of New York volunteers encamped on the same place,
who were the first to reach Chambersburg after the
battle of Gettysburg. The middle fences had then
been destroyed by both armies, and the only crop
that I was enabled to gather from the farm during
the war was a bountiful harvest in 1864, that was
entirely destroyed in the bam a few weeks after its
harvesting.

The people of Chambersburg were left in a most
destitute condition by the destruction of the town on
the 30th of July, 1864. Nearly or quite two-thirds of
the population were entirely homeless, without means
and without the occupations which afforded them a
livelihood. The people of the State responded very
generously in sending supplies, but with more than
2,000 people entirely homeless and breadless there was
often want in many family circles. I had a large com
and potato crop that had escaped the vengeance of
McCausland, and as rapidly as these crops matured
sufficiently for family use they were delivered from
day to day to the sufferers until the last pound had
gone, beyond a scant allowance for my own household.
Unfortunately, we were then in the high tide of war
inflation, when a dollar of current money bought no
more than two-thirds its face value in labor or neces-

172 Old Time Notes

saries of life, but the business men who had means or
credit hastily began the reconstruction of their homes
and business places, costing them quite double what
the properties commanded when many were forced to
sell by the revulsion that followed.

The people were inspired by the hope that the Leg-
islature would come to their relief to a very generous
extent, and, as I have explained in a former chapter,
J. McDowell Sharpe, who stood at the front of the
Chambersburg bar, and myself had been elected to the
house and charged with the responsible duty of obtain-
ing relief for our people who were struggling in the ashes
of their desolated homes. Sharpe and I, of course,
had but a single purpose in shaping our legislative
actions, and that was to successfully perform the para-
mount duty of obtaining relief for our neighbors. At
the meeting of the Legislature on the first Tuesday of
January, 1865, we agreed that we must subordinate
all political efforts to the exceptionally grave duty
imposed upon us ; that we would take no part in polit-
ical disputation; that our attitude on all legislative
questions should be governed by the advantage we
could command for the passage of the relief bill. The
house was largely Republican, and of course Sharpe,
being the leading Democrat of the body, was voiceless
in shaping its organization; but Olmsted, of Potter,
was made speaker without a contest by the Republican
friends of the border claim giving him a united support.
He was a man of the highest character, and all we
asked of him was an entirely fair committee to pass
upon our important measure, to which he readily
assented and fulfilled his promise. He was not asked
to pledge himself to support the bill, as such a propo-
sition would have been offensive to one of his delicate
appreciation of official pride, but we had the assurance
of absolute fairness, and hoped to have him with us

of Pennsylvania 173

when the struggle came, although his constituents were
very generally against us.

Before the Legislature met distant portions of the
State, which were at no time imperiled by the Civil
War, were inflamed to a considerable degree against
our reUef bill by the tmited efforts of demagogues and
lobbyists. It must be remembered that at that day
the sum of $500,000 to be taken from the treasiny for
appropriation outside of the ordinary expenses of the
State was a startling proposition, and candidates for
the Legislature in very many of the districts openly
pledged themselves against what they called the border
raid bill, to secure their election in doubtful districts,
or to assure their renominations where elections were
not doubtful. The entire northern tier of counties,
then almost wholly agricultural, and where extreme
frugality was the rule of the every-day lives of the
people, were appalled by the proposition to take half
a million dollars from the treasury of the State. Their
farms were then taxed to support the Commonwealth,
and $500,000 at that time seemed to be a vastly greater
sum than $5,000,000 would seem to-day.

Pittsburg was then in the violent throes of the rail-
road repudiation struggle that conviilsed the people
of Allegheny for many years, and their legislators had
little S3niipathy with their brethren from the southern
border, because their revolutionary movement had
commanded little sympathy or support from any por-
tion of the State east of the Alleghenies. Thus, a
large portion of the members of the Legislature ap-
peared at Harrisburg strongly prejudiced against any
important border relief bill because of poUtical or local
interests, and the professional lobbyists of the State,
who then embraced a number of able and unscrupu-
lous men, aided systematically in prejudicing legis-
lators against our measure, hoping to obtain a lai^

174 Old Time Notes

corruption fund to be used by them in securing votes
for the bill, with large profits to the lobbyists them-
selves. When we appeared at Harrisbui^ to inaugu-
rate the struggle for the relief of Chambersburg, we
were amazed to learn that a decided majority of the
house was not only not in sympathy with us, but
positively against us, and many of the members very
aggressively so.

It was this condition that brought into political
prominence William H. Kemble, as he was made State
treasurer by a combination between his Philadelphia
friends and the organized supporters of the relief bill.
I had known Kemble in a casiml way for several years,
but never had opporttmity to know him beyond the
flippant surface that he so often maintained, hiding
his very strong natural abilities from all but those who
knew him most intimately. We had some twenty
Republican members of the house who immediately
represented the border people, or who were sufficiently
interested in the work of furnishing relief, to make
them cordially co-operate with any movement deemed
necessary to promote the passage of a liberal appro-
priation. Philadelphia representatives were nearly
all Republican, and they had been thoroughly organized
to make battle for the election of Kemble as State
treasurer. His competitor was Dr. Gross, of Alle-
gheny, who had served several sessions in the house,
was a man of the highest character, of admitted
ability, and universally respected by all who knew
him. Under ordinary circtimstances he would have
been nominated for State treasurer, and would have
filled the office with great credit, but the proposition
came to us to give the support of the Republican
representatives of Philadelphia for the border relief
bill if we would tinite with them to make Kemble
State treasurer.

Of Pennsylvania 175

The proposition was first made to me by ex-Repre-
sentative Thome, with whom I had served in the hotise
some years, and who was a devoted personal friend.
He came to Chambersburg and made the proposition
that a combination be made between the border and
Philadelphia Republicans to make Kemble treasurer
and to pass the relief bill. I was greatly siuprised when
he named Kemble as his candidate, as I had only the
merest superficial knowledge of the man, and when he
first told me that the Philadelphians were unitedly
and earnestly for him, and that we could not expect
a general or cordial support for our relief bill from Phila-
delphia without the border people supporting him, my
answer was: ** Well, if you people can stand it, I can, "
and the combination was made and carried dut with
absolute fidelity on both sides. But for this alliance
with Philadelphia the Chambersburg relief bill never
would have been permitted to appear even on the
house calendar.

I learned to know Kemble better after he came into
the office of State treasurer, and to appreciate his
exceptionally great qualities. He was at times imptil-
sive and indiscreet, but he discharged his official duties
with great fidelity, and he started the important tax
reform reUeving the farmers of the State entirely from
taxation for State purposes and imposing it upon the
then rapidly developing corporations. He became a
recognized leader not only in State politics, but in
finance, and was the chief author of the pecuniary
success attained by our various city passenger railways.
He was the best equipped man in passenger railway
business not only in Philadelphia, but in any other
section of the country, and he was unfaltering in his
fideUty to personal or political friendships. He was
twice re-elected State treasurer by the Legislature, and
left the office at the expiration of three years with the

176 Old Time Notes

credit of the State fully restored, and our general
financial condition immeasurably improved.

Never did two men more earnestly struggle for the
relief of their constituents than did Sharpe and myself
at that session of the Legislature, but before a month
of the session had passed it became obvious to us that
success was not within the range of possibility. The
measure was assailed by a large number of the rural
newspapers, and the powerfully organized lobbyists
who then clustered about legislative sessions were
aggressively hostile because there was nothing in it
for them. Sharpe and I made every combination
within range to aid or hinder legislation if thereby
there was a promise made for our single cause. Politi-
cal disputation ran high in both senate and house,
but we were stubbornly silent. As Sharpe was alto-
gether the ablest member of the Democratic minority,
his political friends complained somewhat that he was
never heard in the political scraps that so often hap-
pened in which he wotild have been theif ablest cham-
pion. Finally we reached the proposed amendment
to the Constitution of the United States for the abolish-
ment of slavery, and the debate on it was altogether
the most embittered of the session. Just when it was
at the high-water mark of partisan frenzy, the Demo-
crats demanded that Sharpe should be heard, and I
had been also urged to participate in the debate on the
other side. I saw that the Democrats, where we had
our largest support for the relief bill outside of Phila-
delphia members, were determined to have Sharpe
speak, and I passed over to his seat and proposed that
I would take the floor in support of the anti-slavery
amendment, and that he should follow; that we would
both deliver dignified addresses which would not be
likely to call out violent interruption or criticism, and
that after the delivery of the speeches we would then

of Pennsylvania 177

restune our attitude of absolute refusal to participate
in political discussion. It soon became known that
Sharpe and I had taken a temporary release from our
bondage on political discussion, and, as the subject
had already crowded the house with interested spec-
tators, the senate soon adjourned for want of a quorum,
and the Governor and heads of departments and
senators crowded into the hail. Sharpens speech,
although entirely spontaneous, was the ablest political
address I ever heard him deliver, and his friends were
greatly gratified. He was thoroughly familiar with
the subject, as he had discussed the question very fully
time and again on the stump, and he rose to the highest
measure of his great ability on the sudden inspiration
of a party call that he knew demanded of him an argu-
ment fully worthy of himself. He was one of the few
members of the bar who presented the uncommon
quality of perfectly blending all the attributes of a
great lawyer with all the attributes of a brilliant advo-
cate, and he was one of the gentlest and most lovable
of men.

Hopeless as was the position of the Chambersburg
measure, we could only struggle to the end, although
it was during the last month of the session, simply the
struggle of despair, and the Legislature finally ad-
journed without any appropriation whatever for the
relief of the impoverished people of the burned town.
While the leading men of Chambersburg were fully
advised of the progress of the battle, and knew that
the defeat of the bill was inevitable, the majority of
the people in their extreme necessities, struggling like
the drowning man grasping at the straw, hoped even
against hope that they would not be entirely abandoned
by the State, and when the Legislature finally ad-
journed without even seriously considering the relief
measure their disappointment was as terrible as it was

•la

178 Old Time Notes

general. Sharpe and I were in constant intercourse
with the leading men of the town, and they knew long
before the session ended that $500,000 cotild not be
taken from the treastny of the State, even for the most
deserving charity, without passing through the slimy
embrace of a powerful and unscrupulous lobby. There
were many conferences after the adjournment of the
Legislature between the active citizens of the town,
which Sharpe and I attended, and we both stated
frankly that the appropriation that was absolutely
indispensable to Chambersburg could not be obtained
by any combination of personal or political interests,
and that it could be accomplished only by 3delding
to corruption that was then largely asserting its mas-
tery in Pennsylvania politics, and especially in legisla-
tion; and it was finally definitely decided to organize
a movement at once to obtain the appropriation from
the succeeding Legislature, and a dozen or more of
those who had sustained the heaviest losses, and who,
as a rule, could best afford to dispense with relief,
should give their entire portion of the appropriation
to promote its passage. The result was that new men
were sent to the Legislature, and the battle for the
relief of Chambersburg was made outside of the legis-
lative halls. The measure passed both branches of
the Legislature and was approved by Governor Curtin,
and thus half a million came at last to the relief of the
long-despairing sufferers of Chambersburg, less a con-
siderable stmi that was filched from them by lobby
extortion and Legislative venality.

A ntimber of the heaviest losers did not receive one
dollar, and I not only received no part of mine, which
was the largest claim in the entire list, but in a severe
emergency in the progress of the conflict I gave $2,500
in addition, not a dollar of which was ever repaid, or
expected to be repaid; but with all these resources,

Of Pennsylvania 179

we were unable to meet the ever-increasing demand of
organized corruption. Finally I presented the matter
to Colonel Scott, then vice-president of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad, who was a native of Franklin County,
and had great affection for the people of the desolated
town. He tmderstood the situation at a glance, knew
the forces which surrotmded and the obstacles which
confronted it, and he gave a peremptory order to his
representative at Harrisburg to pass the Chambersburg
relief bill tmder any and all circimistances. But for
his timely and most generous interposition and sub-
stantial aid, the relief bill would not have reached final
passage. Beyond half a dozen men, who participated
in the inner movements of the struggle, the people of
Chambersburg received the liberal appropriation of the
State without ever having heard the name of Colonel
Scott mentioned as their chief benefactor.

I should not have given any part of the inner story
of the passage of the Chambersburg relief bill, but for
the fact that it seems to be a necessity to maintain
the truth of history, and in some future diapter I must
discuss the question of corruption in Pennsylvania
politics, especially in Pennsylvania legislation. I have
given the facts in relation to the relief bill because it
was an imperious necessity that the relief should be
obtained, and a like imperious necessity that some
should assume the responsibility of submitting to the
demands of corruptionists to give success to a measure
that was a naked charity. I served in nine sessions
of the two branches of the Legislature, covering a
period of sixteen years, and during the time that Leg-
islative venality reached its high-water mark. I do
not mean that Pennsylvania politics are any less corrupt
now than they were then, but I think it is due to truth
to say that the general individual venality in legislation
these days does not approach the measure of venality

i8o Old Time Notes

that obtained during a portion of the time in which I
served in the Legislature.

There was then no such thing known as the power
of party leaders to pass or defeat measures of legisla-
tion which were not political, and venality became so
general because of the vast power of the Legislature to
promote individual and corrupt interests by special
legislation tinder the old Constitution. Private legis-
lation was practically ended by the Constitution of
1874, and petty venality that had become so general
under the former Constitution was largely dethroned.
Now, measures of individxial profit are scaled on an
immense basis; they are passed or defeated in our
Pennsylvania Legislature largely or wholly as party
leaders command, and the petty Legislative specula-
tions of a few hundreds of dollars which were common
in early times have now given way to colossal specu-
lations by political leaders, and a small portion of the
profits is gradually filtered down to the followers to
enable them to keep their positions. It is a sorry
chapter to appear in the annals of our great Common-
wealth, but the history of our political, industrial and
financial achievements would be incomplete with its
omission.

Of Pennsylvania i8i

LXVIII.
THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE OF 1865.

Chambersburg's Midnight Jubilee over the Surrender of Lee — ^The Long
Strained Border People Had Peace at Last — Peculiar Political Con-
ditions— How Cameron Lost His Candidate for Auditor General by
His Struggle to Obtain Control of the Party Organization — Senator
Heistand Defeated When He Expected a Unanimous Nomination —
Hartranft Suddenly Forced to the Front — The Organization for
Chairmanship of the Republican State Committee Taken from the
President of the Convention by Resolution of Stevens — A Sluggifh
Battle Resulting in the Success of the Republican Ticket.

THE darkest hour is sometimes just before the
break of day, and the people of smitten
Chambersburg realized the truth of the adage
within a week or ten days after the adjournment of the
Legislature that had refused them any measure of relief,
leaving them to struggle with despair. About midnight
on the Qth of April, 1865, when the sorely-depressed
people of Chambersburg were at rest, many of them in
hastily-improvised homes, the bell of the courthouse
that had been hastily rebuilt awaked the community
from its slumbers as it rang out its loudest tones. The
ringing was continued for a considerable time, and in a
little while the bells of churches, which had escaped
the torch of the vandal, joined in the welcome music.
It was known to all that there was then no immediate
danger of a raid from the enemy, and all tmderstood
that some cheerful news had come to the desolated
town.

I was waked from sleep in the little cottage formerly
occupied by a colored house servant, that Captain
Sxnitih, in his haste, had neglected to bum. My first

i82 Old Time Notes

impression was that shared by nearly all when the first
toll of the bell was heard, that some new danger
threatened, but very little reflection made me tinder-
stand that there could be no immediate peril to the
community, and that the bells were ringing out the
proclamation of some achievement toward peace.
After a hurried and imperfect toilet I hastened toward
the town and first heard the echo of cheers from the
center of the village, and as I approached nearer I was
finally enabled to distinguish the shouts which mingled
with the cheers of the people, annotmcing that Lee had
surrendered. The trained lightning had flashed the
same message from Eastern to Western sea, and there
was tiniversal rejoicing throughout the entire loyal
brotherhood of people, but in no one commimity was
the news so profotmdly appreciated, or so wildly wel-
comed, as in Chambersburg and its beautiftd and
bountiful surrotmdings on the border.

For four long years the people of Franklin County
had been under the severe strain of border warfare.
They had been raided in 1862 by Stuart, in 1863 by
Jenkins, in 1864 by McCausland, who had levelled
Chambersburg to ashes, and in addition Lee's army
occupied the county for some days before the battle
of Gettysburg. There was no time during those four
years when Moseby, or any like commander of Southern
raiders, could not have penetrated even as far north
as Chambersburg in a single night, excepting only in
the dead of winter. The people had not only suffered
from actual raids, but by the appropriation of property
alike by Union and Southern soldiers, and there was
rarely a month during any of the four summers when
they were not tinder the exhausting strain of appre-
hension of raids or invasion from the South. To these
long-suffering people, who had not only given their full
quota of their fathers and sons to join in the flame of

Of Pennsylvania 183

battle for the Union, but had suffered constant waste
and terrible anxiety, the surrender of Lee meant more
than peace to the nation, and the final triimiph of the
Union cause; it meant to them peace in their homes,
protection against robbery, and safety in the pursuit
of their daily avocations.

I have many times seen aggregations of people ex-
press enthusiastic delight, but never before nor since
have I witnessed a mass of people express such whole-
souled gratification. Not only those who rent the air
with their cheers, and the many enthusiasts who shook
hands and embraced each other in the fervor of their
joy, but there were other htmdreds of men and women
whose mute but expressive eloquence told the story
that at last relief had come to the long-fretted and
plundered people. To them it was not only peace to
State and Nation, but it was rest in the homes which
had long been racked by constant apprehension. All
who were able to leave their beds were on the street, and
remained there until the light of another day broke in
the east as the sun arose to shine upon the liberated
people.

The surrender of Lee that was soon followed by the
surrender of Johnston, and later by every organized
Confederate command in the field, at once brought the
people of the North to face the new grave problems
which confronted them. The North had overthrown
the military power of the Confederacy, and the Con-
federacy itself was hopelessly destroyed, with its chief
executive a prisoner at Fortress Monroe. General
Grant, with all his heroic record, exhibited the highest
heroism of his life when he dictated the generous terms
on which the surrender of Lee's army was accepted.
He was severely criticised by the more radical element
of the Republican party, but the people of the country
very soon learned to appreciate how grandly Grant had

184 Old Time Notes

vindicated himself, and how, in defiancxj of well-known
views of the cabinet, he had opened the door wide for
the return of peace by paroling Greneral Lee and all the
officers of his army, tmder the solemn assurance that
they could return to their homes and remain unmolested
as long as they obeyed the laws of the government in
force in their resyx^ctive localities.

This condition, for which Grant was alone responsi-
ble, made it impossible for the government, without
violating its solemnly ])lighted faith, to persecute or
ptmish any of the officers in Lee's army; and some
months later, when President Johnson, in the floodtide
of his vindictive assaults upon the South after he be-
came President, decided to inflict ^ome punishment
upon Lee and other officers. Grant, then the General of
the army, notified the President that he would be
guilty of an act of dishonor in violating any of the
terms of Lee's surrender, and stated distinctly that if
the President attempted it the General could no longer,
with self-respect, hold a commission in the army of the
United States. That position assunicd by General
Grant, and that alone, saved Johnson from adding to
his many other follies the prosecution of Lee's paroled
officers and other Confederate generals. While all in
the North had been for several years discussing the
basis of peace with little agreement of public sentiment,
Grant solved the problem himself by tc^aching the
Nation that the way to peace was by the highest meas-
ure of magnanimity to the vanquished. I honor Grant
more for what he did at Appomattox than for any
military achievement of his life. He not only heroic-
ally blazed the way to peace, but his first thought after
signing the surrender with Lee, and voluntarily issuing
an order for all of Lee 's exhausted heroes to be bounti-
fully fed from the Union commissary stores, made him
hurriedly start to Washington to take the promptest

Of Pennsylvania 185

measures for the reduction of the army to halt the
appalling expenses of the war.

With all the enormous taxes gathered from the people
to support the war; with the lavish expenditure for
botmties that loaded not only cities and counties but
townships with enormous debt, the debt of the nation
was over two billions, and there were few, indeed, at
that day who were hopeful that the National credit
could be maintained. The government bonds were
payable in coin, and silver was at a premium over gold,
while in all the transactions of every-day life among
the people the currency of the nation was accepted as
a legal tender enforced by law, when a dollar of the
lawful money of the country did not purchase two-
thirds of its face value in the necessaries of life. Had
President Johnson at once planted himself on a peace
platform with Grant after he had waded into the
Presidency through the tears of a bereaved nation,
there would have been less disturbance and tmcer-
tainty in the North, but he started out to pursue the
leading men of the South most vindictively. He pro-
claimed Davis and others as assassins of President Lin-
coln, and his whole policy seemed to have but one aim
and that to pltmge the two sections, at the close of the
war, mto an aftermath of even more fiendish hatred
and brutality than war itself had given. Forttmately,
he changed his attitude before the summer ended, but,
like the violently-swung pendulum that had gone
beyond its normal point, the swing of vengeance
naturally exceeded the normal point of generous peace
in its rebound.

These conditions brought the Republican leaders of
Pennsylvania to a sober realization of the new duties
which had come upon the party. We had a National
administration that was ostensibly Republican, and
yet the new President had already taken two positions

1 86 Old Time Notes

on the question of adjustment with the South so
violently extreme and so violently opposing each
other that the party was placed in a very embarrassing
condition when the State convention of 1865 met at
Harrisburg to nominate candidates for auditor general
and surveyor general. The incumbents of those offices
were Democrats, having been elected in the Republican
break of 1862, catised chiefly by the Emancipation
Proclamation, but neither Auditor General Slenker nor
Surveyor General Barr was a candidate for renomi-
nation. The Democrats were greatly encouraged by
the varying radical policies of the President, and at
the time their convention met they were hopeful, and
with good reason, that Johnson would gradually, and
at an early day, develop into a full-fledged Democratic
President. They placed at the head of their ticket for
auditor general the gallant Democratic soldier, General
Davis, of Doylestown, who was not only distinguished
as a soldier, but a gentleman of the highest character
and admirable personal qualities. For surveyor gen-
eral they nominated John Linton, of Cambria, who had
been a Whig in the earlier days, and unusually strong
in the interior of the State, and they made an earnest
battle ; but public sentiment was easily aroused against
placing the Democrats in power to make peace after
four years of war, whose policy they had so generally
opposed, and General Davis was defeated by over
20,000.

The Republicans had every indication of a very
peaceful convention. John A. Heistand, of Lancaster,
then editor of one of the leading inland Republican
papers of the State, who had served in both house and
senate, was a candidate for auditor general. He was
ranked as a supporter of General Cameron, but while
he faithfully followed Cameron in every emergency that
called for a rallv of Cameron's friends, he maintained

Of Pennsylvania 187

very friendly relations with Governor Curtin, and
nearly or quite all the men around him. He knew that
the friends of Curtin would be likely to control the con-
vention, and he personally visited Curtin and others
closely connected with him and appealed to them to
assent to his nomination for auditor general and have
the party with a united front and a candidate who
would not be presented to the people by a faction. He
was a jolly, genial fellow, was personally liked by all
who knew him, and some time before the meeting of
the convention Curtin and his people had all assented
to the nomination of Heistand for auditor general.

The convention was composed of a number of the
ablest of the Republican leaders, including Thaddeus
Stevens, who had consented to come as a delegate for
Heistand; General Todd, of Carlisle, who was one of
the ablest and boldest of leaders in the fight; John
Cessna, of Bedford, ex-Democratic speaker, with many
others of much more than ordinary ability and influ-
ence. The convention was known to have a decided
majority of delegates who were friends of Curtin, but
as there was to be no contest on the nomination of
Heistand, a follower of Cameron, for auditor general,
it was accepted all arotmd that there was little or noth-
ing to do beyond the formality of making nominations.
The morning session of the convention was devoted to
the appointment of committees for permanent organi-
zation, resolutions, etc., and after a brief session ad-
journed to meet in the afternoon.

Before the meeting of the afternoon session it became
whispered arotmd that Cameron, not content with
getting the head of the ticket from the Curtin conven-
tion, had manipulated the committee on permanent
organization by compelling Heistand to give his two
members of the committee from Lancaster County to
the Cameron side, and thus nondnate Johnson, a

i88 Old Time Notes

prominent and aggressive friend of Cameron, for
president of the convention. Inquiry was at once
made, and we ascertained that Cameron had forced
Heistand to transfer the committeemen from his own
county against their wishes to the Cameron candidate
for president, and a murmur of indignation swelled up
at once throughout the whole Curtin ranks, as Cessna
was expected to be named without a contest. A hasty
conference was called in which Stevens participated,
as he felt that the transfer of the committeemen from
his own county imder Cameron 's order was an outrage
not to be pardoned, and we decided that instead of
defeating the Cameron candidate for president of the
convention, as we could have done, we would give him
a unanimous election, and then when he entered the
chair, and was presumably in possession of the power
of the convention, we would publicly impale him.

When Heistand was reproached for his perfidy to
the Curtin people, he could do no more nor less than to
admit that Cameron had demanded it of him, and in
less than an hour the convention that was to nominate
Heistand for auditor general tinanimously, organized
10 defeat him, and then to strip the president of the
convention of his power to appoint the chairman of
the State committee. Stevens said that he would
(-^bey his instructions and vote for the nomination of
Heistand, but insisted that he had committed an out-
rage that should be resented, and he participated in the
conference that decided who should be presented to
defeat Heistand, and how it should be done. Cam-
eron's purpose in forcing Heistand to betray his Curtin
friends in the selection of the president of the conven-
tion was to be able to name the chairman of the State
committee, either for himself or for some one who would
be distinctly in his interest, and with a Cameron man
at the head of the ticket, a Cameron man president of

of Pennsylvania ^^9

the convention, and a Cameron man chairman of the
State committee, he would present the ai)pearance of
omnipotence in the State.

I was one of three men assigned to the duty of con-
ferring with General Kartranft, who was present at the
convention, but not a delegate, to ask him to accept a
nomination for auditor general. I might here say that
at that time General Hartranft was regarded by Curtin
and his friends as their candidate for Governor the
following year, 1866, and Hartranft, of course, had no
thought of being auditor general, and reluctantly
accepted it; but as the men who urged him to accept
were the men upon whom he depended for the guber-
natorial nomination, he finally yielded to their impor-
ttmities, and agreed that his name should be presented
to the convention if we thought it best to do so.

It was known that the Democrats would present
General Davis, a distinguished soldier, for the office,
and it was arranged that General Todd, who had a good
military record, and who was a most eloquent champion
of any cause he supported, should present the name of
Hartranft to the convention, and demand his nomination
as a matter of justice to the gallant soldiers of Penn-
sylvania. John Cessna, who had been a Democrat,
legislator and speaker of the house, and who had been
slatightered by Heistand, followed Todd in support of
the soldier candidate, and several other able like
appeals were made; and when the first ballot was
footed up, Heistand was dumfotmded to discover that
he was largely defeated by Hartranft, who had been
sprung upon the convention just on the spur of the
moment. The convention made its record consistent
by nominating General J. M. Campbell, another gal-
lant soldier, for surveyor general, thus presenting a
solid soldier ticket of candidates exceptionally strong.

After the nominations had been made the work of

I90 Old Time Notes

the convention was about to conclude, and Stevens
rose in his place and offered a resolution that John
Cessna be appointed chairman of the Republican State
conmiittee. The Cameron leaders at once saw that
they had not only defeated themselves in the conven-
tion for auditor general, but that their control of the
president of the body was to bring them nothing but
humiliation. They vainly urged that it was the im-
memorial custom of the party to have the president of
the convention appoint the chairman of the State
committee in constdtation with the candidates on the
State ticket, but it was answered that the president of
the convention of 1864 had appointed the chairman
of the State comntiittee against the expressed wishes
of nearly three-fourths of the members of the body.
It was a hopeless fight for the already-defeated sup-
porters of Cameron, and the resolution was carried by
a decided majority. Cameron not only thus lost his
candidate for aucHtor general, who would have been
accepted by the Curtin people, but he had an aggressive
anti-Cameron man placed at the head of the organi-
zation, instead of one reasonably acceptable to both
sides, as would have been done if Heistand had not
been compelled to violate his faith with his Curtin
friends and defeat himself.

It was a most unexpected and humiliating defeat for
Heistand, but he realized that he had been forced
wantonly to provoke the battle that unhorsed him.
He was popular with his people, who later sent him
to Congress for two tenns, and closed his official career
as naval officer of Philadelphia, a position with liberal
salary and little or nothing to do. He enjoyed the
navy office immensely, and frequently gave high
encomiums to the genius of Alexander Hamilton, who
had created one honorable and lucrative office with
limited duties, which could be performed wholly by

Of Pennsylvania 191

assistants. Like many others, as age grew upon him
he did not appreciate the celerity with which business
conditions were advancing about him, and that jour-
nalism was a most exacting mistress, and he went on in
the good old quiet way imtil others outstripped him
in his calling. Then broken health came ; his life-work
was finished, and green memories come back to many
in the gentle whispers from the tomb.

igi Old Time Notes

LXIX.
GEARY NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR.

Cameron's First Complete Control of the Republican Organization of the
State — Geary Bitterly Opposed by Prominent Republicans Because
He Had Been Willing to Accept the Democratic Nomination — Quay
and Tom Marshall Among the Foremost Belligerents — Geary Visits
the Author After His Nomination — All Personal and Factional
Interests Forgotten to Elect Geary to Rebuke President Johnson's
Apostacy — Cl>'mer, the Democratic Candidate, Made a Gallant
Struggle and Fell in the Race — Interesting Sequel to Geary's Pledges
to the Author.

WHILE the Republican victory of 1865 appeared
to anchor Pennsylvania safely in the Republi-
can column, the ne"v^ political conditions which
suddenly confronted the Republicans in 1866 threw a
serious element of doubt into the important battle of
that year that involved the election of a Governor.
President Johnson had adopted a reconstruction policy
of his own, and attempted to enforce it by the most
violent and proscriptive political methods. Had it
been merely a liberal reconstruction policy the Repub-
licans could have been brought into its support, but
his reconstructed Southern States, many of which
elected governors, senators, congressmen and legisla-
tures, adopted such harsh measures in the treatment
of the emancipated slaves that Republican sentiment
generally revolted against the whole scheme.

As Johnson had been in the Presidential office for a
year or more with nearly three years to wield the
enormous power and patronage of the Government, he
was an important political factor. The list of Federal
officials in the State had been largely increased by the

SZ^^^fi,

Of Pennsylvania 193

necessities of war, and while all of them were originally
Republicans, most of them were tempered into sub-
nussibn to the policy of the administration or passive
approval. Johnson's policy appealed rather forcefully
to the old war Democrats, who, while they ardently
supported the Government on the question of defeating
rebellion by military power, as a rule they had little
sympathy with radical Republican views and aims.
This political confusion presented an inviting field for
the consummate political genius and energy of General
Cameron. He kept himself in close touch with Presi-
dent Johnson and soon became known as an important
power in disposing of the President's patronage in the
State. This power enabled him to wield considerable
influence outside of his own formidable personal
strength, in his struggle for the control of the State
convention, and he woo out completely.

I was a delegate to the convention, as were Colonel
Mann, Colonel Quay, Tom Marshall, Senator Finney,
Senator Ketchum and a number of other active Curtin
men, and we were greatly surprised to learn, when the
convention met, that it was absolutely a Cameron
assembly. He had, for the first time, won absolute
mastery of the Republican State convention and the
organization, and his candidate for Governor was
General Geary, who was specially objectionable to
the men I have named and many others, because,
within three months of the meeting of the convention,
he had written a letter to Mr. Maguire that was given
to the public, assenting to the use of his name as a
Democratic candidate for the same office.

The Curtin men had no special candidate for Gover-
nor. General Hartranft, whom they had expected to
make their candidate in 1866, had been forced to accept
the nomination for auditor general in 1865, and he
was more than willing to remain in the auditor gen-

»— 13

194 Old Time Notes

eral's office instead of taking the chances of the gu-
bernatorial nomination and election. So general was
the confusion in Republican circles throughout the
State, because of the friction between the President
and the party, that grave apprehensions were enter-
tained as to party success, and Cameron alone under-
stood the exact character of the convention before it
convened. He had not only won the convention and
named the candidate for Governor, who was nominated
and elected, but his purpose was for the convention to
give either a direct or a quasi endorsement of the John-
son administration. Cameron believed that the party
cotdd be held intact even on such a platform and that
he would thus have all the influence and patronage of
the President to aid in his struggle for re-election to
the Senate.

Many conferences were held to form a combination
by which a candidate for Governor cotdd be presented
with sufficient strength to defeat Geary, but the Cam-
eron lines were invincible. The proposition to give
some form of endorsement to the administration of
President Johnson was not developed until the con-
vention met, and it had not been previously discussed
in anv section of the State. It startled the active men
of the convention who were opposed to Cameron, and
the final conference was held in my room the night
before the convention met, attended by some thirty
prominent members of the body, and after very careful
review of the situation we decided that formal notice
should be given to General Cameron early the next
morning that if the convention in any degree endorsed
the administration of President Johnson a large min-
ority of the delegates would immediately retire, organ-
ize a Republican convention and nominate a Republican
candidate for Governor.

One of the most active and earnest of the men in this

Of Pennsylvania 195

movement was Colonel Quay, and he and Ketchum, of
Luzeme, were charged with the mission of calling upon
Cameron and informing him of the action taken at the
conference. They waited upon Cameron early the
next morning, notified him of the action of the confer^
ence, and Cameron at once abandoned any endorsement
of Johnson, and gave the assurance that it would not
be attempted, although he believed that it would be
good policy for the convention to do so.

When the convention met the proceedings at once
exhibited imusual bitterness on the part of the mi-
nority, and at every stage of the two sessions of the
body the discussions were quite acrimonious. Tom
Marshall was irrepressible, and he sent his pungent
broadsides into the majority with all his grand elo-
quence and vehemence. I was suffering from chills
and fever, and I do not recall many very amiable ex-
pressions from me in the various spats we had as the
work of the convention progressed. I followed Mar-
shall, who had poiu^ed out a torrent of protest against
nominating as the Republican candidate for Governor
one who had a few weeks before declared his willing-
ness to accept the Democratic nomination for the same
office, and I did not conceal my distrust of a candidate
whose political opinions were so loosely worn.

Geary was evidently much disturbed by the aggres-
sive attitude of those who opposed his nomination. He
called at my room at nine o'clock the next morning,
where I was detained in bed by a chill, to set himself
right on the question of fidelity to the party. He gave
the most positive assurances that if elected Governor
he would not only make a straightforward Republican
administration, but that it should be free from the in-
fluence of faction. I told him frankly that I did not
have abiding faith in his fidelity to the Republican
cause, but that he need give himself no concern as to

198 Old Time Notes

able and aggressive campaign. He was an accom-
plished and impressive popular speaker, with graceftd
manners, and one of the most genial and generally
delightful of the many men I have met in legislative
duties. We had served together in the senate, and
while always on opposing political lines our personal
friendship was never even strained in the many im-
passioned conflicts we had dimng the war. I would
gladly have welcomed him as the Governor of the State
had it been possible to do so without a sacrifice that
could not be measured in its far-reaching results in
shaping the reconstruction of the dismembered States.
He fought his battle boldly in support of the recon-
struction policy of President Johnson, and until within
a few weeks of the election he was confident that the
Republican ranks would be sufficiently broken by the
power of the National administration to enable him to
succeed. He was heard in every section of the State,
and certainly much to his advantage, and as the time
for action came and the peo])le of Pennsylvania were to
decide on the question of the full fruition of the issue
settled by the arbitrament of the sword, all individual,
factional and partisan interests were entirely effaced
by the paramount question that was squarely Ix^fore the
people, and demanded solemn and final judgment.
Geary was elected by 17,178 majority, being some 5,000
less than the Republican majority of the previous year.
Clymer was highly appreciated by the Democracy
of Berks, and after his defeat for Governor he was
chosen, practically without opposition, to four con-
secutive terms in Congress, where he stood in the front
of the leaders of his party. He came into the State
senate just as the Civil War began, when partisan and
sectional passions were greatly intensified. He and
Welsh, of York, were the accepted leaders of the Demo-
cratic minority of the body, numbering only six of the

Of Pennsylvania 199

thirty-three, when Clymer first appeared. The Repub-
licans of the body decided that the utmost courtesy
should be shown to the little handful of Democrats, and
an agreement was reached between Finney and myself on
one side and Clymer and Welsh on the other, by which
the previous question should never be called in the
senate. The agreement obviated all necessity for call-
ing the previous question, if accepted in good faith on
both sides. The proposition made by the majority
was that while in the extreme necessities of w^ar it
might be necessary at times to legislate with great
promptness on most important subjects, there would be
the fullest opportunity given to the minority to be
heard in discussion of the question before the body.
If the Democrats desired protracted discussion, after-
noon and night sessions would be held, without limit
as to time, so that there should be the fullest expression
by the minority. That agreement was scrupulously
maintained by both sides, and the previous question
was never called in the senate of Pennsylvania during
the two terms in which I served as a member, although
I had seen it called seventeen times in one night session
when I was a member of the house. On my return to
the senate from Philadelphia, in 1872, the leaders of
both sides readily agreed to the same condition as to
the discussion of the passage of all important measures,
and thus the necessity for the previous question was
entirely obviated. There was no reason why a body
of thirty-three men, regarded as the first legislative
tribtmal of the State, should smnmon the previous
question to enable it to perform its legitimate duties.

Clymer was a very ready debater, as was his associate
leader, Welsh, of York, but neither of them was equal
to the duty of realizing that old-time Democracy had
expended its power, had exhausted its policy in sixty
years of domination, and that it must accept new con-

J

zoo Old Time N

ditions in the wonderful progress of events to enable it
to maintain its niaster>\ They were both resolute in
their opposition to the great industrial and commercial
development that began with our fratricidal conflict.
It was a new era, an entirely new epoch, with absolutely
new conditions, new aims and new duties. The Repub-
lican party, being ne^', was bom to the mission of the
new departiu^, but it was hard for old Democratic
leaders to understand that they must advance their
standard or be passed in the race and left to lag in the
rear of ]jr<ygress. It was a hard lesson for any man to
learn who ha^l been trained to the settled methods and
boasted pr>licy of Democracy that had triimiphed i?v4th
Jefferson sixty years before ; that had extended the flag
first to LotiLsiana, thence to Florida, thence to Texas
and then U) the Rio Grande and the Pacific Coast.

It was deemed the oracle of destiny, and it seemed to
have proved its right to the title, but mutation is
indelibly stamped upon the political affairs of all the
peoples of the world, and when new and revolutionary
advance became a necessity to Democratic leaders, they
were unequal to the duty and the opix)rtunity and they
and their i)arty fell in the race. The defeat of Cl>Tner
in Pennsylvania i>ractically decided that the Democrats
sh<^>uld Ix; vcnceless in the reconstruction of the dis-
severed Slates.

I did not meet Geary again imtil after the election,
when he happened to enter a car at Harrisburg in which
I was seated on my way to Philadelphia. He was most
effusive in his expressions of thanks for the earnest
efforts I had made to aid in his election and insisted that
I should name one of his cabinet officers. I did not
doubt then that, however sincere he might have been
at the time he made the proffer, no man I would be
likely to name for the cabinet would be api)ointed. I
knew how strong Cameron was in the advantageous

Of Pennsylvania 201

position he then occupied and how thoroughly he was
skilled in all the methods of gathering the fullest
harvest, and that fact precluded the possibility of
Cameron's assent to any one I would have preferred
for a cabinet position. Geary was persistent, however,
and claimed that I did not appreciate his gratitude for
the services I had rendered to him. It occurred to
m.e, however, that a man who lived in my coimty, poor
in ifortime, with a large family dependent upon him,
then held the position of messenger in the office of the
secretary of the commonwealth that I had secured for
him. The opportimity seemed to be at hand to save my
messenger, and I said to the Governor-elect that I
would appreciate it as a favor if he would have this
man continued in his place, to which he replied that I
should notify the man at once that his continuance in
office was absolutely assured.

I did not personally meet the Governor tmtil long
after he had been inaugurated, but I had a special
reminder that he was Governor and in authority soon
after he entered the office by the prompt dismissal of
my messenger without any complaint whatever of want
of fidelity to his duty. The cabinet was made by Cam-
eron, whose close friend, Senator Louis W. Hall, of
Blair, brought Cameron to favor the appointment of
Francis Jordan, of Bedford, to the secretaryship of the
commonwealth, and Benjamin Harris Brewster, of
Philadelphia, was made attorney general. Jordan
was one of the most competent and faithful men who
ever filled this position. He was in the senate in 1855,
was among the leaders in opposition to Cameron for
senator, and most aggressive in his warfare upon Cam-
eron politics. He was able, painstaking, thoroughly
honest, and filled the position for six years without a
blemish upon his record.

Brewster was one of the m.ost brilliant members of the

202 Old Time Notes

Philadelphia bar, but an entire novice in politics. He
had important professional relations with Cameron,
was ardently devoted to Cameron interests, but he
knew little about the public men of the State, and, un-
fortunately, because of his inexperience or want of
familiarity and general intercourse with men, he ac-
cepted Cameron's friendships and hatreds to a very
large extent in estimating the men of the State. In an
interview that he gave to the public soon after he be-
came attorney general he criticised me personally and
politically in the keen invective he so readily com-
manded, although it was entirely without provocation
so far as I have any knowledge. I had met him only
casually on several occasions, and he had no oppor-
tunity whatever to estimate me from personal knowl-
edge. How this conflict culminated in his removal
from office two years and a half later and how we
became devoted friends will embellish a later chapter.

Of Pennsylvania 203

LXX.

CAMERON-CURTIN SENATORIAL

BATTLE.

A Majority of Republican Senators and Representatives Pledged or
Instructed for Curtin — Cameron Adroitly Combined the Candidates
to Defeat Quay, Curtin's Candidate for Speaker — Stevens, Moore-
head, Grow and Forney in the Field with Cameron^ — Governor
Geary Aggressively for Cameron — Cameron Finally Controlled the
Majority — Quay, After a Conference with the Younger Cameron
and Curtin, Decided to Move the Unanimous Nomination of Cam-
eron After He Attained a Majority — Quay's First Step Toward
Affiliation with the Camerons — Republicans Lose the State in 1867.

WHEN the smoke of the contest of 1866 had
cleared away, the leaders of both factions in
the Republican party well understood the
sittiation. Cowan's term in the United States Senate
was about to expire, and his successor to be chosen.
There was no misunderstanding as to who would lock
horns in the contest for the Senatorship, as Cameron
and Curtin, the leaders of the two factions, were by
general consent accepted as the men who were to make
the struggle. Curtin had the advantage of a much
larger measure of strength with the Republican people
of the State, and a clear majority of the Republican
senators and representatives elected to the Legisla-
ture were either instructed or distinctly pledged to
sui>port him for Senator. The Legislature had thirty-
three Republican majority on joint ballot — ^nine in
the senate and twenty-four in the house, and Curtin's
friends were confident that they could hold the majority
they had imdoubtedly chosen.
Cameron, however, in addition to his constcnmate

204 Old Time Notes

skill as a political manager, had greatly strengthened
himself by having the new Republican Governor,
with his cabinet, and all the power of his administra-
tion, ready to give the most aggressive support to
Cameron in his battle against Curtin, and the power of
the Geary administration was sensibly felt in the Curtin
lines before the inauguration. As an illustration of
the earnestness with which Geary supported Cameron,
the case of James W. Fuller, of Catasauqua, may be
cited. He had long represented at Harrisburg large
iron, railroad and other corporate interests in the
Lehigh region, which employed him simply to keep
them thoroughly posted as to all legislative move-
ments which affected their interests. His stated
salaries at that time from these various corporations
for his services at Harrisburg amounted to $17,000, and
he had, by his long acquaintance with legislators and
experience in legislative business, become one of the
most important factors in all legislation. He was an
earnest friend of Curtin. and would have been one of
the most useful men in the State to Curtin in the
struggle with Cameron, as Fuller thoroughly under-
stood Cameron's methods, and knew better than any
other how to counter against them.

It was necessary for Fuller to have intimate friendly,
if not confidential, relations with the authorities of
the State to render the best service to the corporate
interests he represented, and he was notified before
the inauguration of Geary that if he wished to main-
tain his old relations with the State authorities h(^
must withdraw from the Curtin forces and aid in the
Cameron contest. He presented the case frankly to
Curtin, who told him that as it involved his usefulness
to his friends and his means of livelihood, he could do
no less than join the Cameron forces. He did so, and,
while he was entirely faithful in all that he assumed to

Of Pennsylvania ^05

I^erform for Cameron, he promptly notified Ciirtin of
every Ctirtin legislator who had been wrested from the
Curtin ranks, and just how, when and where it had been
done. Curtin was thus advised promptly and accu-
rately of the defection that began soon after the election
of Geary, by which Cameron, with his own ability as a
poUtical manager and the power of the administration,
was strengthening himself at the expense of Curtin.
In this contest, that was one of the most memorable
in the history of the State, J. Donald Cameron for the
first time came to the front as a political factor. He
had doubtless been an important aid to his father in
many previous struggles, but when the Legislature
met the younger Cameron openly assumed the leader-
ship and managed the struggle for his father from
start to finish. He had been little known or felt in
politics, as he always avoided ostentatious participa-
tion in anything, but he very soon exhibited the most
skillful and heroic methods of manipulating the Legis-
lature, and thus laid the foundation for his future
triumphs when he succeeded his father in the Senate
ten years later.

Colonel Quay was Curtin 's leader in the house and
was then serving his third term in that body. He was
the logical Curtin candidate for speaker and as he had
two years' experience in the house, and was intimately
acquainted with all the leading members of the body
and of the party in the State, his election as speaker
was regarded by Curtin 's friends as absolutely assured.
He entered into the contest in Quay's usual heroic way
visited prominent men in every section of the State,
and had a clear majority of the Republicans of the house
positively pledged to his election. Cameron saw that
with Curtin gaining the speaker of the house in a man
so able and skillful as Quay, it would be a serious if
not a fatal blow to his Senatorial aspirations. He

2o6 Old Time Notes

cotild not have defeated Quay single-handed. No
one of the Republican members of the house ventured
to make an earnest battle against Quay for the nomina-
tion, but Cameron made the outside candidates for
Senator, including Stevens, Moorehead, Grow and
several others, agree to a combination to control the
speakership of the house, and thus open the way for
the defeat of Ctutin.

As Curtin was altogether the strongest candidate
in the Legislature, the field naturally was ready to
join in any movement to weaken him, each hoping that
if Curtin was shorn of the power of the speaker, he
might not be able to control a majority of the caucus,
and that in the bitter fight that would follow he would
be accepted to harmonize the party. This combina-
tion was made in which Stevens played an important
part. He had no love for either Curtin or Cameron,
but cherished the hoi):i that he would be finally imited
upon for the Senatorship. He visited Chambersbui^
a short time before the meeting of the Legislature and
made an earnest personal appeal to me to aid in what
he said was the great ambition of his life. The grand
old Commoner was then in feeble health, and his death
occurred some eighteen months later. He sent for
me to come to his room at the hotel in Chanilx^rsburg,
where I found him lying on the bed, too weary to sit
up while pleading for a six years* term in the Senate
that all knew he could not live to finish.

I was very warmly attached to Stevens personally,
and would have made great sacrifice if it had been in
my power to serve him. He knew my relations with
Curtin; said that he did not ex]:)ect me to favor him as
against Curtin, but he believed that Curtin could not
be elected as he knew the combination was then made
to take the control of the house from Curtin 's friends,
and wanted the assurance that if anj-thing approaching

Of Pennsylvania 207

a deadlock came about, he should be made the com-
promise candidate. I appealed to him to dismiss
the thought of being Senator; reminded him that any
ordinary Congressman might reasonably be ambitious
to reach the highest legislative tribimal of the nation,
but for a man who was the confessed Commoner of the
nation during the greatest period of its history, and
who was tmdisputed and absolute leader, to accept a
seat in the Senate, would be to give up the highest
honors the nation can accord to any one, and descend
to the position of a Senator, where he would be no
greater than most of his fellows. I said that the
position of Commoner was the only one ever attained
by an American statesman that could be won solely
by universally conceded ability and merit; that while
aU other great positions from President down were
often filled by accident or fortuitous circumstance, the
Commoner of the nation could reach his pre-eminence
only by his confessed omnipotence in leadership. I
had hoped thus to break the fall of Stevens in the
Senatorial struggle, but the Senatorship was his dream
by night and his thought by day, and candor com-
pelled me to say to him that I did not have a ray of
hope of his success.

Stevens co-operated with Cameron to wrest the
control of the house from Curtin, as he would have
co-operated with Curtin to wrest it from Cameron
had Cameron been the stronger of the two candidates
.for Senator, and the combination finally decided on
Glass, of Allegheny, for speaker. Quay fought his
battle with all the skill and courage that he ever exhib-
ited when engaged in political conflict, but the com-
bination was too strong for him and he was defeated.
While the outside candidates for Senator supposed
that they had won something in the skirmish for them-
selves, Cameron well tmderstood that the speaker was

2o8 Old Time Notes

his own man, althotigh taken from Moorehead's county,
and when Glass was elected to preside over the house,
with the power of appointing committees, and the
general control of the legislation, the victory was a
dean cut triumph for Cameron alone.

The representative from my own county, although
instructed to support Curtin by the Republican coimty
convention with but three dissenting votes, and they
were given to Grow, became an open supporter of
Cameron before the caucus was held. Stevens con-
fidently expected his vote, as he had large interests
in the coimty in his Caledonia Iron Works, and had
greatly aided our representative in his election, and he
as confidently counted on the support of the senator
from our district, a resident of Gettysburg, who was
a son of one of Stevens' early and most devoted friends,
but he, too, was one of the earliest conveits to Cam-
eron's interests. Stevens was keenly wounded by
the defection of the senator from his old home, and his
comment, made in the grim bitterness that only Stevens
could exhibit, was: **He must he a changeling; his
father was an honest man. " While he had no sym-
pathy with Curtin he was profoundly grieved that he
had been misled into a combination on the speakership
that had been planned wholly by Cameron and for
Cameron, and that brought its fruits only to Cameron.

The Senatorial contest con\Tilsed the State for sev-
eral weeks before the Legislature met, and during the
two weeks between the meeting of the Legislature and
the Senatorial election the struggle at Ilarrisburg
was one of the most bitter and desperate I have ever
witnessed. Curtin had able and efficient managers,
but they were decidedly outclassc^d and W'cre no match
for the Cameron organization with Cameron and his
son accepting the struggle as one of life or death.
Cameron's methods and resources vastly exceeded those

Of Pennsylvania 209

of Ctirtin. During the entire contest, that I watched
day and night with intense interest, and was well
advised of every change made in the lines, we did not
succeed in making a single break in Cameron's thor-
oughly organized forces, and each day wotild bring to
us confidential reports of some defection in our own
ranks. Several days before the meeting of the caucus
Curtin and those who thoroughly understood the
inside situation realized that Curtin was beaten, and
beaten by Legislators who were openly violating their
solemn pledge or positive instructions.

It was this stage of the Senatorial battle of 1867
that led to the parting of the ways between Curtin
and Quay. Quay was yotmg, able, tireless and am-
bitious, and the yotmger Cameron appreciated his
possible future. I have already stated in a former
chapter the details of Cameron's invitation to Quay
to confer on the subject of the Senatorial election, re-
sulting in Quay's agreement, with others, to move to
make the nomination of Cameron imanimous after
he had obtained a majority of the caucus. He decided
to take this action after a conference with Curtin and
his closest friends, who informed him that he could
not render further service to Curtin beyond voting for
him, and that he should decide for himself what his
course should be after the nomination was made

Quay's decision to move to make the nomination
of Cameron tmanimous was not inspired in any degree
by the desire or purpose to separate himself from Cur-
tin or his friends, but it placed him in close friendly
relations with the younger Cameron, and political
events entirely beyond the control of Quay himself
logically led him into closer relations with Cameron.
Very early in the first Grant administration it became
evident that all who hoped for political power or prefer-
ment in Pennsylvania could command it only by co-

14

2IO Old Time Notes

operation with the Cameron power of the State. One
of the first acts of President Grant was to send Curtin to
Russia as Minister Plenipotentiary, where he remained
for more than three years, and with Cameron in the
Senate and omnipotent with the Grant administration,
the young Republicans of the State of prominence had
to decide Ixjtween moving along with the Cameron pro-
cession and accepting at«olute retirement.

It was thus that the way was opened for Quay to
become one of Cameron's chief lieutenants within a
very few years, resulting finally in Quay acquiring
the legitimate succession to the Cameron power of the
State, which he wielded with often severely challenged
but unbroken omnipotence until his death. As Curtin
joined the Liberal Republican forces against Grant in
1872, he practically severed his relations with the
Republican organization of the State, and Quay, whose
interests were bound up in the regular Republican
organization, followed the party flag. While he and
(Curtin were thus led into opposition lines in politics,
Quay ever maintained his j^ersonal affection for Curtin,
and when Curtin became the Democratic candidate
for Congress in his district, Quay, who was then lead-
ing the party organization, scrupulously avoided any
conflict with the interests of Curtin in his district, and
when Curtin contested the election after his first battle
for Congress, Quay made earnest efforts, under cover, to
have him admitted to the House. There was no element
of apostacy or i:)erfidy to Curtin in the action taken by
Quay. The mastery of Cameron in Pennsylvania was
proclaimed by the absolute control of the State admin-
istration, and his election to the Senate by a Repub-
lican Legislature commanding the united Republican
support. He had patiently, tirelessly and always
most sagaciously, struggled during the ten years of his
connection with the Republican party to obtain the

of Pennsylvania 211

control of its organization and win the Senatorship.
His struggle for political power stands single and alone
in the annals of Pennsylvania politics, starting with
little popular support and violent opposition, and
suffering defeat after defeat, only to rise up ready for
another battle. He had twice wrested the United
States Senatorship from a Democratic Legislature,
and now, after many htimiliating discomfitures, he
asserted his omnipotence in Republican leadership,
and adorned himself with the jewel that had inspired
him in every conflict.

To say that Cameron's successes were the result of
accidents which so often appear to control great politi-
cal results, would be simply to confess ignorance of
the truth or unwillingness to accept it. Only a great
master could have achieved as Cameron did, and his
plans were carried out successfully, not only in his
own tritimphs, but in making his son his successor.
Many men who were accorded more ability in public
affairs, and with a larger popular following, one by one
fell in the race before him. Defeat would bring them
despair, while to Cameron it only brought fresh inspira-
tion for the struggle. He was re-elected six years
later without a contest, and, after having served fotir
years of his last term he resigned his high position
and named his son, J. Donald Cameron, as his successor
without a visible ripple on the political surface. Not
only was Cameron four times elected to the Senate
by the Pennsylvania Legislature, but his son, who
succeeded him, was also four times elected to the same
position, and the mastery that Cameron established
in the Senatorial struggle of 1867 has never been broken
in its onmipotence until the present day. That such
political achievement could not be attained by any
other than a master of masters in politics will hardly
be questioned by any of ordinary intelligence. His

212 Old Time Notes

aims and his methods were ever legitimate subjects
of criticism, but historv records the fact that he not
only won the position for himself and his successors,
but commanded the support of the people of one of
the most intelligent States of the Union.

The Republican people of Pennsylvania were not at
once prepared to accept Cameron's leadership, and in
the contest of 1867 ^^^ followed the electon of Cam-
eron to the Senate the party was listless and refused
to res[x>nd to the appeals of leaders to save the organiza-
tion from disaster. There was only one State officer
to elect in 1867, that of supreme judge, and Henry W.
Williams, of Allegheny, who was then serving by
apfxwntment to fill a vacancy, was imanmously nomi-
nated by the Republicans without any exhibition of
factional feeling in the convention. Although not dis-
turbed by factional strife, it was listless and perfunc-
tory in its proceedings, and the Democrats strength-
ened themselves by nominating Judge Sharswood,
of Philadelphia, who stood in the forefront of the great
jurists of the State, and the Reimblicans suffered
defeat by a small majority, although they saved the
I-^egislature. It was believed generally by the Dem-
ocrats and by many Rejjublicans that the turning
point of Republican jjower in Pennsylvania had been
reached, and that Cameron and the party he then
controlled would be relegated back to the minority
power of the State. The Rei)ublicans were disturbed,
and to some extent disintegrated, by the recimst ruction
policy of Congress that led several of the Republican
Senators to desert the party, including Senator Cowan,
of Pennsylvania. The party was finally saved by
General Grant consenting to become its candidate for
President, and the war of factions was forgotten in
Pennsylvania, as the people rallied to honor the Great
Captain of our Civil War.

Of Pennsylvania 213

LXXI.
CURTIN MINISTER TO RUSSIA.

Republican State Convention of 1868 Overwhelmingly Anti-Cameron—
Curtin Presented as Pennsylvania's Candidate for Vice-President —
The Author Chairman of the Delegation to the National Convention
— How Grant Became Republican Candidate for President — Colfax
Nominated for Vice-President — Why Wade Lost the Nomination —
Curtin Pressed for the Cabinet — ^The Author's Interview with Grant
on the Subject — Curtin Made Minister to Russia.

CURTIN was greatly grieved and humiliated by
his defeat for Senator in the Legislature of
1867, but he maintained himself with great
dignity and submitted in silence to the wrong he
believed he had suffered. He received Governor
Geary as his successor in the Executive mansion with
generous hospitality, although he knew that Geary
was one of the important factors in accomplishing
his defeat, and he retired to Bellefonte, where for a
year or more he lived in the quiet enjoyment of his
home and friends. Curtin possessed a most affec-
tionate and sympathetic nature, and the people in
whose midst he had been bom and grown up to reach
the highest honors of the State were those with whom
he loved to dwell. He was offered important business
positions, but, imlike most of the ex-Governors of
the State, he could not be tempted from the home of
his kindred and friends. He and his brothers had
inherited what in those days were regarded as large
iron interests at his home, which had long been a
source of embarrassment, but during the war they
had become largely profitable; and he gave a portion
of his time to business with his brothers in the man-

214 Old Time Notes

agement of their works. He took no part in the con-
test of 1867, as little interest was felt by the party
generally, and few even of the most active leaders
were heard on the stiimp. He realized, as did all of
those well informed as to the political situation, that
there was great danger of the Republican party being
wrecked in the Presidential contest of 1868. Penn-
sylvania had been lost to the Republicans in 1867 by
the election of the Democratic State ticket, and the
recovery of the Republican mastery depended wholly
upon the unshaped conditions of the future.

The Republican party was saved in 1868 by the
quarrel between President Johnson and General Grant.
General Grant was not a Republican; he had never
voted the Republican ticket, and his last vote for
President in i860 was for Breckenridge, the radical
slavery Democratic candidate, although he was a
resident of Illinois, the home of Douglas. He had
never given any expression of his acceptance of the
Republican faith, nor of his desire or purpose to act
in harmony with it. He was stubbornly silent in
politics, and the Democrats shrewdly decided to make
him their candidate for President, feeling confident
that with him as their standard bearer they could
certainly win, and there is little reason to doubt that
if Grant had accepted the Democratic nomination,
as was at one time more than possible, he would have
been elected and the Republican party overthrown.
I do not suppose that he would have made a radical
Democratic President, but he would have carried out
the policy of reconstruction on the generous and chiv-
alrous lines that he first taught the country in his terms
accorded to Lee at Appomattox. He had decided, as
he then believed irrevocably, never to accept a political
position. He had no taste for civil duties, and little
acquaintance with them. He held the highest posi-

of Pennsylvania 215

tion ever held by any one in the army, a rank at that
time accorded only to Washington and himself, with
the right to retire without diminution of salary; but
Grant, hke all other men, was human, and when the
Presidency appeared to be clearly within his reach,
even with all his general stabihty of purpose, he was
unequal to the task of refusing the highest civil trust
of the world. Had he done so he would have been
the only man in the history of the Republic of whom
such a story could be told.

When Johnson decided to remove Stanton from the
War Office in disregard of the tenure-of-office law,
he called Grant to act as Secretary of War ad interim,
I fully confiding in Grant as Democratic in sympathy.
[ and as certain to co-operate with the President. The
President claimed that when Grant accepted the
position he gave the assurance that if the Senate
refused to assent to the removal of Stanton he would
not surrender the office, but would require Stanton
I to fight his battle to regain the position from the out-
t side; but when Grant was officially notified that the
Senate had refused to concur in the removal of Stanton
and Stanton appeared to claim the office, Grant at
once quietly gave him possession and returned to his
army headquarters. The President was greatly in-
flamed at the action of Grant, and publicly denounced
him as having been guilty of perfidy in surrendering
the office to Stanton, to which Grant made answer
that he had given no such pledge, and that it was his
duty as a soldier to obey the law. The controversy
became exceedingly bitter, and the entire cabinet
joined in a statement over their signatures sustaining
I the President, thus practically proclaiming Grant as
guilty not only of violating his solemnly plighted
faith to the President, but also of falsehood.

The Republicans at once came to the support of

L

2i8 Old Time Notes

an3 who afterward, by the action of the Curtin
forces which controlled the convention, was made
chairman of the Republican State committee. When
it is stated that I was unanimously elected chairman
of the Pennsylvania delegation to the National con-
vention, it need hardly be said that Cameron's influence
was not then seriously felt at home, but he was in a
position of great power and doubtless did much to
prevent the support of Curtin by delegations from
other States. He had been Senator and cabinet
officer; had close relations with many of the Repub-
lican Senators who could readily influence their States
against Curtin; and when we reached Chicago and
entered the struggle for the nomination of our candidate
for the second place, we soon discovered that we were
involved in a hopeless battle.

The impeachment trial of President Johnson was
in progress for some weeks before the convention met;
and the judgment of the Senate acquitting him for
want of a single vote to make two-thirds favorable to
his conviction was announced to the Pennsylvania
delegation when on its way to Chicago, and within a
few hours of that place. It was confidently expected
when the impeachment trial began that the President
would be convicted and removed from office, and that
Senator Wade, President pro tern, of the Senate,
would become President for the period of eight months.
Wade had lost his re-election to the Senate by the
Democrats carrying his State the year before, and he
at once became a candidate for Vice-President. He
was a man of great individual strength in the Repub-
lican party, and as it was believed that he would con-
trol the entire patronage of the government for eight
months before the new Republican President would
come in, his nomination for Vice-President was accepted
as certain. Had the Senate delayed its final judg-

Of Pennsylvania 219

ment in the impeachment case a week longer, Wade
would undoubtedly have been nominated for Vice-
President, solely because of the power he was expected
to wield for eight months as President.

When the acquittal of Johnson was announced,
Wade's candidacy suddenly became absolutely hope-
less. He was not personally popular because of his
brusque and often offensive methods of expression,
and a large majority of those who supported him for
Vice-President did it solely because he was expected
to succeed Johnson as President. His friends made a
gallant struggle for him, however, but his defeat was
known to all as inevitable. He received 147 votes
on the first ballot and rose to 206, but on the last ballot
he fell to 38, when Colfax received 549. Curtin had
little chance for gathering any strength from the sur-
rotmding States, as Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts;
Senator Fen ton, of New York; Speaker Colfax, of
Indiana, with Wade, of Ohio, held all the States sur-
roimding Pennsylvania as their local candidates. Cur-
tin received 51 votes on the first ballot and fell to 40
on the third, when his name was withdrawn and his
supporters generally went to Colfax.

Colfax was in a fortimate position to be the second
choice of a large majority of the delegates. He repre-
sented the yoimger and more vital element of the party,
and was one of the most genial and delightftil of men
and an eloquent and impressive speaker. His State
was regarded as one of the debatable pivotal States of
the Union, and he was entirely free from the opposition
of faction at home or elsewhere. The nomination of
Grant was made tmanimously, of course, every vote
in the convention being recorded for him when the roll
was called, and when the result was annotmced a cur-
tain was raised on the rear of the platform exhib-
iting an immense full-length portrait erf the great

aao Old Time Notes

chieftain, which brought the convention and the laige
audience attending it at once to their feet cheering it
to the echo.

Curtin at once came to the front, and was conspicu-
ous in the battle from the opening of the campaign
to its close. He spoke in different sections of Penn-
sylvania, and was called to Indiana and other States
where special effort was needed, and Grant was known
to cherish a very high appreciation of Curtin s services.

Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio were yet States
which held their Stale elections in October, and the
Presidential l>attle was fought in Penns>'lvania and
Indiana, as it always had been, on the State ticket in
October, as the result at the State election decided the
electoral vote of the State in November. General
Hartranft, who was then auditor general of the State,
was unanimously nominated by the Republicans for
re-election. The DonKxrrais nominated Charles E.
Boyle, one of the ablest of their State leaders, as Ws
ci'^m^vtitor. The Octolx^r States were earnestly con-
test <\1 by the HonvxTats. Their triuni]>h in Pennsyl-
var.ia the year IxMoro, aiul the nominatiin of Horatio
Soxinour as their candidate for President, who was
adm:t:i\i!y one of their ablest and strongest men,
m;ide :ho:n ho|XM"ul that with the aid < f the Johnson
adm:r.:>:ration thov oiuild defeat Grant. Pennsvl-
vaivia was ov^ntoste*.! with dosix?ratiin. ar.d the largest
ne:nv\?ra::c vote brought out that had ever been
|vlU\i, but Hartrar.ft was ro-elocted by nearly ic.ooo
mav'hty. In ln;viian,a the IVniocrats had their $tn?ng-
es: leader, ThxW.as A. Hondncks, at the head cf their
ticket, for Cn^von-iv^r. a man who always oiild ccm-
nun.d mon? than tlio viistin.ot lVnircrri::c vote cf the
State. Thoy ov^n.tulon.tly o\:\vtod ti^ oarr\- Penns\i-
\*;inia and Inviian.a in iVtoN^r. and thus :\ recast the
elect •>:: of Sexir.vnir in NovcinlxT. but with all the con-

Of Pennsylvania ^21

fidence and well-directed and enthtisiastic efforts that
were made for Hendricks in Indiana, he was beaten for
Governor by a little less than a thousand votes.

Thus the pivotal October States, after the Democrats
had exhausted their resources for the contest, declared
for the Republicans, and there was practically little or
no contest for the Presidency thereafter. The Dem-
ocrats of New York determined to vindicate Seymour.
He was their greatest and most beloved leader, and they
gave him just even 10,000 majority in the State by
an immensely developed majority in the city of New
York. At the November election Pennsylvania gave
nearly 30,000 for Grant, and Indiana came up with
nearly 7,000 Republican majority, giving Grant a very
large majority alike in the Electoral College and in the
popular vote.

Immediately after the election of Grant it was
decided by a number of Curtin's friends to propose his
appointment for a cabinet position. Curtin did not
regard the movement with special favor, as he knew
that if he entered the cabinet with Cameron in the
Senate there would be a most imforttmate and contin-
uous conflict to vex the administration in the dis-
posal of Pennsylvania patronage; but without any
concerted movement a number of the leading Repub-
licans of the State strongly urged Grant to appoint
Ctirtin as one of his cabinet advisers. Among them
was Judge Read, of our supreme cotirt, who called at
my office in Philadelphia, where I had become a resi-
dent in the latter part of 1868, and handed me a letter
addressed to General Grant, requesting me to deliver
it in person as soon as I could visit Washington. He
did not state its contents, and a few days thereafter
I was in Washington and called upon General Grant
at army headquarters and delivered the letter. He
received v^e very kindly, and, after a brief conversa-

222 Old Time Notes

tion, without any reference to politics, I rose to take
my leave.

By the time I reached the door he had opened the
letter, and saw that it related to Curtin's appointment
as a cabinet officer, and he called me back. He in-
formed me that the letter urged him to appoint Curtin
to his cabinet, and he desired to say to me as one of
Curtin's close friends, that, while he had a very high
appreciation of Curtin's ability and character, he
meant to appoint his cabinet officers entirely in con-
formity with his own personal wishes, as it was his
official family, and he felt that he should be free to
select men chiefly with reference to their acceptability
to himself. I had heard that he meant to appoint
Mr. Bone, of Philadelphia, to the cabinet, who was a
most estimable gentleman, but an entire novice in
political or official affairs, and would be practically
valueless to the administration because of his want
of knowledge of public men and public duties. I
answered the General by saying that he certainly had
the right to apix^int a cabinet entirely acceptable to
himself, but that he should remember that cabinet
officers were representative ])ul)lic men, and that the
success of his administrati(jn (le]Xjnded very largely
upon their strength before the country. (5rant then
clearly had the idea that a political administration
could be run like an army, by regulation orders, and
I saw that he did not receive kindly the suggestion
I made as to the necessity f>f strengthening his admin-
istration by cabinet ai)ix)intments, as he replied with
evident feeling on the subject.

I was greatly disappointed at this feature of Grant's
idea of statesmanship, and with careful courtesy said
to him that if I were suddenly called to the head of
the army without military" experience, I would realize
that my first great need would be generals, and that

of Pennsylvania 223

it was no discredit to him when called to the highest
civil position of the country without experience in
civil affairs, to say that his great need wotild be states-
men. Grant suddenly closed the disciission in evident
irritation, and I never again visited him during his
eight years of the Presidency.

I had been compelled to change my residence from
Chambersburg, where lingered the warmest affections
and sympathies of my life, to Philadelphia, because I
was utterly bankrupted by the destruction of the town,
and I meant to devote myself strictly to my profession
and take no further part in politics after the election
of Grant. I had no political aspirations whatever,
and as I felt that I could not afford to struggle for
political promotion even if I desired it, I left the Presi-
dent-elect with no regret that I had offended him by
telling him the truth that he was unwilling to accept,
but would be compelled to accept sooner or later.
Curtin felt no disappointment when the cabinet was
annotmced without his name being in its list; and he
was confident from expressions received not only
from Grant himself, between the period of his election
and inauguration, but especially from assurances given
by Representative Elihu B. Washbume, who was
early announced as the premier of the new cabinet,
that Grant would, in some way, emphasize his regard
for Curtin, which he did among his first official acts
after his inauguration, by nominating Curtin as Min-
ister to Russia.

224 Old Time Notes

LXXII.
JOHN SCOTT ELECTED SENATOR.

The Senatorial Contest Shrewdly Managed by Colonel Thomas A. Scott— >
When the Legislature Met No Contest for Senator Developed — ^John
Scott Unanimoiisly Nominated — Elected by the Solid Vote of His
Party — Scott's Creditable Record in the Senate — Keeping within
Party Lines He Followed His Own Convictions — Curtin Went to
Russia Knowing that It was Political Banishment — Honors Show-
ered upon Curtin before His Departure.

IN the State contest of 1868 the Republicans carried
both branches of the Legislature, but by somewhat
reduced majorities. The senate stood 1 8 Republi-
cans to 15 Democrats, and the Republicans had 24
majority in the house, giving them 27 on joint ballot.
The term of Buckalew as United States Senator was
about to expire, and there was very general surprise
that the half dozen or more men who had so earnestly
struggled for the coveted position two years before in
the celebrated Cameron-Curtin contest, did not enter
the race. True, Thaddeus Stevens, the ablest of them
all, had crossed the dark river, and while a number
were more than willing to make a contest for the Sena-
torship if they could have met with any encourage-
ment in doing so, it was v^r}'- early discovered by all
that the position was irrevocably disposed of before
the Legislature met.

Colonel Thomas A. Scott had then become an im-
portant factor in both State and National politics,
and was greatly interested in our transcontinental
railway system. He had been for a period president
of the Northern Pacific, and later had undertaken
the Herculean task of constructing the Texas Pacific,

Of Pennsylvania 225

expecting the aid of a government subsidy such as
had been given to the Central and Northern lines.
He wanted a man of the highest character, ability and
integrity to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate,
and one who would take an active interest in the devel-
opment of the country. He, and he alone, accom-
plished the election of John Scott, of Himtingdon,
by the Republican Legislature of 1869. Although
bearing the same name, there was no blood relationslup
between the families.

John Scott was then confessedly the leader of the
bar in interior Pennsylvania, and was connected pro-
fessionally with the great railway line of the State.
He was a man of adimtted ability, tireless energy and
imblemished reputation. He was not in any sense
a politician, and knew little or nothing about the
political methods by which men advance themselves
to political distinction. He had been prominent in
Pennsylvania politics as a Democrat, and was a dele-
gate to the Democratic State convention of 1852,
where he led the opposition to Buchanan's nomina-
tion for President and was the author of the formal
protest presented to the convention by nearly or quite
one-third of the delegates, declaring against Buchanan's
availability as the Democratic candidate for President.
When the Civil War came he was a pronounced loyalist,
and he accepted the Republican or Union nomination
for the Legislature in Huntingdon County, in 1861,
and was one of the half dozen War Democrats of the
body who held the balance of power in the house
during that session, and co-operated very cordially
with the Republicans in support of the war. He did
not, however, separate himself from his Democratic
affiliations, and he was the unsuccessful candidate of
that party for State senator in 1863; but in 1864 he
joined ex-Speaker Cessna, of Bedford, the Rowes,

226 Old Time Notes

of Franklin, General Hartranft, of Montgomery, and
a number of other War Democrats in support of Lin-
coln, and thereafter acted with the Republican party.

Colonel Scott then understood the politics of the
State of Pennsylvania better than any other one man
in the Commonwealth. His great trunk line was
extending its tributaries into almost every approach-
able section of the State, with the very hearty co-opera-
tion of the prominent men of all parties where important
local improvements were to be made, and his relations
with the controlling men of the State in both parties
were such that it was not difficult for him to make
John Scott the candidate for Senator and have his
election assured before the Legislature met. John
Scott was nominated by a practically unanimous
vote, and there was not even the semblance of a battle
against him. Fortunately, he possessed every quality
essential for a man to fill a seat in the highest legis-
lative tribunal of the nation, and while many of the
more active politicians were greatly disappointed to
find a man unanimously nominated for Senator who
would have been easily defeated if left to his own
political resources, none could question the fitness of
the selection, and I cannot recall another instance in
which the party electing a United States Senator
created and welcomed its candidate with such entire
unanimity and cordiality as welcomed John Scott,
and his career in the Senate brought no disappoint-
ment to his many friends.

He was politician enough to know that party inter-
ests had to be respected, and at times something
yielded to political necessities, but no man ever served
a term in the United States Senate with a cleaner
record than that made by John Scott. When issues
arose which appealed to his sense of justice, no political
influence whatever could swerve him from his duty.

Of Pennsylvania 227

I heard him deliver his first speech in the Senate a very-
short time after his admission to the body, and it was
a sore disappointment to some of the leaders of his
party, who believed that the end always jtistifies the
means in politics. A young Pennsylvania clerk had
gone westward some years before to grow up with the
country, and was successful in acquiring position and
fortime. He wielded his power without regard to
the lawfulness of his methods, and elected himself
to the United States Senate, where he had served for
one or more sessions.

The Senate was petitioned to inquire into the integ-
rity of his commission, but it was generally expected
that it would be disposed of in some one of the regula-
tion ways which had usually been adopted to avoid
the expulsion of a Senator for improper methods in
securing his election. It was this question that called
out Senator Scott to make his first deliverance in the
body, and although powerful influences had been
employed to restrain him from aggressive attack upon
the assailed Senator, he delivered an argument that was
absolutely unanswerable, and was presented with such
dignity and manliness that none attempted to dispute
it. The result was that the assailed Senator, who
until then confidently expected that the investigation
into his case would be merely perfimctory, and that
he would not be disturbed in his seat, resigned shortly
thereafter and never again appeared in public life.

General Cameron was then the senior Senator from
the State, and he had very cordially co-operated with
Colonel Scott in the election of Senator Scott. Cam-
eron knew that Scott would not permit himself to be
vexed about the patronage of the National administra-
tion in Pennsylvania, as Scott had little acquaintance
with the politicians or their respective merits, and had
even less inclination to asstmie responsibility in the

228 Old Time Notes

struggles of contending applicants for Federal positions.
Scott's election to the Senate gave Pennsylvania an
able, brave, conscientious and faithful Senator, and
left the patronage of the Grant administration, that
was then, as now, indispensable to maintain a party
organization, entirely to Cameron.

When Curtin's nomination was sent by President
Grant to the Senate for Minister to Russia, Cameron
was anxious to defeat his confirmation, but while Scott
knew that he was to some extent at least indebted to
Cameron for his election, and was in no measure
indebted to Curtin, who had simply been unfelt in
the contest, he at once declared that a man of Curtin *s
ability and services rendered to the State should not be
stricken down by a Republican Senate, and expressed
his purpose to make an earnest battle for Cxirtin's
confirmation if opposition developed. The result was
that Cameron yielded to Scott and Curtin was tmani-
mously confirmed. Notwithstanding Senator Scott's
service was during a period of unusual political activity,
he never exhibited any interest in political manage-
ment and never sought to shape political affairs in
his State. He knew that it was a lesson he could not
learn sufficiently to make him a leader in the rough-and-
tumble struggle for mastery in State politics, and he
was wisely content to perform his Senatorial duties
with unbroken dignity and scrupulous fidelity.

His disregard of political affairs and independent
action on all occasions did not commend him to the
politicians of his party in the State, and at the expira-
tion of his six-year term, when the Democrats had
possession of the Legislature and chose William A.
Wallace as his successor, the State leaders denied him
the empty compliment of a renomination, although no
man who had served Pennsylvania in the Senate for
many years was more justly entitled to it. It was

of Pennsylvania 229

' decided, however, that such men were not wanted in
the political management that then prevailed, and
Quay and the younger Cameron who then had abso-
lute control of the organization, gave ex-Congressman
John Allison, of Beaver, the honor of being nominated
for United States Senator, only to be defeated by the

I Democratic candidate. Soon after Senator Scott re-

■ tired from the Senate he located in Philadelphia and
Bbecame general solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad
' Company, a position that he held and filled with great

credit until his death.

The Democrats of the Legislature nominated William
A. Wallace for Senator, although Buckalew had served
six years with very general acceptability to the party,
and he and his friends naturally expected him to
receive the only endorsement that coiild be given to
him in 1869, by casting the Democratic vote for him.
Wallace had entered the senate in 1863, and soon

■ became the confessed leader of the party in the Legis-
lature. He was the most accomplished organizer the
Democratic party developed in his day, and he decided

* to take the nomination for himself in 1869 to blaze
the way for his election to the Senate some time in
the future, when the Democrats might gain a majority
of the Legislature. Buckalew and his immediate
friends were not only greatly humiliated by this action
of Wallace, but it caused a bitter estrangement that

I nearly accomplished Wallace's defeat in 1875, when

' Democrats had the Legislature and Wallace was

fits nominated candidate for the United States Senator-

lip. Buckalew appeared at Harrisburg and attempted

Ito fight out the battle even by revolutionary methods

Bto accomplish Wallace's defeat, but Buckalew was a

■ novice in ])o]itical management when forced to size
up with Wallace in a struggle, and Wallace finally
secured enough of the Buckalew men to accomplidi

230 Old Time Notes

his election. The estrangement between Buckalew
and Wallace remained tmreconciled until the grave
extinguished their resentments.

When Curtin accepted the position of Minister to
Russia, he well imderstood all that it implied. He
did not wish to go to Russia, although it was one of
the only three first-class missions of the government.
He understood that it was intended by the President
to be a compliment for the services he had rendered
the State and country and his support of Grant in the
Presidential contest, but he well knew also that it was
meant by others to retire him from the factional con-
flicts of the party in the State. He knew that with
Cameron in the Senate serving a term that would not
expire until the end of the first term of the new Presi-
dent, he could not hope to make a successful battle
for the support of his friends with the President when
every nomination of a friend of Curtin was certain to
bring threatened and probable rejection in the Senate.
For him to remain at home and battle against such
fearful odds was simply to invite fretful struggles and
repeated defeats, and to accept the position was the
practical disintegration of the political organization
he had in the State, and the elimination of himself
and friends from mastery in the Republican organiza-
tion. He was greatly gratified at Grant's courage in
nominating him in the face of Cameron's protest, and
after mature reflection he felt that it was his duty
to accept the position and practically abandon all
attempt to control the Republican organization of
the State.

His friends very generally approved of his decision,
and when a large number of them accompanied him
to New York and bade him good-bye on board the
vessel when he was about to sail for St. Petersburg, all
f^lt that they were no longer important factors in

Of Pennsylvania 231

Pennsylvania politics. Most of them were not of the
place-hunting class, and could do quite as well, or
better, for themselves in private pursuits than in seek-
ing or even gaining political honors, but they all felt
keenly the turn in political affairs that had practically
made Curtin and themselves voiceless in the great party
they had earnestly and so successfully struggled to
create, and whose earliest victories they had won
following the tall plimie of their beloved chief. Just
before sailing for Russia he was, by the unanimous
vote of both branches of cotmcils, tendered a public
reception in Independence Hall, and that was attended
by many thousands, and a public dinner was given to
him in the Academy of Music, with the largest attend-
ance of prominent men ever witnessed at any public
dinner in Philadelphia. The ablest Republicans from
every section of the State were largely represented.
Judge Thayer presided, and the career of the great
War Governor was told in eloquent story by half a
score or more of the leaders who had battled by his
side, but a strain of sadness pervaded the many fer-
vent tributes paid to the man who was the greatest
of all the popular leaders of the State, and whose record
as the great War Governor stood out in matchless
grandeur.

The position of Minister to Russia was practically a
sinecure. Our relations with that Power were of the
most friendly nature, and during his more than three
years of service as Minister to the Court of the Czar,
he never had a single grave diplomatic problem to
solve. His sunny, genial ways made him a great
favorite at the Russian court, and he was accorded a
degree of confidence in Russian royalty and diplomacy
that probably no other Minister to the Czar ever
enjoyed. He was a special favorite with Czar Alex-
ander, the grandfather of the present Czar Nicholas,

232 Old Time Notes

and the Czar commanded not only the earnest sym-
pathy of Cxirtin, but the most sincere and earnest
approbation of his freedom of serfs of Rtissia. So
highly did the Czar appreciate Curtin as Minister that
he specially sat to one of the great artists of Rtissia for
a life-size portrait that was finished in the highest style
of art, and personally presented to Curtin by the Czar
himself. It yet adorns the Curtin home in Bellefonte.
I was in constant correspondence with Curtin during
his stay in London, and was one of the few to whom
he expressed his views without restraint. He, of
course, had many letters from his numerous friends
throughout the State, and was fully advised of the
progress of poUtical events, and the gradual com-
plete mastery of the factional power of the State that
was implacably hostile to himself and his friends. He
was greatly fretted as he learned from time to time
that the open friends of Curtin, who entered the field
for political preferment either in the State or in the
National administration, speedily crossed the dead
line and was mercilessly crucified, but he was powerless
to aid them, and could only sit in the grandeur of
Russian royalty and bow in sorrow to the sacrifice of
those to whom he was so ardently devoted. At the
end of the first year he decided to return home and
share the struggle of his friends, but they with one
accord advised him that it would be a hopeless conflict,
and that every consideration of political expediency
dictated that he should remain. He was offered very
large pecuniary compensation to become connected
with business enterprises of Americans in Russia,
which would have required his resignation as Minister,
but he felt that as long as he remained abroad he
would continue as Minister to the Russian Court.

of Pennsylvania 233

LXXIII.
THE INFAMOUS REGISTRATION LAW.

The Defeat of City of Philadelphia Candidates in 1868 Made Mann
Enforce the Enactment of the Registry Law — Wide Open Doors for
Fraud under Color of Law — The Author's Earnest Protest Against the
Movement — Mann Regained the District Attorneyship Under It —
Interesting Incidents in Halting Fraud at a Special Senatorial
Election.

THE political conditions developed in Philadel-
phia by the election of 1868 were well cal-
culated to alarm the Republican leaders.
With all the personal strength that General Grant
brought to the party, the Democrats elected a majority
of their ticket in the city, including mayor and district
attorney, by majorities ranging from 1,000 to 1,900.
Daniel M. Fox was the Democratic candidate for
mayor, and General Tyndale his Republican opponent.

Tyndale was opposed by severe churchmen, on the
groimd that he was not entirely orthodox in faith,
and the official returns showed about 1,900 majority
in favor of Fox, and Furman Sheppard was returned
as elected district attorney by a smaller majority.
Such a disaster coming in a Presidential year, when the
full vote of the party was polled and the organization
supposed to be complete, gave little promise of future
Republican mastery in the city that was claimed to
be the great loyal city of the nation.

Colonel Mann had been nominated for district attor-
ney by the midsummer convention of 1868, but a frac-
tion of probably one-fourth of the delegates in the con-
vention bolted, organized a separate convention, and
nominated Isaac Hazlehurst, a prominent Republican

•.

«

234 Old Time Notes

of the city, with the declared ptirpose of defeating
Mann by revolutionary action. Mann had been assis-
tant district attorney for two terms under William
B. Reed. He was the Republican candidate in 1856
to succeed Reed, but the return was given in favor of
Lewis C. Cassidy.

Mann contested the return, and was awarded the
position by the court. In 1859 he was re-elected with-
out serious, contest, and won out for re-election again
in 1862 and 1865. From the time that he succeed^ in
entrenching himself in the office of district attorney
he became the leader of the party in the city, and during
his reign no one ever ruled with more complete omni-
potence, but all such political power is certain to pro-
voke factional hostility, alike from personal disappoint-
ments and from those who sincerely protest against
the autocratic political methods by which political
masters are often compelled to execute their decrees.

Mann was one of the most liberal and generous of
political leaders, but the fact that he was omnipotent
awakened formidable jealousies, and the additional
fact that his political methods were at times necessarily
arbitrary and unscrupulous aroused bitter antagonism,
and when he was nominated for the fifth consecutive
term, although the party organization was strength-
ened by a Presidential contest, it became evident that
he would be defeated. The Democrats nominated
Furman Sheppard, who was confessedly their strong-
est man. He was not only a man of great ability,
but commanded the respect of the entire community,
whether friends or foes in politics. After the nomina-
tion of Sheppard, the Republican leaders saw that
they were inviting a terrible disaster by permitting
two candidates of their party to be in the field for dis-
trict attorney, and Mann was finally induced to decline,
as I have stated in detail in a former chapter.

Of Pennsylvania 235 •'

The disputing factions had agreed upon Charles
Gibbons as the man upon whom all the Republican
belligerents could be harmonized. Gibbons was one
of the most brilliant of the old Whig leaders in Phila-
delphia, and was elected from the city to the senate
as* early as 1844, where he stood confessedly as the^
ablest of the Whig leaders in the body, although then
quite a yoimg man. His fidelity to his own convic-
tions led him to antagonize Philadelphia in the contest
between the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania
Railroad.

He did not oppose the Pennsylvania enterprise, .
but he insisted that if the Baltimore & Ohio, that had'
first offered to construct the line through Pennsylvania
to Pittsburg, was willing to complete a second road to
the West, it should have the right to do so. It was then
generally believed that two such lines could not be
sustained in the State, and for his refusal to iieny the
franchise to the Baltimore & Ohio, that, he had pre-
viously earnestly supported when it was the only
organization that promised to construct such a line,
he was bitterly denounced at home and practically
retired from politics for nearly a quarter of a century.
He had not been involved in factional strife, as he took
little interest in local politics, although an active mem-
ber of the Union League and an ardent supporter of
the war. He was not a map who had mingled with the
people, and lacked in the important element^ of per-
sonal popularity, although his clean record commended
him very generally to the voting public.

A very earnest effort was made by the reunited party
to elect Gibbons, but the majority was against him,
and he proceeded to contest the return. The case
was heard by Judge Brewster, a sincere Republican,
and one of the ablest of our common pleas judges.
After hearing th^ case very patiently he awarded the

236 Old Time Notes

office to Gibbons by a small majority, and Sheppard
retired, but upon a careful examination of the elab-
orate opinion given by Judge Brewster, by which he
figured out a majority in favor of Gibbons, Sheppard
discovered that the judge had committed an error in
his complicated computation, and that, figuring the
result out upon the basis accepted by the court, Shep-
pard was really elected. He petitioned Judge Brewster
for a review of the case, and upon rehearing Judge
Brewster reversed his own judgment and awarded the
office to Sheppard.

I had taken up my permanent residence in Phila-
delphia in the siunmer of 1868, and in connection with
Colonel Mann opened a suite of offices on Sixth Street
near Walnut. While we occupied the same offices,
there was no partnership in our professional engage-
ments. We were naturally closely associated in politics
and general affairs, as we had been for more than a
decade of the past. The one position that he coveted
was that of district attorney, and he immediately
devoted himself to the task of accomplishing his return
to that position.

We had many and very earnest discussions on the
subject. I believed that the Republican party could
be restored to unity and success only by making its
record command the approval of the intelligent and
fair-minded people of Republican faith in the city, but
he believed that the only way to defeat the Democrats
in Philadelphia was to adopt Democratic methods,
and improve on them. The portion of the city along
the Delaware had long been a nmning sore of political
debauchery, and at that time McMuUen was in the
zenith of his power and could make his own Fourth
Ward and the adjoining wards return majorities for him
to his own wishes with little regard to the votes cast.

The old-time Anti-Masons and Whigs, imder the

Of Pennsylvania 237

lead of Charley Naylor and others, had made the
uptown wharf wards equally corrupt, and their major-
ities at times depended wholly upon the interests of
corrupt leaders in defiance of the ballots cast by the
people. There was then no colored vote to stimulate
commercial politics, nor did we have the low grade
foreign element that has now become formidable in
the city, and that is interested in politics only as
voting to command cash or its equivalent, but the
political debauchery of that day was at times even
more boldly defiant of law than are the more modem
and more colossal exhibitions of political debauchery
which now stain the city of Philadelphia.

It was this threatening political condition that made
Colonel Mann and his close friends decide to enact a
new election law that would give the Republican
leaders not only the absolute control of every election
board in the city, but that would also greatly eliminate
the restraining power of the courts to prevent the con-
siunmation of fraud. It was known as the *' registry
law," as it provided for registration entirely under
the control of the Republican organization, and only
those registered with their approval could vote. By
this method thousands who were opponents of the
Machine organization were practically disfranchised,
and in order to control the returns in the event of failure
to command a popular majority, the selection of even
the minority members of the election board was made
by the same power that appointed the majority. Thus
in every election district in the city the Republican
mBjchine had the majority of the board and a nmiority
of its own choice.

In some instances the minority judges were chosen
because of their utter ignorance, men who could be
cheated before their eyes without tmderstanding it,
and in other cases Democrats were selected who could

238 Old Time Notes

be corrupted by the majority. As an instance of the
kind of minority election officers who were chosen,
I recall the testimony of two such Democratic officers
who testified in the contest I had for a seat in the senate
in 1872. The registry law required that the vote of
each hour should be proclaimed publicly from the win-
dow, ostensibly for the purpose of detecting fraud,
but, in point of fact, to give the leaders hourly informa-
tion of the progress of the election and advise them in
time of the necessity of resorting to desperate measures
to create or increase a majority.

These two Democratic election officers had voted
for me at the special election for senator between one
and two o'clock of the day, and the return of that hour,
which they themselves had certified, did not give me
a single vote. When they were questioned by the
committee that was hearing the case as to why they
had signed an election return that they knew to be
false, they both stated that they knew it was wrong,
but that they were informed that it was their duty
to sign it along with the other officers.

This registry law, after re])eatcd consultations in
Colonel Mann's office, at sonie of which I was present,
was framed by Mr. Gibbons, who was smarting under
his defeat for district attorney, and who doubtless
expected that he would be allowed another opportunity
to make a contest for the place. Colonel Mann de-
manded the law solely to restore himself to that position,
but did not deem it necessary to advise Gibbons of
his purpose. I was at the first reading of the bill and
very earnestly protested against it. I declared that
no man who respected his own position in the party
and who ever hoped to command its confidence and
favor by deserving it, could have any inspiration in
future struggles under such an election law.

Mann insisted that it was the only way by which

Of Pennsylvania 239

Democratic fraud could be defeated, and the leaders
were finally brought together and decided that the
bill should be unitedly supported in the Legislature
and made the election law of the city. When the
registry law was passed by the Legislature I openly
denotmced it, and appealed to Governor Geary to
veto it, but he was a candidate for re-election, and did
not have the courage to withhold his approval.

Under the law the Democrats had simply no chance
at all to succeed in any of the local contests, and the
power thus given to the ward leaders, who never take
pause to think of the retribution they must invite,
stimulated theni to the enactment of most appalling
frauds. It was this registry law, and the startling
debauchery of the ballot under it, that in a few years
plimged Philadelphia into the throes of political revo-
lution ; and when a senator, chosen in the revolutionary
tide against the registry law, I passed through the
senate by a tmanimous vote, and finally forced its
passage in the house, a new election law that tore up
by the roots the corrupt features of the registry law, and
made honest elections again possible in Philadelphia.

Mann succeeded in regaining the district attorney-
ship tmder the registry law in 1871, although the
revolt against the debauchery of the ballot had taken
formidable shape, but in 1874, when the revolution
was in progress and the Committee of One Htmdred was
asserting its power, he was nominated for another
term, but Sheppard defeated him by some 4,000 major-
ity, and Mr. Ashe, who had been a member of the
Legislature and was active in securing the passage of
the registry law, was defeated by a hke majority for
coroner by Dr. Goddard.

Under the registry law the Republican leaders
became accustomed to rely entirely upon their power
over the registration of voters and over the returns to

240 Old Time Notes

win victory for the party. To avoid the necessity
of falsifying returns that was always attended with
some measure of danger, the custom was to swarm
the city with repeaters on election day, and have
them vote on the thousands of fictitious names put
upon the list of registered voters. As a rule, election
officers made little inquiry as to the vote of any man
who was brought to the window by the Republican
window-book man.

I recall a very interesting illustration of the opera^
tions of the registry law and of the political methods
in vogue at the time. A vacancy occurred in a down-
town senatorial district in 187 1 and a special election
was called. Curtin was then absent in Russia, and
his friends made little or no effort to maintain organ-
ized opposition to Cameron's supremacy. One of
Cameron's shrewd methods was to present old-time
followers of Curtin for local offices in close districts,
who were j^rivately pledged to follow his fortunes when
elected. There was every temptation for ambitious
men to do so, as it was their only chance of advancement.

The district was naturally Democratic, but under
the registry law the Republican leaders had controlled
it. Cameron quietly selected a business man of excel-
lent standing in the district, who was knoA\Ti only as a
consistent friend of Curtin, as his candidate for the
place, as he was s]:)ecially desirous to control the
Republican members of the Legislature for his re-
election the following year.

The candidate was well known to both Mann and
myself, as he had co-operated with us in the battles of
the past, and he called at our offices, got us together,
and informed us that he was going to be a candidate
for senator, and that he had been assured of the nomi-
nation. We had good reason to believe that he was
Cameron's candidate, and meant simply to decoy the

Of Pennsylvania 241

Ctirtin people into his support, and after a brief con-
ference I put the question directly to him, whether he
was riot pledged to support Cameron if elected. He
insisted that he ought not to be called upon to make
any declaration on the subject, as it would weaken him
in the campaign, but claimed that Mann and I should
support him earnestly because of our old associations. We
exhibited no hostihty to him, and allowed him to depart
hoping that he would be supported by the Curtin people.

As soon as he had gone Mann and I conferred on the
subject and decided that he should be beaten. If he
had been openly and consistently for Cameron we
shotdd not have taken any action in the matter, but
we were both greatly vexed at the fraud he evidently
expected to practise upon us. The intimation was
given to a trusted leader of the Democracy that if
they nominated a clean man, especially if they nomi-
nated a soldier of good record, they might confidently
rely upon his selection.

They had an early conference, and decided to pre-
sent Colonel Dechert, who, in point of ability, character
and gallantry in war, filled the bill completely. The
RepubUcans admitted that he would be a very strong
candidate, but as they had all the machinery in their
hands with ample means, they did not doubt their
ability to win. A large amount of money was appropri-
ated by the committee to cover the cost of the election,
and most of it was applied to the payment of repeaters.

Mann knew by whom the repeaters were to be
organized and handled, and brought him to our office
for conference. I knew him well, and our relations
had been very friendly, as I had on a former occasion
aided him to one of the most lucrative city offices.
When he was informed that we wanted the candidate
for senator defeated, he at once said that he would do
whatever we advised, but he made the pertinent

8—16

242 Old Time Notes

inquiry: ''What am I to do with the boys?" He
then informed us of the two or three scores of gangs
of repeaters, all of whom were already employed, many
of them from the city outside of the district and some
from Delaware. A captain was assigned to each gang,
and he had his route mapped out for him, indicating
every election place at which he should stop and have
his men vote. They were all to vote at from twenty
to thirty different places, and as each gang contained
from eight to twelve men, it can readily be seen that
the repeaters alone were expected to add from two to
three thousand to the vote for the Republican candi-
date for senator.

All these captains were imder the command of the
man who was conferring with us on the subject, and
received their orders directly from him. We instructed
him to go on and carry out his programme and assured
him that they would not be permitted to vote, but that
they would not be arrested or troubled in any way
unless they were guilty of riotous conduct. The
arrangement was completed, and it was carried out
to the letter. After this arrangement was made I
immediately called upon Mayor Fox, and gave him all
the facts, with the names of the captains and the route
that each gang was to take from morning until night.
It was necessary in order to checkmate this fraud that
these gangs should not have reason to suspect that
their plan had been discovered and that they would
be halted in their work. The mayor selected sixty
of his most reliable and discreet policemen to cover
the lines where the repeaters were to do their work,
with positive instructions that the gang should not
be interfered with beyond the policemen going up to the
captain when he reached a poll, quietly informing him
that his mission was understood, that none of his men
could vote at that poll without being arrested, and

Of Pennsylvania 243

that if they would move on without disturbance they
would not be further interfered with.

Mayor Fox gave the subject the most careful atten-
tion, and in every instance when a gang appeared at a
poll a policeman quietly stepped to the head man,
told him that his business there was well known to
the police, that if he attempted to poll any of the votes
of his gang they would be promptly arrested, but that
if they would quietly leave that poll he would permit
them to pass without further interference. The result
was a very quiet election, and the gangs of repeaters
traveled their routes during most of the day, but foimd
themselves stopped and forced to move quietly away
from every poll. The leaders thus had no informa-
tion of how their plan had been defeated, and believing
that their candidate was certain to succeed, they
patiently waited for the returns that they confidently
expected would give them a decided majority.

They expected the Democrats to poll a considerable
fraudulent vote in the Fourth Ward and vicinity,
and they decided not to attempt to interfere with them,
as the policemen were all Democrats, but they had
planned such a stupendous system of repeating in the
other wards of the district, that then embraced all of
Philadelphia south of Walnut and between the rivers,
that they felt entirely able to overcome anything the
Democrats might do. The result was that the Repub-
lican frauds failed entirely without a suspicion of the
failure on the part of the leaders tmtil too late to correct
it, and the Democrats tmder the lead of McMuUen ran
his end of the district in his own regulation way, and
the Republican leaders were dumfounded when the
returns came in, giving Dechert nearly 1,500 majority.
This chapter of Phikdelphia politics more than a
generation ago is necessary to make these papers a
correct history of old-time political methods.

244 Old Time Notes

LXXIV.
THE REIGN OF SHODDY.

Sudden Acquisition of Wealth Brought a Tidal Wave of Shoddy Osten-
tation— Precious Stones Flashed {rotn Gaudily Dressed Shoddyites-^
Bewildering Extravagance Became Common in Hospitality — Ladies
of Culture Abandoned the Display of Jewels — ^The Gorgeous and
Vulgar Exhibition of Shoddy at the Great Ball Given to Grand Duke
Alexis, Son of the Czar — The Saturday Evening Club Organized to
Halt the Shoddy Display of Profligacy in Entertainments — Political
Demoralization Followed the New Social Eruption — ^The Inevitable
Revolution Came, and Many Shoddyites Died in Poverty.

WAR is the fruitful parent of demoralization,
and of all such strifes civil wars are the most
disturbing in all the important relations of
life. They breed corruption in business and politics,
and stamp their stain more or less even upon social
and religious life. One of the most memorable of all
the developments of our civil war was exhibited in
what was long remembered, and is still remembered
by many of the older residents of the city, as the reign
of shoddy.

When the war began in 1861, Philadelphia was
suffering from very severe and protracted industrial,
commercial and financial revulsion. The suspension
of the banks in 1857, and the general depression that
followed in all channels of industry, were not only felt
very generally in every community, but fell with special
force upon Philadelphia, that was then the great com-
mercial metropolis of the Nation, and commanded a
vast preponderance of the entire Southern trade.
Labor was unemployed or very inadequately requited.
Our manufacturers were fortunate if able to pay their

Of Pennsylvania 245

operating expenses, and oiir large commercial houses
were greatly demoralized and simply struggling to
tide over the severe strain that was upon them. I well
remember in the early part of 1861, standing with
several friends in front of the Continental Hotel for
a considerable time, discussing the question of pur-
chasing the Girard House for $10,000, subject to a
mortgage of $100,000. Real estate values had reached
the lowest ebb of more than a score of years, and the
prospect of civil war spread the gloom of despair over
the entire commercial, industrial and financial interests
of the city.

When the first loan of $50,000,000 was called for
by the government to prosecute the war, the financial
men of the coimtry regarded it as a task that would
exhaust the financial resources of the nation, and I
recall more than one instance in which I purchased
the 7-30 bonds of the government below par. The
vast resources of the coimtry were unappreciated and
unknown to the people themselves. If they had then
believed that a great civil war, costing many billions
of dollars, was to follow the election of Lincoln, he
would have been defeated by an overwhelming vote,
or if they had dreamed at the beginning of the war
that such enormous sacrifice of life and treasure would
be necessary to maintain the unity of the States, the
war would have been stmimarily abandoned in despair ;
but before the close of the first year of the war new
conditions appeared, and the people of Philadelphia
saw that vast fortimes were to be gathered in legiti-
mate enterprise by the continuance of the war. Our
currency was cheapened by the entire suspension of
specie payments, and the increased demands of
government were logically followed by increased
demands for consumption by the people. As money
became abundant it speedily brought a tide of apparent

246 Old Time Notes

prosperity that surpassed the wildest dreams of those
who had hoped for fortunes.

I remember hearing Mr. Borie, of Grant's cabinet,
discussing the wonderful advances in prices in the
eariy part of the war. He cited instances in which a
cargo of goods he had purchased for importation had
advanced to more than double their cost before they
came into his possession. All our mills and factories
which had been maintained in fairly good condition
were soon called upon to employ the utmost of their
resources in the production of their wares or fabrics,
and finally new and colossal establishments had to
be created to meet the wants of the government and
the public. Wealth came suddenly, and in large
measure, to a class of our industrial people who had
never dreamed of gaining more than a generous com-
petence in their business. Many of them possessed
little or no culture themselves, and they and their
children, with rare exceptions, plimged into the most
extravagant display in efforts not merely to imitate,
but to surpass the hospitality and social distinction
of the cultured families of the city.

During the later years of the war, and for some time
after it ended, there were more precious stones and
costly jewels sold in Philadelphia than have ever been
sold in any like period during the last forty years,
which have presented repeated tides of prosperity
vastly more substantial than was shown by the flashing
inflation of war.

I remember Mr. Caldwell, the founder of the present
great jewelry house in Philadelphia, telling me of the ex-
traordinary sales of precious stones and jewels made
by his house, then occupying a comparatively small
building below the Girard House. He said that the
demand for diamonds at any price was so great that
it was difficult to fill orders, and he added that the

Of Pennsylvania 247

peculiar feature of that trade was that the purchasers
as a rule were often entirely unknown to him. He
gave as an illustration of the class that was then indulg-
ing in very costly jewels, that a lady gaudily dressed
had entered his store, purchased a $5,000 diamond
necklace, paid for it, coolly fastened it about her neck
and wore it on her way home. A regular reign of
shoddy dominated the city, and at the theatres,
churches and other public places a profusion of dia-
monds flashed from the hands and necks of women
whose general demeanor indicated entire ignorance of
the proper use of such decorations. So generally and
profusely were the precious stones of the new shoddy
leaders and followers flashed upon the public without
regard to the fitness of the occasion, that the women
of culture in Philadelphia absolutely abandoned the
use of their jewels and generally appeared on all impor-
tant social occasions in the simplest elegance.

Entertainments became so lavish in expenditure
and so gaudy in awkward decoration that only a
very few of those who had been leaders in hospitality
in the social circle of the city were able to approach
their shoddy rivals in hospitable grandeur. Wealth
was acquired with such marvelous haste that many of
those who had been favored by forttme were utterly
bewildered, and the inherent love of distinction that
pervades all classes and conditions of mankind brought
a flood tide of shoddy extravagance that absolutely
tmsettled the whole social system of the city.

I witnessed the crowning exhibition of this reign of
shoddy a few years after the war, before the revi2sion
that began in 1873 ^^^ ended in the most fearful
business and industrial revulsions in 1877, when anarchy
asserted its mastery from the Eastern to the Western
sea. It was the occasion of the great ball given to
the Grand Duke Alexis, son of Alexander II, then

248 Old Time Notes

Czar of Russia. Russia had endeared the American
people to her emperor and government by the bold
attitude assumed during our civil war, when we were
threatened with the intervention of England and
France, and most generous welcome was given to the
son of the Czar, who is yet living as the highest honorary
naval commander of the empire. He was young,
bright, spirited, handsome and genial, and he had
fallen in love with the wrong woman. To divert him
from a boyish love affair he was sent by his father,
with a magnificent suite of Russian naval officers,
on a cruise around the world.

Curtin was then our Minister to Russia, enjoying
the most friendly sympathy of the Czar, and he had
taken pains to pave the way for an overwhelmingly
generous reception to the young duke in the chief city
of Curtin 's home State. The result was the greatest
social event in the history of Philadelphia. It was
intended as a popular tribute to the distinguished
visitor, and, of course, social class distinctions were
effaced. The society leaders of the city heartily
entered into the movement and bore their part with
becoming dignity, while mingling freely with the host
of over-dressed and jewel-spangled women who crowded
in every part of the vast assembly. The Academy of
Music, with the parquet floored to give ample scope
for the dancing, was jammed, and never before or since
has there been such a gorgeous display of costly apparel
and jewels.

I studied the picture for several hours, and it was
one of the most impressive of the many like social
events I can recall. Two well-known ladies of the city
were long remembered for their appearance on that
occasion in all the sweet simplicity of perfect elegance,
as they were confessedly in the forefront of the many
beautiful women who appeared on that occasion.

Of Pennsylvania 249

They were Mrs. Colonel Scott and Miss Schatimberg.
Both were highly cultured, perfect in all the grades,
courteous to all, but grandly displaying the highest
dignity of American womanhood. They were elegantly
dressed, of course, but in the quietest possible manner,
and with each a single diamond solitaire completed
the list of jewels, while most of the women around
them were overladen with the most expensive laces
and trimmings, and their heads, necks, waists, arms and
fingers flashing the refulgence of a pitched together
medley of diamonds and rubies.

Of course, so costly and bewildering a reign as that
given us by shoddy in the sweeping inflation of war
cotdd not last. It brought new conditions to the
homes of many htmdreds of our people, and opened
the doors for the refinement and culture which com-
mand universal respect, and while the mere vulgarians
ran their course in the shoddy race until bankruptcy
ended their career, education and refinement speedily
foimd their way to the homes of many, and gave us
a new generation of substantial people with business
intelligence and social culture. When the revulsion of
1873 began its terrible reaction, extravagance was
speedily checked, and as wealth had ceased to come
almost unbidden to a large portion of the shoddyites,
the pawnbroker finally took the last inventory of their
precious stones and jewels.

This shoddy condition when at its zenith in extrava-
gance in social and hospitable life prompted the more
intelligent and cultured business and professional
men of the city to confront it by a coimter-movement,
and it resulted in the organization of what was long
known as the Saturday Evening Club, for which many
yet living in Philadelphia have most grateful memories.

The club had a large membership, and it was made
up entirely of representative men of the best business

250 Old Time Notes

and professional circles of the city, many of whom
were able to keep more than abreast with the shoddyites
in reckless extravagance if they had chosen to do so.
They organized the club with peremptory rules for-
bidding even the semblance of extravagance in the
entertainments. The suppers given were substantial and
elegant, but all the more costly dishes were excluded,
and no member was permitted to exceed the rules in a
display of hospitality tmder penalty of dismissal.

I attended very many of these Saturday Evening
Club meetings, and I am sure that those who can recafi
them will agree that they were the most enjovable
of all the sooal entertainments ever given in Pluladel-
phia. There was no departure from the ordinary rules
of gentility, and all appeared in the regulation evening
dr^, but there was an absence of conventional sup-
pression at all these assemblies that opened wide the
door for the most generous intercourse between the
guests. It was not tmcommon for several himdred
of the leading men of Philadelphia to attend the Satur-
day Evening Club. Chairs were taken from the rooms,
leaving here and there a sofa to furnish rest to the weary,
as the crowded condition of the rooms required the
guests to remain standing dtiring the evening.

In one comer of the dining-room at all the meetings
of the club was a special table with chairs to accom-
modate ten or a dozen men. It was known as the old
men's comer, and they were allowed exemption from
the standing rule, and were permitted to sit down to
their supper and enjoy it in their own way. In the
comer could be seen almost any evening the venefable
General Patterson, the still more venerable William
D. Lewis, with Lewis A. Godey, Joseph R. Chandler,
General Cameron, General Cadwallader and others,
and the brilliant Morton McMichael occasionally joined
them exploiting himself as a kid, as he was not then

Of Pennsylvania 251

deemed quite venerable enough to be one of the
veteran circle.

At these gatherings you could meet the represen-
tative men not only of the city but of the State, for
distinguished men from any section of the Common-
wealth who happened to be visiting the city were
always invited guests, and no social gatherings that
I have ever attended were so rich alike in entertain-
ment and instruction. The moral effect of this move-
ment was speedily felt throughout the shoddy circles,
and brought to many an early appreciation of the fact
that they were simply indulging in vulgar and costly
display that offended the good taste of the public,
and brought to themselves only contempt and shame.
This club continued until the reign of shoddy perished,
and it ended its good work when its purpose was com-
pletely and grandly accomplished.

Not only did the reign of shoddy assert itself with con-
spicuous offensiveness in social life, but it also asserted
itself to an alarming degree in the politics of the city.
The Philadelphia Row offices had been cultivated to
the limit in extortionate abuses, and a term in one of
them was an ample fortune for any incumbent who
knew how to husband his money. The overshadowing
interest in the war. and the general prevalence of extra-
vagance and display, made the people indifferent to
equal extravagant jobbery in political life. Offices
were created in the city furnishing what would have
been considered fortunes before the war, and most
channels of city authority were prostituted to graft
that was generally largely expended in display.

I recall a prominent politician of that time who was
chosen by councils for the head of one of the city depart-
ments with a salary of $3,000 a year. He was not a
man of fortune ; on the contrary, he was probably bank-
rupt at the time he gained the office, but immediately

2S« Old Time Notes

upon his election he gave an entertainment that not
only crowded his hotise, but his entire yard that had
been fitted up at an enormous expense, with a most
lavish supper and abxmdance of wine. The entertain-
ment cost nearly double an entire year's salary, but
the expendittire of over $5,000 for a single entertain-
ment was regarded as a mere bagatelle in many of the
official circles of that day. Hundreds of men who before
the war regarded a glass of beer as a luxury, guzzled
wine imtil many were intoxicated, and long before the
midnight hour there was high revelry in hotise and
yard to the music of hundreds of canary birds siunmoned
for the occasion to greet the guests with song.

Every day about noon a party of ten or a dozen
leaders assembled at Jerry Walker's, and their appetites
were never appeased with less than a full ba^et of
champagne, while on some occasions the gathering
would multiply and two or three baskets would be
smashed before the lunch ended. This reckless ex-
travagance brought its inexorable penalty, and a
majority of the men who thus had opportunities to
possess large amounts of money by various species of
graft died in comparative poverty.

Another instance that I recall pointedly illustrates
the reckless methods by which our financial depart-
ments were then conducted. I was one day called
upon by a prominent man of the city who had held
high official position. He stated that he desired to
engage me professionally in a matter that would be
mutually advantageous to both of us. The Pennsyl-
vania Railroad then paid, as I remember, about $30,000
a year direct taxes to the city, and the proposed client
suggested that I might, by reason of my close rela-
tions with Colonel Scott, obtain permission from the
company to take its check to the tax office, pay the
company's taxes, and receive a properly executed

Of Pennsylvania 253

receipt for the same. I said that it might be possible
for me to obtain permission from the company to
deliver its check for the payment of taxes, but naturally
inqtiired how that coidd benefit either the client or
myself.

He assured me that if I obtained the check for pay-
ment of the company's taxes he would go with me him-
self and I should personally see the two financial officers
of the city who were then required to sign the receipt
and receive a properly executed and bona fide receipt,
and immediately after the payment of the tax, one-
third of the full amoimt wotild be paid to me, and the
remaining two-thirds would be appropriated to the
client and parties inside of the tax office.

Of course the proposition was promptly rejected.
It would not have done any good, and might have done
me much harm if I had resented it in the aggressive
manner that would have been fully justified under the
circumstances. I declined the proffer on the ground
that I could not join in a transaction that involved
such a violation of the trust the company might repose
in me, and that also might result in personal disgrace.

I asked him how it was possible for such transactions
to be made without detection, and he informed me
that it was not an tmcommon thing to divide up be-
tween outside counsel and inside grafters payments
made to the treasury in very large stmia

It seemed to me almost incredible, but the man
understood his business well, was trained in all the
high art of the grafting of that day, and was not in any
sense a wild adventurer in the scheme.

It became an open secret some years after a promi-
nent and generally respected citizen was chosen to the
tax office that the first day he entered upon his duties
he appropriated $100,000 in cash to himself. I do not
recall a single one of the larger thefts of public money

254 Old Time Notes

that brotight the gtiilty parties to exposure and punish-
ment. Occasionally a petty subordinate would be
caught in an awkward imitation of his principals and
go to prison, but the leaders who invented and executed
the bewildering debauchery and profligacy of those
days suffered no more than general suspicion that their
wealth had been lawlessly obtained, and the public had
learned to look upon it as the regulation thing to regard
it with comparative indifference.

Revolution came, as it always must, to correct such
appalling abuses, and it was the Committee of One
Htmdred that finally swept the grafters from power in
a tempest of retribution. Unfortunately tempestuous
revolutions speedily exhaust their powers, and after a
decade, in which nearly every important office in the
city, from mayor down, was filled by reform candidates,
some of the shrewder of the old machine leaders, with
new leaders gradtially developed, stealthily crept into
power, and substantial reform in the only truly Ameri-
can and most intelligent city of the continent lingered
only as a memory.

of Pennsylvania 355

LXXV.
ROBERT W. MACKEY.

The Ablest All- Around Republican Leader of Pennsylvania — Quay His
Promising Lieutenant — How Quay Made Mackey State Treasurer —
Mackey the Master Leader of the Party for a Full Decade — His
Method of Controlling Conventions and Legislators — His Close
Relations with Both Wallace and Randall — How He Saved the
Electoral Vote of Florida for Hayes — Mackey Saved Wallace in His
Contest for Senator — How He Defeated Fusion and Elected Hojrt
Governor.

THE year 1869 brought to the front Robert W.
Mackey, the ablest all-around leader the Re-
publicans of Pennsylvania have ever created.
Qtiay, although a young man, had become an important
factor in State politics. He was first felt in 1863, when
by his admirable management he nominated Judge
Agnew, of his own town, for the supreme bench.
Agnew had little popular following, although eminently
fitted for the judicial office, and his nomination had to be
accomplished by earnest political efforts and combina-
tions, in which Quay had then proved himself a master.
In his last year of service in the house, in the session
of 1867, the unfriendly barrier between him and the
Cameron power of the State had been substantially
overthrown, and in the Legislature of 1868 he readily
accomplished the election of General W. W. Irwin, of
Beaver County, to the office of State treastirer. He
had in the early part of the war secured the appoint-
ment of Irwin as commissary general of the State, and
as that position ended with the termination of the war,
he asserted his leadership by making Irwin State
treasurer.

256 Old Time Notes

Invin was not a man of great political force, and
owed his position entirely to Quay, but some months
after Invin entered the office of State treasurer a seri-
ous difference arose between Irwin and himself. The
reasons for the estrangement were never made public
by Quay, but he decided, some months before the Legis-
lature of 1869 met, that Iiwin should not be re-elected,
and he brought out Mackey as his candidate.

Mackey was then cashier of the Allegheny Bank.
He had started his career without fortune, and almost
without friends, but General George W. Cass, then presi-
dent of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Rail-
road, and an active Democrat, procured a position for
Mackey when yet in his teens, and Mackey rapidly
advanced himself by his extraordinary ability. Al-
though Cass was the leading Democrat of Allegheny
and Mackey was rapidly developing as the leading
Republican, Cass stood loyally by him in every struggle
that Mackey had and was largely instrumental in en-
abling him to reach his important position in the bank.
When Quay decided to make Mackey his candidate for
State treasurer to defeat Irwin, Cass came promptly to
Mackey 's aid, and whatever financial influences were
felt in the contest might have been traced directly to
Cass.

So quietly did Quay manage his campaign against
Irwin that Mackey was not publicly discussed until
about the time that the Legislature met, but as the
senators and representatives gathered in Harrisburg
it was soon discovered that Mackey was a very formid-
able candidate, and long before the caucus met Irwin
was hopelessly distanced in the race. I first met
Mackey when he came on to Harrisburg to exploit his
candidacy for State treasurer, and was greatly disap-
pointed in his appearance. He had every indication
of a racking consumptive, and looked more like one

Of Pennsylvania 257

who should be seeking some sunny place to winter for
the preservation of his health than to be struggling for
a political position. He had every sign of hopeless
physical infirmity, and his stooping shoulders and
shuffling gait indicated lack of vigor. He was then
little known outside of Pittsburg, and most of the
leaders of the party were startled at Quay's audacious
movement to displace his friend from his own coimty
whom he had placed in office and give it to a compara-
tive stranger who was generally regarded as imable to
render any special political service in return ; but before
Mackey was a year in the office of State treasurer he
became not only the foremost of the Cameron lieuten-
ants, but was well on the way to the absolute leader-
ship of the party in the State.

Curtin was then in Russia, and although his organi-
zation was practically abandoned in the State, there
was much irritation among his old friends who were
severely ostracised by Senators Cameron and Cowan,
who necessarily controlled the patronage of the
National administration in Pennsylvania, and that bit-
terness asserted itself to a sufficient extent in the
Legislature of 1870 to bring about a combination be-
tween the anti-Cameron Republicans of the Legislature
and the Democrats that defeated Mackey for re-election
and restored Irwin to the office from which Quay had
ejected him. Mackey bore his defeat philosophically
and immediately began his organization to re-elect him-
self the following year, and so complete and methodical
was his organization made that he not only defeated
Irwin with ease, but held his organization in the hollow
of his hand from that time until his death some ten
years later.

I was brought into more or less intimate intercourse
with all the political leaders of the State for nearly
half a century, and I have never known one on either

as8 Old Time Notes

side who was such a thorotighly accomplished political
master as Robert W. Mackey. There was not a quality
of leadership that he did not possess, and there was
hardly a fault in his leadership that could be presented.
His whole time during the seasons when most politi-
cians were taking little interest in politics was devoted
to preparing the way for the control of the coming
Republican State convention and the coming Legis-
latiu-e. When a Legislature adjourned he was thor-
oughly familiar with the individual qualities of every
member, and he knew just who of his party should be left
at home and who shotdd be returned. He did not make
his plans publicly known even in the localities where
he was operating, but any member of the Legislattire
who for any reason was deemed only fit in Mackey 's
judgment for retirement to private life would discover
when he turned his attention to his renomination that
some unseen power had shaped the action of the party
for his defeat, and those who in Mackey 's judgment
merited re-election were quietly aided in every way
before the contest for nominations was opened, and
thus, as a rule, the men he wished to be renominated
won out with ease, and those who were deemed un-
worthy of renomination suffered defeat that apparently
came from the voluntary action of their own people.

It was not Mackey 's policy to debauch legislators or
delegates to political conventions, but he expended
money liberally in every senatorial and representative
district to aid the election of the party candidates, and
the result was that when a Legislature assembled at
Harrisburg an overwhelming majority of the Republi-
cans were Mackey 's devoted friends. Unlike some
political leaders, he had no love for striking down men
who were obstacles to the consummation of his plans.
He would always exhaust all friendly offices, but when
it became necessary for him to accept open war with

of Pennsylvania 259

any man he would strike from the shoulder, and few
survived such a conflict with him.

In like manner he superintended the election of dele-
gates to State conventions. He often made candidates
for the Legislature and for delegates to conventions
long before others thought of ma^ng a contest for the
place, and when money was needed to reconcile party
differences or to elect his favorite candidates it was
always freely supplied. He was the one party leader
in Pennsylvania who accepted no vacation in politics,
and while others were letting politics run their course
waiting for the time to come arotmd for action, Mackey
covered every district in the State and knew with almost
absolute certainty who would be delegates to the State
convention, and who the successfid candidates for
legislative nominations months before the people of the
local districts thought of agitating the subject. He
was universally popular, a delightful and genial com-
panion, a most imselfish and faithful friend, and was
scrupulous to the last degree in fulfilling every political
obligation that he made. From the time of his gener-
ally accepted leadership, when he and Quay were the
nominal lieutenants of Cameron tmtil his death, he
never was defeated in a Republican State convention
and never lost control of a single Legislature.

Mackey 's omnipotence as a leader was not only felt
by the Republicans of the State, but it often invaded
the lines of the Democracy, and I can recall several
occasions on which Mackey absolutely controlled the
final action of the Democratic State convention.
He had the personal friendship of nearly every Demo-
cratic senator and respresentative, and he was gener-
ously kind to the members without regard to their
political faith. And the Greenback organization, that
was a somewhat formidable political factor during
his leadership, he made a mere plaything in his hands.

26o Old Time Notes

He became the substantial owner of its leaders, and on
more than one occasion made it play a most illogical
part by which he saved his own party from defeat.
The Republican majority in the State was not then
overwhelming, and for many years the Greenback
party held the balance of power and would logically
have fused with the Democracy if there had been
resolutely honest Greenback leadership. But for his
ingenious control of political factors which were natiu*-
ally hostile to the Republican party, the Republicans
would have lost the Governor in 1875, when Hartranft
was re-elected, and again in 1878, when Hoyt tritimphed
over Dill.

The Democratic leaders would appear in the senate
and house at Harrisburg breathing implacable hostility
to Mackey's absolute mastery, but before the session
was half over a majority of them would be found co-
operating with Mackey in matters of mutual interest,
and but few of them ever remained to fight the battle
to a finish. His strength was in his wonderful knowl-
edge of men, his ingenious adaptability to the qualities
of those with whom he came in contact, with a willing-
ness to render service to any and all whenever possible,
and his absolute fidelity to his pledges. He is the only
one of all the great leaders I have known in Pennsyl-
vania who never ^vas accused of deception or failure in
the fulfillment of his plighted faith.

While Cameron was accepted as the leader of the
party, he was sim])ly consulted in all the general move-
ments made by Mackey, and I doubt whether Cameron
ever attempted to reverse a policy that had been
determined upon by his lieutenant. No man in the
State ever wielded the same power in the Legislature
for a full decade that was wielded by Mackey, and he
always strengthened himself by rendering the kindest
jroffices to all who had any just claim to Legislative

Of Pennsylvania 261

action. When a State convenion met he seldom ap-
peared in it, but as a rule he dictated every movement
that was made, every platform that was adopted, and
every candidate who was nominated. He was so
infirm in health that he was often unable to leave his
room, and I have seen him when unable to leave his
bed, and when his doctor forbade any disturbance, turn
the doctor out of the room and receive two or three
of his leaders who needed directions from their master
as to how imexpected complications should be met.
He was not only great in all the details of politics
which so many leaders forget, but he was equally great
in the greatest emergencies which arose to be met by
the party.

When he was State treasurer he suffered very heavy
loss by the failure of Mr. Yerkes, then a banker in Phila-
delphia, and now the great railway magnate of London,
but his friends at once came to his rescue, and some
three or four banks of the State placed to the credit of
the Commonwealth the full amount of the deficiency.
The treasury then always carried a cash accotmt of
several milUons, and of course the credits thus given,
while making the treasury absolutely solid, were not
drawn upon by the State treasurer until he had accumu-
lated sufficient money to make the deposits good. His
power over the Legislature saved him in that emer-
gency. The period had come when the State war
taxes were intolerably oppressive, especially upon our
manufacturing interests, and it became a necessity to
repeal the taxes to save many manufacturers from
bankruptcy. The Legislature had been appealed to,
but it was always unpopular to vote to relieve the rich
of taxes, and nothing was accomplished. There was
but one man who could bring the Legislature to the
point of giving the relief that was indispensable, and
that man was Mackey. A combination of nianufag-

262 Old Time Notes

turers was effected, and proposed to give a large per-
centage of one year's taxes if the repeal cotdd be ac-
complished. The proposition was accepted by an
outside party, but in fact by Mackey, and the repeal
was accomplished, and Mackey 's losses were more than
restored.

Mackey cared but little for money, except so far as
he needed it in his liberal habits of life. During the
decade of his great political power he lived largely on
whisky, that he had learned to use chiefly for nourish-
ment, but he never reached the stage of intoxication.
He never knew what it was to enjoy a single day of good
health during the period. He was a hopeless con-
sumptive, and his lungs were measurably relieved by
maintaining an external abscess, the healing of which
would have been speedily fatal; and often his conver-
sation would be interrupted by a paroxysm of coughing
so violent that it seemed impossible for him to survive
it» but when he mastered it, he would take the whisky
stimulant, and proceed with his conversation as com-
placently as if he were in the most robust health.

It was Mackey who saved the electoral vote of
Florida to Hayes in 1876. When the contest began
after the November election the leaders of both parties
were giving their best efforts to control the final decla-
ration of the vote of South Carolina, Florida and
Louisiana. Mackey was selected by the party leaders
to visit Florida and take charge of the management of
affairs in that State. He had purchased the Pitts-
burg ** Commercial *' from Mr. Brigham a few years
before, and Brigham had settled in Florida, where he
had become a political power, as he was an experienced
politician and a man of much more than ordinary
ability. He received what he regarded as an ample com-
petence by the sale of his paper, and decided to spend
the remainder of his days on an orange farm in Florida.

of Pennsylvania

263

Mackey started on the same train and in the same
car with two Democratic representatives, bent on the
same mission, who did not personally know Mackey.
He had every appearance of a far -gone invalid, and his
distressing cough told the story that he was going South
in search of siuishine and health. He overheard a
conversation between the Democratic representatives
in which they discussed their plans and determined
in full detail how they were going to operate in Florida
to obtain the electoral vote of the State. Mackey
slipped out of the car, prepared a telegram to Brigham,
giving the precise plans of the Democratic leaders, and
before they arrived at the capital of the State all their
movements were completely frustrated, and the elec-
toral vote was gained for Hayes.

In 1869, when Governor Geary had been nominated
for re-election , Mackey was not enthusiastically devoted
to Geary and would have been quite willing to see him
defeated if an acceptable Democrat could take his
place. His old friend. General Cass, was a candidate
for the Democratic nomination for Governor, and
Mackey exhausted his efforts to accomplish the success
of his old friend and benefactor. Asa Packer was
made a candidate for the nomination against his own
wishes, and Thomas Collins, one of the leading railroad
contractors of the State, then possessing ample fortune
and considerable political experience, was devotedly
attached to Packer.

Mackey ascertained that a number of commercial
delegates in Philadeljihia could control the nomination
and give it to Cass, and without communicating with
Cass or any of his friends, he made a deal with these
delegates to support Cass, and put up his own checks
for $12,000. "Tom" Collins, as he was familiarly
named, found that the Philadelphians were in the
market, ascertained the price, and a few hours before

264 Old Time Notes

the ballot, he gathered up $13,000 in spot cash, paid it
over to the contracting leaders, and nominated Packer.
Neither Cass nor Packer had any knowledge of the
efforts made to purchase delegates in their interest, and
Collins never informed Packer of the expenditure he
had made to secure his acceptance as a Democratic
candidate. I have heard Mackey refer to this incident
as an evidence that in an emergency spot cash will
beat checks.

During Mackey 's rule there never was an apportion-
ment bill passed that he did not fashion, and when in
the senate and legislating to conform conditions to the
new Constitution, I recall the care with which he re-
vised every movement that was made. The regular
senatorial term was to be four years thereafter, and
one-half the senate was to be elected every two years,
divided by odd and even numbers. He had the dis-
tricts arbitrarily numbered so that the debatable dis-
tricts would come in the off-years, when tmder his
method of manipulation it was always possible to
carry close or Democratic districts.

He framed every tax bill, and, by the generous policy
he aided the corporations in obtaining, he greatly
enlarged their taxes and chiefly with their consent.
He studiously avoided everything having the appear-
ance of arbitrary legislative action, and commanded
practically imiversal confidence from all the great
corporate and industrial interests of the State, as well
as the confidence of the people. He dictated the laws
providing for the contest of Presidential electors, and
for the trial of all other disputed elections in the State.
I mention these facts to show what a thorough master
Mackey was in all the minutest details of political
management. He had the keenest perception to devise
the most plausible methods for carrying out his pur-
poses, and no point of vital interest was overlooked.

of Pennsylvania 265

During the entire pericxi of Mackey's RepubKcan
leadership Wallace and Randall were the Demcxn*atic
leaders of the State, and each had his ardent factional
supporters against the other. They were seldom in
accord, but both were devoted friends of Mackey, and
he rendered most essential service to them that was
not visible to the public. When he first became
omnipotent in legislative control, a new congressional
apportionment was to be made, and it was not only
easy to make all the congressional districts of Phila-
delphia strongly Republican, but it required a shoe-
string district running along the wharf from South-
wark to Richmond to corral the Democratic majority
in one district.

Naturally, the Republican leaders of the city wanted
a Republican district in place of Randall's, but Mackey
stood resolutely against it, and Randall's district was
preserved by Mackey and afterward by Quay tmtil
Randall's death. Randall owed his district wholly to
Mackey, and it is needless to say that in many ways
Randall reciprocated the kindness when it could be
done without the betrayal of his party.

Wallace always had very close relations with Mackey,
and they rendered very important service to each
other. While both maintained fidelity to their respec-
tive parties, they many times could give valuable
personal or political aid to each other, and it was always
done. But for Mackey, Wallace would have been
defeated for United States Senator in 1875. Buckalew
had become greatly offended at Wallace for refusing
him the compliment of a nomination for re-election at
the expiration of Buckalew 's term.

Buckalew was intensely embittered and went to
Harrisburg and got more than enough Democrats in a
combination to defeat Wallace's election, as the Demo-
cratic majority was small on joint ballot, Mackey, of

266 Old Time Notes

coiirse, represented the Republicans in the LegislaturCp
and knowing that only a Democrat cotdd be elected,
was sincerely in favor of Wallace succeeding without
making any proclamation of his wishes.

Buckalew's manager proposed to Mackey that if
Mackey would imite the Republicans he would defeat
Wallace and elect any Democrat that Mackey might
name. It was a plausible proposition, and had
Mackey and Wallace been in the earnest political
antagonism that their surface actions indicated it
would have been readily accepted. Mackey, after
apparently holding the proposition under advisement
until near the time of election, gave as his ultimatum
that the Republicans would unite with the Buckalew
Democrats and elect any Republican United States
Senator that the Democrats might name.

He knew that the proposition was one impossible of
acceptance, and that it would end in Wallace's election.
I was present in Wallace's room in the Bolton House
with a number of his leading friends on the day before
the election of Senator, when he received information
directly from Buckalew 's manager that the contest
was ended, and that they would yield to his election
because they could not succeed with any other Demo-
crat. Buckalew could not afford to elect a Republican
Senator in a Democratic Legislature, and he saw that
if there was any break in the Democratic ranks, more
than enough Republicans to elect Wallace would
declare that, in a choice between Democrats, they pre-
ferred him. Thus did Mackey make himself the leader
of leaders of all political parties in the State, and his
record of leadership stands out without parallel in the
history of Pennsylvania politics.

Mackey made his great battle in 1878, when in co-
operation with Cameron and Quay he nominated Judge
Ho^t lor Governor, one of the ablest men who ever

of Pennsylvania 267

filled the position. Political conditions were very
uncertain, as the Greenbackers swept Maine from her
Republican moorings at the September election, re-
sulting in Democratic-Greenback fusion to control the
Governor and the Legislature. The Greenback element
in Pennsylvania was more than sufficient to wrest the
State from the Republicans, but Mackey controlled
its organization as absolutely as he controlled that of
the Republicans.

He had it meet first and nominate a candidate who
was imder contract not to surrender to fusion; and
having the Greenback element entirely eliminated as
a danger signal, with Quay as chairman of the State
committee, they decided to open the campaign by a
distinct declaration in favor of the soimd money stand-
ard. That would have been utterly fatal if the Green-
back element had not been under absolute control, but
with that danger entirely eliminated, it was the win-
ning card for the Republicans to play. The result was
that Hoyt was elected by 22,353 plurality, while Mason,
Greenback, polled 81,758 votes.

The severe strain upon Mackey in the great work of
wresting victory in a contest where the people voted
some 60,000 against him, with the opposition elements
severed only by the most consummate leadership, was
too great for Mackey *s enfeebled power. He went to
New York for rest immediately after the election to
spend a week or two with his friend Daly, who nursed
him with the greatest care, but finding that he did not
improve, his great desire was to be brought to his home
in Pittsburg, where, after a few weeks of suffering,
the greatest of all our Pennsylvania politicians quietly
slept the sleep that knows no waking.

270 Old Time Notes

great Lehigh Valley Railroad system, and when he had
it accxDmplished it absorbed his interests, and he had
no taste for the diversion of political conflicts. He
was forced into the nomination for Governor as he
had been the year before forced into the position of
being presented as Pennsylvania's Democratic candi-
date for President. Geary, on the other hand, mingled
with the people, loved display, and had kind words
and liberal promises for all who came within the range
of his acquaintance. His administration presented
no distinctly discreditable features, and there were no
political grounds upon which he could be assailed with
effect. The campaign dragged along in a perfunctory
way, as Packer did not attempt anything like a canvass
of the State, and Geary was not a formidable political
disputant.

In every section of the State there were men of
prominence and ability who had been practically
retired from politics because of their devotion to Cur-
tin, and this ostracism the Geary administration had
aided in bringing upon them. John Covode was chair-
man of the Republican State committee, and thor-
oughly familiar with the political elements of the State.
A month or so before the election he had been testing
the conditions in various parts of the Commonwealth,
and he had become alarmed at what was at least abso-
lute indifference on the part of the Ctirtin people, as
well as a large measure of indifference among the
Republican voters generally. Colonel Mann, who was
the Curtin leader of Philadelphia, had been forced off
the ticket the year before, and his friends generally
were made strangers to both National and State party
patronage. He was still the great leader of the Repub-
Ucan organization of the city, and without him at the
front Philadelphia was a doubtful political problem.
He had been urged to take the stiunp for Geary and

had declined, and I had also dechned a similar invita-
tion on the ground that I had absolutely retired from
active participation in politics, as I had fully deter-
mined at the close of the Grant campaign, when I
settled in Philadelphia, to practise my profession.

Mann and I occupied the same suite of law offices,
and Covode called upon us and made a very earnest
appeal to both of us to go to the front in support of
Geary's re-election, I peremptorily declined, not only
because it was then my purpose to retire from all active
political efforts, but also because the only return I had
received from Geary for earnestly supporting him
three years before was systematic personal defamation
from his own cabinet. Mann declined for the reason
that Geary had joined in the systematic and relentless
ostracism of all of Curtin's friends in the patronage of
both National and State administrations. Covode
became greatly alarmed, as he well knew that if the
anti-Cameron men of the State decided to resent the
hostility Geary had exhibited to them, Geary's defeat
was inevitable. He asked whether we had no condi-
tions to propose by which the two political factions
could be brought into accord in support of Geary, but
my answer was that the only political desire I cherished
was to be entirely relieved of all political obligations
and duties, and that I could not be interested in Geary's
re-election while he had as attorney general a man
who had, without any provocation whatever, indulged
in pubhc defamation of my political record ; and Mann
joined in the declaration that there could be no hearty
co-operation in support of the ticket from the anti-
Cameron people while Geary's present cabinet remained
in office.

Covode asked us to withhold definite answer for two
or three days, saying that he would meet us again. On
the second day after he left us he returned, obviously

A

272 Old Time Notes

after having conferred with Governor Geary, and made
the plain proposition to us that Attorney General
Brewster would be removed from office immediately
after the election, and any person appointed as his
successor whom we would name. We both answered
that if the proposition should be seriously entertained
no promise of a change in the State cabinet would be
accepted, but that the change must be made as a con-
dition precedent if we should decide to accept. This
condition required Covode to ask that another inter-
view be had on the following day, as he evidently had
to confer further with his chief. He saw that Mann
was inexorable, and he certainly knew that I specially
desired not to become involved in politics at all, much
as I was tempted to renew political efforts if thereby a
change in the State cabinet could be effected. On the
following day Covode appeared again, and stated that
every condition we had proposed would be accepted;
that an immediate change would be made in the attor-
ney generalship of the State, and that any reputable
Republican named by us would be made Brewster's
successor. We accc])ted his proposition, and said that
if he would return to our office in an hour we would
name the new attorney general. Covode was greatly
elated, as he believed that he had removed the most
serious danger signal of the campaign.

When Covode left us I asked Mann whom he wanted
for attorney general, to which he answered that
Attorney General Brewster merited the severest pun-
ishment that could be inflicted upon him because of
his persistent public criticism of both of us. He sug-
gested that the man who would entirely fill the bill
was Frederick Carroll Brewster, the half brother of
Attorney General Benjamin Harris Brewster, as the
appointment of Frederick Carroll would be the severest
humiliation that could be given.

3-

^.^^i**"-

3..-"^'

Of Pennsylvania 273

Frederick Carroll Brewster was one of the most ac-
complished lawyers of the Philadelphia bar, but the
two half brothers had never been upon terms even to
the extent of personally recognizing each other. The
sudden removal of Benjamin Harris Brewster from the
attorney generalship, with Frederick Carroll, his tm-
recognized half brother, as his successor was a crushing
blow to the attorney general, and it came like a bolt
from an unclouded sky. He was then at Atlantic City
enjoying a rest, and the first intimation he had of the
matter was a request from the Governor for his resigna-
tion. He was dumfoimded when notified that his
resignation was desired, and when he learned who was
to be his successor he peremptorily refused to resign.
Covode made an earnest appeal to Mann and myself to
allow the matter to go over imtil after the election,
personally pledging himself that the change would be
made, but we both peremptorily refused, and the
result was the immediate removal of Benjamin Harris
Brewster, and the appointment of his half brother.

But for this cabinet change Geary would undoubt-
edly have been defeated. In one of the earlier chap-
ters, when speaking of Asa Packer as one of the men
who was a leader in the development of the Lehigh
region, I stated the fact that the leaders in Philadelphia,
in a conference with Mackey some time after the elec-
tion, met for the piupose of deciding whether Geary's
election could be contested without involving them-
selves in personal peril. Geary's majority in the State
was only a little over 4,000, being less than the majority
returned in the city of Philadelphia, and it was then
alleged to be largely or wholly fraudulent. The frauds
perpetrated in Philadelphia were not conceived and
executed for the purpose of electing Geary, but the
arrangement made by Covode with Mann, who held
the machinery of the city i^^ his hand, tnade him willing

a— 18

276 Old Time Notes

mending Hall, of Bedford, for the judgeship he would
send to the Legislature a special message in such terms
as I desired, recommending the appropriation for the
relief of Chambersburg. It is proper to say that Mr.
Hall would not have been the choice of the members
of the bar of Chambersburg for the judgeship. If he
had been , no such proposition would have been made to
me. I arranged by telegraph a confidential meeting
of the entire bar of Chambersburg, and went there and
presented the proposition to them. They were very
reluctant to unite in recommending the proposed can-
didate for judge, but a very large proportion of the
people of Chambersburg were on the verge of bank-
ruptcy, and they finally agreed that if Geary would send
a special message to the Legislature, as he proposed,
they would unite in naming Hall for the judgeship.
I returned to Harrisburg, reported to the Governor, and
he at once asked me to sit down at his desk and write
the message I desired. I did so; he immediately
had it copied, signed it, and sent it to both branches
of the Legislature. The whole force of the adminis-
tration was caiTicstly tlirown into the support of the
appropriation, and it was by that arrangement, and
that alone, that the additional $300,000 were received
by the Chambersburg sufferers. Hall was appointed
and elected, and served acceptably as judge until the
judicial apportionment under the new Constitution
separated Franklin, leaving him the president judge
of the Bedford District.

Geary continued as a hopeful candidate for the
Presidency, and expected to unite the various elements
of opposition to Grant. The first National convention
of 1872 was held by the Lal)or Reformers in Columbus,
and Geary's friends very actively supported his nomi-
nation. On the first ballot he received the largest
vote of any, being 60 for Geary to 59 for Horace H.

Of Pennsylvania 277

Jay, 47 for David Davis and 15 for Wendell Phillips,
with a number scattering. On the fourth ballot David
Davis was nominated, with Joel Parker, of New Jersey,
for Vice-President. Had Judge Davis been nominated
by the Liberal Republican convention in Cincinnati
the same year he would doubtless have remained in
the field, and would probably have been elected, but
after the Liberal Republicans nominated Greeley,
Davis and Parker both declined, and the Labor Reform
organization was practically retired from the contest.
Geary gave a luke-warm support to Grant, but was not
thereafter in very hearty accord with his party. He
served through his second term, making a creditable
record and suddenly died very soon after he retired
from the Executive chair.

I had no personal acquaintance with Benjamin
Harris Brewster beyond one or two very casual meet-
ings, tmtil after he retired from the attorney general-
ship. A few weeks after his retirement I met him one
afternoon at George Laumaji's, whose liquor store on
Ninth, below Chestnut, was one of the general resorts
of the town for politicians, members of the bar and
others who dropped in during the afternoon because
they were certain to meet congenial people. When I
entered the room there were probably twenty congre-
gated there, including ex- Attorney General Brewster.
He immediately arose, advanced half way across the
room to meet me, held out his hand and said in the
hearing of all, " I want very much to know the man
who was big enough to dismiss me from the attorney
generalship of the State." He added that he had
greatly misunderstood me, and he desired thereafter
that we should be friends, saying in his enthusiastic
way that if ever he could be of service to me he was
more than willing to do so.

From that time xmtil the day of his death I had no

28o Old Time Notes

of the United States, and provided that no State shall
make any law to " abridge the privileges or immtinities
of citizens of the United States.*' That amendment
to the National Constitution, fairly interpreted, gave
stiffrage to the negroes, but the grant was hidden under
diplomatic language, and was not accepted by any of
the Northern States. Pennsylvania, although reliably
Republican, did ** abridge the privileges'* of the colored
citircns by denying them the right of suffrage, and the
Republicans of the State on the hustings and in their
party deliverances, denied that the fourteenth amend-
ment gave suffrage to the black man. A very large
proportion of the Republicans were unwilling to accept
negro suffrage, and had it been enforced under the
fotirteenth amendment as early as 1868, it would have
been disastrous to the party. Congress did not assume
to control the question of suffrage in the States, as that
was confessedly a State prerogative, but it provided
that where any particular class of citizens was dis-
franchised the representation in Congress should be
diminished accordingly. As Pennsylvania had the
word ** white'* in her fundamental law, the negro
voter was excluded, but the State was guilty of viola-
tion of the fourteenth amendment by abridging the
privileges of the colored citizen.

The fifteenth amendment to the National Constitu-
tion met the issue boldly. Its full text is as follows:
" The right of citizens (;f the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by
any State, on account of race, color, or previous con-
dition of servitude.'' This amendment to the Con-
stitution was ratified by the requisite number of States,
Pennsylvania having voted for its ratification on
March 26, 1869, and it was officially proclaimed as
part of the Constitution, March 30, 1870, from which
date the colored citizens of Pennsylvania had equal

Of Pennsylvania 281

right of suffrage with the whites. This amendment
to the National Constitution did not assiime to regu-
late the question of suffrage in the States, but it simply
protected all races and classes of citizens from discrimi-
nation on account of race. It left the States free to
limit suffrage to the standard of property, intelligence,
residence, payment of taxes, etc., but it eliminated
the race question, and required that every privilege
granted to the whites should be granted to the blacks.

Fortunately the issue of negro suffrage had tq be
met by the Republicans in Pennsylvania in 1870. when
no State officers were to be chosen, and when there
were no National issues of vital interest to invite
political activity. The aggressive hostility to negro
suffrage was confined to particular localities, embracing
the slum districts of Philadelphia and the mining
regions, where there was a large citizenship of foreign
elements. The Irish, as a rule, were specially hostile
to negro suffrage, and the same prejudices obtained
very largely with the most of our mining element;
there was no serious contest that year, and no special
effort was made to organize the negroes, as no State
officers were to be chosen and no exciting contest on
local places to be filled in Philadelphia. In addition to
the special race prejudices, a very considerable number
of native Republicans, including some of large intelli-
gence, were earnestly averse to an extension of suffrage
that would bring in a considerable ntimber of voters
who would largely increase the illiterate voters of the
State. The result was that a very large proportion,
and possibly even a majority, of the colored voters
of Philadelphia were not organized and equipped for
suffrage, and did not appear at the polls.

The Democrats organized to control the congressional
districts and the Legislature, and made an tinusually
successful campaign. They could not hope to revolu-

2»2 Old Tone Notts

taocize any of the coK^nessiotial districts of
pfasa. as neariv all the DesioGratkr wards iicxe ia
dan s district^ and the other foor districts were stiiWjgljr
RcpnhHran They diiL ho^ce\-er. make a mmNM
ticii in the Second dsstrict by which Cfaarks O^CciDL
who had represented the distXKt fcr a nttmber of yean^
was defeatai by J. D. Creefy, an Iruiepexident R^idb-
Bran, by nearly a thotsand votes. Cessna. Rcpdb-
ficaru c£ Bedford, who represented the Sizteezith dfak
trict, was defeated by B. F. 31eyers; UbrreQ. Repdt^-
fican, of Cambria, who represented the Gcweutccnth
c&strkt. was defeated by BL Milton Speer; AmBCroni^
Repcblican. cf Lycotnrr.g. who represented the Ei^it*
eeirth district, was cfeteated by Herman Sherwood;
GrTfiTtTn. Repcblicar. cf Mercer, who represented the
TwcntieA distnct. was defeated by Sarrmel Griffith;
Henry D. Fester, who bad been returned as ^ected in
tiK Twenty-first dzstnct. but was otisted in a cootesift
with Covode. was elected in that district over Andrev
Stewart, and Donley, Republican, of Greene. wbt>
represer.teti the 7':rer.Ly-:V'ur:h cistnct, wa^ defeated
by \[cLeii2LrA.

"The orly Demr,crat:c district gair.ei by the Repab-
Hears was bv the election ci L. D. Shs:err:aker in the
Luzerne *i:£tr:ct. over the late Cfciet J ustice McCo-Htim.
Cessna, ilr.rrell and Armstrrng '^ere all defeated by
ver>* srtall majcrrties. Meyers* returr.ei rnaj^i-rity over
Cessna was rV. and Cessna con:estet.i but fafled to
obtafr. a seat 'rr. the Republican K-juse. llorreu was
defeated by rr and ArrrjE-trong by 17. but btc-th renssed
tn contest' as neither ^ras wiHirj? tr. hijld a seat in

The Der=i:crats succeeded
:he war in jsainirjj o:ntn:I of
the 5:ate senate, as the new Legislature had 17 Detn-
ccratic senafrs to r6 Republicans. The Republicans.
b'.wever. had 12 tnaji:rrty in the house. There is no

Of Pennsylvania 283

reason to doubt that the advent of colored suflFrage
was the chief, if not the sole, obstacle to Republican
success in the State in the contest of 1870.

In 187 1 there were two State officers to be elected —
attorney general and surveyor general, and Quay
asserted his political power by nominating Dr. Stanton,
of Beaver, for auditor general. Stanton was a repu-
table village physician with little acquaintance in the
State, and without political experience in leadership.
He was nominated solely by the skillful management
of Colonel Quay, and General Beath, a gallant soldier,
of Philadelphia, was made the candidate for stu-veyor
general. The Democrats entered the campaign with
great confidence, relying upon the question of negro
suffrage as the issue that would give them victory.
To escape criticism for the attitude of the party in
the Civil War, the Democratic convention unanimously
nominated General McCandless, of Philadelphia, for
auditor general, and Colonel Cooper for surveyor
general, both of whom stood out conspicuously in the
list of Pennsylvania soldiers who had proved their
heroism in the flame of battle, and they made quite
an aggressive campaign. The Democrats were con-
fident of carrying the State outside of Philadelphia,
and the Republicans appreciated their peril and made
exhaustive effort to organize Philadelphia and bring
out the largest majority that could be obtained.

Colonel Mann had passed a new election system,
known as the registry law, that practically placed the
whole election machinery of the city in his own hands,
for he was then the absolute commander of the party
organization. It enabled him not only to name the
majority of the officers of each election board, but
also to name the minority, although required by the
law to have a minority ostensibly of different political
faith from that of the majority. The result was that

^4 Old Time Notes

the dection boards of the dty, in the districts wliefe
dection fravds mere oommon, 'were almost or entnely
in the control of the Republican organizatioo, as pur-

as minority dection officers where voting eariy and
often was the rule, while in the districts ¥diere fraud
was unknown and could not be attempted with safety.
Democrats of high character were selected as the
minority officers.

Mann was renominated for district attorney, and he
regarded it as the great struggle of his life to regain his
position, from which he was compelled to retire in
x868 to harmonize the party. He was a master organ-
iser, and had abundant aid in his political lieutenants^
and ample means to elect himself and save the State
tidcet. A portion of the old anti-Sfann Republicans
either refused to vote for district attorney, or cast their
votes for Furman Sheppard, his opponent, who had
fiUed the office with much more than ordinary credit.
The negroes were thoroughly organized, provided with
tax receipts, and ward and division leaders were given
positions, or pay, to see that the entire negro vote was
polled. While there was little political excitement
throughout the State, the battle in Philadelphia was
one of the most desperate that was ever fought, both
sides pressing the struggle with tireless energ\% and
employing all the resources they could command. In
the districts where there was a large negro vote, and
where the whites were below the average of general
intelligence, campaign orators devoted themselves
wholly to the task of inflaming the prejudices of the
ignorant against the negro as a voter, and threats were
made all through those regions of the cit>' that even
violent efforts would be employed to prevent the
nenoes from voting.

The negroes were aroused on the subject, as the

Of Pennsylvania 285

appeals were made to them to assert their rights if
they ever intended to enjoy them, and solemn deter-
mination became very general amongst the negroes.
The resiilt was that many riots occurred in the down-
town portions of the city, where there was a large negro
vote, and three negroes, Messrs. Cato, Chase and Gor-
don, were murdered on the streets, and more than a
score were seriously woimded by murderous attacks
made upon the negroes when they attempted to vote.
Professor Cato was one of the most cultivated negroes
of the city, and neither he nor Chase nor Gk)rdon was
guilty of any provocation whatever beyond his
appearance at the polls to exercise his rights as
a citizen. The Republicans carried the city by some
13,000 majority, and the majority for the Republican
candidate for auditor general in the State was little
more than a thousand in excess of the majority received
in the city. General Beath, who was a most gallant
soldier and popular with the Grand Army, had over
20,000 majority in the State, and Mann was returned
to the district attorney's office by a majority con-
siderably less than that received by the Republican
State candidates.

The Democrats lost the senate by one majority, the
senators elected standing seventeen Republicans to
sixteen Democrats, but ^ter the election, and before
the Legislature met, Senator Connell, of the Fourth
district in Philadelphia, died, leaving the senate stand-
ing sixteen to sixteen, but the Republicans had a dozen
majority in the house and on joint ballot. The senate
remained a tie imtil the 30th of January, when a special
election was held, in which Colonel Henry W. Gray
was returned as elected over me as an independent
candidate, but on a contest he was displaced and the
seat given to me.

It was wholly Colonel Mann's battle in the city of

i86 Old Time Notes

Philadelphia, and it was generally accepted that upon
him depended the restdt in both city and State. His
single ambition was to regain the district attorneyship,
beheving that once recalled to it by the people of the
city he cotdd hold it indefinitely. While Philadelphia
has had great public prosecutors, such as William B.
Reed, Furman Sheppard, Henry S. Hagert and Lewis
C. Cassidy, who held the position for a brief period,
it was not disputed that Mann was the ablest all-
arotmd prosecutor who ever filled the position. He was
a man of the tenderest sensibilities, and often in the
discharge of his official duties strained the law to serve
the mission of mercy, but when great cases came into
the oyer and terminer and he was called upon to
summon his masterly abilities for the battle no man
could have surpassed him. either as trial lawyer or
advocate. His theory of the proper method of regain-
ing political control in Philadelphia seemed to stand
vindicated by his re-election, and he felt confident
that, with the control of the election machinery of the
city in his own hands, his pcAver could be perpetuated
indefinitely. In this he erred as nearly or quite as all
political leaders err at some period of their careers.
The registry law, by which he had practically made
the Democrats voiceless in the control of the election
boards of the city, aroused most violent opposition,
and was the chief inspiration to the early revolution
that swept him out of office by humiliating defeat
three years later, and forced the constitutional con-
vention that effaced the registry law and all its objec-
tionable features from the statutes of the State.

The one ineffaceable stain upon the administration
of justice in Philadelphia is the fact that none of the
murderous rioters of election day in 187 1 who killed
Cato, Chase and Gordon and wounded many others,
were ever brought to justice. Considering that Phila-

Of Pennsylvania 287

delphia had a Republican city administration, prosecut-
ing officer and largely Republican judiciary, and that
Cato, Chase and Gk)rdon gave their lives in an unoffend-
ing df ort to exercise the right of citizenship by voting
the Republican ticket, it is a blistering reproach upon
Philadelphia that not one of the criminals ever .made
atonement before the law. It was common in those
days, and for years thereafter, for Republican speakers
to accuse the South of hindering negro suffrage by
violence and at times by murder, but here in Philadel-
phia, the Republican citadel of the State, three murders
were committed on the public streets in open day,
and a score or more wounded solely because they
attempted in an imoffending manner to exercise their
right as citizens and electors, and not a single criminal
was brought to pimishment. If the murders had been
committed under cover of night and in the absence of
witnesses, there might be some excuse for not discover-
ing the guilty parties ; but here was murder, red-handed,
at noonday, in the public streets of the city, and not
a pistol was fired or a knife drawn with murderous
intent that was not in the presence of witnesses. Sev-
eral persons were arrested, but they were not the real
guilty parties, and the failure to discover who the mur-
derers were and bring them to justice can be explained
only by the assumption that lawless political interests,
which at times serve fraudulent elections, were potent
enough to shield the murderers of the black men whose
exercise of suffrage in the City of Brotherly Love was
made in the baptism of their own life's blood.

The murder of Cato, Chase and Gk)rdon aroused
public sentiment to aggressive action, and within a
few days after the election when the murders were
committed, a public meeting was called in Concert
Hall, that was crowded to its uttermost with leading
citizens and presided over by ex-Governor Pollock.

a88 Old Time Notes

A number of speeches were made and resolutions
adopted demandmg the prompt arrest and ptmishment
not only of the murderers of Cato, Chase and Grordon.
but of all who had attempted by violence to prevent
colored voters from exercising the right of suffrage.
On the other hand, the worst elements of the colored
people were aroused to avenge the wrongs of their
race, and the lawlessness of uie whites was a direct
appeal to the baser elements of the blacks to resort to
lawlessness in vindication of their rights.

The violence resulting in murder and serious injtiries
to many at the election of 1871, laid the foundation
for the demoralization of a large portion of the colored
voters of the city. They saw that the whites could
resist them by violence without ptmishment, and they
were inflamed to violent political efforts, which were at
times inspired by corrupt compensation, to organize
for the pollution of the ballot; and considering the con-
ditions which then existed, with their limited oppor-
tunities for appreciation of the sanctity of citizenship,
they are much less to blame for their demoralization
than are those who taught them the way to crime.

Had the negroes been welcomed by their white
fellow-citizens to the dignified citizenship the supreme
law of the Nation had given them, there would have
been an immense number of them ready to accept a
just appreciation of its solemn responsibilities, and to
teach their race the necessity of dignifying their citizen-
ship, and proving that it had not been unworthily
bestowed ; but no such helping hand has been given to
the negroes in this city, and to-day, with honorable
exceptions to be foimd in every section of the city,
the colored voters are rated as mere commercial quan-
tities in politics. They long held control of the political
power of the city, and had they been organized by the
honest aid to which they were justly entitled from their

Of Pennsylvania 289

white fellow-citizens, they wotdd not only have been
a credit to our voting population, but their men of
culture and distinction would have been called to
positions of public trust, and thus invited all to fit them-
selves to win public confidence and political advance-
ment; but with all the power they possessed, we have
never nominated a colored man in Philadelphia for a
political position above the office of councilman; not
one has ever sat in the Legislature, not one has been
nominated for any of the city offices, not one has been
thought of for Congress, and they were denied even
representation on the police of the city imtil Mayor
King, Democrat, elected nearly a decade after the
negroes had been enfranchised, first promoted them
to positions on the police. For this demoralization
the black man should not be held solely, or even chiefly,
responsible, for the crime was not only made possible,
but it was practically enforced by the political methods
of the white man.

ago Old Time Notes

LXXVIII.

THE McCLURE-GRAY SENATORIAL

CONTEST.

teriotis Revolt Against the Methods of the Grant Administration — ^Death
of Senator Connell Made a Special Senatorial Election in January,
187s — ^Republican Leaders Tendered the Place to the Author, But
with Conditions Tliat Could Not Be Accepted — Interposition of
President Grant Led to the Author's Pinal Acceptance of the Candi-
dacy— Colonel Scott Dined with President Grant and Cameron and
Urged to Porce the Author to Retire from the Contest — ^A Tempestu-
ous Political Struggle of Ten Days — ^Nineteenth Ward Rounders
Decide That the McClure Meeting Should Not Be Held — How They
Were Pinally Persuaded to Peace.

THE year 1872 opened with the Republican sky
overcast by clouded harmony and murmurs
of discontent were heard in every section of
the State and cotmtry. A large number of the ablest
Republican United States Senators had become aggres-
sively estranged from President Grant, who had entered
the highest civil trust of the Nation an entire stranger
to experience in civil administration, and had appar-
ently not attempted to learn the difference between
civil and military authority. A President who had
provoked the open opposition of such Senators of his
own party as Lyman Tnunbull, of Illinois; Charles
Sumner, of Massachusetts; Carl Schurz, then of Mis-
souri, and Reuben E. Fenton, of New York, certainly
exhibited a lack of the qualities of statesmanship.
These eminent leaders of the party were not offended
because of disappointment in the distribution of
political favors. They represented the able and inde-

of Pennsylvania 291

pendent statesmanship of the Nation, and throughout
the ranks of the party in every section of the country
there was very general discontent with the adminis-
tration of Grant, who, like the Bourbons of old, had
learned nothing and forgotten nothing in nearly four
years of civil administration.

By the upheaval of 1872, although he escaped defeat
by the folly of the opposition, he was somewhat tem-
pered and liberalized in his views, but he never fully
broadened out to the highest stature of both military
and civil manhood tmtil after his retirement from the
Presidency at the expiration of two terms. He
journeyed aroimd the world, and came in much closer
contact with the people than ever before, and had he
been nominated and elected President in 1880, when his
friends made a desperate battle for a third term in
Chicago, I doubt not that he would have made as nearly
a faultless President as any who had ever filled the
position. In 1872, however, he rejected the cotmsels
of all who came in contact with his policy, and obsti-
nately invited defeat by driving outside the party
battlements very many of the ablest leaders of the
Republican party.

Revolt was exhibited in every part of Pennsylvania,
and especially in Philadelphia, where opposition to
ring rule had been intensified to the uttermost by the
violent fall election of 187 1. Open rebellion was
threatened on every hand. The issue in Philadelphia
was suddenly precipitated in the first month of the
year, (xeorge Connell, who had served four terms in
the senate, and was elected to the fifth term on the
loth of October, 1871, died within two weeks after his
election, leaving a vacancy in the senate that then
stood sixteen Democrats and sixteen Republicans.
Although Mr. Connell died on the 27th of October,
more than two months before the meeting of the Legis-

993 Old Time Ncytes

lature, it was held that the speaker of the senate could
not issue a writ for a special election until the L^ps-
lature met and had official notification of the vacancy.
The restdt was that the writ was not issued until the
first week in January, and the 30th of the montib was
fixed for the special senatorial election.

I had taken no part in politics after locating in Phila-
delphia in 1868, not only because I felt that I had
performed my fiill share of political service, but because
my unfortunate financial condition demanded that I
should devote my eneigies to my profession. I had
not delivered a political speech during my residence
in Philadelphia, with the single exception of a brief
address at the indignation meeting held after the elec-
tion of 1870 to denounce the murderous attacks made
upon the colored men, resulting in the death of Cato,
Qiase and Gordon, and really had no part in the political
movements in the city beyond two political episodes
relating to Geary's cabinet and the special election of
a senator in the city, which have been described in
earlier chapters. Having been overwhelmingly bank-
rupted by the destruction of Chambersburg and rebuild-
ing at the highest prices for material and labor, I
desired only to be free to give my whole energies to
business. I had been a resident of the city only a
little more than three years and, of course, had no
thought of being considered eligible for any city office,
but a number of prominent business men, largely inter-
ested in the general development of the State and in
liberal legislation to aid them, personally appealed
to me to become a candidate for senator. Among
them were Colonel Scott, whose vast railway interests
were yet in their infancy as compared with the progress
attained to-day, and WUliam G. Moorehead, Jay Cooke's
partner in what was then one of the greatest banking
houses of the country, both of whom had gone through

Of Pennsylvania 293

desperate legislative stniggles to enable them to develop
the wealth of the State, with a niimber of the leading
business hotises largely interested in municipal and
legislative reform. They earnestly virged me to con-
sent to serve if elected, and they made like earnest
appeals to the political leaders of the city, whose
power over nominations was absolute, to tender me
the nomination.

They knew that I was not in accord with the pro-
fligate rule of the city and that I was specially opposed
to the registry law and the dishonest political methods
by which political power was so often maintained.
Fearing that the district might be in danger, the leaders
finally agreed that they would tender me the imani-
mous nomination. That would have meant an elec-
tion without a contest, making the one condition, how-
ever, that I should not attempt to repeal the registry
law. A committee, consisting of William H. Kemble,
John L. Hill and James McManes, called upon me and
urged me to accept the nomination with the condition
annexed. I told them frankly that I had openly
opposed and denoimced the registry law from the time
it was first presented to the Legislature as a disgrace
to the Republican party and a reproach upon every
intelligent, honest Republican citizen of Philadelphia,
and that I could not accept the condition. They
answered frankly that I cotdd not be nominated, to
which I replied that as I sincerely desired not to be
elected senator there were no regrets on my part, and
I believed that the incident was closed. After further
consultation the same committee returned with a
modified proposition, that they would give me the
tmanimous nomination for senator and instruct me
to support the registry law, assxmiing that I could
avoid opposing it because of the instructions imder
which 1 was nomin^te^. I answered that if the noixii-

294 Old Time Notes

nation was accepted with such instructions it would
be the duty of the person nominated to obey them,
but that I could not, imder any circumstances, enter
the senate without entire freedom to urge an honest
election law. That ended the conference, and, as I
supposed, eliminated me entirely from the senatorial
contest, much to my own gratification.

A few days thereafter William G. Moorehead came
into my office and said that he desired to make a
personal explanation in confidence. He had in his
hand a paper that I had not seen or heard of, signed by
himself and some fifty or more prominent citizens of
the ward in which I lived, lu^ng me to accept the nomi-
nation for senator. He had not been advised of what
had transpired between the political leaders and
myself, and supposed the question was still an open
one. He said he very much desired my election to
the senate, as he had been one of the first and most
earnest in urging me to become a candidate, but that
he had just received from Washington official informa-
tion that would place him, or any other, in antagonism
to the President who favored my election to the senate.
He was one of the first who had signed the paper, and
he asked my permission to erase his name from it, but
added that while he could take no public part in the
contest he would gladly aid my election if I became a
candidate to any extent within his power, and he
proved his sincerity by a $1,500 contribution to the
cause. I asked him to let me see the paper, and he
handed it to me. After looking over it I threw it into
the open fire and said that I fully imderstood the
delicacy of his position, and that as the paper was now
destroyed he was entirely relieved. I added that now,
for the first time, I felt inclined to become a candidate
for senator. But for that incident I am quite sure
that under no circumstances could I have been drawn

n

Of Pennsylvania 295

into a political contest at that time. The insolence of
power as exhibited by a President dictating to the
banker of the government whom he should support
or oppose for a local legislative office provoked me to
[defiant resentment,

I immediately called together at Colonel Scott's
office half a dozen or more of those who had been
insisting upon my candidacy, and said to them that I
was ready to make the battle, not as the candidate
of the organization, but against it, if they were willing
to support me, and they all heartily assented. It
meant a desperate struggle against fearful odds, but
I felt that the time had come when some one must
lead a revolution and the duty seemed to devolve on
me. There were a number of prominent candidates
for the Republican nomination for the senatorship
when it became known that my name was not to be
presented, and after a desperate contest Henry W.
Gray, then councilman from the Twenty-second ward,
and prominent as the head of a piano manufacturing
company, a position that he has filled for many years
with credit, was nominated. Within twenty-four
hours after the nomination was made, a letter was
deUvered to me signed by some 800 citizens of the
district, embracing the names of the leading business
men and manufacturers, asking me to become an inde-
pendent reform candidate for senator, and on the fol-
lowing day I published a letter of acceptance, leaving
but ten days in which to make the battle in the dis-
trict. There was not a reform organization in a single
ward of the district, and I was in the position of a
bankrupt candidate starting out without organization,
or any of the ordinary political resources, to give battle
to a compact political combination that had created
the election board in every division of the district
and that could command tens of thousands to bring

296 Old Time Notes

out the vote and compensate fraud, but the time was
ripe for rebellion, and I could do no less than accept
the responsibility.

The same influence that made Mr. Moorehead with-
draw from open support at a time when I had no
longer thought of being a candidate reached Colonel
Scott, Cameron was in the Senate and the next L^s-
lature was to elect his successor. He knew that I was
not in favor of Grant's nomination, as Grant well knew
himself, and Cameron, knowing my close relations
with Colonel Scott, believed that through Scott my
retirement could be enforced. Scott sent for me the
evening of the day that I announced myself as a candi-
date, and informed me that he was going South that
night and would probably be away until after the elec-
tion. He stated that he would stop in Washington,
where he was to dine with Cameron and the President
on the following day; that he might, after confer-
ence with friends in Washington, change his mind
as to the advisability of my continuing as a candi-
date in the district; '* but, *' said he, " you were always
obstinate and I don't suppose that it would make any
difference if I did advise you to withdraw. ' ' I told
him that such a contingency would doubtless be met
to his entire satisfaction. He olwiously meant me to
fully understand that any advices he gave me from
Washington were not to be accepted, and without fur-
ther conversation on the subject the matter was fully
understood by both.

On the following day Scott dined with the President
and Cameron and the question of the Philadelphia
senatorship was the chief theme of discussion. Cam-
eron said that there was a very short way to settle it;
that I was bankrupt and largely dependent upon Scott
in the practice of my profession, and that if Scott
demanded my retirement I would not refuse obedience.

Of Pennsylvania 297

Scott reminded Cameron that he had many oppor-
tunities to discover how obstinate I was in political
conflicts, and that he very much doubted whether he
could accompUsh my withdrawal. He agreed, however,
that he would send to me any despatch that Cameron
might prepare. After dinner the work of preparing
a despatch for Scott to send to me was gravely con-
sidered by the President and the party, and Cameron
finally drafted one that seemed to be satisfactory to
all. It stated that Scott, after intercourse with a
number of friends and on mature reflection, was fully
convinced that it would be most imforttmate for me
to make the battle for senator and urged me to retire.
After the message had been fashioned to the entire
satisfaction of the party and was about to be sent to
the telegraph operator, Cameron called a halt and said
that as Scott was going South and would not be home
tmtil after the election, I would be likely to put the
despatch in the waste basket, and deny that I had
ever received it. To which Scott answered that he
could obviate that difficulty by sending the despatch
to R. D. Barclay, his secretary, with instructions to
deliver it to me in person and get the answer. The
following morning Mr. Barclay came into my office,
trying to exhibit the indifference that would become a
man entirely innocent of what he was doing, and said
that he had a despatch from Colonel Scott, with in-
structions to deliver it to me in person and get the
answer. After reading the despatch I instructed
Barclay to answer Colonel Scott that I was publicly
committed to the contest and could not retire without
dishonor.

A series of public meetings were at once annotmced
by an improvised campaign committee covering every
section of the district, and requiring me to speak from
two tP three times every night. The Democrats lia4

298 Old Time Notes

in the meantime endorsed my nomination, as did the
reform organization of the city, and I doubt whether
ever a campaign of ten days aroused such intense
interest among the people of the district. Meetings
were overcrowded on both sides, and the Machine
organization was strained to the uttermost to arrest
the overwhelming revolutionary tide that confronted
it. Among other places meetings were called in the
Nineteenth ward, then the center of repeating and other
pollution of the ballot in the uptown districts, and the
Machine thugs in that region openly declared that I
should not be permitted to speak in the ward. It will
grate very harshly on the ears of all fair-minded citizens
when I state that District Attorney Mann and Sheriff
Leeds called at my office and notified me that I could
not speak in the Nineteenth ward because they would
be imable to preserve the peace, and could net be
held responsible for the result. Mann was personally
friendly, but owed everything to the organization, and
had to go with it. Leeds was part of the organization
and believed in all its measures even to the most des-
perate of them. I reminded them that they should not
call upon me, but as the highest officers charged with
the protection of the peace and the maintenance of
law and order they should go to the lawless people of
the Nineteenth ward and notify them that freedom
of speech was a right that belonged to all, and that
any interference on their part would be promptly and
severely punished. Leeds informed me that he could
not maintain the peace, and the mayor was powerless,
as the people there were in a riotous condition. I
ended the conversation by notifying them that I
would go there to speak at the time appointed, and that
it was up to them to decide whether there should be
riot or peace. After further conference with the mayor
they decided that they must maint^n the peace, and

Of Pennsylvania 299

hundreds of policemen were ordered to be on duty
at the time.

Another question that was soberly considered in the
office of the mayor of the city, in the presence of the
district attorney, sheriff and Mr. McCullough, the
secretary of the mayor, was whether the repeaters
usually employed by the party could venttire out to
vote against me in the face of the general uprising of
the people. Mann earnestly protested against the
use of any unfair means to defeat me, and Robert S.
Tittermary, who was present, and who was closely
related to the repeating system of the city, strongly
advised against it on the groimd that the revolutionary
spirit was too strong to attempt any violent meastires.
After considerable discussion it was decided that
repeaters should not be called out, and Colonel Mann
came to my office and congratulated me on my assured
election, as it had been decided at the mayor's office that
the election should be fairly and honestly conducted.

On the evening that I was to speak in the Nineteenth
ward I applied to a friend in the city who imderstood
jtist the kind of men I wanted and asked for a personal
guard of twelve men, who were to be well armed and
who knew how to fight in a battle with thugs. The
men were not hard to obtain, and twelve men were
brought together who had very positive instructions
not to exhibit themselves in any ostentatious manner,
that they should drop into the car along the route to
the meeting, and when I got out of the car to be close
arotmd me without exhibiting any sign of their pur-
pose. When the car stopped in front of the hall the
streets were filled with a boisterous crowd and hundreds
of policemen were there on duty. Policemen had been
placed in every saloon near the hall, and instructions
given that imder no circumstances was I to be dis-
turbed or interrupted. When I landed there the

300 Old Time Notes

sergeant of police met me and said he was instructed
to escort me into the hall, to which I answered that I
needed no escort and walked forward to enter the hall
myself, along with the crowd, but around me were the
men who were there for my protection.

The room was crowded to suffocation and a laxge
majority of the men were evidently in a very bad humor
and chafing under the restraint the police had put upon
them. I never faced quite so tminviting an audience,
but there was only one thing to do, and that was to
either become master of the situation at once, or have
the thugs become masters. I commenced by stating
that election frauds were more flagrant in that ward
than in any other in the city; that at the last election
the return was grossly fraudulent and false, and that it
was made with the approval of the political leaders.
Someone in the rear of the audience yelled out : " That's
a lie,'' but he was knocked down almost before the
sentence was finished, and when someone attempted
to come to his aid he was knocked down as quickly.
For the first time the political thugs discovered that
they were not entirely on safe ground, and the behavior
of the audience thereafter was excellent. I walked
out of the hall and down to the car apparently alone,
but close by were the twelve faithful men, who were
then quite out of humor themselves because they had not
succeeded in getting a row worthy of the occasion. The
experience of that evening ended all disturbance at my
meetings and the battle was fought out to a finish with-
out violence. On Monday night, the evening before the
election, the Hartranft ball was held in the Academy of
Music, and someone who had managed to get hold of one
of my tickets brought it to the leaders at the Hartranft
ball and insisted that now, as they could duplicate my
ticket, the repeaters should be turned out the next
^y as the only hope of defeating me. There was

Of Pennsylvania 3^1

only a single name on the ticket, and I had a large
ticket printed some three inches in length and one
and a half inches in width. Nearly all of the leaders
were present at the Hartranft ball, and some protested
earnestly, including Mr. Tittermary, who was expected
to take an active part, but they were overwhelmed and
orders were issued that repeaters should resimie their
vocation the next morning and exhaust their power to
increase the vote against me. Tittermary was in
with the repeaters who operated that day and played
his own part in the work. He was dependent upon
the party and had to obey orders, but when midnight
of election day came, after the returns had all been
received, a friend asked me to go to a particular room
in a hotel down Chestnut Street. I did so, and there
foimd Robert S. Tittermary, who gave me the entire
programme of the fraud, planned and executed to defeat
me, with the names of the actors and every place where
fraud had been perpetrated and how it had been done.
The result was that when I commenced a contest I
did not have to grope in the dark, but knew exactly
where to strike and whom to summon. A card published
the next morning stated my purpose to contest the
election, and the first man at my office soon after
breakfast was Benjamin Harris Brewster, to offer his
services as counsel in the case, expressly providing
that no fee should be paid. Henry S. Hagert, Lewis
C. Cassidy and David W. Sellers also volimteered and
rendered important service. It was not difficult to state
the facts on which the contest was made in the petition
to go to the senate, as I was minutely informed by Tit-
termary and later by others of all the plans adopted
and carried into effect to defeat my election. Mr. Gray
was returned as elected by 89 1 majority, and how that
majority was falsely fashioned, and how it was cor-
rected, will be an interesting story for another chapter.

3oa Old Time Notes

LXXIX.

THE CONTESTED SENATORIAL ELEC-
TION OF 1872.

The Author Returned as Defeated by 891 Majorit}^ — Protracted Struggle
to Get a Petition for Contest before the Senate— Interesting Incidents
of the Struggle — ^A Special Law Enacted to Try the Case — Flan of
Leaders to Draw a Set-up Conunittee — Clerk Hammersley Refuses
to Do It, and Informs the Author — ^A Democratic Conmiittee Ob-
tained— Appalling Fraud Developed in the Trial of the Contest —
Jail Birds Hired to Swear Falsely That They Had Repeated for
Mcdure — Colonel Gray Acqtiits Himself of the Frauds.

THE morning after the special election held on
the 30th of January, 1872, when Henry W.
Gray was returned as elected senator over
me, by 89 1 majority, I proceeded at once to prepare a
petition setting forth the numerous frauds which had
been practised by which a majority of over 2,000 had
been transposed to nearly 900 majority against me.
It was not difficult to prepare the petition, as the facts
were all in my possession. It was not really necessary
to present all the varied phases of fraud which had been
perpetrated in the contest, but as the complete details
of the pollution of the ballot box were known to me. I
presented in the petition every feature of fraud that
had been instituted, and gave all the details of its
execution, making the petition a printed volimie of
nearly 300 pages.

On the 8th of February the petition was presented to
the senate, and Amos Briggs, as attorney for Mr. Gray,
then holding the seat, appeared before the body and
filed a plea denying the jurisdiction of the body imder

Of Pennsylvania 303

the law. The general law of the State providing for
legislative contests declared that no petition contesting
a seat ** shall be acted upon by the Legislattire unless the
same be presented within ten days after the organiza-
tion of the Legislature next succeeding the election."
As the special election was not held until nearly thirty
days after the Legislature met, a strict construction
of the act of 1839 precluded the admission of the
petition; but the question had arisen in several cases,
and in every instance it was accepted that when a
special election was held during the meeting of the
Legislature, the contestant was required to file his
petition within ten days after the certificate of election
was issued. The question was referred to the judiciary
committee of the body, consisting of Messrs. White,
Fitch and Mumma, RepubUcans, and Messrs. Wallace
and Davis, Democrats. By a resolution of the senate,
Messrs. Strang and Warfel, RepubUcans, and Purman
and Buckalew, Democrats, were added to the committee
for the consideration of the special case, and the major-
ity of the committee, on strict party vote, reported to
the senate that the petition could not be received imder
any existing laws.

Senator White, of Indiana, who had long been promi-
nent in the Republican leadership of the State, took
the laboring oar to enforce the poUcy of denying me
the right to contest the seat of Gray before the senate,
and when the Republican majority of the judiciary
committee united in the report against the reception
of my petition, it waS nattirally assimied by White and
his friends that I would be denied a hearing, and, of
course, could not obtain the seat.

Partisan feeling was much embittered and White
had every reason to believe that, with a Republican
majority of one in the senate, as long as Gray held the
seat he could indefinitely hinder the hearing of the

304 Old Time Notes

case, but he was not correctly advised as to the true
conditions which existed in the senate. There were
three Republican senators who were entirely satisfied
that I had been elected, and who had decided that, at
the proper time, they would assert themselves and
assure a hearing of the case and my admission to the
senate. These three Republican senators were Billing-
felt, of Lancaster; Strang, of Tioga, and Davis, of
Philadelphia. Before the judiciary committee re-
ported against receiving the petition, Strang, who was
one of the additional members added to the committee,
conferred with me on the subject, and I concurred in
his views that he should agree with the majority, and
not show his hand at that stage of the proceeding, as
it was entirely competent for the senate, whenever it
was decided that the act of 1839 did not cover the case,
to decide in its own way how the case should be heard
and determined, as the senate was the sole judge of the
election and qualification of its members.

By agreement, Billingfelt, a ruggedly honest German
from Lancaster, and Strang, certainly then the ablest
of the Republican leaders in the body, and Davis, who
had been twice si)eaker of the house, decided that they
would allow White's policy to prevail until he had set-
tled the question that the act of 1839 did not apply,
and then they would demand a hearing of the case
under a much fairer law. Under the act of 1839 the
drawing of the committee would have been a mere
lottery, and they were more than willing to let White
have his own way in rejecting that act, as it would be
certain to result in a much fairer special provision,
either by statute of both houses or by special order of
the senate, to form a tribunal for the trial of the case.
As soon as it was decided bv the senate that under the
act of 1839 the petition could not be received Senator
Davis took the lead, and declared that it was the duty

of Pennsylvania 305

of the senate to receive the petition tinder a law of its
own creation, and determine it as a matter of justice to
the people of the district, as well as to the senate, and
Strang and Billingfelt both joined in the demand that
the case must be heard. A special law was framed and
as a matter of courtesy it was sent to the house for
concurrence. A caucus was immediately called by
the Republican leaders imder Speaker Elliott, to decide
against passing any law on the subject, believing that
the senate would not attempt to treat the case without
a statute passed by both branches. Thomas V. Cooper
was then a member of the house and knew the situation
thoroughly. He got together some twenty or thirty
members, and gave notice that they would not obey
the caucus decree to deny a hearing of my petition,
and it had to be abandoned. The house, finding that
the senate would act independently of it, finally agreed
to accept the act prepared by Senator Billingfelt, which
provided that the senate should select six of the seven
members of the committee to try the case, each senator
voting for but three, and that the remaining senators,
excepting the speaker and the senator whose seat was
contested, should have their names put in a box, and
thirteen names drawn therefrom by the clerk, after
which each side should alternately strike names from
the list tmtil one remained, the remaining name to con-
stitute the seventh member of the committee.

Under this law the Democrats selected Buckalew, of
Colimibia; J. Depuy Davis, of Berks, and Dill, of
Union, and the Republicans elected White, of Indiana ;
Fitch, of Susquehanna, and Mumma, of Dauphin. The
election of these members of the committee left in the
senate fourteen Republicans, including the speaker and
Senator Gray, whose seat was contested, and thirteen
Democrats, but of the fourteen Republicans remaining
the speaker's name and that of Senator Gray could not

a — 20

3o7
ere compelled

-,ey that it v-'as
'Z bring out
hes by sitnp^y
e metnbets not
tckets contain-
was desired.

,f Xd tickets

'^f^fiidthe
all aliKe, ^ ^g

^^^ Tl)S?crats

Sttb^'-fS

l^^^f^nd^e
^Ttto ^^,5^senator
aired ^^^^f^^are,
roolce,of^^ AH

■d senator ^^^
use to ^^\ ^as
in tlie box. ^^

^ ^^ ^^^D^ocrats

red ^^Vd S tbeir
h respondea

by my <^°^^!^at ^^-as
he pair f?^^J^%alled
\ been snd^Ji^^g the
^6. after arranges

^■'-r'.SJ* before the <:^,
I Senator Kni« ^^^^e of «»

3o6 Old Time Notes

go into the box, thusreducixig the Republican foroe from
which the additional memb^ might be drawn to twelve,
and with the names of Billingf elt , StiBng and Davis, wbo,
without having made any public avowal of the subject,
were positively and eam^tly desirous to aid in giving we
the seat because they were entirely con vinced of my elec-
tion, withdrawn from the Republican partisan column,
left the opposition but nine senators while the thirteen
Democrats, with Billingfelt, Strang and Davis added,
made seventeen who meant to have a thorough investi-
gation, fully satisfied that it would give me the seat.

Of course the attitude of Billingfelt, Strang and
Davis was not known to White and his followers, and
they were quite hopeful that they might obtain a com^
mittee that would be subject to partisan commands.
So embittered had the struggle become that positive
orders were given to Geoige W. Hammersley, then
chief clerk of the senate, to draw a majority of Repub-
licans among the thirteen names to be taken from the
box. Hammersley was a strong partisan, but an old
and sincere friend of mine, and when he received the
orders he immediately reported to me, and informed
me that he would not imder any circiunstances per-
petrate the fraud. There were two assistant clerks,
the senior of whom was Thomas B. Cochran, of Lan-
caster, a resolutely honest official, and the other was
McKee, of Westmoreland, who was presumed to be
entirely obedient to orders. Hammersley advised me
that he would simply notify the masters that he would
not serve in drawing the committee, and he knew that
they would attempt to have McKee take his place, but
Billingfelt was at once advised of it, and as Cochran
was his own immediate constituent, he solved the
problem very quickly by moving that Assistant Clerk
Cochran take the place of the chief clerk in drawing
the committee. With him against them, the Repub-

Of Pennsylvania 307

licans were in the minority, and they were compelled
to assent to Cochran serving.

I was amazed to learn from Hammersley that it was
a very easy proceeding for the clerk to bring out
names entirely according to his own wishes, by simply
rolling tightly the tickets containing the members not
wanted, and rolling more loosely the tickets contain-
ing the names of members whose selection was desired.
As the box is shaken in public view of the senate after
the tickets are placed in it, the closely rolled tickets
would settle to the bottom, and the looser ones remain
on top, but Cochran folded his tickets all alike, and the
drawing was watched with breathless interest. The
senate was crowded to the uttermost and two Republi-
can members who were paired with absent Democrats
were forced to violate their pairs and permit their names
to go into the box. They were Mr. Delamater,* of
Crawford, father of the later senator who was candidate
for Governor in 1890, who was paired with Senator
Knight, of Bucks, and H. Jones Brooke, of Delaware,
who was paired with Senator Finley, of Somerset. All
that was necessary for these paired senators to fulfill
their solemn compact was to refuse to answer when
called to have their names placed in the box. It was
well known to all the members of the body that both
Delamater and Brooke had paired with Democrats
who were then absent, but both responded to their
names, and although challenged by my counsel, they
both denied the obligation of the pair and that was
conclusive. Senator Finley had been suddenly called
to Philadelphia the day before, and after arranging the

* Senator Delamater, after noticing this statement in the public press,
recently wrote the author that injustice was done him in stating that he
had violated his pledge, as he had notified Senator Knight before the case
came before the senate that he would withdraw his pair because of the
protracted illness of Senator Knight.

3o8 Old Time Notes

pair with Brooke, submitted it to me for appcoval. I
at once assented to it, as I did not doubt that Mr.
Brooke would faithfully fulfill his obligation, but when
challenged he arose in his place and denied that he
was paired with Senator Finley. Finley was tele-
graphed at once the situation, and he returned the
same evening. On the following morning he went
into the senate before it had been called to cider, found
Brooke in his seat, and informed him that he had
violated his solemn faith, and that if he did not rise in
the senate and confess that he had violated his pledge,
Finley declared that he would horsewhip him befoie
he left the Capitol, and the rugged senator from the

f lades of the All^henies meant jtast what he said.
Irooke at once admitted to Finley that he had paired
and that he would m^ke a declaration to the senate,
and when the body was cajled to order he arose in his
place and said that he had unintentionally violated his
solemnly plighted faith to the senator from Somerset,
but that he did it when imder the influence of opiates,
having been ill for some time, and that all memory of
his pair had faded away. Brooke had long been in
public life, was quite sensitive as to his reputation for
integrity, and with tears scalding his cheeks he begged
of the senate to forgive the wrong he had imconsciously
committed, and accept his assurance that only severe
mental and physical disturbance had made it possible.
Fortunately the violated pairs did not affect the
result. The names drawn from the box ran very nearly
even in both parties, and when the twelfth was called
six Democrats and six Republicans were on the list.
Nearly all of those present in the body naturally as-
sumed that the next name called would be conclusive
as to the final judgment of the case, and the painful
silence was broken when Clerk Cochran announced the
name of William M. Randall, Democrat, of Schuylkill,

Of Pennsylvania 309

making seven Democrats and six RepubKcans in the
list drawn from the box, but of the six Republicans one
did not doubt my election, and would doubtless have
so decided had he been called to serve on the commit-
tee. Billingfelt, Strang and Davis united in the re-
quest that I should not compel them to serve on the
committee if I could avoid it, but that if necessary any
of them would accept the responsibility, but with
seven Democrats of the thirteen drawn I could safely
strike all the Republicans, while Gray could only strike
six of the seven Democrats named, and he left the
name of Judge Broadhead, Democratic senator from
Carbon, who composed the seventh member of the
committee.

With a committee drawn that was asstmied on all
sides as willing to do full justice to my claim for the
seat, the desperate Republican leaders decided that
they would make it impossible for me to finish the con-
test before the close of the session. The committee
was finally secured on the 21st of February, and at
once organized with Buckalew as chairman and com-
menced its sessions in Philadelphia at the Washington
House. The committee sat patiently day and night,
and as we were fully prepared for the exposure of the
frauds the evidence was appalling to the leaders of the
city. In order to show the methods of the leaders
distinctly at the outset, I selected the Twentieth
division of the Nineteenth ward, where they had re-
turned thirty-five votes for me and 191 against me. I
placed copies of the poll list in the hands of several
thoroughly intelligent and energetic business men, and
had them subpoena every man whose name was on
the poll list to testify before the committee. The
result was that a thorough canvass of the precinct was
made, and 103 testified that they had voted for me,
twenty-five testified that they had not voted at all,

3IO Old Time Notes

their names having been voted on by repeaters, and
the men who made the canvass f otmd that forty-four
of the names on the poll list were entirely fictitious, and
that no such persons lived in the division. This devel-
opment appalled the leaders and the next week we were
dumf otonded by the Legislature passing through both
branches a resolution filing the 24th of March for final
adjournment, which was done solely to make it impos-
sible, as they believed, for me to expose sufiident
frauds to overcome the majority returned against me,
as it left us but little more than three weeks which had
to be divided with the other side.

A conference was held that night with Brewster,
Cassidy, Hagert and Sellers, who were acting as my
cotinsel, and the first impression of all was that it would
be impossible to finish the case in time for a report that
session, and the conmiittee would naturally die with
the Legislature. Cassidy was at times of most heroic
mold, and he proposed that we should go before the
committee the following morning, propose to close our
case in eight days, giving the other side eight days to
follow, and we to have two days in rebuttal, when the
case must close. The natural inquiry of the other
counsel was how the case could possibly be tried in so
short a time, to which Cassidy answered: ** That's our
business to find out; this is our only chance.'' He
added that we had a friendly court, and that it was for
the counsel to determine how the case should be pre-
sented to justify the committee in reaching a just judg-
ment. It was known that Buckalew would not reject
the entire poll of a precinct, but Cassidy suggested that
if the return was clearly tainted Buckalew would reject
the return, and count only such votes as would be
proven before the committee. That policy was adopt-
ed, although kept sacredly secret in our own coimsels.
Some ten or twelve of the worst precincts were selected

Of Pennsylvania 311

in which to prove that the return was false and fraud-
ulent and could not be accepted.

It required but few witnesses to establish that fact,
but had the policy been understood by the other side
they could have met us by calling individual votes in
those precincts. Instead of confining our witnesses to
ten or a dozen precincts whose returns were absolutely
false, we would examine perhaps 200 or 300 witnesses
a day at the several sessions, and not over twenty-five
of the whole ntmiber would apply to the precincts really
assailed. We proved frauds of the most flagrant char-
acter, but they really coimted nothing in making up
the case as it had been decided to present it, and the
opposition was entirely deceived as to our purpose.
When we closed after eight days in the presentation of
many himdreds of witnesses, not more than 200 of the wit-
nesses called were really vital, but they misled the other
side and they never attempted to prove their vote in
the precinct where we had the return absolutely tainted.

The vote was then coimted and annoimced every
hour, and the list of voters on the poll list was classified
by hours. When our testimony was boiled down to
the vital point we had proved in each of the assailed
precincts that the return annoimced in each of them was
false by several votes at eight o'clock in the morning, at
one o'clock in the afternoon and at eight o'clock in the
evening — in each case having proved more votes for me
than had been returned; and while we had specially
assailed ten or a dozen precincts we had generally
assailed fully a himdred precincts, all of which were
more or less rotten. The result was that when the
testimony closed we showed that there were no lawful
returns from these precincts, that they were proven to
be false and fraudtdent at three different hours of the
day, and the committee very properly accepted the
view and counted only such votes as had been proved

312 Old Time Notes

before the oonunittee, resulting in my declared ejec-
tion by 2IO majority.

It is a notable fact that there was not an all^[atioa
of fraud presented to the committee in a single precinct
of the district that had returned me a majority, nor
was one fraudulent vote proved as having been cast for
me. An attempt was made to halt the terrible current
of political frauds developed by the testimony, but it
resulted only in making the fraudulent leaders openly
di^[race themselves. They became impatient under
the daily development of fraud that was made before
the committee, while not a single allegation had been
made of fraudulent effort on my side. Some of the
more desperate leaders of the city decided that they
would do something toward balancing the accoimt df
fraud and force the stain of corruption upon my side.
They gathered up five of the lowest vagrants of the
city, au of them jail birds, one known as the " Educated
Hog," another as "Stuttering Jimmy," another as
" Ffying Dutchman" and all bore Uke distinctive names.
They were gathered at the Little Brown Jug, a back
saloon near Walnut and Sixth Streets, and after in-
spiring them by a liberal use of bad whisky it was
arranged with them to attend the hearing that day and
each swear that they had acted as a band of repeaters
on election day, had voted for me twenty or thirty
times, and were paid by my friends. Among those who
were present and had knowledge of this movement was
Mr. Tittermary, who had given me the information in
relation to the frauds perpetrated, and who had him-
self led repeaters. He knew that these men had been
paid ten dollars a piece, and would be paid ten dollars
more after they had testified. They were in charge
of a man named Douchman, who was a brother of
the "Flying Dutchman," but not entirely of like vag^
rant qualities.

of Pennsylvania 313

Douchman was paid $200 for handling these men
and he was instructed by Tittermary to go with a friend
whom he had chosen to a private room in the Washing-
ton House, where the meeting was held, and to send
for me and tell me exactly what had been done. I was
sent for to go to the room, and there foimd Douchman
and the friend who had brought him. Douchman
stated frankly that he was in for all he could make and
that he had $200 from the other side, but if it paid
quite as well he would rather tiim the thing to an honest
accoimt. I asked him what he would require to have
three of his five witnesses tell the truth. He promptly
informed me that he would have it done any way I
desired for $200. I said to him that if he did as I
directed he would be paid the money, and the friend
present assured him that he could accept my word. I
directed him to pick out three of the men who would
tell the truth and allow the other two to have no knowl-
edge of the transaction, but they were to be placed at
the head of the five and be called out first. The result
was that within half an hour the five witnesses appeared
and the ** Educated Hog" and ** Stuttering Jimmy*'
were first called, and both testified that they did not
live in the district, but that five of them had been em-
ployed— naming all of them — to repeat for me, and
that they had voted from twenty to thirty times and
were liberally paid by some person, they did not know
whom, but it was not myself. I had much difficulty in
getting Mr. Hagert, who had charge of the case that
day, to let the witnesses go, as the situation could not
be explained at the table. He had sent both of
them to prison and felt like destroying their reputa-
tion as witnesses, but I finally, in a quiet way, got him
to imderstand that he must simply let them go and he
reluctantly assented. The third witness called was the
"Flying Dutchrimn/' and when asked whether he had

314 Old Time Notes

voted at the election, he said no; that he didn't live
in the district; that he hadn't voted on that day at all;
that he and four others had that morning been employed
at the Little Brown Jug and been paid ten dollars
apiece to come there and testify that they had repeated
for McClure, but that it was entirely false and he wasn't
going to perjure himself. Briggs supposed that this
was an individual defection and made the mistake of
calling another witness. He answered pecisely as did
the ''Flying Dutchman," and then the whole thing
was accepted all around as a corrupt set-up to sub-
orn perjury, to fasten the semblance of fraud
upon my claim. I promptly paid Mr. Douchman his
$200 and thought he had well earned the money.

The case was practically abandoned by the opposi-
tion after the exposure of the Little Brown Jug wit-
nesses, and soon thereafter Senator Gray gave up his
seat in the senate and did not return to it. The Legis-
lature, learning that we were not to be defeated by
final adjournment on the 24th of March, promptly
rescinded the resolution so that we could have had
increased time, but we did not need it. The result was
that on the 27th of March the majority of the committee
reported to the senate that the return of Henry W.
Gray was false and fraudulent, that I had received a
majority of the votes cast at the election, and I was
sworn in as senator. It is due to Mr. Gray to state that
in all the many and varied frauds proved against his
cause there was no evidence that he had participated
in or had personal knowledge of the corrupt methods
adopted to effect his election, and he volunteered as one
of the last witnesses in the case before the commit-
tee to testify that if frauds had been committed to
accomplish his return as senator he had not advised or
assented to any other than lawful methods to secure
his election.

of Pennsylvania 315

LXXX.

GRAND JURORS PROTECT BALLOT

THIEVES.

Interesting Story of the Failure to Bring to Trial Parties Guilty of Open
and Violent Frauds — District Attorney Mann's Honest Effort to
Convict Two of the Guilty Parties — Two Grand Juries Set Up to
Ignore All Bills — The Prosecution Delayed for One Term Hoping
to Get a Better Jury — The Next Jury Worse Than the Last, and the
Author Forced the Prosecutions, Knowing That the Bills Would be
Ignored — The Testimony Taken before the Magistrate That Had
Been Given to the Grand Jury Presented to the Court — Court
Remands the Bill Back to the Grand Jury— The Bills Held Until the
Last Day and Then Again Ignored — Henry C. Lea Renewed the
Prosecution, and the Next Grand Jury Ignored the Bill and Made
Him Pay the Cost — Struggle in the Senate for a Better Election Law
— The Party Leaders Decided to Have No Discussion in the Senate,
and the Author's Bill Passed Unanimously — How Senator White Was
Brought to Renew the Battle, and How the New Election Law Was
Finally Enacted.

THE Special senatorial election held in the Fourth
Philadelphia district on the 30th of January,
1872, was such an open and sweeping carnival
of fraud, portrayed to the public from day to day by
the leading newspapers of the city, that honest public
opinion was aroused to aggressive action, and on the
day after the election the Citizens' Municipal Reform
Association issued a call, signed by R. Rimdle Smith
as president, and Henry C. Lea as chairman of the
executive committee, for a public meeting to be held
on the evening of February 7 in Horticultural Hall,
to protest against the growing election frauds of the
city and take measures for convicting and punishing
those who had been guilty of ballot pollution at the

3i8 Old Time Notes

public, so that witnesses would be reasonably safe
against being coerced into falsehood. The arrested
parties appeared before the magistrate, and offered to
give bail for appearance at court, obviously to avoid
the evidence against them getting before the public,
but that was resisted, and the magistrate decided that
the case should be heard. The witnesses were present,
and their testimony made out the clearest case of gxiilt
against both. All the details of their acts in perpetrating
the frauds were given, and the testimony was reported in
full and published in the leading newspapers of the cty.

A new term of court began a few weeks later, and on
Saturday before the beginning of the new term. District
Attorney Mann called at my office and informed me
in confidence that it would be utterly useless for him
to send bills of indictment to the grand jury at the
next term, as it was set ujd and would ignore every bill
charging parties with election offenses. He gave me
the name of the man who would be foreman of the
grand jury, one of the prominent business men of the
city, who assumed that Mann was desirous of having
the parties acquitted, and informed him that the grand
jury was absolutely set up to ignore the bills. He
advised that the bills be withheld, and I could not do
less than assent to it.

When another term came around Mann again
informed me that the new grand jury was even worse
than the former one, and that it would be utterly hope-
less to obtain a true bill against any person charged
with election frauds. I am quite sure that District
Attorney Mann acted in entire good faith, and that
he believed prosecutions might be successfully con-
ducted if allowed to rest for tw^o or three terms. I said
to him that there was only one way to meet such a con-
dition, and that was to face it and throttle it, and I
directed him to send the bills to the grand jury.

Of Pennsylvania 319

He was thus relieved of all responsibility by my
positive order and the bills went to the grand jury,
where precisely the same testimony that had been
given before the magistrate was given, and after holding
the bills for a week or ten days, they were returned
ignored. William H. Ruddiman, then a prominent
Republican member of the house, and a man of high
character, was called into the case with the assent of
the Mimicipal Association, and asked to go before the
court, present the testimony in open court that had
been given to the grand jury, and ask the court to
return the bills to the grand jury for reconsideration.
Every material point of testimony was given in open
court, and the court at once ordered the bills to be
returned to the grand jury, with instructions to give
proper consideration to the testimony. The bills
were thus recommitted and were held by the grand jury
imtil the last day of court, when they were again re-
turned ignored.

The active members of the Municipal Association
were aroused to great earnestness of purpose in pros-
ecuting the election frauds by the action of the grand
jury, and Henry C. Lea, who was the leading spirit of
the association, called upon me and said that he him-
self would become the prosecutor if I would furnish
him a case where the testimony was absolutely con-
clusive as to the guilty parties. It was very easy to
furnish such a case, and I took care to select a man for
arrest of as little political importance as possible.
Witnesses were brought before Mr. Lea and his counsel,
whose testimony established the guilt of the accused
parties beyond the possibility of doubt. Mr. Lea
believed that his appearance as personal prosecutor
in the court and chairman of the executive committee
of the Mimicipal Reform Association would compel
the grand jury to pay some respect to the law and the

3ao Old Time Notes

evidence in cases of election frauds. The arrest was
promptly made and witnesses, whose testimony made
a conclusive case against the prisoner, appeared before
the grand jury. The bill was held by the jury until
near the dose of the term of the court, when it was
returned ignored and the prosecutor to pay the costs.
So far from commanding we respect of the grand jury
for the high position Blr. Lea occupied, not only as
one of the foremost citizens of Philaddphia, but as
the representative of the Munidpal Reform Association,
he simply provoked the Machine leaders to the most
arrogant assertion of their authority, and they aimed
directly to humiliate him by requiring him to pay the
costs of tile prosecution in a case where every juior
knew that the accused party was guilty of the crime
charged.

The aroused poptilar feeling against permitting a
continuance of the systematic corruption of the bafiot
in Philadelphia was intensified by the evidence pre-
sented from day to day before the senate committee
in the trial of the McClure-Gray case, and the public
press of the city was practically unanimous in calling
a halt in this blistering shame, and also in demanding
the repeal of the registry law. My contest for senator
was not decided until the last week of the session, too
late to attempt the passage of any reform measures,
but I carefully prepared a new election law during
the summer, uniform throughout the entire State,
containing every reasonable safeguard against corrup-
tion of the ballot. Soon after the session of 1873
opened, I read the bill in place. It was so fair in its
provisions that it was difficult for senators to meet the
question in debate, and the Republican leaders finally
secretly decided that they would make no objection
whatever to the consideration of the bill at any time
I called for it, and would permit its passage in that

Of Pennsylvania 321

body by a unanimous vote. The chief purpose in
refraining from any hostile discussion was to prevent
the exposure of the Philadelphia frauds that would
be inevitable if debate was provoked ; and, as they had
entire confidence that the house would not pass any
election bill, they felt quite safe in permitting it to
pass the senate without opposition.

Copies of the bill had been furnished to the leading
journals of the State, and called out very general and
earnest approval from most of the influential news-
papers. After ample time had been given for the con-
sideration of the measure by senators and for public
criticism I asked the senate to fix a special evening
session for the consideration of the biU, and it was
imanimously adopted. When the special session met
the first section of the bill was read, and I addressed
the senate, simply pointing out the leading features
of the bill and the errors they were intended to correct.
It was proper in thus explaining the bill at the outset
to do it without violent assault upon any, but I hoped
that debate would follow to give me an opportimity
to review the general methods of Philadelphia elec-
tions. I discovered, however, that that was just
what the party leaders did not want, and intended not
to permit. When I had closed the brief address
explanatory of the bill it was read section by section,
and passed imanimously, and it was the intention of
the party leaders to have the rules suspended, pass the
bill finally that night and thus dispose of it.

It was common imder the old Constitution when bills
were passed up to third reading without opposition, for
the speaker to put the question to the senate whether
the rules should be suspended and the bill read a third
time by its title for final passage, and the speaker of
the senate followed the rule, I arose and suggested that
I wished to give further consideration to one or two

3d3 Old Time Notes

features of the bill, and asked that it lie over until that
evening a week, when a special session shoiild be called
for its final consideration, and it was unaninxnisly
agreed to. As a further peace offering a motion came
from one of the party leaders that 10,000 copies of
the bill, with my addr^ in support of it, be printed for
the use of the senate.

It was then obvious that debate on the bill in the
senate was not to be permitted, and I was greatiy
disappointed, as none of the varied corrupt n^thocu
employed in Philadelphia elections had even been
referred to before the senate.

When the senate adjourned I called on Mr. Pedrick,
then connected with the Associated Press, and asked
him to write a despatch for the Associated Press,
stating that Senator McClure's election bill had been
considered at a special session of the senate, and after
an explanatory speech from the senator was passed
to third reading, when it was postponed for Gnal con-
sideration at a special session to be held a week later,
and Senator White, of Indiana, was expected then to
reply to Senator McClure. White was a candidate
for Governor and had great hopes of securing the
machine organization of Philadelphia to bring a solid
delegation for him from the city, and while the sen-
atorial party leaders had generally imderstood the
importance of avoiding debate on the election bill in
the senate, and especially avoiding giving me an oppor-
tunity to portray the appalling frauds practised in
the city, the machine leaders in Philadelphia generally
believed that such a policy was cowardly, and insisted
that the attitude of the party should be openly and
defiantly defended.

When the newspapers of the next morning reached
the senate, all of them containing the notice that
Senator White was to defend the Philadelphia election

Of Pennsylvania 323

system of the party, they at once excited very general
interest, and White was visibly disturbed, as he knew
the policy of his senatorial associates was against
permitting any discussion on the question in the
senate, but the zeal of party leaders outside of the
senate greatly outran their discretion, and they very
heartily congratulated White, assuming that he had
decided to come to the defense of the corrupt political
system of the city. White and I sat in adjoining
seats in the front row of senators, but the subject was
never referred to by either of us, and I had no knowl-
edge of his purpose imtil the special session met on
the evening appointed, when, after the title of the bill
was read. White took the floor in opposition. The
senate was crowded, and the entire Machine delegation
from the house was present to cheer the Indiana
senator in his defense of their election system. White's
speech was able, ingenious and plausible, as he was a
debater of much more than ordinary ability, but he
was specially vulnerable on the issue then at hand,
as he had, in my own presence on more than one occa-
sion, conferred with the potent political leaders of
Philadelphia on the subject of revising the registry law
and earnestly advised it because the act coiold not
be justified.

His speech naturally called out the facts that he
had knowledge, and publicly confessed knowledge,
of the infamous features of the registry law, and had
advised the revision of the law to eliminate some of
its most objectionable features. White had thus
opened wide the door for me to arraign the election
system of Philadelphia, and present all its sickening
infamies, and it was done with all the earnestness
and ardor I could command. White left the hall of
the senate before I closed, and when I sat down there
was dead silence in the hall, as the expectation was

3^4 Old Time Notes

general that White or some other senator would reply,
but as none claimed the floor the speaker put the
question on the final passage of the bill and it passed
without dissent.

The party leaders felt no special concern about the
passage of the bill in the senate, as they had absolute
confidence that it would never reach even a respectable
hearing in the house; but conditions arose which
finally enabled me to command enough Republican
votes in the house to pass the measure, and very laigely
through the men who were cotmted on as most certain
to oppose it. In point of fact, the bill was passed in
the house largely by the votes of men who owed their
election entirely to the frauds made possible by the
registry law. Under the old Constitution there was
little or no restraint upon private legislation, and nine-
tenths of all the bills passed were merely local measures.
Philadelphia had rather a unique Machine delegation
in the house, in which were Handy Smith, Bob Titter-
mary, Jack McCullough, Ad Albright, Joe Ashe, Sam
Daniels and others of like devotion to the theory of
carrying elections by machinery. The Philadelphia
representatives did not, as a rule, serve in the Legis-
lature for the benefit of their health, and every member
from the city who was of a speculative turn of mind
brought with him a number of local bills, opening or
vacating streets, changing grades, enlarging or other-
wise amending local charters, etc., all of which were
of individual interest to business men, who had learned
that the only way to get their bills passed was to make
a lump cash contract with their representatives, and
generally they did not then have to give any further
attention to the matter. The rates for the passage
of such bills ranged from $500 up to five times that
amount.

Strang was speaker of the senate, and, much to the

of Pennsylvania 325

disappointment of the party leaders, made me chair-
man of mimicipal affairs, with a committee of my own
selection. A host of these private bills relating to
Philadelphia had been passed by the members of the
house interested in them, and when they reached the
senate they were referred to my committee, where I
held them all imtil near the close of the session, expect-
ing that they might become an important factor in
some wholesome legislation. I knew all of the mem-
bers well, and they did not conceal from me the pecu-
niary interest they had in the passage of their bills.
Most of them were entirely harmless and should have
passed entirely on their merits. I was often and earn-
estly importimed by the representatives interested in
them to report them for passage, and I answered that
all woiold be reported in time for consideration before
the close of the session.

There were a number of manly Republicans in the
house who believed that the new election law should
be accepted, and were ready to give it their support if
its passage could be assured, and I finally ascertained
that with the aid of the Philadelphia members inter-
ested in the speculative bills the new election bill could
be carried through the house, and I saw the opporttmity
for utilizing those who had large pecimiary interests
in local Philadelphia bills. I summoned several of
them to a private conference and informed them that
all of their bills woiold be reported and promptly passed
if they complied with two conditions, both of which
were entirely just. First, they must pass the new
election law, and, second, they must vote to John A.
Faimce full salary as a member of the house, as he
had been elected and had been fraudulently ejected in
a contest by one who was very largely interested in
these local bills. This proposition was given to them
^ an loltimattmi, and they had to choose between

3«6 OW Time Notes

compliance and losing thfir scores of specvilative meas* ]
ures. They readily agreed ui vote the salary to Mr.
Faunce, but the i<ka of voting for the reform election ,
biH was appalling. I was resolute, however, and they ,
finally agreed to the tenns projx^scd. The result was
the passage of the new election law in disregard of J
the orders of leaders, and Mr. Faunce was voted his j
salary. When they had fulfilled every part of the ooo-
tract the municipal committee reported and prom^ty
passed the entire list of speculative private tarn. Wtttt
very few exceptions the local bills referred to were
tmobjectionable, and in no instance was one of fhon
specially offensive or unjust. Such is the story of the
battle for the overthrow of the r^fistry law of Pb3a-
delphia, the most infamous election system ever adopbed
in any of the States of the Union.

of Pennsylvania 327

LXXXI.
THE GRANT-GREELEY CONTEST.

Grant's Special Efforts to Harmonize the Curtin Elements in Pennsyl-
vania— The Author Twice Urged to Visit Grant with a View of Har-
monizing the Party on a New Cabinet Appointment — Organization
of the Liberal Republican Movement in the State — The Author
Chairman of the State Committee, and of the Delegation to the Cin-
cinnati Convention — Greeley's Visit to Philadelphia to Secure the
Support of the Delegation for President — Final Agreement on Davis
for President with Greeley for Vice-President — ^The Brief Greeley Tidal
Wave — Business Interests Aroused and Suddenly Halted It — The
Sad End of the Life of the Great Philanthropist.

THE year 1872 narrowly escaped being one of
the distinct revolutionary periods in the politi-
cal annals of the Republic, and had the revolu-
tion succeeded, the political history of the cotintry
woiold have been radically changed, and the Repub-
lican mastery of the Nation either overthrown or so
seriously broken as to place it in the attitude of an
opposition party. Grant's first administration was a
serious failure; a failure in nearly every important
feature of the governmental authority. Grant was
slow to learn that military and civil authority were two
very distinct prerogatives, and he made no effort to
popiolarize himself, or to reconcile the opposing ele-
ments imtil he saw the threatened tempest as the
serious agitation for the succession to the Presidency
was generally discussed after the elections of 187 1.
When Congress assembled in December, 187 1, the
opposition to Grant became aggressive, and embraced
in its leadership a nximber of the ablest of the Republi-

3a8 Old Time Notes

can Senators, including Stunner, of Massachusetts;
Trumbull, of Illinios; Fenton, of New York; Schurz,
of Missouri, and others, and for the first time Grant
seemed to realize that he might have a serious contest
for re-election.

It is due to President Grant to say that he made
several efforts to harmonize politiccd conditions in
Pennsylvania by movements that were not known to
the public. Governor Curtin, then Minister to Russia,
had given notice of his piupose to retire and return to
his home in Pennsylvania, and when he was on his
ioumey homeward he was met in Paris by a man of
Nationial prominence, who stated to Curtin that he was
distinctly authorized to offer him his choice of either
the French or English missions if he would remain in
the diplomatic service. Curtin declined the offer,
stating that his business interests required him to
return to his home. When he arrived in London, after
spending some time in Paris, he was met there by
another very prominent official of our government,
and earnestly urged to accept the English mission.
The assurance was given that President Grant had
directly authorized the proposition to be made to
Curtin. He coiold only repeat his declination, as long
before he left Russia he had definitely decided to retimi
home and to make exhaustive effort to oppose the
renomination or re-election of Grant.

Some time in the late fall of 187 1 Mr. Borie, of
Philadelphia, who had been Secretaiy of the Navy
under Grant, called at my office, and, learning that I
was at Colonel Forney's ** Press" office, he came there,
and, after the usual salutations, he said that he was
glad to find Colonel Forney present, as what he had to
say was a matter that could be discussed very freely
in his presence. He said that he was directed by the
President to tender me the office of United States Dis-

Of Pennsylvania 329

trict Attorney, and earnestly tu^ed my acceptance of
it. Independent of all political considerations, I could
not have accepted the office, as it would have lessened
rather than increased my professional income at that
time, and greatly increased my labors. Colonel Forney
heard the proposition, and made no suggestion imtil
after I had given my reply. I stated that my accept-
ance of the office would be very imfair to District
Attorney McMichael, who then held the position and
discharged the duties with credit, and that it could be
regarded in no other light than as an effort to bring
into the support of Grant the Curtin elements of the
party, which had been relentlessly ostracised for three
years. I informed Mr. Borie that my appointment
would not in any measure harmonize the party; that
there coiold be no party harmony imtil there shoiold be
actual, open and positive change in the prospective
policy of the administration, and the distinct recogni-
tion of the Republicans of the State on their merits,
regardless of factional interests. Mr. Borie insisted
that such was the purpose of the administration,
but I reminded him that it woiold be utterly im-
possible for any such policy to be inaugurated when
Cameron was in the Senate and held in his hands
the confirmation of Pennsylvania appointments. Mr.
Borie was a novice in politics, kind and generous in
disposition, and was very desirous to have the party
harmonized in support of Grant's re-election. Forney
entirely agreed with me that tmder no circimistances
could I accept the office proposed, without an openly
proclaimed change of policy by which the proscription
of Curtin 's friends should be ended, and in that event
there would be no necessity to tender me any public
position.

A few weeks thereafter it became known that a
change was about to be made in the cabinet by the

330 Old Time Notes

retirement of Attorney General Ackerman, who was
succeeded by Mr. Williams, cf Oregon, on the loth of
January, 1872, and a prominent administration official,
residing in Washington, called on me and informed me
that the President desired to confer with me in relation
to the political situation in Pennsylvania, and especially
in reference to the appointment of a new cabinet officer.
I asked him whether the President had sent him
specially to inform me that the President desired me
to visit him in Washington, as a personal request from
the President would be accepted by any citizen as a
command.

He answered frankly that he could not say that he
had been sent to deliver that message to me from the
President, but that the President had expressed a
desire to have a conference, and upon that he had acted
upon his own responsibility. I answered that I could
not visit the President on such a mission without his
personal request. I had not been in the White House
during the entire period of his administration and could
not hope to make such a visit without attracting some
attention from the newspaper men, with whom I was
very intimately associated. If I made such a visit, and
thereafter did not support the President, it would be
naturally assumed that I had obtruded myself upon him
to ask political conditions that he could not accept, and
I would be classed as opposing him because I could not
obtain what was desired.

Ten days later I was in New York engaged on some
business, where I was detained two or three days, and
received a despatch from Senatc^r Wilson, of Massa-
chusetts, stating that he had called at my office and
would proceed to New York and dine with me at the
Hoffman House that evening, as he had important
matters to present. I had known Wilson intimately
for many years, and, like all who knew him, had great

Of Pennsylvania 331

affection for him and confidence in all that he did and
said. He told me frankly that he had no message
from the President for me, but that he had left the
President the evening before and had discussed the
political situation very freely, presenting the perils
which confronted Grant in his contest for re-election.
He suggested to Grant that with Grant's permission he
would call upon me and bring me to Washington to
confer on the subject of a cabinet appointment that
should be given to Pennsylvania, satisfactory to the
friends of Curtin. Wilson was very earnest in urging
me to accompany him to Washington the following
day, but when I fully explained the peculiar conditions
existing in Pennsylvania and how the appointment of
a Curtin cabinet officer would only multiply embar-
rassments and lead to enlarged estrangements, he
admitted that he could not complain of my refusal to
accompany him to Washington.

I reminded him that with a Curtin man in the cabinet
from Pennsylvania there would be direct conflict be-
tween the cabinet officers and Senator Cameron on
every important appointment relating to the State,
and as Cameron could not be displaced as Senator,
while a cabinet officer could be displaced at any time,
the result must inevitably be that the Curtin cabinet
officer must bow to the continued ostracism and pro-
scription of his friends or cause a new factional erup-
tion that must result in his dismissal. These facts are
mentioned to show that Grant was not indifferent to
the terrible mutterings which arose against him at the
close of the year 187 1, but he was without political tact
and evidently had few advisers possessed of that qual-
ity. So far as Curtin and myself were concerned he
certainly meant to make a generous tender of recogni-
tion, but he was forgetful of the fact that neither Curtin
nor myself was seeking positions of any kind, and that

332 Old Time Notes

it was the vindictive policy of factional proscription
that forced us into the ranks of opposition to the admin-
istration. Grant evidently believed that I was unrea-
sonably obstinate and that doubtless led to his vindic-
tive hostility to my election to the senate on the 30th
of January, 1872, and to my admission to that body
after I had been coimted out.

At the time of the occurrence before referred to, the
idea of a Liberal Republican organization had not been
seriously considered, and the Republicans opposed to
Grant's renomination were entirely without definite
purpose beyond their desire to make an effort to defeat
his renomination. A peculiar issue had arisen in Mis-
souri, where sectional passion precipitated murder
between neighbors throughout the State, resulting in
most sweeping disfranchisement of every citizen who
had directly or indirectly aided rebellion. It was so
monstrously unjust that it produced a reaction, and a
Liberal movement was made to revise the Constitution
and won an easy victory, in which Carl Schurz was a
prominent leader. The Liberals of Missouri were not
in sympathy with the administration of Grant, and
early in January, 1872, a number of the leaders of that
element met in Jefferson City and startled the countr}'-
by calling a National convention of Liberal Republicans
to meet at Cincinnati on the first of May to nominate
candidates for President and Vice-President. It was
generally regarded at first as a mere political flash in
the pan, but it speedily crystallized a number of the
ablest Republican leaders of the country in an effort
to make it a great representative body and thus assure
the defeat of Grant, believing that the action of the
Liberals would be supported by the Democrats.

I had given little attention to this movement until
Mr. Greeley visited me and earnestly urged an imme-
diate Liberal organization in the State, with a view to

Of Pennsylvania 333

sending a delegation to Cincinnati. He was not then
prominently discussed as a Presidential candidate, nor
did he intimate that he desired or expected to be a
candidate. I had known Greeley well for many years,
cherished the warmest personal affection for him and
was in entire sympathy with him in his opposition to
Grant's re-election. I agreed to confer with a ntimber
of men in the State and see what response they woiold
make, and I was utterly surprised to find how serious
was the defection against Grant among many of the
ablest and most influential of the Republican leaders.
From the response that I received from such men as
ex-Congressman Galusha A. Grow, J. K. Moorehead,
Henry L. Cake, David Barclay and William Stewart,
with ex-Senators Mason, of Bradford; Benson, of
Potter; Lowrey, of Erie, and active campaigners like
Thomas M. Marshall, of Allegheny; WiUiam H. Ruddi-
man, of Philadelphia; M. C. Boyer, of Montgomery,
and many others, it was evident that the Pennsylvania
Republicans were ready for revolutionary action, and
a conference of a ntmiber of leaders was convened in
Philadelphia at an early day, a State committee organ-
ized and a delegation selected to attend the Cincinnati
convention, of which I was made chairman.

The State committee was made up of the most active
and influential old-time Republicans in every coimty
in the State, and the delegation to Cincinnati would
have compared favorably with any Republican dele-
gation in the regular National convention. As chair-
man of the Liberal State committee I opened up cor-
respondence with prominent Republicans generally
throughout the State, and the answers clearly proved
the general imrest and distrust throughout the ranks
of the party and the readiness for revolutionary action
if there was hope that it coiold be successfully accom-
plished. At the close of that campaign I destroyed

334 Old Time Notes

the letters by hundreds and hundreds of Republicans
in the State of local prominence, and many oE them
even of State distinction, who expressed their entire
sympathy with the Liberal movement and their pur-
pose to fall in with the procession as the campaign pro-
gressed.

Greeley soon became prominently discussed as a can-
didate for President, along with David Davis, B. Grats
Brown, Charles Francis Adams and others, but with all
my affection for Greeley I could not entertain the ques-
tion of crucif3dng him by making him a Presidential
candidate to face inevitable defeat. Some three weeks
before the meeting of the Cincinnati conventioni
Greeley nnade an appointment to meet me at the
Colonnade Hotel in Philadelphia, and he there frankly
told me that he believed he could be nominated for
President and appealed to me to give him the support
of the Pennsylvania delegation as far as might be in
my power. It was a painful interview, for there was
no man living whom to serve would have given me
greater pleasure, but I frankly told him that a Liberal
Republican nomination would be valueless without
the support of the Democrats, and as he had been their
most stinging critic for thirty years, he could not hope
to command their support. I reminded him that
there was but one who was in a position to command
the support of the Democratic party in its entirety,
and also to command the support of the Republicans
who desired to end the reign of Grant, and that was
David Davis. Greeley was greatly disappointed and
deeply grieved, but he knew that I was sincere, and he
felt that my judgment was entitled to respect. He
finally said, "Well, if the Democrats won't take me
head foremost, perhaps they will take me boots fore-
most," meaning that he might be nominated for Vice-
President with Davis. I told him that could be done,

of Pennsylvania 335

and he left me apparently reconciled to the nonmiation
of Davis for the Presidency and himself for the Vice-
Presidency.

Soon after I met United States Senator Fenton, who
was the leader of the Greeley delegation in the Cincin-
nati convention, and foimd that he and Greeley had
conferred on the subject, and that he was heartily in
favor of Davis and Greeley. The Pennsylvania dele-
gation was made up of about one-third of the radical
element of the party that did not want Davis, because
of his conservatism, but two-thirds of them promptly
and heartily agreed to the support of Davis and Greeley.
A conference was held in Cincinnati the night before
the convention met, at which many of the leaders of
the convention attended, and plans were perfected, as
we supposed, for the nomination of Davis and Greeley
on the following day. Believing that everything was
arranged, we tarried over a late supper, and while we
were thus enjoying ourselves, Frank Blair, of Missouri,
whose candidate for the Presidency was Gratz Brown,
seeing that the combination left Brown entirely out,
proposed to make a combination with Greeley for Presi-
dent and Brown for Vice-President, and on the follow-
ing morning it was discovered that the friends of
Greeley, who were a very important element of the
Davis strength, were forced out of our line and com-
pelled to faU back to the support of Greeley for Presi-
dent. Senator Fenton earnestly protested against it
as a wrong to Greeley, but without avail.

The conservative forces were somewhat divided
between David Davis and Charles Francis Adams, and
as the defection of the Greeley men had left the Davis
forces much smaller than the Adams forces, we dropped
Davis as a hopeless candidate and joined in the support
of Adams. Two-thirds of the Pennsylvania delega-
tion voted for Adams after the first ballot, when they

336 Old Time Notes

voted for Curtin. On the sixth ballot Greeley lacked
only a few votes of the nomination, and changes were
promptly made in several of the delegations to give
him the requisite ballot. Not until he had received
a majority of the votes did I propose to our delegation
to change the vote of the State, and it was then changed
and the vote cast for Greeley. I regarded it as a prac^
tical surrender of the battle, as I did not believe it
possible that the Democrats could be brought to the
support of Greeley, but their condition was one of utter
hopelessness, and I was surprised to find before mid-
night that a number of the Democratic leaders there
sent out instructions to their States to hold themselves
in readiness to accept the Liberal Republican ticket,
and, as is well known, the Democratic National con-
vention gave a practically imanimous vote to Greeley
and Brown as their candidates.

At that time, when Greeley had apparently the
united support of the Democrats and was enthusiastic-
ally supported by most of the Liberals, the re-election
of Grant seemed to be absolutely impossible. From
that time until midsummer it seemed to be simply a
tidal wave North and South for Greeley, and his elec-
tion was generally accepted by his supporters and by
ver}^ many of his opponents as absolutely assured, but
when the revulsion came it was overwhelming in its
power, and from causes which were entirely reasonable.
The countr}^ was then in a state of fearful inflation,
extravagance j^revailed in all classes and conditions,
sjjcculation ran riot, and all thinking men knew that
liquidation must come sooner or later, and soon at the
latest, with fearful disaster in its trail. The question
of resumption of specie payments was agitated by those
who regarded sound credit as more important than
inflated prosperity, and Greeley's only utterance on
the financial question was that '* the way to resume is

Of Pennsylvania 337

to resume,*' clearly indicating that he thought the mat-
ter of resuming specie payments was a mere question
of directing it to be done.

Business interests of the cotmtry were awakened to
the peril that confronted them, and when the revulsion
started in business circles it was the swiftest and most
far-reaching of any revulsion I have ever seen in polit-
ical contests. Prominent business Democrats of Phila-
delphia came to the Republican headquarters and vol-
imtarily paid Uberal subscriptions to secure the election
of Grant. They knew that disaster must come, but
they hoped by the election of Grant to postpone it for
another four years, and while the Democratic leaders
as a rule supported Greeley with great fidelity the rank
and file remembered him only as the man who poured
out his keenest invective against them for thirty years,
and they stubbornly refused to support the ticket.
More than enough Republicans voted for the Greeley
State ticket in Pennsylvania to elect it by a large
majority if the Democrats had given it cordial sup-
port, but in nearly or quite every coimty of the State
the combined Democratic and Liberal Republican vote
was less than the full Democratic vote. They would
very heartily have supported Davis and Greeley with
him for second on the ticket ; and, viewing that contest
from the most dispassionate standpoint, I do not doubt
that had Davis been nominated he would have been
elected by a very large majority, with the probability
that the new party would have maintained its power for
many years. Davis would have greatly tempered the
passions of the Reconstruction period, wotdd have
commanded the absolute confidence of the entire
business and industrial interests of the cotmtry, and
sectional strife would have practically perished by the
dose of his administration.

Although I regarded the contest as an utterly hope-

■22

338 Old Time Notes

less one at the biginning after Greeley's nomination, I
felt that I covdd not do less than accept the chairman-
ship of the State committee and devote my entire time
and eneigy to the contest. My affection for Greeley
made that a necessity, and after his nomination by the
Democrats, when his election seemed more than prob*
able, I shared the anxiety of Greeley's closest friends
as to what mi^ht be the restilt of his administmtion as
I^:esident. About that time I was summoned to a
confidential cotmcil in New York, at which Whitelaw
Reid, Waldo Hutchins, General Cochrane and a number
of others were present, to consider the question of hav-
ing Greeley forewarned against committing himself on
the question of his cabinet, as all seemed to agree that in
the event of his election the safety of his administration
would depend upon having an able and conservative
body of constitutional advisers. They chaiged n:ie with
the duty of conferring with him on the subject, and I
was directed to find lum at his private headquarters in
Brookl3m, where he was not accessible to the public.
His finely chiseled, benevolent face brightened as he
spoke of his assured election, and when I ventured to
suggest to him that if called to the Presidency with such
a combination of political supporters the choice of his
cabinet would be a very grave duty, and that he should
avoid all complications on the subject, he assumed that
I was desiring to forestall him in the interests of Penn-
sylvania, and he promptly replied that of course no one
would be appointed to the cabinet from Pennsylvania
without my approval. He was surprised when I told
him that tiiat was just what I did not want; that it
was most important that he should not be in any way
committed to any one on the subject of the cabinet, as
the success of his administration would depend upon
it, and that such a cabinet as he would need could be
determined upon only aft^^ his election. He assented

Of Pennsylvania 339

to the proposition and gave the assurance that he
would be entirely free to advise with his most trusted
friends if elected President, and make up the cabinet
of the best men the existing conditions presented. He
asked me to go to North Carolina and spend a week
there, which I did, and when I left him I shook him by
the hand for the last time, as we never met again. I
had much correspondence with him, and after his
defeat, that was made doubly distressing by the death
of his wife, I wrote him expressing the sincerest sym-
pathy, and had in reply a letter written the last day he
ever held a pen in his hand. The full text of the letter
was as follows: "I am a man of many sorrows, and
doubtless have deserved them, but I beg to say that I
do not foi^et the gallant though luckless struggle you
made in my behalf. I am not well." His physical
power was hopelessly broken, and soon thereafter it
was foimd that his sorrows had imsettled his reason,
and in a few days, in an asylum for the insane, Horace
Greeley, one of the noblest and best of American phil-
anthropists, passed to his final accoimt

340 Old Time Notes

LXXXII.
DEMOCRATS NOMINATE CURTIN.

Peculiar Political Complications in the Contest of 1872 — ^The Evans
Scandal — Some $300,000 Awarded a Clerk for Collecting Govern-
ment Claims — Investigation Moved in the Senate — How It Ended —
Hartranft and Buckalew Nominated for Governor by Their Respec-
tive Parties — Curtin Nominated by the Liberal Republicans for
the Constitutional Convention — Governor Bigler Retired from
Democratic Ticket, and Curtin Taken in His Place — State Contest
Unusually Desperate — Leaders Wotild Have Withdrawn Hartranft
But for the Younger Cameron — Geary Forced to Grant Pardon to
Yerkes and Marcer — Attempt of the Roosters to Make Cameron
Pay for His Re-election — How the Governor's Salary Was Increased
from $5,000 to $10,000.

THERE were many and iinusually strange com-
plications in Pennsylvania politics in 1872. Be-
fore the Republican State convention met to
nominate candidates for Governor, Auditor General,
three candidates for Congressmen-at-Large and twelve
candidates for delcgates-at-large to the constitutional
convention, Curtin and many of his followers had
already cast their lot with the Liberal Republicans,
and were therefore unseen and unfelt in the Republican
organization of the State. General Hartranft, w^ho
would have been the Curtin candidate for Governor in
1866, had he not been forced to accept the nomination
for auditor general in 1865 to defeat Cameron's attempt
to control the convention and organization of that year,
had served continuously in the office of auditor general,
having been re-elected in 1868. In the meantime
Robert W. Mackey had been several years in the office
of State treasurer, and his exceptional ability as a

Of Pennsylvania 341

political leader made him altogether the master organ-
izer and general director of the Cameron forces of the
State, and they had undisputed possession of the party
organization.

Hartranf t had served as auditor general with Mackey
in the State treasury, and he would have gradually
drifted away from the party element that originally
supported him even if Curtin had remained within the
party breastworks. A serious scandal was developed
a short time before the campaign of 1872 opened be-
cause of the payment to an entirely obscure man and
without influence the sum of $300,000, ostensibly for
services as State agent to collect some unsettled military
claims against the National government. In point of
fact there was no difficulty whatever about the collec-
tion of the money. The claims had been distinctly
defined by Governor Curtin and State Treasurer Henry
D Moore, and the collection of the money was not in
any degree doubtful, but by a combination of promi-
nent State officials a bill was passed by the Legislature
authorizing the payment of a large percentage to the
State agent for the collection of military claims against
the general government. Evans was appointed, se-
cured the money without any difficulty, and the account-
ing officers of the State apparently paid him $300,000
for his services. It developed a terrible scandal in the
State and involved Governor Hartranft, among other
officials, but notwithstanding the efforts made in the
courts and in the Legislature to get at the close com-
bination that had been made to plunder the treasury,
the movement was defeated in every instance by the
combined power of the State authorities.

It was well known that Evans had not received more
than a mere moiety of the percentage paid, as he con-
tinued to live obscurely and frugally and died prac-
tically without estate. Dxiring the campaign of 1872,

342 Old Time Notes

when I was chairman of the Liberal State comniittee,
and employed the best detective force to get into the
inner citadel of the State frauds, I obtained positive
and indisputable information where $52,000 of the
Evans' $300,000 had been received by a prominent
man, where he had invested it and how the securities
were then held. When the senate met in 1873, we
had a judiciary committee, composed of senators of
the highest character and legal attainments, and I
moved that the committee be instructed to investigate
the payment of $300,000 to Agent Evans, with power
to send for persons and papers and to report by bill or
otherwise. The motion was unanimously adopted,
and the committee met immediately upon the adjotim-
ment of the senate. The information was furnished
to the committee in detail, and it was decided that the
following week subpoenas should be issued for the
witnesses who were ready to prove where part of the
Evans money had gone. It was decided also by the
committee that none shc^uld be advised of its meeting
to hear the witnesses exce])ting the witneSvSes them-
selves and a sini^de officer of the senate. The senate
adjourned on Friday until the following Monday, and
on Saturday morning the ])erson against whom the
investigation was specially directed vSuddenly dropped
dead in his own home. No sul)i)Ocnas were issued,
and when the committee met the next week, according
to appointment, it was decided that no investigation
should be made unless positive information could be
had affecting other parties. The result was that the
committee never met again and made no report what-
ever to the senate. Most of the senators understood
the situation, and the scandal was dropped by general
consent.

Hartranft was nominated for Governor by what was
then the Cameron organization of the State under the

Of Pennsylvania 343

immediate management of Mackey, the most brilliant
State leader any party ever produced in Pennsylvania.
Hartranft had won great distinction as a volunteer
officer during the war, and he was in fact the ideal
volunteer soldier of the State. He was an officer in
the Fourth Pennsylvania regiment at Manassas just
before the opening of the first battle of Bull Run, when
the term of the regiment expired. Instead of remain-
ing and joining their brethren in battle, as Hartranft
earnestly urged them to do, the Fourth regiment,
as stated by General McDowell in his official report of
the action, marched away from the field " to the music
of the enemy *s cannon." Hartranft at once severed
his relations with his regiment, volunteered as a staff
officer, served through the action, and was soon again
in the field as colonel of a new regiment. He made
no effort to exploit himself as a soldier through the
newspapers, but in his quiet, imassuming way most
faithfully performed every military duty, and finally
won special distinction by his recapture of Fort Stead-
man, one of the advance defenses of Grant's line near
Petersburg, that had been captured in a gallant dash
made by General Gordon.

Hartranft was ordered with his command to recon-
noiter and ascertain the situation, but was not ordered
to attempt to carry the fort by assault. His men had
great confidence in him as a commander, and when
they moved near enough to recoimoiter the position
Hartranft simply did not halt his soldiers, and by a
sudden inspiration they rushed in upon Steadman and
regained it. Hartranft 's modesty forbade his claiming
any special credit for the victory that really made
him famous, but it was his soldierly training of the com-
mand that made the recaptvtre of Fort Steadman
possible even without specific orders. He thus stood
before the people of Pennsylvania as confessedly the

344 Old Time Notes

foremost of our many gallant voltmteer officers in the
State, and his high character and modest personal
qualities made him a favorite with all who knew him.
He was the logical candidate of the party for Governor,
and he was nominated practically without a contest,
with Senator Harrison Allen, of Warren, for auditor
general, and Lemuel Todd, Charles Albright and Glenni
W. Scofield for Congressmen-at-Large, and twelve candi-
dates for delegates-at-large to the constitutional con-
vention, the head of whom was William M. Meredith,
of Philadelphia.

The Democrats appreciated the necessity of placing
themselves in the strongest possible position before the
people of Pennsylvania, believing that by the com-
bination with the Liberals they could win. They
nominated ex-Senator Charles R. Buckalew for Gov-
ernor, who was confessedly the ablest of the Dem-
ocratic champions in the State. Wallace was then in
the State senate, and training for United States Sen-
ator that he attained two years later. There was no
factional opposition made by Wallace or any of his
followers against Buckalew 's nomination, and he was
presented to the i)eople by the united Democratic
organization of the State. William Hartley was nomi-
nated for auditor general and James H. Hopkins,
Richard Vaux and Hendrick B. Wright were chosen
as candidates for Congressmen-at-Large, with twelve
delegates-at-large to the constitutional convention
headed by ex-Governor Bigler. Cameron was United
States Senator, and his re-election depended upon
carrying a Republican Legislature at the fall election.

The Liberal Republicans did not hold a State con-
vention, but some time after Governor Curtin's return
from Russia the Liberal State committee nominated
him as delegate-at-large to the constitutional conven-
tion, he being the only distinctive Liberal Republican

Of Pennsylvania 345

presented for a State office. The nomination was made
after a full conference and understanding with the
Democratic leaders. Mr. Randall, as chairman of
the Democratic State committee, and I, as chairman
of the Liberal Republican State committee, had
repeated conferences on the subject, and after it had
been ftdly considered by the Democratic leaders they
decided that if the Liberals nominated Curtin as
delegate-at-large they would withdraw one of their
twelve candidates and accept Curtin in his place,
whereby Curtin 's election wotild be absolutely assured,
as each voter voted for twelve delegates-at-large to
the constitutional convention, and the twenty-four
receiving the highest votes were elected. Governor
Bigler, who was at the head of the Democratic ticket,
had taken very active part in bringing about the nomi-
nation of Curtin, assuming that there would be no
difficulty in making a vacancy in the list of Democratic
nominations. After Curtin 's nomination had been
made by the Liberals, however, Bigler found that all
of his associates were very reluctant to retire, although
a number of them were willing to do so under orders,
and Bigler promptly solved the problem by sending
his own declination to the Democratic committee, and
Curtin was unanimously nominated in his stead.

With Curtin on the Democratic ticket, and the Dem-
ocrats supporting the Liberal candidates for President
and Vice-President, it was only reasonable for the
Liberals of Pennsylvania to accept the Democratic
candidates for all the other State offices and the Dem-
ocratic electoral ticket. The two lines of battle were
thus distinctly drawn; the Democrats and Liberals
on one side, and the Republican organization, imder the
immediate command of Cameron, on the other side.
Both Democrats and Liberals were generally embittered
against Cameron, and believing, as they did in the early

346 Old Time Notes

part of the campaign, that they were going to win
alike in State and Nation by a laige majority, they
pressed the fight most aggressively, and Cameron was
severely arraigned from the stump before the people of
the State, whSe Hartranft's allied complications with
the Evans swindle and with Yerkes, who was then in
prison along with ex-Treasurer Marcer for the misuse
of city ftmds, brought down upon him a floodtide of
merciless criticism. So fierce were the assaults upon
Hartranft, Cameron and the party organization that
Mackey and Cameron finallv yielded and called a
private conference of a number of the leading party
men of the State to decide upon withdrawing Hart-
ranft from the ticket. I speak advisedly when I say
that Hartranft 's name would have been withdrawn
from the ticket but for the heroic and defiant attitude
assumed at that meeting by J. Donald Cameron, who
had then become quite prominent as a leader, but rarely
participated in party management except when grave
emergencies arose. He peremptorily declared that
the party could save itself only by assuming the aggres-
sive and standing by its State ticket. While a nMijority
of those in the conference were not really convinced
as to the wisdom of the younger Cameron's policy,
the divided judgment of the counselors made all obey,
and from that time Cameron was abreast with Mackey
and conducted one of the most aggressive campaigns
ever made in the history of the State.

Governor Geary was forced to pardon Yerkes and
Marcer some time before the election, in return for
which they furnished statements which relieved Hart-
ranft from any guilty complication with or T^athout
personal profit in the Evans swindle, and they were
only just in doing so. The pardon reached Philadel-
phia about noon, and the chairman of the State com-
mittee immediately repaired to Cherry Hill, delivered

of Pennsylvania 347

the pardon and brought Yerkes and Marcer back to
their freedom. In the meantime the business interests
of the country had become profoundly disturbed over
the possible election of Greeley, whose financial policy
was unknown, and who was regarded as impetuous
and visionary without the well-balanced quaUties of
statesmanship. Never was a struggle fought more
desperately before the people of the State, and the
Republicans of Philadelphia, imder the registry law,
exhausted their power to increase the party majority
by frauds in which they had the ripest experience.
"Nick" English, the leader of the ''lightning cal-
culators, ' ' presided at the meeting of the return judges,
when it was known that Hartranft was elected by 35,000
majority. He knew also that many bets had been
made that Hartranft would carry Philadelphia by
20,000, and he lacked several thousand of that ntmi-
ber, but English solved the problem by simply manip-
ulating the figures, and officially certifying a majority
for Hartranft in the city of over 20,000. The disas-
trous defeat of Greeley left both Democrats and Liberals
without heart or hope, and they made no attempt to
bring to justice those who had been guilty of the most
flagrant frauds.

With the Democratic-Liberal combination defeated
by nearly 40,000 at the October election, there was
simply a landsUde for Grant in November, when he
carried the State over Greeley by nearly 1 50,000. Cam-
eron had not only a large Republican majority in the
Legislature, but for the first time he had almost the
solid support of the Republican senators and repre-
sentatives, and his re-election to the Senate was accepted
as absolutely assured.

Such a campaign naturally brought into the Legis-
lature an unusually large commercial element, and
especially from the city of Philadelphia and the mining

348 Old Time Notes

regions. Cameron regarded his election as absolutely
certain, and he congratulated himself that he would
be able, for the first time, to command the nomina-
tion of his party without a struggle, and secure his
election by the voluntary votes of the legislators. He
was devoted to thrift, and never expended money in
politics imless the necessity was imperious. When
the commercial men of the Legislature began to look
over the field they saw that there was nothing for them
in the Senatorial fight, and after a number of con-
ferences they decided to appeal to the ambition of
some man of large wealth by assuring him of the sup-
port of the majority of the Philadelphia delegation.
After the movement had been thoroughly matiu^ed
the proposition was made to the elder Charlemagne
Tower, a man of large wealth, residing in the anthra-
cite region, and who was not without political ambition,
but was altogether too shrewd to be robbed in a hope-
less contest. He never gave his consent to the propo-
sition, but apparently held it under advisement, and
Cameron became very much alarmed at the new peril
that confronted him. He believed that the Democrats
and the few Liberals in the Legislature would gladly
join in any combination to defeat his re-election, and
with the majority of the Philadelphia delegation ready
to deal for revolutionary action against Cameron he
saw that he might become involved in a very severe
contest. He well understood what the Philadelphia
movement meant; that it was inspired solely by the
hope that he would give a large amoimt of money to
have them abandon it and fall back into the regular
ranks, but while he could not afford to lose the Senator-
ship, he was quite unwilling to win it at a high cost if
it could be avoided.

I had been active in the fight and had made Cam-
eronism the issue from the beginning to the close of

Of Pennsylvania 349

the campaign, but my personal relations with Cam-
eron in all our many bitter conflicts had never been
strained, and I was not greatly surprised when I called
at the office of Colonel Thomas A. Scott in response
to a smnmons from him to find Cameron there with him,
and to learn that I had been sent for to confer with
Cameron and Scott on the Senatorial question. Cam-
eron presented the question with entire frankness;
said that he had won the Legislature and his election
in an open fight; that he was entitled to it without
being forced to lavish money on legislators elected in
his interest, and that I had been sent for to inquire
whether I intended to join the Philadelphia black-
mailers in a combination to defeat him for Senator. I
told him that I could not vote for him for Senator, but
that he was entitled to a re-election to the Senate with-
out debauching the Legislature, and that if a corrupt
combination was made to defeat his election or to com-
pel him to pay blackmail to the corruptionists I would
openly and earnestly oppose any such movement in
the Legislature. Cameron thanked me and closed
the consideration of the subject by remarking, ** They
can go to hell now/'

The Senatorship became a matter of public discussion,
and in an interview that I was asked to give I stated
distinctly that Cameron for the first time in his life
was entitled to the votes of a majority of the Legis-
lature without the usual debauchery that had attended
Senatorial contests in the State. I added that I would
oppose his election by any and every honest method,
but would not join in any corrupt combination against
him for the benefit of Legislative mercenaries. The
result was that the opposition started by those who
expected to blackmail Cameron was compelled to yield,
and Cameron received the entire vote of his party for
re-election to the Senate without the cost of a dollar

3 so Old Time Notes

beyond what he had expended in the campaign. I cast
my vote in the-senate for William D. Kelley.

When the Legislature met in January, 1873, Gover-
nor-elect Hartranf t proposed to come to my room one
evening to confer on several matters. I was glad to
welcome him, for I knew that whatever political envi-
ronment he had met with he was thoroughly honest
in purpose and would want to make a clean and cred-
itable administration. He called at the time appointed
and said that he desired me to londerstand his position ;
that he realized the fact that he was very largely, if
not wholly, indebted to the Cameron organization for
his election and that he did not mean ever to be justly
charged with ingratitude, but he added that, first of
all, he meant to make a thoroughly dean, straight-
forward administration of the State government, and
as I had yet two sessions to serve in the senate he
hoped that he would be able to command not only my
support but that of all reasonable Democrats. He
stated distinctly that he might be called upon at times
to give offense to those who might assume that they
owned him, but if necessary he would give offense rather
than dishonor himself, and it is due to the memory of
Hartranft to say that he faithfully fulfilled that promise.

On several occasions during his two terms as Governor
he was urged to perfonn more than questionable
official duties to serve personal or partisan interests
at the sacrifice of his own sense of right, and he reso-
lutely refused to obey. During the two sessions of
his first administration I never had occasion to criticise
any act of the Governor before the senate and generally
gave him very cordial and hearty support. Before
leaving me at the private conference he suggested that
if I could see my way clear to propose the increase of
the salary of the Governor from $5,000 to $10,000 a
year, and have it passed before his inaugiu^ation, it

Of Pennsylvania 351

would be regarded as a personal favor. I told him
that I appreciated the fact that the present salary for
the Governor was disgracefiilly inadequate and that
I would gladly take the responsibility of proposing
the measure if it did not conflict with the Constitution.
I soon found that the subject had been quietly dis-
cussed by leading Republicans and Democrats in the
senate, all of whom agreed that the salary should be
increased, but neither party wished to take the respon-
sibility of proposing the measure. After a conference
with such able Democratic lawyers as Wallace, Dill and
others, and Strang, Rutan and other Republicans, I
foimd that nearly or quite all were willing to support
the measure if their particular party was not to be
responsible for it. As I was the only member of my
own party in the senate I was entirely independent
and at once took charge of the bill. The Governor's
salary was increased from $5,000 to $10,000 before
Hartranft was inaugurated. I did not regard the
question as entirely free from doubt under the pro-
visions of the Constitution, but it was a case in which
I believed that doubt should be resolved in favor of
common justice.

3s« Old Time Notes

LXXXIII.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1874 ADOPTED.

Detperata EfforU Made to Defeat Ita Approval by the Peopla Mayor
Stoldey Malta a Stupendoua Fraud in Philadelpliia When It Waa
Pound to be Unavailing^— Barneit Legialative Woric to Gerry Into
Effect the New Fundamental Law— A New Liberal Salary Bill for
City Officer Vetoed without Benefit to Thoee Who AcoompUhed It»
Ballot Reform Accomplished, and Many Machine Leadeni Over*
thrown.

THE political conditions in Pennsylvania in 1873
aroused the Republican reform sentiment oi
the State to great activity, notwithstanding
the overwhelming disaster the Liberals had suffered
with the Dtnnocrats when Grant carried the State by
nearly 140,000 the year before. There were scores <rf
thousands of very reluctant votes cast for Grant by
Republicans who were sincerely in favor of reforming
the domination of the party. The Republican leaders,
then wholly in harmony with Cameron, slated Judge
Paxson, of the common pleas court of Philadelphia, as
a candidate for supreme judge. There were no pro-
tests against Paxson either as to his character or ability
for the high office of supreme judge, but the fact that
he was the predetermined candidate of the leaders of
the organization called out aggressive hostility to him
and the opposition concentrated in support of Judge
Butler, of Chester, who afterward served as United
States district judge until he was entitled to retirement
by reason of more than ten years' service and being over
seventy years of age. It was an open, strenuous battle,
not against Judge Paxson in person, but against the
political power that had dictated his nomination by

Of Pennsylvania 353

the State convention. Mackey was State treasurer
and general political manager of the State. The State
treasurer was to be elected by the people that year for
the first time. When the convention met Mackey was
amazed to discover that he was imable to force the
nomination of Paxson over Butler, and he rescued him-
self and his organization from defeat by taking Judge
Isaac G. Gordon, of Fayette Coimty, who had some
personal strength, as a side candidate, and with the
Paxson vote thrown to him his nomination was accom-
plished. Mackey was nominated for State treasurer
without opposition.

At the time the convention was held the work of the
constitutional convention, then in session, had not
been completed, and no expression was given on the
question of constitutional reform. The Democrats
exhibited little vigor when their State convention met,
as the overwhelming defeat of the year before seemed
to leave the party in an utterly hopeless condition in the
State, but as the reform Republicans developed great
activity, not only in the battle against the slated can-
didate for supreme judge, but in the support of the new
Constitution after it had been completed, the Demo-
crats were somewhat inspired and one of the most active
off-year contests of the State was the result.

The fight for the adoption of the new Constitution
became the absorbing issue. It was specially offensive
to the debauched political elements of the State be-
cause it destroyed the fee system that was a source of
almost unlintiited plimder in Philadelphia, and tore up
by the roots the registry election law that was the
parent of monstrous frauds. The speculative and
mercenary political interests of the State were naturally
adverse to the new fimdamental law, and as the cam-
paign neared its close they were greatly strengthened
by the decision delivered by the supreme court setting

354 Old Time Notes

aside the method of holding the election on the adoption
of the new Constitution iinder an honest election
system in Philadelphia, provided by the convention
itself. The decision of the court, delivered by Chief
Justice Agnew, exhibited an imusual degree of preju-
dice against the general reform movement, and, while
it immediately quickened and encouraged the worst
political elements to oppose the Constitution, it did
much more to arouse the reform elements; and the
court was so fiercely criticised by the press and on the
stimip that Chief Justice Agnew felt compelled, in jus-
tice to himself and the court, to publish a letter denjang
the unfriendly construction that had been put upon
the dicta that figured somewhat prominently in the
opinion, and declared that, notwithstanding his objec-
tion to some important features of the new Constitu-
tion, he would vote for it. This letter eliminated the
court from the partisan discussion during the remainder
of the campaign and greatly encouraged the friends of
the new Constitution, who had been struggling so
tirelessly and earnestly to give it victory.

The most dangerous element in opposition to the
new Constitution was clearly developed only a few
weeks before the election. It was a combination of
prominent corporation interests in the State to accom-
plish the rejection of the new fundamental law. This
movement became plainly visible, as able representa-
tives of great corporate interests took the stump to call
upon the people to reject the work of the convention.
The contest was regarded as fairly doubtful, as it was
impossible to make any calculation from a political
standpoint as to the result of the vote for the Consti-
tution. Never in the history of Pennsylvania elections
were such strange complications presented by counties
of the same political faith and apparently sharing the
same general interests. Adams County voted four

Of Pennsylvania 355

to one against it and Allegheny ten to one in its favor.
Bedford voted three to one in favor of it, and Blair
nearly two to one against it. Berks, the Democratic
Gibraltar, voted four to one against it, and Columbia,
another Democratic stronghold, voted four to one in
its favor. Dauphin and Lebanon, both strong Re-
publican coimties, voted against it by decided
majorities, and Indiana, a coimty two-thirds Re-
publican, voted two to one against, while Lancaster
voted two to one in favor. Somerset, a strong Re-
publican coimty, voted three to one against, and York,
a Democratic stronghold, voted nearly two to one in
favor.

With such confused conditions throughout the State
it was impossible for the party leaders to make reason-
ably safe calculations as to the result in the State, and
it was finally decided by the Philadelphia party leaders
that the city should give an overwhelming majority
against the Constitution, regardless of the vote cast.
The plan was conceived by those who held the city
offices, whose himdreds of thousands of dollars iij
illegal fees would be ended by the new fimdamental
law, and the scheme was thoroughly organized in all
its details to assure a return of not less than 50,000
against the Constitution, which was regarded as suffi-
cient to defeat it. I do not speak from nmior or cir-
cumstantial evidence on this point, as two of the men
who were actively engaged in the movement to make
the false return in Philadelphia gave me the full details
immediately after the election.

An almost tragic incident occurred in the office of
Mayor Stokley on election night. The returns from
the city were coming in precisely according to arrange-
ment, as under the registry law there was no limit upon
the power of the dominant party in manufacturing
rettims, but soon after ten o'clock oveiwhelming majori-

Old Time Notes

ties in favor of the Cwistitution came in from leading '
counties of the State, and it became evident that '
50,000 majority in the city would not affect the result. ,
A number of the city leaders were in the xa&yor's
office, and it became evident that the Constitutkm
would be adopted r^ardless of the frauds in I^iila-
delphia. Stokley, who was nothing if not heroic, called
the boys down in a manner mtich more emphatic than
elegant, and gave peremptory orders that the Phihi'
delphia returns should be corrected and returned as
the vote had been cast. One of the men among the
most active in the work, who gave me the informatiffli
in detail, informed me that while they had no difficult
in carrying out the fraud to return a large majority
against the Constitution, the most difficult task they
wA ever been called upon to perform was that of chang-
ing the returns to make them appear reasonably honest,
but it was finally accomplished, and the official vote
as returned in Philadelphia was two to one in favor of
the Constitution, giving some 25,000 majority for it
instead of 50,000 against it.

The majority in the State in favor of the adoption
of the Constitution was 145,150. Mayor Stokley did
not attempt to conceal the action he had taken in halt-
ing those who were engaged in making a fraudulent
return in Philadelphia. He was heartily in favor of
defeating the Constitution, and though a man entirely
free from venality in public and private life, he believed
that in politics the end justifies the means, and when
a patent fraud was about to be played without accom-
plishing any substantial result beyond the di^ace it
broxight upon the actors, he publicly declared that he
and his administration would not be "put in a hole,"
and was peremptory in forcing a fairly honest return
of the vote.

The earnest and somewhat embittered battle on the

Of Pennsylvania 357

adoption of the Constitution overshadowed the contest
for State treasurer and supreme judge. Gordon was a
man of fair attainments, who had served in the Legis-
lattire with imusual credit, had made a very acceptable
record as a common pleas judge, and was a man of
unquestioned integrity. He was not an important
political factor, and he simply drifted with the ctirrent,
while Mackey, who was absolutely in charge of the
organization, managed his own contest, and to avoid
accidents was careful to arrange with those in charge of
the election affairs in Philadelphia to give him an in-
creased majority of some 10,000 over his colleague on
the State ticket. Under the registry law, that was
then in its dying agonies with the advent of the new
Constitution, it was not only possible, but easy of
accomplishment if the proper combinations were made
and the necessary cash supplied. The result was
Mackey 's election by 25,000 majority over Hutchison,
the Democratic candidate, while Judge Gordon's
majority over Judge Ludlow, of Philadelphia, was
14,286. Mackey's election was accomplished solely,
by the majority in Philadelphia, as Hutchison had
fifty-nine majority in the State outside of the city.
The Republicans carried both branches of the Legis-
lature, the senate having twenty Republicans, twelve
Democrats and one Liberal Republican; the house
forty-three Democrats and fifty-seven Republicans.
The adoption of the Constitution did not affect the
Legislature chosen that year, but after the session of
1874 the senate was increased to fifty and the house to
over 200, with biennial sessions.

The adoption of the new Constitution imposed very
important and responsible duties upon the Legislature
that sat during the session of 1874. All private legis-
lation was practically ended, and corporate charters
Qould be obtained only under general laws. It b^c^nie

358 Old Time Notes

necessary therefore for the Legislature to enact such
general laws as would give proper encouragement to
the varied corporate interests of the State and to the
further development of our wealth by increased cor-
porate combinations, and it was necessary also to
empower the courts to meet the countless emergencies
which often arose and called for private legislation
relating to matters of limited and local interest.

A committe of twelve was created in the senate,
specially charged with the preparation and presentation
of the bills necessary to carry into eflfect the new Con-
stitution, in which Senator Wallace proved himself to
be a master legislator. He was the author of the cor-
porate system then inaugurated, and it has been little
changed until this day. It was necessary also to dis-
trict the State into fifty instead of thirty-three sena-
torial districts, and also to fashion the representative
districts, a work in which there was great room for
partisan strategy, and under the leadership of Mackey
the Republicans got away with about all there was in
sight. He was substantially the author of every
apportionment bill that was passed, and fashicmed net
only the senatorial and representative districts, but
also the judicial districts, and in defining what districts
should elect senators for two years, and what districts
should elect for four years, as was necessary for the
following elections, he fixed the heavy Republican
senatorial districts to elect in Presidential years, while
the debatable districts were left for the off year when
political manipulation was much more easy than in
the white heat of a Presidential struggle. In point of
fact, while Mackey was in the leadership of the party
organization he was practically the Legislature, for
he framed or revised every important bill, and never
suffered a defeat in his own political houschr)ld. He
possessed the important quality of a party political

Of Pennsylvania 359

leader that is seldom found — that is the ability to hold
his own followers in solid column, and divide the Demo-
crats when necessary to win out. His influence in the
Democratic lines was not so much with the commercial
element as with the responsible leadership of the Demo-
cratic organization. While he and Wallace had many
desperate political tilts, there never was a time that
either would not help the other if he could do so with-
out sacrificing his own personal or political interests.
As I was a senator during the session of 1874 it was
natural that I was most desirous to carry into full effect
the reforms of the Constitution that I had so long and
earnestly advocated. I knew the trouble that would
arise about passing a salary bill for the Philadelphia
offices. It was an open secret then that the leading
Row offices, as they were then called, paid the incum-
bent from $50,000 to $100,000 a year, depending upon
the measure of imscrupulous exaction of illegal fees,
and not only those in office, but those expecting soon
to come into these positions, would naturally resist the
passage of a salary bill, as imtil such a bill was passed
by the Legislature the old fee system would remain.
Colonel Mann was then district attorney, having been
elected in 187 1 after having been compelled to retire
from the ticket in 1868, and he was entirely confident
that he would be re-elected in the fall of 1874. General
CoUis was city solicitor and expected to be re-elected.
My close personal relations with both of them made me
feel warranted in calling them into conference and pro-
posing that they should assent to the passage of a very
liberal salary bill, as was required by the Constitution.
They were very reluctant about assenting to it, but
after several conferences they finally agreed upon a
scale of salaries for the different officers of the city
ranging just about as the salaries are now, with the
exception of the clerk of quarter sessions, that was

36o Old Time Notes

made $10,000 a year, and I framed the bill in accordance
with otir agreement, and passed it through both
branches of the Legislature.

It was before the Legislature for some weeks, and
during that time I never saw an indication of organized
opposition to the measure. There was obvious reluc-
tance on the part of the Philadelphians who trained
with the organization, but they accepted the situation
and permitted the measure to pass. It was held in
the house and not passed imtil within ten days of the
adjoiuTiment, which gave the Governor the right to
hold the bill for a considerable period. Soon after the
adjournment it was whispered that the bill would be
vetoed by the Governor, and that in addition to tech-
nical objections to the measure, he thought the salaries
were excessive, as none of the city offices were rated
below the salary of the Governor, and one or more
exceeded his. Mann and CoUis, who had assented to
the bill, became fully satisfied that they would be re-
elected, and that if re-elected without the passage of a
salary bill the old fee system would remain during their
entire term, as the Constitution forbade the increase or
diminution of the pay of public officers during the term
for which they were elected. They earnestly pressed
the Governor to veto the measure, and I was not
greatly surprised one morning to find in the papers the
announcement that the Governor had vetoed the salary
bill. The result was that Mann was nominated for
re-election with little or no opposition, but was defeated
by some 4,000 by Furman Sheppard under the new
election law enforced by the Constitution, and the fee
system continued for three years in the district attor-
ney's office for the benefit of Mann's competitor.
Collis failed to obtain a nomination for another term,
and his successor reaped the profits he had hoped to
attain by the defeat of the salary bill. That experi-

Of Pennsylvania 361

ment ctired the opposition to a salary bill, and the next
Legislature enacted one that was substantially a copy
of the measure that had been passed and vetoed in

1874.
The Constitution tore up the registry law by the

roots and the last election held under it was the Febru-
ary election of 1874, when a mayor, city treasurer and
city solicitor were chosen, as at that time the election
officers to hold future elections were chosen, and the
overthrow of the registry law was the beginning of the
end of the Republican domination that so long ruled
in Philadelphia. The defeat of Mann for district attor-
ney and Ashe for coroner in 1874 was followed by the
election of a Democratic sheriff in 1876, by the election
of a Democratic district attorney and controller in
1877, and finally by the election of a Democratic mayor.
The Committee of One Htmdred came into power and
found it possible to enforce something approaching
honest elections, and they thoroughly revolutionized
the city. It was the best-directed reform movement
of modem times. It was made up of practical business
men, who understood that idealism in politics was good
in theory, but utterly valueless in practice, and they
not only defeated the notoriously corrupt machine men
of the city, but they defeated men of the highest stand-
ing who adhered to and sustained the organization,
thereby giving it the benefit of their reputations. Such
men as James Dobson, the elder Reybum, men whose
integrity none could question, were defeated as Repub-
lican candidates in strong Republican wards, solely
because they tolerated or excused the profligate and
corrupt measures of the party organization to which
they adhered. During that season of reform nearly
every important office in the city of Philadelphia from
mayor down was filled by Democrats or Independent
Reform Republicans, and Democrats were thrice elected

Old Time Notes

the important office of controller, who, as McMuIlen
'ntly but expressively said, "sits on the chist, "
r a full decade the Republican leaders were under
fair notice that Machine candidates would be made to
bite the dust, and the result was the defeat of many
candidates of questionable character, and the nomina-
tion and election of many men of the highest character
and ability, but the labor of the reformer is a thankless
isk. It is all work and no pay beyond the gratifi-
cation of having performed a duty to the public, while
the work of the partisan who makes politics a trade
and lives thereby is untiring. Gradually, as the reform
veterans retired from the struggle, the Machine men
came to the front, but it was many years Ix^fore they
regained the power to pollute the ballot box and to
pollute municipal authority to an extent approaching
that which had been common before the adoption of
the new Constitution. There has been a steady battle
fnr and against a thoroughly honest elcctriral system,
an>] it will d^niblk'^s omtinut- until ihc po>]iic shall be
goaded to revolution and adopt the only honest method
of regulating elections by requiring every voter to regis-
ter and making the official ballot one that compels the
voter to choose each individual candidate for every
office. Until that shall be done organized and corrupt
political power will always be able to debauch the
ballot, differing only in degree.

Of Pennsylvania 363

LXXXIV.

THE STOKLEY-McCLURE MAYORALTY

BATTLE.

Formidable Revolt Against Stokley's Administration — ^The Author
Peremptorily Declines to Become a Candidate for Mayor — James S.
Biddle Nominated by the Democrats, but soon Thereafter Declined
— Democrats and Citizens Nominate the Author without Consult-
ing Him — His Acceptance Seemed to Be an Imperious Necessity
— Remarkable Galaxy of Republican Leaders Who Supported Him
— Interesting Episodes of the Campaign — The Author Advised
Four Days before the Election of the Majority that would be
Returned Against Him — Stokley Returned Elected by over x 0,000
Majority.

THE year 1874 was a revolutionary period in
politics. The revolutionary efforts so earn-
estly and fruitlessly made in 1872 gathered a
liberal harvest in 1874, alike in city, State and nation.
For the first time since the beginning of the war, the
Democrats elected a majority of the popular branch
of Congress; the entire Republican State ticket was
defeated in Pennsylvania, and Mann and Ashe, Repub-
lican candidates for district attorney and coroner in
Philadelphia, were beaten in square contests by Dem-
ocratic competitors. When the Greeley campaign
failed so disastrously in 1872, it was generally assumed
by the Republican leaders, and, indeed, confessed by
many of the opposition, that only new conditions could
organize a successful party to oppose the Republicans;
but the reform seeds which had been strewn in 1872
gradually ripened, and brought many serious disasters
to the Republicans.

It was a year of imusual political interest in Pennsyl-

366 Old Time Notes

plished master, and absolutely controlled the primary
elections of his party. Earnestly as his renomination
was opposed by many prominent Republicans, he was
nominated for the Centennial term without serious
opposition. The desire was general among that class
to imite on a Citizens* ticket for the several municipal
offices in co-operation with the Democratic organiza-
tion, and at a conference held between prominent
Democrats and prominent Reform Republicans just
before the meeting of the Democratic City conven-
tion they were tmanimous in demanding my nomina-
tion as Stokley 's competitor. A committee of delegates
from the Democratic convention called upon me on
the morning before the body met, and informed me of
their purpose to nominate me for mayor, and to accept
me as the Citizens* candidate for that office. I told
them that I could not entertain the question of accept-
ing the nomination or the office, and that if nominated
by the convention I would peremptorily decline. The
strongest personal reasons forbade my acceptance of
either the nomination or the office. I was bankrupt in
property, having been made so by the destruction of
Chambersburg during the war, and my private business
interests demanded all my attention and care, while
the hopelessly ill health of my wife made it impossible
for us to accept the exacting social duties of the Cen-
tennial year.

The committee refused to accept my declination,
and I then wrote a letter addressed to the president of
the convention, stating that if nominated by the body
I would certainly decline. This letter was handed to
the committee with instructions to have it read in
the convention. When the convention reached the
question of nominating a candidate for mayor, the
letter was read and the refusal to permit the use of my
name was so emphatic that it was not presented to

of Pennsylvania 367

the convention, and James S. Biddle, a gentleman of
the highest character and accompUshed attainments,
was imanimously nominated.

I felt greatly relieved when, as I supposed, I was
finally eliminated from the mayoralty contest. Clean
and accomplished as was Mr. Biddle, the reform organ-
ization of the city failed to accept him, and nominated
William E. Littleton, who was then president of select
coimcil, and had made an unustially clean record as
a city legislator. This action was a serious disappoint-
ment to Mr. Biddle, and within a week or ten days he
published a letter declining the Democratic nomina-
tion for mayor, and the Democratic convention was
reconvened two days thereafter to select a successor.
I was in Harrisburg attending to senatorial duties
when the convention met, happy in the beUef that I
was no longer thought of as a candidate for mayor,
and was greatly surprised to find that the Democratic
convention had nominated me as the Citizens* candi-
date and adjourned without day. The same evening a
call was issued signed by a nimiber of leading Repub-
licans for a Citizens* meeting in Horticultural Hall,
to ratify my nomination as the Citizens' candidate for
mayor. I was greatly distressed by this action of the
convention and the Citizens* committee. I knew how
desperate the contest would be, and however acceptable
such a high honor from the people of Philadelphia
would have been tmder ordinary conditions, the
strongest business, personal and domestic reasons made
me most anxious to escape the struggle. I returned
from Harrisburg on Friday evening and met a nimiber
of personal friends in conference to whom the situa-
tion was frankly presented, but while they admitted
that I had the best of reasons for seeking to avoid
the contest, they insisted that it was no longer a matter
of discretion with me, and that I must respond to the

Old Time Notes

call that had been made upon me. I reminded them
that I had no money to expend in the contest, that on
a salary of S5.000 a year and no other property inter-
ests but debts, I certainly could not maintain the hos-
pitaEty that was expected from the Centennial mayor,
and one of the gentlemen present, the late Allison
White, who was then a large aal operator residing in
the city, stated that he was prepared to give the assur-
ance on his own responsibility that within three days
an ample fund would be subscribed to enable me to
accept the position of Centennial mayor without appre-
hension of financial embarrassment, and before the
three days expired he exhibited to me a paper signed
by ten or twelve citizens of large means creating a
fund of $100,000 that was to be expended by a com-
mittee in renting and furnishing prtjperly a house for
the mayor and defraying all the expenses of main-
taining it, and $50,000 of the fund was to be appro-
priated for ofhciai entertainments during the Cen-
tennial season. Amnpg the names signed to that
paper with Mr. White's were those of J. Edgar Thomp-
son, Thomas A. Scott, William Welsh, John P. Veree,
and others.

Amos R. Little, a retired merchant of large means
and great earnestness in the cause of reform, became
chairman of the Citizens' committee to conduct the
campaign, and by the time that the immense mass
meeting was held in Horticultural Hall there seemed to
be no choice for me but to accept the battle or lie
down in front of a challenging foe. I well xmderstood
what such a contest meant. I knew the resources
of the city administration, and well knew how unscrupu-
lously and desperately those means were to be employed
to the uttermost. I did not doubt that the battle
could be won if the integrity of the ballot could be pre-
served, but unfortunately while we had a new election

y/,,, — c^/j/i/i^^-

Of Pennsylvania 369

law that imposed severe restraints upon many features
of ballot frauds, the registry law election officers yet
lingered. Although the law had been repealed by the
supreme law of the State, the election officers elected
the previous year remained and wotald perform their
last duties imder the registry law at the mayor's elec-
tion of 1874, thus giving to every division of the city
an election board, every member of which was chosen
by the Republican party leaders, although a minority
of the officers were nominally Democratic. In the
districts where frauds could not be safely attempted,
thoroughly reputable election boards were appointed,
but in all the divisions where fraud was possible tinscru-
pulous Republicans were chosen and either corrupt
or utterly ignorant Democrats.

The election was just three weeks distant when I
accepted the nomination, and certainly the most
earnest campaign ever witnessed in Philadelphia
was crowded into the brief period between that time
and the election. Such Republicans as the venerable
Horace Binney, who cast his last vote at that election;
ex-Mayor Alexander Henry, William Henry Rawle,
Henry Armitt Brown, E. Joy Morris, John W. Forney,
William Welsh, John P. Veree, John J. Ridgway, Amos
R. Little and many others, came to the front, and most
of them along with such representative Democrats as
George W. Biddle, Daniel Dougherty and others, were
heard on the stump every night during the campaign.
It was a battle royal from start to finish, and I spoke
to from two to four large meetings every night. The
poptilar wave of reform was immistakable, and tintil
within four days of the election, bets were freely
offered at 100 to 80 on the defeat of Stoldey.

In that contest I had opporttinity to leam the
ingenuity, the power and the desperation of the party
organization that was leading the fight most aggres-

370 Old Time Notes

sivdy against us. Fortunately I had thotx>ughly
reliable and courageous men even within the inner
circle of the consultations of our opponents, and they
never were permitted to surprise us by any of their
many cleverly conceived pl^is to make a break in
the tide that was against them. A captain of police,
and one of the most intelligent and faithful officers
of the body, had been my sincere friend for years, as
I had once aided him in attaining a profitable position
imder Governor Curtin. He was as discreet as he was
faithful to his friendships. He made an appointment
to meet me at a place where notice was quite improb-
able, and frankly presented the situation to me, and
the general orders imder which the police were acting.
I had publicly stated whenever the subject was referred
to that if elected mayor no competent and faithful
policeman would be removed for political or personal
reasons.

He asked me to authorize him to give that assurance
in the most positive manner to any of the policemen
who might be employed to serve him in his desire to
render service to me. A confidential council was held
in the office of the mayor every day. What transpired
there was made known to this captain of police, and
when he had information that was important for me
to have he had several faithful citizen friends who were
entrusted with the mission from time to time, and I
was thus kept fully advised of everything that was
being done and with all the plans made for futtire
political movements.

At one of these meetings an apparent countryman
was brought in by one of the police who was imscrupu-
lous in his efforts to serve the mayor, and the country-
man told the story that he lived in Trenton, that he
was a drover, that I had stopped in Trenton overnight
a year or two before, engaged him and others in a

Of Pennsylvania 371

game of cards and had cheated him out of $1,700.
When I state that I had never stopped in Trenton in
my life, the falsity of the story will be imderstood;
but it was decided that an elaborate affidavit should be
drawn setting forth my whole fraudulent operations
as a card sharp and have it given to the newspapers on
the following day. In the several speeches I delivered
that evening I stated the fact that a man, giving his
name, had been employed to sign such an affidavit;
that it had been prepared and was to be given to the
public on the following day, adding that I had never
been in Trenton in my life excepting to pass through
it in a train of cars. This premature publicity of the
invented scandal made them abandon it, but when
election day approached they foimd it necessary to do
something to coimteract the revolutionary feeling
that prevailed throughout the city, and it was delib-
erately decided at a political coimcil in the mayor's
office that certain police officers who imderstood that
sort of duty should be detailed to New York and others
to Baltimore and furnished funds to bring to the city
a few days before the election from fifty to one himdred
toughs who were trained in all manner of ballot frauds,
to scatter over the city, boisterously hurrah for McClure
until Simday or Monday before the election, when a
ntimber of them should be arrested by the police as
professional repeaters and be let off when confessing
that they had come to repeat for me, but would abandon
the project and go home. Within two hours after that
was decided upon in the office of the mayor, I was fully
informed of it, and that night in several speeches the
whole programme was given in detail, with the names
of the policemen who had been chosen at the coimcil
to perform the duty. As the whole scheme was so
circumstantially given, it was impossible for them to
attempt the execution of the programme. These an-

Old Time Notes

icements naturally caused serious trouble in the

■■-' vor's confidential council. Somebody was evidently

ing out of schoctl and suspicion was so clearly

•.cled against two gentlemen present, who. while

rv sincerely and heartily supporting Stokley. were
wn to be in friendly personal relations with me,
c they retired from further political conferences at

; mayor's office.

The week before the election the party leaders saw
that unless the tidal wave that was running against
them could be halted in some way they were inevitably
rtffeated, and they sent for Quay and Mackey. then

: two ablest party leaders of the State. I had then,
Mild always had before and since during their lives,
dose personal friendly relations with both of them,
although often compelled to lock horns with them in
political conflicts. My relations with Quay were more
than friendly, indeed they had been relations of close
intimacy regardless of political struggles. Quay's first
act when he came to Phila(k*lphia was tn invite me to
dine with him alone, and I promptly accepted. At
the dinner the whole general conditions of State and
city were discussed in the frankest way, and he said
that the most unpleasant duty he had ever been called
upon to perform was the mission that he was then on
in the city to defeat my election as mayor. I sug-
gested to him that he might as well let mimicipal aflFairs
alone and look after his State, but Quay's answer
was: " If you're elected, where the hell will we be?"
I told him that my election might seriously interfere
with some of their political movements in Philadelphia,
but I insisted that it would be well for the leaders of.
the party, and certainly for the party, to adopt methods
for its direction that could not be endangered by any
honest municipal power, but the suggestion was not
received by Quay with any degree of enthusiasm, and

I

I

Of Pennsylvania 373

after a pleasant dinner and chat we separated, he
repeating the expression that he was very sorry that
it was necessary for them to accomplish my defeat.

Enormous sums of money were collected from the
police and city officials, with large contributions de-
manded from business men actively in politics, as the
campaign became fearfully expensive. Money was
lavishly squandered by the party leaders in every sec-
tion of the city, where it was believed that money
could accomplish political results, while the chief
expense on our side was the employment of a detective
force, and perfecting and maintaining complete oi^ani-
zations in every division of the city. By the imited
action of the Democrats and the Citizens, there was
no lack of money in support of our cause. One promi-
nent citizen, whose official position was such that he
cotald not afford to be suspected of contributing to
the Citizens' cause, sent a friend to me to say that he de-
sired to purchase $10,000 worth of certain bonds which
he knew were in my possession, and which were then
entirely valueless and without the prospect of value,
adding that if I would deliver them to the person a
fair price would be paid for them. I sent the bonds,
and the man brought back to me a sealed envelope
containing ten $1,000 bills. The cost of organizing
the entire city, obtaining detectives and manning
every poll with the proper window men was about
$30,000, all of which was contributed by a small circle
of citizens.

On Friday night before the election, when bets were
made every evening in the Continental Hotel, usually
at 100 to 80 in favor of my election, I received a mes-
sage to go to a particular room in a private house. I
immediately obeyed the stmimons, and at the place
stated met a local party leader, who had repeatedly
given me important information, was thoroughly up

374 Old Time Notes

in all that was being done, and in whose fidelity I had
absolute confidence. He said that he had sent for me
to advise me to go and stop at once all betting on my
election; that to-morrow bets wotdd be freely offered
even on my defeat by 10,000 majority, and that all
such bets would be won by my opponents. He told
me that it mattered not what vote was cast, I would
certainly be returned as defeated by over 10,000. I
inquired whether it was to be done chiefly by repeaters,
to which he answered that he could not explain how it
was to be done, adding, however, that the few Uiou-
sand votes put in by repeaters would not affect the
result. On the contrary, he said that little repeating
would be done; that the election would be unusually
quiet ; that there wotild be no attempt to rough voters
at the polls, but that the result was absolutely pre-
determined, and that the majority would be over
10,000. I could not doubt the correctness of the infor-
mation given me, and hastened at once to stop all
betting on the election as far as could be accomplished,
and the result was just as foreshadowed by my friend.
The election was unusually quiet, and my friends
believed the victory^ clearly won because of the absence
of desperate and violent methods at the polls, but the
official returns gave 10,985 against me. It was not
until a year later that I discovered how the count had
been accomplished. The ballot boxes of the city were
then in the custody of the city authorities, and an extra
box was sent out to the divisions which could be safely
manipulated containing a given number of tickets for
mayor. Some one and perhaps more of the election
officers understood what the box meant, how many
tickets were in it, and it was only necessary to substi-
tute that box for the one in which the tickets had been
received during the first half or more of the day, and
either add or take from it before substituting the

Of Pennsylvania 375

number of tickets necessary to make it correspond with
the poll list. There were watchers at the polls, but
the elections were conducted with such apparent fair-
ness, such an absence of repeaters and attempts to
rough voters, that long before the day was over every
watcher was entirely satisfied that his division was
square, and all that was necessary was to watch an
opportimity when he was off guard to change the box.
No one ever informed me that the ballot boxes had been
thus stuffed and exchanged, but the man who gave
me the information before the election that was fully
verified by the returns often spoke of the matter when
we met in a casual way, but never would explain how
it had been done. On one occasion I pressed him with
unusual earnestness to explain to me for my own satis-
faction how the fraud had been perpetrated, and he
answered by saying that he couldn 't tell what had been
done, or how it had been done, but added that if he
had been called upon to meet such an emergency he
wotald have done it in the manner before described.
Thus ended the most desperate struggle ever made
in the city of Philadelphia for its highest trust. On
the ticket with me were Charles Henry Jones for city
solicitor, and Mr. Peirce, of Peirce's Business College,
for city treasurer, both of whom received the same
blow and fell in the race.

376 Old Time Notes

LXXXV.

BATTLE FOR THE GREAT EXPOSITION.

PArty Leaden Made the Issue of the Republican Centennial Mayor the
Prominent One in the Contest — Democrats in the Legislature Pro-
voked to Hostile Action against the Centennial Appropriation —
A Direct Appropriation Impossible — How an Apparent Appropria-
tion of a Million Dollars Had Been Passed in 1873 — ^The Desperate
Struggle to Obtain the Million Dollars Needed— Finally Saved by
the Positive Intervention of Colonel Scott — ^The Financial Revul-
sion Keenly Felt and Private Subscriptions Retarded.

IT WILL doubtless stirprise most of the intelli-
gent citizens at the present time when it is
stated that it required a very desperate strug-
gle, with a large measure of legislative diplomacy,
to obtain an appropriation from the State for the Cen-
tennial Exposition. When the session of 1873 opened
the Centennial Exposition was only three years distant,
and it was an absolute necessity that Pennsylvania
should contribute at least $1,000,000, with quite half
that amount from the city municipality, to assure the
success of the great enterprise. John Welsh, probably
the most influential private citizen of Philadelphia,
and one of the ripest of our business men, was placed
at the head of the Centennial enterprise, and he in-
formed me before the opening of the session of 1873
that an appropriation of a million dollars must be
obtained from the State to make the Exposition in any
way creditable to the city.

Strange as it may seem, there was little enthusiasm
over the Exposition throughout the State, and when
the Legislature met I was appalled at the positive
hostility to a large appropriation in both branches, and

Of Pennsylvania 377

nearly eqtial in both the great political parties. After
thorough conference with fellow senators and the
leaders of the house, it was clearly evident that an
appropriation exceeding $250,000 could not be passed
in either branch. Mr. Welsh spent several days at
Harrisburg with me, and personally understood the
situation. He returned to the city in a condition
bordering on despair. The necessity was imperative
for favorable legislation promising at least a million
dollars, and it was absolutely impossible to obtain that
by any direct method. Finally, ^dthout consulting
anyone, I framed a bill, the first section of which made
a direct appropriation of $1,000,000 to the Centennial
Exposition, but it was followed by various provisos.
One required that a special Centennial fund should be
created for the State treasury by taxes levied for the
special purpose to cover the full appropriation ; another
required the city of Philadelphia to make an appro-
priation of $500,000 to the Exposition, and another
fixed the limit of $250,000 as the appropriation from
the State, in case a special Centennial fimd should not
be provided by special taxes. It was most important
to obtain a direct appropriation of a million dollars
from the State in the first section of the bill, as it made
a landmark for further legislation in the event of the
failure of the conditions attached.

Another section of the bill provided for a special tax
of three per cent, upon the gross receipts of the passen-
ger railways of Philadelphia, to be paid into the treasury
and to constitute the Centennial fimd, out of which
the million appropriation should be paid. Such a
special tax was certainly of doubtful constitutionality,
but it was a very good foil to disarm a considerable
element of opposition to the bill. Another section of
the bill provided that the $1,000,000 appropriated by
the State, and the $500,000 to be appropriated by the

378 Old Time Notes

city, shotdd be expended on a memorial hall, to be
erected in a suitable place in the park and to remain
after the Centennial ended as a permanent place for
the display of the indtistrial and artistic products of
the Commonwealth. A ntmiber of the most distin-
guished business men of the State, headed by ex-
Governor Bigler and Ario Pardee, were named as
supervisors to construct this building in accord with
the Centennial authorities, and supervise the expendi-
ture of the money appropriated by the city and State.
Knowing that the weak point was its special tax on
the gross receipts of the city railways, the bill was first
submitted to William H. Kemble, who was then the
master street railway man of the city, and who practi-
cally dictated the general policy of that important
interest. The street railways were greatly interested
in the success of the Exposition, as it meant a rich
harvest for them, and Kemble promptly agreed not
only not to oppose the bill, but to favor its passage as
the only way by which an appropriation or an apparent
appropriation could be obtained. He laughed at the
idea of forcing the street railways to pay special taxes,
and said they were prepared to meet that question when
it came. Kemble heartily co-operated in the support
of the measure, and his action doubtless induced many
legislators to favor the bill, believing that the city
passenger railways would pay the entire $1,000,000
appropriation. The bill was also submitted to Colonel
Scott, without whose cordial support it could not have
been passed. When he learned that Kemble was
entirely willing to support it he said that Kemble imder-
stood his business, as the city railways were not in any
serious danger of special taxation, and the result was
that the bill passed both branches in a very brief period
and was approved by the Governor. While in point
of fact the bill simply assured an actual appropriation

Of Pennsylvania 379

of $250,000, it was generally believed that at the next
session any necessary amendments could be accom-
plished to assure the full $1,000,000 from the State in
some way, and the city authorities hastened to make
a positive appropriation of $500,000, to be expended
on the special State and city building in accordance
with the act of Assembly.

When the Legislature met in 1874 there were very
confused political conditions, and the Philadelphia
mayorality contest added greatly to partisan disturb-
ance on the Centennial issue. The supporters of
Stokley appealed to the people at every mass meeting
to elect a Republican mayor for the safety of the Cen-
tennial, as the entire State and National authorities
were Republican, and the success ot the Exposition
would be greatly impaired by my election. This was
not simply an incidental issue of the contest, but it was
made the main issue, and when Stokley was returned
as re-elected the Democrats generally were not only
very greatly chilled in their support of the Exposition,
but absolutely driven into open opposition. No move-
ment had been made in the Legislature imtil after the
mayorality contest was over to revise the bill making
a State appropriation to the Centennial, and when I
returned to the senate, after three weeks of campaign-
ing, I foimd every Democrat in the senate provoked to
positive hostility to any further appropriation to the
Exposition, while the Republicans were nearly evenly
divided for and against it.

My position in the senate was one of peculiar delicacy
and responsibility. If I failed to secure the direct
appropriation of a million dollars from a body that
was then certainly two-thirds hostile to it, it would
have been impossible to escape the accusation that
political disappointment had made me indifferent to
the success of the Centennial and false to senatorial

38o Old Time Notes

duties. There were a number of unusually able Demo-
crats in the body at the time, including Wallace, DiU,
Yerkes, and others, and the closest friendly relations
existed between us, while on the other side were men
like Strang, Cooper and Rutan, who were equally
friendly, personally, and all of them broad gauge, liberal
men. The first move made was a conference with the
leading Democratic senators, to whom the situation
was frankly presented in confidence and the position
in which I would be placed if the appropriation failed,
however faithfully and wisely I had supported it.
They held the matter under advisement for some
time and finally agreed that they would support the
measure chiefly as a matter of jtistice to mj^self. It
was generally accepted at the time that the proposed
special tax on the gross receipts of the passenger rail-
ways cotdd not be enforced and that there was prac-
tically no special Centennial fund to be in the treasury
by the bill enacted the previotis year. It was necessary,
therefore, to make the appropriation of a million dollars
direct to the Exposition, but the shock of such a drain
upon the treasury was somewhat tempered by provid-
ing that it should be paid in three payments, the last
to be made on the 4th of July, 1876.

Elliott, of Philadelphia, was speaker of the house, and
greatly interested in the Centennial appropriation. He
was a man of unusal force and rendered a most im-
portant service in bringing the house into the support
of the measure, but with all the combined power that
could be brought to favor the bill at Harrisburg, it
was foimd that we lacked a majority of votes in both
hquse and senate. We struggled along for several
weeks, and found it impossible to marshal a majority
in support of the Centennial. S. S. Moon had long
been the personal representative of Colonel Scott, of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Harrisburg, and was, of

Of Pennsylvania 381

course, earnestly cooperating with the friends of the
measure. He understood the situation better than
anybody else. He not only knew who were for it
and who against it, but he also knew who nndght be
obtained for it if imperious necessity demanded unusu-
ally persuasive methods. We went together to Colonel
Scott, and presented the actual condition at Harris-
burg, disclosing the fact that unless special and im-
portant support could be brought to favor the appro-
priation, it must certainly fail. Scott's final orders
were in about these words: '* Well, Moon, see that the
bill is passed; the Centennial must be made a great
success." In the then existing conditions at Harris-
burg that order from Colonel Scott meant the success
of the bill, but the opposition fought tirelessly and
desperately, and it was not until the early part of May
that the bill making a clean appropriation of one million
to the Centennial was finally enacted.

The opposition managed very adroitly to amend the
original bill and bring the two houses in conflict, result-
ing in a committee of conference that finally reported
to both branches the bill as it was enacted. It was in
the closing days of the session, when prompt action was
necessary. Just when the measure was called up for
final action in the senate, and some member of the body
was delivering an argument against it, a page brought
me a message from Moon, stating that our lines were
broken, and that a vote must not be permitted until
he gave a signal from some position in the chamber
where I cotild see him distinctly, by dropping his
handkerchief on the floor in an apparently accidental
way. The debate continued for half an hour or more,
when no one seemed desirous to continue it, and a vote
would have been precipitated had not the del^ate been
renewed. Having had no signal from Moon, I was
compelled to take the floor and to speak in support of

384 Old Time Notes

government could command all the loans needed for
the prosecution of the war, and the financial success
of the administration, in the face of most appdling
dif&ctilties, was due to the rare financial g6nius and
tireless energy of Jay Cooke.

Private subscriptions to the Centennial were lai^gdy
restricted by the new financial conditions of 1874-7 j-
76, and the fact that the revulsion was felt through-
out the entire State greatly increased the difficulty in
obtaining a million appropriation from the Legislature
in aid of the Centennial. John Welsh, who was the
financial manager of the Exposition, had a most
responsible and laborious task, but he was a man always
dominated by his public spirit in support of the ad-
vancement of the city, and he labored night and day,
but even with the State and city appropriations he
barely escaped financial failure. PubUc meetings were
held throughout the city which were addressed by the
ablest of our orators to inspire the people to contribute
to the support of the Exposition, and committees were
appointed to visit and personally solicit subscriptions.
The importimities were not confined to people of wealth,
but all classes and conditions were visited and urged to
contribute according to their means, however small.

It was then believed that the Exposition could take
in sufficient money to pay all the expenses and fully
reimburse the subscribers, but the appropriation made
by Congress imfortunately embraced the clause making
the government a preferred creditor, and as the receipts
fell far below what was originally expected, the indi-
vidual subscriptions were nearly or quite a total loss.
There was very general business and industrial depres-
sion during the Centennial year of 1876, and it was
very severely felt in the receipts. Scores of thousands
throughout the country who would have visited the
Exposition if the War tidal wave of prosperity had not

fU.

ifM-

Of Pennsylvania 385

been checked were compelled to forego the pleastire of
personally celebrating the Centennial of the natal day
of the Republic, but the general management of the
enterprise made exhaustive and well-considered efforts
to bring the largest possible attendance. John Welsh,
by his patriotic devotion and tireless efforts to promote
the Exposition, rendered a service to the city and State,
that was known only to the few who aided him in his
exacting labors, and has never been justly appreciated.

The politicians, as a rule, did little in aid of the Expo-
sition enterprise. Democratic leaders in both city and
State were disgusted by the partisan slough into which
the contest for the Centennial mayor had been plunged
by the Philadelphia leaders, and the very men who had
thus alienated a large element of contributors, when
they had won out at the February election, allowed
the Exposition to take care of itself, as they had more
than enough on hand to keep their political fences in
reasonable repair. The subscriptions from business
men throughout the State were not ten per cent, of
what they should have been imder ordinary good con-
ditions, and the contributions were as a rule secured
only by personal visit and solicitation. Had the busi-
ness conditions of 1874-75 been as favorable as they
were prior to the beginning of the revulsion of 1873,
and had there been no political complications to chill
the ardor of the Democrats, fully a million dollars
more could have been obtained by the Exposition
management, and with less than half the labor required
to obtain the amount actually received.

It was most fortunate that the Centennial was not
delayed a year later. Had 1877 embraced the Cen-
tennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
the Exposition would have been a colossal failure.
Labor strikes prevailed throughout the country from
the eastern to the western sea ; labor was largely unem-

386 Old Time Notes

ploved and pocnrly requited when empolyment was given,
and finally a period of actual starvation was reached,
and an eruption of anarchy engulfed all the great
industrial centers of the land. Even the great trunk
railways were in possession of the mob, and trains ran
only as the mob dictated. Governor Hartranft was
on a visit to the Pacific coast when the eruption came,
and when he started to come home to make an earnest
effort to maintain the peace of his great State, he fotmd
that he could travel only by permission of anarchy.
The leaders of the revolutionists were wise enough,
however, to recognize the necessity of giving 5ie
Governor of Pennsylvania a dear passage to his capital,
and when both commerce and travel were interrupted
almost to a standstill the train bearing the Governor
to Harrisburg was handled with special care, and every
facility aif orded for his speedy and safe return to his offi-
cial duties. In Philadelphia the Pennsylvania Raibx)ad
for some days could not send a locomotive out of its
depot, and tiie bravest men were appalled at the
possible mastery of anarchy. Had the Centennial
Exposition struck such a year the receipts would not
have paid operating expenses.

of Pennsylvania 387

LXXXVI.
WALLACE ELECTED U. S. SENATOR.

Republicans Lose the State at the First Election under the New Con-
stitution— Wallace Carefully Organized the Democrats, and had a
Large Majority of Friends in the Legislature — Nominated for United
States Senator with But Few Dissenting Votes — Buckalew Hostile
to Wallace, and Controlled Enough Votes to Defeat Him — Buckalew's
Attempt to Deal with Mackey — Mackey Saves Wallace.

NOTWITHSTANDING the triumph of the Re-
publican leaders in the Philadelphia mayor-
alty contest of 1874, the political conditions
of both city and State were very unpromising for the
Republicans. The registry law election officers had
be«i entirely supplanted at the February election,
and the usual methods of controlling majorities in
Philadelphia could no longer be employed. A new
political factor had gradually developed in the city
until it finally became a fearful millstone on the neck
of the Republican organization. It was known as the
Pilgrim Club, organized ostensibly as a social club,
but it was soon discovered that the membership had
been carefully chosen, and that it embraced a number
of prominent Republicans and a lesser number of prom-
inent Democrats who acted unitedly in Philadelphia
politics.

Colonel Mann was one of the prominent Republican
members, and Lewis C. Cassidy was one of the promi-
nent Democratic members, and with Cassidy were
Samuel Josephs, Senator Cochrane, son-in-law to
Cassidy, and other Democrats who were ready to co-
operate with the Pilgrim organization either for or
against their own respective parties, if power or profit

388 Old Time Notes

coxdd thereby be attained. It made Cassidy, Josephs,
Cochrane and all the other Democratic members of the
club ardently support Stokley in the contest for
mayor, and it beclame so aggressive that it finally
asstmied to dictate the nominations of both parties.
General Bingham, a member of the Pilgrim Club, was
nominated for clerk of the quarter sessions in 1875,
but the hostility aroused against the variegated political
masters of the club made the Union League rebel, and
by the vote of its own members it rejected Bingham as
a candidate after his nomination had been made, and
he narrowly escaped defeat. In the contest of 1874
this peculiar organization alienated many of the more
intelligent Republicans from the dominant power of
the party, and throughout the State the Republican
orranization lacked vitaUty.

There was an unusually large State ticket to be
elected, including two additional supreme judges added
to that court by the new Constitution, but the people
were allowed to vote for only one candidate for judge,
thus assuring the election of the Republican and Dem-
ocratic candidates, regardless of the success of either
party in the State. The Republican convention, that
was practically controlled by State Treasurer Mackey,
with Quay, then secretary of the commonwealth, as
a close second, nominated Judge Paxson, of Philadel-
phia, for the supreme bench, with Senator Olmsted
of Potter, for lieutenant governor, Senator Allen, of
Warren, for auditor general, and General Death, of
Philadelphia, for secretary of internal affairs. The
ticket was a very creditable one, as Olmsted was one
of the ablest and most respected of the prominent legis-
lators of the State, while Allen had served creditably
in both branches, and Beath was one of our most gal-
lant soldiers. Paxson had long been on the common
pleas bench of Philadelphia, and was recognized as *

Of Pennsylvania 389

one of the foremost of our Philadelphia jurists. The
Democrats nominated Senator Latta, of Westmore-
land, for Heutenant governor, Justus F. Temple, a
Greene County farmer, for auditor general, General
McCandless, of Philadelphia, for secretary of internal
affairs, and Warren J. Woodward, of Berks, for the
supreme court.

In Philadelphia the important city offices of district
attorney and coroner were to be filled, and Colonel
Mann was nominated to succeed himself as district
attorney, and Representative Ashe was nominated
for coroner. The local candidates were both mem-
bers of the Pilgrim Club, and they were presented by
their opponents in every section of the city as the Pil-
grim candidates. Furman Sheppard, who had been
defeated by Mann three years before, was again nomi-
nated as Mann's competitor, and Dr. Goddard was
made the Democratic candidate for coroner.

Mackey, who had won out the year before by his
majority in Philadelphia, as he came to the city with
fifty-nine votes against him, did not believe it possible
that the Democrats could carry the State, as he believed
that the congressional year, with an imusually im-
portant State ticket, would call out a much larger
Republican vote than he had received in 1873. The
new Legislature to be chosen was the first to conform
to the new constitutional provision enlarging the senate
from thirty to fifty, and the house to about two hun-
dred. A United States Senator was to be chosen by
the Legislature, and Mackey gave special attention to
the Legislative districts, but Senator Wallace, alto-
gether the ablest of the Democratic organizers of his
day, saw the opporttmity to carry the Legislature and
thus win the United States Senatorship for himself.
He devoted himself and his well-organized body of very
devoted friends to the single duty of looking after the

■^ . ^^ -■ . •,

Of Pennsylvania 391

f

greafly needed a much more flexible type of Senator.
Mackey and Qtiay decided that, as a Republican could
not be elected, lie only thing Hiey could do was to
punish Scott for having been a faithful Senator, and
they refused him a renomination, which was only an
empty honor, beyond an expression of appreciation of
his Senatorial record. While he cared little for the
office, and was probably more than willing to retire,
he and his friends were greatly mortified at the Machine
whip that was plied upon him to make him retire from
the Senate without even the empty nomination of his
party. In order to emphasize the lesson, Quay selected
John Allison, an ex-Congressman from his own town,
to whom the party nomination for Senator was awarded.

When Scott retired from the Senate he was soon made
the general solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, and continued in that responsible position
until his death. No man in the public service left a
cleaner record than did John Scott.

As Wallace had given his personal attention to the
nomination and election of Democratic senators and
representatives, an overwhelming majority of the Dem-
ocratic legislators were in favor of him for United States
Senator, and in the Democratic caucus he was noini-
nated by more than a three-fourths vote but some
half dozen of the Democrats were devoted followers of
Buckalew, and Buckalew was earnestly disposed to
resent the humihation put upon him by Wallace, when
Buckalew s term m the Senate had end^ Instead
of accordmg to Buckalew the empty comi^liment of
a nommation, Wallace took it lii!>;; ir- Undine it
to be an intunation to the DemcS^X'^f 'S^^t^^ of
bs purpose to contest for that honor in the future-
Buckalew felt very keenly the slight that w^put upon
to. and some of his friends were ready for revolu-
tionary action against Wallace, r was at Hanis-

390 Old Time Notes

L^islative districts, and as the political tide proved
to be in his favor, he won out handsomely, carrying
nine Democratic majority on joint ballot. Madcey
fotind l^is majorities for the State ticket very generally
lessened, and the Democratic candidates came to the
city of Philadelphia with nearly 18,000 majority.
Philadelphia gave a little over 13,000 for the State
ticket, thus enabling the State Democratic candidates
to win out by over 4,000 majority. Judge Paxson
had a majority against him witii his comrades on the
State ticket, but he was saved as the minority mem-
ber of the supreme judges.

Not only did the Republicans lose their entire State
ticket and the majority in the Legislattire, but they
suffered severely from a loss of Congressmen. The
delegation elected two years before contained five
Democrats and twenty-two Republicans, while the
delegation elected in 1874 contained seventeen Dem-
ocrats and ten Republicans. Harmer was beaten in the
Fifth district, in Philadelphia; Laporte was defeated
by Powell, in the Bradford district ; Blair was defeated
by Riley, in the Blair district; Stenger defeated Wistar,
in the Franklin district; Hopkins defeated Negley,
in one of the Allegheny districts, and Cochrane defeated
Bayne in the other; Jenks defeated Harry White in
the Armstrong district, and Egbert defeated Curtis
in the Erie district. It was a Republican Waterloo,
and was a most marvelous political achievement con-
sidering that the victorious party was beaten in the
State only two years before by nearly 140,000 majority.

The term of John Scott was about to expire in the
Senate. He had made an unusually creditable record
as Senator. While always recognizing just obligations
to party interests, he was not subject to orders from
party leaders. Had the Legislature been Republican,
he would not have been re-elected, as they wanted and

Of Pennsylvania 391

greafly needed a much more flexible type of Senator.
Mackey and Quay decided that, as a RepubHcan could
not be elected, liie only thing they could dcf was to
ptmish Scott for having been a faithful Senator, and
they refused him a renomination, which was only an
empty honor, beyond an expression of appreciation of
his Senatorial record. While he cared little for the
office, and was probably more than willing to retire,
he and his friends were greatly mortified at the Machine
whip that was plied upon him to make him retire from
the Senate without even the empty nomination of his
party. In order to emphasize the lesson, Quay selected
John Allison, an ex-Congressman from his own town,
to whom the party nomination for Senator was awarded.

When Scott retired from the Senate he was soon made
the general solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, and continued in that responsible position
tintil his death. No man in the public service left a
cleaner record than did John Scott.

As Wallace had given his personal attention to the
nomination and election of Democratic senators and
representatives, an overwhelming majority of the Dem-
ocratic legislators were in favor of him for United States
Senator, and in the Democratic caucus he was nomi-
nated by more than a three-fourths vote, but some
half dozen of the Democrats were devoted followers of
Buckalew, and Buckalew was earnestly disposed to
resent the himiiliation put upon him by Wallace, when
Buckalew 's term in the Senate had ended. Instead
of according to Buckalew the empty compliment of
a nomination, Wallace took it himself, intending it
to be an intimation to the Democrats of the State of
his purpose to contest for that honor in the future.
Buckalew felt very keenly the slight that was put upon
him, and some of his friends were ready for revolu-
tionary action against Wallace. I was at Harris-

Of Pennsylvania 393

by messengers from Mackey and Qtiay of what trans-
pired between them and Buckalew and was entirely
confident that the Republican leaders, woiild in some
way end the contest in his favor.

When Mackey made the proposition to Buckalew to
elect any Republican Senator that Buckalew might
name and gave that as his ultimattim, Buckalew sud-
denly abandoned the fight, and sent word directly to
Wallace that the Buckalew Democrats would vote
for him. I was in Wallace's room at the Bolton House
when the Buckalew message was received by Wallace:
The fight was thus ended, as Wallace was elected in the
joint convention, practically without a struggle, and
Buckalew retired rather more disgusted with the play
that Mackey and Quay had made upon him than be-
cause of the success of Wallace, and he never thereafter
attempted to make himself felt as a factor in State
politics. He was later twice elected to Congress, but
rotmded out a career of rare distinction and usefulness
by a himiiliating defeat for another term in Congress,
in the strongest Democratic district in the State out-
side of Berks. He struck the fearful revolutionary
tide of 1884, when the State voted nearly two to one
Republican.

Wallace was the last Democratic Senator from Penn-
sylvania, and the Legislature that elected him was the
last Pennsylvania Legislature with a Democratic major-
ity on joint ballot. Even in the revolutionary sweep
of 1877, when the Democrats elected their State ticket
by a larger majority than they attained in 1874, they
failed to carry a majority of the Legislature. Thus
for thirty years the Pennsylvania Legislature has been
tmiformly Republican. When Wallace resigned his
seat in the State senate to asstmie his Senatorial duties
at Washington, Dr. Boyer, of Clearfield, who had been
involved in the Senatorial scandal when Buckalew

394 Old Time Notes

defeated Cameron in 1863, was elected to serve Wal-
lace's imexpired term.

When Wallace became United States Senator he
rapidly developed as a political organizer of the Senate,
and in a very short time was formally recognized as
the Democratic manager of the body. He was a most
adroit politician, and as able in shaping the party policy
in the United States Senate as he was in organizing
his party forces in the State, and he r^arded hiis nomi-
nation and election to the Presidency as altogether
within the range of possibility. That was Wallace's
chief error, as from the time he became a candidate
for President he greatly impaired his own powers as a
party leader. Randall had been in the House for a
dozen years, and was a candidate for speaker when
Wallace became Senator. Instead of heartily support-
ing Randall, as was his true policy, he assumed that it
would endanger his own prospects if Randall became
speaker of the House, as he knew that Randall looked
to the Presidency as a possible achievement. Wallace
threw himself openly and aggressively into the fight
against Randall, and was successful in defeating him
by the nomination of Ker, of Indiana. Ker was
elected, but died within a year, and Randall then
became speaker without a serious contest. Wallace
saw that Randall could not be defeated, and permitted
the nomination to go by default.

That was the beginning of an estrangement between
Wallace and Randall that continued as long as they
were actively in politics. I cannot recall a single
political movement in the State thereafter in which
they cordially co-operated, and Wallace's last battle
was fought at Scranton for the nomination for Gov-
ernor only a few months after Randall's death. New
forces and new conditions had arisen such as confront
every political leader aft^ the long exercise of power,

Of Pennsylvania 395

and he was defeated by a convention in which a major-
ity of the delegates were of Wallace's old-time follow-
ing, but the granger element had become very aggres-
sive, and the ** hayseed" influence dominated the con-
vention, and macle Wallace an impossible candidate.
Soon thereafter his financial failure was annotmced,
resulting from heavy investments made in timber
lands and other Western property, most of which
became valuable after some years, but not in time to
save Wallace from bankruptcy. The last few years
of his life he spent chiefly in New York city, struggling
from day to day to hold his property and rescue him-
self from his serious financial troubles. His political
power, once so omnipotent in the State, had entirely
passed away, fickle forttme had deserted him, and
after a long and wearing struggle to retrieve his con-
dition, the silver cord was loosed by fretting anxiety
and the once great leader was borne to the City of the
Silent at his moimtain home.

The defeat of the Republican State ticket, and the
loss of Republican control in the Legislature were
appalling results to Mackey and Quay, and when they
looked over the other States they f oimd little to encour-
age them. Governor Hartranft would come up for
re-election the following year, and they appreciated
the necessity for most extraordinary efforts to restore
Republican supremacy in the State. The elections
of 1874 were a regular Democratic tidal wave, as they
elected Democratic Governors in Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and Connecticut; the Democratic Gover-
nor in New York by over 50,000, and Governor Beadle,
Democrat, was elected by a large majority in New
Jersey. Ohio had elected a Democratic Governor
the year before, and elected the Democratic State
ticket that year by an increased majority. Indiana
h^d also ^ven a large Democratic majority, and the

396 Old Time Notes

Republicans elected a State officer in Illinois only by
division among the Democrats. The Democrats elected
a large majority of the poptilar branch of Congress
for the first time since the beginning of the Civil War,
and Mackey and Quay fully appreciated the serious
political conditions which confronted them.

They at once directed their efforts to making a com-
plete organization throughout the State for the re-
election of Governor Hartranft, and it was carried to
the extent of a positive contract made with the leaders
of the Molly Maguires in Schuylkill Cotmty, by which
the protection of the Governor was promised them if
they would support the Republican ticket.

It is due to Governor Hartranft to say that he had
no knowledge of this compact at the time, and did not
know of it tmtil some time after his re-election, if he
ever knew of it, when Jack Kehoe, who had made the
contract on the part of the Molly Maguires, had been
convicted of murder in the first degree along with a
number of his associates, and was in prison awaiting
the death warrant of the Governor. Exhaustive
efforts were made on the part of Mackey and others to
save the life of Kehoe, but Hartranft yielded to these
importunities only to the extent of delaying the execu-
tion for an unusual period. The political compact
with the Molly Maguires had been publicly discussed
dtiring the campaign, and the delay in the execution
of Kehoe finally brought out the most emphatic de-
mand, not only from the Democratic journals of the
State, but from many of the leading Republican organs,
for the prompt issue of the death warrant. Whether
Hartranft was ever advised of the compact that had
been made for the protection of Kehoe and others is
now uncertain, but it is safe to assume that, however
he may have temporized the delay, he was incapable
of such a flagrant disregard of his official duty as to

Of Pennsylvania 397

protect the lives of men who had in cold blood delib-
erately planned and executed many murders without
provocation. It was expected that Kehoe would make
a statement when he appeared on the fatal platform
for execution, but he tmderstood the situation, and the
men who had made the compact with him were de-
lighted to be able to say that he died game.

Mackey and Quay were tireless in their efforts to
rehabilitate the party organization to enable it to win
the following year by the re-election of Hartranft and
to regain the control of the Legislature. They took
every legislative district in hand, gave personal atten-
tion to the nomination of candidates wherever a con-
test was probable, contributed freely to aid in the nomi-
nation of available men, and in doubtful districts
money was Uberally supplied to aid the Republican
nominees. Live party organizations were made in
every election district in the State, and long before the
campaign opened, or the State nominations were made,
and the result was that by the time the State conven-
tion met they had the party in the best possible shape,
and recovered the State by a small majority with the
control of both branches of the Legislature. It was
the work of these two men at the opening of the year
1875 "that made the re-election of Hartranft possible.
They were working day and night when the Democratic
leaders were at rest, and it was organization alone
that saved Governor Hartranft in the contest of 1875.

400 Old Time Notes

and exhibited Forney's cablegram closing the sale.
Access was promptly given for the examination of all
the departments of the paper, and arrangements were
made to take possession of it on the firet of the fol-
lowing month.

The sale of "The Press" was publicly announced,
and it was notice to the political leaders of the city
that aggressive hostility to their mastery was about
to conm)nt them. I went to Washington to complete
arrangements for the Press Bureau at the National
Capital, and when I returned Mr. Weigley informed me
that Mrs. Forney was very much disturbed about the
sale and desired to see me. The terms were so advan-
tageous to Forney that I could not doubt that Mrs.
Forney would be glad to approve the sale, if she fairly
imderstood the conditions, but I was surprised to find
her implacably and violently hostile to it. She stated
that she had consulted Mr. Childs, Mr. McMichael and
other prominent friends of Colonel Forney, who had
cabled to Forney urging him not to consummate the
sale, as they did not then know that the contract of
sale had been signed by both parties and was complete.
Mrs. Forney appealed to me in the agony of tears to
permit the sale to be revoked. I well knew how errone-
ously she reasoned on the subject, but I finally agreed
that a cablegram should be sent to Forney over my
signature authorizing him to revoke the contract if he
desired to do so. The result was that within twenty-
four hours Forney cabled revoking the sale, and Forney
continued to conduct "The Press'* for several years
with little profit, and finally sold it to its present owners
for just one-half the price he would have received by
the contract of 1875.

The necessity for an independent newspaper was so
generally understood, and the establishment of such a
journal so earnestly desired, that the failure of "The

Of Pennsylvania 401

Press" purchase broiight Frank McLaughlin and
myself into conferences on the subject of starting an
entirely new paper. Our acquaintance was not inti-
mate, although each probably well understood the
qualities of the other, as McLaughlin was known to be
one of the most accomplished printers and publishers
of the city. He had ample capital, which I had not,
but I had assurances from friends that my share of the
needed capital would be furnished. It was a bold
tmdertaking to start a new daily journal in Philadelphia
without the hope of any official patronage, and with
the assured hostility of the whole political power of
city and State. McLaughlin was an extremely cau-
tious man, but broad gauge and liberal in carrying out
any enterprise he decided to accept. The man who
really brought Mr. McLaughlin and myself together,
and who finally resolved all doubts in McLaughlin's
mind about engaging in the new venture, was Philip
Collins, an old-time close friend of McLaughlin, who
had retired from business as one of the greatest of our
State railroad contractors, with an ample fortime, and
located in Philadelphia.

**The Age,'* theru owned by Dr. Morwitz, that had
less than five himdred circulation, was offered for
$30,000 payable in the stock of the new company, and
that gave us the Associated Press franchise. One-
fourth of the capital stock was taken by Governor
Curtin, Charles A. Dana, Andrew H. Dill and Colonel
Scott, represented by Senator Wallace, who kindly
proposed to take the risk of the venture, and allow me
at any time to become owner of their stock, by paying
the par value and six per cent, interest. The owner-
ship of the new paper was divided into four equal parts
and held by Frank McLaughlin, his brother, John,
Philip Collins and myself, holding the powers-of-
attomey for those who had subscribed to my interest.

2 — 26

4od Old Time Notes

The only things of value to us in the equipment of
the old ^*Age" office were the cases, tables and an old
double cylinder Hoe press, capable of printing about
15,000 copies of " The Times" in an hour on one side.
The outside forms were put to press about midnight,
and before finishing the first run the pressman, who
is now mine host of Dooner's Hotel, would go out on
the street star-gazing, and if a fair morning was prom-
ised, he would add 500 to the regular edition, and if
stormy weather was indicated, he wotdd cut about
the same nimiber from it. Of course, the weather
was at times fickle and misled Pressman Dooner by
furnishing a clear morning when he had printed a re-
duced edition for a stormy morning, but these were
unavoidable accidents.

All of the men connected with the business part of
the enterprise, including the four who kindly furnished
my capital, have crossed the dark river, but two of the
men who began with the issue of the first number of
" The Times*' are yet well known in journalistic circles.
Dr. Lambdin, now editor of the " Ledger," was manag-
ing editor of the ** Times" when it was first issued, and
continued to fill that position creditably imtil the
** Ledger" finally purchased the paper and continued
Dr. Lambdin on the staff. Louis N. Megargee, then
an ambitious embryo reporter, was on the local staff,
and wrote for the first issue an article of a column and
a half, beginning the battle against the Philadelphia
Pilgrims that not long thereafter ended in the destruc-
tion of that organization. Philip Collins, without
whom **The Times" probably never would have been
started, was a man of few words, but he exhibited an
imusual interest in the newspaper enterprise that was
entirely outside of his business ideas and tastes.

The first n timber was issued on the 13th of March,
1875, in the "Old Age" building on Seventh Street,

Of Pennsylvania 403

above Chestnut, and on the day before its issue, when
all hands were hard at work, Collins came into my
editorial room, and after asking a few questions as to
how things were progressing, he came up to me and
said: "I have put a large amount of money in this
enterprise and perhaps am largely responsible for
bringing others into it. I believe that the paper can
be made a great success, but if it fails I won't squeal.
I have but one request to make of you ; that is that you
shall nm this paper just as you damn please." I
answered that while I expected to assume the responsi-
bility for the tone and general policy of the paper, I
should certainly rely to some measure upon the con-
siderate judgment of my associates. The paper was
started without a single subscriber, and none were
distributed gratuitously. A fund of $50,000 was in
bj.nk to aid in meeting the current expenses. At the
end of three months we had drawn over $13,000 upon
that f imd ; the next quarter the receipts and expendi-
tures were about balanced, and at the end of the year
we could have paid a dividend of six per cent, out of
earnings and cash in hand.

The second year we bought the property at Eighth
and Chestnut with a mortgage of $50,000 upon it, and
built the original Times building out of the drawer dur-
ing the Centennial year, and bought two Hoe Perfect-
ing presses, and the third year we paid the mortgage on
the property with a considerable surplus in the treas-
luy . No dividends were thus paid the first three years,
and dividends were also passed some ten years later
when the paper was reduced to a penny, and a htmdred
thousand dollars of new machinery had to be purchased,
and again when "The Times' " mechanical building on
Sansom Street was burned in 1892, when the rebuilding
and the increased plant cost $115,000 more than the
insurance. Notwithstanding these five years in which

404 Old Time Notes

no dividends were paid, "The Times" in the twenty-
six years in which it was tinder the direction of its
founders paid its stockholders in cash dividends their
entire capital five times over, and then sold the property
at a premium of $275 per share, including every share
of stock issued by the company. The dividends many
years were as high as forty per cent, and in a short
time they refunded to those who had aided it their
money with interest. There were few stockholders
outside of the four chief interests in the paper, and they
had the assurance that under no circtunstances would
the stock be sacrificed by a sale of a majority.

That policy was carried out after all the foimders
were dead but myself, and the sale was made to Mr.
ICindred, who piu-chased every share of the stock at
the same price. As an illustration of the fidelity that
was cherished by the original foimders for each other,
the case of Philip Collins may be given. He had suf-
fered some losses in stocks in 1875, ^^^ he was tempted
to resume his old business of contracting by an offer
that came from London for the construction of a rail-
way in Brazil. After consulting with Mr. Gowan, then
president of the Reading, who heartily co-oj)erated with
him, he and his brother, Thomas Collins, took the con-
tract and sailed for Brazil with an outfit and a large
company of operators. Within a year a decision of the
English court rendered the fund that was relied upon
for the construction of the road unavailable, and the
result was that the Collinses returned hopelessly bank-
rupt. When Philip Collins entered into the Brazilian
contract he needed money, and he asked his associates
to purchase his stock in **The Times'* at par and inter-
est, and it was done. Money was not needed in the
office, and the stock was put away in the safe to be
held for any emergency that might arise. The pur-
chase was absolute, and Mr. Collins never dreamed of

Of Pennsylvania 405

having any further interest in the concern. When
he returned bankrupt, his associates decided that as he
had been one of the most active in founding "The
Times," and had now suffered great losses at an age
when he could hardly hope to retrieve his forttme, he
should have the benefit of his stock without giving him
any formal ownership. The dividends were then forty
per cent, and he was paid the dividends less interest
upon the money from year to year, until finally the
company again purchased his stock at double its
original cost. He made the sale when we were about
to reduce the price of the paper to a penny, as he re-
garded its future success as somewhat problematic.
When John McLaughlin died, leaving an estate heavily
enctunbered, the stock was sold and purchased by the
president of the company for the benefit of the children,
who had a liberal income from it, even after the pay-
ment of interest.

Frank McLaughlin's health was sadly broken for
years before his death, so much so that he was really
incapacitated for handling a great newspaper enterprise,
and at his death I was left alone of the original f oimders,
and with a large majority of the stock held by guardians
for minor children who were dependent upon its divi-
dends for a livelihood. Finally the period came, by
rapidly increasing competition in journalism, when
the entire earnings of the paper would have been neces-
sary for a year in advance to enable it to maintain its
prosperous condition. Expending profits to make
future profits assured meant the loss of much needed
income to a number of children, and a conference was
called with the guardians and executors who repre-
sented the chief interests, and the facts were presented,
leaving simply a choice between the sale of the prop-
erty or expending its entire earnings for a year to
enlarge its business. It was decided to sell, and Mr.

4o6 Old Time Notes

Kindred became a purchaser in 1899, when my editorial
control of the paper ceased, although by the contract
of sale I was requu^ to continue as editor. The policy
of the paper on all matters political and otherwise was
dictated by the owner, and I twice asked for a reduction
of my own salary for the simple reason that I was of no
more value to the paper than any other editorial writer
who could furnish ^torials according to directions.
'*The Times" finally ended its career by a sale that
tmited it with the "Ledger."

When ** The Times" was founded it was an imperious
necessity that it should be severely and consistently
independent. The public abuses in nation, State and
city were the abuses of Republican authority, and that
necessitated an aggressive crusade against the Repub-
lican organization. In the first issue of the paper it
was announced that it would be *' independent in
everything, neutral in nothing," and it maintained
that policy with scrupulous fidelity regardless of
personal or party interests. Its first great battle was
with the Pilgrim organization, whose leading members,
assuming that ** The Times" could be easily overthrown,
came out in a defiant challenge, denying the accusa-
tions and assuring the public that the club would
be continued indefinitely. It was a short, sharp and
decisive campaign, and before a dozen moons had filled
their houses there was a public sale of the furniture
and fixtures, and the Pilgrim Club passed into history.

The policy of supporting competent and faithful
judges for re-election was declared at the outset, and
the sincerity of purpose pointedly illustrated by earn-
estly favoring Judge Biddle, the Republican candidate
for judge, against a thoroughly competent Democratic
competitor, while as actively opposing the remainder
of the Republican ticket. The policy of supporting
an independent judiciary and urging the re-election of

Of Pennsylvania 407

all faithful and competent judges, regardless of party,
was maintained imtil "The Times" passed from the
possession of its original foimders.

Another policy from which it never departed was to
solicit no patronage from political power. One of the
first achievements of the new paper was the defeat of
Rowan for sheriff and the election of Mr. Wright, the
Democratic candidate, in 1876. When nominated,
Mr. Wright called on the editor and desired to know
what the attitude of '* The Times'' would be. He did it
because it had long been the custom to visit editors,
ascertain the expression they would make, and the
attitude of the paper would be freely spoken of and
discussed before its issue. He was sorely disappointed
when informed that he must wait imtil ''The Times"
was issued the next morning, to know what it had to
say on the subject. He was doubtless agreeably sur-
prised to find the most positive attitude in support of
his election, and when elected he immediately called
at the office of the paper to say that his entire adver-
tising patronage would be given to *' The Times." He
was amazed when informed that he could not publish
any official advertisement as sheriff in the columns of
the paper. His term covered the severe depression of
1877, and the sheriff's advertising amoimted to over
$30,000 a year to each of any two papers he selected
for the purpose, but ** The Times" refused it, believing
that it was necessary to establish in the public mind
the absolute independence of the paper, and its refusal
to accept the sheriff's advertising led to the re-organiza-
tion of the ** Record" that laid the foimdation for one
of the great newspaper properties of the city. A
decade later the paper received official advertising, as
its independent attitude was fully tmderstood, but it
never permitted an abatement of a dollar for the benefit
of the official advertising.

4o8 Old Time Notes

•

One of the most interesting f eattires of a long political
career was my personal relations with the political
leaders, especially of the city, with whom the paper was
almost constantly in antagonism. There never was
any personal estrangement between any of them and
myself, although they were earnestly and defiantly
assailed when occasion demanded it, and often defeated.
The leaders of that day were Stokley, McManes,
Leeds, Rowan, Hill, Kemble and others. There never
was a time when any or all of them did not feel entirely
free to come to my office and confer about political
struggles then in progress, or soon to begin, and the
utmost frankness was always exhibited with entire
confidence in the sanctity of the expressions given. I
many times called upon some of them and secured their
aid in accomplishing political results which were not
inconsistent with the policy of the paper. On one
occasion I secured the co-operation of Mayor Stokley,
McManes, Leeds, Hill and Kemble with the aid of
Mackey, to defeat Republican candidates for several
of the most important city offices.

It was not done because they especially desired the
defeat of those candidates, but because they did not
care specially for them, and expected some time to gain
reciprocal results of more importance to themselves.
It was that combination that made Robert E. Pattison
controller of Philadelphia, and twice Governor of the
State. There was not one of those leaders who did not
feel entirely free to come to the editorial office of " The
Times'* and discuss, with entire frankness, any political
proposition he desired to present, and their slated
nominations were many times modified after a confer-
ence in "The Times'* office, to avoid a desperate strug-
gle in which their defeat was more than possible. I
recall at least two occasions when candidates were
withdrawn from the ticket after they had been formally

Of Pennsylvania 409

•

nominated, because it was a necessity to do so to avoid
a desperate and doubtful struggle.

All of these men suffered humiliating defeat at one
time or another. McManes was defeated for re-election
to the Gas Trust, Rowan and Leeds were each defeated
for sheriff, and Hill, after having been slated for the
nomination for sheriff practically without a contest,
annotmced his decUnation in "The Times" office in
favor of Enoch Taylor, who had been tinthought of
for the place, because his election could not be supported
by the paper and he saw immistakable signs of revo-
lution on every side. He was then bankrupt and
pleaded most earnestly for a chance to retrieve his
fortunes, but while he could not be made a candidate
for sheriff, he was enabled to realize a large income
during Taylor's term, who received only his salary,
while Hill received fifty per cent, of the advertising
from the newspapers, giving him a much larger income
than the salary of the sheriff. These relations made a
political role so difficult to accept that it could be
maintained only by never departing in the least degree
from the absolutely independent policy of the paper,
and that policy made **The Times** one of the most
successful newspapers of the country.

410 Old Time Notes

LXXXVIII.
VENALITY IN LEGISLATION.

Corruption of Legiilators Practically Unknown until Half a Century
Ago— The Original Old Time Lobbyist Who Never Debauched
Legislators — ^The Struggle Between Ignorance and Prejudice on the
One Side, and Progressive Elements of the State Looking to the
Development of Wealth, Gave Importance to Venal Influences— The
First Open Debauch in the Senatorial Contest of 1855 — ^Again Vis-
ible in 1858 in the Sale of State Canals to the Sunbury and Brie
Railroads-War Brought Demoralisation and Qttickened Venality —
Many Sternly Honest Legislators Supported Measures They Knew
to be Corrupt — Venality Largely Ruled in Legislation until the
Adoption of the New Constitution — Political Power Largely Ruled
Legislation, But Diminished Individual Prostitution.

*¥ TENALITY was practically unknown in Penn-
\/ sylvania legislation half a centtiry ago. There
^ had been several occasions when important
bills were pressed upon the Legislature which aroused
bitter partisan antagonism, when the debauchery of
individual legislators was hinted at, but in no instance
was it clearly established. The recharter of the United
States bank as a State institution was a notable instance
of the early legislative contests which called out impu-
tations of unlawful influences, but in that case, instead
of debauching members of the Legislature, when the
bank secured the support of prominent senators and
representatives, it accepted in the charter obligations
to make public appropriations in which legislators
were interested. The State canals had been a rtmning
sore of corruption for many years, and it required
extraordinary efforts almost every season to obtain
the appropriations demanded by the canal board,
as the conviction was very general that a considerable

Of Pennsylvania 411

percentage of the money thus appropriated was cor-
ruptly applied; but as a rule the canal board had a
party majority in the Legislature, and with the patron-
age it possessed, its power over legislation was usually
equal to all its requirements.

The only method adopted for the passage of charters
or private bills which met with opposition was what
was then commonly spoken of as ** log rolling." That
method consisted of combining interests in the
support of a number of bills, many of which would have
been opposed by a number of those in the combina-
tion if each bill had been considered only on its merits,
but by such combinations a majority could be obtained
to pass a large number of bills in which members were
specially interested. Log rolling was then denounced
as the bane of honest legislation, just as venality is
now denounced as a poison to the very vitals of popular
government. Banks were then organized by a special
charter passed by the Legislature, and on several occa-
sions, when the Legislature was not specially friendly
to bank charters, a combination would be formed,
including a dozen or more bank charters and other
private bills of interest to individual members, and thus
by the log-rolling process all would be passed, but no
one in those days entered the Legislature as many did
later, and as some do now, with the expectation that
they may reap large pectmiary profit by the legislative
authority.

I well remember when there was but one man known
in Harrisburg during the sessions of the Legislature
who devoted his time to what would now be called
lobbying. He was Captain Keams, one of the most
popular of the packet captains on the canal in the boat-
ing season, and who spent his winters at Harrisburg
devoting himself to obtaining private legislation when
wanted by his many friends throughout the State,

41 a Old Time Notes

who usually gave him what would now be regarded as
a very insignificant fee for his trouble; but he never
entertained the idea of debauching members of the
Legislature, or tempting them by venal ofTers. As
the Legislature then had tmlimited authority over pri-
vate legislation, it was not tmcommon for individuals
to be especially interested in the passage of local bills,
and they preferred to pay Captain Keams a small fee
because his knowledge of committees and legislators
enabled him to accomplish what they could not accom-
plish by their own efforts.

In later years, when venality ran riot in legislation,
the lobbyist became altogether the most important
factor in Pennsylvania legislation, and I could name a
dozen men who amassed liberal forttmes by plying
their vocations as lobbyists. They were men of
unusual intelligence and sagacity, some of whom had
held important political positions, and when venality
became the ruling power of l^pbslative authority and
great interests involving at times millions of dollars
were presented, none attempted to obtain legislation
which affected pecuniary interests without accepting
the slimy embrace of the lobby. These men have all
passed away, and their names may be consigned to
charitable forgetfulness.

I served three years jn the house beginning with
the session of 1858, and six years in the senate ending
in 1874, and during that period of sixteen years ven-
ality in legislation reached its tidal wave. I saw it in
every phase, and many times supported measures when
I knew that a considerable portion of those who were
voting with me had demanded and obtained a price
for their votes. When not in the Legislature I was
connected with the military department at Harris-
burg during the war and for some time after its close,
and my connection with the public affairs of the State

Of Pennsylvania 413

covered the period when legislative results were often
a supreme necessity, and when men, however honest
in purpose, could not take pause to inquire what means
were necessary for its attainment.

The Democrats were then, as a party, hostile to
banks, and with that partisan sentiment arrayed
against the banks, a combination was formed by a
number of venal legislators to extort money from the
banks at the price of relieving them from the penalty
of suspension. A committee of bankers were present
at the opening of the session and pressed the passage
of the bill with great earnestness, but they were dum-
fotmded when, after a long delay, they were confronted
with a demand for a considerable amount of money to
be put down to save the bill from defeat. The repre-
sentatives of the banks were appalled at the proposition,
and decided to send for a number of prominent bankers
to confer with them on the subject. Among the men
sent for was the elder Boker, who had brought the
Girard Bank up from the verge of insolvency to a
thoroughly substantial and dividend -paying institu-
tion. He was eminently practical and rugged in his
methods. When the matter was submitted to him his
answer was: "What's the use of praying when you're
in hell. Pay the money and get your bill." There
was no time to bring popular pressure to bear upon the
Legislature, and Mr. Boker *s method was adopted,
whereby the suspension of 1857 was legalized by the
Legislature.

It is just half a century since Peimsylvania began,
at first in a feeble way, to liberalize her policy by the
encouragement of corporate organizations to develop
her wealth. Until that time the State was held in the
leading strings of ignorance and prejudice. Corpora-
tions were looked upon by a very large portion of the
people as mere organizations to obtain special privi-

414 Old Time Notes

leges from the State to enrich individuals, and many
ouers tolerated tJiem only as necessary evils. Every
effort made to liberalize the policy of the State was at
first hindered by prejudice and later on by venality, as
venality was stimulated by the necessities of great
enterprises. The Pennsylvania Railroad would never
have been more than a local line between Philadelphia
and Pittsbui^ if the terms of its original charter had
been maintained, and it had to struggle more than a
decade against ignorance, prejudice and venality to
liberalize the policy of the State and enable it to bring
millions of trade to our metropolis, and to develop the
cotmtless millions of wealth which have been gained
to the State by the liberal and progressive corporate
policy that was finally won after many desperate
struggles.

It was these combinations which gave birth to venal
legislation in Pennsylvania. The corruption of Leg-
islatures was not, as a rule, for benefits to individuals,
excepting as they might profit by the grand enter-
prises which they planned for tlie development of the
vast resources of the Commonwealth. They were
halted by the legislative corruptionist, and they were
compelled to bow to his demands or leave the State
to plod along with its commerce crippled and its wealth
sltmibering. It was just such a condition as confronted
the National Government in 1865, when the constitu-
tional amendment abolishing slavery had been defeated
in the first session of Congress. It was laid over, on
motion to reconsider, and finally passed during the
second session, when a number of Democrats changed
their votes, some of whom received political advantages,
lucrative appointments from the administration very
soon thereafter. It was a supreme necessity to pass the
amendment; it could be done in only one way, and
that was adopted not from choice, but from necessity.

Of Pennsylvania 415

The bill for the sale of the Main Line to the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad as originally passed by the Legislature
was not the creation of the lobby, as the railroad com-
pany refused to accept the bill. That movement had
behind it an overwhelming sentiment in favor of the
sale of the public works, because of the corruption and
profligacy which prevailed in their direction, and the
Whig party was practically solid in support of it, while
the best elements of the Democrats also favored the
sale. It was made the great feature of Governor
Pollock's administration, and he pressed it with ear-
nestness upon the Legislature, and that important
reform was accomplished chiefly or wholly by legiti-
mate efforts; but the supreme court declared imcon-
stitutional the section releasing the corporation from
taxes on its property, including tonnage taxes, in con-
sideration of certain payments made for the sale of
the Main Line, and while the sale was declared to be
legal when carried into effect, the tonnage tax ques-
tion remained until the company, after many desperate
struggles, finally accomplished its repeal in 1861.

While the imperious necessity for a liberalized policy
in Pennsylvania that would promote the development
of our botmdless resources was the chief foimtain of
venality in our Legislature in its desperate struggle for
the period of half a generation with ignorance, prejudice
and venality, it is only just to say that the first general
debauchery of the Legislature was caused by a pro-
tracted and most demoralizing political contest in
1855, when fully a score of men at one time or another
entered the contest for the United States Senatorship.
It was the only Know Nothing Legislature the State
ever had, and as a very large portion of its members
had been nominated and elected by secret machinery
that opened the widest doors for fraud, it is not sur-
prising that such a Legislature should be a most inviting

4i8 Old Time Notes

most trivial bills involving any individual interest were
made to pay tribute to comiptionists, and lobbyists
and legislators studied day and night how they could
introduce bills affecting existing corporations or other
interests, and compel them to be halted by blackmail.
They were known as "pinch" bills, and were one of
the common features of legislation for many years,
as the Legislature then had imrestricted power in pri-
vate l^pusktion.

War is a great demoralizer, and civil wars the worst
of all, and our legislation during the war was so gen-
erally controlled by comiptionists that it became
accepted as one of the inseparable features of Pennsyl-
vania legislation. Under even ordinary conditions,
grave political necessities often arise, but during the
war political necessities were often so imperious in
every feature that no hopeftd means could be left
unemployed to meet them. I well remember when
the house was brought to the first vote on the question
of sustaining the Government, after Sumter had been
fired upon. It was of the utmost importance that we
should hold the Democrats from a solid column against
the government, and within two hours of the time
that the house was to act, I was informed by a member
of the body who well understood the situation, and who
usually profited by such conditions, that for a very
moderate sum of money a number of the Democrats
could be held to the support of the government. A
conference was hastily held in the Governor's office, and
some six or eight men who were present contributed,
from their own private means, an equal share of- money
that was promptly paid and the contract fulfilled.

I served continuously in the house and senate from
the session of 1858 to the close of the session of 1862,
and was thereafter officially connected with the military
department of the government imtil the close of the

Of Pennsylvania 419

war. One of my important duties was to give special
attention to legislation relating to the support of the
State administration and to the government m pros-
ecuting the war, and during that period I had full
knowledge of the attitude of every member of both
branches, and nearly or quite all of them knew that I
was fully advised of the venal contracts of legislators.
They knew that I was so situated that it would not only
make me utterly powerless, but probably result in grave
disaster on some most important matters, if an attempt
had been made to expose and ptmish, or even to halt,
the flood tide of venality. For years during that period
I saw the private memoranda of the leading lobbyists,
in which the name of every senator and every represen-
tative was recorded who could be corruptly influenced
in legislation, and I have seen in that record as many
as seventy of the one htmdred members of the house,
and more than twenty of the thirty-three senators.
They were of different classes, the larger class ready to
deal with or against anything, while the smaller class
could be reached only on particular occasions, when
they felt that they could do it with safety.

While serving in the senate, the prominent venal
traders in both branches never hesitated to discuss any
contract for the support of certain measures, as they
knew that I could not, and certainly would not, attempt
to betray them. Venality was absolutely masterful,
and with the terrible exigencies of war and the at times
startling necessities which were suddenly thrown upon
the administration, there was but one course open, and
that was to utilize the Legislature as it was, inasmuch
as it could not be made otherwise.

I remember on one occasion a certain bill of local
interest had been set up by a prominent lobbyist to
be passed in the senate, but a short time before the bill
was called a considerably larger stmi was offered to

420 Old Time Notes

defeat it, and the senator who dealt for the gang, who
at the time had the money in his pocket to pass the bill,
received the larger sum to defeat it, and it happened
that he was called to the chair and presided with the
money for both sides in his pocket, when the bill was
considered and defeated. In both branches the venal
elements were oi^ganized in small gangs of ten or a
dozen in the house, and five or more in the senate, and
bv seeing the leaders arrangements could be made,
if the terms were acceptable, for the requisite niunber
of votes without dealing with individuals. During
all this tidal wave of legislative venality there were
men of the purest purpose and sternest integrity who
served in both branches, with full knowledge of the
venal environment, but they knew that if they at-
tempted to assail it they would simply be made
utterly powerless to serve their constituents or any im-
portant public or private interests they had at heart.
This condition continued, varying only in degree,
tmtil the adoption of the new Constitution in 1874.
I was one of those who earnestly urged the constitu-
tional convention for years before it was accepted,
and chiefly on the grotmd that it was necessary to
enlarge the Legislature as the only method of rescuing
it from the mastery of venality, and it is only just to
say that since the enlargement of the Legislature
there has been no instance in which anything approach-
ing a majority of either branch of the Legislature has
been open to venal purchase. New conditions have
arisen, by which partisan power largely commands legis-
lation, and while measures quite as corrupt and pro-
fligate as any of those enacted during the tidal wave
of venality are occasionally enacted tmder the new con-
ditions, it is generally chiefly by the power of political
leadership, and only to a very limited degree by the
debauchery of individual members. I have good

of Pennsylvania 421

reason to know that the general sweep of legislative
venality was halted by the new Constitution. My last
term in the senate ended just when the new Constitu-
tion went into effect, and at no time during the war
was legislative venality more common than it was in
1873-74, the last of the limited Legislature under the
old Constitution. Instead of the lobbyists of the olden
time, the political masters of the present dictate im-
portant legislation that involves profit to individuals,
and the shame of a generally corrupted senate and
house has been effaced from the annals of the Com-
monwealth.

I have noted with interest the careers of the men I
knew as corruptionists in the early days of my legis-
lative career, and only a very small percentage of those
who realized the largest profits by the sale of their
votes enjoyed a competency throughout their lives.
Money so easily made, and bringing with it a departure
from honest purposes in life, logically inspired pro-
fligacy and indulgence, and a large majority of those
who once thought themselves men of moderate for-
time, as the fruits of legislative corruption, died in
poverty. Long continued and close observation of
this once glaring evil that shadowed the Commonwealth
with shame, clearly teaches that, as a rule, no public
official can afford to make his official authority a
matter of bargain and sale for individual profit, even
as a business proposition, exclusive of the disgrace that
the moral turpitude involved. There are apparent
exceptions to the rule, as is common with all rules, but
official venality is reasonably certain, sooner or later,
to bring sorrow or shame, and often both.

423 Old Time Notes

LXXXIX.
HARTRANFT RE-ELECTED.

Mackey and Quay Take Early and Vigorous Action to Retrieve the Defeat
of 1874 — ^They Perfect the Republican Organization — Obtain Abso-
lute Control of the Greenback and Labor Organizations — Green-
back Sentiment Very Formidable in the State — Hartranft Unani-
mously Renominated — ^A Protracted Contest for the Democratic
Nomination — Judge Pershing Finally Chosen — ^The Labor and
Greenback Parties Held from Fusion by Republican Leaders, and
That Elected Hartranft by la.ooo Plurality — The Democrats Carried
the Popular Branch of the Legislature — Hartranft's Creditable
Career as Governor — Later Collector of the Port and Postmaster —
Finally Suffered Financial Disaster, and Made Earnest but Unavail-
ing Efforts to Save His Friends.

THE Republican disaster of 1874, by which the
dominant party of the State lost its entire
State ticket, the control of the Legislature
and a United States Senator, made the leaders enter
very early and earnestly upon the work of rescuing
the State in 187 5, when a Governor and State treasurer
were to be elected. Hartranft was about closing his
first term as Governor, and, beyond his necessary
identification with the Cameron-Mackey power of
the State, his record had been generally creditable.
He was highly respected personally and his superb
record as a volunteer soldier warmly commended him
to the loyal people of the State. He was not a leader,
although generally level-headed as an adviser. He
could do little or nothing to promote his own nomina-
tion and election, but with Mackey and Quay to handle
the organization he could safely rely upon the best
possible results being obtained. They knew that the
contest was doubtful, and they took time by the fore-

Of Pennsylvania 423

lock in fortifying themselves wherever their lines were
weak, and they made very important incursions into
the enemy's forces which were not visible to the public.
There were two side elements in politics which were
then largely commercial, and what Mackey and Quay
did not know about handling such elements was not
worth studying, and they practically assured the
success of Hartranft by the early manipulation of the
Greenback and Labor leaders.

The Greenback sentiment had become quite strong
among the Democratic people, and there were many
Republicans who would have been glad to see their
own party adopt the new theory. The Greenback
movement was the first insidious form of repudiation
that was formulated after the war. During the war
there were open repudiationists, but small in number
and influence, who openly proclaimed that it was im-
possible for the nation to pay the enormous war debt,
and frankly advised summary repudiation as the only
relief. President Johnson, in a formal message to
Congress, advised t5ie repudiation of the public debt by
the payment of the amount of the principal in interest
and make that absolute payment. The movement
was given great vitality in 1868 by George H. Pendle-
ton, of Ohio, who had been the nominee for Vice-Presi-
dent with McClellan in 1864. He became an aggressive
candidate for the Democratic nomination for President
and openly proclaimed his policy of having but one
form of paper money, all issued by the government,
that should be receivable by all, including the govern-
ment, as legal tender, excepting where specific contracts
were made for different payment. The Democrats of
Ohio were greatly enthused in support of Pendleton,
and I well remember the Ohio delegation at the New
York convention, that nominated Seymour for Presi-
dent and General Blair for Vice-President, all wearing

424 Old Time Notes

badges in imitation of Greenbacks, and thousands of
Ohio rooters, decorated in like manner, all hurrahing
for Pendleton and plenty of money.

It had evidently taken deep root in Ohio, and in 1873
the venerable ex-Senator Alien was nominated as the
Democratic candidate for Governor on a distinctly
Greenback platform and elected over General Noyes, a
gallant and crippled soldier of the war. This was the
first form of practical repudiation while actually dis-
claiming repudiation, and the free silver tidal wave
was simply a fresh eruption of repudiation in a new
form adapted to the new conditions of the coimtry.
They logically led to Populism, that has since gravi-
tated into Socialism, and greatly multiplied not only the
tolerance of anarchy, but the actual growth of anarchy
among the idle and vicious of the land. The socialism
and anarchy of to-day are the logical fruits of the
repudiation that began with the Greenback movement,
followed by the variegated cheap money and get-some-
thing-for-nothing movements which were injected into
the politics of the country.

Thfe RepuV)licans opened the campaign of 1875 i^ the
early part of the year, hokling their convention at
Lancaster on the 25th of May. Governor Hartranft
was renominated for Governor by acclamation and on
the second ballot, Henry Rawle, of Erie, was nomi-
nated for State treasurer. The Democratic State con-
vention met at Erie on the 8th of September, presided
over by Hon. Hendrick B. Wright, of Luzerne. There
was a protracted and somewhat embittered struggle
over the question of adopting the Greenback theory
as the party faith, but imder the lead of Frank Hughes,
of Schuylkill, one of the ablest men of the State, who
threw himself into the contest with great earnestness,
the doctrine of a universal government paper money
to be a legal tender in all dealings with the government

Of Pennsylvania 425

and between individuals, excepting where specific con-
tracts were made of a different character, was formally
proclaimed as the doctrine of the Democratic party.

Among the prominent Democrats of that day were
many men engaged in large financial and other business
enterprises who were not prepared to take the plimge
toward repudiation that was obviously involved in the
newly declared policy of the party, and it chilled many
who had been among its most earnest supporters. It
was expected by the leaders who dominated the con-
vention that the Democrats would lose a certain per-
centage of their followers who were engaged in large
business operations, but it was believed that the doc-
trine of imiversal Greenback currency, that everybody
should be compelled to accept, was popular with the
masses of the people, and by accepting the policy they
expected to control the State. They were disappointed
in that expectation, however, as while they lost the
support of many of their more prominent business
men, they gained very little from the Republicans on
the new monetary issue. Many Republicans were
willing to accept the Greenback policy, but there were
few suflSciently wedded to the new money theory to
make them desert their party household.

The convention was in session several days wrangling
over the platform that was followed by a protracted
struggle for the Gubernatorial nomination. Ex-Gov-
ernor Bigler had a number of friends in the convention,
and although he had made no open efforts to secure
delegates, he was very anxious to obtain the nomi-
nation. Judge Ross, of Montgomery, was the favorite
candidate of the active leaders in the organization, and
his vote steadily increased tmtil the tenth ballot that
stood Ross 68, Bigler 54 and Pershing 50, with a niunber
scattering. On the eleventh and last ballot the vote
stood Pershing 145 and Ross 94, with 11 scattering.

428 Old Time Notes

modest in civil and private life as he was heroic when
in the field, where he fairly won the distinction of being
the foremost of Pennsylvania volimteer chieftains in
the war.

After he retired from the Gubernatorial chair he
filled the positions of postmaster and collector of the
port in Philadelphia. In 1 8 7 6 , a year after h is re-election
as Governor, he was nominated as Pennsylvania's
candidate for the Presidency by a practically unanimous
vote at the State convention, and the delegation chosen
to the National convention was instructed to vote for
him as a unit. While he was voted for on every ballot
at the Cincinnati convention, he never became formid-
able as a candidate for the nomination, but his candi-
dacy served the important purpose cherished by the
Camerons, Mackey and Quay, to defeat the nomination
of Blaine, to whose nomination they were very earnestly
opposed.

In the sudden iron boom of 1 882, when it was believed
that the iron and steel trade would be permanently pros-
perous in the country, Hartranft engaged in an im-
portant iron enterprise in Virginia, of which he took
personal charge, and many of his personal and political
friends aided him in its capitalization. Like most of
the iron enterprises organized at the time, it met with
disastrous failure, and Hartranft devoted the few
remaining days of his life to protect some of those who
invested with him and were unable to stand the loss.
He struggled along year after year, exhausting his
vitality, and beyond a frugal living to himself and his
family, he gave all his surplus earnings to the payinent
of interest upon his iron bonds which were nearly or
quite entirely worthless. The constant and exhausting
worry of his financial condition certainly hastened his
death, but while he lived he devoted his efforts to save
his associate investors.

of Pennsylvania 429

XC.
THE MOLLY MAGUIRE MURDERERS.

The Most Appalling Chapter of Crime Ever Recorded in the Annals of
Pennsylvania — History of the Molly Magmre Organization — ^The
Outgrowth of the Ancient Order of Hibernians — Its Criminal Methods
— Offensive Mining Bosses and Operators Murdered in Open Day —
Political Power Contracted for Protection to Criminals — The Won-
derful Story of James McParlan as Detective Inside the Order —
Gowan's Masterly Ability in Conducting Prosecutions — Sixteen
Molly Maguires Executed — Many Others Imprisoned, and a Dozen
or More Fugitives from Justice.

THE most tragic and deeply crimsoned chapter
in the annals of Pennsylvania since the
mastery of civilization over the savage, is
the story of a murderous organization started within
the Ancient Order of Hibernians some time in the early
60 's, and continuing a regular carnival of murder
against men who were entirely innocent of provocation
by which scores of men were deliberately murdered,
culminating in the execution of sixteen of the Molly
Maguire criminals with a considerable number of
additional criminals who became fugitives from justice.
The Molly Maguires who made such an appalling
record of crime in Pennsylvania were simply a revival
of what was known as Ribbonism in Ireland some two
generations ago. The Ribbon Society was organized
within the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and oppressive
landlords, importimate agents and resolute bailiffs
were at times condemned to death by the Ribbon
leaders, and one or more members of the oi^anization
charged with the duty of committing murder. As a
rule those who were entire strangers to the condemned

Of Pennsylvania 431

Board of Erin to the national headquarters in New
York city, thence to the various State delegates, and
by them to those who are subject to their orders.

In the earlier days of mining in the anthracite region
the majority of the miners were Irishmen, and most of
them members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
They became greatly inflamed against the coal opera-
tors, their employers, and gradually, and perhaps with-
out originally intending it, drifted into the lines pursued
by Ribbonism in Ireland. The chief center of the
Mollies in Schuylkill Coimty was in Cass Township,
where I first struck them, when in charge of the draft
made under the State laws in 1862. At that time there
had been more than a dozen murders in Cass Town-
ship within a few years without any of the guilty
parties being brought to punishment. I have stated
in a previous chapter how the Molly Maguires not only
obstructed, but absolutely defeated the draft in Cass
Township, and how I was compelled, tmder personal
instructions from President Lincoln, to revoke the
order for the draft and release the conscripts on the
mere pretense of evidence that the quota had been
filled. It was an imperious necessity to prevent an
open, desperate and bloody conflict in the heart of our
great Commonwealth, that would have greatly strength-
ened rebellion in the South and weakened the loyal
cause in the North.

This organization of Molly Maguires that seems to
have had either the active or passive support of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians generally, had its origin
as early as i860, and grew rapidly as year by year it
increased its power, and finally absolutely dominated
the politics of Schuylkill County. It aimed to control
the judges on the bench, the prosecuting officers of the
cotmty, the commissioners and the jurors, and in 1872
it had become so masterful in the political control

43 2 Old Time Notes

of the county that good people of all parties made
common cause and elected Cjmis L. Pershing, of Cam-
bria, who had never even visited Schuylkill County,
president judge, and the heroic administration of justice
inaugurated by Judge Pershing was a most important
factor in the final exposure, conviction and execution
of the Molly. Maguires.

Every public officer in the coimty and in the adjoin-
ing coimty of Carbon felt that his life was imsafe if he
took any step looking to the exposure and punishment
of these banded mtirderers, and they became so bold
that they did not hesitate to propose terms in political
conferences, offering their support to individuals or par-
ties in consideration of money or protection for their
criminals. It is an open secret, but well established,
that in 1875, when Governor Hartranft was a candidate
for re-election. Jack Kehoe, the brilliant and desperate
leader of the Molly Maguires, met a prominent citizen
of Pottsville in his own parlor, and was there solemnly
assured that Governor Hartranft would protect the
Molly Maguirc criminals in consideration of the organi-
zation and all its power supporting Hartranft 's re-
election. In the trial of Thomas, one of the Molly
Maguire murderers, George Byerly, warden of the
Schuylkill County jail, testified that in a conversation
with Kehoe, then a prisoner, on the charge of murder,
said: ** I do not think that we will get justice, but if
we don*t get justice I don't think the old man at Har-
risburg (Hartranft) will go back on us/*

Hartranft was entirely ignorant of this pledge, and
certainly never would have made it or permitted it to
be made had he known of the proposition, but he was
nevertheless very seriously embarrassed by the power-
ful influence that demanded the protection of Jack
Kehoe. Hartranft delayed the execution longer than
is usual under such circumstances, but he finally issued

Of Pennsylvania 433

the death warrant, and Kehoe gave great relief to many
in the State by dying with sealed lips.

The organization had rendered such important
political services to many prominent men of the State
that they naturally made exhaustive efforts to save
the lives of their friends. In one instance Lin Bar-
tholomew, then in the forefront of the Schuylkill bar,
and one of the ablest of the Republican State leaders,
made an earnest struggle to save the life of Dtiffy, one
of fotir mtirderers, who were to be executed on a certain
day. He made a final appeal to the Board of Pardons
for a reprieve for this particular criminal, but the Board
divided on the question, even after Bartholomew had
given assurance that one or more of the four men to be
executed together would, by public confession on the
scaffold, acquit his client.

Hartranft acted within the lines of safety, alike to
himself and to the administration of justice, by signing
a reprieve and sending Mr. Farr, secretary of the Board
of Pardons, to attend the execution, with orders
to deliver the reprieve if any confession was made by
the others acquitting Bartholomew's client. Farr
attended the execution, and made known his mission
only to the sheriff and the ministering priest. There
were four to be executed, two were executed together,
and the one whose reprieve was in the possession of
Farr was held back with another until after the two
were executed who were expected to give the additional
testimony in their confession. They accepted the
death noose in silence, and without protest from the
priest, who had received the confession of the dying
men, the whole fotir were executed, and Farr brought
the reprieve back to the Governor.

The political power of this organization became next
to absolute in Schuylkill Coimty, and that domination
lasted for a ntimber of years. So carefully were the

a — aS

Old Time Notes

linalacts planned and the executions covered, that

was more than ten years from the time that syste-

atic murder was put into j^ractice by the Molly

juires before any one of the guilty parties was

ni^ht to jiistice. Franklin B. Gowaji. one of the

St trial lawyers in the State, and a man of sublime

rage, was district attorney of Schuylkill County

ig the early operations of tlie Molly Maguires. He

^at there was organized crime in the community, .

murders and other felonious crimes were perpe-

1 from time to time, and it was impossible to trace

■juilty parties, showing that there was a powerful

well organized element in the community that was

itly supporting and protecting the criminals. He

nearly every official of the county unwilling

■>»ke a manly effort for the detection and punish-

of the banded criminals, and it was largely

h his political ingenuity that Judge Riley was

ited in 1872, and Judge Pershing chosen to succeed

Gowan then had a coiut that he knew he could

irust, and he decided to devote his efforts untiringly

to the discovery of the criminals, and bring them to

the bar of justice.

After repeated conferences with Allan Pinkerton, of
Chicago, the head of the National Detective Agency,
it was decided to select some yoimg man who was equal
to the terrible undertaking to join the Molly Maguires,
secure their confidence and report from time to time
the crimes they planned and executed. After very
careful investigation Pinkerton selected James Mc-
Parlan, a young Irishman, bom in Armagh County, in
1844, and a Catholic. He was only twenty-nine years
of age when he accepted the fearfully perilous under-
taking. He was a live, muscular fellow, about five feet
eight inches in height, with fair complexion, dark chest-
nut hair, a broad, full forehead, and a keen graj' eye. He

of Pennsylvania 435

was possessed of a wonderful memory which served
him well later on. He started upon his journey in
October, 1873, binder the name of James McKenna,
and by representing himself as a fugitive from justice,
claiming to have mtirdered a man in Buffalo, and slyly
suggesting that he did not have to work hard for a
living on accoimt of being a false coiner, he quickly got
into the good graces of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
in the various towns in Schuylkill and Carbon Counties
which he visited.

These representations of his misdeeds brought him
into such favor that in April, 1874, he was formally
initiated a member of the organization, and continued
to be most active in its murderous councils until Feb-
ruary, 1876, when his identity became known and his
career as a detective came to an end. During that
period of time McParlan discovered a condition of
affairs in the Schuylkill coal region that is so appalling
as to almost defy belief. He found that every Molly
Maguire, as the assassins and incendiaries were known
among themselves, was a member of the Ancient Order
of Hibernians, and that the proceedings of that organi-
zation were used for little other purpose than to order
the destruction of life and property. Coimty conven-
tions were little more than gatherings in which men
were selected to kill others whom they had never seen.
He discovered that the oath of secrecy was nothing
more in its enforcement and its use than an oath to
protect the murderer and to revenge with pistol or
dagger a wrong supposed to have been done any mem-
ber of the body. It would take many volumes to tell
the full story of the details of this gigantic conspiracy
to slay and bum.

While other murders had been committed before
that period, the first one directly traced to the Molly
Maguires was that of Alexander Rae, a mining super in-

Old Time Notes

I

tendent. on the 1 7 tli of October. 1 864, who was shot on
the jnibhc highway in Columbia County. The really
guilty parties were tried for the murder at Blooms-
burg, but their efforts in support of an ahbi were so
overwhelming that they escaped; but twelve years
later the murderers of Rae were executed for later
murders.

On the 25th of August David Muhr. a colliery saper-
intendent. n'as mttrdered in broad daylight and within
two hundred yards of the cotIier\', but the murderers
were so well hidden that they were ce^-er brot^t to
justice.

On the loth o£ January-. 1S66, Hem^- H. Dunne,
another mining stq^erintesKlent. was muidered in cold
blood on the public h^^nray. but the gtiih} parties
were never discovered uid no arrests were made.

On the 1 jth of Uardi. 1S69. Wilbam H. Littkhaks,
anodieT mining superintendent, was murdered on the
jniblk- p?a-i ar-l the mtrrderer? wen- 'i^'-«" ■^'•^-^■vwed.

'■ 'y---i'. ■; :;Qent

murders of the same kind were committed in the same
period, including those of George K. Smith. F. W. S.
Langdon. and Graham Powell, all ot whom were
cv^liery superintendents, or connected with lar^
mining operaticsis.

On the 14th of Atigtist. 1S75. Gomer James was
murdered at a picnic in Shenandoah, and sabsecfuent
de\'elopnwiits proved that the murder was committed
by Thcsnas Hurley, who had been selected at a cconty
con\"ention of the order to cormnit the crime.

On the nth of August Thomas G».T.-ther. a jastice
of the peace, who had issued a warranr tor the arrest
of U'lninm Loii-e, a criminal Mon>" ilagtnre. was shot
and killed on the public street of Giraniville by L.r%-e,
who fled and was ne\-er captured.

On the 6th ci July. 1S75. Becjarr-r: F, Vest. 2. \'^'c^x

Of Pennsylvania 437

oflficer of Tamaqua, was shot by two then unknown
men. In the trial of the suspected parties, who were
convicted and executed, it was proved that Yost had
offended another member of the order, and Hugh
McGehan and James Boyle were ordered to murder
him.

On the first of September, 1875, ^^ Raven Run,
Thomas Sanger, a mining boss, and William Uren were
shot and killed by five men, who were members of the
order, and on the third of September, 1875, John P.
Jones, a mining boss, of Lansford, Carbon Cotmty, was
shot and killed by Edward Kelly and Michael J. Doyle,
members of the order. They had been assigned by
lot to commit the crime.

John P. Jones was one of the best known men in the
anthracite coal regions and highly respected, and his
murder occurred at a time when Go wan 's efforts,
through McParlan, were bringing rich fruits. The
first arrests made under Gowan*s systematic movement
to bring the Molly Maguires to justice were those of
Michael J. Doyle and Edward Kelly for the murder of
Jones, and it was the culmination of the blood-thirsty
reign of the thugs of the anthracite region. Mr. Gowan
was then well equipped by inside information from
the Mollies as to the leaders in these murders, and the
public excitement was greatly intensified by the cold-
blooded butchery of Jones.

Doyle, Kelly and Kerrigan were the first Molly
Maguires brought to the bar of justice, and their trial
for the murder of Jones was called on the 1 8th of Janu-
ary, 1876. Separate trials were demanded, and Doyle
was first tried, convicted of murder in the first degree
and sentenced to death. This was the first conviction
of a known Molly Magtiire for murder in the Schuylkill
region. Kerrigan turned State's evidence and told
the whole story of the murder, by which he saved his

Old Time Notes

imas Hurley. Michael Doyle, James, alias "Friday,"

)nnell, James McAllister, John, ahas " Humpty,"

in. Jerr^' Kane, Frank Keenan, William Gimn,

jagan. Thomas 0 'Neil and Patrick D. Gallagher,

■-PijLgnose Pat." These men became fugitives,

. Jieir residence has never been discovered. Doubt-

ost of them have joined their criminal fellows on ■

er side, but some of them are living and in con-

i oread of being overtaken by justice. ,

of Pennsylvania 441

XCI.

NATIONAL BATTLE OF 1876.

Republicans Had Not Recovered from the Overwhelming Defeat of
1874 — Democrats Held the House Most of the Time for Twenty
Years — ^Tilden Nominated for President — His Strength and Per-
sonal Attributes — Receives a Large Popular Majority for President-
John I. Mitchell Brought to the Front — Nominated for Congress to
Defeat Strang — Senatorial Deadlock of 1881 Made Him United
States Senator — ^Advised of His Selection by the Author in Washing-
ton— Made President Judge and Later Superior Judge — Retired
for Physical and Mental Disability.

THE first National revolt against Republican
power after the war occurred in 1874, when the
Democrats elected a large majority of the
popular branch of Congress, embracing 181 Democrats,
107 Republicans and 3 Independents, and that revolt
ctilminated two years later, in 1876, when the Demo-
crats gave Tilden, their candidate for President, a
popular majority of 250,000 over Hayes, and elected
156 Democrats to 137 Republicans to the House.

The reconstruction poUcy of the government as
administered tmder Grant became specially offensive
to many of the most thoughtful Republicans, while
the severe factional mastery in Grant's administration
alienated many others. During the severe pressure
of early reconstruction, while a very large proportion of
Republicans disapproved, of the radical policy adopted,
they felt that they must sustain the Republican party
imtil it had completed the rehabilitation of the States ;
but the crop of adventurers who became rulers in the
reconstructed States under carpet-bag power, and the
low grade class of men sent to the Senate and House by

444 Old Time Notes

majorities to their candidates for President, but the
majorities were not made up of Democratic votes.
The Democrats have won, alike in Pennsylvania and in
the Nation, only by Republican defection that empha-
sized the purpose to restrain the abuses of Republican
power, and the party was chastened in defeat by the
deliberate action of its own people. Pennsylvania
has had Democratic Governors and other State officers
since the war, and the Nation has had Democratic
Presidents and gave majorities for others who were
not elected, but they have never won either a State or
National victory wholly 'by Democratic votes.

The contest of 1876 was a memorable struggle, not
only because it was one of the most earnestly contested
battles of our political history, but, also, because of
the reversal of the popular majority by the electoral
college, whose contestai seats were finally decided by
an electoral commission created by Congress. Penn-
sylvania had re-elected Hartranft the year before by
a comparatively small majority that was worked out
by the very shrewd manipulation of the Labor and
Greenback organization of the State, and the Repub-
licans felt that Pennsylvania would be a debatable
State in a National contest. There were no State
officers to be chosen, but the contest for Congressmen
and the Legislature was fought out with great earnest-
ness on both sides.

Tilden's advent into politics presented an unusually
brilliant record. He was a severely trained and tech-
nical lawyer, so severely technical that his own will
was successfully contested in the coiuts, but he proved
to be a most masterful political organizer. The Repub-
licans had made a shrewd move two years before by
nominating General Dix, a War Democrat, for Gover-
nor, and thereby saved the State. Dix made a highly
creditable administration, but Tilden decided to make

Of Pennsylvania 445

a contest for the Governorship in 1874, and he planned
and completed the most perfect organization the party
had ever in the State, by which he not only nominated
himself for Governor, but defeated Dix by a large
majority. As soon as he became Governor, he started
out to nominate himself for President, by the same
method, and while he had no great popular following,
although commanding the respect of all parties, he won
his nomination with ease over Governor Hendricks,
of Indiana, his chief competitor.

Tilden was a severe cloister student, but he carefully
studied the men of the cotmtry, and he had as his chief
lieutenant in Pennsylvania William L. Scott, of Erie,
one of the ablest Democratic leaders of that day, who
was twice elected to Congress in the overwhelmingly
Republican district of Erie and Crawford. Scott was
at that time among the most forceful of the Democratic
leaders in the State and a tireless worker, and Tilden
had men of like qualities directing the battle for him
in all of the States. He was not a man of personal
popular qualities, being a bachelor student whose social
attributes were neglected, but he was recognized as
one of the ablest of our National leaders, as a man of
imdoubted integrity, and as one who would speedily
and surely correct the then serious abuses of Repub-
lican power.

He had strongly commended himself to the better
class of the people of all parties by the courage he ex-
hibited in taking an open stand for the exposure and
punishment of Tweed, who was then the assumed Dem-
ocratic leader of city and State. It was to Tilden more
than to any other one man that Tweed owed his fall,
and for that reason, and also becaxise of his generally
reputable character, he commanded the respect of
Republicans, and received many votes from the reform
element of that party. Hayes received 1 7 ,904 majority

6 Old Time Notes

'er Tilden in Penn sylvan ia, nearly all of which was

ven in the city of Philadelphia. The Republicans

v;arried both branches of the Legislature by a decided

lajority, and reversed the Democratic majority in i

' congressional delegation that was elected in 1874,

I'ng the Republicans seventeen of the twenty-seven

essmen,

: election of 1876 brought into prominence John

itchell, of Tioga County, who was elected to Con-

'SS in the district composed of Tioga, Potter, McKean.

leron, Lycoming and Sullivan. He had served

i!ral sessions as a State representative, and was one

I prominent leaders of that body before he retired

1 it. He was a man of thoroughly clean reputa-

sternly honest in public and private life, but lacked

- iteenncss of perception and tJie ability to lead in a

■ without careful preparation, which are so neces-

in a brilliant leader, but his high character and

iiai quahties made him universally respected, and

was one of the most iiifhienlJal members of the body,

although lacking rhetorical attainments.

His nomination for Congress, that led to his elec-
tion, was what is commonly called in politics an acci-
dent. The acknowledged Republican leader of Tioga
County at that time was Butler B. Strang, a man of
unusual ability, always ready for the forensic battle,
no matter how suddenly precipitated, and in both
house and senate he was accepted as the ablest lawyer
of the body. He had served several terms in the house,
from whence he was transferred to the senate, where
his term ended in 1876. During a long legislative
service I saw all the ablest legislative leaders of that
period, and I do not know one who surpassed Strang,
either in strategy or debate. He served in the senate
with such distinguished legal luminaries as Wallace,
Dill, Yerkes, White, Rutan and others, and he stood

Of Pennsylvania 447

fully abreast with the ablest of them, and his admirable
personal qtialities attached his friends to him with
hooks of triple steel.

He was as feariess as he was able, and it was his mis-
forttine to offend the Cameron power that was domi-
nant at that time. He was too great to take orders
from any political or personal power, and his promi-
nence in the northern section of the State was a con-
stant menace to the Cameron mastery. Had Strang
been the trained and tireless political manager that
Cameron was, he could have dominated his district
and section of the State, but the one distinguishing
characteristic of both Strang and Mitchell was their
general indifference to political movements even in their
own immediate locality, and both loved the ease of
indolence.

Strang confidently expected to be the next Congress-
man from Tioga Cotmty, and his ambition would have
been realized had he imderstood and interposed against
the far-reaching management of Cameron. It was
generally conceded that Tioga County was not entitled
to the Republican candidate for Congress in 1876,
according to the rule of rotation that generally obtained
in the rural sections, and Strang paid no attention,
whatever, to the congressional matter, believing that
the county could not, and should not, receive the nomi-
nation at that time ; but when the county convention
met Cameron's friends were fully advised of his pur-
poses, and in the absence of Strang as a candidate,
the name of Mitchell was proposed to the convention
for what was generally regarded as the empty compli-
ment of a congressional recommendation. While the
convention did not understand it, the Cameron mana-
gers well understood what it meant, and when Mitchell
was given the conferees of Tioga County, the other
cotmties were careftdly manipulated by Cameron's

448 Old Time Notes

friends to nominate Mitchell as the district candidate,
and thus, for a decade at least, preclude the possibility
of Strang's congressional aspirations being gratified.

In addition to this shrewd overthrow of Strang in
his own district, Cameron threw himself into the brearfi
in the Republican State convention, where Strang was
a candidate for State treasurer, and his nomination
generally conceded, and the same influence and methods
which were employed to defeat him at home were
employed with equal success in the State convention,
and Strang was mortified by a defeat that utterly
astotmded himself and his friends.

Cameron thus succeeded in practically ending the
political power of Butler B. Strang, who, thereafter,
was comparatively imkno^^Ti and unfelt in the politics
of his section, as he was usually not an aggressive man,
although a desperate fighter when engaged in earnest
conflict, and a few years thereafter, in a moment of that
fearful despondency that hurls reason from her throne,
he sent the death bullet into his owti brain and ended
his career as a suicide. Had he sought the nomina-
tion for Congress in his county in 1876, it would have
been accorded to him without a serious contest, but
he doubtless would have been defeated for the nomina-
tion in the district. He could have bided his time,
however, for his county of Tioga, possessing as it did
more than the entire Republican majority of the dis-
trict, could not have been long denied a representative,
and had Strang entered the National councils his record
would have been distinguished among the able repre-
sentatives of Pennsylvania.

Mitchell entered Congress, served without making
his impress in the proceedings of that body, was re-
elected in 1878, and was about closing a four years'
term of service in Februar>% 1881, when the same for-
tuitous circumstances which had sent him to Congress

Of Pennsylvania 449

in 1876, made him a United States Senator, althotigh
tmthoiight of as a candidate imtil after the Legislattire
had become involved in a bitter factional contest.
His career in Congress was not distinguished for either
industry or participation in debate, but he was a
straightforward, honest representative, and was re-
spected as widely as he was known.

I happened to be in Washington on the night that he
was agreed upon by the disputing factions at Harris-
burg as a compromise candidate for Senator, and was
in Mitchell's room engaged at a game of whist with
him and two others, with several visiting spectators.
Colonel Lambert was then on "The Times" staff with
me, and was at Harrisburg carefully watching the
Senatorial struggle. His high character and attain-
ments as a journalist, and his admirable personal
qtialities, gave him access to the inner circles of all
political movements then as they do to-day, and about
half past ten o'clock in the evening, when engaged
at whist with Mitchell and our partners, a telegram
was brought to me from Lambert, stating that Mitchell
had been agreed upon by both the disputing factions
for United States Senator, and would be elected on
the following day.

I handed the despatch to Mitchell, and with equal
surprise and delight he annotmced it to the others in
the room, whereupon a rush was made to congratulate
him, and all did so but myself, as I remained seated at
the table. He finally turned to me and said: "You
are the only one who has not congratulated me. ' ' I
at once arose and took him by the hand, and told him
that if he felt equal to the discharge of the high duties
of Senator so as to make his name remembered by the
Nation when he retired from it, he was to be congrat-
tilated. His head involuntarily dropped toward his
breast, and he said: ** McClure is right, but I will try. '*

450 Old Time Notes

I had great respect and much affection for him, and
knew that his election to the Senate, while it would
make a stainless record, would not rank him among
the leaders of the Nation. He was just in the prime
of life, and in the possession of perfect physical and
mental vigor, but who of all the men who have carefully-
studied the records of the first legislative tribimal of
the cotmtry can recall a single monument of statesman-
ship that owes its creation to Senator Mitchell ? He
was not at all alone in his class, for Pennsylvania and
many other States have repeatedly sent men to the
United States Senate whose names are unknown in
the important annals of National legislation.

Mitchell entered the Senate on the 4th of March,
1 88 1, and his first and only great utterance or move-
ment that he made in either politics or legislation was
in leading a revolt one year later against the Cameron
power that had not only sent him to Congress, but that
had made him the compromise candidate for United
States Senator, as in the factional fight in the Legisla-
ture Cameron's power was largely dominant. What
particular influence led him to make a revolution
against the organization of the party has never been
given to the public. That he was honest in his con-
victions none who knew him could doubt, but what
special provocation made a man who had studiously
avoided factional warfare throw the ])lume of his
Senatorship into a revolutionary movement not only
against his party, but against the men who had given
him the most important positions he had held, seemed
incomprehensible; and when it is remembered that he
led a revolution aguinst General James A. Beaver,
the Republican candidate f )r Governor, a man of the
cleanest record and the sternest integrity, and a
gallant and maimed soldier, who had been nominated
without a serious contest in the State convention, his

of Pennsylvania 451

revolutionary action seemed even more diffictilt of
explanation.

I witnessed the nomination of General Beavei; and
when the convention adjourned there was not the sign
erf revolt in any quarter. There was not a cloud visible
even so large as a man's hand on the political horizon,
and the members of that convention adjourned with-
out a doubt as to General Beaver's election; but
suddenly the revolt sprang to the surface, and when
it was lid by a Republican United States Senator
against the Cameron rule of the State, the movement
was quickened in every section, and for once the flower
of Saiator Mitchell was felt from center to circum-
ference of the State.

I saw him at the Independent Republican conven-
tiop, and it was the only time that I ever saw him
thoroughly aroused, aggressive and defiant. His posi-
tion and enviroimient made him altogether the most
important factor in the revolutionary movement, and
brought to the Independent convention a very large
number of representative Republicans from every part
of the State. A full State ticket was nominated with
Senator (now Judge) Stewart, of Franklin, for Gover-
nor. Stewart had been the leader in the senate in the
revolt against the election of Oliver and others, who,
in turn, were adopted as the candidates of the Cameron
end of the party for United States Senator, and when
he accepted the nomination it was notice that the
battle of the revolutionists would be made a fight to
the finish.

Stewart canvassed the State, as did Beaver and
Pattison, and the struggle became one of desperation.
There was no hope, whatever, of Stewart's election, and
the fact that his candidacy had but a single practical
aim, and that the defeat of the regular Republican State
ticket, made many of the Independent Republicans

Old Time Notes

)te directly for Pattison for Governor in order to
ssure tlie defeat of Beaver. The result was the elec-
n of Pattison, by a pluraUty nearly equal to Stewart's
te, and the entire State ticket, including candidates
*nr lieutenant governor, secretary of internal affairs,
nreme judge and congressmen-at-Iarge, fell with
iver.

ftfter this grand exhibition of aggressive action on the
rt of Senator Mitchell, he practically retired from
ticipation in factional conflict, and thereafter acted
lerally in harmony with the regular organization,
.1 was unfelt in the party leadership of the State.
was universally respected and ver)' generally
■oved at home, and when he retired from the Senate
was practically without power in the general
action of the politics of the State, he announced
iself as a candidate for president judge in his home
mty, and although his opponent was the Repub-
m incumbent who had served ten years with general
:eptability, Mitchell was nominated by a decided
majority and became president judge of his district.
He continued in that position until a few years ago,
when a vacancy was made on the Republican State
ticket by the enforced withdrawal of the candidate
for judge of the superior court, when Mitchell was
accepted by the leaders and was elected to the second
appellate tribunal of the State, but his service was
very brief in his new judicial capacity, as paralysis
suddenly laid him low, from which he has never re-
covered. For a considerable period after he became
entirely unfitted for the performance of any judicial
duties he retained his position, hoping to be able to
resiune his judicial work, but finally the physical wreck
sadly impaired his mental powers, and he was retired
from the bench by a law passed chiefly for his benefit.

I
I

I

Of Pennsylvania 453

XCII.
ANARCHY RULED IN 1877.

The Darkest Year in the History of Pennsylvania — Culmination of the
Revulsion of 1873 — Business Depressed and Working Men Without
Bread — Anarchy First Asserted Its Mastery in Pittsburg by Destroy-
ing Several Millions of Pennsylvania Railroad Property — Took
Possession of all the Railroads of the State, and Generally Through-
out the Country — Governor Hartranft Absent in the West — Adjutant
General Latta Rendered Timely and Heroic Service — Appalling
Condition in Philadelphia — Mayor Stokley Calls for a Committee
of Safety — The Author a Member — Interesting Incidents in Pre-
serving Peace in the City — Stokley's Magnificent Administration
to Preserve Peace — Exceptional Military Service Rendered by Col.
Bonnafifon's Regiment.

EIGHTEEN hundred and seventy-seven was the
darkest year of the last half century in the
history of Pennsylvania. The excessive in-
flation, bewildering extravagance, and tidal wave of
speculation which had prevailed for years under the
immense volimie of depreciated currency during the
war were brought to a halt in 1873, when liquidation
began. At no time in the history of the coimtry were
the people so largely and so generally in debt, as all
channels of industry, commerce and trade had been
steadily expanded for a ftdl decade from the beginning
of the war, and all intelligent observers of the sittia-
tion knew that a terrible reckoning must come, but
each hoped that it would be postponed imtil he had
reached a solid financial basis.

When the revulsion began in 1873 ^^ was generally
believed that it would be only temporary, but the
liquidation that was then begim continued steadily
and relentlessly imtil it culminated in 1877, when most

454 Old Time Notes

of the great States of the Union were plunged into
anarchy. As liquidation continued, the wages of
labor were reduced when the industrial classes had been
enjoying for ten years the most prosperous season
they had ever known, and had naturally drifted into
excessive extravagance in imitation of the people of
fortune about them. The severe necessities which
were felt in almost every home restrained expenditures,
thus largely limiting consumption, resulting in the en-
forced limitation of products, and employment of
labor.

Many were forced into bankruptcy after 1873, ^^^
when 1877 was reached the general business depression
and paralysis of industry was more general than at
any other period during the last half of the nineteenth
century. Labor strikes for increase of wages that
it was not in the power of the employers to pay, were
common in all the great centers of industry, and there
were himdreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania
without bread in their homes to satisfy the demands
of hunger. A mob cxas])craled by ])inching want is
not only always unreasoning, but is always dcs]>crate
and revolutionary, and on the 19th of July, 1877, in
the city of Pittsburg, the rule of anarchy began when
the mob took ])ossessi()n of the Pennsylvania Railroad
and refused to allow the freight trains to be moved.

Governor Hartranft was in the far West on a visit
to the Pacific coast, and Adjutant General James W.
Latta was com])elle(l to act in the absence of the Gov-
ernor, and on a])plication of the sheriff of Allegheny
County for military to aid in maintaining the peace,
he ordered troops to Pittsburg. The appearance of
troops upon the railway called out the revolutionary
elements along the entire line between Philadelj^hia
and Pittsburg, and within twenty-four hours the rail-
road was practically blocked at every im])ortant i)oint

of Pennsylvania 455

between the two great cities. The Baltimore and
Ohio was also seized by the revolutionists, and in a few
days the great trtink lines to the far West were abso-
lutely in the hands of the people, who were inflamed to
the point of anarchy.

Philadelphia passed through an exceedingly severe
ordeal, and although I had Uttle political sympathy
with Mayor Stokley, I regard it as only just to say that
the preservation of the public peace in this great city
was due almost wholly to his tmfaltering courage and
wisely directed efforts to prevent an eruption of law-
lessness. He knew the people of the city, had grown
up with them, and he specially tmderstood the class of
our citizens who were likely to be inflamed to violence.
The only power exhibited by the mob in the city was
in taking possession of the Pennsylvania Railroad
depot in West Philadelphia, from which point all trains
were then started. The mob held possession of the
depot and the line for most of two days, but it was *
finally suppressed by the appearance of a small body
of regular troops, whose presence intimidated the rioters,
as they had a wholesome fear of the willingness of
reg^ular troops to obey orders and fire upon mobs when
necessary, while the volimteer troops sent to Pittsburg
and other points of the State greatly inflamed the
rioters and provoked them to desperate lawlessness.
In no instance did they attempt any violent move-
ments in the presence of regular troops.

The police force of Mayor Stokley was entirely inade-
quate to the emergency, and he addressed letters to
some two htmdred citizens asking them to meet
promptly at the mayor's headquarters to consider the
best methods of preserving tiie peace of the city.
Although the relations between the mayor and myself
were then somewhat strained, I was among those he
invited to attend that meeting. John Welsh, then

Old Time Notes

ps the foremost of Philadelphia's citizens,
caiiea to the chair, and Mayor Stokley frankly stated.
to the meeting, held with closed doors, that he desired-
that a Committee of Safety be appointed by the meet-,
ing to consist of five persons, who should act with the.
mayor, and whose judgment he could freely accept in
any emergency that required extraordinar>' measures
to be taken for the protection of person and property.
He desired that the judgment of this committee ^ould
be full warrant for him to take any measures deemed
necessary, even without authority of law, to suppress
violence in the city. The meeting promptly decided
to comply with his request, and charged Mr. Welsh
with the duty of selecting the committee of which ho
should be chairman. The mayor gave no details to
the meeting of the conditions in the several sections of
the city, beyond stating that violence was threatened '
in different localities.

Before the meeting was held he had issued an order
forbidding persons to congregate anywhere on the
streets, and his police were privately instructed to pre-
vent any meetings in the disturbed portions of the city.
His policy was to keep the revolutionary elements
scattered and ignorant of their strength, and in that
he was eminently wise, for had the revolutionary ele-
ments of the city known their strength they could have
precipitated Philadelphia into anar^y in an hour. He
had also given private instruction to the officers of
several regiments of the city to be ready to march at
the shortest notice, and to guard against extreme con-
ditions he had a boat on the Schuylkill, and another
on the Delaware, laden with ammimition, so that the
military could be supplied even if the depositories of
ammunition were destroyed.

When the meeting adjotuned I thought it due to Mr.
Welsh to advise him not to think of me as a member of

I

Of Pennsylvania 457

that committee, and I told him privately that my
relations with the mayor were not such as would make
it agreeable for him to have me serve in that capacity.
I went to my office, but was not there more than thirty
minutes when I received a notice from the mayor that
I was appointed one of the Committee of Safety, and
my presence was required at his office at once. I was
greatly surprised, but it was a call that could not be
disobeyed, and I hurriedly returned to the mayor's
office, where Mr. Welsh informed me that he had
appointed me in obedience to the special request of the
mayor himself, thus relieving me of all embarrassment
in entering upon the responsible duties. The Com-
mittee of Safety consisted of John Welsh, ex-Mayor
McMichael, ex-Mayor Fox, Senator Cochran and my-
self, and when we had gathered in the mayor's office we
were all startled at the condition of affairs in our city.
While imder Mayor Stokley*s admirable use of has
police to prevent any gatherings whatever in any part
of the city, there was every indication on the surface
of a peaceful and quiet commimity, the mayor informed
us how difficult it had been for him up to that time to
keep the revolutionary elements apart, and to prevent
the city from being plimged into anarchy. He stated
all the precautions he had taken , in which he had acted
with great intelligence and firmness, and said that the
first need of the city was to double its police force, for
which he had no lawful authority. He stated, how-
ever, that any means necessary to preserve the public
peace would be employed by him regardless of their
lawfulness if approved by the Committee of Safety.

The committee at once imanimously authorized him
to double the police force, then consisting of but little
more than a thousand men in the entire city. My first
awakening to the actual situation in Philadelphia was
caused by a reply that Mayor Stokley made to my sug-

4s8 Old Time Notes

gestion that there were thousands of intelligent and
law-abiding skilled laborers of the city who were without
employment, and who doubtless would be very willing
to be taken on the police force. The mayor's answer
was that we had plenty of the very class I had described,
many of whom owned their own homes, and who were
without employment, but while they would not join
in revolutionary proceedings themselves, they cotdd
not be induced to employ force to restrain the starving
laborers who had been inflamed into riotous action by
the few vicious spirits who are ever ready in a com-
munity to incite to lawlessness.

At first blush the task of obtaining a thousand
capable and faithful policemen seemed next to impos-
sible, but the mayor suggested that they should be
foimd in the ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic.
He paid what I have ever regarded as the highest
tribute ever paid by any one to the veterans of our
civil war, when he said that there was not a Union
soldier who had served with credit in the army, how-
ever poor, or liowcver dissolute, who could not be
trusted to enforce law and order in the community
against all classes and cc^nditions. The result was that
the police force in the city was ]:)r()nij)tly doul^led, and
chiefly, if not wholly, from the ranks of the Grand
Army, and not one of the men thus called to duty failed
to give honest and faithful service to the city.

In one of the ui)town sections of the city there was
very serious (listurV)ance, and systematic cdorts were
made by a few ringleaders to ])reci])itate a riot, in imi-
tation of the mastery of anarchy in Pittsburg. The
police officer in charge of that sc^ction was present at
the first meeting of the Committee of Safety, and gave
a detailed account of the danger of a breach of the
peace being precipitated that night. The mayor very
coolly asked him wliether he knew the man or men who

Of Pennsylvania 459

were studiously seeking to* inaugurate lawlessness, to
which the policeman answered that he did; that one
man was the leader of the whole movement, and he
was tireless in his efforts to precipitate revolution. The
mayor quietly remarked to his police officer that he
should have a good force on hand, and that, if any
riotous action was forced upon him, he should see that
the right person or persons were killed. The policeman
seemed to imderstand the mayor perfectly, and bowed
himself out.

On the following morning the same officer made his
report in the presence of the mayor and the committee,
and he stated that a riot had been started in his section,
but that the ringleader was killed before it had attained
any great importance, and that the lawless elements
were then easily controlled. The mayor thanked the
police officer, and he again bowed himself out. Who
had killed the man was never inquired into, and the
newspapers simply stated that a riot had been started
in one of the uptown sections of Philadelphia, and that
one man was killed, but the policeman certainly could
have told by whom and how the rioter had fallen.

Within twenty-four hours after the Committee of
Safety met with Stokley, when he was invested by the
committee with dictatorial powers, he had the city so
completely imder control that an outbreak was simply
an impossibility. He was greatly fretted that the
railway depot was held so long by a mob, and he was
restrained from going to the depot on a locomotive with
the engineer to move a train out of the city, only by
the earnest protest of the committee against thus
imperilling his own life. The committee met with him
three times each day for more than a week, when the
regular mimicipal authorities were entirely equal to
maintaining the public peace. It made no record of its
proceedings, and neither the newspapers nor the publiq

b

464.

Old Time Notes

the soldier who had given peace and protection to the
community. He has long held the responsible position
of cashier of customs in the port of Philadelphia, and
his handled hundredsof millions of government money
with scrupulous fidelity. He suffered severe wounds
during the Civil War, which have caused and ever will
cause him much suffering, and he is one of the very few
pensioners who, when called to official position by the
government with ample salary for his livelihood, has
imiformly covered his pension check back to the
treasury of the United States, thereby presenting an
example that should be imitated by every pensioner
who is given official position by the government with
adequate salary for the supjxjrt of himself and family.

Of Pennsylvania 465

XCIII.
THE GREAT OIL DEVELOPMENT.

The Htimble Beginning of a Trade that has Risen to Hundreds of Mil-
lions— Professor Silliman's Chemical Investigation of Petroleum —
Colonel E. L. Drake Sank the First Oil WeU— His Difficulty in
Raising One Thousand Dollars to Start the Oil Development — He
was More than a Year in Getting His Well Completed — Representa-
tive Rouse Regarded as a Hopeless Crank by his Fellow Legislators
in 1859 — The Tidal Wave of Speculation in Oil Companies, Result-
ing in Sweeping Disaster — Desperate Battles of the Oil Men to
Reach Markets — The Annual Oil Product Now Over One Himdred
Million Barrels — At First Worth Twenty Dollars a Barrel; now
Worth One Dollar or Less.

ONE of the most marvelous developments of the
mineral resources of Pennsylvania during the
half century just closing, was that of the petro-
leum industry. As an article of commerce and imiversal
use, petroleum was unknown fifty years ago. The ex-
istence of petroleum springs in Western New York,
Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia had been
known to the Indians for many generations, and to
the white settlers for at least a century. But that it
was stored in great rock reservoirs ready to gush forth
by the thousands of barrels daily at the magic touch
of the artesian drill, had never been dreamed of.

An oil called "kerosene'* had been manufactured
for several years prior to 1855 from bituminous shales,
and the increasing use and demand for this illuminant
prompted chemical investigation of some specimens
of petroleimi secured from springs along Oil Creek.
Professor B. Silliman, Jr., professor of chemistry in
Yale College, completed a thorough analysis of some
petroleum taken from a spring on Oil Creek nearly

2 — 30

466 Old Time Notes

two miles south of Tittisville, at nearly the identical
location where, four years later, the first successful
petroleum well was drilled by the late Colonel E. L.
Drake. In his report upon this analysis, which was
published in the spring of 1855, Professor Silliman
said, **The crude oil was tried as a means of illumination.
For this purpose a weighed quantity was decomposed
by passing it through a wrought iron retort filled with
carbon and ignited to redness. It produced nearly
pure carburetted hydrogen gas. the most highly illum-
inating of all carbon gases. In fact, the oil may be
regarded as chemically identical with illuminating gas
in a liquid form. It biuned with an intense flame.
Compared with gas the rock oil gave more light than
any burner except the costly argand, consuming two
feet of gas per hour. These photometric experiments
have given the oil a much higher value as an illumina-
tor than I had dared to hope." Until this time the oil
had been collected from the surface of the springs and
sold in small bottles as a medicine, under the name of
Seneca Oil, the name being derived from the Seneca
Indians, who had been the first to collect it and utilize
it for medicinal pur])oses. Professor Silliman s analy-
sis four years in advance of its discovery in sufficient
quantities to he of real commercial value had deter-
mined its principal use in the future, although he
probably was not aware of this at the time.

Silliman 's report attracted wide attention, and a
company was soon organized with a capital of a quarter
of a million dollars, to purchase lands and erect such
machinery as might be required to collect all the oil in
the vicinity of the spring from whence the test sample
had been taken. Even at this time, however, the most
sanguine promoters of the plan to develop the ])etroleum
industry had not dreamed of boring artesian wells to
tap subterranean deposits of the fluid. Their only idea

Of Pennsylvania 467

was to develop and utilize to the fullest possible extent
the product of the various surface springs which were
known to exist. One result, however, of the agitation
was the employment of Colonel Edwin L. Drake to
visit the property near Titusville and make a report of
the best means of securing paying quantities of oil.
Stopping on his way from New Haven, to view the salt
wells of Syracuse, Colonel Drake visited Titusville near
the close of 1857. Remaining a few days to transact
legal business and examine the lands, he proceeded to
Pittsburg, visiting the salt wells at Tarentum, on the
way. The salt wells at Syracuse and Tarentum gave
him the idea of boring for oil, and he hastened back to
Connecticut to conclude a scheme of operating the
property. Provided with a fund of one thousand dol-
lars as a starter, Drake was engaged at a thousand
dollars a year to begin operations, and arrived in Titus-
ville early in May, 1858. So inexperienced was he,
however, in the art of drilling wells, and so many diffi-
culties and discouragements did he encounter, that it
was not until August 28, 1859, a year and a third after
he had arrived at his post to begin the work, that the
drill had reached the depth of seventy feet and pierced
the rock deposit in which the stored petroletmi had
been waiting for ages. A twenty -barrel well had been
tapped, and the foundation of the great oil industry,
which has since grown to an annual value of more than
one hundred millions, had been laid.

When oil was first developed in Venango County by
boring wells, most of those engaged in the enterprise
became enthusiastic over the meastire of wealth they
expected to realize, but the public generally regarded
the whole scheme as unpromising. I well remember
serving as a representative at Harrisburg in 1859 with
Mr. Rouse, a member from Venango, who was one of
the earliest pioneers in oil development. He had half

Old Time Notes

small vials of different qualities of oil in his ,

CL, and soon was regarded by his associates gener-

in the house as an unbalanced crank on the oil

Lion. He was constantly telling us, like Mulberry

rs, that "there's millions in it," but he could not

;e one of his associates to invest a dollar in oil

lopment. He was an intelligent and enterprising

,, and had studied the question as thoroughly as it

ji possible then to master it, and in a very few years

acquired a lai'ge fortune from his oil wells, but his

work was cut short when one of his flowing wells

denly took fire when he was close to it, and his life

i given in a struggle with the flames. He was a.

heior without kith or kin about him, and his entire

iiune was equally divided between the improvement

the reads of the county and the support of the

)r.

in this connection some comparative figures will be
teresting. The total production of oil for llie \'ear
1659 was 1,87,^ 1 arrels. which liroui;hl an a\'cyaL:c ]"irice
of twenty dollars a barrel. The following year, 1 860, the
production increased to 547,439 barrels, at an average
price of $g.6o per barrel, the lowest monthly price being
$2,75. In 1861, the year of the beginning of the Civil
War. the Empire and other large wells producing
thousands of barrels a day each were struck. The
production for the year went up to 2,119,045 barrels,
and the price went down to ten cents a barrel. The
process of refining the oil for general use had not as yet
been perfected, and the market was flooded with oil for
which there were no purchasers. Getting it to market
was also a costly as well as tedious process. Railroads
had not yet penetrated the oil country, and pipe lines
were unknown. The favorite method of getting the oil
from the wells to where it could find purchasers and
consumers was by loading it into fiat boats, which were

Of Pennsylvania 469

floated out of Oil Creek by a series of artificial floods,
called '*pond freshets," and so down the Allegheny
River to Pittsburg. In the dry midsummer season,
when there was too little water for flat boat navigation,
the oil was hauled in barrels over a series of miserable
country roads to Meadville and other points along the
Atlantic and Great Western Railway, a distance of
thirty miles. This was merely a temporary stage of
the development of the great oil industry, however.

The breaking out of the War of the Rebellion in 1861 ,
and the low price of petroletmi at that time, incident to
a rapidly increasing production, and the crude and
costly processes of refining and marketing the oil,
tended for a short time to check the development of
the petroleum industry. This check was only tem-
porary, for the output of the flowing wells already
tapped inspired railway building, and in a short time
one branch of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway
was constructed from Meadville to Franklin, and later
to Oil City. Another branch was laid from Corry to
Titusville, and extended first to Miller Farm, six miles
below, on Oil Creek, and then to Shaffer Farm, a mile
further toward Oil City, which was the terminus of this
branch for several years. This left a ten-mile stretch
of the Oil Creek Valley from Shaffer Farm to Oil City
still without a railroad, but with railroad privileges at
either extremity; the product of this rich producing
region was easily handled from either direction, for oU
could be towed up the stream in flat boats by horse
power as well as floated down the stream with the
current. With these improved transportation facil-
ities and a gradually perfected system of refining, the
market for petroleum steadily expanded. Long before
the close of the Rebellion, it became an important
source of revenue to the Federal government. Congress
levying a tax for war purposes of twenty cents a gallon

Old Time Notes

ujwn refined oil, and one dollar per barrel upon crude.
Practically all the oil refined in the country paid this
doi:ble tax. onlj- that which was exported in the crude
form escaping the tax upon refined.

With the advance in the price of oil due to improved
methods of transportation and refining, an era of wild
speculation set in. Fabulous fortunes were made in a
year by such fortunate operators as Orange Noble.
George B. Delainater, Dr. M. C. Egbert, the Phillifjs
Brothers, and the owners of the BenninghofT, Tarr.
McClintock, Rynd, and other farms, the names of which
became household words the country over. Promoters
and speculators swarmed through Venango, Crawford,
Warren and Forest counties, buying and leasing lands
without regard to their location, and in most instances
with no evidence that oil was to be found beneath them.
With these land purchases and leases as a basis, hun-
dreds of stock companies were formed and the stocks
sold in New York, Philadelphia. Pittsburg and every-
where where men and women with small or large sav-
ings could be induced to invest upon a promise of
becoming millionaires within a year. The depreciated
and suj.>erabuniiriiit currency (}f the war period greatly
Stimulated this speculative fever. Everybody had
money, and very few believed that it would prove
stable in value. They were quite willing to exchange
it for something that promised substantial wealth, and
thus it came to pass that during the period from 1862
until 1865, when this petroleum stock company bubble
finally burst, there were very few people east of the
Allegheny River and north of Mason and Dixon's line,
with surplus means at command, who were not owners
of some of this oil stock. Except in a few instances in
which capable business men were placed at the head of
these oil producing corporations, these stock schemes
proved failures, enriclung only the promoters who

of Pennsylvania 471

floated and sold the stocks. The most successful com-
pany of this period was known as the Columbia Oil
Company, a Pittsburg corporation, of which Andrew
Carnegie, then just beginning to come into prominence,
was a stockholder. The great majority of these com-
panies were neither honestly organized nor intelligently
administered, the purpose of their founders being
merely to enrich themselves by stock sales, leaving
their deluded shareholders to make the best of their
foolish bargains. A farm costing four or five thousand
dollars, upon which there were no oil wells and no
promise that oil would be found by the most Uberal use
of the drill, in many instances furnished the basis for a
concern capitalized at a half million dollars.

During this period of wild inflation there was a
sufficient number of people who, by lucky strikes,
acquired fabulous wealth, almost in a day, keeping the
public interest in the oil field in a state of the most
hopeful expectancy. Johnny Steele, since known to
the world as *'Coal Oil Johnny,*' a raw cotmtry lad,
just arrived at his majority, fell heir to the Widow
McClintock farm, with a btilging bank accotmt and a
dozen wells producing high priced oil. Visiting Phil-
adelphia, he squandered his money on hackmen, min-
strel troupes and everything else which attracted his
fancy, creating the impression among those who wit-
nessed his fantastic extravagance that any fool cotdd
make a fortune by going into the oil business. The
collapse of these speculative corporations, which came
about the closing period of the war, would at any other
time have inflicted a deadly blow on what has proved
to be one of the most profitable industries of Pennsyl-
vania and the nation. But with the disbanding of the
Union armies, a great multitude of self-reliant men,
trained to the hardships of an army life for four years,
were turned loose to begin the world for themselves,

k

I

Old Time Notes

, plentiful sprinkling of the most energetic,
and capable drifted to the oil region,
men, vrith others equally capable, began at the
*^in, learned the business, drilled wells, dressed
5, lived in shanties and boarded themselves, and
ied and improved upon the methods of drilling and
ig oil. Learning how to drill for oil, a half a
n of these men would lease a piece of territory,
:;t a derrick and machinery and drill a well them-
/es, often eating and sleeping in the shanty engine
jse while the work was in prepress. By this process
s trained the great group of successful oil operators
D have expanded tlie jjroduction of America:! oil
uum 2,500,000 barrels in 1S65 to 100,000,000 barrels
i 1903. With the close of the war the speculative
od of oil development came to an end, and from
time the production of petroleum became first a
iq Limate and pennanent, and later a scientific, in-
dustry. The hving oil princes, like Ex-Senator Lewis
Emer>'. Jr., of Bradford, John Fertig and the McKin-
neys of Titusville, Thomas \V, Phillips, the only sur-
viving member of the firm of Phillips Brothers, and
others scarcely less well known, have accumulated great
fortunes by producing oil as a legitimate business,
every detail of which they have learned by careful
attention and practical experience.

The petroleum industry has extended far beyond
Pennsylvania. Oil is produced largely in New York,
Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Indian
Territory, Kansas, California and a half dozen other
States and Territories, the total production at this time
exceeding 100,000,000 barrels per year, but the business
had its origin in Pennsylvania, and in every State and
territory where it is now produced the successful
operators are Pennsylvanians or men from other States
who first learned the business in Pennsylvania. That

of Pennsylvania 473

a new and unheard of business should have sprung up
and expanded from nothing to an annual output of
more than $100,000,000 in the space of forty-five years,
would at first' blush seem incredible, but there is no
disputing the figures. And the $100,000,000 estimate
covers only the value of the crude material. The
manufactured product, and it is nearly all manufac-
tured to prepare it for consumption, brings two or
three times the value of the crude, so that it has come
to be one of the most valuable of our great American
productions, and one of our most important articles of
export to foreign countries.

That Pennsylvania has not reaped the full benefit to
which the State was entitled from this great natural
product, is now conceded. Every gallon of Permsyl-
vania oil should have been manufactured in Pennsyl-
vania, and that which was sent abroad should have
been exported from Pennsylvania's chief seaport, if the
natural advantages of location and distance to market
had been permitted full force and effect. That more
than half of Pennsylvania's great product is refined and
exported from New York and New Jersey and other
States, is due to legislative stupidity. One of the
important features of the oil industry has been the
development of a system of transportation long dis-
tances through pipe lines. The legislation which per-
mitted the laying of pipe lines for the transportation of
oil at first was confined to eight counties of northwest-
em Pennsylvania, with a proviso that no pipe line
should be laid within a mile of the State line. This
bottled up the oil producers as to the cheapest and
most natural method of bringing their great product
to the seaboard. It was not tmtil a pipe line had been
laid the whole length of the State of New York, through
a free pipe line law passed by the Legislature of that
State, that the Legislature of Pennsylvania consented

Old Time Notes

its own petroleum bottle by passing a
in the session of 1883, ten years after it
lg ive been passed, and after the representa-
i from the oil region had vainly urged its passage.
; meantime the mischief was irreparable, for the
jii of crude oil had been di\'erted to the shores of
York Bay, where great refineries and export
■fhotises had been established. Since the passage
he free pijje law, a portion of this lost traffic has
€n recalled to the shores of the Delaware, but not a
irrel of it should ever have been lost. No more
nrcible example of the lack of real statesmanship
lich has characterized the law making power of
nnsylvania for half a century could be furnished
an a mere recital of the fact that the manufacture and
export of one of the State's great natural products has
■y^n concentrated at the seaports of two other States
ough the folly and stupidity of its own legislators,
■wno for ten years prohibited petroleum from flowing
down hill through their own State to their own sea-
port.

of Pennsylvania 475

XCIV.
JAMES DONALD CAMERON.

Became Prominent National Political Leader in 1876— Member of the
Grant Cabinet — He Forced the Struggle that Made Hayes President
After an Overwhelming Popiilar Defeat — Hayes Rejected Cameron
for a Cabinet Office — His Father Resigned His Place in the Senate
and the Younger Cameron Elected — Cameron Power Supreme in
Pennsylvania Authority — Both the Camerons Four Times Elected
to the United States Senate — How Governor Pattison and Secretary
Harrity Saved Cameron's Fourth Election in 1891 — Marvelous
Record of Political Achievement by the Two Camerons in Pennsyl-
vania— The Younger Cameron's Dominating Influence in Tran-
quillizing South Carolina and Other Southern States — His Personal
Attributes.

JAMES DONALD CAMERON, son of Simon Cam-
eron, who established a political dynasty in
Pennsylvania more than a generation ago, that
at times has been halted but never overthrown
until the present day, became a prominent leader
in National politics in May, 1876, when President
Grant appointed him to fill a vacancy in the cabinet,
placing him at the head of the War Department.
Until then, while he had been a very important State
leader for some years, and had become largely the
manager of his father's political interests in the State,
he had not been known or felt in the arena of National
politics, and his appointment to the cabinet was
attributed to the influence of his father, then in the
Senate.

He was always an tmusually reticent and tmemo-
tional man, and was little seen or felt, even in the
political contests of the State, outside of the private
conclaves where battles were planned and their execu-

Old Time Notes

in definitely arranged. He was not ambitious to
uc conspicuous at the front, but distinctly preferred
V) rule without being ostentatious in the exercise of

a power. The few who knew him intimately fully
Opreciated his ability, but in the public estimation

a qualities were unappreciated because not imder-
stood.

At the lime of his appointment to the cabinet,
Senator Cameron and President Grant were in very
close accord, and both vi:idictively hostile to Blaine,
who was then apparently the leading candidate for
the Republican nomination for President; and the
purpose of the President and the Camerons was clearly
signaled soon after the younger Cameron's appoint-
ment to tile cabinet, by the Pennsylvania Republican
convention, while certainly two-thirds of the Repub-
lican people preferred the nomination of Blaine, being
manipulated to instruct the delegation to the Cinciniiati
convention to vote as a unit for the nomination of
Governor Hartranft for Prcsidt-nt, and the now Secre-
tary of War headed the delegation and was its chair-
man. But for the Cameron combination in Pennsyl-
vania Blaine woxild certainly have been nominated
for President, and certainly would have carried as
many States as gave their electoral votes to Hayes;
but with the hostility of the National administration,
it is doubtful whether the States of Louisiana. Florida
and South Carolina would have been manipulated for
Blaine as they were for Hayes.

The yoiinger Cameron's record as Secretary of War
was chiefly notable for the bold and defiant stand he
took in the most public way to declare that Hayes
was elected President over Tilden, and that the power
of the army would sustain the Republicans in the dis-
puted States in the South in their struggle to secure
the electoral votes for the Republican candidate.

Of Pennsylvania 477

He was nothing if not heroic, and once exhibited his
genuine Cameron grit by peremptorily refusing a very
earnest demand from his father for the appointment
of a yotmg man to a lieutenantcy in the army. The
father was greatly disappointed, supposing that he
had only to suggest the name to his son to secure a
commission in the army, and he exhibited some tem-
per at the refusal, but afterwards he often spoke of
the incident with pride in the positive characteristics
of his son.

Hayes' election was accomplished by the manipula-
tion of the three Southern States which had given
popular majorities for the Democratic candidate, and
all the power of the administration was exhaustively
exercised to attain the declared election of Hayes,
in which both the Camerons had played a conspicuous
part. Indeed, but for the initiative taken by Secre-
tary of War Cameron, and the defiant attitude he sus-
tained in the struggle, it is very doubtful whether the
declared election of Hayes could have been accom-
plished.

It was naturally assumed by the Camerons that
Hayes would recognize his obligations to the Camerons,
and that the least he could do would be to continue
the younger Cameron in the cabinet. Great pressure
was brought upon Hayes in favor of Cameron, delega-
tion after delegation visiting him in Ohio before he
went to Washington, and occupying much of his time
after he had arrived at the Capital. The last delega-
tion that called was headed by Benjamin Harris
Brewster, and embraced a number of prominent
Pennsylvanians. Hayes then annotmced that he would
choose a new Secretary of War, and he was bitterly
denotmced as an ingrate by most of the Pennsylvanians
who had made desperate battle for Cameron's reten-
tion in the cabinet.

The failure to have the younger Cameron contmued
in the cabinet suddenly brought the elder Cameron
to the immediate fulfilment of a puqjose that he had
long had m view after he foiuid himself securely in
the Senate with the power of his State behind him.
He did not conceal his desin? to establish a Cameron
dynasty and have his son succeed him in the Senate.
I have heard him express the purjjose on several
occasions. I was not in accord with the political
aims and methods of the Camerons, but always main-
tained pleasant relations with them, and I wtII remem-
ber on one occasion, when in conversation with the
elder Cameron, he jocularly remarked that I ought
to be United States Senator some time, but that I was
young enough to wail for him to finish his career and
have his son follow him for one or more terms, when,
if I cherished Senatorial ambition. I might be grati-
fied if I learned to behave myself politically.

The elder Cameron had lieen elected to the Senate
four different times; first, by a Democratic bolt and
fusion with the Whigs in 1845 when he defeated Judge
Woodward; in 1857. when, by the bolt of Lebo, Maneer
and Wagenseller, Democratic Representatives, and the
support of the Republicans, he was elected over Forney ;
in 1867. when he was nominated by the Republicans
over Curtin and elected by the full party vote, and again
in 1873, when he was nominated and re-elected prac-
tically without a contest.

His first election was to fill an unexpired term of
four years, and his second election ended in four years
by his resignation to accept a position in the Lincoln
cabinet. The third election gave him a full term,
and at the end of four years, after his fourth election,
he resigned in 1877 to give place to his son. The
elder Cameron thus resigned from the Senate when
in the very zenith of his power, and there is little doubt

Of Pennsylvania 479

that he cotild have continued to serve as Senator tintil
his death twelve years later. It was his settled pur-
pose to retire at some time in favor of his son, and the
refusal of President Hayes to continue the yotmger
Cameron in the cabinet precipitated the resignation
of the elder Cameron, who desired to teach the new
administration that the man he had rejected for Secre-
tary of War had the power of a great State behind
him, and could enter the Senate practically without a
struggle.

The Cameron power in all the departments of author-
ity in Pennsylvania was then supreme. Hartranft
was Governor, and Mackey and Quay were lieutenants
of rare efficiency. No intimation of Cameron's resig-
nation was given tmtil every plan was perfected for
the election of the younger Cameron. The Legisla-
ture was in session when Hayes refused to continue
Cameron as Secretary of War, and not only the Repub-
lican leaders, but most of the Republican followers
in the Legislature were quickened in their devotion to
the yotmger Cameron by the defeat he had suffered at
the hands of the President who had been elected chiefly
by Cameron's strategy.

The elder Cameron visited Harrisbiu^g, conferred
with Hartranft, Mackey, Quay and others, and inside
of twenty-four hours had the leaders in both branches
of the Legislatiu^e thoroughly posted and ready to
accept the yotmger Cameron when the resignation of
the father was annotmced; and when those who were
ambitious for Senatorial honors hurried to Harrisburg
to make a battle for the vacant Senatorship, they
foimd that the Senatorial incident was closed, and that
opposition to the Cameron power would be utterly
hopeless. The result was that James Donald Cameron
was elected to fill the tmexpired term of two years of
his father in the Senate, and it goes without saying

48o Old Time Notes

that one of the Senators from Peimsylvania was not
enthusiastic in support of the Hayes administion.

In the contest of 1878 the Republicans carried both
branches of the Legislature by a large majority, and
Senator Cameron was re-*lectcd for a full term of six
years, practically without a contest. Again, in 1884.
when Blaine was defeated for President, the Republicans
carried the State and Legislature, and Cameron re-
ceived his third election to the Senate without serious
opposition in 1885, but when the time came for his
fourth election to the Senate in 1 8q i , he was threatened
with very serious opitositioii, and at one time it looked
as if his defeat was not only possible, but probable.

In the contest of 1890, when Quay, with Cameron's
assent, had forced the nomination of Delamater for
Governor, and lost the head of the ticket by Pattison's
election to a second tenii, the revolt against the Cam-
eron power was large and aggressive, and Cameron's
open hostility to what was laiown as the " force bill, "
then pending in the Senate, became a serious menace
in bis Senatorial stn.igglf, Cameron had uniformly
opjiost'd ihc fdiTc bill aflci- the first exjx'riincnt had
been made in that line, believing that it was unwise
as a political measure and dangerous in many respects.

Soon after the Legislature had met in 1891, Cameron
telegraphed me to meet him at the Continental Hotel,
where I found Quay in company with him. Quay,
for reasons of policy, was supporting the force bill,
although at heart earnestly against it, but, above all,
he desired the re-election of his colleague. Cameron
informed me of the situation at Harrisburg; that he
might be compelled to vote on the force bill before the
election of Senator, and, if so, his opponents would
probably organize open defection against him. He
said that his nomination by the caucus was assured
under any circumstance, and that he could be defeated

of Pennsylvania 481

only by a combination between force bill Republican
bolters and the Democrats.

Pattison was soon to be inaugurated as Governor
and Harrity was annotmced as secretary of the com-
monwealth. They were both within two squares of
the Continental Hotel, and Cameron desired that they
should be conferred with and informed of the ground
upon which Cameron was likely to be opposed. The
Democrats were intensely hostile to the force bill, and
he authorized them to be informed that he was opposed
to it and would vote against it, but he believed himself
entitled to the assiu^ance that if his defeat for Senator
was threatened because of his voting against the force
bill, the Democrats should not permit a combination
against him for the election of a force bill Republican.

I left Cameron and Quay and at once visited Pattison
and Harrity, and received their positive assiu^ance that
if a revolt was attempted against Cameron by the
force bill Republicans, the Democrats would not per-
mit him to be defeated for what they regarded as the
most patriotic act of his life. There was no hesitation
on the part of either Pattison or Harrity, and when
Cameron was informed of their purpose he expressed
his contempt for his factional opponents.

It soon became known at Harrisburg that if a bolt
was attempted against Cameron the Democrats would
support him against any force bill Republican, and as
his defeat was impossible, the Republicans gave him
a practically united support. He served the ftdl
fourth term for which he was elected, and then voltm-
tarily retired from public life. During his last term
he was not entirely in accord with his party on the
silver question, but he had gathered all the laurels
of a Senatorial career, was weary of its exactions,
and his retirement was in ftdl accord with his own pur-
poses and desires.

»— 31

4^ Old Time Notes

of battle in the contest of 1877, It was an unusual
pfooeeding, but they felt confident of success, and
inspired confidence among the people by boldly coming
to the front and challenging the dominant party to
battle. Their convention was held at Harrisburg on
the 33d erf At^ijst, with Congrc-ssnian William S.
StfiOga* as permanent president. Three State officers
were to be elected^suiireme judge, auditor general
and State treasurer. Henry \\arren Williams, of
AXb^ieay, who had been appointed to the supreme
benol to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation
of Justice Strong in 1867, and was elected the same
year, died in 1877, and President Judge Sterrett, of
Allegheny, was appointed to fill the vacancy. It is
worthy of note that two men liearing precisely the
same name, Henry Warren Williams, one residing in
AOi^heny, and the other in Tioga, without rclation^ip.
were candidates for the supreme judgeship. The
Allegbeay judge first succeeded and died in office,
and a few >-ears thereafter M'illinms <-)f Tioga was
appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death
of Chief Justice Mercur, and was elected for a full term
the same year, and like his namesake died after a
decade or more of service.

The contest for the Democratic nomination for
supreme judge became intensely embittered, chiefly
because the late William M. Singerly, then a strong
Democratic power in Philadelphia, threw himself into
the breach to prevent the nomination of Furman
Sheppard, who was the favorite of the convention,
and would certainly have been nominated but for
Singerly's aggressive and skillful tactics. The first
ballot gave Trunkey 71 and Sheppard 64, with a large
scattering vote diffused among a half a score of candi-
dates. On the second ballot Sheppard received 103
votes to 100 for Trunkey, with 48 votes scattering;

Of Pennsylvania 489

on the third ballot, that was taken in almost breath-
less silence, every delegate answered to his name but
** Uncle Jake ' ' Zeigler of Butler, the leading Democratic
politician of his section, who had been clerk of the
house for many years. He had retired between ballots
with some friends to sample the old rye of the Brady
House, and as the ballot progressed, and his absence
was noted, several exploring parties were sent out to
bring him in before the ballot ended.

When the last name on the list was called the vote
stood Tnmkey 124 and Sheppard 124, but just then
"Uncle Jake" entered the hall, and stood up in the
main aisle smiling like a bridesmaid, and asked that
his name be called. The clerk at once responded and
Zeigler 's vote was given for Tnmkey, thereby making
him the candidate, and giving the State a supreme
judge. William P. Schell, of Bedford, who had served
in both house and senate, was nominated for auditor
general on the second ballot, and Amos C. Noyes, of
Clinton, who had served several sessions in the house,
and was one of the most popular of the leading lumber
men of his region, was nominated for State treasurer
on the fifth ballot. He was popularly known through-
out the campaign as ** Square- timber Noyes." The
platform was very shrewdly drawn to commend the
party to the disturbed elements of the State.

The RepubUcan convention met at Harrisburg on
the 4th of September with ex-Congressman William
H. Armstrong as permanent president. Justice Ster-
rett was unanimously nominated for the supreme court
to succeed himself, and William B. Hart, of Mont-
gomery, was also nominated by acclamation for State
treasurer. A single ballot was had for auditor general,
when John A. M. Passmore, of Schuylkill, was nomi-
nated over Howard J. Reeder by a vote of 165 to 82.
The platform was reported by Representative John

Old Time Notes

was skilfully drawn to meet the new con-

h confronted the party, but revolutionists

r Lon.^ i)ause to study political deliverances.

in revolutionary times new parties are bom in a day,

1 old side-sliow organizations are brought into

ewed activity. The workingmen held a State con-

ition at Harrisburg on the loth of September, and

laminated Jxidge William Elwell, of Columbia, for

ipreme judge, John M. Davis, of Allegheny, for auditor

leral. and James L. Vv'nght, of Philadelphia, for

ite treasurer. The Greenback party also held a

ite convention at Williamsjxjrt on the i9lh of Sep-

'■Tiber. of which Frank W. Hughes was chairman, and

njamin S. Bentley, of Lycoming, was nominated

r supreme judge, with James E. Emerson for auditor

general, and James L. Wright, the Workingmen's

candidate, for State treasurer. The Prohibitionists

also held a State convention on the 14th of September,

at which ex-Congressman A. A. Barker presided, and

nominated A. D. Winton, of Luzerne, for supreme judge,

A. A- Barker for auilitor general, and Samuel Comey,

of Chester, for State treasurer.

The Repubhcans made exhaustive efforts to get their
broken Hnes reformed, but it was an utter impossibility
to bring the revolutionary tidal wave to an ebb, and
the entire State ticket was defeated by nearly 10,000
majority. While the Democrats carried all the State
officers, the Republicans held both branches of the
Legislature, having 31 senators to 19 Democrats, and
120 Republicans in the house to 81 Democrats.

The election of 1877 brought to the front Robert E.
Pattison, then a young lawyer in the office of Lewis C.
Cassidy, and spoken of rather contemptuously by his
political opponents as "Cassidy's boy." He had just
begun a moderately successful career at the bar, and
was little knovn to the public when his name was first

Of Pennsylvania 491

presented. The proposition to place a young man
without official experience in the important office of
city controller was not at first regarded with general
favor, but the more the people studied the character
and qualities of Pattison the more valuable he was
regarded. Two common pleas judges were to be
elected, and Judges Fell, Republican, and Ludlow,
Democrat, were accepted by both parties and received
the imanimous vote of the people.

There was a very earnest struggle for the nomina-
tion for district attorney, involving a number of am-
bitious expectants, but after a considerable wrangle
they were all set aside, and Judge Thayer was made the
compromise candidate against Hagert, who had been
assistant district attorney under Sheppard. Patti-
son's competitor was Mr. Sayre, an active and popular
Republican, and Dr. Gilbert, the Democratic candidate
for coroner against Mr. Knorr, who was an earnest
Republican and generally acceptable as a candidate,
but while the candidates on the Republican State
ticket all received majorities in Philadelphia of from
6,000 to 7,000, the entire Democratic city ticket was
elected by majorities ranging from 1,000 to 2,000.

This defeat of the city ticket was the result of internal
dissensions within the party, and not because of special
objections to any of the candidates. The selection of
Thayer was regarded as specially strong, but he was
seriously weakened by Benjamin Harris Brewster
accepting the nomination of the Labor party for the
same office, and receiving some 5,000 votes. The
public estimate of Judge Thayer was shown one year
later when he was unanimously re-elected as judge.

With such a disaster as that suffered by the Repub-
licans in both city and State in 1877, it was only natural
that the Republican leaders who were masters in their
line would exhaust their resources to regain the State

493 Old Time Notes

in 1878, when a Governor was to be elected, and Repub-
lican mastery was secured in that contest only by the
shrewdest political strategy on the part of the Repub-
lican leaders. The Greenback issue had become a
very dangerous one, and clearly held the balance of
power between the two parties. Its most active
leaders were trained in commercial politics, and Mackey
and Quay began their campaign by getting absolute
control of the Greenback organization. Its State
convention was held in Philadelphia on the 6th of May.
and Samuel E. Mason, of Mercer, was nominated for
Governor. The only condition that Mackey and Quay
required from the Greenback leaders was that they
should nominate Mason, who was pledged to remain in
the field, and under no circumstances to consent to a
fusion between the Greenback and Democratic jjarties.

Such f usioa would have been natural, as a large major-
ity of the Democrats to a greater or less degree believed
in the Greenback poHcy. and a fusion with that party
by the Democrats, with n Democrat for Oo\-pninr and
a Greenback man for Lieutenant Governor, would have
swept the State. A counter movement was made in
the Greenback convention to nominate William H.
Armstrong as the candidate for Governor, believing
that he would be accepted by the Republicans and thus
give the Greenbackers the semblance of victory, but
Mackey and Quay had the Greenbackers ticketed
through and baggage checked with all the Greenback
leaders involved in the deal, including the Greenback
nominee for Governor, sworn to resist fusion under
any and all circumstances.

The Republicans held their State convention at
Harrisburg on the 1 5th of May with Mayor Stokley as
permanent president. Henry M. Hoyt, the slated
candidate for Governor, was nominated on the first
ballot by a vote of 161 to 47 for Grow, 29 for Wicker-

Of Pennsylvania 493

sham, 1 2 for Beaver and i for Morrell. For Lieutenant
Governor Charles W. Stone, of Warren, was nominated
on the first ballot by a vote of 182 to 59 for J. Howard
Jacobs, and Aaron K. Dimkel, of Philadelphia, was
nominated for secretary of internal affairs on the first
ballot by a vote of 122 to 106 for McClellan.

The only earnest contest of the convention was
on the nomination for supreme judge. Chief Justice
Agnew^s term in the supreme court was about to expire,
and he was then well on toward the patriarchal age.
He was highly respected alike personally and judicially,
and under ordinary circumstances it is quite probable
that even his age would not have precluded his renomi-
nation, but Judge Sterrett had resigned the president
judgeship of Allegheny to accept the appointment of
supreme judge in the disastrous year of 1877, when he
suffered defeat with his associates on the State ticket,
and Quay and Mackey were pledged to the nomination
of Sterrett, although Quay was a fellow townsman of
Agnew, and had nominated him fifteen years before.

The two most notable speeches I have ever heard in
a State convention were made on that occasion by the
late Lin Bartholomew, of Pottsville, in favor of the
nomination of Judge Sterrett, and by ex-Congressman
William H. Koontz, of Somerset, pressing the renomi-
nation of Agnew. Those addresses rank amongst the
ablest of the political deliverances I have heard in a
Pennsylvania State convention. Each of the speakers
knew the responsibility he had asstmied, and both
acquitted themselves in a masterly manner, but the
organization was omnipotent, and Sterrett was nomi-
nated on the first ballot by 154 to 92 for Agnew.

The Republican ticket was one of tmusual strength.
Hoyt was one of the ablest men who ever filled the
gubernatorial chair of Pennsylvaania, and with his
clean record as citizen, as judge and as soldier he was

j^^^A

494 Old Time Notes

a formidable candidate to assail, while Judge Sterrett
commanded the conlidcnce of the entire profession
of the State, and was universally respected i>ersonaIly
as widely as he was known. Stone, the nominee for
Lieutenant Governor, had been a prominent name in
Pennsylvania jxilitics. having served very creditably
in Congress, and was a prominent candidate for Gov-
ernor against his namesake to succeed Hasitngs.

The Democratic State convention met at Pittsburg
on the a 2d of May with ex-Senator Buckalew permanent
president. The contest for Ciovemor was unusxjally
animated, as Wallace, who favored the nomination of
Andrew H. Dill, locked horns with William L. Scott,
of Erie, in urging the nomination of ex-Congressman
James H, Hopkins, of Allegheny. Wallace won out
and nominated Dill on the third ballot by a vote of
136 to 89 for Hopkins and 27 scattering. Judge
Ross, of Montgomery, was nominated for supreme
judge on the first ballot, receiving 162 votes with 71
for Sheppard and 10 for Golden. John Fertig, of
Crawford, was nominated for Lieutenant Governor
on the third ballot, the vote being 162 to 64 for Sow-
den, and J. Simpson Africa, of Huntingdon, was
unanimously nominated for secretary of internal affairs.

The Prohibitionists met at Altoona on the 20th of
May, and nominated Franklin H. Lane, of Hunting-
don, for Governor, and the party would have made no
figure in the contest if it had not nominated Chief
Justice Agnew for supreme judge, and soon after the
nomination had been made. Judge Bentley, the Green-
back candidate for supreme judge, retired from the
ticket, and the Greenbackers accepted Agnew as their
candidate. Thus a fusion was effected between the
Greenbackers and Prohibitionists on the single office
of supreme judge, but the Republican leaders did not
fear any fusion embracing the Democratic party.

of Pennsylvania 495

The Republicans knew that they had a desperate
contest before them, and Quay took the chairman-
ship of the State committee and became the immediate
commander in the battle. He had the Greenbackers
safely side-tracked against fusion with the Democrats,
and well knew that more Democrats than Republicans
would follow the distinct Greenback party flag. He
knew also that the Democratic business interests in
the State were not in sympathy with the Greenback
policy, and he astounded the Democrats and many
of his own followers by opening the campaign with
Galusha A. Grow as the oracle declaring distinctly
in favor of maintaining the credit of the government
by adhering to the gold standard, and reaching specie
payments as rapidly as could be done without embar-
rassment to the business and industrial interests of
the cotmtry. Under ordinary conditions such a policy
would have been fatal, as it would have rushed the
Democrats and Greenbackers into fusion, but Quay
well knew that he had created an impassable gulf
between those two parties, and he decided to take
the chance of losing a few Greenback Republicans and
winning a larger number of sotmd money Democrats.

No campaign ever organized and fought in the State
was more skilfully planned and executed. Many of
the Greenback people were aroused to aggressive
action in demanding that in the face of the gold stand-
ard being flung into their faces by the Republican
organization, the Democrats and Greenbackers should
make common cause, as thus united they undoubtedly
had the power to carry the State. The Greenback
candidate for Governor was faithful to his agreement,
and the Greenback leaders in charge of the campaign
threw every obstacle in the way of fusion.

The fact that Judge Agnew polled 99,316 votes for
supreme judge by a fusion between the Prohibitionists

Old Time NoteS

^P and Greenbackers alone, clearly shows that even a
measurable fusion {)etween the Greenbackers and the
Democrats would ha\'e defeated the Republican State
ticket. Fortunately for Quay, the Greenbackers had
no party leaders to make battle for the integrity of
their organization. Many of them were purely com-
mercial, and others idealists who were always ready to
follow a hopeless flag in supjxjrt of their faith, rather
than mingle it with the faith of others to gain victorj*.

Hoyt took the stump, and his speeches were among
the ablest ever delivered in the State. He did not
enthuse audiences as Curtin did. but he seriously
impressed all intelligent hearers, and came out of
the struggle a very much more highly appreciated
man than he was when he entered it. Dill made few
speeches, but what he did make were of a masterly
type. He was one of the ablest men then connected
with State authority, as he had served a long period
in the scmate, but he was one of the most unassimiing
of all our public men. He was personally popular,
for none nif)re nearly completed the circle of all the
admirable personal qualities of a public man. No one
in the Senate was more highly respected by the Repub-
licans than was Andrew H. Dill, and thus the two great
parties had eminently able representatives at the head
of their tickets, and men completely equipped alike in
character and attainments to fill the office of Governor
with the highest measure of credit.

Africa, the Democratic candidate for secretary of
internal affairs, had creditably served in the Legisla-
ture, although representing a strong Republican dis-
trict, and was very highly respected, while Dunkel,
his Republican competitor, suffered to some extent
from defection within his own party. The result
was the election of Hoyt by a plurality of 22,253, ^th
Mason, Greenback candidate, receiving 81,758 votes.

..jd-U^J^^-^

Of Pennsylvania 497

Stone's plurality was 23,255, Sterrett's plurality was
23,821, with Agnew, Greenback-Prohibition, polling 93,-
316 votes, and Dunkel was elected by 12,159 plurality.

In Allegheny County Agnew received 10,181 votes,
the Democratic candidate for supreme judge received
11,999, and Sterrett 19,518, showing a majority in
Allegheny against the Republicans, although their
State ticket received a plurality of nearly 10,000. In
a number of the cotmties in the State the combined
Greenback and Prohibition vote cast for Agnew was
larger than the Democratic vote, but the compact
between the Republicans and the Greenbackers had
held good from start to finish, and Quay won the most
important victory in the State that was gained solely
by the most superb political strategy.

When it is remembered that at the September elec-
tion of that year the strong Republican State of Maine
faltered, and the Greenbackers and Democrats elected
the entire State officers and both branches of the Legis-
lature, defeating Hale for Congress, the perfection of
Republican strategy in Pennsylvania may be tmder-
stood. Quay and Mackey began early to perfect the
policy to divide and conquer the opposition, and they
were successful at every stage of the struggle. The
Republicans, of course, carried both branches of the
Legislature, having 32 senators to 15 Democrats, 2
Greenback Democrats, and i National, and the house
had 107 Republicans, 78 Democrats, 7 Greenback
Democrats, 3 Greenback Republicans and 6 National.
It was in this campaign that Quay made himself the
acknowledged Republican master in the State, as
Mackey died a few weeks after the election, and Quay,
green with the laurels of his great victory, became
the supreme leader of the party.

'39

L

49»

XCVI.
POLITICAL EVENTS OF 1878-9.

Quay Makes Himself Recorder of Philadelphia with Large Compensation —
Locates in Philadelpliia at ElevsDth and Spruce — Chairman of
Republican State Commit tee-^Succceded by Dnvid ii. Lane as
Recorder— The Oflit-e Finally AboliGhed — Quay Becomes Secrelafv
o( the Commonwealth Under Hoyt— The Pittsburg Four Million
Riot Bill— Defeated After a Bitter Contest— Convictions Followed
for I^jtitlnlive Venality — Quay Nominates Butler for State Tress-
uror — Serious Hitch When Butler Assumed the Office — How the
Tieanury Deficit was Covered — Cameroa and Quay Malie EamcMt
Bftttlo for Ciront's Nomination for a Third Term.

THE disastrous Republican defeat of 1877 made
the leaders of tiie party b^in at once to po^
feet the organization, and to devise the policy
for the campaign of 1878, when a Governor was to be
chosen, Mackey lived in Pittsburg, and had complete
control of the organization in the Western counties.
Quay's home was in Beaver, within the radius where
Mackey could direct party movements without the aid
of Quay. The Camerons were centrally located at
Harrisburg, but in Philadelphia they had no great
party leaders.

Quay's political methods were always expensive,
and being then without fortune himself, it was decided
by Quay, Mackey and the Camerons that the office of
recorder for the city of Philadelphia should be revived
with greatly enlarged powers, which would yield to
the official not less than $30,000 a year. The bill
provided that the recorder should be appointed by
the Governor with the approval of the senate, and did
not require him to be a resident of Philadelphia at

of Pennsylvania 499

the time he was commissioned. The measure was
very desperately fought by most of the Democrats
and some reform Republicans, but it was carried
through the Legislature and approved by Governor
Hartranft, who soon thereafter nominated Quay for
the position.

It required a two-thirds vote in the senate to con-
firm him, but after much agitation and some scandal
the confirmation was effected by the aid of the Dem-
ocratic senator from York. It is notable that for
many years York furnished more Democratic legis-
lators who served the Republican organization than
any other dozen counties of the State. At no time
during the political rule of Quay was he without power
over the Democratic organization in York County,
and in 1901 it was the direct vote of a Democratic
member from York for Quay's candidate for speaker
that enabled him to get control of the house by the
defeat of General Koontz, the fusion candidate. Dem-
ocratic demoralization logically followed such con-
tinued commercial Democratic politics in one of the
strong Democratic cotmties of the State, and the cul-
mination was reached in 1904 when the Republicans
carried the cotmty by a decided majority.

Quay at once located in Philadelphia, and made his
home in a large double house on the northeast comer
of Eleventh and Spruce Streets. He believed that
with his official power, and his close relations with
the leaders of the party in the city, he could dominate
the eastern part of the State, while Mackey ruled the
west, but the recorder bill was very odious throughout
the State, and specially odious to the citizens of Phila-
delphia, who were needlessly taxed to furnish a large
income solely for the benefit of a political leader.
Quay soon discovered that the office he had wrung
from the Legislature weakened rather than strength-

soo Old Time Notes

ened his power, as there was very general disapproval
not only of the creation of the office of recorder, but of
filling it with a political leader from Western Pennsyl-
vania.

Quay discharged his duties as recorder with great
moderation by neglecting to enforce the collection of
the large fees he could have commandc-i]. He was also
made diairman of the State committee, and devoted
himself exclusively to the severe duties that position
imposed in the gubernatorial contest of 1878. He
won out by the most carefully-pLinncd and well-
executed political methods which ha\c liecn described
in a former chapter, and when Hoyt was elected Gov-
ernor he was ready to abandon the recordership. and
was succeeded by David H. Lane, one of the most
level-headed and widely-respected of the local Repub-
lican leaders. Lane made a great struggle to halt
the tidal wave that demanded the repeal of the recorder
act, and proposed to revise the duties and ]jreroga-
tives of the recorder, to cut off extravagant fees and
make it an eminently useful position to the public,
but public sentiment was overwhelmingly against
the whole scheme, and the recorder bill was finally
repealed.

It was only natural that Governor Hoyt should
tender the position of secretary of the commonwealth
to Quay, and it was done soon after his election and
promptly accepted. Hoyt called to the attorney
generalship Henry W. Palmer, from his own town, a
lawyer of eminent ability and one of the most con-
scientious of all our Pennsylvania officials. The Ho;4
administration would have been rather tmeventful
but for the agitation and scandal developed in the
Legislature of 1879 growing out of what was commonly
known as the "Riot bill," and his defiant political
deliverance made just before the election of 1882, when

Of Pennsylvania 501

he declared against the Republican organization and
State ticket headed by General Beaver.

Several millions of property were destroyed by the
Pittsburg mob in the desperate riots of 1877, in which
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was almost the
only sufferer. The laws of the State made Allegheny
County liable for the destruction of property by a
mob within its jurisdiction, but prominent lawyers
of Pittsburg invented the defence that the mob had
been provoked to violence and the destruction of
property by the State ordering its militia to Pittsburg,
thus greatly inflaming the riotous spirit of the people
without having sufficient military force to protect
person and property. They insisted that as the State
had, by its mistaken military movements, caused the
destruction of property by the mob, the losses should
be paid from the State treasury and not by the people
of Allegheny Coimty.

This theory was accepted by the leaders, and it
was decided to pass a bill making an appropriation of
some $4,000,000 to be applied to the payment of
property destroyed by the mob, or so much thereof
as might be needed. This bill aroused fierce oppo-
sition, not only throughout the State, but within the
Legislature, and the measure was fought with despera-
tion. A large lobby was brought to Harrisburg to
aid the passage of the bill, and that intensified the
opposition, and led to charges of the employment of
corrupt influences to command the approval of the
Legislature.

Just when the battle for and against the meastire
was at its height, a resolution was adopted by the house
providing for the appointment of a committee of five
" for the purpose of investigating the charges made by
the member from Union (Mr. Wolfe) and any other
improper influences brought to bear upon members

rime Notes

tin at Tisburg to sjx-'culate largely m some par-
ular stcxrks al>out which they belie\"ed they had
a reliable tip. and without Treasurer Noyes partici-
pating in the ojieration. and most likely withoal even
knowing it, a large amount of the State money was
used to aid the speculators. It was not draiATi directly
from the treasury, but loans were obtained from banks
which had State deposits, with the assurance thai they
would not be called until the obUgaiions were paid.
It was common m iha ; it had been for many

years before, and as it n^, i, as a rule, from that

time to the present, for » treasurers to favor

pohtical or personal friei r serve private spec-

ulative interests of their own f the use of the pubhc
money in the treasury just i r. Noyes did, although
in violation of both the lettpf d the spirit of the law.
It happcncf^l that the %U Dcculation was a mis-
venture, and a large amount oi money was lost, involv-
ing Quay in Uie most serious financial troubles he ever
experienced, State Treasurer Butler sternly refused
to accept the assets of tiie treasury' as they were pre-
sented to him, and required that every accoimt should
be put upon a strictly lawful basis, to obviate all per-
sonal risk on the part of the new treasiu^r. Many wild
stories have been published by the vindictive enemies
of Quay relating to this episode in his poUtical career.
Detailed accounts have been given of how he was with
difficulty hindered by his friends from plunging into
the Susquehanna and ending his troubles with his life,
all of which were wholly inventions of the mahce that
ever pursues successful men.

Quay was not built in that way. I have seen him
in many very severe trials, and in every instance the
graver the difficulties the more heroic he was in meet-
ing them. The yotuiger Cameron and Kemble promptly
came to his relief by advancing a large amount of money

Of Pennsylvania 503

years declared in favor of a sound financial policy, as
Quay had won out with it in the election of Hoyt.
For several years prior to that time the Republicans
regarded it as unsafe to make a distinct declaration in
favor of the gold standard.

The Democratic State convention met at Harris-
burg on the 1 6th of July, over which A. H. Coffroth
presided, and Daniel O. Barr, of Allegheny, was nomi-
nated for State treasurer. The Greenbackers also
held a convention at Altoona on the 1 5th of July, and
nominated Peter Sutton, of Indiana, for State treas-
urer, and the Prohibitionists met at Altoona on the
23d of September and nominated W. I. Richardson,
of Montour, for the same office. The contest was not
a spirited one, as the Democrats had little hope of
success. The result was the election of Butler by a
majority of 58,438. The Greenbackers had fallen down
to 27,208 votes, and the Prohibitionists to 3,219,
giving Butler a decided majority over all. The Legis-
lature was also Republican by a large majority. The
senate had 32 Republicans, 15 Democrats, 2 Green-
back Democrats and i National, and the house con-
tained 107 Republicans, 78 Democrats, 7 Greenback
Democrats, 3 Greenback Republicans and 6 Nationals.

One of the many serious troubles injected into Quay's
public experience occurred when State Treasurer
Butler came to Harrisbtirg in the spring of 1880, to
take charge of the State treasury. Butler's predecessor
was Mr. Noyes, of Clinton, a man of imusual intelligence,
but eminent for his amiable and confiding qualities.
He was not a financier, nor had he any knowledge of
banking, and he entrusted the management of the
treasury almost entirely to Mr. Walters, his cashier,
who was a very shrewd and capable man with a fond-
ness for speculation.

A combination was made by Quay with several

Old Time Notes

5n with house hill 103." The committee con-
. M. Rhodes. C. B. Elliott. Charles S. Wolfe,
yie and G. E. Mapes. It began its inquiry on
4tn of April and ended on the 33d of May, when
;ported to the house declaring that eight persons,
.dding three members of the house, had been guilty
'■nrrupt solicitation and should be prosecuted.
u |irosecutions were tried before Judge Pierson
I tne Harrisburg quarter sessions, and after much
l^al sjmrring and considerable delay, the accused
paJlics decided to plead guilty, believing that they
woiili! Ik- ])unishcd only by fine, but to the overwhelm-
ing surprise of the defendants and the very general
surprise of the public, Judge Pierson sentenced them
to the ijenitentiary, and that error of the trial judge
opened the way for their pardon, as it was held by
Attorney General Palmer, whose integrity and abihty
were unquestioned, to be a sentence entirely unwar-
ranted. The scandal arising from the efforts to pass
the bill arousfi! such aggressive opposition that the
measure was abandoned, and the riot losses were finally
amicably adjusted by Allegheny County.

The year 1879 was an off year in politics, as the only
office to be filled was that of State treasurer, and Quay
decided upon Samuel Butler, of Chester, as the party
candidate for that position. That nomination was de-
signed as a tub to the reform whale, as the Butler
element, in which Judge Butler, brother of the candi-
date for State treasurer, was an important factor and a
candidate for a seat in the supreme court, was not in
sympathy with the machine. When the leaders decided
in favor of Butler, the reform sentiment of the State
readily acquiesced, and at the convention held at
Harrisburg on the 23d of July, of which Galusha A.
Grow was president, Butler was nominated by accla-
mation, and that convention for the first time in many

Of Pennsylvania 505

that was probably aided by liberal deposits from
the treasury, and in a few years Quay was able to repay
his friends, with a moderate fortune left to himself.
•He was bold in everything, and as bold in speculation
as he was in politics. Three times during his public
career he would have been utterly bankrupt if called
to a settlement of his affairs, and he was as many times
the possessor of a liberal fortime. He was evidently
fortimate in his financial operations during the tidal
wave of increased values that occurred several years
ago, as at no time during his life was his accumulated
wealth so great as at the time of his death.

The death of Mackey, that occurred only a few weeks
after the election of Hoyt, in the fall of 1878, was a
great loss to Quay. Mackey was one of the safest of
advisers in finance as well as in politics, and he equaled
Quay in boldness of conception and execution; but
while Quay lost a most important colleague in the
management of the RepubUcan organization, of which
Mackey was always the acknowledged leader, the
death of Mackey made Quay practically the absolute
arbiter of Republican movements and policy in Penn-
sylvania. He had the benefit of the coimsels of both
the Camerons, but the elder Cameron had practically
retired from active participation in political affairs,
and the yoimger Cameron, while most valuable in
advising and directing political operations, greatly
preferred that some other than himself should be at the
front and take the honor with its exacting labors.
Quay was thus practically in charge of the Republican
organization of the State, and never was forgetful of
the necessity of wielding his authority.

As the National contest of 1880 approached it pre-
sented a very serious problem to be solved by Quay
and Cameron. They had defeated Blaine for the
Presidency in the Cincinnati convention of 1876, after

5o6 Old Time Notes

a desperate struggle and by a very narrow margin,
and Blaine was looming up as an apparently invincible
candidate for the Presidential nomination of iS8o.
Both Quay and Cameron were weary of Hayes and
distrustful of Blaine. They wanted a President who
would be in thorough accord with them, and not quib-
ble over the advancement of men useful in pohtics, j
even though somewhat shady on the score of merit. i

They very nmch wanted a Republican President, but 1
they felt that they could not afford to accept Blaine,
although they were confronted by the fact that an
overwhelming majority of the RepubHcan people of
the State were earnestly devoted to Blaine, and de-
sired his nomination. Blaine was a native of Perm- i
sylvania, having been bom in Washington County, |
was educated in the State, and was for some time a '
teacher in the deaf and dumb asylum of Philadelphia at
Broad and Pine. He became a resident of Maine by
the accident of marrying an accomplished Maine teacher
in Kentucky, when Blaine held a position in one of
the prominent educational institutions of that State.
His wife's strong love of her home on the far north-
east coast, decided the destiny of the man who rose
to be the most idolized man of his party since the days
of Henry Clay, but who, like Clay, was destined never
to be President.

Blaine's close political associations in Washington
were not in sympathy with the Quay-Cameron asso-
ciation, and as Quay and Cameron had defeated
Blaine for President in 1876, by sheer manipulation
that made Pennsylvania practically voiceless in the
contest, they felt that they had little to expect from
Blaine if he became President. The differences which
existed between Blaine and the Quay-Cameron forces
were not logical. They were politicians of much the
same tj^pe. Blaine believed in old-time political

Of Pennsylvania 507

methods, and while he gave a passive approval to the
civil service ideas, he was never in sympathy with
them. His political theory was that the land belonged
to the saints, iand that his party were the saints, but
for some reason, never fully imderstood outside the
circle immediately interested, Blaine became offensive
to Cameron, Quay, Mackey and Kemble, and the
breach was steadily widened imtil death interposed to
end the contest. They could have made terms with
Blaine, as Blaine would doubtless have agreed to their
absolute supremacy in Pennsylvania if he became
President, but they were entirely distrustful of Blaine,
and rejected all of the many overtures which were
made to bring the warring interests into harmony.

Grant was the ideal President of the men who were
in harmony with him. He never quibbled about the
demands they made upon him if it was within his
power to grant them. Grant, after having made a
journey around the world, had returned home and
received the grandest ovations ever accorded to an
American citizen. It was believed by his friends that
the public sentiment was so strongly in sympathy
with him that he could be nominated and elected to a
third term, and it was only natural that Quay and
Cameron should turn to Grant as the most available
man to serve them in overthrowing Blaine in the con-
vention of 1880.

They did not proclaim their preference for Grant,
but carefully canvassed the State, beginning even
before the advent of the year 1880, and quietly ar-
ranged for the election of delegates to the State con-
vention at a period long before the time the masses
of the party gave any thought to the subject. When
the work* of arranging for the ejection of delegates
was completed, an obedient State committee was
summoned and a snap State convention was called

f

508 OH Time Notes

to meet on the 4th of February to nominate State
officers, and select delegates to tlie National CLinvention.

The friends of Blaine had practically no knowledge
of the systematic movement that had been made to
give the State to Grant until they were astounded by
the call for the State convention at the earliest period
that had ever been named for the meeting of such a
body, and when they attempted to organize for the
election of delegates, they discovered that the field
had been carefully gleaned by Quay and Cameron, and
that it was impossible, in the brief period they would
have for organization, to make successful battle against
the machine. The result was that Pennsylvania was
first in the field in 1880 with her State convention,
with nearly unanimous instructions for Grant's nomi-
nation for the third Presidential term, and with a
practically solid Grant delegation instructed to vote
as a unit for the hero of Appomattox.

Blaine thus lost, at the very opening of his great
battle of 1880. the moral power of the second State
of the Union, and one in which he well knew that a
large majority of the Republicans were sincerely and
earnestly anxious for his nomination as the candidate
of the party for President, and when the vote of the
National convention is carefully scanned, any intelli-
gent student will understand that it was this shrewdly
conceived and boldly executed movement of Quay and
Cameron, at the opening of the year 1880, that defeated
Blaine's nomination at Chicago. True, Grant fell
with him, but Blaine lost the Presidency, and it was
Quay and Cameron who dealt the fatal blow.

Of Pennsylvania 509

XCVII.
POLITICAL EVENTS OF 1880.

Quay and Cameron Call Early State Convention, and Declare in Favor
of Grant for a Third Term — Cameron Chairman of National Com-
mittee— Ruled Strongly in Favor of Grant in Preliminary Proceed-
ings— Reluctant Support Given to Garfield — Blaine's Appointment
as Premier Offensive to Quay and Cameron — State Offices Filled at
the Election — Memorable Speeches in National Conventions by Inger-
soll, Conkling and Dougherty.

CAMERON and Quay were compelled to face a
huge proposition as 1880 approached, as
Blaine's nomination for the Presidency could
be defeated only by the diversion of Pennsylvania from
its undisputed favorite candidate, and even with that
accomplished, most exhaustive efforts were required
by the powerful combination that had accomplished the
defeat of Blaine at Cincinnati in 1876. Cameron was
then in the Senate, and Quay was secretary of the
commonwealth with their leadership in the State on
all ordinary propositions practically tmdisputed, but
to wrest the State from Blaine in 1880 was a task of
great magnitude, and it could not have been accom-
plished in any other way than by a snap movement
that precipitated the convention earlier than any had
ever been held before, after the State had been quietly
organized by Cameron and Quay when the Blaine men
were entirely off guard.

Long before the advent of 1880 Cameron and Quay
had quietly organized every section of the State for
the election of delegates to the State convention, and
not until an official call was issued for the convention
to meet on the 4th of February, 1880, had the Blaine

5IO

Old Time Notes

people any intimation of the movements to give 1
State to Grant. Even with all the advantage the
leaders had of quiet manipulation when the Blaine
people were patiently waiting for the time to act, the
instructions for Grant, and requiring the delegation to
vote as a unit for his nomination, were passed by a vote
of 133 to 1 13, Had there been an open, square battle
between Blaine and Grant in the State, even with all
the power of the organization against Blaine, it is not
only possible, but quite probable that he would have
carried a majority of the convention.

Conkling, then as supreme in New York as Cameron
and Quay were in Pennsylvania, followed with an
early convention in that State, and declared in favor
of Grant with like instructions to the delegation to
vote as a unit. Thus the two greatest of the States
led off for Grant, and for the time his noniination
appeared to be inevitable, but Blaine had a vastly
larger popular following than had Grant, and it was
aroused to desperate resist;mce. Never was a pre-
liminary battle for the Presidency so earnestly con-
tested as in the struggle between Grant and Blaine
in 1880. Every State was battled for with desperate
energy, and when all the delegations had been chosen
to the National convention, Blaine, with the field, had
a clear majority against Grant, but Grant had a like
clear majority against Blaine.

The vote in the convention on the first ballot was
304 for Grant, 284 for Blaine, 93 for Sherman, 31 for
Washburn, 34 for Edmunds and 10 for Windom. It
was a struggle of giants, and the convention lasted for
more than a week. Thirty-six ballots were taken, and
Grant varied from 304 to 309 until the thirty-fourth,
when he reached 312, and on the thirty-fifth his high-
est vote was obtained, 313. On the thirty-sixth and
last ballot his vote fell back to 306. Blaine never

Of Pennsylvania 511

exceeded his first vote of 284 on any of the many
ballots, but polled that vote several times. His last
vote before the final break to Garfield was 257, and
on the final ballot he received only 42, his friends
having almost bodily gone to Garfield.

The nomination of Garfield was not in any measure
acceptable to Cameron or Conkling. True, they had
defeated Blaine, and thus accomplished one of the great
purposes of the combination, but they long hesitated
to give a cordial support to Garfield. The friends of
Garfield immediately after his nomination called upon
Conkling, and requested him to indicate a candidate
for Vice-President, but he refused, in the contemptuous
manner that he so often exhibited, to give any inti-
mation on the subject. As Arthur was a delegate
and cast the vote of New York on several occasions
when Conkling was otherwise engaged, and as he was
known to be the special favorite of Conkling, the Gar-
field people nominated him for Vice-President, but
for the time being the nomination of Arthur did not
seem to temper the keen disappointment of Conkling.
Garfield had been nominated by the supporters of
Blaine, and Conkling feared that Garfield would be
much more friendly to Blaine than he could afford to
have the President. I saw Garfield and Arthur at the
general reception given to them on the evening after the
nominations had been made, and the occasion was
chiefly notable for the absence of Conkling and Cameron.

The nomination of Garfield was not cordially re-
sponded to by the followers of the Republican leaders
in either New York or Pennsylvania. I saw Cameron
frequently, and during the early stages of the contest
he did not regard Garfield's election as probable, and
was not disposed to lose sleep at the prospect of a
Republican National defeat. The organization in the
State was in his own hands with John Cessna as chair-

512 Old Time Notes

man of the State committee, and imder any circum-
stances the vote of Pennsylvania would be given to
Garfield, but New York was then regarded as certain to
vote Democratic. The Republican leaders in the
Eastern States were very slow to organize for the
National battle, and in the early part of the stmimer
Garfield was so much alarmed at the situation that
he voluntarily visited New York and stopped at
the same hotel where Conkling made his home, and
although Garfield was there for several days, Conkling
never called upon him.

Later in the struggle, when the leaders were required
to decide between victory or defeat, Conkling was
pressingly invited by Garfield to visit him in Ohio,
and after a conference in which Grant, Cameron and
others participated, it was decided that Conkling
should accept the invitation and confer with their
candidate. The result of that conference was that the
entire Grant combination decided to give an earnest
support to Garfield, and Grant himself went so far as
to attend a meeting and deliver a public address in
favor of the Rei)ublican candidate. General Hancock,
who was the Democratic candidate for President, had
a strong hold upon the ])eo])le, and was a very popular
and dangerous antagonist for Garfield. Thus after
having been apparently quite willing for Garfield's
defeat for several months after his nomination, the
Grant-Cameron combination found, when they de-
cided to elect him, that they had an immense contract
on their hands, and Garfield's election was finally
accomplished only by a combination with Tammany
that made them betray Hancock.

The first blow that struck the Grant leaders after
the election of Garfield was his public announcement
that Blaine would be called to the premiership of his
cabinet. When the cabinet was sent to the Senate

i

*

f

Of Pennsylvania 51 j

for confirmation, Cameron, more level-headed than
Conkling, supported it in its entirety, but when Blaine's
name was read in the Senate Conkling said to a fellow
Senator that he must either retire from the body or
hold his nose to escape the stench of Blaine's name,
and he quietly adjourned to his committee room.
Another cabinet nomination, that of Wayne MacVeagh.
for Attorney General, had peculiar dual significance.
He was not of the Grant school of politics, but he was
the brother-in-law of Senator Cameron, for whom the
entire Cameron family cherished just pride. The
appointment of MacVeagh would have been fully
justified entirely on his own merits, as he possessed
high legal attainments, and a reputation without
blemish, but mere individual merit and fitness sel-
dom control cabinet appointments, and with all of
McVeagh's admitted qualifications for the Attorney
Generalship, Garfield certainly intended the appoint-
ment as a compliment to the Cameron power of the State.
Conkling had no faith in Garfield after the appoint-
ment of Blaine, and he was not a man who concealed
his distrust of those who had provoked his disfavor.
Finally, the nomination of Robinson for collector of
the port of New York, who had led the anti-Conkling
forces in the National convention, cam.e like a light-
ning stroke from an tmclouded sky, and he and Piatt,
then a new Senator, in a sudden fit of resentment, sent
their resignations to the Governor of New York, and
started home confidently expecting to command a
re-election. Conkling naturally held Blaine responsi-
ble for the nomination of Robinson, but Attorney
General MacVeagh assured me that Blaine had never
suggested the appointment, and did not know that it
was to be made until the President had acted in the
matter. The desperate and disastrous struggle made
by Conkling and Piatt for re-election to the Senate

a— 33

5i6 Old Time Notes

Two memorable speeches were made in the National
conventions of 1880. The speech of Robert G. Inger-
soU, presenting the name of Blaine in the Cincinnati
convention of 1876, suddenly crowned him with
National fame in a single day. It was received with
imusual enthusiasm because IngersoU was little known
beyond his own State before he delivered that address,
and I remember well when IngersoU was announced at
Cincinnati as the man who was to present the name
of Blaine to the convention, there was very general
apprehension that he would not be equal to the occa-
sion ; but I have heard many able speeches in National
conventions, and never heard one that was as forceful
and impressive as that of IngersoU presenting the
name of Blaine for the Presidency.

Conkling's speech nominating Grant in the Chicago
convention of 1880 is well remembered as one of the
grandest efforts of his life. I sat on the platform
within ten feet of him when he rose to deliver it. He
was a man of imusually handsome face and form, with
a manner that had the air of majesty, and when his
clear silver voice rang out the first sentence to the
convention and spectators, making an assembly of
fully 10,000 people, the effect was electrical. His first
utterance was : " When asked whence comes our can-
didate? we say, 'from Appomattox.' " It was a bold,
defiant deliverance, rather assertive than persuasive, but
it was grand in eloquence and sublime in earnestness.

The late Daniel Dougherty delivered the most im-
pressive address of his fife before the Democratic con-
vention at Cincinnati in 1880 when he presented the
name of Hancock for the Presidency. Dougherty
was not a delegate, and had taken little interest in the
proceedii^ of the convention until, after a long delay,
Tilden's letter of declination was received, when he
plunged into the fight and urged the selection of Han-

Of Pennsylvania 517

cock, whose nomination was practically settled just
before the convention met. It was regarded as most
important to have some one present Hancock's name
whose address would be fully worthy of the great
occasion, and the Pennsylvanians at once suggested
that Dougherty was the man. A member of the
delegation gave Dougherty a substitution, and in-
formed him that he was assigned the task of presenting
the name of Hancock to the convention.

Dougherty never spoke on important occasions
without careful preparation and thoroughly commit-
ting his address to memory. He had only a few hours
to prepare his address, and that doubtless gave it the
merit of brevity. Within an hour of the meeting of
the convention, Dougherty came up to me in front
of the St. Nicholas Hotel, and in a rather excited
manner asked me to step aroimd the comer. I did so,
and he requested me to permit him to recite his Han-
cock speech, and suggest any revision that I might
think necessary. The recitation did not require over
six or eight minutes, and I was the sole audience while
Dougherty repeated, in smothered tones, but with all
his impassioned manner, the magnificent address that
gave him National fame as a poUtical orator. It was
as faultless as it was beautiful, and no changes were
suggested. The speech was received with the wildest
enthusiasm as he styled Hancock "the superb," and
one whose record was as stainless as his sword.

The only rift in the lute of Dougherty's eloquent
presentation of Hancock was in the fact that Randall,
of Pennsylvania, was a candidate for the Presidency,
and on the second ballot received 128^ votes to 320
for Hancock. Immediately after the ballot was an-
notmced the Pennsylvanians changed solidly to Han-
cock, and the final summing up of the ballot gave
Hancock 705 votes to 33 scattering.

*

Old Time Notes

In Pennsylvania the Republicans held their own in
the Congressional delegation, electing 19 of the 27
Congressmen, and the Legislature consisted of 33
Republican senators to 18 Democrats and i National,
and 122 RepubHcan representatives to 78 Democrala
and I Greenbacker.

While occasional murmurs were heard in different
sections of the State against the (,'ameron-Quay rule,
everything on the pohtical snrface indicated entire
harmony and unity of action among the Republican
leaders, Ho>t was apparently as solidly in accord
with Cameron as was Quay himself, and none then
dreamed that they were just on the threshold of the
fonnidable revolt and deadlock of the Legislature,
elected the same >'ear, on the United States Senator-
ship. The most potent of political revolutions are
often started in a single day, and apparently almost
by a single breath, while oftentimes the most flagrant
political affronts to the people are sullenly submitted to.

Galusha A. Grow had made an earnest canvass of
the State as an avowed candidate for United State
Senator. The leaders welcomed him as an efficient
champion of the Republican cause, fully conscious of
their power to defeat him in the caucus for Senator,
and thus, as they supposed, end the contest. Grow
is not of a revolutionary type of political leaders. He
is as amiable as he is able, and while he was often
grieved at the action of his party, he was counted on as
one of the most willing to bow to party orders, and fall
in to support the party flag; but the unrest of the inde-
pendent element throughout the State had been
quietly and surely widening and deepening, and an
unusual number of able men. independent in their
tendencies, were in the Legislature of 1881.

From under this apparently serene political surface
there was a sudden eruption when the legislature met

Of Pennsylvania 519

that dumfotinded the leaders, defied their mastery,
held the Legislatiire in deadlock on the Senatorship
from the 19th of Jantiary to the 23d of February, and
defeated every candidate the organization presented;
and the aftermath of that contest came in 1882, when,
after a imanimotis nomination for Governor by an
apparently harmonious party. General Beaver was
suddenly confronted by an independent eruption that
defeated him at the polls.

r

5*0 Old Time Notes

xcviir.

SENATORIAL BATTLE OF 188L

GoJusha A Grow Made an Active Canvass for Senator— Hen rj- W Oliver
the Orgnniiation Candidate — SeriouB Revolt Against Quay-Cameron
Rule^ Forty -Re ven Republican Legislators Announce Their Refusal
to Enter the Ciiucus — Oliver Nominated on Second Ballot — Received
ft Majority of the Entire Republican Vote of the Legislature — Sena-
tor John Stewart Leader ol the Revolt — Oliver Withdrew and
G«neial Beaver wai Mode Organication Candidate — February >jd
Both Factionn United on Congressman John I Mitchell — He Re-
t«ved the Full Republicans Vote and Was Elected — Wolfe. Independ-
ent Candid:ite for Treisuror.

THE battle between Garfiekl and Hancock for
the Presidency did nut call out extraordinary
exertions from either political party, as the
State was not regarded as in any sense debatable, but
both sides well maintained their organizations, and
very general interest was cxhiliited in the contest, as
is common in all National elections. The one question
that was agitated during the campaign was the United
States Senatorship, as the Legislature would be called
upon to elect a Senator to succeed Senator Wallace.
Several avowed candidates were in the field, but the
only one who commanded general attention and re-
ceived instructions in a number of the counties was
Galusha A. Grow, who had served a dozen years in
Congress and was Speaker of the House during the first
two years of the war. He was not in favor with the
Cameron-Quay organization, and had to make his
battle against it. The organization did not present a
candidate during the campaign, and Grow apparently
had the field largely to himself, but he well understood
that before the meeting of the Legislature the domj-

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Of Pennsylvania 521

nant political power of the State would determine
upon a man who would be Grow's competitor.

The man who was preferred by the regular party
organization for the Senatorship was Henry W. Oliver,
of Pittsburg, but his name was not canvassed before
the people, nor was he an importtm.ate candidate. He
was one of the most respected and successful yotmg
business men of Pittsburg, and while not seeking party
favors, he had been a veiy efficient supporter of the
party organization, and his intimate familiarity with
the political questions of the time may be imderstood
when it is known that he drew the tariff planks of he
Republican National platforms for the Cincinnati
convention in 1876, and the Chicago convention of
1880. He was as unasstmiing as he was courteous in
all his intercourse with his fellows, and I doubt whether
any business man in the State, of his years, more
thoroughly imderstood the great and varied interests
of the Commonwealth, and how to give them the most
practical and certain development.

His quiet manners and close devotion to business at
home made him a comparative stranger to the public
outside of his immediate business circles, and when
his name was presented as the candidate of the organi-
zation for the Senatorship it was at once resented by
the Independents as an attempt to force a man into
the position of Senator from Pennsylvania who lacked
the intelligence and culture befitting the high station.
The Independents in their address to the public, after
they had taken their revolutionary attitude, criticised
Mr. Oliver's qualifications as follows: "Wholly inex-
perienced in public life, Mr. Oliver was not known to
the people of the State beyond the limits of his own
cotmty imtil named in connection with this distin-
guished position. Why one so obscure should have
be^n selected out cJf the great body of the people as the

522 Old Time Notes

one of all others best qualified to represent the State,
is not for us to explain/'

This reflection upon Mr. Oliver was far from being
just, and the Independents who thus criticised him
finally gave a tmited vote for Mr. Mitchell, who did not
approach Mr. Oliver in any of the great qualities
necessary to make an efficient and respected United
States Senator. Oliver was not an orator, not so
much because he was wanting in ability to engage in
public disputation, but chiefly because his life pursuits
exhausted his energies in other directions, and his dis-
taste for ostentatious display made him avoid the
platform, but no man would have more intelligently
mastered every problem of National legislation, or
defended it more intelligently than Mr. Oliver if he had
been called to the Senate.

He never was justly appreciated by his party or the
public tmtil after the Senatorial contest, but he com-
manded the respect of friends and foes by his chivalrous
retirement when he found that his name was an ob-
stacle to party unity. In the business revulsion that
followed a year or two later, Mr. Oliver was over-
whelmed and l)ankru]:>tcy appeared to confront him,
but his creditors had absolute confidence in his ability
and integrity, and they generously aided him in his
efforts to rehabilitate his broken fortune. In a few
years he had paid all his obligations, principal and
interest in full, and for a number of years before his
death he was one of the multi-millionaires of Pittsburg,
and certainly in the forefront of the most respected
public-spirited and philanthropic citizens.

How keenly the injustice to Mr. Oliver, by his defeat
for Senator in 1881, has been appreciated by the party
in Pennsylvania, is evidenced by the fact that had he
been living he would have succeeded Senator Quay
without a contest ; and Governor " Pennypacker, in

Of Pennsylvania 523

tendering the appointment to his brother, George T.
Oliver, to fill the unexpired term of Qtiay, stated that
while George T. Oliver fully possessed the character
and ability to justify his appointment to the Senate,
the commission was tendered to him largely because it
would in some measure atone for the wrong to his
brother. Mr. Oliver declined the appointment, and
it was then tendered to Senator Knox.

When the Legislature met in January, 1881, it was
known that Mr. Oliver was the candidate of the regular
organization for the Senatorship, and that it had the
power to force his nomination. The independent sen-
timent had been greatly increased and intensified by
the action of Cameron and Quay in calling the early
convention of 1880 and wresting the State from Blaine
by sending a Grant delegation to the National conven-
tion. As Grant failed to obtain the nomination, the
party harmoniously united in the support of Garfield,
but when the Independents reached the contest for
Senator, they were ready for revolutionary work, and
Grow was their favorite candidate.

The Legislature on joint ballot contained 1 54 Repub-
licans, 92 Democrats, with 4 Greenbackers and Fusion-
ists. The Republican caucus, to nominate a Senator,
was fixed for January 13th, and on that day 47 Republi-
can senators and representatives signed and published
a pledge to stay out of the regular caucus, declaring
that in their belief it was "not for the best interests
of the Republican party or the welfare of the State
that we should go into a caucus for the election of a
candidate for the United States Senate."

The caucus was held at the time appointed, at which
98 Republican senators and representatives appeared.
The first ballot gave Oliver 51, Snowden 12, Grow 10,
Gimilan 5, Bingham 5, Ward 4, White 2, Stone 2,
Koontz 2 and Morrill 2. On the second ballot Oliver's

5*4 Old Time Notes

vote rose to 63, and on the third ballot to 79, being
four majority of the entire Republican vote of both
branches of the Legislature, and he was declared the
nominee. The Democrats in caucus renominated Sen-
ator Wallace by a practically imanimous vote, and the
Independents lined up in support of Grow. On the
first ballot twenty Republican senators voted for
Oliver, 12 for Grow and 16 for Wallace, with i for
Agnew. In the House Oliver received 75 votes, Grow
44, Wallace 77 with 3 scattering. The vote of the
joint convention footed up 95 for Oliver, 93 for Wallace,
56 for Grow, with i each for Agnew, Brewster, Baird
and MacVeagh.

The time fixed by law for the two branches of the
Legislature to meet in joint convention, having failed
to elect by a separate vote in the resjiective branches,
was the 19th of January, when two ballots were taken
with precisely the same result. On the T7th of Janu-
ary, the day before the two branches voted sejiarately
on the senatorship, two addresses were issued to the
public, one signed by Senator McNeil, of Allegheny,
and chairman of the Republican caucus, presenting
to the people of the State the attitude and defense of
the regiilars, and on the same day the Independents
issued a public address that was signed individually by
fifty-five members of the senate and house defending
their action, and opposing the election of Oliver.

The Democrats had sufficient power to make a com-
bination with either the regulars or the Independents,
and assuring the election of the candidate they united
in supporting. They could readily have made advan-
tageous terms with either and secured fair congressional
and other apportionments, but Wallace commanded
the Democratic forces, and he resisted all efforts to
make a combination with either of the Republican
factions. He was an intense square-toed Democrat,

I

Of Pennsylvania 525

and was natiirally averse to lowering the Democrats'
standard, as he regarded it, by a fusion with any type
of political opponent. Wallace not only acted in
accordance with his own tastes in standing resolutely
against fusion, but he was willingly repaying an obli-
gation to Cameron and Quay, in which Mackey was
an important figure, who six years earlier had stood
resolutely against the fusion of the RepubUcans with
the Buckalew Democrats to defeat Wallace. In all
Republican factional contests Wallace was in hearty
sympathy with the regular machine.

With the Democrats thus practically eliminated from
the contest, it became a struggle of endurance between
the Republican factions, and as they were required
by the law of Congress, imder which Senators were
then and are now elected, the joint convention was
compelled to meet every legislative day and vote for
Senator until one was chosen. During nearly two
weeks the opposing lines came up imbroken day after
day, but by the time that the second Saturday was
reached and many members desired to go home and
spend Simday with their families, as was their habit, a
general imderstanding was reached that any members
who dseired to go home on Saturday should be at
liberty to do so, and that neither side would attempt
to rally its forces and elect a Senator by a minority
vote because of absentees.

Under the law, if a bare majority of the entire
Legislature appeared in joint convention it would be
a legal convention with a full quortmi, and a majority
of that bare majority would constitute a quortmi and
could elect a Senator. It was necessary, therefore,
to have an imderstanding on the subject. The result
was that on the second Saturday, Oliver's vote fell
from 95 to 42, Grow's from 56 to 32 and Wallace's
from 93 to 47. The joint convention continued to

S26 Old Time Notes

meet in the hall of the hottse at noon each secular day
of the week from the 19th of Jantiaty to the 9th of
Februaty, without any change in the monotonous
grind of the three opposing elements casting fruitl^s
ballots for a Senator.

On the 9th of February Mr. Oliver addressed a com-
munication to the Republican members of the assembly
that was most dignified and temper&te in tone. In it
he said, ** For myself, realizing that the party nominee
cannot be elected, owing to tiie refusal of a large and
respectable number of Republicans to join with their
brethren in the choice of the majority, it is due to my
supporters to say that I am no longer a candidate, and
they are free to select any other worthy Republican."
On the same day Mr. Grow addressed a letter to Sena-
tor Davies, one of the Independent Republicans, in which
he said : " Please withdraw my name as a candidate for
United States Senator in the joint convention of the
L^[islattu*e/' to which he added his thanks to the
senators and representatives who had supported him.

The regulars, after full consultation, decided to pre-
sent the name of General Beaver, and they believed
at the time they did it that the Independents could be
induced to accept it. It is an open secret that very
trivial circumstances prevented the union of the Inde-
pendents with the regulars for the election of Beaver.
Factional feeling was intensely inflamed, and it was
quite possible for an accidental expression or action to
prevent a union of the belligerent Republican forces.
The Independents finally decided to support Congress-
man Thomas M. Bayne, of Allegheny, and the first
ballot, on the loth of February, gave Wallace 86,
Beaver 63 and Bayne 62. Daily joint conventions
were held from the loth of February imtil the 2 2d
without any change in the struggle, except the varying
of ballots because of absentees. Beaver's highest

Of Pennsylvania 527

vote was 80 and Bayne's highest vote was 62. On
Satiirday, the 19th of February, the total vote polled
by the three parties was 69, being 28 for Beaver, 21
for Wallace and 20 for Bayne.

On the 17 th of February the utter hopelesness of
the struggle between the Republican factions was well
understood by all, and after some outside consultations
they, on that day, agreed that each should appoint a
conference committee of twelve that should be em-
powered to select a candidate for Senator who must
receive a two-thirds vote of both committees. The
Independent committee consisted of Senators Davies,
Lee, Stewart and Lawrence, and Representatives
Wolfe, Silverthome, Mapes, McKee, Slack, Stubbs,
Miles and Derickson. The committee of the regulars
consisted of Senators Greer, Herr, Smith, Keefer and
Cooper, and Representatives Pollock, Moore, Marshall,
Hill, Eshleman, Thompson and Billingsley.

The joint conference committee held daily sessions,
and balloted for a candidate without result imtil the
evening of the 2 2d of February, when they unani-
mously agreed upon John L Mitchell, of Tioga, then
Congressman from the Sixteenth District, as a com-
promise candidate. On the morning of February
23d a joint Senatorial caucus attended by all the regu-
lars and Independents was held in which Mitchell was
unanimously nominated, and in the joint convention
of that day the vote for Senator was: Mitchell 150,
Wallace 9 2 , Mac Veagh i and Brewster i . Thus ended
one of the most earnest and memorable Senatorial con-
tests in Pennsylvania, that was surpassed in despera-
tion and endurance only by the jangled Senatorial con-
test of 1855, when the Know Nothings controlled the
Legislature, and when, after a most embittered contest,
the Legislature adjourned without electing a Senator,
giving the Democrats the opportunity to elect Cover-

528 Old Time Notes J

nor Bigler the following year when they had f
control of the Leigslature.

Senator Mitchell was accepted by the Indepen
with some reluctance, and he was generally reg;
as rather more acceptable to Cameron than tc
bolters, but he was tmiversally respected by sen.
and representatives of his section of the State thj
was then representing in Congress, where the I
pendent sentiment largely predominated, and
pledge was given by his supporters from that re]
that under no circumstances would he become sul
dinate to the regular machine domination of the St
He was not asked to give any pledge for himself, t
he was elected to the Senate entirely free from i
embarrassing obligations, but he fully vindicated '
theory presented in the address of the regulars to 1
people of the State defending the nomination of OHv
in which the following deliverance was made: "
compromise means temporary relief from a seemi]
difficulty, and weakness and decimation for yea
thereafter. Compromise under existing circumstano
means previous consultation with a few leaders, wh
care more for their own prejudices and hatreds tha
for the iiiiily of t!ie parly. The selection of a vacillat
ing man — the usual result of compromise — will be i
source of constant chagrin and demoralization."

Mitchell was not a man of great intellectual force, and
until his bold break against the party organization one
year after his election to the Senate, he was always
regarded as a submissive partisan. Cameron and
Quay felt entire confidence that he would act with the
organization, as Cameron had accomplished Mitchell's
nomination for Congress when his county was not
entitled to it. not so much for the purpose of giving
success to Mitchell, as to preclude Senator Strang
from a future election to Congress. Mitchell served

I

Of Pennsylvania 529

in the Senate highly respected personally, but without
any conspicuous legislative achievement, and his
Senatorial career is now chiefly memorable because of
the bold and defiant manner in which he assailed the
Cameron-Quay organization in 1882, defeating General
Beaver for Governor, and transferring the State to
Democratic authority.

While Senator John Stewart ,of Franklin, was the
acknowledged leader of the Independents, the most
aggressive and declamatory of the bolters was Repre-
sentative Charles S. Wolfe, of Union. It was an open
secret that he was ambitious to be elected United States
Senator by a fusion between the Independents and the
Democrats, and he was inflamed to desperate hostility
by the fact • that Cameron and Quay, of the regular
Republicans, and Wallace, leading the Democrats,
were acting in accord against fusion.

Only the office of State treasurer was to be filled in
1 88 1, and the Republicans did not call their convention
imtil the 8th of September, when they met at Harris-
burg, and the Independents locked horns with the
regulars in that body in the struggle for the State
treasurership. Silas M. Bailey, of Fayette, was nomi-
nated on the first ballot over Senator Davies, of Brad-
ford, one of the Independent Republican senators,
by a vote of 157 to 84. Wolfe attended the convention
and was greatly humiliated by the overwhelming
defeat of the Independents. On the following day he
annoimced himself as an independent candidate for
State treasurer, by a telegram addressed to the Phila-
delphia "Times. " The text of his annoimcement was as
follows: "The black flag has been raised against the
Independent Republicans of Pennsylvania. Please
announce that, on my own responsibility, I am an Inde-
pendent Republican candidate for State treasurer in
full sympaliiy with the administration, and against

■34

53° Old Time Notes

tlie rule of the bosses. I will stump the State, and
give my reasons for this action."

The Republican leaders were startled at the sudden
and defiantly hostile attitude assumed by Wolfe, and
they made exhaustive efforts to get the party into line.
The Democrats held their convention at Williamsport
on the 28th of September, and nominated Orange
Noble, of Erie, for State treasurer, and for a time it
looked as if the Independents would overwhelm the regu-
lars by the election of a Democratic State treasurer.

Wolfe fultiiled his promise and spoke in diflerent
sections of the State, but failed to make any serious
impression upon the party organization. He was
regarded as a disappointed poUtical aspirant, and that
greatly weakened his cause, but he fought the fight out
with desperation until election day. Senator Cooper
was chairman of the State committee, and managed
the Republican battle with great skill. It was an off
year, and the Democrats, having known little else than
defeat for twenty years, could not be organized to poll
a full vote, wliile the more vital and comiiletely
equipi>ed Republican organization brought out a suffi-
cient proportion of its voters to elect Bailey by 6,824
pluraHty. while Wolfe polled 49,984 votes. It was a
great opportunity for the Democrats, but they were
lacking alike in organization and vitality, and the
regular Republican organization won out even with
50,000 defection in favor of an Independent Republi-
can candidate.

Of Pennsylvania 531

XCIX.
PATTISON ELECTED GOVERNOR.

The Independent Republican Revolt — Davies Defeated for State Treas-
urer— This Led to Full Independent State Ticket in 1882 — Futile
Offers of Compromise — Pattison Nominated for Governor by the
Democrats — Senator John Stewart as the Independent Leader —
Character of the Campaign — The Democratic Ticket Elected by In-
dependent Republican Votes.

WHILE the Republican factions seemed to have
been very cordially united in the election of
Mitchell to the Senate in 1881, the Independ-
ent revolt against the dominant power of the party
pervaded every section of the State, and the Independ-
ents felt that they had little to expect from the leaders
of the party then in power. At the Republican State
convention of 1881, when there was only a State treas-
urer to elect, the Independents urged the nomination
of Senator Davies, of Bradford, who had been promi-
nent among the Independent senators in the Legis-
lative battle that resulted in the election of MitcheU.

Had the Republican leaders been wise, they would
have accepted Davies and thus ended the dispute, but
the State treasurer was too important to the organiza-
tion, and Davies was defeated by a decided majority,
and Mr. Bailey, the slated candidate of the leaders, was
nominated on the first ballot. On the following day
Charles S. Wolfe's card was published all over the State
announcing himself as an Independent candidate for
State treasurer, giving as the reason that the black
flag had been hoisted over the Independents by the
leaders, doubtless referring to the defeat of Davies in

53 2 Old Time Notes

the State convention. The Independent organization
was thus continued, and as is usual in all factional
fights, the estrangement was widened and deepened
every day.

The Independents took the initiative for the impor-
tant contest of 1882 that involved the election of
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, secretary of internal
affairs, judge of the supreme court, and Congress-
man-at-Large. They began their movement to fight
out the battle against the bosses on the 1 6th of Decem-
ber, 1 88 1, when the State committee of Independents
issued a call signed by I. D. McKee, chairman, and
Frank Willing Leach, secretary, asking the Independ-
ents to send representatives from each county to a
State conference to be held in Philadelphia on the 12th
of January, 1882, to consider the question of nominating
an Independent Republican State ticket.

This conference was held four months before the meet-
ing of the regular Republican State convention, and
was intended to take such action as would force the
regular orp^anizalion to yield to the demands of the
ie\'C)lutionists. At that confci'cnce it was decided to
hold a State eoTivention for the nomination of a State
tieket on the 24th of May, whieh wcaild be two weeks
after the rej^jular Republiean convention was to be held
at Ilarrisburj^, on the loth of the same month. Thus,
the two calls for the regular and the Independent
Re])ublican conventions were both issued several
months before the time of meeting, and the leaders of
the Rej^ulars at once l)efj[an nej^otiations to unite the
conventions on the same ticket and ])latform.

After some outside conference it was agreed that a
committee should be a]:)ix)inted b\' the organization of
e:ich of the two factions to consult on the sul)ject of
the j)arty differences. The Inde])endents selected
Charles vS. Wolfe, I. I). McKcc, TVancis B. Reeves,

Of Pennsylvania 533

J. W. Lee and Wharton Barker, and the r^^ulars,
appointed by Chairman Cooper, were M. S. Quay, John
F. Hartranft, C. L. Magee, Howard J. Reeder and
Thomas Cochran. These committees had a prelimi-
nary conference in Philadelphia on the 20th of April,
when they adjourned to meet on the evening of May
ist, at which they agreed upon peace propositions,
in which every point in dispute was substantially con-
ceded to the Independents.

The peace resolutions uneqtiivocally condemned
the use of patronage to promote personal or political
ends, demanded protection of competent and faithful
officers against removal, obedience to the popular will
of the State in the National convention, prohibited
compulsory assessments for political purposes, and
the provisions asked for by the Independents for the
election of delegates to the State conventions, and
prohibiting snap conventions, with an open declaration
that all Republicans, Independents and Regulars,
should participate in party primary elections. This
declaration of principles and party policy was signed
by every member of the two committees nine days
before the Regular Republican convention met.

Judging the dispute by the records made, and the
agreement reached by the opposing factions, it would
seem that there was no further ground for continued
revolt against the regular organization, but the Inde-
pendents knew that the Regular leaders were not sin-
cere in their devotion to civil service reform, and had
little faith in their purpose to accept in its full and fair
letter and spirit the agreement that had been made.
It was this distrust that made the Independent com-
mittee issue an address on the 3d of May urging the
Independents to a full representation at the State

534 Old Time Notes

convention to meet in Philadelphia on the 24th of May
for the nomination of State candidates.

In that address it was declared that if the Regular
Republican convention, to meet on the loth of May,
** failed to nominate as its candidates men who in their
character, antecedents and affihations are embodi-
ments of the principles of true Republicanism free
from the iniquities of bossism," such nominations
** should be emphatically repudiated by the Inde-
pendent convention/'

The Regular Republican convention convened at
Harrisburg on the loth of May. I witnessed its pro-
ceedings, and noted the fact that but one sentiment
seemed to prevail in the body, and that was to place
the party in a position to command the support of all
fair-minded Independents. General Beaver was nomi-
nated for Governor by acclamation, and Senator
Davies, of Bradford, one of the leaders in the senate in
the Independent movement in the Legislature of 1881,
was also nominated by acclamation as the candidate
for tlic second place on the ticket. John M. Greer, of
Butler, was noniinated for secretary of internal affairs;
William Henry Rawle, of Philadelphia, for supreme
judge, arid Thomas M. Marshall for Congressman-at-
Larjije. The platform declared \n favor of every feature
of reform demanded by the Independents, even to the
minutest details.

The Independents had been conceded the nomina-
tion for lieutenant governor, an office that is important
only to the man who holds it. It is absolutely with-
out power in legislation, and usually without a voice
in the dispensation of patronage. William Henry
Rawle, who was nominated for supreme judge, was
one of the ablest and most aggressive of the reform
Republicans of Philadelphia, but as his office was with-
out patronage, the Independents saw that all the can-

Of Pennsylvania 535

didates for offices wherein political influence could be
wielded had been accorded to the Regulars.

The result was that the Independents held their
convention in Philadelphia on the 24th of May, and it
had the appearance of a sudden volcanic eruption.
Senator Mitchell, usually one of the most submissive
of party leaders, was there and fierce as the tigress
defending her cubs, while from every section of the
State came men of high character and intelligence, who
commanded for the convention the highest measure of
respect.

There was no personal objection to General Beaver,
who was one of the purest and cleanest men of the
State, with a most gallant record as a soldier, losing
his right leg in battle, but they distrusted the power
that had nominated him, and that they feared would
dominate him, and the many qualities, which imder
ordinary circumstances would have argued so strongly
in his favor, were powerless against the aggressive
earnestness of the Independents.

The Independent platform was practically a repeti-
tion of the reforms which had been agreed upon by the
two factional committees, to which was added the
following: ** We demand, instead of the insolence, the
proscription and the tyranny of the bosses and machine
rulers, the free and conscientious exercise of private
judgment in political affairs, and the faithful discharge
by those who assume representative trust of the ex-
press will of the people."

Senator John Stewart, of Franklin, was nominated
for Governor by a vote of 139 to 62 for Judge Agnew,
Levi Budd Duff, of Allegheny, was nominated for
lieutenant governor, George W. Merrick, of Tioga,
for secretary of internal affairs, William McMichael,
of Philadelphia, for Congressman-at-Large, and George
Junkin, of Philadelphia, for supreme judge. The

536 Old Time Notes

Independents selected altogether their best eqmpped
man for such a battle when they nominated Senator
Stewart ; a man of sterling honesty, of unfaltering fear-
lessness, eminently able and always aggressive when
called into conflict. His record, alike as citizen and
soldier, was unblemished, and his mingled logic and
eloquence as a campaigner made many thousands re-
solve their doubts in favor of the Independent cause.

Exhaustive efforts were made by the Regulars after
the nomination of the Independent ticket to reach an
adjustment of the differences, and unite the party to
avert defeat. The Regulars were quite willing to con-
cede any place on the ticket except that of Governor.
They could not afford to have a resolute and fearless
Independent in the position of Governor for four years.

Thomas M. Marshall had been nominated by the
Regulars for Congressman-at-Large, and after some
hesitation formally declined to be a candidate, and
the regular convention was reconvened at Harrisburg
early in June, and nominated Marriott Brosius to take
his place. This convention took the initiative to bring
about a imion of the two factions ii])on one ticket, and
a formal communicaticni was addressed to ( hairman
McKee, of the In(le])endent committee, and it was at
once communicated to the Indei)endent candidates.

On the 13th of July a k^ter signed by vStewart, Dnff,
Merrill and Jiinkin, of the Indei)endent ticket, was ad-
dressed to General Beaver and the other Republican
candidates, who, after statinp^ their ])osition, projc\^e(l
that all the candidates on both tickets should withdraw,
and that none of them should accept a noniinatic n
from any convention that year. New primaries \\ere
to be held in which all Republicans were to he at lib-
erty to participate, believinjj that such a convention
would nominate an accej^table ticket. Mr. McMichael,

Of Pennsylvania 537

the Independent candidate for Congressman-at-Large,
refused to join in the proposal to decline.

On the 1 5th of July General Beaver and all his fellow
Republican candidates united in a letter to Chairman
Cooper in answer to the letter they had received from
the Independent candidates, decHning to accept the
proposition, in which they said: "To say that in the
effort to determine whether or not our nomination was
the free and unbiased choice of the RepubHcan party
we must not be candidates, is simply to try the ques-
tion at issue/' Thus ended the efforts of the leaders
of the two Republican factions to attain unity in 1882.
Everything that gave ])romise of unity had been ex-
hausted, and the question of harmonizing was never
afterwards raised during the contest. Both the fac-
tions stripped for the battle, and it was universally
accepted as a fight to a finish.

The Democrats fully appreciated the advantage that
the divided Republican party gave them, and they
were very fortunate in presenting a candidate for
Governor who had twice f3een elected by the aid the
reform element had given to the Democratic party to
the office of controller of Philadelphia, in which posi-
tion he had discharged his duties with unfaltering
fidelity.

The Democratic State convention met at Harris-
burg on the 28th of June, with George M. Dallas as
permanent president. William U. Hensel presented a
very careftdly prepared and conservative platform,
which was unanimously adopted. The contest for
Governor seemed to be narrowed to Robert E. Pattison
and ex-Congressman James H. Hopkins, of Allegheny,
with a number of candidates receiving a scattering
vote. On the first ballot Hopkins received 87 to 61^
for Pattison, but Pattison 's vote steadilv increased
imtil the sixth ballot, when he received 126 J to 119 J

538 Old Time Notes

for Hopkins, with two scattering. Chauncey F. Black
was nominated for lieutenant governor, and Silas M.
Clark for supreme judge. J. Simpson Africa for secre-
tary of internal affairs, and M. F. Elliott for Congresa-
man-at- Large.

Pennsylvania had thus presented to her people three
candidates for Governor, all men of distinction, and all
of unblemished reputations. General Beaver addressed
the convention after the nomination, in which he said:
" I have made no pledges to living man as to what my
future course shall be. I can make none now or here-
after except this — in the approaching political cam-
paign the harmony and success of the Republican party
shall be the one great object of desire and effort on
my part."

Senator Stewart was a member of the convention
that nominated him for Governor, and accepted the
position in a brief speech, in which he said: "The
Harrisburg convention would send the Republican
party on a mission not of princijilcs, but of spoils. We
would have the grand old organization disenthralled
and redeemed. I say disenthralled because Pennsyl-
vania is to-day in a state of vassalage, of bondage, and
the voice of the honest people of Pennsylvania has not
been represented in a Republican convention in a
decade. It is from that control that we would deliver
her."

The Commonwealth Club, of Philadelphia, gave an
enthusiastic reception to Pattison soon after the con-
vention adjourned, at which he presented his acceptance,
in which he said : " There is a widespread discontent at
what is forcibly called boss government. This is not
without much reason. Popular discontent has gener-
ally good cause, for the people have no advantage in
unnecessary agitation and disorder. The great evil

I

of Pennsylvania 539

of boss government is that the interest of the official
is made inimical to faithful public service. ' '

The Prohibitionists held a convention at Altoona on
the 23d of April, and nominated A. C. Pettitt for
Governor, with a full ticket. The Greenback State
convention was held on the i8th of May, and nomi-
nated Thomas A. Armstrong for governor, and the
Labor convention met in Philadelphia on the 28th cl
August, and indorsed the nomination of Armstrong.

The Republicans did not regard the battle as entirely
hopeless, as they had elected their candidate for State
treasurer the year before, with the Independents in the
field supporting Wolfe, who polled nearly 50,000 votes,
but they did not at first appreciate the increased earn-
estness, as well as the enlarged numbers, of the Inde-
pendents, which had been created by a year of constant
friction between the factions. They counted largely
on the high character and war record of General
Beaver to command the soldier vote of the State, but
failed to reckon the advantage the Independents had
in presenting an equally gallant but more fortunate
soldier at the head of their ticket, with McMichael,
another honored soldier, as the candidate for Congress-
man-at-Large.

The Independent Republicans had no hope of Elect-
ing their ticket. They could doubtless have made a
fusion with the Democrats and swept the State by a
large majority, but they stood squarely on the platform
of what they declared to be honest Republicans and
fought out their battle with the single purpose, as
Senator Stewart declared it, to disenthrall the State
from the oppression of boss rule. In other words, the
battle of the Independents was directed solely to the
defeat of the regular Republican ticket, and that pur-
pose was well understood by those who managed the
organizations involved in the struggle.

S40 Old Time Notes

The three caadidates far Governor were all able and
popular campaigiiers. and tfae>- enthused their iiieads
by addressing tai^ assemblies m every section of the
State. The Republican ac;ganizaticHi was in the hands
oC Senator Cooper, who was a most accomplished chief-
tain in a desperMe contest. He Inought the r^ulars
into the most perfect organization, and as the election
approached the\' seemed to have increased confidence
in the success of their ticket, and the organizatiaii
boldly predicted a decisive \Tctor>- over both the Demo-
crats and the Indepoidents.

While under ordinary- conditions such political
methods would ha\'e been highly advantageous, it
proved to be unfortunate fcr the Regulars, as it cfaai^ged
tibe action of many thousands of Independents who
sincerely desired Stewart's election, but who voted
directly for Pattison to assure the defeat of the Regu-
lar ticket. This is e\'ident from an examination erf the
results of the dection. Wolfe polled nearly 48.000
Independent Republican votes the year before, when
the IndejT'ender.t organization was feeble in OTTT.parison
with its strength in 1882, but Stewart received 5,000
less votes in the State than were given to Wolfe.

In Philadelphia, where the Republicans could readily
command a majority of 30.000 or more in a square
contest, and where the Independent sentiment was
stronger than in any other section of the State. Stewart
received only 7.999 votes, while Pattison's vote was
within nearly 3.000 of Beaver's. The vote of Alle-
gheny exhibited a like landslide of the Independents to
Pattison, where Stewart received only 4,726 \-otes,
while Beaver had less than 2.000 plurality over Patti-
son. In Tioga County, the home of MitcheD, the vote
was ver^- nearly evenly diWded between the three
parties; Pattison recei\-ing 2,257, Beaver 2,270, and
Stewart 2,211.

I

of Pennsylvania 541

The result in the State gave Pattison 355,791,
Beaver 315,589 and Stewart 43,743, electing Pattison
by 40,202 plurality. The other candidates on the State
ticket fell with their chief. Black was elected lieu-
tenant governor by a plurality of 36,028; Clark, for
supreme judge, by 40,762; Africa, for secretary of
internal affairs, by 36,944, and Elliott, for Congress-
man-at-Large, by 40,995.

With a knowledge of the peculiar conditions which
then prevailed, and carefully scanning the reforms of
that election, it is fairly doubtful whether Pattison was
not elected by the direct support of Republicans, as
nearly one-half of the Independents of the State voted
the Democratic ticket to emphasize their implacable
hostility to the Republican nominations of the State.

The Independents closed the battle of 1882 as abso-
lute masters of the political situation in Pennsylvania,
and they confidently expected that, with the co-opera-
tion they had reason to believe they would command
from Governor Pattison, they could enforce a complete
reorganization of the Republican party in the State,
and the measurable subordination of its most offensive
leaders. Why they failed will be told in another chapter.

S4«

Old Time Notes

GOVERNOR PATTISOSS FIRST TERM.

Boib SiKCOM^ «id Fulsrct — Apjcwti Lcwv
C Cauid^ htXoroft G«nml — Pattuon AMwicd oa .
Cufidr — AlUcIu tlui Forced Cucidy lo .Aeccftf — A Lect*lMuR
Divided Agamu IimII— Futile Efloru at I

Stale — nx»p< u to tbt^ Judiciirj — An £stn Smmoc of thr Le^-
Uturr — Thr Govimfw Becanir trnpci)raU/ oa AceooM of Thi* S«M«in
— How H* LoM Ha M><tcTy ol the StJte — The E]ect>oo of 18R4 —
Pennfrlrania Heavily Rciniblican, thnugti Ckicland Becied Pmidetit

GOVERNOR PATTISON was called to the chief

It Magistracy of the Commonwealth under political
I ^^ conditions which would have enabled any
[ ■agacioui man in politics to hold the divided Republi-
^can party in open conflict and overthrow its mastery;
Vmt, while Pattiwni was jiist!>' estimated for his stem
integrity in public and private life, and had exhibited
great ability and unswerving fidelity in the important
office of controller of the city, he was without political
experience when he entered the broad field of Penn-
sylvania f>olitics. He was unequal to the duty of
shaping the jiolicy of his own administration.

Plis first serious error was the appointment of Lewis
C. Cassidy to the attorney generalship. If the public
had known at the time Cassidy was appointed, that he
would administer the responsible duties of his office, not
only with great ability, but with absolute fidelity, the
v;ide revolt against the appointment would have been
measurably or wholly halted, but Cassidy was the
Colonel Mann of Democratic politics, and both were
ready at times to sacrifice party interests to their own

Of Pennsylvania 543

mutual interests. Both were members of the Pilgrim
Club, an organization made up of the leaders of both
parties to divide ofl&ces and public profits between
themselves, and from the day of Pattison's nomi-
nation for Gk>vemor he was assailed not only by the
Republicans generally throughout the State, but by
William M. Singerly, in his widely read * 'Daily Record,"
as **Cassidy's boy'' who would be the nominal Gov-
ernor, while Cassidy would be the administration.

The Republicans were warranted in thus assailing
Pattison, because Mr. Singerly's * 'Record," the only
Democratic organ of Philadelphia, violently opposed
him from day to day. and declared that Cassidy would
necessarily be his attorney-general, and Samuel
Josephs his secretary of the Commonwealth. These
assaults upon Pattison were keenly felt in the contest
by those who managed his campaign, as Pattison was
little personally known outside of Philadelphia.

A month or more before the election, Cassidy called
at my office, and expressed his apprehension that
Pattison might be defeated by the charges made, not
only by the Republican press generally, but by Mr.
Singerly's widely read newspaper, that he (Cassidy)
would be one of the Pattison cabinet, and prominent
in directing the administration. He insisted that I
should announce, editorially, on the authority of
Cassidy himself, that under no circtimstances would
Cassidy be called to any public office under Pattison,
if Pattison became Governor of the State. In obedi-
ence to that direction from Cassidy himself, I annotmced
editorially in 'The Times" on the following day that
Cassidy had distinctly authorized a public annouce-
ment that if Pattison was elected Governor, Cassidy
would not be called to any official position imder his
administration. That annotmcement was given to the
Associated Press, to appear simultaneously in all the

S44 Old Time Notes

daily journals of the State the following morning. It
silenced the objections which had been urged with
greatest effect against Pattison's election. It was
accepted by all as the absolute truth, as it was given
to the public not only on Mr. Cassidy's own authority,
but by his own voluntary direction.

What was regarded as the gravest obstacle to Patti-
son's election was removed by Cassidy eliminating
himself entirely from the new administration, but a
few weeks after the election Cassidy called at my office,
and appealed to me to release him from the promise
that had been given to the public through me, not to
accept any position under the Pattison administration.
He informed me that Pattison desired him to be attor-
ney-general, and that he especially desired "the oppor-
tunity thus offered him to prove how clean and credit-
able a record he could make as attorney-general of the
Commonwealth. I did not doubt his sincerity and
personally regretted that I had no right and no authori-
ty to release him from the obligation he had made to
the public through me. If it had been a mere personal
l)ledge to myself, T could have done so, but it was a
1 pledge that I had [ijiven to the ])ublic on his authority,
and with it had j^iven the ])Ositive assurance that the
])roniise was made in good faith, and would be sacredly
fulfilled.

Cassidy was my own ])ersonal counsel at the time,
but his acce])tance (vf a cabinet appointment after the
solemn ])led<^^e given to the jniblic with my own positive
editorial endorsement would involve ''The Times"
and its editor in j^rotescjue insincerity, and I informed
him that that ])ledge was made under such circtmi-
stances that neither he nor 1, nor any other, could
release him from its fulfilment. vSome time l)ef ore this
interview with Casisdv, Pattison had called at mv
office, and discussed the n:!osiif]^. of his cabinet in a

Of Pennsylvania 545

general way, giving a number of names that seemed
to be considered. He named Cassidy among others,
and I stimmarily dismissed his name, and reminded the
Governor that Cassidy 's public pledge, that was given
the widest publicity throtighout the State, precluded
his selection, to which Pattison made no reply.

I never had another conference with either Pattison
or Cassidy about his cabinet or on any political sub-
ject, before the inatiguration, and when the new Gov-
ernor sent Cassidy 's name to the Senate for attorney
general, "The Times'' denounced the appointment as
an act of bad faith, on the part of Cassidy, to the people
of the State, that the Governor should not have per-
mitted, and demanded that his solemnly plighted faith
given to the public by Cassidy should be sacredly main-
tained. This criticism was resented by both the Gov-
ernor and his attorney general, and the result was polit-
ical estrangement between the State administration and
**The Times'' during Pattison 's term.

It is due to Attorney General Cassidy to say that he
manfully maintained his purpose, expressed to me at
the time he desired his appointment to be sanctioned,
by administering the office not only with all the mas-
terly legal ability he possessed, but with absolute
integrity and fidelity. Not one of the many eminent
men who have filled the office of attorney-general in
Pennsylvania made a cleaner or better record as law
officer of the Commonwealth than did Lewis C. Cassidy.

The appointment of Cassidy was the entering wedge
that soon thereafter separated the Independent Repub-
licans from the Pattison administration. The Inde-
pendents expected from Pattison not only an honest
administration of the government, but they expected
the Executive to rise above the mere partisan influence
in the administration of his office. The senate was
largely Republican, and the House largely Democratic,

Old Time Notes

It year, as ^H

CTTPiiiiinnal ^^^

and it was the duty of the Legislature of that j
commanded by the Constitution, to pass congressional,
judicial and legislative apix)rtionments. The appor-
tionments then existing had been made by the Repub-
licans, and were shaped greatly to the advantage of
that party. They had much to lose by new apportion-
ments framed on an equitable basis, and much to gain
by allowing the old apjxirtionmcnts to stand.

The Democratic house insisted uixin a number of
congressional, legislative and jiKjicial districts corres-
>nding to their proportion of the vote of the State, a
■ojxjsition that was imjxissible of execution because
2 party did not have a majority in the counties of the
Hte which would have been necessai-y to carry out ■
sir purpose without violent gerytnander. The Re-
rblicans of the State, after much wrangling between
e two houses, finally yielded to the Independents of
B body who desired to act with entire fairness, and
-esented a congressional bill that was reasonably fair
«u the Democrats, and much better than the then
existing formation of districts, but it was sternly re-
jected by the Democrats, and addresses were issued to
the public by the Republicans of the senate and the
Democrats of the house, appealing their respective
causes to the people of the State.

Finding that it was impossible for the two houses to
agree upon an apportionment, the resolution for final
adjournment on the 6th of June was passed by both
branches, but on the morning of that day Governor
Pattison addressed them a message, summoning them
to meet in extraordinary session, beginning on the 7th
of June, for the purpose of passing congressional, legis-
lative and judicial apportionments. Both branches
met in extra session on the 7th of June, and, after intro-
ducing a number of apportionment bills, adjourned
until the 19th. Partisan prejudices were inflamed by

Of Pennsylvania 547

this protracted and bitter controversy, and there
seemed to be no prospect of reaching an agreement.
On the nth of July, the Republicans of the senate
presented their idtimatum, known as the McCracken
congressional bill and the Longenecker legislative
apportionment, with a resolution for final adjournment
on the 24th of the month.

An arrangement was finally reached on the judicial
apportionment on the 30th of July that was signed by
the Governor, but the continued struggle on the other
apportionments seemed to widen disputing parties
rather than to bring them together. The wrangle
continued imtil the loth of September, when the two
houses adopted a resolution directing the appropriation
committee to report an appropriation bill to pay the
expenses of the extra session, but the Governor re-
turned it with a veto. On the 14th of September the
senate decided to meet only on Tuesday and Friday.
The house met daily and denounced the senate as
revolutionary in its actions for refusing to sit continu-
ously until the resolution called for was completed.
Finally, on the 30th of November, the Democrats,
satisfied that congressional and legislative apportion-
ments could not be passed, agreed to final adjourn-
ment on the I ith of December. On that day the Legis-
lature of 1883 adjourned sine die, making a special
session of 189 days after a regular session lasting from
the first of January to the 6th of June.

In the apportionment dispute the Governor became
alienated from all his Independent Republican support,
and at the election of 1883 the Republicans carried
their State ticket by nearly 20,000 majority. The
Republican State convention had met in Harrisburg
on the nth of July, and nominated J. B. Niles, of
Tioga, for attorney general, and William Livsey for
State treasurer. The Democrats held their convention

S48 Old Time Notes

at Harrisbtirg on the first of August, and nominated
Robert Taggart, of Warren, for attorney-general, and
Joseph Powell, cf Bradford, for State treasurer. Only
the friction between the Independents and the Pat-
tison administration to force apportionments satisfac-
tory to the Democrats made it possible for the Re-
publicans to elect their State ticket. The majority
for auditor general was only 17,075.

The State administration of Governor Pattison thtis
lost its mastery over State and legislation by a struggle
for partisan advantages that was not only unwise in
conception, but blundering in execution. The Legis-
lature at that time had no fixed salary for extra sessions,
and the pay was Sio per day for each member with the
usual salary to officers, making the Legislature of 1883
the most costly in the history of the Commonwealth.

Pattison had, with Cassidy as attorney general,
William S. Stenger, of Franklin, as secretary of the
Commonwealth, a lawyer of great ability, with large
experience in politics, as he was thrice elected to Con-
gress in a district naturally Republican. How any
administration with two so capable men as Cassidy
and Stenger, botli ripe in political experience, could
have persisted in the blunder of a regular and an extra
session of the Legislature lasting nearly a year, is
difficult to understand.

In all matters outside of mere partisan interests the
Pattison administration was clean, aggressively honest
and commanded the respect and confidence of the
masses of the people. The Granger element was then
a vital one in the State, and Pattison was in sincerest
sympathy with its general aims and methods. He
thus retired from office at the expiration of his term,
leaving an administration that was a failure viewed
from a mere political standpoint, but that was regarded
by the people generally as worthy of confidence because

Of Pennsylvania 549

of its fidelity to the interests of the people against the
encroachments of corporations, and it was that feeling
that recalled Pattison to the Governorship four years
later in defiance of the ablest political leaders of the
State.

Eighteen hundred and eighty-four was a Presidential
year, and both parties entered the fight with complete
organizations, and the hearty support of their follow-
ers. The Republican convention met at Harrisburg
on the loth of April. The only State candidate to be
nominated was that of Congressman-at-Large, and
General E. S. Osboume, of Luzerne, was nominated on
the third ballot. The Democratic convention met at
Allentown on the i8th of April, and nominated Gen-
eral William W. H. Davis, of Bucks, Congressman-at-
Large, without the formality of a ballot. Prohibition
and Greenback conventions were held, the first nomi-
nating A. N. Attwood for Congressman, and the latter
nominating James Black.

For the first time the enemies of Blaine, who had
defeated him in 1876 and 1880 by diverting Pennsyl-
vania from him, gave up the contest in this State, and
the State convention declared in favor of the nomina-
tion of Blaine and Robert T. Lincoln for Vice-President.
The Republican National convention met at Chicago
on the 3d of June, and John R. Lynch, colored delegate
from Mississippi, was nominated for temporary chair-
man by Theodore Roosevelt, now President of the
United States, and elected over Powell Clayton, of
Arkansas, by a vote of 431 to 387. This was the first
time that a colored man had ever presided over a
National convention of either of the great parties.

The contest for President was between Blaine and
President Arthur, and there is little doubt that Arthur
would have been nominated but for the fact that Blaine
had been twice defeated in conventions in which his

sso Old Time Notes

friends felt that he would have been nominated if fair
play had been the rule, and they could postpone his
nomination no longer. Arthur was very popiilar with
the people generally, as he had made a most dignified
and generally acceptable administration. On the first
ballot he received 278 votes to 364 for Blaine. On the
foiuth ballot Blaine had 540 to 201 for Arthur, with a
number scattering when the nomination of Blaine
was made unanimous, and John A. Logan was nomi-
nated for Vice-President without the formality of a
ballot.

The Democratic National convention met at Chicago
on the 8th day of July, and I have, in a former chapter,
told how the friends of Randall controlled the State
convention and placed Wallace at the head of the
delegation with instructions to support Randall for
President, and I have also given in detail the circum-
stances which led to the withdrawal of Randall in
favor of Cleveland, thereby assuring Cleveland's suc-
cess. Cleveland's nomination was effected on the
second ballot, receiving 683 votes to 81^ for Bayard,
45^ fc;r Hendricks and 10 scattering.

The National contest was a very eaiTiest one, but
Blaine made the mistake of assuming the management
of his own c'ani])ai^n. Defamation of l)oth candidates
1)ec'ame rife long before the contest ended, but while it
li'^ntred largely in the [X)litical speeches and part}'
(M-gans of the cr)untry, it is doubtful whether it changed
a thousand voles out of the many millions cast. The
]:)rincij)al scandal against Cleveland was sent to Blaine,
mid he committed the error of forwarding it to his
National committee, and the chief scandal against
Blaine was sent to Cleveland, l>ut he forwarded it to
his National committee with ])ositive instructions not
to give it ])ul)licity.

When Cleveland was most l)itterly and m.alignantly

Of Pennsylvania 551

assailed, the Indianapolis ''Sentinel," the leading
Democratic organ of the West, astounded the country
by bringing out the Blaine scandal with picturesque
embellishments. When Cleveland was advised of the
publication of the personal scandal printed against
himself his answer was: *'Tell the truth." Blaine,
always impulsive and often imbalanced in judgment,
as any man would be who asstmied the management
of his own campaign for the Presidency, brought stdt
against the Indiana journal that had given publicity
to the scandal. He evidently did not appreciate the
lesson that Clay had learned when he declared, after
his final defeat for the Presidency, that if there had
been another Henry Clay to direct his battle he would
have been elected.

That Blaine erred in bringing his suit was later evi-
denced by the fact that after the election he withdrew
it, and never pressed its trial. I well remember the
morning the announcement was made of Blaine's suit
against the ** Sentinel." I was then resting in the
mountains, and after breakfast was sitting in front of
the hotel with President Arthur, Secretary Frelirg-
huysen. Judge Strong, William Henry Rawle and one
or two others, when the New York papers were brought
to us, and all of them were profoundly impressed with
the fact that Blaine had committed a serious blunder.
The paper that had made the publication was one of
the greatest violent partisan jotimals of the country,
and conducted with great ability. Its answer to Blaine
was a challenge for a speedy trial and the emphatic
reiteration of the details of the scandal. This action
of Blaine greatly magnified the importance of the
scandal, and m.ade it a serious political factor, while
from the day that Cleveland made the simple answer,
"Tell the truth," and thus challenged his accusers, the

Old Time Notes

defamation gradually faded out and ceased to be seri-
ously employed or felt in the struggle.

There was practically no contest in Pennsylvania,
as it was not possible to wTest the State from Blaine,
and the resoui'ces of the party were largel>- directed
to aid the contest in New York. Blaine carried the
State by 81,019, leading his ticket some 6,000, as the
majority for Congress man-at- Large was only 75,227.
The National contest was decided in New York, where
Cleveland carried the State by i.ioo majority, and
more than enough to have changed the result in favor
of Blaine was lost by Blaine accepting a public dinner
from Jay Gould and others, and meeting the ministers
of New York, wliere the Burchard incident occurred.
He had made his fight and practically won his battle,
but on his way home he unfortunately tarried in New
York city, and the two incidents referred to cost him
vastly more than enough to have reversed the vote
of the State and thereby made him President.

■l

' f

Of Pennsylvania 553

CI.

THE GREAT STEEL INDUSTRY.

Sted Was Used Almost Wholly for Edge Tools a Generation Ago— Struc-
tural Steel Practically Unknown and Steel Unthought of for Rail-
ways— Disston Developed American Steel for His Saw Works; for
Many Years Had to Stamp Them as English — ^America Now Pro-
duces the Finest Steel in the World — Colonel Wright's View of the
Helplessness of the South — Believed War Impossible in 1861 Because
the South Could Not Tire a Locomotive — Advent of Andrew Car-
negie— Started at Five Dollars a Week Under Colonel Scott — Became
the Great Genius of the Steel Trade — Raised Up Half a Score or More
of Multi-Millionaires — He Is Now Among the Half-score of Richest
Private Citizens in the World — His Gifts of Millions to Libraries and
Education — His Thorough Self-reliance — He Alone Directed the
Movements Against the Great Homestead Strike of 1884 — ^The Monu-
ments Reared by Scott and Carnegie.

THE development of the steel trade during the
last twenty years is entirely unexampled among
the industrial enterprises of the world. I weU
remember, in the early seventies, when common iron
rails for our railroads commanded from ninety to one
himdred dollars a ton, and President J. Edgar Thompson,
of the Pennsylvania Railroad, made the first experi-
ment in the use of steel rails, at a cost of one hundred
and seventy-five dollars per ton, to be used on the mul-
tiplied tracks about the Philadelphia station of the com-
pany, because the constant use of the tracks wore out
the iron rails in a very few years. Steel was then un-
thought of for railroads and structural steel was prac-
tically imknowTi, but to-day nearly or quite all of the
imposing buildings erected have a complete steel struc-
ture. Steel was practically tmthought of, excepting
for edge tools, until the discovery of the Bessemer pro-

554 Old Time Notes

cess half a century since, but great improvements
have been made in the manuf acttire of steel, and it is
now in universal use for railroads, which are gener-
ally laid with steel rails ranging from eighty to one
hundred potmds to the yard.

When Mr. Disston, who fotmded the Disston Saw
Works, of Philadelphia, b^an his work on a very small
scale, he informed me that his tools would not have
been accepted by the public if they had not been made
entirely of English steel, as it was then believed that
America could not produce steel sufficiently refined
for edge tools. He was a well-trained, practical me-
chanic in his line, and he finally produced an American
steel that was thereafter tised entirely in his works, but
for manj' years his product would have been unsalable
if not stamped as English steel. To-day, America pro-
duces the finest steel in the world, and not only supplies
the entire American market, with rare exceptions, but
exports a considerable proportion of its product to
Germany and other foreign countries.

When the Civil War began in 1861, there was not a
poimd of steel produced south of the Potomac and Ohio
rivers. I remember dining with Colonel John A.
Wright at his home at The J. Edgar Thomi)son Steel
Works, near Lewistown, soon after the Presidential
election of i860. The secession of the Cotton States
had already begun, and all were appalled at the pros-
pect of fratricidal war. Colonel Wright was then re-
garded as the most experienced steel manufacturer in
the State or country, and I was amazed when he told
me to dismiss all a]Dprehension of a war with the South,
as the South could not then furnish tires for a single lo-
comotive, and it would be impossible for it to maintain
a war for a year when cut off from the many things for
which it was solely dependent upon the North. He
was right as to the producing power of the South, at

Of Pennsylvania 555

that time, but even without steel the Confederacy man-
aged to maintain a bloody war for four long years, and
to-day Birmingham, Alabama, produces cheaper iron
and steel than can be furnished in any other industrial
center of the world, and exports many thousands of
tons annually.

The man who had the genius, energy and courage to
develop the steel trade in this country to the highest
possible point of perfection was Andrew Carnegie. I
knew him well when he was quite a young man and the
clerk of Thomas A. Scott. He was exceptionally
bright, genial and tireless in industry, and at first thought
he was getting along well in the world on a salary of
five dollars per week. He had the best of training un-
der President J. Edgar Thompson and Vice-President
Colonel Scott, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and was
greatly aided by them in making his start as a manufac-
turer. He finally located near Pittsburg, and there for
many years mastered every feature of the steel business,
promptly utilized and cor.trolled, if possible, every im-
provement invented, until he finally became known as
the *' Steel King" of the new world. There grew up
around him a number of men who began the work in
early life, most of whom were trained to the thorough
mastery of their great business enterprise, the details
and profits of which were practically unknown to the
outside world. There are to-day, now in more or less
active business in the great industrial enterprises of
the country, half a score or more of multi-millionaires,
solely because of their early association and training
with Carnegie. Charles Schwab, whom I recall in his
very early manhood as a driver of a two-horse stage up
in the Alleghenies, was fortunate in becoming one of
Carnegie's boys, and when the United States Steel
Company was organized, with a capital of a billion dol-
lars, Schwab became its president with a salary of one

ss^ Old Time Notes

hundred thousand dollars a year. Later, he retired
from that position and is now engaged in steel enter-
prises involving many millions.

Andrew Cam^e is to-day in the fore-rank of the few
preeminently prominent Americans, both in his native
country of Scotland and his adopted country in the new
world; certainly ranks among the half-score of richest
private citizens in any country, and it is doubtless
whether any, excepting Rockefeller, surpasses him in in-
dividual fortune. His love for the people among whom
he was bom made him return to Scotland, where he has
acqiaired one of the most magnificent estates in the
Province, and where he dispenses his charity with a
lavish hand. He spends most of his winters in his pa-
latial residence in New York, constructed by himself
some years ago, and devotes his spare time to the syste-
matic advancement of education in the United States.
He is eminently practical ; his money was acquired by
the most careful and thoroughly practical methods, and
his chief interest in gratifying his benevolent tastes is
in teaching all that they must help themselves. His
expenditure in this country in the establishing of
libraries and the cause of education generally has
already amounted to many millions. Himdreds of
libraries have been established throughout the country
by his generous contributions, all of which teach the
highest appreciation of self-advancement by requiring
libraries to be generously supported by those to whom
they were given. Of all our multi-millionaires, Car-
negie is the most generous giver, and he studiously aims
to obtain the best practical results to the beneficiaries
of his gifts.

Mr. Carnegie possesses, in an eminent degree, the
inherent Scotch quality of self-reliance. One of the
severest trials through which he passed was in 1884,
when the Homestead strike convulsed the nation, and

Of Pennsylvania 557

certainly contributed to, or controlled, the election of
the first Democratic President who niled after the War.
He was generously just to those in his employ, but
sternly just when his vast industries were halted by
what he regarded as most imhealthy control of the
imited labor of the State. He remained in Scotland
during the entire strike, which lasted many months,
but absolutely commanded the situation on this side by
refusing the concessions demanded. The result was
great sacrifice on the part of Carnegie, but when his bat-
tle was won he was safe from a repetition of such inter-
ruptions in his business, and from that time until his
entire great enterprise was absorbed by the United
States Steel Company, he rapidly accumulated wealth.
While his business was conducted in the most method-
ical and economical manner consistent with his general
business methods, he was always the first in the steel
trade to foresee advantages and grasp them, regardless
of necessary cost. The result was that when the pro-
position came to combine the great steel estabhsh-
ments of the cotmtry, Carnegie was the most important
factor, as he was the great teacher of the trade, and
when he finally retired he was one of the richest private
citizens of the world. It is worthy of note that Colonel
Scott, the great railroad genius of the coimtry, and
Mr. Carnegie, the great steel genius of our land, both
started in their careers friendless and fortuneless, and
they have left the greatest monuments of industrial
and commercial progress to be found in the annals of
the State.

558 Old Time Notes

CII.

QUAY ELECTED SENATOR.

Quay's Senatorial Battle Begun in 1885 — His Early Political Relations
and How He Stood Toward Senator J. D. Cameron — Quay's Candi-
dacy for State Treasurer — His Turning Down of McDevitt of Lan-
caster— His Cleverly Managed Campaign and Election — The State
Battle of 1886 — General Beaver, Who Had Been Defeated in 1882,
Easily Chosen Governor — Quay Before the Legislature of 1887 —
Triumphantly Chosen as U. S. Senator — Soon Becomes a Great
National Leader — His Relations to Blaine — State Offices Filled in
1888 — How a Democrat Reached the Supreme Bench — The National
Campaign of 1888.

^UAY'S battle for the United States Senatorship
began in 1885. ^^^ purpose was not openly
declared, but all in close relations with him well
understood that his struggle for the position of State
treasxirer in 1885 was simply a preliminarj'' skirmish
to gain a commanding ])Ositi(^'!i whcrcl)y he could win
out in the wScnatorial coiUcsl of 1 886-87, when he fought
his Senatorial battle in the o]kmi.

Quay had l')r.g lorjkcd t^^ the Ur.iicd States Senate
with earnest cx] JcctatioriS. \'ery few of his friends knew
how nearly he became inv(;lved in a direct struggle
with Cameron in 1867, when Curtin and his friends dis-
covered that Cameron had Curtin defeated in the Re-
publican caucus. Quay was tlien a meml)er of the
liouse, admittedly the Re])ul'li(\'ir. leader of the l)ody,
and was the Curtin candidate for sjx^aker, but was
defeated by a combination of the field Senatorial candi-
dates organized by Canieron. The contest for Senator
had reached largo cr)n^rpcrcial ])roportions which Curtin
was unwillin.c: (t uv<\}>V' '<^ meet, and at that stage
Quay comnu;nir::U'l to me in strict confidence that he

Of Pennsylvania 559

was seriously considering the question of taking Curtin's
place in the Senatorial battle, and playing the commer-
cial game to the limit against Cameron.

Quay was without fortune himself, but he had one
friend, who then possessed a large fortune, and could
have made a commercial combination in support of
Quay that would have stood abreast with the Cameron
organization. George K. Anderson was a Juniata
Cotmty boy, with whose people I was well acquainted
while residing there, and when General Irwin, of
Quay's county, and largely by Quay's influence, was
appointed commissary general at the beginning of the
war, I induced Quay to join me in pressing the appoint-
ment of Anderson as a clerk imder General Irwin, and
it was accomplished. Anderson knew that he had
obtained his position largely through the influence of
Quay, and never ceased to appreciate it.

In the early days of the oil development in Venango
County, an oil company was formed chiefly by men
in Harrisburg, and Anderson was selected to manage
it. He was thus in the oil region at the beginning of
the oil fever, and soon commenced operating for him-
self. He was most fortunate in his ventures, and at the
time of the Senatorial contest of 1867 his net income
was estimated at $2,500 a day, and he was able to com-
mand probably a million of money. He proposed to
back Quay, if they could see any chance of winning out
against Cameron. Quay held it under advisement for
several days, but finally decided that the double risk
of failure and exposure was too great to assume, and
he never made himself known as a candidate, but
finally arranged with the younger Cameron to move
the imanimous nomination of Cameron after he
had received the votes of a majority of the caucus.
That was the beginning of Quay's relations with the
Camerons.

5*0 Old Time Notes

Anderson became ambitious for political advance-
ment himself, and I simply repeat his own statement
to me when I say that he spent $70,000 in a contest
with the elder Delamater for the Republican nomina-
tion for State senator in Crawford County. Dela-
mater was also a man of fortune, and doubtless was
compelled to expend a lai-ge amount of money. He
defeated Anderson in his first attempt to reach the
Senate, but Anderson was nominated to succeed Del-
amater, and served a senatorial term. Finally, as his
revenues from oil gradually diminished, his generous
nature made it difficult for him to diminish his lavish
gifts and expenditures, and the result was that he
became hopelessly bankrupt, and the last time I saw
him he borrowed a small amount of money to pay his
expenses to Washington to accept an appointment in
Arizona, or New Mexico, where he died soon after enter-
ing upon his official duties.

The Legislature to be elected in 1S86 was to choose a
United States Senator to succeed Senator Mitchell, of
Tioga, and Quay decided that he would make his battle
for the Senatorship at that time. He did not at first
intend to be a candidate for State treasurer, and James
McDevitt, of Lancaster, was practically slated for the
office by Quay and his friends very early in the year,
but Quay saw that he had little hope of winning the
Senatorship in the Legislature of 1887 unless he could
place himself in the position of supreme command of
the party. He did not want the office of State treas-
urer, as it would have been practically under his con-
trol if McDevitt had been chosen, but he was Napoleonic
in his methods and decided that if he could obtain a
nomination and election as State treasurer in the face
of the independent sentiment that had erupted and
overwhelmed Cameron and himself three years before,

of Pennsylvania 561

he would be absolute master of the party organization,
and thus command the Senatorship.

Mackey was dead; the yoimger Cameron had just
been re-elected to the Senate by the Legislature of
1885, and was the nominal leader of the party in the
State with Quay as lieutenant. Quay knew the danger
of provoking a sudden and desperate revolt among fiie
Independents by proposing himself as a candidate for
the only office to be filled in 1885, but he perfected his
plans with the sagacity that he ahvays exhibited in
his many political struggles.

My first knowledge of his candidacy for State treas-
urer came from himself before his name had been pub-
Hcly mentioned in any quarter. He called at **The
Times*' office and frankly told me that he had decided
to be a candidate for State treasurer himself. I was
greatly surprised at his announcement, as I appre-
hended that he would at once rekindle the Independent
revolt, and that his name on the ticket would inflame
it to huge proportions, but he well understood the peril
that confronted him, and before he permitted his name
to be announced as a candidate for State treasurer he
personally visited a large number of the leading Inde-
pendents, and after full conference with them, in nearly
every instance he either obtained their assent to his
(*andjdacy or so mollified them as to prevent anything
like a spontaneous eruption against him.

The result was that when his name was pubUcly
announced as a candidate for State treasurer most of
those interested in poHtics were amazed to learn that
no general protest came up from the Independents,
and that only in exceptional instances were feeble pro-
tests called out against him. It was indeed surprising
that an Independent movement, embracing a large
niunber of the most intelligent and influential Republi-
cans of the State, that had made open battle against

562 Old Time Notes

Quay's master}' onh* three years before, as a rule either
actively or passively assented to his candidacy for
State treasurer, when his would be the only name on
the State ticket.

The onlv trouble he had in his contest for nomination
was from McDevitt, his own friend whom he had origi-
nally slated for the position and who took the bit in his
mouth, and resolutely refused to decline in favor of his
chief, but oxen with McDevitt in the field Quay was
nominated (m the first ballot in the convention that met
at Harrisburj; on July 8th, by a vote of 196^ to 27 for
J. H. Longenccker and 15 for McDevitt, with 12 votes
scattering.

The Democratic convention met at Harrisburg on
the 26th of August and nominated Conrad B. Day, of
Philadelphia, as Quay's competitor. The Greenback
party nominated X. C. Whitney and the Prohibition-
ists nominated Barr Spangler. Quay looked well to
the organization of his party, and in an off year, as it
was, a party that has organization and discipline can
be most effect i\'ely handled. He understood the whole
State and left r/» means unemployed to secure a sub-
stantial vict(»ry Un' himself. The result was his elec-
tion l)y a iiiajority of 4:^,516.

lie iKid. thus \v<»n his hi.c^h i)osition as jxDlitical master
(.{ the ])arty ])y a very larjj^e majority from the people,
and witli the State treasury as his base for political
(.'peratioTiS duriiii^ the following^ year it was not difficult
for I'i::"! t > :'ha]>e the new Lej^isl'ature by timelv atten-
tion to no,mi!iations and i^^enerous support to his friends
in doubtful <]istricts and have it substantially at his
own commarid.

The trinmj'hant election of Quay for wState treasurer
lilazed tlie v/ay very distinctly for the renomination and
election i){ fieneral Beaver in 1SS6. He had been
defeaterl by the Independents four years before, not

Of Pennsylvania 563

because of personal objection to his qualifications or
character, but solely because he was the candidate of
Cameron and Quay, and as the people had just given
Quay a large majority for a most responsible office in
a square contest, the nomination and election of
Beaver were practically assured. The Republican
State convention nominated Beaver by acclamation,
and Senator William G. Davies, of Bradford, who had
been one of the Independent senators in 1881 and was
defeated with Beaver in 1882, was also renominated for
lieutenant governor without a contest. Senator A.
Wilson Norris was nominated for auditor general, and
General Thomas J. Stewart for secretary of internal
affairs.

The Democrats had a bitter struggle in their con-
vention over the nomination for Governor. In a
former chapter I have related the circumstances of
Senator Wallace announcing himself as a candidate for
the Democratic nomination for governor, and that
Randall had in personal conference assented to it, but
their factional followers were always averse to anything
like unity between them, and they forced the issue of
separating Randall and Wallace in the struggle, and
Randall, being then dominant in the party, defeated
Wallace's nomination and made Chaimcey F. Black
the Democratic candidate. With him were nominated
Colonel R. Bruce Ricketts for lieutenant governor,
WiUiam J. Brennan for auditor general and J. Simpson
Africa for secretary of internal affairs.

As the Independents had acquiesced in the election
of Quay there was no visible grotmd for revolt against
the nominations of Beaver and Davies, and excepting
in a few individual cases the old Independents fell in
imder the party flag. Beaver entered the campaign
and fought it out heroically from start to finish, visiting
every section of the State and speaking sometim.es at

564 Old Time Notes

several meetings in a da)-. Black was then just in
the prime of intellectual and physical vigor, and
stumped the State from Lake Erie to the Delaware, but
it was a hopeless battle from the start. The Repub-
lican party was practically united and gave a very ccn*-
diai support to Beaver, while the Democrats were
somewhat disintegrated by the Graiwer elenient that
forced Black into the support of a State policy that
chilled a considerable Democratic el^nent m business
and financial circles.

The Prohibitionists nominated Charles S. W<^e, who
was the free lance candidate for State treasurer several
years before, and a natural and able kicker, but even
with the regular Prohibition nomination he polled little
more than half the vote he had received when an Inde-
pendent Republican candidate for State treasurer.
The entire Republican ticket was elected by substan-
tially the same vote, with over 40,000 plurality,
aiKl the Republican L^slature was carried witib 34
Republicans in the senate to 16 Democrats, and 135
Republicans in the house to 67 Democrats and one
Greenback and Labor.

Go\'ernor Beaver was inaugurated with imposing
ceremonies, as the Republicans emphasized their
appreciation of restoration to authority in the State,
after four years of Democratic rule. He called a
strong cabinet about him, consisting of Charles W.
Stone, of WaiTen, as secretary of the commonwealth,
W. S. Kirkpatrick, of Northampton, for attorney
general, and Daniel S. Hastings, as adjutant general.

It was not disputed by any that Quay had an over-
whelming majority of the Republicans of the Legis-
lature pledged to his election for United States Senator,
but he was ambitious to have his nomination as nearly
unanimous as possible, and he very adroitly introduced
a district system of Legislative conferences in different

of Pennsylvania 565

sections of the State, to which the Republican senators
and representatives of the district were invited, and
in each of these conferences it was proposed and earn-
estly urged that they should cast a united vote in favor
of the candidate preferred by the majority.

In each of the districts thus mapped out Quay had
a clear majority ; in nearly every instance the plan was
successful, and the result was that Quay was nominated
in the RepubUcan caucus on the 4th of January, 1887,
by a vote of 154 to 9 for Galusha A. Grow. In the
Democratic caucus Senator Simon P. Wolverton was
nominated as the Democratic candidate, receiving 46
votes to 14 for Wallace, 4 for Robert E. Wright and 3
for James F. Comley. The vote in the senate for
United States Senator was 33 for Quay, 14 for Wolver-
ton and 3 not voting. In the house, Quay received
133 to 66 for Wolverton, 2 not voting.

Quay thus carried to tritmiphant completion the
policy he inaugurated in 1885, when he announced
himself as a candidate for State treasurer, and when,
as he told me when conferring on the subject at the
time he informed me of his purpose to be a candidate,
he felt that he must either take the risk of a defeat for
State treasurer, or lose the control of the organization
of the State. He said he was fully convinced that he
must make a battle for the State treasurer, or surrender
the party sceptre, and he added that he preferred to
fall fighting to being relegated to a secondary position
in party control. From the time of Quay's election to
the Senate in 1887 imtil his death, he wielded absolute
mastery in the Republican party of the State.

Eighteen himdred and eighty-seven was an off year
in politics, and with the triumphant election of Qtiay
as State treasurer in 1885, of Beaver, as Governor, in
1886, and Quay as United States Senator in the Legis-
lattire of 1887, Quay's domination of the party in the

S66 Old Time Notes

State was conceded by all. There were a few Independ-
ents who criticised Quay's methods and autocratic
mastery, but there was no popular demand in the
party ranks for revolt, and Quay entered upon his new
career as a National L^slator with the most serene
political conditions as his environment.

The country was enjojdng an unusual degree of pros-
perity. The National treasury was overflowing with
surplus revenues, as the Cleveland administration had
severely halted improvident appropriations, and the
Democrats, with a united Republican party confronting
them, accepted the situation in Pennsylvania as utterly
hopeless for them. Chief Justice Mercur had died
early in the year, and Henry Williams, of Tioga, was
appointed to succeed him. The Republican State con-
vention tmanimously nominated Judge Williams for
election, and William B. Hart for State treasurer, and
the Democrats nominated J. Ross Thompson, of Erie,
for the supreme court, and Bernard McGrann, of Lan-
caster, for State treasurer. There were no Congress-
men or Legislators to elect to inspire interest in local
contests, and the political battle of 1887 was a per-
functory one, as the Democrats understood from the
beginning that they had no })rosj^ect of winning. The
result was the election of the Republican State ticket
by over 40,000 majority.

The year 1888 developed Senator Quay as a great
National leader. He had served only a single session in
the Senate, but he was speedily recognized as a very
important political factor, and he at once assumed a
potential attitude in the direction of National party
affairs. Blaine had been defeated in 1884, and he wa::
undecided as to his candidacy for 1888. Blaine war.
a fatalist, and was profoundly impressed, after his
defeat for the nomination in 1876, that he was fatc\-
never to reach the Presidency. I remember hi..

Of Pennsylvania 567

saying soon after his defeat at Cincinnati that he
had the largest measure of popular following and
yet believed that, like Clay, he could never reach
the Presidency.

Quay was not an ardent supporter of Blaine for the
nomination in 1884. His fellow Senator, Cameron,
had just married into the Sherman family, and Quay
and Cameron decided to take the initiative in Pennsyl- '
vania, where they had absolute control, and select an
instructed delegation for Senator Sherman for President.
Had Blaine been a positive candidate, the selection of
a Sherman delegation in this State would have involved
a contest, but while Blaine would doubtless have very
willingly accepted the nomination if he had reasonable
prospect of election, he hesitated to allow himself to be
considered as an aspirant, and Quay and Cameron had
an easy triumph in carrying the delegation for Sherman.
Quay placed himself at the head of the delegation, and
selected Adjutant General Hastings to present Sher-
man's name to the convention in behalf of Pennsyl-
vania. Quay and Cameron were both verj'- earnestly
enlisted in the Sherman cause, but General Alger had
made serious inroads upon Sherman's support in the
South, and the National convention at Chicago, after
several days of balloting, finally gave the nomination
to General Harrison, of Indiana.

Two State offices were to be filled in 1888 — supreme
judge and auditor general, and the Republicans nomi-
nated Thomas McCamant for auditor general and
James T. Mitchell, the present chief justice, for the
supreme court. The Democrats nominated Henry
Meyer for auditor general and J. Brewster McCollom
for the supreme court. As the contest was regarded
by the Democrats as hopeless, they had much diffictilty
in selecting a candidate for supreme judge. It was
offered to Judge Arnold, Samuel Gustine Thompson,

568 Old Time Notes

who later filled the position by appointment, and a
number of other prominent members of the bar, but
all declined, and when the convention met there were
several aggressive candidates for the nomination
who lacked the character and attainments neces-
sary to make an acceptable ticket for so dignified a
position.

Finally Judge McCoUom's name was presented with-
out his knowledge, and the assurance given by close
friends that he would accept, and he was placed on
the ticket. Soon after the nomination had been made.
Judge Trunkey of the supreme court died in London,
making two vacancies to be filled, and under the Consti-
tution the people could vote for but one candidate, thus
assuring the election of both the Republican and the
Democratic candidates.

While the contest of i8S8 was very earnestly fought
in the debatable States the Democrats of Pennsylvania,
knowing that they could ntit give the State to Cleve-
land, confined their efforts largely to the Congressional
and Legislative districts. The Republican majority
for electors and State officers was about 80,000, but
McCoUom, Democrat, was elected supreme judge along
with Mitchell, being chosen as the minority candidate,
as provided by the supreme law of the State.

The Republicans realized when the National cam-
paign of 1888 opened that they had a desperate strug-
gle before them, and that under all ordinary condi-
tions the most successful and efficient party manage-
ment would be likely to win. It was this condition
that called Senator Quay to the chairmanship of the
National committee, and there is little doubt that New
York was given to Harrison, in the face of a large Dem-
ocratic majority for the State ticket, solely by Quay's
strategy and lus combinations with Tammany. New

Of Pennsylvania 569

York decided the election against Cleveland and in
favor of Harrison. Quay was undoubtedly the chief-
tain of the struggle, and he was at once recognized
throughout the entire country as one of the most ac-
complished leaders of the party. He was thus recog-
nized imtil the day of his death, and the story of Ins
career from that time until his life work was ended will
furnish another most interesting chapter in the annals
of the Commonwealth.

Old Time Notes

cm.

QUAY AND WANAMAKER.

Aftermslh of the 18M8 Elcciion — How Wanamaker Became a Grest'J)
Political Factor — Personal Choice of President Harrison for Pofal-
masier General — Appointnienl DisUsicful lo Cameron and Quay —
His Masterly Administration — He Acquires Powerful Influence
State Politics — Tlic Contest for Governor in iPgo— Dclamater Made
the Republican Nominee — Patlison Renominated by the Oeniocr>l«

— Ex-Senator Wallace and W. U. Hcnsel — Hcnscl'a ImportaiU
Position — Patlison Re-elected — Harrily and Hensel in Paltisoii'i
Cabinet — J. D, Cameron Re-elected lo His Lait Term in the Ser.alc

— The Bardsley Pcfnlcntion — How Quay Counteracted Its Effect.

QUAY'S management of the National campaign of
1888, in which he wrenched victory from the
very jaws of defeat liy his skilful iiolitical move
ments in New Yitrk city, the cit.idc! of Democratic
power, made him suddenly and universally recognized
by his party as its most accomplished political leader.
It is entirely safe to assume that but for Quay's sagacity
and heroic methods in managing the contest in New
York, Cleveland would have been re-elected President,
as Cleveland was the only man on the Democratic
ticket who did not receive a majority in the Empire
State. Harrison carried New York over Cleveland by
14,373 plurality, and at the same election Hill was re-
elected Governor by 19,171, Jones, Democratic candi-
date for Lieutenant Governor, had 22,234 plurality,
and Gray, Democratic candidate for court of appeals,
had 3,425 plurality.

It was the most expensive National campaign ever
conducted in the country. The business men, especi-
ally the manufacturers, contributed more generously

Of Pennsylvania 571

than ever before or since to defeat Cleveland and over-
throw the Mills tariff that was framed on the basis of
revenue with only incidental protection. Philadelphia
manufacturers contributed hundreds of thousands of
dollars, and John Wanamaker and Thomas Dolan were
in the forefront in giving and obtaining the imusually
large contributions which were poured into the treasury
of the National committee, and that was handled ex-
clusively by Quay himself.

Quay was never accused of economical methods in
either public, political or private affairs. He knew
that only by having an immense campaign fimd at his
command could he make a successful deal with certain
Tammany leaders who were quite willing to crucify
Cleveland, and to either restrain Democratic frauds or
neutralize them by imitating Democratic methods.
He was the sole manager of the political movements in
New York which controlled the National contest, and
to him was universally accorded the credit of having
won the battle that made Harrison President.

Just when Quay seemed to have reached the very
zenith of fame and power as a political leader, he
brought to the front by his own achievement the one
man who, in all Quay's struggles in Pennsylvania, was
able to lock horns with him, greatly endanger his power
from year to year, and finally defeated him for re-elec-
tion to the Senate. That man was John Wanamaker.
He was imtrained in the poHtical methods of the time,
but he was an ardent Republican, had fairly won his
position as a prince of merchants, was in hearty sym-
pathy with a large religious element of the State, and
was a master in all movements which commanded his
efforts. He was singularly keen in perception, fearless
in action, able and adroit as a disputant, and no man
in the State more thoroughly imderstood the great
business and industrial interests of the entire country.

Old Time Notes

He very wannly espoused the cause of Harrison,
between them there was the most cordial reUgious as
well as ]X)Utical sympathy, and they were certainly in
sincei'e accord in the desire to elevate the political sys-
tem of the government and purify uur iwlitical methods.

The first cloud tiiat came upon the then brilliant
political horizon of Senator Quay was the announcement
by President Harrison of John Wanamaker as Post-
master General. It did not meet the approval of either
of the Pennsylvania Senators, as neither Cameron nor
Quay was in s)"m]3athy with \\"anamaker's ideal
political theories. It was President Harrison's own
appointment, and when the Senators were consulted
on the subject, they assented to it chiefly because they
saw that they could not offer substantial objections to
Wanamaker s promotion, while it soon became evident
that Harrison intended to make the appointment and
that objections would be unavailable,

I had Senators Cameron and Quay with me at dinner
alone a few days after the inauguration nf Harrison, as
I desired to learn the actual political conditions, and
found them both at that early day thoroughly dis-
gruntled at Harrison. Quay told of his first visit to
the President, when he expected to receive the most
fervent and grateful congratulations on his achieve-
ment, but he was greatly disappointed and almost dum-
founded at Harrison's statement that Providence had
been on their side and gave them the victory. Quay,
the son of an old-school Presbyterian preacher, had as
severe a religious training as Harrison himself, but he
had learned the lesson that when elections were to be
won, as a rule, religious services and religious methods
were not among the most effective. Quay spoke of the
President's expression of gratitude to Providence for
his success in wresting New York from the Democracy
as the utterance of a political tenderfoot. To use

Of Pennsylvania 573

Quay 's own expression : * * Providence hadn ' t a damned
thing to do with it, ' ' to which he added that he supposed
Harrison would never learn how close a number of
men were compelled to approach the gates of the peni-
tentiary to make him President, where he could return
thanks to the Almighty for his promotion.

Wanamaker entered the cabinet as Postmaster Gen-
eral, and it is admitted by all that his record in the
management of the Post Office Department has rarely
been equaled and never surpassed in any of the impor-
tant qualities of statesmanship. His administration
of his department was clean from beginning to end, and
he was progressive even beyond the point to which he
could bring his party. He conceived and drove the
entering wedge that doubled and has finally quad-
rupled the service of the postal department to the peo-
ple of the entire country, and I doubt whether the
President had in any of the members of his Cabinet a
man of clearer judgment on any of the many intricate
questions which are presented to the Government for
solution.

While he was thoroughly in accord with the President
in his convictions as to an ideal civil service and the in-
tegrity of elections, he imderstood much better than
did the President that our political system could not be
revolutionized in a day, and that men in power must
deal with existing conditions on broad and liberal Hnes.
Beyond selecting a postmaster for his own city of
Philadelphia, who was not acceptable to the political
leaders, he accorded to the Senators and Representa-
tives of the party in the State their full measure of con-
trol of the patronage of his department and of the
Government. He carefully avoided forcing any issue
with the Senators and Representatives, and while all
knew that his own individual ideas of administering the
Government were at variance with the dominant meth-

574 Old Time Notes

ods, they had no reason to complain that he 1
lessly obstructed their plans.

While Harrison was not heartily supported by t
party because be obtruded his ideas and political cc
victions ofTensively at times, Wanamaker comniandi
the respect of the leaders generally, and did much
prevent growing estrangement bet^\'een partj' leade
and the administration. Harrison was severely coi
scientious, and a stranger to the art of popularizin
himself. He was universally respected, but the bes
comnientar;^ that could be made upon his position as i
political leader is given in the fact that while he hac
served six years in the Senate with men who were ir,
active politics when he was nominated for President,
there was not one of his associate Senators who came
to the front to struggle for his nomination. No mari
ever entered the Presidential office ■with higher ideas
of unfaltering devotion to public duty, but Wana-
maker, with equally high ideals in politics, possessed
consummate tact and never undertook to amend or
overthrow the political organization because it did not
accord with his views in its political methods.

Wnnamaker gi^eatly strengthened himself with the
party in his State and commanded the respect of the
entire country for his administration of the Post Office
De]iartment. and retired without ever having com-
mitted a breach between himself and the Republican
Senators and Representatives of the State. Thus.
Quay's exce])tionally brilliant achievement in forcing
a Republican Presidential majority in a State that
elected all of the other Democratic candidates, brought
to the front Wanamaker as a Cabinet officer, whereby
Wanamaker was trained for the desperate struggles
he made later in the State to overthrow Quay's mastery.

Eighteen hundred and eighty-nine was an off year,
with no State officer to elect but a State treasurer.

Of Pennsylvania 575

The Republicans nominated Mr. Boyer, who was later
speaker of the house and superintendent of the n^it,
and the Democrats nominated Mr. Bigler, of Clearfield,
son of the ex-Governor. The Democrats were generally
discouraged and had little incentive to make a vigorous
contest, and they were defeated by over 60,000 in the
State. There was not a ripple on the surface indicat-
ing opposition to Quay's domination of the party in
Pennsylvania, but in 1890 a Governor and other State
officers were to be elected, and Quay committed the
error, so often exhibited by poHtical leaders, of attempt-
ing to force the nomination of a candidate for Gover-
nor against the undoubted sentiment of the party.

The contest for Governor in 1890 was between Sena-
tor Delamater, of Crawford, and Adjutant General
Hastings, of Centre. Delamater had been prominent
as a Republican senator, was generally regarded as a
rich banker and imderstood to be a favorite of the
Standard Oil Company, that was then at war with a
large element of oil producers in the State. In all of
Quay's political career he never allowed himself to get
out of touch with the Standard Oil corporation, and in
some severe emergencies it proved to be a very im-
portant factor in his achievements. Delamater was
not wanting in ability, nor was he vulnerable in char-
acter, but he was not the choice of the Republican peo-
ple, and his nomination had to be forced by the power
of the organization.

Hastings had made himself very generally and popu-
larly known to the people of the State by his heroic
efforts at Johnstown after the terrible cfisaster that
almost effaced the towTi and sacrificed thousands of
lives. He was sent there by Governor Beaver to see
what could be done to begin the work of restoring trans-
portation and rehabilitating the desolated city. Hast-
ings found that the work required heroic direction.

Old Time Notes

and he assumed the responsibility of leading the great
work of gathering the dead for sepulture and gradually
restoring a number of the homes. He labored night
and day. giving up every comfort and greatly endan-
gering his health, and thus made himself ver>' gratefully
known to the great mass of tlie people of the State.

He entered the contest for Governor without any aid
from the Quay organization, but long before the con-
vention met it was clearly evident that Hastings could
be defeated for the nomination only by the most abso-
lute and despotic command of the Quay leadership. I
saw Quay alone two weeks before the convention met,
and found him greatly exercised about the nomination
for Governor. He then reahzcd that the nomination
of Delamater would alienate a large portion of the
Republican people from his fellowship. l)ul he did not
believe it possible for the Democrats to defeat any can-
didate the Republicans might nominate. I told him
that I thought the wise thing for him to do was
adjust himself to the manifest wishes of his party,
which he rephed that he very much desired once to
have a Governor of his own.

He forced the nomination of Delamater by the sheer
power of the party organization, and Hastings, who
was young enough and shrewd enough to understand
that the future belonged to him, came promptly to the
front and led the fight for Delamater's election. He
thus made himself solid with the Republican people
of the State, and from that time until the convention
met four years later, it never was possible for the party
leaders to get even an organized movement against
Hastings as a candidate.

The nomination of Delamater led to open revolt,
and the Democrats saw their opportunity. They were
not then led by mere political traders who care only
for personal honors or advantage, but by those who

lOt

in- ^m
to ^B

Of Pennsylvania 577

thoroughly understood the political conditions and
knew how to adjust the party to give it the promise of
victory. Governor Pattison had left the Executive
office at the end of his first term with a strong Demo-
cratic element opposed to him, but there was universal
confidence among all the people in his public and pri-
vate integrity, and the Granger element was a powerful
factor in politics at that time.

The man who managed the Pattison nomination and
election was William F. Harrity, of Philadelphia.
Harrity had been chairman of the city committee in
Philadelphia, where he held the Democrats in complete
organization, and achieved repeated victories by
association with the reform Republicans. When the
contest for the Democratic nomination for Governor
was in doubt between Senator Wallace and Governor
Pattison, Harrity decided the issue by accepting Patti-
son as the candidate because he believed that Pattison
was the most available. He was not at variance with
Wallace, but the reform Republican element that was
in revolt against Delamater was not in sympathy with
Wallace, while it was in very hearty sympathy with
Pattison, and looking to the legitimate party interests
he accepted Pattison because he believed Pattison
could be elected.

Harrity, Hensel and Black were measurably es-
tranged from Pattison during his first administration.
Hensel and Black were ranked as friends of Randall as
against Wallace, and when Harrity decided to support
Pattison they refused to ^o along with him. Hensel
and Black had their respective delegations in Lancaster
and York instructed for them for Governor, and when
the convention met at Scranton they joined Wallace in
opposition to Pattison. When it became apparent
that Wallace could not be nominated, Wallace, Hensel
and Black decided to make a combination to nominate

a— 37

Old Time Notes

Silas M. Clark, of Indiana, then a judge of the supreme
court. The three joined in a tel^ram to Clark at
Indiana siniply asking him to not answer any de-
spatches received from Scranton during the sessions
erf the convention, and a despatch in which three great
leaders of the party joined was respected by Clark.
Wallace assumed that he could deliver his followers to
Dark. It was arranged that he would go into the con-
vention, withdraw his name and nominate Clark, and
that Hensel and Black should follow, declining and
ckclaring for Clark.

After fixir^ their programme they separated late in
the Tiight, and an hour or two later Wallace returned
to Hensei's room, roused him up. and informed him
that he could not deliver his followers to Clark, ar.d
that his withdrawal would make enough of a break to [
Pattison to give him success. After a few minutes of
awkward silence Hensel said : " Well, Wallace, what are
you going to do?" To which he answered, "I am j
going to let my name go before the convention and take
my licking. What are you going tu do?" Hensel
answered. " I propose to pack my satchel in the morn-
ing and return home." Pattison was nominated, re-
ceiving 200 votes, with 132 for Wallace, 12 for Robert
E. Wright. 12 for Hensel and 11 for Black. Although
specially invited. Wallace and Hensel refused to appear
before the convention after the nominations were
made. As a tub to the opposition whale Black was
again nominated for Lieutenant Governor.

Hensei's position in the party w-as one of unusal im-
portance. He was not a place-hunter, but was con-
spicuous for his devotion to honestl}' organized Democ-
racy. He had tried to nominate Clark for Governor in
1882 when Pattison was first nominated and elected,
and he was then tendered the nomination for Congress-
man-at-Large that meant aMlM^on, bMflk^took the

Of Pennsylvania 579

floor in the convention and declined in favor of Morti-
mer F. Elliott, who was nominated and elected. He
was made chairman of the State committee by the
coimtry candidates against the protest of Pattison,
Cassidy and the immediate friends of Pattison, but he
managed the contest with such consimimate skill, with
Harrity's aid as chairman of the Philadelphia city
committee, that all confessed his eminent ability
and unfaltering fidelity.

While opposed to Pattison *s nomination in 1890, he
delivered a number of addresses in important centers
of the State in support of Pattison which attracted
more attention than any of the many other leading
speeches. His address in the Academy of Music in
Philadelphia was one of the ablest of the political deliv-
erances of the time, and when Pattison was elected, it
was only natural that Harrity should be tendered the
secretaryship of the Commonwealth, and the Governor
was quite willing to yield to Harrity 's wishes to have
Hensel his associate in the cabinet. Their appoint-
ment to the cabinet was simply the logical result of
the battle they had won, and both made exceptionally
creditable records as State officers, records which are
models of intelligent and thoroughly honest adminis-
tration. Harrity was so highly appreciated as a
political leader that two years later he was invited to
accept the chainnanship of the National Democratic
committee, and he conducted the Cleveland cam-
paign of 1892, winning the last victory of the Democ-
racy in our National contests.

A successor to Cameron in the Senate was to be chosen
by the Republican Legislature elected at the same time
that Pattison was chosen Governor, and there was an
evident disposition on the part of some of the Republi-
can senators and representatives to rebel against the
Quay-Cameron domination of the State by defeating

SSo

Old Time Notes

Cameron's election. The result might have ' _ _
doubtful but for the fact that Cameron was open
hostile to the Force bill then pending in Congress, fc
which some of the radical Republican leaders assume
that they could control elections in the Southern State

I have stated in a previous chapter how Camero
and Quay visited me in Philadelphia a short time be
fore the meeting of the L^slature. and how it was tbei
arranged with CWivemor-elect Pattison and Harrity
then prospective secretary- of the Commonwealth. U
come to the support of Cameron for the Senaiorship il
the Republicans organized against him on the ground
of his opposition to the Force bill. It soon became
known that the Democrats would make any sacrifice
to sustain a Republican Senator who was opposed to
the Force bill, and Cameron "s election was thereby tnade
absolutely safes. The Republicans saw that they could
not defeat him, and they ga\'e him an almost united^
party vote, but there was much smothered hostilitjM
to the Quay-Cameron domination, as they were accused
of losing ihe Govenior to the party in the State by
defying the wishes of the Republican people.

Eighteen hundred and ninety-one was an off year,
but the defalcation of John Bardsley. treasurer of
Philadelphia, whcreliy the State and city lost a large
amount of money, involving Republican Auditor
General McCamant and State Treasurer Boyer, sud-
denly threw the Re]")u!jlican leaders into confusion, and
threatened the party with defeat. Pattison was
(lovcrnor, and his stern integrity made him hew to the
line in bringing the financial officers of the State to
accountability. He summoned the senate in special
session to pass ujxm the question of dismissing the audi-
tor general and State treasurer for complicity in the
embezzlement of Slate money.

The senate was £t-orHy Republican, and most of its

Of Pennsylvania S8i

members regarded the preser\'ation of the Republican
party as of paramoimt importance, and they were most
willing to find some way of escaping judgment upon
the State officials. The legal acumen of Rufus E.
Shapley opened a way for them by insisting that their
alleged offenses were indictable in the courts, whereby
their dismissal could be accomplished as the logical
result of conviction. His argument was one of master-
ly ability in support of the theory that the senate could
not usurp the place of the grand jury and the criminal
courts where offenses were committed by jjublic officers.
The senate welcomed the back door of escape that was
offered them, and without passing upon the merits of
the case, dismissed it for want of jurisdiction, but the
people of the State w^ere greatly aroused, and Quay's
mastery was very seriously threatened.

Quay well appreciated the peril that confronted him,
and when his State convention met he had an elaborate
platform adopted in which Postmaster General Wana-
maker was highly commended for his "clean, business-
like and comprehensive administration of postal
affairs.'* It also commended the Republican officials of
Philadelphia for the prompt conviction of John Bards-
ley for embezzlement, and demanded that the proper
officials should " prosecute to conviction any and ever}'
guilty official without regard to politics.'*

He knew that he could not propose any candidate
for auditor general who was active in political affairs
and command the confidence of the people, and he
nominated General Gregg, the greatest of Pennsyl-
vania's living soldiers at the time, for auditor general.
Gregg had never been in politics, but his nomination
w'as an absolute assurance to the people of the State
that the office would be administered with absolute
integrity and fidelity. With him he nominated J. W.
Morrison for State treasurer, a man of high character

Old Time Notes

Kd ability. The Democrats nominated Mr.

man of blameless reputation, for auditor

id Mr. Tilden, a prominent business man,

lie treasurer, but the nomination of Gregg saved

xty. as it placed a man in the one important

>n in the State where profligacy or fraud in the

oi State funds could be halted. The result was

election of the Republican State ticket by over

» for auditor general, and 54.000 for State treas-

Quay thus saved the jxirty and his political

ix r in the State by giving the people an auditor

ai who would certainly halt ever>' attempt at the

opriation of the funds of the State.

J

of Pennsylvania 583

crv.

PENNSYLVANIA POLITICS 1 892-1 895.

Quay and Cameron Not Heartily for Harrison — But He Was Renomi-
nated— Cleveland a Presidential Candidate for the Third Time —
Tammany's Intense Opposition to Him — Local Pennsylvania Inter-
ests— Quay's Second Election as U. S. Senator — General Hastings
Elected Governor in 1894 — His Relations with Quay Not Very
Cordial — Democratic Opposition Not Formidable — Old-Timers Re-
called to Public Life, Especially Galusha A. Grow — Governor Hast-
ings and the State Committee — Organized Action Against Quay in
Philadelphia — Penrose Sacrificed for Mayor — Creation of the Pemi-
sylvania Superior Court.

EIGHTEEN hundred and ninety-two opened with
generous promises to the Republicans. The
country was enjoying a more than ordinary
degree of prosperity, as our manufactures had been
greatly quickened by the McKinley tariff bill of 1890,
although it had been repudiated overwhelmingly by
the people in the election of a Congress soon after its
adoption, when the Democrats reached high water
mark in their majority of Congressmen. Harrison was
universally respected and there was very general con-
fidence in his public and private integrity. He was
not personally popular with the leaders of the party,
but the Republican people had faith in him and de-
manded his renomination.

While Harrison was in some measure an element of
weakness on the Republican side, Cleveland appeared
in the early part of the campaign of 1892 as a much
greater element of discord in the Democratic party
than was Harrison with the Republicans. The Demo-
crats of New York elected a solid delegation to the

Of Pennsylvania 585

and Independents, and a majority of 80 in the House.

While Quay was not an enthusiastic supporter of
Harrison, the Legislature to be chosen that year would
be charged with the election of his successor, and he
gave special attention to the State contest, resulting
in a majority of 63,747 for Harrison in the State, and
substantially like majorities for Judge Dean, Repub-
lican, over Judge Heydrick, Democrat, for the Supreme
court, and for William Lilly and Alexander McDowell,
Republicans, over George A. Allen and Thomas P.
Merritt, Democrats, for Congressmen-at-Large. His
special care of the senatorial and representative dis-
tricts was exhibited in gaining an increased Republican
majority on joint ballot in the Legislature, the senate
standing ;i^ Republicans to 17 Democrats, and the
house 134 Republicans to 70 Democrats, giving the
Republicans 80 majority on joint ballot.

No organized opposition was developed against
Quay's re-election, and on the 17th of January, 1893,
he was elected to his second full term in the Senate,
receiving ;^;^ votes in the State senate, to 14 for George
Ross, Democrat, one for William Mutchler, Democrat,
one absentee, and one present but not voting. In the
house the vote was 132 for Quay, 66 for Ross, one for
William F. Harrity, one for John Dalzell and four
absentees. Quay 's nomination in the caucus was made
on the first ballot, the vote being 146 for Quay, 14 for
Dalzell, one for Gobin and three absent.

Quay's election by practically a unanimous vote of
the party in the Legislature, and without any serious
attempt at organized opposition to his leadership,
apparently made him more strongly entrenched in
supreme authority over party affairs in the State than
he had ever been before, and the off year contest of
1893 gave him a largely increased majority, as Jackson,
the party candidate for Stat^ treasurer, was elected

S86 Old Time Notes

over Osborne, Democrat, by 135,146, and Jtid^ D.
Newlin Fell, Repul^ican, was dected supreme judge
over Samuel G. Thompaon, then serving by appoint-
iTient of Oovemra' Pattiaon to fill a vacancy, by sub-

staiilially the same majority.

In 1S94 Quay vas competed to face a political con-
ditiuii in which he could not be absolute master. His
])arty leadership was undisputed, but the Republican
people of the State wanted Geiwral Hastii^ for Gov-
ernor in 1890, when Quay forced the nomination of
Delamater, who was defeated. Hastings had made
the fight on the sttunp for Delamater, came out of the
contest greatly strengthened, and Quay could not
defeat him for the nomination in 1894 without resortii^
to such violent methods as would have ^ain defeated
the parly- He was literally compelled to accept a
candidate for Governor whom he did not want.

There was no open estrai^ement between Quay and
Hastings, but Quay knew waX Hastings was human,
and did not forget the fact that Quay had crucified
him four years before. Quay's only course was to fall
in with the support of Hastings, and while their rela-
tions were apparently close and friendly during the
campaigTi, each distrusted the other, and both felt that
the time was not far distant when an open issue would
arise between them. Quay accepted the situation and
gave Hastings the nomination practically without a con-
test. With Hastings were nominated Walter Lyon,
for Lieutenant Governor, Amos H. Mylin, for auditor
general, and General J. W. Latta, for secretary of in-
ternal affairs, with Galusha A. Grow and Mr. Huff,
for Congressmen-at-Large.

The Democrats nominated William M. Singerly for
Governor, by a unanimous vote, with John S. Rilling
for Lieutenant Governor, David F. Magee for auditor
general, W. W. Greenland for secretary of internal

Of Pennsylvania 587

affairs, and Mr. Meyer and Mr. Collins for Congress-
men-at-Large, and he entered into the contest with
great enthusiasm and high hopes of success. He
traversed the State in a special car, saw the people of
every section, and when he returned home a week before
the election, he was absolutely confident of his success.
It was his first experiment in contact with the enthu-
siasm of country political assemblies, and he informed
me three days before the election that he certainly had
more than an even chance to be the next Governor of
the State, and he was dumfounded when a majority of
nearly a quarter of a million was rolled up against him,
with substantially like majorities for all the Republi-
can candidates.

The contest of 1 894 called back into public life a man
who for more than fifty years has been intimately con-
nected with National affairs, and who rendered most
conspicuous service to his party and to the country.
Galusha A. Grow was made a compromise candidate
for Congress in the Wilmot district in 1850. Wilmot
had been renominated for a fourth term, but the old
line Democrats had bolted against him, and nominated
another Democratic candidate. Ten days before the
election Wilmot agreed to withdraw if Grow was taken
in his place, and he was accepted and elected as a
regular Democrat. He was re-elected in 1852 on the
Democratic ticket, and in 1854 was elected to a third
term as an anti-slavery Democrat. In 1856 his anti-
slavery convictions brought him into the most sympa-
thetic relations with the Republican party, and he was
elected to a fourth term as a RepubUcan, and was re-
turned as a Republican by the same district in 1858
and i860. In 1862 a new apportionment had been
made, giving him the district of Luzerne and Susque-
hanna instead of his old district of Susquehanna,
Bradford and Tioga, and in the Republican sltimp of

Old Time Notes

1862 he was defeated after having served twelve yeart I
consecutively in Congi-ess.

Mr. Grow has many important monuments to hia I
statesmanship to make his name memorable. He was.l
the author of the free homestead law, and battled I
many years before he achieved success. Even when |
he had accomplished the passage of a very crude home- J
stead bill by both branches of Congress, it was defeated i
by the veto of President Buchanan. He was so highly 1
respected that when Congress met in 1861. just when I
the Civil War had spread the shadows of the angel of 1
sorrow over the entire land, he was elected speaker of 1
the House, and he was the acknowledged leader of the J
loyal forces in the popular branch of Congress. He I
accomplished the final passage of the homestead law t
that has given free homes to tens of thousands of otir ]
|)eo]ile. and his slogan in the political battles of those
days was free soil, free homes and free schools.

Hadhenotbeen retired from Congress by an unfortun- 1
ate Congressional apj'^ortionment. that attempted to give
;in additional Republican district, he would doubtless
have continued to preside over the House during the
entire period of the war. He was not a political mana-
ger in the narrow and meaner sense of the term. No
man could better master a broad wise policy for the
party in State or Nation, but he was a stranger to the
arts of modem politics, and for many years was not in
favor with the dominant power of the Republican
party in Permsylvania. After fiUing a vacancy for one
year, he was nominated for Congressman-at-Large in
1894 chiefly because Quay believed it to be wise to
make that concession to the anti-machine element of
the State. Grow had been the independent bolting can-
didate for Senator in 1 88 1 , and had been turned down
several times in struggles for the Governorship or the
Senatorsliip. Quay exhibited his usual sagacity in

Of Pennsylvania 589

thus calling Grow back to the political life he had
honored years before, and so acceptable was Grow's
service in the National Congress that he was renomi-
nated and re-elected to four consecutive terms as Con-
gressman-at-Large, ending his last service in the
councils of the Nation on the 4th of March, 1903, just
fifty-two years after he had first appeared there, and
the two periods of his service aggregated twenty-one
years, a continuous service of twelve years beginning
in 1 85 1, and a continuous service of nine years begin-
ning in 1895. He was one of the Republican leaders
whose skirts were never stained by personal graft or
poUtical dishonesty, and his ability as a disputant,
with his genial personal qualities, commanded the
mingled respect and affection of all who were brought
into intimate relations with him.

The Congressmen-at-Large were elected simply be-
cause of a new apportionment that gave Pennsylvania
two additional members, and the Legislature failed to
add the additional districts. But for the fact that an
apportionment had been passed by the Legislature to
fill our entire delegation by separate districts in 1902,
there is little doubt that Mr. Grow would have been
continued as Congressman-at-Large as long as his
advancing years left him equipped for the performance
of its duties. Although well passed the patriarchal
age when he retired from his long and conspicuous
Congressional service, he was one of the most active
and efficient of all our Representatives, and he stood
out with singular eminence as one of the great men of
the past who live with continued usefulness in the
present. By the tidal wave that carried the Republi-
can ticket to overwhelming victory the Democratic
strength in the Legislature was almost annihilated, the
Senate standing 43 Republicans to 7 Democrats, and
the House 117 Republicans to 27 Democrats.

S90 Old Time Notes

While Governor Hastings did not precipitate a fac-
tional war wth the Quay jxjwer of the State, it soon
became evident that the relations between the Governor
and the Senator threatened the party with internal
disturbance. Several times they were on the point of
open breach during the first month of the administra-
tion, but the sore was temporarily healed by the inter-
position of frientls and compromised, but later all
masks were torn off on both sides, and Hastings decided
to lock horns with Quay to wrest the party mastery
from the old Senatorial leader. When the estrange-
ment between the two leadei's had passed the jioint of
compromise, Quay adopted the heroic method of pub-
licl}' announcing himself as a candidate for the position
of Chairman of the Kepublican State committee some
months before the meeting of the State convention that
would have the jxjwer of apiK>intment.

Quay's announcement was met by the public an-
nouncement of f Jovemor 1 lastings that he would be a
delegate in the coming State conventi'in, and would
be a candidate for president of the body. It was the
custom of the party for the president of the State con-
vention to appoint the chairman of the State con-
mittee. after consulting the candidates on the State
ticket, but the president of the convention is only a
servant of the body, and subject to its orders on all
questions of party policy. In 1865, when Cameron,
by adroit management, secured the president of the
convention that had a majority of Curtin delegates in
it, Cameron expecting thereby to get possession of the
State organization by naming the chairman of the com-
mittee, the convention, on motion of Thaddeus Stevens,
elected John Cessna chairman by resolution of the
body, and Senator Welsh was, in like manner, made
chairman of the Democratic State committee by the
Reading convention of i860.

of Pennsylvania 591

The arrangement to bring out Governor Hastings as
an open cand&date for president of the convention, with
a view of controlUng the State committee, was made in
Philadelphia at a dinner given to the Governor by some
of his special friends, who were hostile to Quay. Late
in the night after the dinner adjourned, one of the guests
came to the editorial office of '*The Times,'' and in-
formed me that Quay was now beaten for chairman of
the State committee, as Governor Hastings had agreed
to announce himself as a candidate for the presidency
of the convention, and that he could not be defeated.
I reminded him that the president of the convention
was not supreme in the matter of selecting the chair-
man of the State committee, and that even if Hastings
won the presidency of the body, it would be in the
power of the convention to elect Quay or any other
person to the position of chairman, but it was believed
that Hastings, who was then just at the beginning of
his administration, could not be defeated, and the
organization against Quay was earnestly extended to
every section of the State.

It was recognized on all sides as a fight to a finish
between Quay and Hastings, and both exhausted their
efforts to win. Quay was not then in specially easy
circumstances, but he plunged into the fight, strained
his credit to raise money, and personally visited all of
the strong counties of the State. While Hastings had
occupied a strong position before the people as Gover-
nor, he was outclassed by Quay in a contest that de-
pended largely upon skilful and desperate political man-
agement. The result was that Quay astounded the
Governor and his followers at the convention by coming
to the front with a decided majority of the delegates
and giving himself a triumphant election as chairman
of the State committee. It was a very close struggle
to Quay, but he realized the fact that he had to choose

593 OM Time Notes

between winning the battle against the Governor, an
confessing that his leadership in the State was suhoi
dinated to the domination of a superior power.

The murmurings of factional discord were hear
immediately after the election of Hastings, and the"
took shape in organized action against Quay's master
in Philadelphia early in 1895. Charles A. Porter, thei
senator, and David Martin, since senator and secre-
tary of the Commonwealth, were in absolute contro'
of the Republican org^anization in the city, and the\
gave the first sign of aggressive hostility to Quay's
leadership. Boies Penrose, then a member of ^e
State senate, was ap]>arently slated, with the consent
of leaders generally, as the candidate for mayor at the
February- election, and a card signed by a thousand
prominent citizens, and occupying a page of the leading
newspapers, was published, supporting Penrose's can-
didacy.

For a time all seemed to be serene, and Penrose's
nomination and election were accepted as assured, but
several weeks before the meeting of the convention
Penrose was publicly and violently assailed in various
religious quarters, and the friends of Penrose became
convinced that the scandals were inspired by Martin
and Porter for the purpose of compelling the retirem.ent
of Penrose. Quay, Penrose. Durham and their adher-
ents in the city had been gradually drifting away from
the Martin-Porter leadership, and it soon became
evident that Martin and Porter had decided to defeat
Penrose in the convention, but they did not permit tlie
name of the man to take his place to be known until
the morning of the convention, when they gave orders
for the nomination of City Solicitor Warwick, and the
order was obeyed. This was the first skirmish against
Quay in 1S95, and it was logically followed by his con-
test with Governor Hastings.

^.,.,.. , J// J/y,., '.,„„.

Of Pennsylvania 593

When Warwick was nominated by Martin and Porter,
without having been even suggested as a candidate at
the primaries, Quay was ready for open revolt, and in
a moment of f orgetfulness he rose in the United States
Senate and made a personal attack on Martin. The
Democrats, believing that in the disturbed condition
of the RepubUcan party they could elect the mayor,
asked ex-Governor Pattison to accept the nomination,
but he refused unless he was assured of the support of
the Quay and Dtirham element of the city. Mr. Har-
rity presented the situation to me and asked me to go
to Washington and confer with Quay directly on the
subject. I did so and spent the evening with Quay at
Senator Cameron's house, where the matter was fully
discussed. Cameron took no part in it, as he declined
to be involved, but Quay, after going over the whole
question very fully, instructed me to advise Harrity
that Pattison would be supported by him and his
friends against Warwick.

I telegraphed Harrity at once, and it was that assur-
ance from Quay that made Pattison accept the nomi-
nation. There had been severe business and industrial
revolution in the country that was charged to the
Democratic tariff bill, and the discussions of the Demo-
crats in Congress against sound money disgusted the
business men of Philadelphia to such an extent that it
was found impossible to make them participate in a
revolution that wotdd give Philadelphia a Democratic
mayor. Quay and Diurham were thus finally com-
pelled by conditions which they could not control to
give a passive support to Warwick, who was elected
by a majority of 61,309. But for the assurance given
by Quay, which at the time he made in perfect good
faith, Pattison would not have accepted the nomination
for mayor.

Quay regarded Penrose as having been crucified to

594

Old Time Notes

gratify factional interests, and it was that rejection of
Penrose for mayor by the Martin-Porter leadership that
made Quay finally accept Penrose as his candidate for i
United States Senator, and to fight one of the most
desperate battles of his life to make Penrose his Sena-
torial colleague.

The superior court of Pennsylvania had been created
by an act of the Legislature of 1895. and under the act
providing for the election of the seven judges, each
voter could vote for but six, thus giving the Democrats
one member of the court. The Republicans nomi-
nated present President Judge Rice and Judges Beaver.
Willard, Wickham, Reeder and Orlady, all of whom
were elected, and Yerkes. Moorehead. Xoyes, Smith.
Bechtel and Magee were the Democratic candidates, of
whom Smith received the highest vote and became the
seventh member of the court. It was originally gi\^en
final jurisdiction in cases not exceeding $1,000, but
later that jurisdiction was enlarged to $1 .500. Since the
enlargement nf the jurisdictinn it fairlv divides the busi-
ness of the higher court, and has enabled the supreme
judicial tribunal of the State to give due deliberation
to the many im])ortant questions presented for its
final judgment. Of the judges originally chosen
Reeder and Wickham died in service, and Willard,
William W. Porter and Mitchell, the last two having
been elected to fill vacancies, resigned, leaving as the
present court President Judge Rice with judges
Beaver, Orlady, Porter, Henderson, Morrison and Head.

of Pennsylvania 595

CV.

WANAMAKER VERSUS QUAY.

Wanamaker's Ambition to Be U. S. Senator — Aspiration Hopeless With-
out Quay's Aid — Negotiating With Quay — An Agreement Reached

— How a Rupture Came — Wanamaker as an Open, Aggressive Can-
didate — The Contest for the Party Nomination — Penrose Nomi-
nated and EUected — The National Politics of 1896 — Gubernatorial
Battle of 1898 — Quay Forced to Accept William A. Stone as Can-
didate— The Wanamaker Opposition of That Campaign — The Battle
Fought in the Legislative Districts — Quay Prosecuted for Misap-
propriating State Funds — Fight for U. S. Senator in the Legislature

— The Famous Deadlock of 1899 — Quay Acquitted in Criminal Trial
and Appointed U. S. Senator by Governor Stone.

EIGHTEEN hundred and ninety-six was Presi-
dential year, and it opened with apparently
quite serene political conditions for Senator
Quay. His triumph over Hastings in 1885 in his
struggle for the chairmanship of the State committee
made Quay and Hastings respect each other sufficiently
to imderstand the necessity of pooling their political
issues, and the Governor was one of the first to fall in
with Quay's idea to strengthen himself in the State
and coimtry by Pennsylvania presenting his name to
the National convention as its candidate for President.
A United States Senator was to be chosen by the
Legislattire elected in the fall of 1896, as Cameron was
weary of Senatorial duties and honors, and was not in
hearty accord with his party on the silver issue. It
was imderstood early in the year that Cameron would
not be a candidate under any circtimstances, and a
ntmiber of aspirants were in the field, most of whom
were among Quay's lieutenants, and he decided to let
the contest for Senator progress without interference

Old Time Notes

i part until the time came when he could decide
...^elligently how best to direct the final outcome.
Ex-Postmaster General Wanamaker was ambitious
be United States Senator, and openly expressed his
'shes to his friends on every suitable occasion. He
I not want the care and worr>' of dispensing patron-
, but with his wonderful adaptability during his
r years as a Cabinet officer, he made himself an
tsually intelligent master of all the problems of
.atesmanship, and felt that he could render his State
ne service and wear the Senatorial honors ■n-ith
tidit to himself. He had frequently discussed with
; the question of becoming a candidate for Senator,
d I was anxious to have him succeed. Some time
the early months of i8g6 I told him that he could
ver hope to be Senator without the aid of Quay;
it Quay had absolute control of the organization of
: party in the State, and that meant a decisive
vantage in the nomination of Senators and Repre-
sentatives, and there was no reason why he and Quay
should not be in entire harmony.

Quay wanted the control of National and State
patronage to maintain his organization, while Wana-
maker would be more than willing to have the vexa-
tions of local contests for appointments go entirely to
his colleague. He wanted to be a Senator, and to be
free from the tide-water Senatorial duties of wrestling
with political aspirants throughout the State. Wana-
maker's ambition was to make his mark in intelligent
and practical statesmanship, and he was entirely will-
ing to imite with Quay on the basis of Quay running
the party organization with Wanamaker as chief con-
tributor for the necessary expenses.

After full discussion of the subject Wanamaker re-
quested me to go to Washington and present the matter
to Quay. I did so, and found that the only obstacle

Of Pennsylvania 597

to entire harmony between Quay and Wanamaker was
Quay's apprehension that Wanamaker, if he reached
the Senate, might become ambitious to control the
organization himself and supplant Quay. I insisted
that Wanamaker had no such purpose, and that if he
had, he could not accomplish it for want of practical
knowledge of modem political methods; and after
discussing the question for an hour or more, Quay
finally decided that he and Wanamaker could harmon-
ize on the basis of Wanamaker becoming Senator and
Quay to retain control and mastery of the organization.

Quay made an appointment to see Wanamaker in
Washington the following day, and I telegraphed Wana-
maker that Quay's secretary would meet him at the
train and take him directly to Quay's committee room.
I did not remain in Washington, and had no knowl-
edge of what transpired between Quay and Wana-
maker until the morning after Wanamaker had re-
ttimed, when I called upon him and inquired whether
their conference had been entirely satisfactory. He
informed me that they had agreed on every question of
detail. Wanamaker was to contribute the necessary
means for Quay to maintain his organization in the
State, and Quay at the proper stage of the contest was
to make a combination to elect Wanamaker to the
Senate. I told him that I wished no further infor-
mation as to their arrangements, and left entirely satis-
fied that, with the active or passive support of the
people in the party that Wanamaker represented, Quay
could control the organization on any lines he chose
to adopt.

That condition continued for six weeks or two months
without any public knowledge of the agreement between
Quay and Wanamaker. Finally, it became necessary
for Quay to organize a movement in one of the im-
portant cotmties of the State that needed campaign

598

funds, and Quay 'phoned Wanamaker stating what
was required. Wanamaker promptl}- answered acced-
ing to Quay's suggestion, but unfortunate! v named a
third man who would conduct the business transac-
tions with Qua)', and the man named was at that time
regarded by Quay as not especially friendly to him.
Quay's suspicion was immediately aroused, and he
petulantly answered that the arrangement was off, and .
closed the 'phone.

It was a mistake on both sides. Wanamaker should
have brought in no one between Quay and himself,
although he named a man who would have been in-
capable of treacherj' to either. Quay erroneously-
assumed that Wanamaker was shifting the responsi-
bility to another, thus declining to assume his share
with Quay, and placing Quay in the hands of a third
man who would have opportunity to betray him.
Wanamaker promptly advised me of the unfortunate
breach, and exhaustive efforts were made to restore
the old relations between them, but Quay openly
declared his distrust of Wanamaker 's fidelit\", and
thus came the breach that not only precipitated upon
Quay a most dcs]ierate struggle for the control of the
Legislature, but renewed the struggle for Governor two
years later, defeated Qiia^' for re-election to the Senate,
and was responsible for his prosecution in the criminal
courts.

Wanamaker became an open and aggressive candi-
date for United States Senator, with Mr. Van Valken-
burg, now editor of the " North American," as his chief
lieutenant. The war was carried into every senatorial
and representative district where it was expected to
elect Republicans. Van Valkenburg resided in Tioga
County, had been one of Quay's lieutenants, was thor-
oughly familiar with Quay's political methods, and he
proved a most formidable leader against the Quav

Of Pennsylvania 599

organization. A number of senatorial districts were
deadlocked, and finally required the expenditure of
thousands of dollars to accomplish nominations. Wana-
maker contributed lavishly, as it became necessary
thus to strengthen his lines and hold them against the
equally or more lavish expenditure of the Quay organ-
ization.

A fearful crop of scandals and some criminal prose-
cutions grew out of this extraordinary contest for the
control of the party nomination, and the election of
candidates after having been named by the party, but
the prosecutions were finally adjusted because mutual
interests dictated the necessity. Quay had a decided
advantage in the struggle because he had the organi-
zation of the party, that often counts even against a
popular majority, and Quay captured a majority of
the Republicans of both senate and house.

When the Legislature came to the election of the
United States Senator, a test vote in the house caucus
gave 93 for the Penrose representatives and 71 for
Wanamaker's, and in the joint Republican caucus, on
January 5th, Penrose received 133 votes to 75 for
Wanamaker, i for J. B. Robinson and i for Cameron.
Wanamaker bowed to the mandate of the party, and
his friends made the nomination of Penrose imanimous.
Penrose was elected on the 19th of January, receiving
the votes of 42 senators to 6 for Chauncey F. Black,
Democrat. In the house the vote was 168 for Pen-
rose, 3;^ for Black and i for Wanamaker. While Penrose
was elected by nearly a unanimous vote of the Republi-
cans of the Legislattire, the factional feeling was in-
tensely embittered, and it continued tintil it reached its
culmination two years later, when Quay was defeated.

There were some very severe complications in the
contest of 1896 affecting the disputing factional leaders.
Martin and Porter were in command of the organiza-

L

600 old Time Notes

tion in Philadelphia, and they were bitterly hostile to
Quay. As they had lately cmcitied Penrose as a can-
didate for mayor, they were much less willing to have
him as United States SeiiatOT. They asserted their
mastery in a rather violent manner by nominating Coro-
ner Ashbridge, later elected mayor, for sheriff over
Alexander Crow, Jr. Crow represented the Quay and
Penrose interests with Durham as the active leader,
and they decided to overthrow the Martin- Porter con-
trol by defeating the candidate for Sheriff.

A conference was had with Harrity and his friends,
who then controlled the Democratic organization in the
city, and they finally agreed to make Crow tlieir candi-
date for sheriff if he ran as an Independent. The pro-
gramme was carried out. and after a contest of unusual
bitterness. Crow defeated Ashbridge by 18.995 majority
at the same election that gave McKinley, the Rejiubli-
can candidate for President. 113,139 majority. This
defeat of the Martin-Porter domination, followed by
the election of Penrose, was soon followed by Quay,
PcTirnse and Durliani t-aj'tiiriiit; thf Mrj;,-ini/,-il ii ,11 nf the
city, and practically retiring the Martin-Porter element.

Quay had absolute control of the Republican State
convention and received a very cordial endorsement as
Pennsylvania's candidate for the Republican nomina-
nation for the Presidency. The only opposing element
in the convention was that controlled by Magee, of Pitts-
burg, who with others refused to support Quay. The
ballot in the National convention gave 661 1-2 for
McKinley, 84 1-2 for Reed, with 61 i-s for Quay, 58 of
which were given by Pennsylvania, 3 by Georgia, i by
Mississippi and one-half by Louisiana.

In the early part of the struggle for the Presidential
nomination it looked as if Quay might have some
diance, as the contest between McKinley and Reed
was aggressive and bitter, but some weeks before the

Of Pennsylvania 6oi

convention met Vermont led off for McKinley against
Reed, and was followed by broken delegations in one or
two of the other New England States, which practically
retired Reed, and McKinley 's nomination was conceded
before the convention met. Quay's organization car-
ried the State for McKinley by 295,070 plurality, and
Galusha A. Grow and Samuel A. Davenport, Republi-
cans, were elected [^Congressmen-at-Large over Dewitt
and Allman, Democrats, by a like majority. Eighteen
himdred and ninety-seven was an off year with only a
State treasurer to elect, and James S. Beacon was
Quay's slated candidate, and he was nominated prac-
tically without a contest and elected over Brown,
Democrat, by 129,717 plurality.

In 1898 Quay was confronted by the most formidable
opposition that he had ever met in any of his many
desperate struggles to maintain his mastery. William
A. Stone, then a Representative in Congress from
Allegheny, with a gallant record as a soldier, had made
an aggressive battle for the Republican nomination
for Governor. He was not originally slated by Quay,
but the strength he developed and the devotion he had
exhibited for Quay in all his conflicts led to Quay
accepting Stone as his candidate. Wanamaker was
smarting under the defeat he had suffered for Senator
two years before. He felt that the power of organiza-
tion rather than public sentiment had given success to
his opponent, and a conference of the anti-Quay men
was called to meet in Philadelphia, attended by a
number of leading representative Republicans, at
which, after a conference with Wanamaker, it was
decided that he should take the field as a candidate
for the party nomination for Governor.

Not only was a determined fight made against
Quay's candidate for Governor, but the war was also
carried into the Legislative districts and defeated

Old Time Notes

Quay's re-election to the Seriate. Wanamaker entered
into the campaign with great earnestness and enthusi-
asm, and delivered a series of [jublic addresses, \\hifh
for ability and skill have rarely if ever been surpassed
in oiu- Slate. His addresses were carefully reported
and published in most of the daily newspapers eveiy
morning, and they exhibited a versatility and a master-
ly grasp of l)oth general and local political problen s
that greatly enthused his friends and astounded bis
opponents

S7>ecial attention was given to the Legislative dis-
tricts, and a number of the Quay candidates were
defeated in close districts by the Independents, under
the lead of Wanamaker. either supporting third candi-
dates or voting directly for the Democratic nominees.
The Republican ticket consisted of Stone for Co^"eIno^.
General J. P. S, Gobin for Lieutenant Governor, Geneial
J. W. Latta for secretan,' of internal affairs, and Giow
and Davenport for re-election as Congressmen-at-I aige.
The Democrats nominated George A. Jenks. cne of
their ablest men in Western Pennsylvania, for Gover-
nor, with William H. Sowden for Lieutenant Governor,
Patrick DeLacey for secretary of internal affairs, and
J. N. Weller and F. B. lans for Congressrr cn-at-L arge.
The campaign was fought with great earnestness on
both sides, and Wanamaker was again outclassed in
locking horns with the Quay organization, and Stone
won an easy victory for the nomination.

While there was no organized opposition to the
Republican State ticket, a furious battle was fought
out in the legislative districts, and the Democrats were
greatly encouraged by the aggressive attitude of Wana-
maker. The result was the election of Stone by 117.-
906 plurality, but the Independents gave the Demo-
crats considerable gains in the L^slature. On joint

Of Pennsylvania 603

ballot the Republicans had 164, Democrats 84, and the
Fusionists (anti-Qtiay) 6.

The anti-Quay men, imder the lead of Wanamaker
and his lieutenants, confronted Quay in the Legislature
in his struggle for re-election to the Senate. So in-
flamed had factional passion become between the Quay
and anti-Quay forces of the State that it led to the
indictment of Quay on the charge of misappropriation
of State funds. That indictment was pending when
the Legislature met, and the demand was made at Har-
risburg that no man imder indictment for the misap-
propriation of pubUc funds should be considered as a
candidate for Senator until acquitted by a jury.

This prosecution was a political blunder, as the result
proved. Every dollar of State money had been ac-
counted for; there was no allegation that the State
funds were not intact, but he was charged as technically
guilty for having State fimds deposited in certain
banks whereby he could obtain loans for his own
individual benefit. With Quay indicted in the Phila-
delphia courts, and a powerful political element
demanding his conviction and disgrace, as well as
his defeat as Senator, the Legislature was halted in
the re-election of Quay.

The Senatorial caucus met on the 3d of January, and
was attended by 108 of the 164 Republican members.
Over 40 Republicans who had refused to attend the
caucus held a meeting on the following morning, and
agreed that they would not vote for Quay until the
courts had settled whether he was innocent or guilty
of the charges against him. The executive committee
of the anti-Quay members framed an address to the
Republicans of Pennsylvania. The Democrats nomi-
nated George A. Jenks, their late candidate for Gover-
nor, for Senator over Chatmcey F. Black, by a vote of
65 to 14 and a resolution looking to fusion with the

L

604 Old Time Notes I

anti-Quay Republicans was defeated. Quay had suffi-
cient control of the Deni'xratic leaders to prevent the
Democrats from uniting with the W'anamaker forces.

The first ballot for Senator was taken on the 17th
of January', when the senate gave Quay 37 votes to 12
for Jeiiks and 3 for Dalzell. with 1 each for Hull. Charles
Emor)' Smith, Erwin, Stewart and Stone. In the
house Quay received 85 votes to 70 for Jenks. with 13
for Dalzell and i;^ scattering. On the following day a
joint ballot was had and Quay received 112, Jenks 84
and 52 Republican votes scattering. The Legislature
was required to ballot in joint convention daily until
the election of a Senator, and the ballots proceeded
from day to day with no substantial change. On
many daj-s there was no quorum voting, and one day,
on the 25th of March, only ten votes were cast.

But for Quay's control of the Democratic leaders,
Wananiaker would have been elected, as the Demo-
crats could have furnished him the full number of votes
required with the aid of his Independent followers; but
allbcnij;]! ^^'anrtniaker's battle had <;iven many of the
Democratic members their election, Quay was able to
hold their leaders and thus prevent tfie success of his
opponent. I saw him frequently during the struggle,
and he was hopeful of success in some way until Magee
broke away from him a short time before the final
adjournment. Magee really desired Quay's election
and did not then wish to be made United States Senator
himself, but hoped to succeed Quay six years later.

I heard Quay on more than one occasion express his
purpose to throw his forces to Magee and elect him
Senator whenever it became entirely clear to him that
he could not succeed himself. He doubtless would have
preferred Magee if he had accepted the contingency,
but he never was willing to confess that he was defeated,
and a short time before the final adjournment of the

Of Pennsylvania 605

Legislattare Magee informed me that there was no chance
of Qtiay's election, and that he had decided on the fol-
lowing Monday to vote for some other candidate, who
might be elected. I was to dine that evening with
Magee and some others, at the house of a friend, who
was warmly attached to Quay, and I informed Quay
that Magee was about to leave him and strongly ad-
vised him to withdraw from the contest and to confer
with Magee at once on the question of electing some
compromise candidate. He accompanied me to the
dinner, although not an invited guest, and at once
retired with Magee to the library, where they were
alone for a considerable time.

Quay insisted that he was not finally defeated, and
Magee insisted that his election was impossible. In-
stead of agreeing, they simply agreed to disagree, and
dined and spent the evening pleasantly together with-
out further referring to the subject. Magee 's defection
made Quay's battle an utterly hopeless one, and extra-
ordinary efforts were then made to force the Democrats
into a fusion. Mass meetings were held in Harrisburg
and in Philadelphia at which impassioned speeches
were made against Quay's election, and resolutions
passed declaring that no man imder arrest for con-
spiracy to use the State moneys should be elected to
the Senate.

The anti-Quay men voted for Dalzell most of the
time. On April 4 they gave 5 1 votes to Judge Stewart,
who had led the Independents in 1882. On the 13th
of April the anti-Quay Republicans held a meeting
and addressed a letter to Senator John C. Grady, a
leading Quay man, suggesting a conference to reach a
compromise candidate, but that was followed by a
meeting of the Quay supporters, to whom Quay ad-
dressed a letter appealing to them to stand by him,
stating that '* to temporize with those persons who for

6o6 Old Time Notes

three numths have prevented the election of a Senator
in Pennsylvania would extricate them from the abyss
into which they have plunged. Instead of mftknig
their treason to the party omous, their treason woim
be made respectable, and treason made respectable
would become fashionable." Quay thus continued
as a candidate, receiving a decreased vote, and the
last ballot was taken on the igtb of April, without
material change in the vote, and on the following day
the Legislature adjotuned finally.

Quays trial had been in progress for a week or mcne
before the final jidjoiUTiment, and on the aoth of April,
the morning after the final adjournment, the trial was
ended by his acquittal. It was one c^ the notable
trials of Philadelphia, at which such prominent lawyers
as Watson, of Pittsburg, and Shapley and Shields, of
Philadelphia, conducted the defense, while Rothermel,
then just inaugurated as district attorney, conducted
the prosecution, exhibiting a measure of ability and
dignity that at once ranked him among the foremost
members of the bar of the city.

Within an hour after the verdict of the jury was
rendered acquitting Qua;-, Governor Stone announced
Quay's appointment to fill the vacancy. It was con-
sidered by many that the Governor's authority to
appoint under the circumstances was more than doubt-
ful, but Quay accepted his commission, and promptly
applied to the Senate for temporary admission as his
own successor. His struggle before the Senate for
admission, and for the re-election that he accomplished
two years later, must be deferred for another chapter.

Of Pennsylvania 607

CVI.

QUAY RE-ELECTED UNITED STATES

SENATOR.

The McCarrell Bill of 1899 and the Quay Trial — Democrats Divided by
Bryanism — A Faction of Them for Quay — Quay Appointed Senator
by the Governor, but the Senate Refused to Admit Him — The
Grounds for His Exclusion — A Memorable Political Controversy —
Senator Hanna's Position — A Great Humiliation to Quay — The
State Convention and the Quay Battle in 1900 — Wanamaker in State
Politics — Overwhelming Republican Triumph — Quay Re-elected by
the Legislature of 1901 — A Famous Declaration by Him — Death
Ends His Career Before His Term Expires.

IN addition to the absorbing question of the elec-
tion of a United States Senator in the Legis-
lature of 1899, the house was convulsed for
several weeks by the battle over what was known as
the McCarrell bill, that proposed an important change
in the criminal jurisprudence of the State. In the
trial of important cases the district attorney then
possessed the right to stand aside jurors without peremp-
tory challenge, while the defendant had only the right
of Umited peremptory challenge, thus giving the pros-
ecution an indefinite right to challenge beyond that
possessed by the defendant. Senator McCarrell pre-
sented a bill repealing that feature of the common
law in criminal trials, and giving the Commonwealth
and the defendant a precisely equal number of chal-
lenges in the selection of a jury.

It was well understood that the measure was pro-
posed for the benefit of Senator Quay, whose trial was
to come on very soon thereafter. The bill passed the
senate, but most of the Democrats finally united with

6o8

Old Time Notes

the Independents of the house, and the bill never
reached final passage in that body. Various earnest
efforts were made to secure its passage, but when it
came up in the popular branch on second reading on
the igth. of February, the house voted to postpone
action ur.tU the 21st of March by a vote of 93 to 92,
with sevrnteen Democrats voting with the minority.
It was assamed thai by that time the Quay trial would
be over. It is worthy of note that the Legislature
of igoi passed what was practically the McCarrell bill.

The Democrats of the State were greatly demoralized,
and were an easy prey to the power of the Re()ubUcan
State organization. While the Democratic Legislators
could not vote directly for Quay for Senator against
the Democratic candidate, there were more than
enough of them actually in the interest of Quay to
make fusion against him impossible. An earnest effort
was made at an early stage of the contest to tiring \.hc
Democrats into the su]iport of WanHiiiaker, who could
have commanrlcd the st>IIi! v^-to <'f tlic Ipdcjiciidents,
and a number of the leading Democrats were very much
interested in aiding to accomplish it, but they found,
after a careful canvass of their forces, that if the Dem-
ocrats abandoned Jenks and accepted Wanamaker
as their candidate, thus leaving the Democrats to choose
between two Republicans, the entire Quay contingent
would vote directly for Quay and thus secure his elec-
tion.

The demoralization of Bryanism told fearfully on
the integrity and vitality of the Democracy of the
State. The Democratic State convention of i8g6,
that met for the election of delegates to the National
convention, made a most emphatic deliverance in favor
of sound money by declaring that the gold standard
must be maintained in our monetary system. After
the nomination of Bryan and the adoption of the free

of Pennsylvania 609

silver platform, the same convention, consisting of
the same members, that was reconvened for State piir-
poses, nearly imanimously adopted a resolution against
sound money and in favor of the free coinage of silver.
This action of the party drove a number of the ablest
and most trusted leaders of the party from its fellow-
ship. It was this demoralization that widened and
deepened in the Democratic ranks that enabled Quay
to accomplish his re-election in the Legislature of 1901.

The old Congress had expired by limitation on the
4th of March, 1899. Quay had no opportunity to
present his commission and demand his seat in the
Senate until the session of the new Congress met.
The question of admitting Senators by appointment
of the Governors of the States on commissions which
had more or less evidence of irregularity, had been
considered several times in the Senate, and had been
apparently decided both for and against the right of
Quay to be admitted. In other words, it seemed that
the Senate had been influenced rather by its desire for
the admission or rejection of a partictilar Senator than
by any very sacred regard for the constitutional pro-
visions affecting the case.

Quay was known to be personally very popular in
the Senate, not only with most of the leaders of his
own party, but also with a number of the prominent
Democratic leaders. His most devoted personal friend
in the body was Senator Vest of Missouri, one of the
ablest of the Democratic leaders. They were almost
inseparable, and no one other man so often sat with
Quay at his dinner table. Under ordinary circum-
stances there is little doubt that Vest would have taken
the lead in favor of Quay's admission, and thus enabled
him to win out in hj3 fight, but, unfortunately, Senator
Vest had made a most exhaustive, and indeed an unan-
swerable, speech in a former contested case, where a

I 610

I seat was

Old Time Notes

seat was claimed by appointment, and it was not pos-
sible for him to do otherwise than vote against Quay's
admission.

I personally know that it was one of the sorest
regrets of his public career that he could not aid Qxiay,
His argument had been accepted by the Senate as a
clear interpretation of the Constitution, and it told
just as effectively against Quay as if it had been
delivered in his own case. While Senator Vest could
not support Quay, he rendered much service to Quay's
cause by helping other Democrats to get into line on
the Quay side.

When Quay first presented his commission every-
thing seemed to point to Iiis admission. It was under-
stood that Hanna was in his favor: Hanna had cer-
tainly sti expressed himself, and it was not doubted
that Quay would win by a liberal majority. I did not
beUe\'e that the Governor had any right under the
Constitution to make the appointment, and editorially
protested against Quay's commission. The National
Constitution authorized the Governor to appoint
Senators to fill vacancies occurring during the recess
of the Lci^islature, but this vacancy had occurred on
the 4th '-■t" March when the Legislature was in session,
and continued in session for fifty days thereafter.
The command of the Constitution, then, was for the Gov-
ernor to reconvene the Legislature, but that was sum-
marily abandoned as it was believed that Quay would
be admitted to the Senate, and that he would be able
to fight this battle for re-election in the next Legis-
lature on the \'antage ground of being in possession of
the office.

1 saw President McKinley two weeks before the final
vote was taken on Quay's admission, and was surprised
when he infonned me that Quay would certainly be
admitted to the Senate. He spoke most kindly of

Of Pennsylvania 6ii

Quay, and complained that the prominent Republi-
cans of the State had appealed to him to deny Quay a
voice in the disposal of Pennsylvania patronage. He
told me that he had answered such a complaint from a
committee a few days before by reminding them that
the President could only recognize the action of the
party organization of the State, and he reminded them
that only a year before Ohio had nominated McKinley
for President and Pennsylvania had nominated Quay
for the same office, and that a large majority of the
Republican members of the Legislature had earnestly
supported his re-election to the Senate. Knowing the
close relations between the President and Senator
Hanna, I did not doubt that Hanna would be in the
forefront in support of Quay, but to the utter surprise
of Quay and his friends Hanna was absent from the
Senate when the vote was taken, and Senator Depew,
who was friendly to Quay, declined to vote, announcing
that he had paired with Senator Hanna on the opposite
side of the question.

Why Hanna had changed his position I have never
known, and I believe that Quay never fully imderstood
the cause of the change. It was defection from Quay
by Hanna that made Quay the opponent of Hanna in
his National leadership, and its far-reaching results
may be appreciated when I state that it was that de-
sertion of Quay by Hanna that made Quay, in the
' National convention of 1900, imite with Senator Piatt,
of New York, who had a like grievance against Hanna,
to defeat the Administration programme in the nomi-
nation of a candidate for Vice-President. Quay had
no special love for Roosevelt, who was a civil service
reformer and generally on a politically antagonistic
line to Quay, but the Administration was in favor of the
nomination of either Senator Allison or Mr. Bliss, cf
New York, for Vice-President, as Hanna explained to

old Time Notes

L

me himself, just before the convention met, becaiise it
was necessary to have an able and conservative candi-
date on the ticket with McKinley.

I well remember Hanna's expression when he spoke
of the necessity of nominating a man for Vice-President
who commanded the confidence of the business inter-
ests of the country. Shrugging his shoulders, he said:
" You know Presidents die sometimes, and where the — - —
would we be if Roosevelt should become President of
the United States." I saw him in Washington a few
months after Roosevelt had become President, and
reminded him of the remark to me about Roosevelt at
the time of the Philadelphia convention. He then
told me that he would give me the sequel of that con-
versation In a letter that he wrote to McKinley on
the evening after the ticket had been completed and
Roosevelt made the candidate for the second place, he
said to McKinley: "We have done the best we could;
it is now up to you to live." It was the desertion of
Quay by Hanna in the contest for Quay's admission to
the Senate tliat made Roosevelt the nominee for Vice-
President against his own earnest protest, and thus
made him President of the United States. Quay lost
his battle for the Senatorial seat on the Governor's
commission by the narrowest margin, the vote being
33 to 31. and Hanna's influence and vote alone
defeated him.

It was a humiliating defeat for Quay, but he was ever
most heroic when tlu-eatened with the gravest perils.
He decided to cany his cause to the people of Pennsyl-
vania, and in the State convention of the party that
met on the 24th of August he was endorsed in the
strongest terms. The platform declared : "The Repub-
lican party owes a debt of gratitude to her senior United
States Senator, Matthew Stanley Quay, who for more
than a qtmrter of a century has stood in the forefront

Of Pennsylvania 613

of the battle for Republican supremacy," and de-
nounced the action of the Senate for denying Pennsyl-
vania full representation in the body. Colonel Bar-
nett, of Washington, was nominated for State treasurer,
and J. Hay Brown, of Lancaster, for judge of the
supreme court. The Democrats nominated Repre-
sentative Creasey for State treasurer, and President
Judge Mestrezat, of Fayette, for supreme judge. The
Democrats were deficient in organization and utterly
hopeless of success, and after a quiet and uneventful
campaign the Republican ticket was elected by over
100,000 majority. There were two vacancies on the
supreme court, and each voter could vote for but one
candidate as directed by the constitution, resulting
in the election of both Bro^\Ti and Mestrezat as the
supreme court judges.

The year 1900 was accepted aHke by Quay and his
opponents as presenting the direct issue of Quay's con-
tinued mastery or defeat. Quay's control of the party
organization was complete, and he called the State
convention to meet as early as the 5th of April to form
his line of battle. The RepubUcan platform com-
mended Governor Stone for having appointed Senator
Quay, and denounced the United States Senate for
having refused his admission and thus denied Penn-
sylvania full representation. It also specially com-
mended General Elkin for his '* masterly and logical
argument before the Elections committee of the United
States Senate'* defending the appointment of Quay.

The following is the precise text of the expression of
the convention on Quay himself: **We express our
confidence in Senator Quay's leadership, and we believe
in his political and personal integrity. A great wrong
has been done him which the people will right at the
proper time, and therefore we urge and insist that the
Hon. Matthew S. Quay shall be a candidate for re-

6i4 Old Time Notes

election to the United States Senate, in which he has e
long served the people with such distinguished abilit
and fidelity, and to this end we pledge him our hearl
and cordial support."

Senator Hardenbergh was nominated for auditorl
general and Grow was re- nominated for Congressman**
at- Large, with Mr. Foerderer, of Philadelphia, as his I
colleague. The Democrats nominated P. Gray Meek j
for auditor general and Mr. Grimm and Mr. Edwards!
for Congressmen-at- Large. There was practically no I
fight made by either side for the respective National j
tickets, as it was accepted by all that McKinley would I
carry the State by an increased majority, but a des- (
perate battle was made, with Wanamaker in the lead,
for the election of anti-Quay senators and representBr- i
tives. Quay for the first time in his political career J
made a public canvass of the State, and delivered a
series of speeches of singular pungency on the political (
conditions of the State, and often embellished them
with unusual classic elegance.

Mr. Wanamaker was on the stirnip, and with his
friends made exhaustive efforts to make fusion com-
binations with the Democrats for the Legislative candi-
dates, Wanamaker, like Quay, was nothing if not
heroic. He was as fearless as he was able in expression,
and well proved his right to rank not only as one of the
ablest of our political disputants, but as one of the most
skillful and popular orators. He defined his position
in an address at Pottstown as follows: "A Legislature
must be elected overwhelmingly hostile to the Machine
and all its works, and to its whole corrupt and sinister
spirit, in order that the present protection to fraud at
the polls shall be swept away by an act enforcing true
ballot reform."

Quay spoke at Phoenixville a few days after the
Wanamaker deliverance at Pottstown, in which he took

Of Pennsylvania 615

up the candidates and supporters of the ftision Lregis-
lative ticket in Chester County, and after stating that
the friends of good government had raised a large
amount of money to expend in the Legislative contests
he said: " One of the candidates upon the ftision ticket
is the custodian and dispenser of the fund here, and his
recent visits to Philadelphia have a history. In the
cause of good government they will bribe piously, they
will bribe prayerfully ; you can scarcely say them nay.
Take their money, lay it carefully out of reach until
after the election, then there are laudable charities at
hand to the use of which it can be properly donated, and
you can consider the propriety of mentioning the
donors."

Quay's last speech in that campaign was delivered in
Philadelphia, just on the eve of the election, in which
he paid his respects to the " Press," The 'Times,'* the
"Record," the "Ledger" and the "Telegraph," all of
which were opposed to his political mastery. He said :
" I have no desire to flutter the cote of these soiled
doves of Pennsylvania journalism. They wire in and
wire out at the heels of their charmer, everywhere
slobbering venom in their slot. " He had been severely
criticised by those journals, and he withheld his reply
to them until the battle was practically ended.

The Republican victory in the State was the greatest
that had ever been achieved. McKinley's pltirality
was 288,433, ^^d the entire Republican State ticket
was elected by some 20,000 less. Notwithstanding
the organized fusion movement in various sections of
the State, the Republicans had the largest majority in
the new Legislattire that had ever been chosen. The
senate had 37 Republicans to 13 Democrats, and the
house 161 Republicans to 49 Democrats and 4 Republi-
can fusionists, but when the Legislature met and Quay

6i6 Old Time Notes

lined up the supporters of his re-election to the Senate
he found himself without a majority.

The Republican Senatorial caucus was attended by
113 members, being four short of a majority in joint
assembly. Quay was nominated, receiving 119 votes
to two for John Dalzell and two for John Stewart.
Quay said that without the control of the organization
of the house it would be impossible for him to succeed in
the Senatorial contest. Representative Marshall was
nominated by the Quay forces in the Republican caucus
for speaker, but a fusion was formed between the Demo-
crats and Independents in support of General Koontz,
of Somerset, and but for Quay's control of demoralized
Democrats, Koontz would have been elected and Quay
defeated.

The Democratic leaders made an earnest effort to
hold their forces, but so many Democrats were rotten
at the core that it was impossible for them to prevent
desertions. Marshall. Quay's candidate for speaker,
was elected by one majority, and that was accom-
plished by one Democrat voting directly for Marshall
and several withholding their votes without pairs.
Quay thus had the control of the committees and the
power of the house, and it was wielded by Marshall with
the single purpose of aiding Quay's election.

On the 15th of January Quay was elected for the
unexpired term of four years in the Senate, receiving
26 votes in the Senate, with 12 for Gufley, Democrat;

10 for Dalzell and one each for Charles Emory Smith
and George E, Huff, Independents. In the house
Quay received 104 votes to 44 for Guffey. 24 for Dalzell,

1 1 for Smith, 6 for HufE, 3 for Stewart and one each for
McCormack, McConway, Harris, Tubbs, Olmstead and
Swallow, with five not voting. Quay's election was
accomplished by one Democratic- Populist senator and
one Democratic representative voting directly for him.

Of Pennsylvania 617

and with two Democratic representatives being absent
without pairs. It was a most desperate struggle, and
only one of Quay's masterly political ingenuity and
skiUful control of Democrats of easy virtue could have
won out in the fight.

Thus ended Quay's last great battle, when he was the
central figure of the contest, and as he had regained his
position in the Senate for a four year term, and publicly
announced his purpose not again to be a candidate for
any office, the factional feeling that had harassed him
for many years gradually perished.

On the 14th of May, several months after his election,
he was invited to address the State League of Republi-
can Clubs in the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and
his speech on that occasion will be cherished as a classic.
The opening sentence was: **At three score years and
ten the world grows lonely ; through wilderness almost
desolate the stream of life lies darkly toward the
eternal gulf,*' and that was followed by this utterance:
** My political race is run. It is not to be understood
that God's sword is drawn immediately against my
life, or that my seat in the Senate is to be peremptorily
vacated, but that with the subscription of my official
oath on the i8th of January my connection with the
serious labors and responsibilities of active politics
ceases, excepting in so far as I may be committed to
certain measures pending in the present Legislature.
I will never again be a candidate for or accept any
official position. I have many friends to remember;
I have no enemies to punish. In this regard I put aside
the past."

After referring to the general political conditions of
the country, he spoke of the necessity of expansion, and
traced the history of nations in the development of our
Christian civilization with a beauty of diction and a
measure of historic illustration that would embellish

6i« Old Time Notc8

the oration of an Everett. He closed by quoting the ]
elder Cato in the Senate of the Roman Republic. He j
said: " Think not that Rome is founded alone upon her j
seven hills and her ponderous and shining marbles. No, |
but upon the honest purpose, brave hearts and strong '
anns of her citizens. Think not that, by mere force
of arms alone, this Republic attained its present pitch
of greatness. No. but by things of a very different
nature. Industry and discipline at home, abstinence
and justice abroad, a disinterested spirit in counsels,
unhlinded by passion and unbiased by pleastire." To
which Quay added: "Thus spoke the elder Cato in the
Roman Senate, and his voice seems wafted down the I
centuries for our guidance." '

Beyond Quay "s sudden assertion of political authority
in defeating the jjTescnt Justice Elkin for the nomina-
tion for Governor in 190a. and making judge Penny-
packer the Republican candidate. Quay's political
career was uneventful from the time he re-entered the J
Senate until his <leath. His Senatorial term expired
on the 4t,h of Marcli, iyo5, and such were political con-
ditions at the time he fell in the race that he would cer-
tainly have been re-elected to the Senate without a
contest had he been living when the choice was made.
While he had made public announcement several years
before that imder no circumstances would he be a can-
didate for, or accept, political position, it was generally
understood that he would be elected to succeed him-
self, and then probably resign to give place to some
fiiend of his own selection. At no time in his long and
fretting political career was his party more entirely in
harmony with him than in 1904, but his health was
sadly broken, and he evidently realized that his life
work was finished.

After failing to r^ain strength in the South and at
the seashore, he retiu-ned to his home in Beaver, to die

Of Pennsylvania 619

among his loved ones and his loving neighbors. His
favorite resort was his library, where he could indulge
his love of literature and art, and pore over the classics
which had been largely the study of his life. A short
time before his death, knowing that the end was near,
he had himself borne from his sick room to pay a last
visit to the old-time friends in books and art which
filled his library, and looking out upon the bright spring
day that was garlanding the earth with beauty and
fragrance and the promise of future plenty, he said:
**It is very beautiful; it is very beautiful/* A few
hours thereafter the trained lightning announced to
every section of the country that Matthew Stanley Quay
was dead, and friend and foe bowed regretfully over
the grave of Pennsylvania's ablest and most chival-
rous political gladiator.

6ao Old Time Notes

CVII.
REPUBLICAN REVOLT IN 1901.

Political G>nditions in Philadelphia Started an Aggressive Revolt —
Rothermel Rejected by the Party Leaders Because Fufi^tives, Charged
With Political Crimes, Could Not Return While he Prosecuted —
Formation of the Union Party — Judge Yerkes, Democratic Candidate
for Supreme Judge, Endorsed by the Union Republicans, and Repre-
sentative Coray Nominated for State Treasurer — The Violent Con-
test in the City — Colossal Frauds Practised in Philadelphia — Rother-
mel Returned as Defeated — Potter and Harris Elected by a Large
Majority — The Revolt of igoi Made Quay Crucify Attorney General
Elkin and Nominate Pennypacker for Governor.

REPUBLICAN politics in Pennsylvania had been
decidedly cyclonic for several years before 1901,
and there was little promise of Republican
harmony when the politicians began their movements

in the l)ci^innini^ of that year. Quay had won out in
his re-election to the Senate by a very violent manipu-
lation of the Democrats in the Legislature of that year,
and there was a large measure of unrest in most sections
of the vState. Two State offices were to be filled —
su])reme iu(li::e and State treasurer — and the Republi-
cans nominated the present Justice Porter, who was
then scrvii\ij[ by appointment, for supreme judge, and
Harris for State treasurer. Both of these candidates
possessed high character and qualifications for their
respective positions, and while there might have been
some Republican dissatisfaction here and there through-
out the State, there would have been practically no
contest for the State offices if it had been a square
battle between the Democrats and the Republicans.
Peculiar political conditions in Philadelphia started

of Pennsylvania 621

the revolt of 1901, as like conditions in Philadelphia
started the revolution of 1905. P. F. Rothermel, a
man of high character and legal attainments, was tirged
to accept the nomination for district attorney. That
position had been filled by such eminent prosecutors
as Reed, Cassidy, Mann, Sheppard, Hagert and Gra-
ham, and it was deemed a political necessity not to
lower the standard of the public prosecutors. Mr.
Rothermel, after much hesitation, reluctantly accepted
the nomination and was elected by a large majority.
His first important case in the criminal courts was the
trial of Senator Quay, which he conducted with mas-
terly ability and dignity and he proved that in the
discharge of his official duties he was ever faithful to
his high trust.

Political complications, involving criminal methods,
arose which made Rothermel unacceptable as district
attorney. There were fugitives from justice, charged
with political crimes, who could not return for trial
while Rothermel was the public prosecutor, and a
change in that office was an imperative political neces-
sity. It was the decision of the leaders to overthrow
Rothermel that led to the revolt in Philadelphia in
1901-, that extended into different sections throughout
the State. The more violent of the anti-Qtiay element
were ready for rebellion against the State ticket, and
the overthrow of Rothermel in Philadelphia aroused the
people to aggressive revolutionary action. He was
nominated by an independent mass meeting that
adopted the name of the Union Party, and that led to
the Union State convention at which Attorney General
McCormick, of the Hastings administration, delivered
the chief speech urging the support of Harman Yerkes,
the Democratic candidate for supreme judge, and
Representative Coray, the Independent RepubUcan
candidate for State treasurer.

6ss

Old Time Notes

Potter had been appomted liy Governor Stone, his i
law partner, and was not widely known throughout the I
State, although occupying a high position at the Pitts-
burg Bar, and Yerkes was well known in the State,
having served two lemis in the senate, where he was
recognized as one of the ablest of the Democratic lead-
ers, and had been for nearly twenty years judge of the
Bucks County court. The Democratic oi^anization of
the city was under control of the Republican leaders
and refused to accept Rothemiel as its candidate.
Only seven thousand votes were cast for the straight
Democratic candidate, but most of the followers of the
Democratic organization voted directly for Weaver,
the Republican nominee. The contest was one of
unusual activity and bitterness, and as both of the
ix)litical organizations of the city. Republican and
Democratic, were practically supporting the same cause,
there was Uttle or no restraint upon fraud, and the most
colossal frauds ever practised in Philadelphia were -
QShibited in the returns. Rothennel and Yerkes were
returned as defeated in the city by thirty-five to forty
thousand majorities. The chief battle was made
against Rothermel, and the conclusive evidence of
fraud was shown by lai^er majorities returned against
him, in some instances, than there were legal voters in
the ward. That he was re-elected district attorney by
the honest vote is not disputed by the intelligent, fair-
minded men in the city. A contest would have in-
volved enormous labor and expenditure and was not
attempted.

Judge Potter developed extraordinary personal
strength in Pittsburg and the western counties of the
State, where he was known. He carried All^heny by
nearly twenty thousand majority and nearly all of the
western and northwestern Republican counties of the
State gave him their fiill off year majorities. The per-

Of Pennsylvania 623

sonal strength of Judge Yerkes was also greatly felt in
Philadelphia and in his own home counties of Bucks
and Montgomery, where he was given nearly five thou-
sand majority, The only other coxmties seriously
affected by the Republican revolt were Chester, where
the Republican majority was practically wiped out,
and the anthracite region, where Lackawanna gave fotu-
thousand for the Union ticket, Luzerne twelve thou-
sand, and Schuylkill three thousand. Representa-
tive Coray was the Union candidate for State treasurer,
and represented the anthracite interests in the Legis-
lature. The Democratic counties, outside of the
anthracite region, as a rule, gave no more than the
usual off year majorities, and the result was the election
of Potter and Harris by large majorities, but the battle
left the vital embers of revolution in Philadelphia
which, four years later, led to the hurricane of disaster
that overwhelmed the organization leaders in both
city and State.

It was this admonition that made Quay crucify
Attorney General Elkin, who was the generally ac-
cepted candidate for Governor and who had won
great distinction by his able defense, . before a com-
mittee of the United States Senate, of Quay's right to
a seat by appointment from Governor Stone. Quay
was not dissatisfied or distrustful of Elkin, but he
felt that it was necessary to place a man at the head
of the Republican ticket for Governor in 1902 whose
high character and creditable discharge of judicial
duties would disarm the disaffected elements of the
State. Quay's decision to change the nomination of
Governor was not reached until Elkin had practically
a majority of the delegates in his favor.

Along with several other gentlemen, I dined with
Quay in Philadelphia on the night that he had his ap-
pointment with Attorney General Elkin to advise El-

Old Time Notes

kin to withdraw from the Gubernatorial contest.
When the jjarty had reached cigars, after the dinner
was served, Quay left and stated the mission upon
which he was going. He returned later in the even-
ing greatly distressed, as he had failed to convince El-
kin of the propriety of withdrawing, but he was reso-
lute in his purpose to change the candidate for Gover-
nor, and by an exhibition of his most heroic political
methods he faced a convention that was positively
committed to the nomination of Elkjn, and accom-
pUshed the nomination of Pennypacker. As Penny-
packer was invulnerable, he thus weakened oppo-
sition to Quay's rule and ix>stponed aggressive ac-
tion, but it was delayed only for a few years, and when
its final culmination came in the overwhelming defeat
of the party in 1905, Quay slept the dreamless sleep of
the dead. _^

,_ML***'*f^ ^■^■^"^

Of Pennsylvania 625

€

CVIII.
AFTER QUAY THE DELUGE.

Quay Died Just in the Omnipotence of His Political Power — His Death
Developed Antagonistic Party Elements — ^The Struggle for United
States Senator — Offered to Ex-Senator Cameron, Who Suggested
Attorney General Knox — All finally Agreed to Support Knox, and
the Governor Withheld Proclamation for Extra Session — Knox
First Appointed and Then Elected by Unanimous Republican Vote —
Revolution Developed in Philadelphia — Estrangement of Mayor
and Party Leaders — Independent Ticket Elected in the City — Dem-
ocratic State Treasurer Elected by Over Eighty-Eight Thousand —
Comparative Vote of 1904 and 1905 — Justice Stewart Received a
Unanimous Vote.

44 A FTER me the deluge" might well have been
ZJk uttered by Senator Quay before his death,
could he have had any conception of the
political disruption and revolution which were to
follow, but when he looked out upon the setting
sun from the library to which he was borne for the
last time to gaze upon the literary and art treasures
he so greatly loved, there was not a cloud upon the
Republican horizon. Looking over his political
work, as it then appeared, he could have a^umed »^
that he and his organization had finally reached ^
omnipotence without peril from internal or external
political foes. His party was thoroughly tmited in
every section of the country on its National candi-
date and policy, and the formidable enemies he
had encountered in his many conflicts of the past
were then unseen and vnf elt in the political movements
of the State. Had he . lived until the meeting of the
Legislature of 1905, he would have been re-electecj
United States Senator, regardless of his fixed resoj|r6 ^

Time Notes

to retire from public life becaiise of his hopelessly
broken health. He would have accepted the unani-
mous and generally ver>' hearty support of his party
for another Senatorial election, but would certainly
have resigned soon after qualifying in the special session
of the Senate in March, 1905, while the L^slature
was yet in session, and dictated the election of his
successor.

The death of Quay in the early sunmier of 1904
broi^ht to the surface various antagonistic elements
of the party, which were not visible on the surface
while Quay c-cmtinued as the omniptitent Republican
leader of the State. Half a score of candidates speedily
develojjed to contest the vacant seat in the Senate,
and many earnest but disagreeing conferences were
held in Pittsburg. Harrisburg and Philadelphia to
bring about harmonious action on the Senatorship.
The plain mandate of the Constitution reciuired the
Governor to summon an exlrri st-ssi'm of the Legis-
lature to choose a Senator, and had the conditions been
ordinary, Governor Pennypacker would doubtless have
performed that duty. The Senatorship was sought
by many, and the various conferences held, looking to
harmony, gave no promise of unity of action, and for
a time seriously threatened disruption. It is an open
secret that after many unsuccessful efforts had been
made to reach an agreement on the Senatorship, the
leaders, who were then most potent in the selection
of a Senator, summoned Ex-Senator J . Donald Cameron
and asked him to accept the position, but he peremp-
torily declined it. Attorney General Philander C.
Knox, then a resident of Pittsbui^, had not been
a^ressive in politics and was devoted to his profession,
i^ which he had attained distinction. Cameron sug-

I

Of Pennsylvania 627

gested Attorney General Knox for the Senatorship,
and as Knox was free from all factional entanglements,
he was finally accepted by all, and the organization,
which was then supreme in the mastery of the party,
was thorotighly imited in the assurance to Knox that
he would be elected by the next Legislature without a
contest. Knox greatly preferred to continue in the
line of his profession, as he had no taste for, or experi-
ence in, political management, but he finally decided
to accept the new position when his election by the
next Legislature was fully assured.

The Governor was then placed in a very embar-
rassing position, as the strict letter of the fimdamental
law required that he should summon the Legislature
to chose a Senator, but that involved the expenditure
of himdreds of thousands of dollars to accomplish what
could be readily attained without the intervention of
the Legislature, and the Governor assumed the re-
sponsibility, that would doubtless have been questioned
under ordinary conditions, of appointing Knox as
United States Senator to fill the vacancy made by the
death of Quay. Governor Stone had appointed Quay .
to a vacancy in 1899, when the Legislature had ad-
journed without choosing a Senator after a protracted
and bitter contest between Quay and his political
enemies, and the Senate refused his admission by a
single vote. The appointment of Knox, however, was
in such entire accord with the wishes of the party
and its organization that he was admitted to the Sen-
ate, on the Governor's commission, without question,
and his election for the few weeks of Quay's unexpired
term, and also for the full succeeding term, was given
by a unanimous Republican vote.

At the election of 1904, Pennsylvania voted Republi-
can by nearly a two-thirds vote. The Democrats ap-
parently ceased to be a factor in Pennsylvania politics.

6i& Old Time Notes

This was accepted by the Republican leaders as an
indefinite lease of absf>!ute political domination, un-
mindful of the fact that not only in the city of Phila-
delphia, but throughout the State, there was profound i
unrest within the Republican household that mightj
be easily [arovoked to revolutionary action. The firsts
distinct murmurs of discontent were heard in Phila- f
delphia when the leaders, many of whomwereinterestedi]
in municipal contracts involving many millions, fu-st I
decided to increase largely the property assessments j
for the twofold purpose of enlarging the revenue with- '
out increasing the tax rate, and to empower the city J
to increase its loans. This movement caused consid-
erable public irritation, and when it was followed by a I
proposition to extend the lease of the gas works fori
half a century to bring twenty-five millions off
money into the treasury, and thus warrant thel
completion of the immense contracts for filtra-J
tion, boulevards, etc,, a popular uprising, unexam-'
pled in the history of the city, confronted the party
leaders.

The public revolt was not so much against the lease
of the gas works, for the terms of the lease might
reasonably be considered quite as favorable to the city
as to the United Gas Improvement Company that pro-
posed to become the lessee, but the fact that the lease
was to be made solely to obtain twenty-five millions of
money to be expended in contracts which were gener-
ally regarded as profligate, and alleged by many to
lack the important element of honesty, intensified the
already inflamed public mind to the most determined
and desperate revolutionary efforts. Mayor Weaver,
who was assumed to be in accord with the organization
that elected him chief magistrate, became gradually
estranged from the party leaders, and they decided

of Pennsylvania 629

upon heroic retributive measures, involving the passage
of what is known as the ** Ripper'* bills, greatly limiting
the power of the mayor, and his threatened impeach-
ment and removal from office.

So general and inflammatory was the revolutionary
feeling that it threatened even mob violence to the
councils when they were to act upon important
measures on which the leaders and the mayor were at
issue. The councils finally bowed to the omnipotent
sentiment that environed them and gave implicit
obedience to the demands of the mayor, imanimously
approving the displacement of the friends of the
leaders in the mayor's cabinet and the selection of
persons who were aggressive in their hostility. The
councils even went so far as to repeal the assent of the
city to a number of rural railroad franchises, although
the franchises had been granted by the State, simply
assented to by the city, and issued in full conformity
with the law.

A full city ticket for the important officers of sheriff,
coroner and city commissioners had been nominated
by the leaders early in the year, and when those nomi-
nations were made, the election of the men named was
regarded as absolutely assured without a contest, but
when the revolutionary tempest struck them, the
leaders were compelled to withdraw the entire ticket
and try to temper the violence of the opposition by
presenting new candidates with the cleanest records.
The atonement was made too late, however, and an
independent ticket swept the city by nearly forty -
five thousand majority.

There was but one State officer to elect, that of State
treasurer. J. Lee Plummer, of Blair County, chairman
of appropriations and Republican leader of the House,

630 Old Time Notes \

was nominated for State treasurer without serimis
opposition, and at the time the nomination was made
there was not a ripple on the surface of Republican
unity. The Democrats nominated William H. Berr)',
mayor of Chester, who had been chosen by the people
of that strong Republican city because of his well
known integrity, business qualities and courage in
discharging public duties. The death of Justice Dean
made a vacancy in the supreme court to be tilled by
the Governor until next Januar>', and added another
State officer to be chosen by the people.

The Independent revolution had just fairly started
when this vacancy occurred. The Republicans wisely
decided to temper the hostility of the Independents
in both city and State by nominating Judge John
Stewart, of Franklin, to fill the vacancy in the supreme
court. Stewart was as conspicuous in political inde-
pendence and integrity in the Republican party as
Berry was in a much narrnwer circle in the Democratic
party, and the Democrats seized the opportunity to
invite the independent Republicans to support a
thoroughly independent Democratic candidate for
State treasurer by giving Judge Stewart a unanimous
nomination for supreme judge. Independent local
nominations were made by the City party, the Lincoln
party, the Citizens party, and the Independence party,
but all, with the exception of the Citizens party, which
was confined almost wholly to Pittsburg, united in the
support of Berry, the Democratic candidate for State
treasurer, and the result was the election of Berry by
over eighty-eight thousand. The following table
shows the revolution in Pennsylvania by a comparison
of the vote for President in 1904 and tiie vote for State
treasiu^- in 1905:

of Pennsylvania 631

PRX8IDBNT — 1904. Statb Trxasurbr — 1905.

Roosevelt, R. 840,949 Berry, D 546.892

Parker, D 335.430 Pltxxnmer, R 458.698

Swallow, Pro 33. 7^7 Ringler, Soc 10,390

Debs, Soc 21,863 Drugmand, S. Labor . . 1,622

Scattering 68

Total vote 1,231,959

Republican plurality 505,519 Total vote 1,017,670

Republican majority 449.939 Democratic plurality 88,194

Democratic majority 76,114

It will be seen that the total vote for State treasurer
was over one million, being entirely unexampled in any
off year conflict, and the manner in which parties were
divided up is best exhibited by the following:

JUDGB StBWART'S VoTB FOR 1905.

Republican 515,249 Independence 17,808

Democrat 236,540 Citizens 34*160

Prohibition 38,839 Lincoln 1 16,758

Judge Stewart thus received 959,054 votes, being
the only supreme judge ever chosen by a practically
unanimoxis vote. It is impossible to determine the
exact Democratic vote and the exact Republican vote
polled, in the general confusion of parties, but taking
the average Republican vote of 610,394, given for
Governor Beaver's re-election to the superior court,
and the vote of 305,218, given to John B. Head, Demo-
cratic candidate for the superior court, doubtless
gives the nearest possible approximation to the
strength of the two parties, showing an apparent Re-
publican majority of about three hundred thousand.
One of the notable incidents of the campaign is the fact
that Judge Stewart and ex-Governor Beaver were both
on the Republican State ticket, Stewart for supreme
judge and Beaver for the superior court. In 1882,
Beaver was the Republican candidate for Governor

. 1 I defeated by Stewart's Independent Republi-

I :itndidacy for the same ofRce.

ouch are the strangely conflicting political records
of 1904 and 1905. and it is evident that there must be
a reforming of the political lines to enable the Republi-
can party to unite in the support of candidates for
Governor, Congressmen, Legislators, etc., at the fall
election of 1906. What will the harvest be?

3 bins 005 Sb? t?7

STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

CECIL H. GREEN LIBRARY

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305-6004

(415) 723-1493

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