Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-03-31
ZACH CHANDELIERS HEROISM.
How he Saved the Life OF His Little
Daughter, and what He Suffered in
Consequence.

f1oW nc SiiVeu the Ls1c Ok HIS A1CUle q
Daughter, and what He Suffered in
Consequences.
Robert reighton, personal friend
of Secretary Chandler, of the Interior
Department., gives, in u letter to the
Danbury NeacS, this interesting ac-
count of an incident in the life of the
latter, which explains the sanguine
hue Of his face:
Perhaps you would like to know
something Of Zach Chandler. You
and l have heard and read a great
deal about him, and it's time we knew
something of him. He is great big
man, about six feet four, and about
sixty years old. He and Horace
Greeley were born within a cat-call
of each other, and still no single man
did as much as Zach Chandler to de-
feat the philosopher for the Presi-
dency. He has numbering, heavy
walk, of certain stride and steady
gait. He carried an alternate white
and red face in front and nigh, a cane
in one hand and bundle of paper in
the other. He never walks for pleas
ure. 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 of a great ship,
he carries his great, broad head and
valiegated face. On a cold day his
countenance beams almost like the
red glare of locomotive head light.
Ninety-nine men who pass him on a
frosty morning make ninety-nine re-
marks freighted with the information
that 4" Old Zach has had his bitters." "
But, o Lord, how this world is given
to lying! This red face has history,
this crooked splitting has reason,
and I will give you both.
1t is now seventeen years since
Zachariah Chandler, being remarka-
bly, 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. Hale, then a child, with
lighted candle, detected it in a
closet off the back parlor. The fa-
ther, knowing the danger Of an ex-
plosion, hurried to the closet with a
servant, took the candle from the
daughters hands and shielded her
Just in time to receive the full blast
himself, burning his head, neck. and
hands almost to q crisp. The nose,
ears, eyes, lips, and flesh of the face
were so completely cooked that old
Zach embraced the opportunity and
murmured through his blistered lips,
Bring on your cannibals. Pm
cooked" a physician was imme-
diately sent for, who after few mo-
ments' examination shook his head
in the most unhopeful manner. With
fortitude which characlerizes Mr..
Chandler to this day, he submitted
to the examination, and at the close
demanded to know the worst. The
physician, Dr.. Clark, wisely endeav-
ored to postpone the giving of his
opinion until the next day; but Mr..
Chandler insisting, the doctor reluct-
antly answered his questions.
"Well, doctor, my nose feels bad.
How about it,"
"Mr. Chandler, you'll lose your
nose"
"And my ears, | suppose, too?"
81 am sorry to say, yes; they are
completely cooked through
"My forehead-how about that?" "
"Well, don't see how the skin
will ever grow there again"
"My lips?"
"Thc 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 under one do?"
81 am sorry to say, | shall have to
remove a portion Of tn also"
"Eh! Well, go on"
There, that will do. I'll know
better in the morning"
"l on can't leave me until | know
all. Go on, doctor, anything else? "
The doctor hesitatcd.
"Go on, doctor, my eyes?"
Your eyes?"
Yes. Go on"
"Mr. Chandler, you will lose the
sight of both eyes"
"Thas enough, doctor, you can
90 now"
Nearly year passed before Zach
ariah Chandler was seen on the streets
of Detroit again. No one could
recognize him except by his voice
and immense frame, HIS face, once
round, full and muscular, was shriv
eled and muScleless. His heavy jaw,
indicative of tirmness of purpose,
was almost without shred of flesh.
And as he said himself, he was " the
most thin-skinned man in the whole
Northwest"
Such is the history and the reason
of his red face and crooked splitting.