St. Paul daily globe., 1889-01-07
PHIL SHERIDAN'S GHOST.
A Retired Army Officer Receives
the Dead Generals Visiting

Gard.
There lives in the West end, in Wash
ington, major general, U. S. A., re-
tired, who is famous for his volcanic
temperament and his intense hatred Of
practical Jokes. A tradition is current
among army officers that years ago
when he was a lieutenant IN the
Mexican war, he was the victim of a
practical joke played by some of his
comrades, which cost one man his life
and the general years of disgrace,
remorse and anxiety. From that time
he has naturally been intolerant OF
what some more humorous officers con-
slider simply funny"
The old general has daughter, writes
a Washington correspondent, and there
is young officer stationed here at
| present who is suspected of cherishing
a preference for her above all other
young ladies in army circles. He was a
candidate for one of the staff vacancies
recently filled by the president,
and as the old general has al
ways treated him in the most
considerate and friendly manner, the
lieutenant made bold one evening to
call at the house and solicit his indorse-
| ment. When he rang the door-bell he
was Informed that the general was still
at dinner. The servant took his card,
however, and showed him into the
parlor. The old gentleman was
seated at the head of his table
| with his wife and daughter and lady
guest, when the servant handed him the
card on a tray. He turned white. then
scarlet, and in shrek that might have
been heard in the third story demanded
to know who sent in that card.
Lieutenant So-and-sO," answered
the servant.
The gederal jumped from his chair
and in so doing pulled nearly half the
dinner china to the floor behind him.
He rushed into the parlor, where he
confronted his baShful lieutenant and
began at once to fire at him volleys OF
solid shot, shell, ,shrapnell and dynamite,
while the young men sat pale and in
mute amaZement at the outbreak. Two
or three times he attempted to ask the
cause of the generals anger, but the
latter did not hear him, or at least
would not, and kept firing ejaculations
and anathemas which can be repre-
sented only in a newspaper by series
of daShes. Finally, the old gentleman,
exhausted by passion and excitement,
sank upon the sofa and was surrounded
by the ladies of the household. who i'm
plored him to explain his remarkable
conduct.
"The card! the cardr' was all that he
could say.
The daughter ran into the dining
room, and finding the card upon the
floor, brought it into the parlor. To the
astonishment of everybody it was in
"Philip Fl. Sheridan, Lieutenant
General, U. S. A.''
1t was many minutes before eXplana-
tionS were exchanged. 1t appears that
the young man had been carrying the
visiting card of Gen. Sheridan around
in his pocketboOk as memento for
some months, and had offered it TO the
servant by mistake for one of his
own. The general, On the other
hand, supposed the young officer
was trying to play practical
| joke on him by making him think that
| Gen. Sheridan's ghost had called at the
| house. The lieutenant did not ask for
| the generals Endorsement that evening,
and has not asked for it since, because
the old gentleman has not yet been able
to look upon the incident in rational
manner. Whenever it is alluded to at
the United States club he gfowls like a
wounded tiger, and insists that there is
| no apology or explanation for such an
act. The lieutenant is either fool to
be carrying the card OF a dead man
around in his pocket, or he is knaVe
for sending it to his friends as joke.