The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-16

tars good U.a.. and .aa 8av tho general
. said tome. .I hlve bror iuyted to eabl-
. net ueg-iur and 7 win bring mp your mat
. tgl for action. You wait here tiI come
. back
-I1 less han an hour Grant came back
and said Boo his brief way, 4 have fixed
it, Then Ee ordered Capt Bowers, his
I Score AIRY Foo draw up an order on the
-rterWasrer-gcneral for "a steamship,
g0I.et and manned having sufficient ac-
c1mWodItious for the transportation Of
500 women from New York 10 Seattle, TO
be iu my charge. I waited there till the
order was drawn zap and signed. and then
starte. for New England
'NE real work now began. | travelled
through Mlssaeh Isetts 90 make nay mis-
sion known and recruit my ship load Of
$50 girls.
After two months was assured ofmy
cargo. and went TO Washington TO get the
promised transportation. j took Grants
order To- the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Here encountered setback. Mcigs was
very busy settling up war business, and
was involved in the pending quarrel be-
tween the President and secretary Of
war. lie s'rutinized my requisition and
refused to honor IL.
81 then went to Secretary Stanton, ac-
cOmpduied by Senator Williams OF Ore
gou. The great war secretary was in a
crowded, and, as we entered, he was
s-ormiug q fearful rate about a swind-
ling contractor who was there with a
dead-hOrsc claim. He ordered the fellow
from his Office ana Immediately took up
our matter. He favored the scheme,
but decided that he could not overrule
the quartermaster. He proposed, how
ever. TO aid me by having one Of the war
steamers appraised and condemned for
NJ NO lH on "a
reasonable sum. The steamer COntinen-
tai was selected, and a valuation of 1920
600 placed upon her. The price was con
sidCred a snap, and many were eager to
make the purchase, among them Ben
Holiday who. a. the time, controlled
the steamship lines TO the Pacific coast.
Let me purchase the steamer said
Ben TO me, and / win give your 500
women free passage to the coast
This was finally agreed upon, and the
contract signed. On the strength of this
contract ! issued tickets of transpOrta-
ton to my passengers and arranged for
them to arrive in New Yotk to take pas
sage in the latter part of October, 1863
THE newspapers were at this time full
of the enterprise. 1t was q surprise TO
me, however. when tArec Of the leading
city papers came out one morning with
long articles denounciug the whole bust
ness. These article were based upon stories
which came from san Francisco They
slandered the character of the settlers of
PUGET Sound, claimed that the women
were to be Cntrapped for immoral pur-
poses, and in every way possible
endeavOrod to excite people against
the expedition. The effect of these
influential utterauces may be inn
agined Then morning l received for
ty or fifty letters from women who had
agreed 10 Join my party Withdrawing from
it. In dismay / went to Holiday to plead
for more time 1t was evident he had in
splreG the antagOniStic articles. In fact,
lac refused TO take my party at all unless
the full number of 500 took passage He
pointed to the agreement to this effect,
which he had so dawn by his attorney.
Il went to William Cullen Bryan of
the New York Evening Post and showed
him my letters and credentials and ex-
planned the situation Mr. Bryan molly
came to my rescue, printed these letters
IN his paper, and added his own earnest
commentator OF my plans. This was
good lift. One day about this time also
old Peter Cooper quietly strolled into my
office. The Old gentleman looked around
and said:
My young friend, I want to see you
succeed, and have come down to tell
You so. If can help you, you may com
mand me-
He added many other expressions of
friendly interest, and, before the steamer
left sent me fine collection of books to
be added to the ships library for our
long voyage.
FINALLY three hundred of the girls
were gathered in New York, ready to
make the trip. The Continental was
coaled and manned and in waiting. Hol-
liday refused to take my party except at
the rate of 500 each. This amount l
guaranteed and paid.
"On the morning of January 4, 1855. the
girls embarked, and amid the cheers of a
large crowd assembled on the wharf the
steamer started on its long Journey. The
voyage lasted nearly six months, and was
marked by no misfortune or exciting
incidents. Except the crew of thirty or
forty, there We're only two men passen-
gers. The girls took to the life agreeably
as vacation time and occupied the
hours by sewing, writing, reading. sing
ing, etc. We had Sunday services, in
which I read Beechors sermons, and the
girls sang the hymns. There was q GOOD
library on theship, which was in constant
use Dances were frequent, and various
games served to vary the monotony of
those long days upon the ocean No sick
ness occurred, except seasickneSs.
AT last the supreme moment arrived
when we were to reach San Francisco.
On the Esd of May, 1886, we steamed
through the Golden Gate. Our arrival
had been expected for several DAYS. Elk
element was at fever heat. 1t was one
OF those times when San Francisco gets a
move on herself. AS we sailed up along
the wharyes black surging mass crowd
cd every avenue of approach for three or
four miles. Even st distance we could
hear the mighty cheers that swept across
Che water. We came to anchorage, but
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