Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-11-20

continuous labor in the various depart
ments at Washington, with the state
ment that had seen everybody, from
President Johnson down the line, all o
whom approved OF the enterprise bu
were afraid to aid, | finally called upor
Gen. Grant and stated my wants. Hav
ing been stationed for a number of veal,
on Puget Sound, he knew the situation
and promptly promised his aid. Calm.
at his office one morning. he said
Mercer, sit down and read the mornin,
paper until my return. / am going oyel
to the White House to meet the Prcsi
dent and his Cabinet and will brin.
your matter to Il head one way or tn,
other" Half an hour later he returned
and a. he entered the door his salutatior
was: Capt, Crosby make out an order
for a steamship, coaled and manned
with capacity to carry 800 women from
New York to Seattle for A. 5. Mercer
and will sign the same" Then, turn
ing to me, he explained that the Presi
dent and all the members of the Cabinet
approved the undertaking, but were
afraid 10 assume the responsibility Of
making the order. They pledged them
selves, however, to stand by Grant if he
would assume the risk. Half an hours
waiting and the orderly placed in my
settled the whole question. Naturally
thought the order was good, and instead
of going to the Quartermaster and having
a suitable vessel assigned, went out
among the people to gather up the
women, even issuing nearly 500 tickets
for the trip.
Having interested and secured about
all the passengers necessary to fill
the ship, | returned to Washington to
have the vessel made ready and turn
ed over to me. Accompanied by Sena-
tor George H. Williams, Of Oregon,
called upon Quartermaster General
Meigs with Grants order. Unfortun-
ately the man in line first ahead OF
Senator Williams was an individual
who had furnished horse to our SOL
diers and taken a receipt for the same.
The man had been paid for his animal
twice already and General Meigs rec
ognized him. The quartermaster flew
into a rage, ordered the man arrested
and filled the room with the smoke of
vituperation and cuss words until
| breathing was an actual effort. Pre-
senting an order at this time was fatal.
Still black in the face from his recent
| experience, Gen. Meigs looked at the
paper a moment, then said: There is
no law justifying this order and will
not honor it,
Crestfallen, l retired. Meigs was
stubborn and the law was with him.
Weeks passed and l was ready to give
up the fight, when one day in New
York | received letter from Gen.
Meigs saying that he had ordered a
special appraisement OF the propeller
Continental, 1000 ton ship, and that
| could have her at the appraisement
for carrying my people to Seattle, not
| outstanding the law required the sale
to be at public auction. Eighty thous.
and dollars was the price, cash in
hand.
That was not a price to ''stagger the
world" but it made me tremble. Sit
! ting in my room at the Merchants Ho-
tel and canvassing every known ave-
nue. that gave the faintest hope of
leading up to this sum of ready
money, l was surprised to receive a
card bearing the name Ben Holla-
day." Inviting him up, he began the
conversation by saying: Il under
stand the government offers you the
Continental for $4,000, and that you
have not the money. If you will let
me have her l will fit her for the trip
and carry your people to Seattle at a
nominal figure"
Drowning men catch at straws.
was the asphyxiated individual and
caught at the extended straw. The con-
test was unequal. Mr.. Holiday had
two good lawyers pitted against an In
experienced youth, over-anxious and
ready to be sacrificed. Result-a con.
tract to carry 500 passengers from
New York to Seattle for a minimum
price, in consideration of turning over
the ship to him. Later-too late-I
saw where the little joker" came in.
Had there been clause stating that
$50 passengers were to be carried free
and 500 for each additional pas
senger, all would have been well.
Being blind. proceeded to list all
OF my passengers and notify them of
the date OF sailing, issuing many tick
cts to the girls free. A few days be.
fore the time fixed for departure a
long, scurrilous article appeared in the
New York Herald, slandering me, stat.
ing that all of the men on Puget Sound
were rotten and profligate; that the
girls would all be turned into houses
OF ill-fame, and appealing to them to
stay at home. The old saying that q
lie will travel thousand miles while
the truth is putting on it's boots was
true In this case. Everywhere the
article was copied, and before I could
get my references printed and counter.
act the calumny, two-thirds of the pas.
sengers had written me, enclosing the
Herald article, or clipping from it, and
declined further consideration of the
matter.
Armed with q handful of these let.
tiers l called on Mr.. Holiday and told
him was unable to carry out the con.
tract as to numbers, but would he
ready with perhaps 200 people. For
reply 1 was told that the contract was
on. But, as the ship was to be sent
to the Pacific, they would take such
passengers as l presented at regular
rates. Then l saw the little joker'
OF the contract.
Delays in fitting out the ship caused
expense and many annoyances, but
we unally lett New York on January
6, 1866, and after a very pleasant run
OF ninety-six days made San Fran.
cisco via the Straits. of Magellan
touching at Rio Janeiro. Lota and Tai
cahuanO. Chile, and at Charles Island
one Of the Galapagos group, lying
under the equator and 600 miles out
from the west coast of South America
After some days delay in San Fran
cisco the people were sent north in
punches Of ten to forty on the lumber
ships trading between Sound ports and
the California metropolis.
The voyage was q remarkable one
in many ways, but especially SO in the
matter Of health, no sickness of any
kind occurring after the first few days
of debt-paying to the God of the Storm
save one case Of child birth, a baby
girl having come to the wife of a
gentleman passenger who, with his
wife and Continental baby, settled al
Port Madison.
| The young ladies comprising the
party were selected with great care
and never in the history of the world
was an equal number of women thrown
together with higher average of in
telligence, modesty and virtue. They