St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-12-27
MISCELLANY.
PRIVATE BROCKETTs BALL.
1t Rolled Through Ten States for Har
rison and Morton, Too.
Correspondenc. Ne,o York Sun.

The ball that has been rolling about
the country for Harrison and Morton
ever since the campaign began has
been taken to pieces and shipped to
Washington, where it will be stored
until the first of March, when it will be
put together again and rolled in the
procession on Inauguration day. After
that it will probably fall into state of
innOcuous desuetude, although Private
ID. E. BrOckett, its originator and pro-
prietOr, hopes to obtain for it immOr-
tally and place in the National Mu
seum. Private Brockett is tax cOliec
tor at Cumberland, Maryland. He is a
red-lIOt republican internally and a
| typical mOuntaineer externally.
There has been deal of hard work
about it, however, according to Private
| Brockett, and he is glad the cruel war
is over and he can go back to Cumber
land without having to push a fifteen
| foot high ball ahead of him all the
way. He will settle down there for the
next few months and resume the duty
of collecting the tribute, which has
been performed during his absence by
his daughter, who is a right smart girl
for the mountains. The 4th of March
will find him on foot again, however,
with his ball, and what he does after
that depends good deal upon the ap
probation of the President of the value
of balls as an issue in political cam
paign. Private Brockett would not
object if circumstances and his coun-
try's call should compel him to leave
tax collecting to his daughter once
more, and to enter into the service of
the government in some capacity suit
ed to his ability and with Il comfortable
salary attached.
Private BrOckett's ball was bnilt by
himself during July. He first made a
wheel fifteen feet in diameter, with six
spokes, and rim made of segments of
hard wood, bolted and glued together.
three-inch gas pipe through the hub
made the pole of the globe, and thirty
eight steel ribs running from the poles
to the rim of the wheel made the
framework of the ball. The covering
was of heavy canvas stretched over the
ribs and laced tight. The outside of it
was painted gayly, and decorated with
legends calculated to fire the republi-
can breast. When all was done the
heavy rim of the wheel projected about
six inches all around, sort of raised
equator on the globe, and made a tire
upon which it could be rolled over the
roads without the canvas being sOiled
or injured. To the pole on either side
was attached light framework of gas
pipe by which men could pull OF push
and control the ball.
The idea of the ball originated in
Cumberland, probably because that
was the place where the original Har-
rison ball, rolled in the campaign of
1910, was made. That ball was a
much smaller affair than this one and
was less ingeniOusly constructed. The
ball of 1888 weighed half ton and
cost 5000. 1t was dedicated and first
rolled at ratification meeting in Cum
berland on Aug. 2. About the first
place it went to after that was New
York, where it was rolled in the great
Blaine reception parade. 1t had to be
taken to pieces to be transported SO
far. 1t made n sensation in that pa
rade, and Private BrOckett and the
Cumberland men who rolled it were
made happy by being put into full
page picture of the ball in one of the
illustrated weeklies. Some one slipped
through the crowd there during one of
the stops and slashed the canvas with
penknife. The ball was similarly in
jured only once afterward during its
Journeys. The second slash was given
it ut Pittsburgh. Private Brockett was
ready for such accidents. He had laid
in Il stock of canvas, and after the pa
rade he unlaced the covering of the
ball, stepped inside, and pasted Il strip
of new canvas over the slashed spot.
This made the ball us perfect as ever.
From New York Private BrOckett
L., Il
the cars to Maryland, and they rolled
it over pretty nearly the whole west
ern part of that state during the next
few weeks. In most cases they rolled
it along the pixies from town to town.
| met with its only serious accident
during one of these trips. 1t was too
big to go over a bridge across a small
creek, and had to be rolled through it.
On the other side was ploughed field,
and the horse that was drawing the
ball made too quick turn in the soft
soil and wrenched the gas pipe pulling
arrangements off. The ball had left
HagerstOwn at % o'clock that night,
and was due at Frederick, thirty six
miles away, at | the next day. Four
hours of the night were lost in getting
the machine repaired so that it would
go again, but the trip was made on
time Notwithstanding, and after his
tramp of thirty six miles and the extra
labor of making repairs, Private Brock
EFT rolled his ball through the enthus-
astic Frederick mob as blithesOmely
us though he were fresh from a good
nights rest.
The ball had to be taken apart again
to get it to Washington, the bridges
heinz foo narrow tn LET 1T thrOuph
Most Of the men who had set out with
the ball from Cumberland had dropped
off before this and gone back to their
work, but Private Brockett stuck to it
and declared that he would keep the
old thing rolling until he got it to In
dianapOlis and into Ben HarrisOn's
front yard. He got volunteer crews to
help him roll it in the professions and
went. Washington made a great ado
over him and the ball. He says the
biggest crowd he saw during the cam
paign was there. The papers all call
ed him Major BrOckett, and the title
stuck to him until he got to West Vir-
ginia, where he was promoted to be a
colonel. After that he became general
and when he ended the campaign at
indianapolis he was wondering if it
wasn't time for him to be majOr-g ener-
al or something of that sort. He wish
es it understood, however, now that
the campaign is over, that he is mere
ly plain Private BrOckett.
From Washington he took his ball to
West Virginia, where Golf, the repub-
lican candidate for governor, paid the
expenses of a trip that took in nearly