The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-11

Especial Correspondence.
NEW YORK, Jan 25.-Several newspaper
writers were chatting after luncheon thu
other day when one of them happened Il
remark that Senator Francis Marion Cock
rell, of Missouri, and Colonel John A
Cockerill, the well known New York edi
tor, were brothers, and that they spelled
their names differently for some reason
This statement was at once challenged, TO
the very good reason that it was not true
but there would have been no very grea
wonder had it been true, for each one a
the table was able at once to recall som,
instance in which members Of the sam.
| family spelled their name differently o.
changed it entirely. And indeed Colone
| Cockerill and Senator Cockrell are kins
men and their ancestors names were onct
spelled in the same way.
As these men were journalists it wa:
natural for them all TO jump al once upor
| the instance in their own profession where
| one OF its most distinguished member:
spelled his name in way different from
| that used by others of his family. Mr.
| William Henry Hurlbert, who was the
editor of The World before Mr.. Pulitzer
bought that property, was brother OF
General Stephen Hurlbut, who represented
| Illinois in congress, and who died while
minister to Peru. They were both born in
South Carolina, and yet ever since either
| of them attracted public attention they
! spelled their names differently l have
! heard many fantastic reasons assigned for
| the difference, but none of them seemed
worthy of credeDce The truth probably
| is that Mr. Hurlbert, who is a very scholar
| ~ man, had learned in his researches that
bert" was the original way of spelling the
last syllable of his name and he restored it
to that, while the general was content to
keep his as he got it from his father
| Another gentleman present at the lunch
con recalled that General Abram Duryee,
| who was colonel of the famous Seventh
regiment some half century ago, and who
| when the war broke out took the pictur-
esque "Duryee's Zouaves" to the front.
| spelled his name differently from others of
his family-the great starch manufacture
ers, for instance, the Duryea's of Glen
Cove. We were literally flooded with in
stances where one brother Smith would
keep his name as it had been given TO him,
while another would make il Smyth OF
Smythe. And the same was said of Brown,
Browne and Broun. But these are of toe
common occurrence to provoke comment
There died few months ago an author
who quarter of century ago was a man
of note and had been so for years before
He had stopped literary work long ago,
however, and when he passed away had
been almost forgotten, This was Herman
Melville, who wrote ''Types-A Peep at
Polynesian Life, - "Omoo-A Narrative OF
4. Il. a.
tales Of life at sea. Mr.. Melville had added
an ''eS to his name, as his grandfather
Major Thomas MelYill, had done without
it for more than eighty years. This Major
Meiyill, by the way, was a member of the
party which threw the tea overheard in
the Boston harbor in those stirring times
of royal aggression and Colonial revolt.
This old Major MelviIl was distinguished,
too, in another regard, as he was the last
man in the United States to habitually
wear the cooked hat and knee breeches OF
the Continental period. He died in 1882.
Doubtless Mr.. Herman Melville but re
stored an ''e' which by some chance had
been dropped.
An instance was recalled of two broth
ers, both distinguished public men, bearing
entirely different names. These two were
United States navy, and United States
Senator John SlideIl, of Louisiana. And
each of these made great stir in his day.
Captain Mackenzie commanded the war
ship Somers in 1872 and while at sea what
was thought to be mutiny was discov.
cred. The leaders were ordered to be
hanged at the yardarm, though one OF
them, Midshipman Spencer, was the son
OF the secretary of war.
This naturally raised no end of a row
when Captain MackenZie's ship reached
New York; but the authorities sustained
him in his action and public opinion was
with him. But it is an episode in the his
tory of the navy which will never be for
gotten, and every now and again the con
troversy over Mackenzie's action breaks
out afresh. a year or two ago Gail Ham
ilton published long review taking the
Spencer side.
MackenZies brother, John Slidell was
an actor in another drama at sea, and one
of more farreaching Importance than that
in which young Spencer lost his life. In
1851 Slidell, of Louisiana, and Mason, OF
Virginia, were sent by the Confederates to
Europe on diplomatic business. They
sailed from Havana on the English steamer
Trent. Captain Charles Wilkes, com
handing the United States man-of-war
San Jacinto, intercepted the Trent, and
taking off Messrs Slidell and Mason car
ried them as prisoners TO Fort Warren, in
Boston harbor. The Trent affair created
great stir all over the world.
Captain Wilkes was commended bv the
navy department and received the thanks
of congress for his action, but his prisoners
were set free by the president, who also
apologized to the British government To
have maintained the justice of Captain
Wilkes action the United States would
have had TO abandon its contention against
the right Of search at sea. about which the
Americans went 70 war with Great Britain
in 1872. This John Slidell and his brother,
Captain Mackenzie, were, by the way. ma
tives of New York city, where a very long
time ago their father, a Slidell, was a
merchant in the swamp, As that locality /
is called in which the leather trade is 10 !
Gated. The difference in the names was |
not due to any quarrel, but for private !
family reasons.
Phips and Phipps are very common and 1
very excellent names in New England. |
The first Phips of which there Is record /
was Sir William PhipS, who was governor !
of Massachusetts in the Seventeenth cen
fury. He spelled his name with only one /
p at the end. and his spelling i pre- /!
served by many of his descendants. though I
Just rs many others lengthen II by the adj /
dtion of another p" In the time of Sir /
William people were not particular about |
spelling, and it may be that the later I
PhlppSes know quite as we'll as he did how I
many ''ps' they are entitled 70.
In South CarDIiDa here ara TWO branches 4