Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-08-04

surance company in the country. There is
an enterprising fellow here, who owns a
dozen or more bulldogs. and he has utilized
these in the taking care of big houses He
makes contracts with the owners Of the
houses TO take charge Of them In their alb
senca Heagrees to air the house once a day
and to become responsible for its contents
and their condition. He has a dozen houses
under his care, and he manages them with
these doga As soon as the house is vacated
be takes one Of his bulldogs to it and leaves
him In 1t, locking the doors and closing
the vindowa The bulldog Is quite fero-
cious, and he knows his business He would
Jump at any intruder, and be knows no COM
mand but his masters. His master visits
him evesy morning, and feeds him and lets
| him run out while he airs the house. He
then lochs him up and goes on TO the next
house which he is taking care Of, and treats
| the dog there In charge In the same way. He
makes another round Of his houses at night,
| and the experiment % far has, am told,
| proved success. There is no wear and tear
| Of the furniture as when servants are left in
| charge of the house, and the owner Is sure
| that it will not be turned into a one horse
| boarding house during his absence, which
has happened in certain cases have known.
Rents grow very cheap In Washington dur
| ing the summer, and statesmen when they 60
away are often very glad to get some to
stay in their houses and take care Of them.
It Is hard to find good tenants even for moth
| ing, and leading western senator told me
Of his experience Of last summer, the other
| night Said be: ~ had to be away four
months and did not want to store my furni-
| ture Washington is a city Of bedbugs and
feared II / packed it'away it would be moth
eaten and bug ridden looked about long
time and could find no ono whom I thought
would take the proper care of it At last
decided to give it over to the brother Of my
steDographer. He had just married q coun-
try girl up In Delaware and seemed to be
nice fellow. he was employed in the gov
ernment printing Office and was paying
probably S25 or $50 a month rent for his
rooms Thought that his wife would take good
care OF things and told him would charge
him no rent whatever. / left everything In
the house and went away with my family
When returned found half of the dishes
gone and some fine flint glass tumblers were
missing, and in their place were some thick
enough to give you the lockjaw to drink out
of them had few dozen Of wine in the
cellar and my wife had some fruit and pre-
serves which were canned and packed away.
When I got back my wine bottles were empty
and the young Delaware married couple had
eaten everything about the house, even to a
box of seidlitz powders They had used some
patent oil burning apparatus in the range in
stead Of coal and the walls Of the kitchen
were as dark as thestove They had scandal
ized the neighborhood by moving about the
house In light attire, and they capped the
climax by Offering me their gas bills to pay
when came back They borrowed some fine
volumes of music and took them off into the
country, but these they afterward returned
I paid the gas bills and was glad to get rid Of
them"
Speaking of dogs heard story Last night
Of the most remarkable bull dog Fl iyht on rec
ord as far as its audience was concerned. It
took place during President Lincoln's ad-
ministration, and the scene Of it was the
White House stables get my information
from an eye witness who told me the story
last night as follows:
"There used to be q coachman named
Burke who has charge of President Lincoln's
horses. BE was nice fellow, and he was,
think, finally discharged through Mrs. Lin
coin, but through the influence Of little Tad
got place in the treasury, and from thence
he was transferred to the war department
This man Burke had . very fine bull dog.
Its tai, was cut, and its ears were trimmed.
Its BODY was cream cohored save the head,
which was black, and Burke used to boast
upon this dogs fighting qualities. He kept
It usually at the stables, but It was allowed
the freedom Of the White House grounds
The White House stables were then further
over toward the treasury, and il was one
bright afternoon about 4 O'Clock that
President Lincoln, Gen Mcclellan and
Senator Henry A Wilson tafterward vice
PRESIDENT were walking toward them Just
as they reached the stable door Burke's bull
dog rushed out and grabbed another stray
dog which was passing. The other dog
showed fight, and the trio Of statesmen at
once became interested The dogs seemed
equally matched. and Wilson proposed that.
they take the dogs into the barn and let them
fight It out. Burke was called out, and the.
dogs were taken in and the doors closed.
Then the fun began. President Lincoln
handled the stray dog, while Burke managed
his own Bets were made on tine first round,
and remember Lincoln's bet was q big red
apple. The dogs were fought regularly &C
cording to sporting rules, and they were.
sponged Of and washed from time TO.
time They were not allowed, OF course, to
materially Injure each other. The fight.
lasted half an hour, and Wilson, Mcclellan
and Lincoln haw-hawed all the time
Burke's dog finally won, but whether Lin
coin ever paid his bet Of big red apple do.
not know"
"Do you remember any presidents further
back than I4incolnP asked
"Yes," replied this man. who Is now about
forty years OF age, ~ can remember
buchanan very well, and was about the.
White House as . boy. can just remem-
ber Jefferson Davis when he was secretary
Of war under Pierce, and curious incident.
happened to me then that fixed his face upon
my mind It was when first learned to.
chew tobacco knew Davis coachman
and be used to give me now and then chew
Of his tobacco. He got it, you know. from
his master, and the tobacco used by the.
slaves was much better than that used by the,
free colored people of today. Their masters.
bought their tobacco In bulk and they were.
usually very free with it had asked Davis
coachman for a chew one day just when Mr..
Davis came along. He did not like to see g.
white boy asking for chew Of o colored
man and be said, Here, boy, I'll give you q
chew and he thereupon pulled out q plug
and cut off a piece for me. He then gave
me q lecture on the chewing Of tobacco and
told me it wss filthy habit and was fool
to learn it." -
Imet Gen. Ben Lefevre, of Ohio, day or
so ago. He 1, looking wen and he Is happy
in being out Of politics. He gets $4,000 a
year from the Brice railroad syndicate and he
has a chance to make FIVE times this amount
in speculation He has fine Office In Wall
street and he lives at the New York club He,
has gotten used to New York ways of living
and he says it is the finest place for
bachelor in the United States. He does not
intend to come back to congress again, but he