The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-30
HOW CAPT. WOOD ROSE
JUSTICE FIELD GOT HIM HIS
 WHITE HOUSE POST.
His Wife Was Related to Fields. Then. His Care of Mrs. McKin- ley Won Her Husbands
 Heart.
special to The New York

Washington special to The New York
 Times.
 The stories that attempt to account for
 the rapid rise of Leonard Wood from a Captaincy in the Medical Corps of the
 army vary a good deal, but the latest
 one differs from those that date his rise
 from his appearance here as the post
 physician attending Mrs. Mckinley at the
 White House, Undoubtedly Gen. Woods s
 opportunities were increased because of
 his services to the wife of the President. but before he could offer his medical ad-
 vice Co Mrs. Mckinley he had to get the
 assignment to the Washington post. and
 that he received before Mckinley became
 President.
 While Captain in the Medical Corps
 Wood was stationed, just before the close of MT. Cleveland's second term. at the
 Atlantic garrison. With him was his
 wife, formerly a Miss Condit-Smith.
 well known in Washington society as a linswoman and social protege of the wife of Justice Field. Mrs. Field was wo- man of influence in large circle. Jus tice Field thought great deal of Mrs. Wood. Before her marriage to Wood she had made herself extremely helpful to the Justice,t who was getting along in years. and meeting all the encouragement that home could furnish.
 He mourned over her removal to At- lantas but as he had assumed position of naughty hostility to Mir. Cleveland when the President declined to acknowl- edge Justice Fields right and privilege to fill the offices in California. where he had been regarded as the ranking Demo- crat, Field broke off all intercourse with the White House in Cleveland's first ad- minfstration, and cherished his resent ment so persistentiy that by refusing to resign or retire after he had reached the age emitting him to leave the bench, he deprived MT. Cleveland of the chance to name a Democrat as his successor.
 One day toward tle close of Cleveland's term Justice Field made his appearance at the office of the Secretary of War. Daniel s. Lamont. The Secretary had re- gently returned from tour of inspection of posts. including that at Atlanta. and he had met Capt. and Mrs. Wood there, and was reminded of their kinship with Justice Field. He was prepared, there fore, for the statements that were made by the Justice.
 Justice Field began by inquiring about his visit to Atlanta and his meeting with Capt. Wood. T want you to do me a ser vice" said he. "The tour of Col O'ReMly (then post physician) is about coming to a close, and with promotion he will be- that he must vacate will have to be filled. You could not put better man in his place than Capt. Wood, and I desire very sincerely that you should give him the place. have not been able to get along well with Mir. Cleveland, but that is no reason why this favor should not be extended to me. By bringing Capt. Wood here you will not only obtain good physician for the post, but you will Is very great favorite of mine and of Mrs. Field as we'll. and whose presence will be to me a great comfort in my de- clining years"
 There was great pressure from officers of the Medical Corps to obtain the ap- pointment. but having inquired about his professional attainments and become satisfied that they were equal to the de- mands of the position of post physician, Secretary Lamont directed that Capt. Wood be ordered to report at Washington to relieve Col. O'Reilly, who was ordered for other duty.
 There was great rejoicing in the Field circle upon the return of Capt. Wood and his wife to the capital. He fell comfort ably into the practice of his profession, with but little to do for the Presidents family, in which there was no illness calling for the ministrations of a physi- clan. Capt. Wood was holding the post when President Mckinley was inaugu- rated.
 Almost from the first his services were in almost daily request by Mrs. McKin- ley. who was an invalid requiring con- stant watching, and for whose welfare the President manifested the most con- stant solicitude. Being a frequent visitor, It was natural that he should soon meet Capt. Wood, and as he took the most minute interest in the symptoms that af- fiicted his wife, he soon came to know Capt. Wood intimately. He had great a-u n-E- ciation of his tenderness with his patient Mir. Mckinley was not more devoted to his public duties than he was to the well fare of his wife. and any attention to her made him the debtor of the person who 1t. Capt. Woods unremitting care of the Presidents wife made MT. Mckinley anxious to do anything to show his gratitude.
 So when Capt. Wood expressed the de- sire, at the beginning of the war, to be allowed to take service with the volun- teers, not as a medical officer. but as a the President was ready to yield his every wish. He would have made him Lieutenant Colonel of the First Volunteer Cavalry, to which he intended to appoint Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt as Colonel, but Mr. Capt. Wood, with more military knowl- edge than he possessed. should take the and that he should become his 
 Whatever came after that grew out of the war. Mckinley seemed unwilling to assume that the kindness shown by the physician to Mrs. Mckinley should ever be forgotten. He sought opportunity to lift the ex-medical officer up, and Woods services in Cuba seemed to him to justify every honor that had been conferred up- on him. But it was not to Mckinley first that Capt. Wood was indebted for his rise. It was to Justice Field, who had ventured into hostile camp. as it were, and from the hands of an admin stration toward which he had main tained an attitude of unforgiving hostility had obtained the appointment that threw his kinsman by marriage directly in the way of a new and splendid career.