The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1873-01-09
Personal Recollections of Horace Greeley

The following personal recolections are
copied from the Washington Republic
and were written by Mr. j. p Foley, one
OF the editors of the Republic, who was
also engaged on the Tribune. both in its
New York and Washington Offices, at var
ious times, and who is an accomplished
gentleman His article will be read with
interest, as all personal history of so dis.
tinguished a man as Greeley will be:
During 1865 we saw very little of Mr..
Greeley at the Tribune off ce until toward
seven o'clock in the evening, about which
time he used to come down from the of
flee of the American Institute, in the
Cooper Union, where he spent five or six
hours every day writing the American
Conflict" Mr.. Gay was managing editor
Of the paper at the time. His room aud
and that of MIR Greeley adjoined and to get
to "Horaces's den, as we called his sane
tum, it was necessary to pass through the
apartment occupied by Mr.. Gay. Toward
the hour that Mr.. Greeley was ex
pected, two or three broken down
tramps, gang of local politicians, oc
casionally woman with a child or a sub
scrbtion paper, might be seen waiting
Tor him on the iron stairway that led to
the editorial rooms, aud he generally en-
tered the Office with motley procession
of this character at his heels. Gay, who
was an aristocrat by nature, hated this
class Of people, particularly the politi
clans aud as soon as Greeley appeared,
he invariably bundled up his papers and
went to a desk at the extreme end of the
Office, where he remained until Greeley,
left, about ten o'clock. | have some
times seen as many as ten persons wait
ing iu line to get into Greeley's room-
The great majority of them wanted assist
ance of some kind, mostly pecuniary
occupied desk very near the door of
MIR. Gays room, and necessarily heard a
good many OF the dialogues between Mr..
Greeley and his visitors. Here is fair
sample of great many:
Uncle Horace, | am poor printer,
and have not had anythg to eat to day -
Horace, writing away, Have you bad
anything to drink p mo, Uncle -
You know you lie. What's the use Of
lying about it? | smell grog, and there 6
no grog here except what you brought
in" This of course, led to further pro-
testations on the part of the printer, when,
to end the matter, Horace would say
well, 90 away, here's dollar. | know
you will 90 down to the Pewter Mug "a
famous pot house near the Tribune Office
and get drunk. Then you will probably
get killed, but can't help that. Why
| Ho
mani" All this spoken in Mr. Greeley
treble voice, aud with his peculiar em
phasis, was irresistaby comic, but it was
of almost nightly occurrence in the Trib
une Office at the period of which | speak,
and for many long years before.
[ remember a very interesting looking
woman came into the office, and asked
for Mr. Greeley She was shown to his
room, and in few minutes Mr.. Greeley
came out into the larger editorial room
| There were only two or three in the of
| fee at the time. Horace stood at the
door, and, without addressing himself tc
any one particularly, said: "Will some
body loan ME five dollars 2" | think il
was Amos J. Cummings, the present
managing editor Of the San, who gave i,
to the old man OF course the woman
| walked down stairs breathing blessings
on Mr. Greeley. Next night when he
came into the Office he said, in the same
treble voice, Somebody gave me five dol
lars last night Here they are"
Finally, the run upon Mr.. Greeley be
came so great that Sam Sinclair, the pub
Usher, hired big fellow, six feet high
stationed him near the door to keep Mr..
Greeley's peculiar visitors away, unless
| they had some other business with him
than mere begging | have forgotten
his name now, but it was Ben" some
thing or other That man saved Gree
lev at least thousand dollars during the
eight or nine months that he was there
He had been in California, and was anyth
ing but ceremouious in his demeanor. 10
addition to the duty of attending to the
door, he had to 90 to the post Office at a
certain hour every night to get the mail
The "bumbs," as Ben used to politely
term them, soon found this out, and used
to watch for his departure to the post of
fee, when they would steal up stairs in
his absence and get in to Greeley. Ben
heard of the trick that was being played
on him, and one night returned and found
fellow telling his story to Mr. Greeley
He broke in on their conversation with
the exclamation, ID u you, didn't
tell you not to come here y at the same
time catching him up bodily he carried
him to the head of the stairs and let him
drop down two or three flights. One
night. between seven and eight o clock,
Ben got into rather loud alteration at
the door. Il have an engagement with
Mr. Greeley" You cant play that
game with me get away from here Mr.
Greeley does not want to see any bumbs
to night" Some one went out and found
Senator Wilson in this awkward position
1t was in summer, and Mr. Wilson had