Evening star., 1896-02-22

BreInan. the we'll
| known hacknla1, as he sat in the cozy
paror of his residence ON l. street, between
| 18th and 10th. few evenings since sur
| rounded by his wife and their eight chill
| iren. among whom were his already ia
| nous triplets, Frances Cleveland, Kate
and Anne, three int tercsting and pretty
girls. now entering their sixth year Of life
| you ask me-" he said, ito give you my
experiences as a hackman during the many
years l have sat upon the box-well, 1t is
easier to usk for them than to tell them
to boil down fifty years into talk of fifty
minutes. may be possible for those who
| have had experience in boiling but have
had mona such. and I only know how to
| drive, AID not to talk. l admit, however,
that to be successful hackman one must
know something about taking It helps
the business nightly, and it brings in busi-
ness that could not have been secured
| without II OF course, 1 had to start and
| while Il does not zone to me exactly now,
| 1 oi;unctly remember hacking Gen. N. p.
! bahks DICK and forth to the Capitol, dur
ing his campaign for the speakership Of
! the 3hirty-second Congress, which, l think
| was IN 1900. l remember to have driven
| MIN up TO the caucus which elected him.
anu OF bringing him and some of his DO
! htical friends back to the Metropolitan Ho-
| tel.
In those days 1 always stood In front
| OF the Metropolitan and National hotels
| thouSh l always met all incoming trains
| at the Baltimore and Ohio depot. which
was the only depot then in the city Like
otner hackmen l hal my regular custom
| ers, some of whom waited on for twenty
| children. grandchildren and even great
grandchildren. Like father, like son, they
preferred me to other hackmen.
| MY customers he continued were of
l l1 nd III r.. u
ana otherwise, political, congressional pro-
| fcssonal and thea atrical
| Mccormick, the inventor had me four
| hours day for several months when he
| had his matters before Congress, and a
| terribly fine man he was, too, paid well and
| appreca ted good service. l remember Edi-
sons first visit here with his photograph.
| 1t was a crude-Iooling affair built hy HIM
| self OF zinc. He always carried it in his
| arms He told me it was his baby, and that
| ne was afraid to let any one else handle it.
Ed!son was nice man those days. He was
! Jerky and troublesome but he paid the bill
! Hc was so deaf that It was hard to make
| him understand anything you said to him.
| i nave driven many prominent men to
their weddings, and remember now that
| when Stephen A. Douglass was married to
| Miss Cults he had me constantly engaged
| for three days and nights continuously do
| ing work for him. Though had three sets
| OF horses as changes, kept at work con-
| stantly for him myself.
| Royal Passengers.
| There Is hardly any limit to the number
and rank of the personages 1 have hacked"
sad Mr.. Brennan. "and I am even surprised
| myself when look back on my hacking ex-
perience. Though 1 have no admiration for
| kings and queens, or for royalty in any
| form. as my very Irish name would ind-
| cate, have been honored, II you call it an
| hcnor, the driver Of the Prince of Wales,
| Prince Arthur, the Grand Duke Alexis.
1 Vlnrr pn6r ft,n of ,,ru tt,o
empress. l don't remember whether 1
| hacked King Kalakaua Of the Sandwich
| Islands, but think did couple of light
| Jobs for him, and maybe like service for
| Queen Emma, probably a depot job, for
| her or some Of her escort.
| Before forget want to say here that
Tom Murphy. the collector of New York;
! Roscoe Conkling, Chester A Arthur, be-
| fore he was President, and others of the
reisning politicians of New York of the day,
were wonderfully appreciative to me in the
way of business and many is the hundred
J Of dollars of their money that has reached
| my rockets. God bless their memory!
big jobs? Oh, yes; there were big jobs
| those days. for during great part of my
time there were no railroads in comparison
| to what there are now. The stage lines had
| regular days, and those who had to visit
the surrounding country. and who could
not wait for regular trips, had to use car
rages-wonder what would the modern
| hackman think If he was asked to drive a
| party to Leonardtown. sixty miles2 This
l had to do in my day, and it was not
thought anything wonderful. My customer
cavalry. He had an official errand there
during the early days Of the war. 1 can
| never forget it, for I was never so scared
before or afterward. AS we got along in
open, and for time he closed them care
fully after we passed. But after awhile he
| got tired, and not only unhinged each gate,
but threw it down. 1t was all nice enough
a ha ,nf hor,
| the same road-a steamer met MIN at
| Leonardtown-Dut for me it was different.
and knew it. On my road back that way
the farmers made 1t rather lively for me,
| riage.
| Driving a Corpse.
| Il have hacked number Of people to
| Marlboro and surrounding places in Mary
land, for twenty to thirty-mile trip was
not an unusual job those days. I had a
| drive to Bryantown once a thirty-mile
| drive, my sole companion being a dead
man. don't think got over it for twenty
years. To the usual question, Carriage,
the depot one night, responded, NO but I
want hearse.' l asked him the nature of
his work, and he showed me a box, con-
tanning the corpse of young man who had
| been killed In Baltimore the morning Of the
same day. borrowed hearse, hitched nv
| horses to 1t and started for Bryantown. It
| was all right for the first ten miles, but oh
how awful are the recollections Of the last
! twenty. AS midnight approached, I got
| nervous. and the horses. feeling that I was
| nervous, became nervous themselves I
| could feel ghosts and saw them So did the
horses. But nothing could be done except
to go ahead. I did not pass one person in
twenty-five miles. I have never taken a
similar job since. and would decline anv
pay rather than do one again.
Another trip had once was to Charlotte
| Hall, the school which was burned Last
| week. Though always an ardent democrat.
| that trip settled my convictions on the
slavery question I had party of four
with me. and camped my horses and car
| riage In the college green for the night, At
| early daybreak l was aroused by a noise,
and, on Investigating, I found that it was
| caused by the yells of a negro man who
was being whipped by his employer. The
| negro was a slave and was hired by the
man who was whipping him. His offense
| vas that he was late in getting to work.
/ though 1t was not much past o'clock in the
| morning. I saw the inhuman employer
wash the bleeding cuts on the negro's back
with salt brine, to intensity the pain AS
| we'll as to hurry up their healing. From tina
moment was against slavery, and have
never lost opportunity to say SO.
| Just as the war broke out I drove a gem
| tleman to Annapolis. The railroad was not
| running that day, some Of the rails having
been torn up. He had come up from Louisi-
i ana and wanted to take his son. who was n