The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-03-24
HEROINE SEEKS AN OFFICE
Romance Surrounding Contest for
West Point POstmaSterShip.
TWO WOMEN ARE CANDIDATES
Male Applicants Distanced by the
Rival Claims of Mrs. Harrington,
Widow of a Custer Hero, and Miss
NewIands- Athletic Miss Crooker
VIII Carry Star Route.
The So 600 a year postmastership at the

The $4,000 year postmasteTshp at the
West Point Military Academy, made va
| cant by the resignation OF Blanche Berard,
has for it more than 100 applicants, chief
among them being two women.
Mrs. Viola Harrington demands il in the
name OF her gallant young husband. Lieut..
Harry b. Harrington, OF the Seventh Cav
airy, who was killed by Sitting Bull s
Indians during the Custer massacre. Her
competitor, Miss Mamie Newlands, a
charniing young kindergarten instr uctress
at West Point. asks it in the name OF her
father, who, for more han thirty years, was
an attache OF the Military Academy. The
politicians dispute the claims of their fem
mime rivals, and say the office should go to
them as a reward for faithful services in
behalf OF the Grand Old Party.
Young harrington $ courtship and mar
riage aul the subsequent uiisfonunes of his
widow read like a romance. He graduated
from the solitary Acauenly in ISi 5, ana
two years later, in the summer of 1875, re
turned TO West Point, and claimed rs his
wife Viola Berard, a niece OF the present
incumbent OF the postoffice.
Their honeymoon mad hardly ended when
the restles5less Of Sitting Balls band On the
Wesvern frontier caused him To surrender
hiSIeag 4 OF abselce an repOt, FOR duty with
his regiment. The night before Clusters
Command moved toward the bloody field uT
Little Big Horn Lieut.. Harrington wrote
to has youhg wife, VINO was UHen with neg
parents at West Point, aud said We move
on sitting Bull tomorrow. Don't worry
about me. place my trust ia God. l will
,io my duty He VIII do the rest Be brave
and pray for me-
This was Harrington farewell message
Ofalltha gala II $50 who were slaughtered
ca that June morning his was tne only body
not found. For months it was thought he
was CAPTURED and carried a way by the In
dians. The s DRY Of Clusters mas sacre drove
Mrs Harr.nguoninsa lie. Wned hei husbands
body could not be found she believed he
was still alive.
One day she said to her aged father;
Il must find Harry. l believe he s still
alive" She disappeared, and for nearly
three years not trace of her could be
found. Her friends, heartDroken, had aban-
doued all hope of finding her, when one day
word came from distant Texas that She
was there wandering aimlessly about.
A wreck of her former self. she was
brought to her home just below West
Point, and nursed hack TO sanity. During
those three years she wandered unknown
and unohserved about the battlefield of the
Little Big Horn, Travelled almost every
state in the Union, buoyed up by the in
sane hope that her husband still lived
Mrs Harrington now supports herself on
,F NH 10
eminent allows forth loss of Ter husband
Young Miss Newlands is strongly sup
PORTED for the office. All the officers, pro-
aud cadets at the Military Academy
think She should get it and are using every
effort ia her behalf
u - Newlan5s is locked upon as an adort"d
daughter Of the academy. Her father.
old Pop Newlands, as the officers
called him. was pIoteRe CT Grant, Sher-
mar, Sheridan and Hancock, when thy
we've cadets When he died, some five
wears ago, his last request was that the
take n kindly interest in his orphan
daughter. Against all precedent, she was
allowed to retain her residence on the
Military reservation. Now that the pest |
office job is vacant, the officers Claim |
hat their ward las undisputed title TO / |
The claims of Widow Harrington and |
Miss Newlands have so embarrassed tie |
President that the appointment Cf ST. |
cessor TO Mss Eerard has been delayed foT |
weeks.
A third candidate for employment under |
he Tuslof1ce Department is Miss Effie /
Croker, who has already secured the |
appointment as carrier on the star ioute /
20. 7,135. This means that for the roEt !
four years she must make two round trips /
N each week day from Point Washington |
% Great Neck. distance Of five niles.
Or a total Of / 20 miles a week The mail
is heavy on this route and the roads none
too good.
Miss Croker underbid by ten cents n
day a mannamed Baxter, who has had the
contract for years. She is twenty-uhree |
years old, strong, fearless and athletic.
She has always lived an outdoor life.