The morning call., 1893-12-10


l1ents valuables or his person.
The police inside the White House are
the most important OF the Presidents
watch dogs. SuppOsing the crank to have
passed the policeman on the grounds, he
enters the White House by the front door.
This has massive lock. and it is never
left standing open. 1t admits you to the
great veStlbule of the executive mansion,
which is. you know, twice as big as the
average city parlor, and which is shut off
from the rest of the house by walls at the
ends and by a great glass screen at the
back. This vestibule always contains
from three to five guards. Some of them
are the messengers of the White House
and others are policemen in uniform. 1t
is only within the last few months that
police uniforms have been used in the
White House. These policemen are heavy
set fellows. They are the pick of the
force. and they are men who have good
detective faculties, as well as strong mus
cles and courageous hearts. They can u>u-
ally detect a crank at a glance, and every
visitor who comes into the White House
has to pass under their eyes. One of
them usually sits or stands at the right
Of the door as you come in, and if you pass
! the doorkeeper you are motoned to the
left. Going across the vesIibule, you find
here the door that leads yOn to the hall
and to the east room. Here there is an
other policeman on guard, and if you have
ho UuoiucSS Will iut IItSlueuI IUdu
does not permit you to mount the stairs.
You are permitted to go into the east
room and look about but no further. The
action of the vaDdal who cut the green
room curtains and sofas will probably
prevent the private rooms of the White
House being open te the public for some
time to come.
This man recalls case which happened
during the days of President Lincoln.
woman slghtseer, in her anxiety 10 carry
away relic of the White House, had
taken pair of scissors and shipped a
piece out of the lace curtain. She was
caught in the act and was taken I'D to
sermon but let her go. The man who cut
the green room furniture seems to have
been actuated by the desire 10 destroy
rather than to have been a relic hunter.
Ii was in this way that son of United
States Senator broke into the White House
OF long ago. He got in through the win
dow of the red room, but it was found that
he was drunk rather than crazy, and the
matter was huShed up. A Ted-headed crank
from Idaho haunted the grounds back of
the White House for some days about the
time OF the close of the last session of Con-
gress. lie was crazy on the subject of the
silver bill. and probably medi ated some
injury to the President His case was in
vestgated by the police, and it was found
that he had written threatening letters to
the President He escaped. however, be-
fore his true character was known.
Grover Cleveland does all OF his work
above stairs. 1t is on the second floor of
the executive mansion that the President
and his family live. and this is the part of
the White House which is most carefully
watched. The liviDg-rooms of the family
are at the west end of this floor. The end
| nearest the treasury is devoted to ofices,
and it is always filled with clerks aud mes
This / the nnlV art hof ia
cessble to people VINO have public busi-
ness. These men, after they have passed
the guards downstairs. are allowed to go
up the staircase between the east room and
the vestibule. At the top of this there is
a guard In citizens clothes, and passing
across a hall you come in to another cnrri-
dor, in the rooms of which at the back are
the Offices of the President and Mr.. Thur
Der. and also the big parlor in which the
Cabinet meets.
As you step into this corridor you see
seated at desk one Of the most trusted
servants ana best watchmen any ruler has
ever known. This is Sergeant Loeffler, the
special messenger of the President He is
wiry, sharp-eyed man with a gray mus
| tache. No one knows how old he is, but
his muscles are like iron. He was fighting
the Indians long before the war began
and for the past twenty years be has been
one of the coB fdential servants of the
White House. 1t Is he who takes in The
cards that reach the President. He knows
all the prominent men of the country and
he sometimes detects bad characters who
have passed the men below. In this same
corridor you find a couple of colored
guards. among them Arthur, who has
been the messenger of the private secretary
of the President for years, and if you are
an unknown man your card will be given
by Sergeant Loeffler to Arthur, and YOU
will have to go in and have an interview
with Private Secretary Thurber before
you can pierce the divinity which hedges
our American king. Mr.. Thurber has
naturally great reverence for the Presi-
dent. He appreciates the dangers which
surround him. and one must have indeed
good credentials and an honest face to be
admitted by him into President Cleveland's
o flee. Just across the hall are the offices
of another corps of clerks, including
Colonel William II. Crook, WHO has been
twenty-eight years connected with the ex-
ecutiye mansion. and who was one of
President Lincoln's special body-guards
when he made his trip to Richmond. All
OF the employees of the White House are
connected with the President and the pri-
vate secretary by electric bells, and the
whole army could be called into the Presi-
dents room by the pressure of button.