The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-10-03
STANTON AxD LINCOLN.

uev ne war President spent she kves-
inx of HIS Sceuad Elertion-
cAsrses A. uarA IN New York SUE
In the las. number Of sne ee'-ss
=sne NessYs. Hay and Nicosay naffase 1ne. .
idea al Whist happened - the Sa1 uef'a-
ruert IN the evening after the secon. 80
ton of President Lincoln IA iS,i- .nrs
we're not present their repors Hauss ee .
matter of hearsay. / do not KNOW tnas AZ.
OF the particulars they relste are aehe,ens
Ia accuracy, though can testify tnas "al1e
wa. there At that time did not observe
them
Ivas not usually on duty n the war &c.
rsrsmens NJ night; but Mr. Stanton nsa
directed me TO come over that evening" ana
I arrived pretty early, say at O'CLOCK OF
$50. The president. apparently as sesens
a. a summer morning, was In MI stanton ;
Iarre rrivase room, and no one WAS WIN his''
except the secretary and General EcSs.t'
who came continually with kilograms me
resuI; OF the voting vas of such decisive
character that the news arrived maen
earlier than had been expected; and Ahen
I went in I learned both from the psesi-
cent and the secretary. that the qnes,io,i
seemed already 10 be Substantially sesssu,
Each dispatch that was received SCENE.
only to add 10 the apparent certainty, al'a
he about q O'Clock there was no longer any
doubt But without waiting for that noas
Mr. Lincoln drew from his breast tn.n
velIox-coyerei pamphlet. Dana, saiu
he IN me. have you ever read anysnihs
of Petroleum v. Nasby?" pronouhcibs
Nasbv =. though the first syllable were
s,,el,ss with the letter e. NO, sir, said l.
not much. but know he writes from TIE
Confederste Cross Roads and prints MS
things in the Toledo b tade
.syes said Mr.. Lincoln, that's so; but
that is not the whole. Put up your enal'
And listen drew up to him, and ne De-
rau 10 read aloud, to me only and not 70
Stanton. one .sfer another OF Petroleum
funny hits. and between each OF them we
had a quiet little laugh all to ourselves.
But the lion head of the secretary showed
plainly that he had no sympathy Win 'nis
amusement: in fact, his face wore It's uarS-
est and sternest expression. However, tue
reading went on, occasionally broken oy
General Eckert's entrance with another
telegram, to which Mr.. Lincoln PAID no
very serious attention, and he quickly
turned back to the reading every time In
this way he read paragraphs and even
pages of Nasty, until finally dispatch was
brought in of a more important nature,
and he laid the pamphlet down to attend
TO il.
While he was thus engaged, Mr.. Stanton
motioned to me to come with him into
General Eckert's room. and when the
dsor was shut he broke out in fury: cd
d-n il to hi" said he. WAS there ever
such nonsensee Was there ever such in
ability to appreciate what is going on in an
awful crisis? Here is the fate of the whole
republic at stake, and here is the man
around whom it centres, on whom 1t all de-
pends, turning aside from this momentous,
this incompatible issue, to read the Cd
d-n trash of silly mountebank'
lis fiery speech of the enraged secretary
was interrupted by General Eckert, wRo
had another telegram which he showed to
him. and with which We all went back
into Mr.. Stanton's own office, in order that
the president might see it.
Hardly had he begun to read it, however,
when new occasion OF irritation arose
The messenger brought in card and
handed it to the president, who said at
once, as he passed the card over to the Sec
rotary. "Show him ine' Stanton read it.
and, turning to me, exclaimed IN low
voice: God in heaven; it is Whitelaw
Reid" l understood the point OF this ex-
plosion at once. Mr.. Reid, who was then
the correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette
and great friend of Secretary Chase in
Washington. was not liked by the secretary
of war. This dislike had gone so far that
the door-keepers at the war department
had received directions that Mr.. Reid
was not to be admitted. But when he
sent his card in to the president
they could not refuse it. Mr.. Reid came
in and was greeted by Mr.. Lincoln but not
by the secretary. His purpose was merely
to obtain from headquarters and from the
highest authority the assurance that the
election had certainly gone in favor OF
Lincoln; and after expressions OF thanks
and congratulations he withdrew. Just
then Judge David c. Carter came in with
two or three other gentlemen, among them
Mr.. Fox. of the navy department, and the
reading of Petroleum V. Nasty, from the
Confederate Cross Roads was not resumed.
These incidents OF memorable histor-
ical event are not recorded in any annals of
the time that have seen; and yet they ap-
pear to me interesting and characteristic
enough not to be forgotten.