The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-08-04

DENT HAYES.
the fact that the Colonel went back to the
Southern Brigadiers the accredited repre-
sentative of Mr.. Hayes. OF course he had
no documentary credentials, but from the
conversation had with him then he was
able to prove that he was in active com
munication with the future President.
Everything now was easv He would re-
turn to Mr.. Hayes as the representative
| of the Southern people, and then in the
shortest possible time would return to
them again as the agent of Mr.. Hayes. In
this way he played most important part.
Neither side discredited him, and when
the agreement was actually made in
| Wormley's Hotel by Mr.. Foster with the
Southern leaders to deliver to them their
| State Governments, undoubtedly the Col
onel is to be credited with the preliminary
work which led up to this meeting and
agreement.
Up to this time his receptions had
harmed no one. / do not think under
meath the Colonel was man of bad pro-
pensities. He was simply lacking in
moral fibre and thought that he could
create position for himself in the world
based wholly upon misrepresentation.
! When Mr.. Hayes became President of the
| United States the Colonel had such rela-
tions at the White House that all doors
opened before him. A Cabinet officer
could not have had easier access to the
| President. Within very short time after
| Mr.. Hayes inauguration the Colonel was
appointed to one of the best civilian an
pointments in the War Department. Here,
| if he had been quiet and content with the
| good fortune thus far secured, he might
| have remained undisturbed until the end
of his life. But his actually being in the
service of the War Department revived
all of his military fctions and he sought
/ at once the right to wear the uniform of
an officer of the United States Army He
was told that no ex-Confederate could be
appointed to the army and thus he found
that his first fiction stood in the way of
what he might have otherwise secured.
| He now went to the Governor of Louisiana
and through his newspaper connections
! obtained staff appointment. The Gov
! ernor afterward denied that he
made any such appointment; but it
is probable that the Colonel told the
! truth concerning this. The Colonel then
went to work and had uniform devised,
| copied after one of the most brilliant in
the Austrian army. He appeared in it
upon many public occasions, and in so do
| ing excited the attention of an army Off
Ger. Col Bacon, then a member of the staff
of Gen. Sherman. Col Bacon was Ken
tuckian and lived in the same hotel with
| the Colonel He thought that the Colonels
uniform made the War Department ride
ulous. and he set on foot a series of inves-
! LEGATIONS which brought out the real his
| tory Of the Colonel. But before he was
successful the Colonel had captured fully
| the regard and esteem of Townsend, the
then Adjutant- General of the army. Gen.
| Townsend was a man of the most formal
character His mind was stepped in the
traditions of military etiquette. The
Colonel fiattered him by paying him the
most marked attention and observing in
his relations with him the finest
punctiho of military etiquette. A
|
forms Gen Townsend held must
be trained soldier. AT any rate,
| the Colonel had no difficulty in convincing
him of the accuracy of his military knowl-
edge, and actually got the General to issue
an order that the Colonel should be adj
dressed in military correspondence as Col
onel. and that he should be entitled to the
I eaI, 8 Cn1 oil
1t was about this time that the Colonel
had the happiest period of his romantic
career He had obtained leave of alb
sence of two months from the War De-
partment. and armed with letter of in
PRODUCTION from the Adjutant-General of
the United States, went to Europe, taking
with him in his trunk this special uniform
| which he had made, and which was COW
cred with more gold lace and braid than
any uniform ever made before or since.
He found nothing in his pathway in Eu-
rope; he was accredited to Lord Wolseley,
| the actual Commander-in-Chief of the
British Army, and was his guest at the an
nual manauvres at Wimbledon. A per-
sonal friend of mine saw him one day in
full military rig. seated at the right hand
of Lord Wolseley, his most honored guest,
and heard afterwards compliment after
compliment from English officers who adj
mired the correct knowledge, the rnodesty
OF this officer of the United States.
1t was a great pity that he ever re-
turned. Fortified as he was he might
have remained in Europe for years, but hs
came back to his fate, which was, OF
course. discovery and exposure Col
Bacon had nothing poetic in his nature.
He could not appreciate the ideal character
which the Colonel had built up for him.
self. and so with coarse rudeness he took
upon himself, through very proper mill
tary channels, 70 find out just who the
Colonel was 4 friend of his, distin-
/ guished eS-Confederste officer, then IN
charge Of the Bureau of Rebellion Records.
was then engaged ii making up the roster
Of the Confederate samy. Col Bacon s
attack upon the Colonel was very direct.
He asked the chief of this bureau 10 call
upon the Colonel 10 give his regiment and
the rank occupied by him in the Gonfed-
crate service. as be was then sending ogs
10 every available ex-Confederate officer
for information necessary TO complete tbs
roster. The Colonel made the mistake
OF giving q definite and expiicts