Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-25

was his competitor in that literary contest and /
among the judges to decide on the merits of |
the plans submitted was George i. Norris, VIM /
Cullen Bryant and others OF Ike matured !
Judgment 1 had supposed Mr.. Hewitt had /
long since passed away. for in the days when |
his songs were familiar he was = man of /
mature age and one who had already obtained |
recognition in the world of music aud litera-
ture. hardly recall a single individual who 4
was with us then. The orators whose voices /
made the ''wigwam" ring with their praises OF 1
Henry Clay, and those whose melody aided in |
proclaiming his greatness. silent IN death |
Nearly half q century has rolled away And what /
are now the necessities of life had then no ex- /
istence.
BEGINNING OF woSDERs
1t was not until the following year. Is4s. |
that Prof. Morse had so far perfected his tele- |
graph between here and Baltimore as to give
US the first evidence OF its capabllitv. Prof
Espy was engaged in what has since grown
into such magnitude. the weather report and
was advancing his theory of producing rain
when needed by heavy cannonading Sam
Colt was here at that time. and had been For
some years, exhibiting his revolver TO unbeliev-
ing ordnance officers. and suffering in poverty
from neglect Of his great inventions. The
Mexican war, however. proved il 10 DO all he
had claimed for IT, and from want be rose TO
wealth and distinction. The like good fortune
awaited Prof. Morse. While suffering from the
tardv action of Congress he found friend in
the Hon. Amos Kendall. ] don't remem-
Der II Prof Espy prognosticated storms. but
whlle he was writing on the subject we had
here the first cyclone on record. 4 friend,
who reminds me of II. says all the atmospheric
appearances which nowadays precedo those
destroyers were seen in tins case. The same
stiffness IN the air and closeness and heat. and
1t came visibly from the Potomac. up the canal.
until 1t met an impediment IN the old Marsh"
market. now Center market. De Bacourt,
from whose hbelous book quoted last week,
says OF 1t in a letter under date August IA. Al:
"A man from the state of Ohio has written TO the
mayor OF Washington that this CITY is threat
ened by terrible earthquake. which will be
preceded by very remarkable event. At the
very time the mayor was reading the letter a
waterspout destroyed the greater part OF the
public market and injured several houses
This was thought TO be the precursor indicated
by the writer OF the letter, and last night all
the negro population and many OF the whites
went some distance from Washington to Sleep"
SAD AND PAINFUL INCIDENTS.
The year Of which was speaking and which
was recalled to me by the death Of Prof John
FL. Hewitt. was one full OF sad and painful in
cidents which TRANSFERRED here. The calamity
on the steamer Princeton by which two mem
bers OF Mr.. Tyler's cabinet met their death
was followed by the hanging Of M!dshipman
Spencer. the son of the Secretary of the
Treasury, by Capt. Slidell Mckenzie a brother
OF the late John Slidru of louisiana. Tie
changed his name to inherit a fortune The
whole country sympathized with the affected
father, who resigned his cabinet position and
returned TO his home-Now York. Mckenzie
was tried by court-martial but acquitted a
proceeding which did not mitigate the uni
versal condemnation which drove him into
retracy. and where in few years he died A
letter of James Fennimore Coopers would make
interesting reading even at this late day, forty
SIX years after the terrible event which calico
it forth
These two events created the most intense ex
element tnrOuphOut thu whnla hut
here, about the same time. the duel between
Julian May and Joseph Cochrane. which re-
suited IN the death of the latter, thrilled the
city with the most painful sensations. The
news OF the duel fell upon our citizens, shock
ing them beyond any preceding event of like
character. These two young men, barely of
age, were known to almost everybody. Julian
May was born here and his family had OBJ
tanned q standing in the community second to
none. DIR. Frederick May, his father, eminent
In his professional career, was universally re-
spected. His brothers held positions Of honor
in the army, where Col. Charles Mays heroism
Is matter OF history, and in the navy William
May was recognized as an able officer
In the learned professions of law and medicine
| the names of DIR. John 4. May and Henry Nav
take rank among the highest Joseph Coch-
rane, the brother of the late John T. Cochrane,
for years chief clerk of the War Department
and OF DIR. Richard Cochrane, was, think, not
more than twenty years OF age. A foolish
quarrel, which occurred in the evening. led to
the duel, which was fought at daylight next
morning. DR.. Thomas Miller, who accom-
panied them to the field, with DR.. Cornelius
Boyle, tried in vain to bring about a reconciia-
ton, having gone 10 the field as q mutual
friend, hoping TO prevent the duel In long
| card published by DIR. Miller who WIS severely
censured by the public, he says he made every
effort to bring about settlement and that Mr.
May, who had challenged Cochrane had with
drawn the challenge, to allow an explanation,
but In vain. Cochrane insisted upon the duel
proceeding, and then, as Dr. Miller SAYS he re-
manned to render any professional aid that
might become necessary. At the first fire Coch-
| rane fell mortally wounded. Julian Nav became
an exile-was appointed a lieutenant in the
Mounted Rifles, when organized, but think he
never returned to Washington. 1 met him
years afterward at the Aston House in New
York, terribly changed and, as he told me, very
unhappy.
A PROPHETIC DREAM.
A dream had the night before this duel
may interest the readers OF THE STAR as a re-
markable one. / had been with Nav and Coch-
rane In the afternoon and evening of the day
preceding the sad event. but left them to re-
turn to the InteligeRcer Office, as did nightly
and from there l went home. At that time Dr.
Tobias Watkins was on the staff of editorial
writer's for the National InteHigencer and was
one Of the earliest to arrive in the morning
This night dreamed the doctor and myself
were travelling somewhere on horseback and
drrlNeu AT d mouse on the rOdQSlQe TO sleep.
We were accommodated and shown into a
sleeping apartment Oh the right-hand side
The house was double one We entered
1t was a large room, with two beds in diagonal
corners of the room. / took the bed in the
rear and DR.. Watkins the one in front near the
window. pistol shot, 1 dreamed. awakened
me, and saw DR.. Watkins had been shot in
the head just above the eye. The dream was
SO vivid and distressing could not sleep again.
Reaching the Office at my usual hour DIR Wat
kins generally preceded me) and not finding
the doctor there l told my dream to Mai. Don
Ohio and expressed fear that my dream was
prophetic of some misfortune to the doctor,
but IN q few minutes the doctor entered and
/ repeated my dream and told of my
distress. few minutes after and while
talking Of it a friend raped on my win
dow, and going to him he told me Of the duel
and that Cochrane was yet alive, and requested
me to 20 out as soon as could, calling at Dr.
Bitches in Georgetown and get certain instru-
ments, the written names of which he handed
me. Terribly shocked as l was, / told Mai
Donoho and DR.. Watkins the sad news, and
hiring a horse 1 started for the place as di-
rected-''the first house on the rIght-hand side
after crossing the Chain bridge" / obtained
the instruments from DIR. Rtchie's and crossed
the Chain bridge, and before me was the house
of my dream, as familiar as il had known il for
years. was shown into the room on the right
hand side, and there was the room Of my
dream The two beds in diagonal corners and
poor Joe Cochrane in the bed next the window.
and the wound exactly as / had seen it in my
dream. The place where the duel was fought
was equally familiar, though 1 had never seen
either house or grove until that morning.
laava IN those versed in the knowledoa which