The daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1892-1897, 1895-09-04
MEN WITH DOUBLES.
Confusion Caused by Them in An
Gent and Modern History
philadelphia Record

1t is the fate Of many distinguish
ed persons to have their doubles.
So far as similar names are concern
ed most students of history are aware
of the Inconvenience that the Crest
er Ajax had 10 put up with from the
lesser: and from an historical point
of view, neither the elder nor the
younger Agrippina has always come
by her own. The average school
boy still refuses to recognize the
fact that there were two, possibly
three, apostles called James, as well
as the two Judases. Perhaps, more
over, it is social blessing in dis
guise that not everybody knows
there were two Socrates, two Platos,
and ever Two Virgils. But such lisa
fact, none the less.
Even right here at home, in these
| more modern times, a small person
with a large name has occasionally
cropped up to the confusion of the
more distinguished owner OF that
name. And as history shall progress
these instances viii probably be
largely multiplied since there is a
tendency among persons having
surname In common with some
great man to inflict upon their male
offspring the distinguished mans
given name also. 1t would be inter-
esting, for instance, to know how
many youthful Thomas Jeffersons,
Abraham Lincolns and so forth there
are in the land today, any one of
whom by some more or less brilliant
achievement, may have his name
emblazoned on the roll of history /;
and thus in the far future his glory
may be intermixed with that of the
illustrious parsonage for whom he
was named. Such occurrences are
not uncommon, even in modern
days. For example, the names of
the two Pitts have been used as in
Interchangeable terms, to say nothing
of the elder and younger Dumas and
the two Robespierres. Only few
days ago an enterprising writer mix
ed up the name of Mr.. Gully, the
new speaker CT the British house of
commons, with that of Mr.. Gully, an
ex-pugiIist. To this reckless scribe
these two Gullys were one and the
same individual.
All of this is very perplexing, TO
be sure. But how much more SO
must be the case of two contempora-
ries who, though differing in name,
are exactly similar in stature and
| feature, the less distinguished one
going so far as to model his style of
dress upon the fashion followed by
his enviable double One often
hears of such cases. There is a man
in Washington today who so closely
resembles the president that he has
been frequently taken for Mr.. Cleve-
land, even by intimate friends of the
latter. Then, again, there is ''dou-
BILE" of Mr.. Chauncey NJ. Depew,
who-the double" not the genial,
post-prandial acknowledgements the
Bowery quarter of New York and
poses as Mr. Depew in places where
that gentleman would have very
grave misgivings as to the moral
propriety of risking his presence. In
view of such occurrences, current
history occasionally gets slightly
mixed" Could there be much
wonder, then, if the historians four
or five generations hence should go
wrong?
Little else than. confusion from
the existence OF doubles is to be
expected. We're man not a gregari-
Gus animal the result might be diff
ferent. But the fact that he is a gre
garioUs animpal, and as such is liable
to name. often bestowed in COM
mon upon his fellows. aud features
az frequently similar. seems to be
little eccentricity on the part of the
great law Of nature, the keynote of
whose platform is the reverse of con-
fusion.
TgI@0n 0r aagRg