Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1875-03-27

THE PREsIDENT ANDTHE WORK.
INGMEN OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA.
A correspondent of the New York
Herald, under date Of March 18th.
gives the following graphic account of
the reception, or rather the non-recep-
ton of q delegation of workingmen,
who called at the Executive Mansion
to ask redress from the President for
wrongs inflicted upon them by his
subordinates, the district contractors:
The "Bonnet Rouge" has beer. at
work. The White House was inyad-
cd tonight as w before since Pres
ident Grants occupancy. The usual
quiet which reigns about it, except
upon reception nights, was broken by
the ominous tread of nearly 1000 men,
in ranks, who, with a band at their
head, streamed into the western gate
to the portico and carriage way,
which, when reached, the column halt
ed and closed up en- mosse to the mu-
sic of +" Hail to the Chief" There was
an air Of mystery and portent about
it until just AS the music ceased three
white and q half dozen c0lored men
mounted the steps, when one of them,
in clear, ringing tones, announced to
the gathered mass, the larger part of
which was composed Of colored men,
that the committee representing the
working men OF the District would
now proceed to wait ON the President
in their behalf and lay before him
their grievances. 1t then became de-
veloped that it was q monster meet
ing of workingmen, who had not yet
been paid by the District contractors,
and while their faces betokened stern
ness Of resolve and an understanding
of what they were doing, their de-
meanor was orderly and snbdued.
The committee now advanced conf
IDENTIFY to the door Of the Executive
Mansion, where they were told by
the police officer detailed as door
keeper, as he held the ponderous
portal half ajar, that it was after hours
and no one could be admitted. A
message was then sent to the Presi-
dent by one OF the household attend
ants, testifying the desire of the COM
lnittee from the Workinglnen's Cen
trail Council to see the President.
Shortly a response was obtained from
him 10 the effect that he desired to be
excused. At the time the President
was in the library playing cribbage
with his relative by marriage, and as
he gave his response went on with
the game, saying with the utmost
nonchalance, "five, ten, fifteen,
sharpe" as he counted the play he
had made. The leader of the delega-
ton, with u nervous, severe and re-
strained expression, moved off quiet
ly and with assumed dignity to the
edge of the stone facade which fronts
the White House; here he pitched his
voice to the full, and with an al
most painfully electric tone, he
addressed the audience which had
become swelled by the ac-
cession Of several hundred more, who
came to see out Of curiosity, what was
going on.
The speaker arraigned the President
in the most unmeasured terms for his
refusal to see the committee, and re-
marked that at the foot of the throne
of the American people he protested
against this act Of the President in re-
fusing an audience to the w~orkingman;
that 1t was the act Of q despot, and was
the first time 1t had occurred that Free
men, endowed with the sacred right OF
petition, were treated SO by All Ameri-
can President. He charged that in
this President Grant, while he had
been q workingman himself and had
driven . wagon through the State O.
Illinois, to the speakers knowledge,
to gain his living, he o refused an
audience to men who had delighted te
help in electing him, but who now
would spill the last drop of their blood
in defense Of their rights ~ working
men. Then closing with accents Of in
furiated intensity, he said, shaking bis
fist menscingly as he turned from the
audience to the doors of the White
House, this Ia the first time that Presi'
dent Grant has refused to receive the
workingman's petition, and 1t will be
the last. and this. too, he shrieked, as
he laid additional emphasis on his
closing words, will he the last VI U. s
Grant. tas
Everybody then looked for q scene
some thought there would be an at
tempt at violence, but the platoon O
polios, In q Gordon, about two PAGES
apart, guarding the space from the
stAps to the doors, looked sharply
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