Daily camera., 1901-09-30
- ---,,.'z-.z. -.
WASHINGTON'S CO1CH
Its Use as a Chicken Roost Has
Come to an End.
To BE Placed In state On Exhibition
with Other Relics at Mount ver-
non BY the Ladies' Union
of America.

b. .
George Washington's family coach
was few days ago presented by Au-
gustus Frey, real estate agent, OF
No. 11O East One Hundred and Twen-
ty-fifth street, to the Ladies' Union
of America, says the New York Post.
Capt. Richardson, a well-known fig
ure in Harlem, paid 5000 for the ven
cradle vehicle at the centennial expo
sition at Philadelphia. He was fa-
nous as collector OF relies, and his
home at Castle Eden, Morrisania, was
a museum. Mr.. Frey bought it of
him. 1t will be shipped TO Mount YER
non. where il will be placed on per-
manemt exhibition with other Wash
ington relics of which the union has
become the owner.
From the centennial to the present
time Washington's coach has been
rusting away in an old stable in Nor
risania, serving us rooSt for chick
ems and catch-all for discarded
things usually thrown into garrets.
Many persons remember it as the
chief of these parts of the centenary
parade IN New York, which put one
in touch with the ceremonial time of
our republican court"
Everybody, American or European.
great or humble, finds memorials of
Gen. Washington an eternal bribe to
cut sentiment loose and let it run"
an appreciative member of the society
which now has the coach said the
other day. with what delight would
the French take this graceful relic
and array it in the Musee de Cluny
beside the Napoleon carriages guard
ed so reverently? And wouldn't the
Italians like to wheel it into the great
hrmory at Turin. 1t would look inter-
esting beside the stuffed skin of the
horse that carried the hero of Maren-
60. and the picturesque accoutremen;s
of Garibaldi. Here in New York it
has been falling away with neglect in
the careless care of . Scotch fam
Ny."
II was a coach of some grandeur in
ITS day, and easy as the lap of luxury.
Louis XVI. used one not unlike il.
Its broad panels were cream white, iis
frame black, and around the edge of
the body ran pretty molding OF pold.
Black stripes were on the spokes and
fellocs. and the nuts OF the axles and
the handles OF the doors were sill
vercd. Hitched to it went SIX cream
1rht.a L. L.
with silver mountings, bright and jing
hing, and engraved with the arms of
the punctilious gentleman who
owned, and who, in fact, designed il
all. On the box. detached from the
Graded body sat two upright black
men. and in the rear black footman.
while for extended journeys there
were also brilliant ou,riders.
/ Somewhat after this fashion did
Washington go to his Inauguration
down in Wall street. through lines OF
people. His progress that day Was
like fire racing along train Of gun
powder. "kindling at every instan:
new SUGGESTIONS of burning joy" /.
was magnificent as a spectacle. Hearts
were dilated with patriotism, and
race used to the forms of royalty fel:
that they had no, lost even the deco
rations. OF government by the stu
peBdous change they hnd made. While
he lived in this city. rain or shine. the
president never failed TO go for a
walk or ride or a drive.
7 Was this the same coach which
used to swing up the Bowery and over
mile drive he liked so we'll? II was
msed in Virginia and was probably
brought here. And IL so. Washington
and his lady and her children passed
many times on its leather cushions
over a part of the same New York
Hrives which are still popular. and
the most gay with fine turnou,s OF any
On the country, ranking, indeed. with
the Cascine at Florence, the Bois de
Boulogne at Paris, or LoHdon's Pail
Mall.
This always was triumphal equip
age. No English mail coach, decked
with laurel and carrying the kings
news OF the victory Of Salamanca or
OF Waterloo. could ever nave been
greeted or followed with more emo
sion than this which carried the Sc
rene, black-suited. glorifed general
and his family In those early days of
the republic Relic huTseys have cut
away the leather hammereioth Of the
box and clipped off scrolls at the cor.
ners of the holdings. The footman's
holder Is wholly gone. One could have
found it until recently used as the
hencoop. as it were. aud the garret
of the family occupying the premises
where it was kept Ii !
Ybis old coach viii now get bet
ter s1abiisg IN Mount Vernon than it
had at One Hundred and Sixty-fourth
street and Sheridan avenue, II il
were as beautiful as it was in its youth
1t would deserve a place in the Metro
politan Museum of Art. Not long ago
Augustus Frey would have been glad
TO get rid Of it for $3.50. Sew are our
property inheritances from the per-
sonal estate of Washington. Consid-
ering how finely proud other nations,
who have in him only an abstract in
lterest, would be of this legacy, we
ought" declared the man before
quoted, merely out Of seif-admira-
ton, to see that timc uses this old
coach Of his with gentle and respect.
full attention"
r 4 willow Reed.
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