Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-11-12

| leading citizens in those timee and body Of
rare hustlers they must have been as we'll The
committee secured an official seal which bore
| the inscription jackson Monument Com
mittee," stamped an immense blank subscrip-
| ton list with il and then went cunning after
| substantial promises for the cash.
Gen. W. ]. Worth OF the army, who was then
stationed in New York and had Just returned
| in the Mexican war, promptly headed the list
| with $50 subscription, and the cosmopolitan
nature OF the enterprise became apparent when
G. A. Clarke, who wrote down his occupation
as messenger at the city hall, placed 81 OPP
poeite his name directly after the Mexican hero
This seemed to so inspire everybody that BY
the middle Of January. 1S49, the committee had
| filled its first list chock full of names and all
sorts OF autographs, varying from the rounded
business hand to the veriest scrawi George
Bancroft had Just received his appointment as
minister to England, and, before leaving to take
up official duties, honored the committee with
an additional promise to give sl00, when the
"cashing-in" process was begun. This SUBJ
scriptior was afterward paid by draft sent from
London, and: SO exact was the treasurer Of the
committee, that he deducted ninety-three cents
from the total, being then the rate Of exchange,
and entered Mr.. Bancroft's contribution as
S99.07 upon the official showing Clark Mills
subscribed $40, and, curiously enough, the
same gentleman was afterward selected to be
the statues sculptor
gregate OF some %, 900 as a result Of the first
month"; skirInishing, and while the committee
started new Lists the collector began to cell In
the pledged money. Evidently it was all COL
lected except subscription Of IS. made by
John Green Clarke, for q foot note declares So
and opposite to Mr.. Claikes name appears this
Endorsement Of the collector: "Afr. Clarke re-
fused to pay me when ! called, January 81,
lsls, and acted in very ungentlemanly man
ner."
work and prepare the statue, but for some
reason or other the committee found the whole
amount could not be raised by subscription,
and through lack Of public interest the new
lists did not meet with much encouragement.
1t finally became necessary TO request an ap-
preparation from Congress to complete the
statue. A pretty large sum was still needed,
but the Thirty-frst Congress must have con-
tanned a watchdog of the treasury" and a
filibusterer or two also, because the expected
sum was cut down in conference and only
$1,000 was appropriated August 81, 1852. This
amount was legislated to the President for the
desired purpose, but meanwhile the committee
had met with no better luck and the total sum
was still long distance off. No doubt the
committee had plenty of credit, however, and
the sculptor was willing to wait a while longer
for his pay, feeling rather certain the next
session of Congress would remedy matters by
appropriating the balance. So the statue was
unveiled with fitting ceremonies January 8,
1853 the anniversary Of ''Old Hickory's''
victory over the British at New Orleans
The committee was short $4,000, and bill
asking that much finally passed on March
8, 1885, one day before the close Of the session.
There we're in reality two bills making up this
appropriation, one calling for $4,000 to COM
piete payment for the pedestal ind $50. 900
being granted by the other for the sculptor's
services. The curious part Of this latter bill
was that $4,000 was withheld from Mills
through the express provisions of the act
passed by Congress The sculptor only re-
ceived $4,000 in spot cash, and Congress di-
rected that the remaining $40, 600 should be in
vested, Mills to receive the income during life
and the principal to be paid to his heirs at
death. 1t was curious provision, aud proba-
bly, there is no parallel case among the con-
gressional records
Still another sum of $500 was found neces-
sary to complete the Enclosure in which the
statue now stands, and on May 81. 1854, Con-
gress gave this last amount, which put the
committee out Of debt for good and finished
"Old Hickorys monument in every detail.