Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-03-21
Cnthartic In tho Whisky.

Daniel Il. Slater, the New York may
orS messenger, Is a herculean colored
man, who has had q varied and inter
eStlng career. He was born In Virginia
OF slave parents In 1856, says the Com
mercial and when the war broke out
MS parents and other adult slaves were
kept In ignorance of the fact until the
emancipation proclamation was issued.
Then the entire slave household was
hurried off to Tennessee, where ulti-
mately they obtained their freedom at
the close of the war. Daniels father was
very deVout man and when his son
reached the age of Is intended to make
him preacher. Dan, however did not
take kindly to the idea and ran away
from home. He got a position In q hotel
as waiter and from that job pro-
crossed by easy stages to Washington,
where he became the body servant of
the late Gen. John A. Logan. He has a
fund of funny stories of happenings in
the generals household, in most of
which he personally figured. 1t was his
duty to see that the generals supply of
those things which make for social hap
piness in the guest room of a United
States senator was never short. Daniel
however, noticed that the finest whiS-
kies were disappearing In an unaccount-
able manner, and suspecting that the
purloiner Of them was q fellow servant,
he determined to lay trap for the mis-
creant. AS his duties took him away
from the house during a portion of the
day, he thought the only way to detect
the culprit was to mix q cathartic in
one of the bottles. This he did, and
placed the bottle in a position which
made 1t easily accessible. 1t unfortu-
nately happened, however, that Gen.
Logan had arranged for a meeting with
some Of his friends that day at an hour
when Daniel was called away. AS his
guests were partial to good whisky, the
general treated them from his store,
and there being but one brand in the
cabinet, he helped the gentlemen from
the first bottle which came to his hand.
Always a keen observer of men, Gen.
Logan noticed that his friends made
Wry faces as they drank the liquor He
then proceeded to extol it's merits, told
its age and how 1t came into his possess
sion. He then attempted to persuade
his friends to try a second glass. They
unanimously asserted that 1t was the
best liquor they had ever tasted, but
protested against taking a second dram
on the plea that such extremely fine
goods should be preserved for future
generations. Knowing his friends to be
men who rarely baked the second tum-
bier, the general was puzzled, and took
a sample himself.
by thunder! 1t has a queer taste"
he exclaimed.
At that moment Daniel entered the
room. His eyes fell upon the bottle and
he knew 1t was the one he had dosed
The CONSERVATION depicted upon his
face was observed by all, and noticing
his manner, the general said:
whats the matter with this whisky,
man."
DAT whisky" retorted Daniel
Certainly, that whisky" replied the
general.
did yo' drink dat whisky?" asked
Daniel.
yes"
"All of yo' gemmen?"
What do you mean by asking these
au-stions?" roared the general.
well, / s'pose l must done gone and
git anudder job, den. / done dose dat
whisky to ketch a coon who's been
stealth it,"
Daniel was not compelled to get an
other job, but Gen Logan left orders
that he had better keep out of sight
until the recollections of that good
liquor" were dimmed in his memory.