Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1857-05-08
From the cinelnnau Commercial.
POISONING THE PRESIDENT

The telegraph tells us that Mr.. J.
g. Montgomery, Democratic member
Of Congress elect from Pennsylvania.
Is dead, being another victim 10 the
strange epidemic which prevailed at
our Washington National Hotel
Over this peculiar pestilence which
has proven so deadly, rests mystery
that makes the curiosity doubly keen.
The attempt by a committee Of the
Physicians Of Washington, TO charge
the phenomena Of poison at the fatal
hotel, TO miasma arising from i'll con-
Quoted sewerage, is generally discred-
tied, and considered paItry attempt
to mislcad the public. The rat soup
story is exploded. The reported 20
big rats killed with arsenic and soak
cd in the water vat, only had exist
ence in the prolific mind Of some
Washington letter writer, and in the
minds of those who believe him. But
there was no mistake that the symp-
toms Of those afflicted were that they
had been dosed with arsenic With
in few weeks nearly dozen persons
are known 10 have persisted, in the
South, in New England, in the West.
In the Middle States, of the National
Hotel illness which again and again
gave way, IL seemed, before medical
skill and judicious personal care. only
TO return with increased maIignity,
slowly but shurcIy dragging down its
victim TO the grave. There are re-
ports that more than dozen NOM
bers Of Congress are still prostrated
by this singular plague Among
them are o. B. Matteson and John p.
Hale. Mr.. Buchanan, il II we'll known
has suffered terribly from the prevail.
ing epidemic, and Is by no means at
this time in good heaith. A gentle.
man Of our acquaintance, passing
through Washington few days since
happened 10 hear confirmation OF this
fact from Mr.. Buchanan himself, he
was in the vicinity of the Treasury
Department building, about nine o.
clock in the evening we take
the liberty of quoting from n private
letter:
81 saw, passing gas light couple
OF gentlemen-on OF whom, although
! had not seen him for over sixteen
years--I almost knew to be tho Pres
ident. stepped alongside. and
glance informed me that / was not
mistaken. The old man totters.-
His legs are weak. A half stumble
drew some remark from his compan-
ion which / did not hear. His reply
was: ''I AN NOT RIoHr. Ny HEALTH
IS NOT RECOVERED, adding in a sort
of begging tone, "Bur AN GETTING
BETTER" His voice Is weak, and his
legs are weaker. He is going do
pend upon il. A few more weeks
and he will be no moro. A vain
young orator from kentucky will be
the acting, and his friend Stephen A.
Douglas the actual President Of these
United Statesl"
That the National Hotel illness re-
suited from an attempt to poison Mr..
Buchanan, there is but little room TO
doubt. The death of so many per-
sons Of distinction, the sufferings of
hundreds Of others, the narrow es-
cape of Mr.. Buchanan from immedi-
ate death, his perilous condition, and
the probability that he will yet sue
comb to the insidious destroying dis
ease, or poison, gnawing at his vitals,
will make strange aud tragic chap
ter in the annals of our country,
which the historian viii pen aud gen
erations read, shuddering, Us we do
now, at the story of the Borgia poi
soners. It is an awful question Who
could be the poisoner, and ,chy ,ras the
death of the President desired There
is in Washington, swarming all tho
hotels, and in every street and alley,
an ignorant, credulous, passionate, OPP
pressed people, who nave absorbed
from the strangers who throng the
city, an idea pregnant with despera-
tion and dispair, of the wrongs thcy
endure, and Of the almost irremedial
nature Of their wrongs. OF course
we mean the black people. During
the last summer, they heard in every
bar-room and dining hall, on every
sidewalk, and in every gambling den,
from tho office holders and the South
erners, apd those with Southern sen
timents, who predominant largely in
the vicinity of the Capitol, that there
was q chance for them to become sud
denly free. They were taught by the
pro-sIavery political brawlers, that III
Fremont was elected the niggers were
10 be free, and not only that, but
rulers of the country; while, II Mr..
Buchanan should be President, tho
question would be settled against
them forever. The poor negroes, in
tercsted by the slang, and but dimly
conscious Of the character and neces-
sary incidents of the struggle actually
going on, and by nature inclined TO
personify principles, became inn
pressed that Fremont was their friend,
and Buchanan their eney; and Il is
not improbable that they knew no
moro Of tho nature of the election
than so suppose that IL Buchanan
was out of the way, Fremont must
be President, and themselves free.
What more 10 be expected, in this
view of the case, than for some one of
the deluded wrctchcs 10 conclude
that with paper Of arsenic he might
free every slavein the United States Of
America? Is there not n dreadful
probability, that there is more in this
theory than in the rat soup story or
the miasmatic report2
CRITICS AND COMMENTATORS
young minister in highly elaborate