St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-03-27


THE CALIFORNIAN co
Stories and Incidents of Vermonter
The Remarkable History OF
Masonic Apron.
William II. Lynds Of Lowell, Mas!
who was a resident OF St, Johnsbur
some 80 years ago, sends us a stor
which is good enough to start this co
umn of storiettes abont Vermouters.
Fred Malalieu of North Chelmsford
Mass, is now the possessor of a Masoni
apron which has had a remarkable bis
tory. 1t was taken from the chest of
dead confederate soldier on the battle
field Of Petersburg on June IS, 1864, tn
day after the battle. The apron wa:
found by Elisha c. Belden OF Co. D, 17tI
Vermont. Mr.. Belden was taken to the
hospital Immediately after the battle and
gave the apron to nurse, Mrs. Jane Nc
Kee of Philadelphia. When he left she
kept the apron, telling him she would
give it to her first grandson who became
a Mason. And now after 36years she has
presented the apron to her grandson, Mr..
Mallaleu. Mr.. Belden enlisted from the
town of Jay and his wife is now living in
st. Adams.
Mr.. Lynds has taken much pains to
verify this story and in correspondence
with the secretary of the Grand Lodge
of Tennessee identified the apron as be-
longing to the late Major Crawford, who
was killed at the battle of Petersburg.
At that time the 18th Vermont captured
70 men belonging to the 18th Tennessee
regiment.
A Unique War Souvenir.
W. w. Sprague of st. Johnsbury, gen
eral agent for the National Life lnsur-
ance Co., has relic of Libby prison that
is interesting because of its associations
and aside from that because it is won.
derfully ingenious piece of work. 1t is
made of wood and resembles somewhat
a child's jumping jack, but in reality it is
an assortment Of various inpliments,
all made from one piece, and all curious
ly joined together. 1t was made from a
piece of wildwood % inches long, two
inches wide and onehalf inch thick.
When folded the continuance is of about
these dimensions. At the top are five
links of chain, from which are suspend
ed a large pair of pincers which divides
the piece. The handles of these pncers
are divided into other implements, which
include five pairs of smaller pncers, a
pair Of scissors, an anvil and hammer, a
small charm with a ball inside, and a
pair OF compasses. In the whole piece
OF work there are twelve Joints and sew
eral links, none of which are separable.
No rivets or glue or anything of the sort
was used in the construction. 1t was
simply cut from the solid piece of wood
and every joint and part is in perfect
working condition. The work was done
entirely with small knife by Mr.. Clark,
a cabinetmaker of Pittsburg, Penn,
who was prison mate of Mr.. Sprague's
during his nine months sojourn at the
famous confederate prison. One would
think to examine the piece that its manu-
tacture must have required many weeks
OF patient labor, but the owner says it
was made in portion of four days.
A VermOnter who Remembered Scrip
lure.
A recent number Of the Lowell, Mass,
Citizen publishes a good story about
Alexander Harvey, who was the grand
father Of Hon. Cloud Harvey of Barnet.
This is the story:
ALEXANDER Harvey, a Scotchman, an
early settler OF Barnet, (who was the
father Of the late Hon. Peter Harvey, a
lawyer oil Boston who was Daniel Wei
ster's partner and wrote history of his
liie) was the man who came over from
Scotland, bought the town of Barnet as
agent for the emigrants who came there.
and settled the town. He was the FIRST
representative to the legislature and con-
tinued so for II years from ITS. The
legislature met in different towns till
1908, when the first state house was oc.
cupied at Montpelier and has been the
capital of Vermont ever since.
At session Of the legislature while he
represented Barnet, there was member
who was quite talker and overdid the
thing. When he made remarks before
the assembly he often referred to his
mother and six brothers, which got to be
an old story. One day this member, in
the course of his remarks, referred to his
mother and himself and his six brothers,
and added that there never was another
such mother and seven such sons. Upon
that, Mr.. Harvey jumped up and said he