The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-03-04
How Zachariah Chandler Came to Have
Red Face.

Red Face.
"Perhaps you would like to know some
thing of Zach Chandler. You and l have
heard and read a great deal about him, and
it's time we know something of him. He
is a great big man over six feet high and
about sixty years old. He and Horace
Greeley were born within cat-call of each
other, and still no single man did as much
as Zach Chandler to defeat the philosopher
for the Presidency. He has a numbering,
heavy walk, of certain stride and steady
gait. He carries an alternate white and
red face in front and high, a cane in one
hand and a bundle of papers in the other
He never walks for pleasure. He is always
on business. He spits every eight minutes
always to the left, seldom straight, and
with the same regularity that punctuates
his every action. High and in front, like
the figure head on a great ship, he carries
his great broad head and variegated face.
On cold day his countenance beams al
most like the red glare Of a locomotive
head light. Ninety nine men who pass
him on a frosty morning make ninety nine
remarks, freighted with the information
that Zach has had his btters. But. Oh
Lord how this world is given to lying!
This red face has history, this crooked
splitting has reason, and 1 will give you
both.
1t is now seventeen years since Zacha-
rah Chandler, being remarkably successful
in business, built for his family new and
elegant house in Detroit. When nearly
finished he moved into it. On the first
evening, Immediately after the gas was
turned on and lit, the smell of the escaping
gas aroused the family and servants, and
search was made for the leak. The daugh-
ter, now Mrs. Hate, then a child, with a
lighted candle, detected it in closet off
the back parlor. The father, knowing the
danger of an explosion, hurried to the
closet with servant, took the candle from
the daughters hands, and shielded her
just in time to receive the full blast him
self, burning his head, neck and hands
almost to a crisp. The nose, ears, eyes,
lips aud flesh of the face were so completely
cooked that old Zach embraced the oppor
tunity and murmured through his blistered
lips: Bring on your cannibals. I'm
cooked
A physician was Immediately sent for
who, after a few moments examination,
hao in f,,l
ner. With fortitude which characterizes
Mr.. Chandler to this day. he submitted to
the examination, and at the close demanded
to know the worst. The physician, DR..
giving of his opinion until the next day,
but Mr.. Chandler insisting, the doctor re-
luctantly answered his questions.
well, doctor, my nose feels bad. How
about it9'
MIR. Chandler you'll lose your nose.
And my ears, | suppose, too?'
Il am sorry to say, yes; they are COM
pletely cooked through
my forehead. How about that?'
well, | don't see how the skin will ever
grow there again
My lips?'
THE upper lip, Mr.. Chandler, l shall
have to take almost completely off,
That's bad, for man to lose his upper
lip. Won't the lower one do?'
Il am sorry to say shall have to remove
a portion of that, also
'Eh? Well, go on
There, that will do. I'll know better in
the morning.
( you can't leave me until l know all.
| Go on, doctor; anything else?'
! The doctor hesitated.
GO on, doctor; my eyes:'
/ Your eyes .
yes; go on
MIR. Chandler, you will lose the sight of
both eyes
That's enough, doctor; you can 60 now.
! Nearly year passed before Zachariah
Chandler was seen on the streets of Detroit
again. No one could recognize him except
by his voice and immense frame His face,
once full, round and muscular, was shriv-
elled and muscleless. His heavy jaw, in
dicative of his firmness of purpose, was
almost without a shred of flesh. And, a.
he remarked himself, He was the most