The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1886-10-28

Judge Kelley Relates. AN Inteyestin=
Anecdotc OF the President.

Judge Kelley Relates. an ~1nterestin.
Anecdote of the President.
"Abraham' Lincoln" said Judge
Kelley. of Pennsylvania, who is the
father of the house of representatives,
was the most, patient man in the de-
tails Of. life I. ever Saw. He was the
only president we ever had, and prob
ably ever will have. who knew nothing
OF the common a~utocraey Of public
life. He was the only ma we ever
had at tho white house who would 90
back of the wishes Of persons and ex-
anime their real, wants. I remember
an incident in connection with the way
which illustrates what I am trying to
say. It,is<not proper for me to use
names. but the story gees 1t was at
that early period in the rebellion when
suspects and conspirators were being
arrested and imprisoned by the whole
ssie. A letter written upon a printed
sheet of paper, giving the business of
q prominent firm Of merchants in New
York. and containing incendiary Ian
guage toward the union, found it's way
into the hands of a government official
in the south. The declarations were
'penned by a travelling ma who repre-
sented the firm mentioned in the letter
head. The result wa the arrest of the
principal members Of the firm on the
charge of conspiracy against the 60
vernment. The. letter was signed in
such a way as, to- rot make it perfectly
clear who the author was, and, of course,
suspicion bore heavily upon the firm
mentioned. He:is a man well known
in New York to-day. Men were held
in prison at the time on the slightest
suspicion-suspicion, in fact, more
slight than this one. The wife of the
merchant came to a friend of mine in
New York Immediately after the arrest
of her husband, and requested him to
communicate with President Lincoln
the fact that her husband had been ar
rested for something for which he was
in no way responsible. My friend adj
dressed a note to the president, telling
him that the mar under arrest was not
guilty of the misdemeanor ever in a
collateral o. the most remote way.
The wife came here; it was II o'clock
at night when she arrived. At the de-
pot she told the cabman to drive to the
white house, The driver expostulated
with her and told her that it was of no
use to call at the white house at such a
late hour of the night. She said it
made no difference, she wanted to see
Mr.. Lincoln, and that he must drive
her Immediately to the executive man
sion. When she presented herself at
the entrance to the white house it was
midnight Everything was quiet. The
Gordon of police, very stormy at that
time, turned out in full force. They
would not listen at first to her entreat-
les to be admitted to the white house.
Finally, she prevailed upon one of the
officers to take the letter of introduce
ton she had to President Lincoln, who
was then asleep. A minute after the
president had been awakened his voice
was heard in the corridor on the upper
floor. He held the letter in his hand,
and the tremor upon it indicated his
feeling.
"'Mrs. ,-, this case demands. i'm
mediate action said Mr.. Lincoln. III
you will take my arm we will go imme-
diately to Secretary Stanton Across
the lots at a rapid pace went the presi-
dent and the lady. Stanton was arous
ed from his slumbers. shown the letter
by the president, and requested to re-
lease the prisoner. He wrote a dis
patch and handed it to MI. Lincoln. and
said he would attend to the matter fur
Their in the morning.
Like a lackey, the president, with
the lady, started toward the downtown
hotels. 1t was 1 o'clock in the morn
ing. a Washington "a filled with revo-
lutionists and would-be assassins, yet
MI. Lincoln never faltered, and seemed
not to comprehend the danger. When
he arrived at the hotel, with the lady on
his arm, he told her to go to her room,
sleep soundly, return to New York in
the morning. and that her husband
would meet her on the dock The lady
could not believe it, but Mr.. Lincoln as
sured her that such would be the case.
The president then went to the tele-
graph office. filed the message, which
demanded the unconditional release of
the prisoner, and returned to the white
house alone. Sure enough, when the
lady alighted from the ferry at New
York the next day her husband was
there to embrace her. I am inclined
to believe the millennium will come be-
fore we shall have another president
who would do such an act as this."-
Felt Chilly.
1sHello Charley" said a youno mar