Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-07-29
THE PATCH ON MARCY,s BREECHES

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Harpers' Weekly relates the following anec-
| dotes of Mr.. Marcy:
nile he was Governor of this State he was
'lSlung Newburg on some public occasion, and
with party OF gentlemen, Wings and Demo
Gratis was at the Orange Hotel. Good humor
was prevailing, and one story suggested an
0ther The GOvernOr always enjoyed a story.
and could tell one with excellent effect 4
Wing lawyer was present, and the Governor
recognizing him, said
Ah. yes; I'll tell You a good story Of SpoO-
| ner. The other day he came up to Albany. on
his way to the Whig Convention ut Utica, and
SO he took 1t in his way to call on me to get
pardon for convict at Sing Sing. L heard the
case, examined tho documents, and being salts
fed that all was right, agreed to grant the re-
quest SpoOner handed me the paper to endorse
and wrote, Let pardon be granted-W L.
Marcy; when SpOoner cried out. Hold, hold
Governor that's the wrong paper And sure
enough, 1t was a Wig SPEECH that he nas
gong TO make Al IHca, abusing me the worst
possible way; But L had granted pardon in
advance, and l suppose he committed the of
fence afterward"
The story was received with great applause,
and SpOOner, being looked to for response,
immediately went on with the following which.
Tor an extempOre story, certainly is capital:
q" Yes, gentlemen-yes, did. And when the
Convention was over we went to Niagara Falls,
erable corduroy roads, banging our heads
against the top of the coach, and then coming
down as II We were to 90 through the bottom
the stage came to a dead halt; the driver dis
mounted, opened the door, and requested us all
to descend. We did so, suppOSing thet some
accident had occurred. When We were all out,
standing 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 for the GOvernOr-this is the identical
spot Ujtere Marcy tore ms paafai0Ous,; -
The story was heard with great jOllitication,
which no one joined more heartily than the
Governor himself
That pantaloon incident deserves to be re-
corded III every history OF this great man He
was sent out to hold special sessions of court to
try the Anti-MasOnic parties charged with
murder. lie was to receive a salary and his
expenses. With that nice regard for details
that belonged to his sterling character he kept
minute account of all his expenditures and
handed In the list on his return. without think
ing IT necessary or proper to revise and strike
out those items OF private nature which other
men, less Scrupulous in great matters might
have carefully suppressed. There stood the
tailor charge for mending. The political foes
OF the judge, when he came to bc candidate for
Governor, found it, and paraded it before the
world I'M the newspapers; and making an eff
gy Of Mr.. Marcy. suspended it in the streets Of
Albany, with great patch On the pantalOOns,
and the tailors charge on the top of that
But an Observant people saw through the
patch and the charge into the heart Of an hon
est man, and in that very deed of his they rec
ognIsci a frankness and Transparency Of char
acter that commended him to their warm ap-
probation. 1t IL not probable that the panta-
loon charge lost for him single vote. while it
is doubtless true that it made him mutitudes
OF friends. He was never ashamed OF it, and
never had reason to be.