The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-12-10
Anecdotes About War Correspondents Of
Wellknown Newspapers - Events De-
scribed BY an Active Participant.

sharp practlce reSOrteu 10 on every poSsiuio
occasion to beat their fellows in obtaining
important news and, particularly, In getting
it to their respective journals.
When Gen. Meade ousted the Confederates
from their position at Kelly's Ford, Va, in
November, 1863, the present scribe was at
tached to the New York Tribune, and rode
from that place to Warrenton junction, on
the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, to take
train to Washington with dispatches. Mr..
Adams S. Hill was then in charge of the
Washington end of the line, and A. Fl. By
ington, q veteran news-gleaner, ran things in
'front.' The Tribune men were supplied with
flaming envelopes of the brightest scarlet
hue, and the end of the one carried some
what SYSTEMATICALLY in the breast pocket of
my coat was plainly in evidence In the
car / entered at Warrenton Junction were
huddled Heterogeneous conglemeration Of
officers, wounded soldiers, suffers and their
clerks, as well as a number of newspaper
men whom did not know at the time, and
among them was tho waggish and mischiev-
Gus Frank d. Chapman, of the New York
Herald, whose headquarters at that period
was generally in the billiard-rcom of the
National Hotel, Washington. He had OBJ
served me when / rode up to the station
dust-covered and weary, ands as soon as the
train guard had examined my pass he went to
the officer in charge and ascertained that
was Tribune man fresh from the front, and
probably nicely laden with precious Eews, as
my pass was dated at Army Headquarters
that selfsame morning The pass, please
recollect, was written in pencil, and by NJ r.
Patrick, PROVOST Marshal General.
The train was scarcely under way when
Chapman took seat by my side, and at
once entered into q conversation, gradually
applying pumping process to find out what
the army had accomplished at Kelly's Ford,
and the nature of the news was carrying
to Washington in such haste. He knew l
had news, not only from the nature Of my
vocation, but the glaring envelope protrud-
ing from my pocket plainly disclosed the
fact.
He professed to be the sutler of Western
regiment, but was convinced that he was
knight of the Pencil, and gave him no in
formation whatever. He was hail fellow
well met" with everybody, apparently, and
passed around cigars and an attractive-lOOk-
ing black bottle with generous frequency,
and his supply of cigars and black bottles
seemed literally inexhaus.ible.
tention. The fellow was cheek-by-jowl
form, member of the 14th N. Y, / think,
who had charge Of the guard. When he
had satisfied himself that was not to be
pumped he left me, but was not through
with me, however, as will presently appear.
When the train slowed up at Alexandria
Chapman disappeared as suddenly and mys-
teri0usly a. q harlequin through secret
trap in stage, and almost at the same mo-
ment missed my red envelope. / did not
see him abstract it, but felt morally GER
tain that he had taken it from my pocket.
Yet what could I do about it? knew the
Alexandria police would not interfere, as the
theft must have taken place outside of the
citys limits, and, besides this, the town was
under martial law. In few hours my news
would. be stale and absolutely worthless.
While was bordering over the matter the
Officer of the Guard was relieved by another,
and distinctly saw the former pointing to-
ward me before he left the car. The new
officer came directly to me and demanded
to see my pass. He scrutinized it for mo-
ment and coolly informed me that he had
serious doubts about it's being genuine that
it was not on the customary printed form !;
that il was written in pencil, and did not
resemble the well-knOwn sign-manual of
Gen. Patrick and Furthermore he bluntly
informed me that would not be permitted
to cross the Potomac on the pass unless I
could first get it countersigned by Col.
Deyereaux, whose Office was close at hand.
It was in vain that protested that Gen.
Patrick had written the pass on a scrap of
paper torn from his notebook. The fellow
was Obdurate, and was obliged to leave the
train, and before could see Col. Devereaux
and have the matter adjusted the train
moved away, and my last chance Of reaching
the Capital that evening was gone. OF
course l was beaten, but got square after
ward.
The writer was the first person who
brought the Mine Run news, in November,
1863, to Washington, having made haz-
ardous ride from the front to RappahannOck
Station, as described in previous article
When at last boarded train at the station
named, almost the first person encountered
was the ubiquitous Chapman. He wanted
news, and proceeded in businesslike man
ner to get it by offering me 500 for the
single privilege of reading the account /
carried of the operations Of the army during
the last few days As did not accept, he
raised his own bid to $500, and finally
offered me his check for $3.50, but was not
for sale.
After while took out notebook to
make memorandum, and he soon dropped
into q seat behind me, and / OWNED at
once that his object was to read the matter
was jotting down. Here was an oppor-
tunity not to be neglected; SO pretended
| not to notice him, and, being well informed
| in regard to the organization of the Army
Of the Potomac, with its various corps, d.
visions, aud brigades, with their respective
commanders, / set at work, in as graphic a
manner as the jolting Of the car would per-
NIT, to describe terrible battle alleged to
have taken place near Charlottesville.
Chapman, with the keen eyes of q lynx,
copied page after page of my sprawling
manuscript with commendable patience.
Finally, drew from my haversack an old
list of casualties that had occurred at Bris-
tow Station some weeks before, to which
my imagination supplied many Names and
/ added those Of number of general Off
GERS having no actual existence, as being
among the killed and wounded. In it's
/ next issue the paper represented by Mr..
| Chapman contained glowing account of a
sanguinary battle, with a list of killed and
wounded not to be found upon the muster
| rolls of the Adjutant-General of the Army.
| To cap the climax, an elaborate map Of the
country around Charlottesville was pub
lished, showing the respective positions OF
the forces engaged.
The writer was in the Shenandoah Valley
with Sheridan in 1864, and assisted in rep
resenting the New York Herald, and Mr.. T.
| c. Gray wrote army news for the New York
1ri5nae. Gray and myself were chums. and