River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-10-02

LINCOLN ASKS A QUESTION.
(''Will the Earth Run Away After the
burned Old Thing?'O
City, in charge of the department of
Missouri, and Gen. Hunter, with head
quarters at Leavenworth, in charge of
the department of the Platte, were
antagonistic. Marauders could COM
NIT crimes in one department, escape
to the other, and be free from pursuit,
until days of punctilious correspond
ence were passed, thereby insuring
their escape. He suggested that the
departments be consolidated, and have
but one commanding general.
Secretary Stanton listened atten-
lively, asked a few questions, and
then said: What you gentlemen want
to have done ought to be done, and
will be done, provided you go home and
keep silent. If 1 were to remove either
of those officers there would be scores
of politicians here taking up my time
about it. I'll have the suggestion come
from Hunter and Curtis themselves
''Within six weeks anew department
was created, consisting of the border
counties in Missouri and Kansas, and
Gen. Tom Ewing was placed in COM
mand. That accomplished the desired
end, and there was an end put to the
guerrilla warfare which had been dis
tracing the country. You can judge
from those two views of Stanton what
kind of man he was. He worked for
his country until he almost worked
himself to DEATH"
Good Peter Pindar then reminded us
of a story which Col. Tom Nelson used
to tell concerning some of his expert
ences before and during the civil war.
Nelson said: ''In the year 1857 there
was a wonderful comet in the north
western heavens which attracted uni
versal attention. That is how I remem-
Der the exact year when this hap
pened. We were at Vincennes, Ind,
and were going to indianapolis when
[ noted the fact that the back seat Of
the coach was occupied.
''You know, in those days the old
time coaches would drive up to the
| hotels for passengers; and this morn
ing [ noticed a long human skeleton
on the back seat. He was clad in white
breeches and alpaca coat. I don't
think there was any hat covering his
mat of black hair. / politely intro
duced myself, saying: 4 am Col. Tom
Nelson, and this is Gov. Willard, of
this state. Now Gov. Willard cannot
ride backwards, and I wish, my good
fellow, that you would let him sit on
the back seat
''The gawky fellow unwound his long
legs, tried to make a sort of courtesy,
and sided over onto the front seat.
Gov. Willard graciously thanked the
good fellow, and the stage rolled off.
Naturally, L took a part of the back
seat with Gov. Willard. We talked on
all manner of topics, and occasionally
the lanky one would chip in, showing
that he had a smattering of what was
going on in the world. Finally we
talked about the great comet, quoting
the various newspapers and maya
zines. Gawky knew something about
the comet, and finally asked my opin-
ion of it. just to get rid of him, re-
piled: 4 expect the earth to follow the
burned thing off,
1ndb ulSuC, WnSsu we dII1Nco DIT UuS
hotel, the gawky one got out, grabbed
a board, and saw to it that Gov. Will
lard did not get his feet in the mud.
| After supper, when we came down
stairs, we heard great shouts of laugh
| ter in the parlor, which was crowded
and the halls were crowded up to the
doors. Upon making inquiry we found
the gawky one the center of the group
He was telling how he had been en-
tertained by Gov. Willard and Tom Mel
son. An attendant said: That is Abe
Lincoln, the lawyer from Illinois,
''Four years later I came to Wash
ington to ask that gawky one to APP
point me minister to Mexico, but found
! that he had selected Tom Corwin, of
Ohio. so I applied for and received APP
pointment as minister to Brazil
When I held my commission and called
with the secretary of state to pay my
! respects to President Lincoln and say
good-by, he chatted very pleasantly
walked to the door with us, and swing
ing his left hand over my shoulder, as
he grasped my right hand. he said:
Tom, hope the earth won't run away
! after that burned comet
"And he never made any other allu-
sion to my rudeness and loneliness so
! long as he lived" SMITH d. FRY.