Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-03-07
WHEN GREELEY SWORE.
On One Such Occasion a Senator Was
the Victim of His Wrath.

Kate Field: Did you ever hear
Horace Greeley swear?" asked Sem
ator Chandler, as we sat before a wood
fire one cold day.
"NO, but I've often been told by his
associates on The Tribune that his
vocabulary of anathema was appalling
ly fluent and never SO lavishly X
pended as when matters We're not to
his liking i'm the office. They say that
the CONTRAST between his benevolent
physiognomy and the bloOd-curdling
~outpourings of his tongue was most
lu1icrouS. Nobody minded these on
slaughts. 1t was Greeley's way"
Il heard Greeley swear twice. First,
i'm 1868, when l occupied the unenvi-
able position of secretary to the Ma
tiOnal Republican committee. John
Sherman had suggested aging the ma
tional debt in sreenbacks, and the way
our friend rent the air with choice
English startled me, who was blown
up for another mans sins. The sec
ond explosion occurred in 1869. on Ihe
might of Grants second inaugural ball,
given in the treasury building"
did Horace Greedy actually go to
a ball?"
Eyes, and he met me there, I'm sorry
to say. What a night of anguish that
was. Probably never in the whole Iis-
tory of balls was there ever such a
fiasco as that ball; and the awful part
of it to me was the aTEpe aaance of my
name on the local committee"
Il suppose, like most persons on most
committees, you had done nothing"
'"Tl11th compels ME to admit the hard
impeachment. The gas refused to
burn, and people went about in funeral
gloom. No preparation had been
made for the proper disposition of
mems and WO1Den'S hats and wraps,
and the air was redolent of oaths.
Those who arrived first had their hats
and coats laid OIL the floor. When
the floor gave out, PeliOn was piled
on Ossa, as it were, and on the pr4S4n-
tation of checks, chaos set in. Attend
ants COMPOUNDED confusion by wading
through this black sea in search of sub
merged apparel which they failed to
ind. Then the wild animal, not too
carefully concealed in my sex at best,
broke loose and seized whatever bat
or coat fitted and strobe off, Leaving q
blue streak in his wake. Timidly
climbing the stairs in the vicinity of
the cloak room, hoping to escape UNI
observed by irate members off the men-
agerie, | suddenly faced Horace Gree
ley hatleSs, with d silk handkerchief
tied under his chin. Selling me by
the throat with both hands, this mus
cular Christian gave nle .IIch a shak-
ing as would have greatly benefited
me had it been administered 1t the
age of 10. Chandler roared Greeley
then followed emphatic language in
Guiding a word spelled with a big,
Big D. ARE you on the committee?
Is this your internal dOings?' BY this
time Greeley had shaken every tling
out of me. even the truth. Forgetting
George Washington and his cherry
tree, forgetting precepts learned at my
mothers knee, / lied; yes L did.
Member of the committee? Certainly
walked down stairs in a hurricane Of
a temper
"Were you committeeman held re-
sponsible for losses?"
"We were obliged to employ coun-
sci and make cOmplainants write out
their losses in full and swear to them,
or we'd have been bankrupt. IT was
amazing how new and how expensive
the lost articles grew as time wore on,
and they were not forthcoming. The
net receipts of the hall were about
$4,000. In order ito protect ourselves
from imposition, we announced that
whatever sum of money remained in
the treasury after satisfying demands
would be given to the poor. Thus we
were able to save about 81 800 for
charity. ] have never been to an in
augura1 ball since that awful night"
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