M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1857-09-10
Patch ON MIR. Marcy,s Breeches.

HOrper's weekly relates the follow
ing anecdotes of Mr.. Marcy:
While he was Governor of this
State, he was visiting Newburg on
some public occasion, and with a par
ty Of gentlemen, wings and democrats,
was at the Orange hotel; good humor
was prevailing, and one good story
suggested another. The Governor
always enjoyed story, aud could tell
one with excellent effect. A Wing
lawyer was present and the Governor,
recognizing him, said;
r "Ah, yes, I'll tell you a good story
Of Spooner. The other day he came
up to Albany on his way to the whig
convention at Utica, and so he took it
in his way to call on me to get a par.
don for a convict at Sing Sing. /
heard the case, examined the docu-
ments, and being satisfied that al! was
right, agreed to grant the request, and
| wrote, "Let pardon be granted, W.
L. Marcy" when Spooner cried ont,
|" Hold, hold, Governor, that's the
wrong paper" And sure enough it
was a Wig speech he acaS going To-
make at UtioG ! abusing me in the
worst possible way. But | had gran.
ted pardon in advance, and suppose
he had committed the offence after
wards"
The story was received with ap-
plausc, and Spooncr being looked to
for a response, instantly went on with
the following, which, for an extcmpore
story, certainly is capital: !
"Yes, gentlemen, yes, Ibid. And
when the convention was over we
went to Niagara Falls, and as we were
dragging along by stage over misera-
bic corduroy roads, banging our heads
against the top Of the coach and then
coming down as if VIC were to 60
through the bottom, the stage came
to dead halt; the driver dismounted,
opened the door and asked us all to
descend. When we were all out stand
ing on the ends of the logs of which
the road was made, the driver took
off his hat and said: Gentlemen,
we always stop here out of respect to
the Governor; this is the identical
spot where Marcy tore his panta-
looms"
The story was heard with great jol'
. .ifcation, in which no one joined more
heartily than the Governor himself
That pantaloon incident deserves
to be recorded in every history Of this
great man. lie was sent out to hold
special sessions of court to try the an
ti-masonic parties charged with mur.
der. lie was to receive a salary and
his expenses. With that nice regard
for details that belonged to his ster-
ling character, he kept a minute &C.
count of all his expenditures, and
handed in the list on his return, with
ont thinking it necessary or proper to
revise or strike out those items OF a
private nature, which other men, less
scrupulous in great matters, might
have carefully suppressed. There
stood the tailor's charge for mending.
The polticai'foes Of the Judge, when
he came to be a candidate for Cover
nor, found It and paraded it before
the world in the newspapers; and ma
king an cfIigy of Mr.. Marcy, suspen-
ded it in the streets of Albany, with
a great patch on his pantaloons, and
the tailor's charge on the top of that.
But an observant people saw thro'
the patch and the charge intot the heart
of an honest man, and in that very
deed of his the people recognized a
frankncss and Transparency Of char.
acter that commended him to their
warm appreciation. 1t is not probable
that the pantaloon charge lost for him
a single vote; while it is doubtless
true that it made him multitndes Of
friends. lie was never ashamed OF
| it and never had reason to be.