The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1885-03-09
AN ANKoDoTE or GIANT.
Tho chillInE Reception He Gave polsga.

Tho Chilling Reception He Gave Dolega.
tion From South Carolina.
The assertion that General Grant has
never been proiane man, as many Of our
generals were, has recently been illustrated
by anecdotes showing that he reirained
from swearing under very trying circum-
stancer. / never heard the General swear,
says a writer in the Washington Critic,
but certainly saw him mad enough 10
make things blue II he had broken out.
In the spring Of 1874 o delegation came
here from a Taxpayers convention in
South Carolina to expostulate sgainst the
intolerable extravaganza, folly and fraud
OF their State Government. Frank Moses,
"the young native Governor as he had
been dubbed by those who thought car.
pet.baggers the sum OF all evil, who had
shown them that the finger OF Moses was
heavier than the loins OF Scott, was near
ing the close OF his term. To prepare for
q desperate effort to redeem the State, a
non.partisan taxpayers convention was
called, and the result was ian appeal to
Cesar"
A delegation Of twenty OF the most
distinguished men OF tho State came here |;
General James Chestnut who died re-
Gently, was at It's head. Invent with them,
by appointment, to the White House to
present the bill Of grievances. As we
were passing up the stairway to the Presi-
dents reception-room, Senator John j.
Patterson, the carpet-bag representative
Of the Palmetto State, passed down. He
had grin on his somewhat sardonic face.
,t hiCh xpaa tnNinativa nf dtOa utar m tboua
he grinned at.
General NJ. @. Butler, now Senator, GER
tainly construed 1t as danger signal, for
he said to me: "Now, / wonder what Pat
terson has been up TOT" The delegation
was not long in getting out. When they
filed into the reception room Grant was
standing to receive them, one clinched
hand resting on the table, an angry flush
upon his face, and an expression Of the
eye filter for the battlefield than the re-
ception room. He went through the
ceremony Of introduction coldly, and then
said: "What can do for your" w. D.
Porter, Charleston's most famous lawyer,
presented tho resolutions OF the conven.
ton and the protests OF the Taxpayers
Of South Carolina against the contin-
ued existence OF the State Govern
ment. Mr.. Luthers unrolled three
lopgiproof.sheets Of an individual protest,
which he would have proceeded TO read
had not Grant, with an impatient gesture,
interrupted him. Gentlemen" said be
"that all you have to say concerning the
present government OF South Carolina Is
true do not admit or deny. The admin
istration OF affairs in TINT State is in the
hands OF those who were elected by
large majority Of the people to represent
them; you must find your remedy at the
ballot box; but even IL l had it in my
power to prevent the evils OF which you
complain, lido not think ! am bound to
do so. Why should l help those who
shameiully abuse me? The convention
which sent you here even dragged the
name Of my wife into its debates and
made her a subject of false and scandal
Gus accusations"
The delegation was dumbfounded. The
members had not expected any very warm
sympathy, but this turning Of the tables
was too sudden TO find them prepared.
Those who had noticed the exit Of "Hon-
est John Patterson were, however, not SO
much surprised at Grants familiarity with
the proceedings OF the convention. That
sly politician had primed Grant for the
reception, and on the table close to Grants
hands was newspaper clipping-the re-
port Of General Mart Gray's speech in the
convention.
General Gray as Chairman Of the Com
mittee on Federal Relations, had opposed
an appeal to Grant. He denounced him
as a drunken tyrant, nota whit better
than his iellow-radicals in South Carolina.
"While Moses and his fellow-thieves,"
said he, "are robbing the people Of South
Carolina, Grant and his fellow-thieyes are
robbing the whole people Of the United
States. While negro harlots are peddling
Legislative pay certificates in the streets Of
Columbia the wife Of Grant Is selling the
secrets of the Treasury to the gamblers Of
Wall street"
So the Taxpayers delegation went
away sorrowiul. 1fGrant had been calm
enough to listen to explanations he would
have learned that General Gray's report
and speech had been remarkably rebuked
by the convention, which referredthe re.
port back to his committee, and adopted
an address temperate, non.partisan and
conservative Units place.