Omaha daily bee., 1889-07-14

| ana saw ne was large ana powerful
| man, OF most dlgniied bearing, He Ike OF
his face from me, and was wrapped up
in thin cloak, such as they wore dur
| ing the Revolution.
| "What are you writing, senator from
South Carolina?n again asked the voice
| IA letter to a friend proposing plan
| FOR the dissolution of the American I'M
ion in certain contingencies" | replied.
Senator from South Carolina, let me
look at your right hand," and us the
stranger spoke he rose and
TOOK MY RIGHT HAND IN HIS.
/ had no power to refuse him.
Look at your right hand, SIR" tho
stranger continued.
| 1 looked, and thero was large black
blotch on the back of it.
What is itp'' inquired.
"That," he said, "is the mark by
which Benedict Arnold is known in the
other world whore l come from" Mr..
| Calhoun's agitation had now become
extreme, and was shared in by the whole
| company.
$50 on, man, for heavens sake, go
on" cried Toombs, "what was the out
come OF this strange dream?o
II looked up, gentlemen, and there,
before me, stood George Washington,
said Calhoun, with an effort. His
| SlDSth lluu lullcu Oll, ittlNi lItTC was HO
mistating the face and figure before
me. 1t was the
FACE AND FIGURE OF WASHINGTON.
He was dressed in bis revolutionary
costume, such as you see up in the
patent Office" $50, senator from
South Carolina, he asked" you would
use that right hand to sign a paper de-
claring the union dissolved. "'If
they Cypress my state, yes,'" l an
swered. "'But only in certain contin-
gencies of the most urgent nature,'" /
added, seeing him frown.
"'Look at you hand now,'" he"'said.
"I did look, and the black spot was red
rs blood"
He said no more, but drawing from
| beneath his cloak " small skeleton, laid
it on the paper where I had been writ
ing, and said: There are the bones of
Isaac Hayne-he was q South Carolin-
| ian, and so are you, but there was no
blotch on his hand, and with that he
vanished into thin air. l started
up from contact with the skeleton be-
fore me, and in doing so nearly upset
my chair and awolte. | had fallen
asleep over my table and dreamed.
But really was it not a most remarkable
dream2" and Mr.. Calhoun rubbed the
back of his right hand and looked at it
| earnestly.
This was the whole story and that
Calhoun did have dream and relate it
| just as it occurred there is no doubt,
but that there ever was red or black
splotch upon the back of his right hand
is humbug. Some years afterwards q
sensational writer got up y cock and
bull story saying that while Calhoun
was relating his dream the red splotch
| reappeared on the back OF his hand and
| ronnin fhprn and IvnS thop IN f,n! =
houn's hand as large as silver dollar,
but the correspondent lied and there
never was a spot on Calhoun'S hand, but
the dream worried him for some time,
though he never again referred to it to
any one.
Simon Cameron was
A GREAT ADMIRER OF CALHOUN.
and thought him in many respects the
| ablest statesman we had. In 1924, when
| only twenty-siX years of age, he wrote a
strong letter. urging Pennsylvania to
favor the nomination of Calhoun for
| president, but the tide for General
Jackson was too strong, and Cameron,
of course, yielded to il. When he did
| go to jackson 1t was with rush, and
| his zeal at once attracted the notice of
the old hero, who became his friend.
| When Jackson's first term was about to
expire ne was greatly embarrassed on
| account of foolish letter he had writ
ten, saying he would not run again. AT
| General Eaton's request Cameron, VINO
was then building the Lake Pom chartrain
canal at New Orleans, was sent for, and
jackson laid before him his embarrass-
ment. He said he thought when he
ran the first time he never would want
his mind, but circumstances had arisen
since his first election by which his
| first term would be a failure unless he
| was reelected. He could not go back
on his letter, and thought the best
thing that could be done WAS to secure
some good man who would carry out his
ideas of reform. ''But the people want
you to carry out your own reforms, gen.
! eral, )" said Cameron.
''How can |, in the face OF my letter,
accept another nomination." inquired
Jackson, tartly.
"Oh, we can fix that easily enough, u"
jauntily replied the young Scotchman,
1.-The country needs you and you have
| no right to refuse to serve It,"
''Rcfuse to serve my country, sir!"
roared Jacksod, "where, when and how
did l ever do such a thing?"
"You never did, and you just stick to
that letter and leave the rest to your
friends until the right time comes,
| WhCu you iuuoU BINC III oDCy
your country's demand for your SER
vices"
Cameron then posted ovor to Harris
burg, where the legislature was in ses-
sion. He drew up IL long series of reso-
lutions requesting Jackson to run
again, and had the legislature pass
them. Other legislatures did the same
| and
AN UNBoUNDED ENTHUSIASM
was created for Old Hickory which
even he could not have withstood If he
had tried. The letter WAS thing of
the past and no longer an obstacle in
Jackson's way. He never forgot The
service Cameron rendered him.
| Cameron was only forty-six years old
when he first went to the United States
senate from Pennsylvania in 1S45. He
| had been in the canvass of 1874 when
James X. Polk and George M. Dallas
ran on the one side and Henry Clay
and Frelinghuysen on the other. Polk
and Dallas were elected and James Bu-
chanan, then Il senator from Pennsyl-
vania, was invited by Mr.. Polk to be
his secretary of state. Cameron had
helped to elect Buchanan to the senate,
but with his usual egotism Buchanan
had forgotten who made him. When
he got Mr.. Polk's letter inviting him
| ,nt ha a. ath ha n,