The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1890-09-06
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
From OurregGIar Correspondent
wAsHINeToy, D. O, August 27, 1870

WASHINGTON, ID. G., August p, 1870.
Mrs Gen. John A. Logan. would at
tract attention by her striking appear
ance In the worlds most distinguished
assemblies: Her handsome intellectual
face and sparkling eyes, under a legal
crown of natural snow white hair. is
well known in Washington, and vet,
when | saw her driven down one of our
busiest streets yesterday every other
person stopped to stare at her carriage.
True the turnout is somewhat odd and
yes, | might rs well say it-eonspieuous.
Imagine the body OF an ordinary side
bar box buggy slightly increased in
length and width, perched upon the top
of unusually high carriage springs,
while the drivers seat in front is higher
still. and you haye crude idea of the
vehicle. The coachman is young
black man and the horses an elegant
pair of very dark bays. almost black
exactly matched, showing spirited move
ment their good breeding, to say nothing
of the hard cash they represent, The
turnout is Il far more expensive one than
the late General ever owned, and ln.li-
Gates that the widow is prosperous.
which her hard work, ami otherwise,
entities her to be. Mrs. Logan invaria-
bly, dresses in black and her intimate
friends say that she will never wear any
thing else. No woman, not excepting
Mrs. Cleveland. was ever more popular
in Washington.
The Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, or as
free and easy Frank Hatton has dubbed
him, Teddy Roosevelt, who has gone
to spend his vacation with the COWBOYS
on his western ranch, has already become
one of the characters Of Washington, and
despite the unropularity of the civil
service commission, of which he is part.
he has attained wide personal poFu-
larity by his many manly qualities. He
IS young, handsome and us pugnacious
as ever Ben Butler was in his younger
days. He is also Il hard hitter, and
never fails TO give his opponent all the
punishment possible when he gets the
upper hand. His natural field is in u
Legislative body; and it is earnestly
hoped that he will get out of the civil
service grave yard and get himself
elected to the House of Representatives.
Such men are always welcomed; by the
newspaper men, If not by congressman
Samuel l.. Clemens, better known as
- Mark Twain" is lingering around his
old Washington haunts. He is here in
the interest of the International copy
| right bill, and no man has lost mote
money on account of the absence of SUCH
law as this bill proposes than he. Mr..
| Clemens was once. away back in the dim
past. All humble Washington CORES
p0ndent, and there is an old house near
the City Hall in which he the late II. j /.
Ransdell, the late Charles Halpine
("Prlvate Miles O'Rielly') and other
newspaper correspondents had rooms
during the late sixties or early seventies.
The house was pointed out to me one
day, several years before his death, by
Mr.. Ramsdell, and very naturally spoke
of the pleasant memories which must
cluster around home occupied by such
men. ''Yes" said Mr.. RaMsdcll, II
often smile at my recollectiOns of those
times and the fun we used TO have: but
there was also something decidedly uns
pleasant about it,"
"What is Jhat?" | asked. '.Tira,
scent of the filthy old pipe which Cle-
tnens uss d to preaist ia Snokin1 N
preference to good cigars; feel cHrtaiti
that it still Ciings 10 the walls Of the
room in which he used 10 sit and smOAe
almost constantly" replied Mr.. X unsr
dell, who dislikrd the scant OF u pipe
more then any man ever met.
BY the way, speaking of Charlie Hall
pine reminds me that he for qaite itwnile
ala some PECULIAR work aS II Washington
correspondent. He had the good fUrt.:ue
10 be on the very best of terms with the
great rivals in New York journalism.
Horace Greeley and james Gordon BEN
net, the elder, ana he actually repre-
scented both the Herald and tue Ti'io,ttE
in this city at the same tim. writing up
the news of each day from the directly
opposite standpoints OF the rival editors.
1t has since then become popular for one
man 10 represent syndicates Of papers;
but he was the first and probably the
only man who ever ate npted to repre-
sent two rival, newspapers published ia
the same city, in order to fully appre-
ciate the difficult task he assumed il
must not be forgotten that political mat
tiers, which formed the basis for nine |
tenths. of his matter, were in wild |
and turbulent state at the time, and that |
Greeley and Bennett were not only OPP |
ponents Ia the columns of their papers,
but hated each other as bitterly as pos
sible. How Halpine, with all his versa
Utility managed to satisfy both of these
editors | never could see, but he must
have done so for they both remained
his friends until his deaths