St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-18
A PRESIDENTIAL ATTRIBUTE.
The Incumbent OF the White
House and His Memory Of
Facts

The Incumbent Of the White
House and His Memory OF
Facts.
President Cleveland does not remem-
Der faces very well. Anumber of MEM
DerS OF congress have spoken of his APP
parent failure to recall their names
a1ter repeated visits. But all agree
lLaC lie mas wonderful memory for
events: When he once charges his mind
with the series of facts relating IN anv
case that may be pending before him. he
mas the facts In his memory for all time
and ast0niShes some of his callers nv the
wide range OF information which he has
on subjects 10 which they call his atten-
ton, and which are sometimes trivial i'm
their character. For instance, some
weeks ago gentleman from New YOlk
called upon the president and directed
his attention to the case of certain
official who had been removed. To-day
ne called again, and asked the president
II he recOllected the previous cOnyersa-
ton. He was astonished to find Mr..
Cleveland had all the data of the affair
Ill his memory, and that he was letter
posted on all matters relating to the
same than his caller.
Instances of this kind are frequent.
put perhaps the most remarkable feats
or memory of the president which have
been noticed are in the case Of his
speeches. Whenever he has 70 make
an address upon any subject ne writes
out his remarks and commits them tn
memory in few moments. When the
time comes for delivering them he can
speak TO the letter all his address with
out once referring to his notes. Those
who attended the Virginia state fair at
Richmond two years ago will recall the
Iact That the president made an appar-
entity extempOre speech from the upper
portlco OF one Of the buildings. Printed
copies OF the speech had been furnished
10 the newspaper correspondents before
1t was delivered, and one of them fol-
lowed the president as he made his re-
marks. He did not vary to the extent
OF a single word from his slips. although
ne never once turned his eyes toward
the paper which lay on the desk beside
him.
A gentleman from Buffalo, speaking
OF the president memory. said: ..When
the Democratic city convention met to
nominate city officers some wears ago il
was decided few moments beforehand
by some OF the leaders to tender the
mayoraIty nomination to Grover Cleye-
land. lie was seen and absolutely de-
clined to become a candidate. Another
meeting was hurriedly held, and l sug-
gested that Mr.. Cleveland was a Demo-
GRAFT, and that it was his duty to accent
the nomination, and that he must accent
1t. A committee was appointed to wait
upon him again, and L was made chair
man. We found him at the court
house, and. after appealing to him
earnestly, he finally said: Well.
go ahead On the Way back To
the convention hall [ met Dan Lock-
wood, and took him along to nominate
Cleveland. But before leaving him MI.
Cleveland wrote out letter of accept:
ance. L read that letter, and he read if
over once.
Lockwood made the nomination. and
the usual committee was appointed to
notify him and bring him before the
convention. When this committee went
into the court room the judge smiled as
he knew what had happened, and upon
motion the court took a recess for a half
hour to give Mr.. Cleveland an oppor-
tunity to personally appear before the
men who had just placed him on the
road to the presidency. He came over
to the hall with the letter in his pocket,
put 1t was not necessary to deliver it;
he gave the contents of that letter.
word for word. in the shape of a speech.
He had not read it since it was first
written. yet he did not omit a sentence
or syllable.