The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-11-30
DANIEL WEBSTER.
A New Workers. Recollection of a Visit
to the AstOr House.

" luC hoIOI lAUuoCs
Mr.. Parsell, who is in business at
1877 Liberty street, is an old New
Yorker who has known the city hall
region of the city from childhood. and
he is man we'll on in years now. He
was born in a house that stood in
Broadway, opposite City Hall park,
near Murray street, and his wife was
born in another house near by, one
that stood where new is Chemical
bank. Speaking of the old times one
day, he said:
"When | was boy [ ran errands
and helped in various ways in haber-
dashery store that was in the Astor
House, corner of Vasey street, the
place now occupied as a ticket Office
by the Pennsylvania railroad. Daniel
Webster was at the Aston House fire.
quently in those days. and remember
him very we'll He used to buy a
great many things in our store, and
always had them sent into the hotel to
be paid for there. He never had any
money. l have carried many pur-
chases to him. He had parlor up
one flight, think, and there always
was a crowd of people about him
there The champagne and other things
that went to that room for him and
his friends to drink would float ship.
We always understood, and 1 guess it
is true that he never paid anything
at the hotel, did not even pay for the
things that he bought and had sent to
him there c. o. d.
Coleman & Stetson kept the hotel
then, and / guess they made money
enough by keeping him free and pay
ing his bills There was constant
stream of wine going to his room,
which his callers bought and kept
flowing. The hotel could we'll afford
to make no charges against him in
view of the custom he brought He
was magnifcentlv Indifferent about
what anything cost He used to buy
his gloves of us for one thing, white
kid when he was going to lecture or
speak in the evening. He wore an 81
glove, and he would split or ruin
three or four pairs before he got one
to suit him. As fast as he tore or split
pair of gloves he would throw them
on the floor When he had selected
pair and got them ON without running
them, he would tell us to send them
into the hotel and get our money for
them We always gathered the torn
gloves from the floor, putting them in
with the others and charging them in
the bill. We always were paid with
out word.
'sThe Astor House in those days was
the chief resort for great men. Kos
suth and Henry Clay and Edwin
Forest, / have seen them all there
But Webster was the king of them
all, a thickset, rather short man, as I
remember him, and very pleasant and
affable. He used to call me sBub', and
one day he gave me ticket to one of
his lectures. | went, but | might as
well have staid away. He swan in
too deep water for boy like me. l
don't believe there ever was worse
bored boy than 1 was that night at the
great Daniels lecture, and | never
wanted to go again. New York Sun.
1t was supposed Friday forenoon that
the long lost starting point of all the
original surveys of Mankato townsite
had been found when the workmen
on the Milwaukee side track construc-
tion discovered an iron peg driven in
to the ground in the center of Main
street. Surveys by Engineer Thompson
showed that it was not the point, how
ever. The place was originally marked
by cedar post, but when that rotted
away an iron peg was substituted for
it, but this has long since passed out
of view and its present location is un-
known, except that it is certain
number of feet west of Front street.