The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-04-19
FULMAR'S HARDLUCK
HOW AN OLD CoMRADE OF M'KlNLEY
MISSED THE INAUGURATION.
Writes to the President, Who Tries 60
Help Him-Civil Service Rules Inter
Candidate Well Equipped For the


fere- Candidate Well Equipped For the
! Once, but Short on 'Book Larnln."
Nat Fulmar is the only surviving
member of President McKinleys regi-
iment. the Twenty third Ohio, who was
mot in Washington to see his comrade
inaugurated as president Of the United
States, but he wrote him a letter from
away down In the southwest corner Of
tArizona apologizing for his absence and
explaining why he could not come. Full
mar is miner, and since the silver
icoinage law was repealed has been
down on his luck" like so many men
of his occupation. One of his neighbors
owes him $500 and promised to pay it
on the lst Of February, but neglected to
do so, and Fulmar did not have the
money to pay his expenses to Washing
ton.
The president read this letter with as
much interest as any he has received
since the 4th Of March, particularly be-
cause it contained some references to
their army life and to great occasion
in the history of the regiment. when,
after the battle of Antietam, the MEM
bers Of the Twenty third were the only
men in the army that had coffee and
bread to eat before they turned in at
night. This was due to the energy and
skill Of William Mckinley, commissary
sergeant, who hustled the wagons up
ahead Of every other sergeant in the
service. For this, which was something
more than an act of gallantry, Colonel
Rutherford b. Hayes promoted him to
second lieutenant and gave him his first
start in life. Nat Fulmar was with Nc
Kinley on that occasion and therefore
knew all the facts. 1t gave him as much
ident Mckinley to read them in the I'll
written bat intelligent letter.
The president answered Fulmar with
his own hand, regardless of the de-
mands upon his time and the clamor of
1900 Office seekers. He thanked his
comrade for remembering him, expressed
his regret that he had not been able TO
come to the inauguration and asked him
If he could do anything, personally or
officially, TO promote his comfort and
welfare.
Fulmar snapped at this proposition
like a trout at fly and wrote back i'm
mediately asking the president to have
him appointed customs inspector under
the collector at Nogales. The pay of
that position is $50 month, and the
duty is TO ride the Mexican boundary
lines day after day and night after
night on mustang, looking ont for
smugglers and Chinese immigrants.
The president Immediately ordered the
appointment to be made, but it turned
out that that position, like almost every
thing else, is under the civil service
rules, and q vacancy, even If he made
one, could only be filled by competi-
tive examination, which Mr.. Fulmar
would not attempt While he knows all
that is necessary to know about prospect
holes and practical mineralogy and can
tell the time of day by the sun, Mr..
Fulmar would not be very much at
home in a schoolhouse. They had an
examination down there for inspectors
not long ago, and the only man of all
the candidates who presented them
selves who was able to pass was ven
cradle schoolteacher who is too old to
endure exposure and too weak to sit OH
horse. The examiners asked the can
didates where Cape Finisterre was. and
nobody but the schoolteacher could an
swer the question. The rest of them
were pretty sure that it was nowhere
along the line between Arizona and
Mexico, and that Cinnamon and mescal
brandy, which the inspectors have to
look out for, do not go that way. They
were asked also the location of the strait
of Sunda, and to explain the vagaries Of
the trade winds. The schcolmaster made
some intelligent observations OH these
points, bat the cowboys and miners
were completely fioored. They are able
to detect an illegal Chinese immigrant
with half ali eye half open, and by tast
ing contraband whisky can tell the dis
tillerv it comes from, hut of book
"larnin," like Nat FulInar. they are
short Chicago Record.