Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-01-21
The Only Man Who Ever
KIDNAPPED
An American President

To go down in history as the only
person who ever kidnapped Presi-
dent OF the United States should be
enough for one man, and this distinc.
ton belongs to Capt. +. c. Coleman,
who died recently. The episode makes
one of the most interesting stories Of
a career fruitful of anecdotes.
That was in those old days before
the railroads had bound the land with
steel, the days just after the Mexican
War, when the Mississippi was the
grand water road of the Country's
progress, and the floating palaces that
piled from Louisville to New Orleans
were famous on two continents. Zach.
airy Taylor was President of the Unit
ed States, and Captain Coleman kid.
mapped him and ran away gayly up
stream with the official steamer of con.
Yeyance struggling far in the rear aft
or the river greyhound Saladin. That
was on Zachary Taylor's triumphal
tour of the country, and the fame oil
the exploit brought thousands on thou.
sands of dollars to the COlemans and
established their lines of steamers as
the foremost in the river trade.
The first Thomas c. Coleman owned
a line of fine packets plying from
Louisville to New Orleans. They were
the big floating palaces of that day,
and the pride of the lot was the Sala-
din. Nothing that beat water on two
rivers could hold her when Captain
Coleman chose to turn her loose
with a Niger squat on her safety
valve and her furnace choked with
rosin and pine" Young T. c. Coleman
commanded her. There was a boat
belonging to rival line that some.
times disputed with the Saladin the
sway of the river. Ihe rival always
got there first.
President Zachary Taylor was on his
famous tour of the country. The com.
mand the boat that carried him on the
Mississippi was an honor coveted by
all the captains. "Old hOugh and
Ready" was Kentuckian and a warm
friend Of the Colemans, so they eX,
pected, OF course, to be chosen for the
honor of conveying the President
However, the wishes Of General Taylor
were not consulted. He was at
Vicksburg, Miss, and the reception
committee there decided that the rival
boat should carry him up to Memphis
When the word came to New Orleans
where the boats were laid up, the dis.
appointment on the Saladin was the
more intense, for II was the loss of a
sure thing, while the JOY on the rival
boat was, of course, the greater from
the uneXpectedness OF the victory.
Big monsters of gloom and Joy, the
steamers pulled away from the New
Orleans dock side by side.
Anyhow, boys, wen show them the
Saladin Is the better boat" said Cap
tain Coleman, and his crew answered
him with a will.
The Saladin began to draw ahead
Then together, lickety.split, up the
river they came, and the people on the
! levees and the hands in the fields
stopped to watch and to wonder fol
| they never before had seen two boats
going up the Mississippi that way,
And every landing for the Saladin was
a winning landing.
The whole of Vicksburg was gather
ed on the blum to see the President
on The old soldier stood in the midst
Of his escort committee, and grOwleC
ard bowed. He was heartily tired o.
SO much ceremony. and waited anX
iously the coming OF the boat that wa'
to carry him on to Memphis.
At last, far down the river, showed
the twin puffs of a harddriYen steam
."
There she comes! There sh,
col es'" yelled the crowd, and begra
cheering the President on