Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-04-06
CHARLES SUMNER.
A CURIOUS INCIDENT IN HIS LIFE.

CURIOUS INCIDENT IN HIS LIFE.
Washington, in the Winter of 1923
was not a pleasant city to live in. Lee
and his army had, till within few
months, been stationed on the opposite
side of the Potomac, in full view of the
capital, and he had left behind him
many well-wishers within it. Party
strife in politics ran high, and angry
feelings were uppermost. Perhaps, even
then Booth was planning the assasina-
tion of the President and that at least
one, though happily thwarted in his in
tentions, had design on the life of the
late Charles Sumner, will be seen by
the following incident; One afternoon
in that same Winter, little girl was
playing on the floor of the parlor of a
large Washington boarding-h house. Two
gentlemen sitting near the child, were
engaged in earnest conversation, un-
needing and UNDECIDED by her. One of
them was foreigner of violent feelings,
the other Washingtonian, but hostile to
the North and Northerners, in other
words, a Southern sympathizer.
The child played contentedly on by
herself, till, noticing the voices near her
were lowered almost TO a whisper, and
hearing the word pistol she stopped
her play, and, on the principle that lit
tie pitchers have large ears, listened
with eager attention to what followed.
The foreigner was speaking to his friend
of Charles Sumner, and said he had long
thought that the greatest service an
American could do for his country would
be ridding that country of Mr.. Sumner.
He had had this thought for some time,
he went on to say, and, acting on 1t had, a
few evenings before, waited in an angle
formed by some buildings near the Treas
ury Department, which place Mr.. Sum-
ner would inevitably pass on his way
home on that particular evening. A
pistol in his hand, his finger on the trig-
ger, he had watched Mr.. Sumner walk
alone and slowly up the street toward
where he was standing, and never once
did any doubt of the full justification Of
the deed cross his mind till Mr.. Sumner
had almost reached them. Then, fol
i the first time, came the thought Bu
this will be murder, and there is com
mandment Thou shall not kill.
He hesitated. and in the moment O
hesitation Mr.. Summer had passed b,
beyond his reach. "But," he added
Il have regretted that hesitation eve
since, and the next time I shall do It,"
The little girl, too much frightened
after this to play any longer, left th'
room, and running up stairs to her faith
er, told, with dilated eyes and in breath
less haste, all she had heard. It hap
pened that she had interrupted. will
her story, a conversation between he
father and gentleman friend of his
who was also a friend of Mr.. Sumner s
This gentleman, after hearing the littl
girls account, said he should at one
send word to Mr. Sumner of his possibl
danger He did so, but nothing wa
heard Of it just then. Some little tim
afterward, however, Mr.. Sumner ac
ID knowledged the friendly warning ; sal,
he had known the man in question to b
bitter enemy Of his; that he shoul'
be careful now always to have som
friend with him when going to any ex
posed place. 'And. he concluded
''thank that little girl for me-"
One cannot help seeing and blessin
the direct interposition of Divine Prov
dence in the hesitation of the would-b
assassin's hand, and in the chance b
which, perhaps. the little girl was use
) to save the great mans life.
THAT LITTLE GIRL.
-Chicapo Inter Ocean.