Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-14

death last week, has Of late years lived at
2l1 Penn street. Huntingdon, Pa, beloved
| for his goodness and respected for his ex-
emplary piety by the entire community. Mr..
Majors evidence may be regarded as con-
| elusive. Besides his intimate personal rela-
| lions with Randolph, his father, John Ma
| jor. ST., was an eye witness of the assault
| and related the circumstances infinitely to
| the son. who in turn preserved the record
| with jealous care. and he himself. as a
member of the crack military organization
| known as the Fredericksburg Rife Grays
which acted as a guard around the Presi-
| dents person on the arrival at Fredericks-
burg and during the public dinner given
| there the next day, had exceptional oppor-
| tunities to obtain the accounts Of other eve
witnesses and to observe the Presidents
| appearance with his own eyes. He was
| over eighty-five years Of age when he died
/ last Thursday, with snowwhite hair, beard
and eyebrows, yet his memory Of past
| events was wonderfully clear and his story
| of the presidential assault Of sixty years
back, as related to the writer short time
since. sounded fresh and vivid as the re-
| port of an event that might have happened
| only yesterday.
| In the circumstances leading up to the as
sault were curiously interviewer the tangled
| life-threads Of numerous persons of high Of
| fetal and social position. John B. Timber
| lake, purser of the United States frtgate
! Constitution, committed suicide on April 2
| 1928. at Port Mahon. where his vessel was
| lying, on account of domestic troubles. BY
! direction of Commodore Patterson, COM
mauding, Lieut.. Randolph was ordered to
/ assume the duties of acting purser as Tim
| berlake's successor. There was some irreg-
ularity in the transfer of responsibility, and
| no inventory was taken of the money, goods
and effects until after the arrival of the YES
| sci at Charlestown. Mass. Randolph sub
! seGuertly rendered an account from his
/ standpoint of the stores they had come
! into his custody, but 1t was rejected and
Randolph was accused of fraud. court
| of inquiry ordered to look into the trans
/ action, held him accountable for 81 303 IN
| Il no of ,harl
| estate. but expressly generating the act
| ing purser of any attempt to defraud or
| deceive.
The Thread Becomes Tangled.
Now. Undertake had left widow, who.
shortly after her husbands death, married
John H. Eaton, Secretary Of War under
Jackson, the most influential member of the
Presidents cabinet and the closest of his
personal advisers. Undertakes widow. az
Mrs. Secretary Eaton. was widely known as
a beautiful and fascinating woman-so fasci-
mating indeed that, whether justly or I'M
! justly, she incurred the enmity of the other
cabinet ladies and was denied social recoe-
| milton by them. Secretary Eaton took up
| the gauntlets in her behalf and even carried
her defense into the cabinet meetings, de-
| handing there that the wives of his col
leagues should recognize his wife in social
equality. The President was in a dilemma.
but contrived to mend matters all round BY
sending his favorite secretary abroad on a
mission. after only two years service in the
War Department Before his departure
abroad. however, Secretary Eaton was
naturally anxious that his wife should re-
ceive the money claimed to be due her from
the accounts of Purser Undertake her late
husband, and accordingly he exerted his
| influence with the President and with Levi
Woodbury., Secretary of the Navy, to have
the case against Randolph pushed vigorous
iy. Acting on Secretary Eatons suggestion,
Secretary Woodbury. brought pressure to
bear upon Randolph to make him pay the
apparent deficit. Randolph Indignantly re-
| fused. and then the President, taking the
case into his own hands and reviewing the
! findings Of the board of inquiry, issued an
executive order for Randolph's dismissal
from the navy, at the same time charging
him with having presented to the account
| Ing officers . budget composed OF unfounded