The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-05
What the Family Will Do After the Death
Of the General-Some of the An
noyances at Mt. McGregor.
Mr. Hubert 0. Thompson Suddenly Be-
comes Very Interesting Person.
A Burlesque and Comic Opera Artistic, Much
Admired by Dudes, the Subject of an
Exceedingly Ridiculous Agitation.
GRANTS PROPERTY AND FAMILY.

The New York House Offered for Sale-An-
noyances at Mt. McGresor.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
New YORK, July 4.-General Grants city
| residence and his cottage at Long Branch have
both been offered for sale though there seems
to be disposition to sacrifice them, the prices
demanded being up to their value. The under
standing is that the General knowing that half
his present income-that arising from his place
on the army retired list-will stop at his death,
leaving as certainty to his widow the product
of the endowment fund only, he is anxious to
unload the real estate by converting it into
safe, yielding investment In this matter his
counselor is ex-senator Chaffee, whose advice
as to the Ward business had it been promptly
followed, would have saved most of the money
lost therein. The plan of Mrs. Grant is to
retire into some quiet home, after the
death of her husband, while the other
members of the family will scatter
The reliance Of Grant on the profits of his book
for his widows benefit has frequently been pub
lished. Another source of income has been de-
veloped, and in this, as in the history, Mark
Twain is business partner. The bust made by
Sculptor Gerhardt since Grants Illness and so
lavshly praised by Charles Dudley Warner, the
Hartford friend ard sometime literary CO.
laborer of Twain, is being duplicated in bronze
and terra-cotta in reduced size, and statesmen
will soon be sent throughout the land with it.
This canvassing will be done during the summer
before the book-agents 60 out to any great ex-
tent. Grant did not at first like to have his bust
put out in that manner, but the counsel of his
wife prevailed. She is woman of far greater
force and potency in her family than is generally
imagined The bust venture is her own affair."
in connection with Twain.
There are rumors direct from Mt. McGregor of
slight abrasion between Mrs. Grant and the own
ers Of the resort The offer of accommodation
there was the basis of glad gratuity Bank
er Drexel a heavy shareholder, gave up his
private cottage, and the meals, and service are
provided from the hotel. The aim was to adver-
tise Mt. McGregor, which is beautiful but
heretofore littleknown resort. Placards and
handbills have been widely distributed in Sara
toga and elsewhere announcing excursions over
the companys railroad to the top of the mount
ain, and containing the big-type name Of Grant
to catch the eye. Mrs Grant is vastly annoyed
by the staring of visitors. The General long ago
became used to such impertinence and sits daily
on the veranda stoically enduring it in perfect
calmness; but his wife frequently seeks to
have them driven off, as do the other
ladies of the household. But the manage
ment naturally do not wish to shut out. the sight
for which the tourists come and they decline to
do more than prevent actual intrusion upon the
immediate premises All the Grants except
Buck, who is farming in New Jersey, are daily
grouped on the veranda, and sightseers can
approach close enough to be decided nuisance
to them. They have been photographed repeat
edly by amateurs and professionals using in
stantaneous apparatus The hero himself sits
most of the time staring into vacancy, oblvous
of his surroundings; but now and then move
ment among the spectators rouses him, and
then he will often lift his hat in acknowledge
ment of a salutation. The sentinel who has
been mentioned as on guard against intruders is
of little use He is comical old crank. 1t is
so easy to get past him that patent medicine
men and peddlers have gained access to the
house.
A burial place for Grant has not been selected.
Discussion of the topic is distastefu to the fami-
ly, and the General himself has said nothing
about it. There is beautiful cemetery called
Oakwood, in Troy, about thirty miles from Mt.
McGregor, and the trustees have resolved to
offer plot close by one in which lie the remains
of General Wool, veteran commander in the
war with Mexico and under whom Grant
served as lieutenant. Wool's monument is
notable as the largest single stone ever Quarred
in America, and the site overlooks the Hudson
river commandingly.