Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-12-19
A TALK WITH SANTA ANNA.
The Old Man Relates Some OF the In
cidents OF His Early Life.

NAaEAtS VI HIS 4lML ~ 4EA4Ea
3 A letter from the City Of Mexico
|, October 10th, to the San Francisco
/. Chronicle. contains the following:
Since writing to you last I have sue.
, eeeded, through the influence Of Gen
Martinez, in obtaining an interview
| With the old Mexican hero, Santa
. Anna. L came to Mexico with the
impression that he was dead. and have
been wondering since how many CaE-
fornians know that he is still alive and
likely to be for ten years to come. The
old man lives very quietly now, and re-
eeives little company. The fact ihst
he is almost universally despised by his
countrymen, causes him to shun them
and for the same reason il IS much
easier for foreigner to obtain access
to his private parlors than for Mexi-
can. He is living at present in an old
fashioned Spanish house on Vergara
street, aud. although he is said to be
poor, he has about him not only the
comforts but many Of the luxuries of
life. Five o'clock in the afternoon
/ was the hour appointed for our call.
and at that time Col. Moso, an intimate
friend OF the General, received US in
the court and conducted US up fight
OF stone stairs into a long, comfortably
furnished room fronting on the street.
A piano stood in one corner, and
several pieces of s.atuary and a few
pictures, here and there about the
room, displayed quiet taste. At one
end of the room hung a magnificent
and life-slzed painting of . woman in
full Spanish costume. 1t was taken
forty years ago, when the subject was
Santa Anna's bride. She must have
been very beautiful then, if the picture
is true, for there is wonderful charm
In the dark, sad eyes. We had been
seated but a moment when side door
opened and Santa Anna himself step
ped into the room.
Instead OF the gray old man that we
had expected to see, an upright, SOL
dierly figure stood before US, and we
noticed that in spite of his wooden
leg he walked with ease, and without
the assistance of cane or erutch.--
Santa Anna's eye is still black as a
coal, and his hair, although thin, has
not yet turned gray. There is kind
ly expression in his face strangely az
variance with the dark tales that blot
his history; and as he received each
one of US with some pleasant remark
and cordial clasp Of his soft, woman's
hand, We could hardly realize that the
man before US was the author Of so
many bloody scenes.
BE seated, gentlemen" be said,
after we had stood for a few moments;
Il have your chairs drawn closely to-
gether here so that | can hear you
He turned and walked to a sofa be-
meath the picture of his wife, and sat
down. Ii was in seating himself that
The infrmities of age showed them-
selves more eonspicuously. The false
limb troubled him thea, and he was
obliged to extend 1t out very carefully
before him. He threw his right leg
across it as if TO conceal IT, and sar
straight upright. During the whole
hour that We were with him be did not
ean back or change his position.
Santa Anna mind is still clear, but
he drift of his conversation shows
hat he lives almost altogether in the
past. He loves to talk of his own ex-
Dlous, aud the accuracy with which he
yiyes dates and particulars of events
which have been in history for over
half a century is remarkable. He
lsked many questions about the United
States, and among others the name OF
,ur Preside :, which he bad forgotten.
He alluded to the time when he was
he guest of Gen. Jackson in the White
House, and laughed as he recalled
'Ume Ittt,c embarrassing clreumstances
nto which his inability to speak Eng
ish placed him.
Some one inquired after his health.
Mexico never did agree with me-" he
'eplied. Il am troubled with catarrh,
md the atmosphere here is too rari6ed.
am always better on the coast, where
was born.
DO you not weary, sometimes, Of
his sec!usion," We inquired, after
he active life we have led 2"
You see | am growing old now,
le answered, with a smile that had
of sadness in it; since 1921,
when declared the independence Of
he Republic, l have seen a great
leal. /"
The allusion to the past seemed to
eviye all its memories. and, without
,eiDg asked, he commenced \ sketch
# his early life, and Of the many po-
itical events in which he bore so
,rominent part. In alluding TO the
of the Republic he
aid;
Il did not know what a Republic
vas, Iturbide had just concluded =
reaty with the Spaniards, and his
riends in Mexico had made him En-
,eror. l was a young man of twenty
our then. | had a volcanic head-l
ared for nothing, feared nothing
With three hundred men under my
Command | had acquired considerable
eputation along the Gulf in our war
With Spain, and now my followers
anne around me and asked me to de-
,lare Republic in place Of the mon
!rchy which Iturbide had established.
But what is RepublieY / asked
Viva la Republicar they shouted
Well, you fools, l thought, if you
will have Republic we will go of in
earch of one. And 50 | led them
Igainst Iturbide." Poor Iturbide,"
le SAID after while, Il had to over
,ome motives of personal friendship
n making war on his Government;
md how | cried when / heard Of bis
unhappy death at TampieO."
For three quarters Of an hour the
I'D man ran on, from event to event,
without an interruption, and by that
lime it had become so dark in the
-oom that We could scarcely see his
ACE. Santa Anna is very forcible in
MS talk, and, although he is now over
'eventy-eight years old, his black
iashing eyes show that the fires Of
earlier years are not yet spent. In
speaking he is very much annoyed by
!. bad fitting set Of teeth, and the deaf
ness which is coming on him in later
Iears would make conversation a la
Dorious task, but for his willingness
10 carry the principal share Of it. He
look leave of US with many kind
wishes, and the customary Mexican
courtesy 70 always consider his house
our home.