The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-06-03
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
The Weeks DOings at the Ma
tiOnal Capital
cUPrD's GREAT VICTORY.

CUPTD's GREAT VICTORY.
Before this reaches the eyes Of most Of the !
readers of THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE the Presi- |
dent will be the possessor of wife aud the |
White House will have mistress. The Presi- |
dents affianced. Miss Frances Folsom, arrived !
in New York last Thursday night from Europe
on the steamer Noordland. Mr.. Cleveland met |
her there by proxy. He did not go himself, |
but sent Col. Dan Lamont, his private secretary.
The latter chartered tug and intercepted the |
steamer in New York Bay. Miss Folsom and |
her mother were transferred to the tug, and in |
few hours were quietly resting at the Gilsey
House. lamont was intrusted with a most |
tender and delicate mission. Bearing message
from the President TO the lady, urging her to
name An early day for the nuptials, he WAS TO
receive her answer. The arrangements being
made, he whirled back to Washington and at
10 o'clock Friday night an official bulletin WAS
issued announcing that the President and Miss
Frances Folsom would be married at the White
House, by Rev. Byron Sunderland, Wednesday
evening, June2, at o'clock. This information
set all Washington society TO fixing and foam
ing, as if II were great soda fountain. The
theme was on every tongue. All other matters
passed for the time into the shadow of an
eclipse, cast by social event of5uch magnitude.
On Sunday the President took the train for
New York on twofold err4nd-to greet Miss
Folsom and to lend his presence to the Deeora-
tIOn Day services in that city. He returned to
Washington Tuesday morning. IL was ar
ranged that Miss Folsom, accompanied by her
mother and few friends, should follow on
Wednesday. On account Of the recent death of
Miss Folsom's grandfather, it was determined
that the wedding should be quiet one. But
p or 30 persons were invited az guests. These
included members Of the Cabinet and their
families Col. and Mrs. Lamont, and half
dozen friends Of the bride.
No newspaper reporters or correspondents Of
either sex were admitted. So triAing an obsta-
Gle as this, however in these days Of journal
istie enterprise" did not cause the slightest
curtailment of the long columns Of specials
that were sent humming over the wires to all
the excellent family journals, describing in the
most minute manner the bride and groom, how
they looked and what they wore, what every
body else wore and said and did, and what they
had to eat at the marriage supper. A few stray
bits of information were picked up here and
there, and active and vigorous imagina-
tious easily supplied the rest. Members of
the Cabinet were be5ieged as soon as they
emerged from the White House by rayenOus
reporters eager to get information of the event.
Their door-bells were kept jingling the greater
part OF the night. They almost wished they
had never been born. 1t would have been
better for their peace Of mind if the President
had provided shakedowns" for his guests and
had them all spend the night at the White
| House, taking the additional precaution to
have Dan Lamont cut the telephone wires and
unite the dogs, to keep the reporters from
climbing mat the windows or sealing the walls
and dropping down the chimneys
| No one in Washington has been so badly torn
| up in his mind as Attorney General Garland
1t IS well known that years ago he vowed
/ prodiglous vow that he would never-not
hardly ever" but RereT, without any qualif-
cation or mental reservation whatscfver-wear
"claw-bammer coat, that custom inexOra-
bly, demands shall be worn by gentleman on
/ all great occaSlonS- As one Of the Cabinet he
] felt that he ought to 90 to the wedding but the
| specter Of the awful swallow tail was ever
| before him, and his vow was on record. Thus
| far he has declined all invitations to attend
! social gatherings at the White House and else
where. He finally determined to stand by his
colors, and so he sent his compliments and
regrets"
For five years the White House has been
without mistress, except by brevet, so to speak.
| There has been no Presidents wife to discharge
the social obligations and duties that custom has
imposed upon the occupants Of that historic maa-
! sion. The filling of this connubiaI vacuum will
be hailed with delight by the society people,
Tho Buffalo schoolgirl will be placed in the ex-
alted station of first lady" of the land. The
| words pronounced by Rev. DIR. Sunderland pro-
mote her above all the wives of Cabinet officers,
Senators, Congressman, Judges and officials
who shine with varying brillianey in the social
AIhlaiheuV oA washington. Durlng all these
weeks of agitation over the subject the Presi-
dent has guarded his tender secret with the
utmost care. Col. Lamont has been his only
conhdant. Mr.. Cleveland was too shreWd to
entrust the matter to the keeping of any fe-
male friend. The gossipers found out about it
just the same-or, rather, they guessed at it,
and happened to guess right for once
1t was the intention of the contracting par
ties that the secret should be so tightly locked
up that nobody would know anything about it.
They would probably have succeeded had it
not been for a telegraph clerk. Some months
ago, just as Miss Folsom was about to leave for
Europe, Mr.. Cleveland wrote with his own
hand-of course he would not even trust Dan
Lamont to do that for him-a farewell message
and sent 1t TO her by telegraph. The receiving
clerk at the telegraph Office here thought it
was good chance to get Mr. Clevelands auto
graph. 80 he made copy of the dispatch and
hled that, taking the original home with him.
The message, as might be expected under the
circumstances, had a strong adectionate flavor
much stronger, in fact than would have been
necessary to satisfy the demands of mere friend
ship. The telegraph man showed it to his wife
and his landlady, and there is where he made
mistake that proved fatal TO himself and ex-
eeediDgly annoying to the President OF course.
that dispatch on the tongues of two women was
enough to make all the trouble. Then when II
reached the newspaper correspondents that set
tied 1t. But it turned out badly for the tela
graph clerk. His wife and the landlady had a
falling out and the clerk gathered up his be-
lOngings and sought other lodgings. The land
lady got more than even with him by reporting
at the telegraph office the fact that he had
stolen the message, thus violating the strict
rule oil secrecy imposed upon all telegraph en-