Waterbury Democrat., 1903-01-21
LINCOLN AND HEWITT.
Services to the Government-The Pres
 ident Out Red Tape.

Services to the GoVernment-Ihe Pres-
 ident Out Red Tape
 Of MT Hewitt's services to the gov ernment the New York Times says:
 At the time of the civil war and later MT Hewitt was accused freqently of having been copperhead. How far this was from the truth is not general ly known to-day, for MT Hewitt was not a man who took pains to advertise what he did.
 When, at the beginning of the war, it was ascertained that all the arsenals of the north had been deprived of their arms, which had been sent to the south, and when the question of how to get arms for the troops that were being mustered in was a serious one, MT Hewitt went to England as agent for the United States government and commenced negotiations with the man. nfacturers of guns and rifles in Bir- mingham. The manufacturers, through some error, mistook him for an agent of the confederacy and willingly came to terms with him. MT Hewitt never disabused their minds, as otherwise he would have been unable to conclude the deal. AS it happened, MT Hewitt succeeded in purchasing every gun,
 
 had them shipped to the government, relieving an urgent want. The only compensation he asked was that he smaller weapons as a memento.
 Another case of MT Hewitt's services to the government was at the time of the expedition which General Grant had planned against Forts. Henry and Donelson. MT Hewitt was at the home of his father-in-law, Peter Cooper, one Sunday evening, when dispatch was borught to him. In those days mes- sages were printed on long slips of paper, and the dispatch was about 15O feet long. It was signed by Abraham Lincoln, and it asked MT Hewitt whether he would undertake to build twelve mortar or bomb carriages with in a month. The dispatch went on to explain that the ordnance department 1 had declared it would take a year, and that if this was the case the expedition. then secretly planned against Forts Henry and Done1son, would have to Tail, as, on account of the low water in the river, the bombs or mortars of the gunboats would have to be hauled over ] land
 MT Hewitt, who was unknown to Lincoln except as an authority on iron manufacture, at once went to the West 1 ern Union office and had an operator placed in direct communication with | the White House. Over the wire he | Informed the president that if there was bomb carriage anywhere that he 1 could use as a model he would let him known within twenty-four hours what 1 he could do. The president sent mes sages to the war department. and after a lot of searching they informed MT Hewitt who had waited at the other end of the wire. that there was one near Newport. MT Hewitt asked that it be sent to him and the order was given. On Tuesday morning the bomb carriage arrived on the Fall River boat and before night Mir Lincoln received a dispatch from MT Hewitt that he would undertake the work. Within twenty-eight days the twelve mortarv l carriages were on their way to the scene of action. ....- .
 For that work MT Hewitt charged the government only the actual cost of labor and material. The red tape in the war department was such, how ever, that the claim was not paid promptly. MT Hewitt, after waiting a long time, and being in need of the money, went to Washington and saw Secretary of War Stanton. Stanton said he could not do anything, but he gave him a note to the president, and MT Hewitt was soon ushered into MI Iinco1n's room. They had never met and when Lincoln saw the small, un, dersized man, he looked at him in as, tonishment and asked:
 Are you MT Hewitt ?'
 ''I am," he answered, in his laconic way.
 Thereupon Lincoln burst out laugh ing.
 ''Well, then" he said, "I expected tc see man at least eight feet tall''
 That such a small man could have done what the war deparrment declared impossible, violated Lincoln's sense o1 proportion. Lincoln sent for Stanton and asked him why he did not pay MI Hewitts bill. Stanton explained. that his hands were tied. but that Lincoln as commander-in-chief could put tho matter through by putting his approva on the bill. and the president at once sat down and wrote on 1t: 70. K, A Lincoln
 One of the mortar carriages is stand ing in front of MT Hewitt's house 1T Ringwood. It's presence was comment ed on often. but MT Hewitt told it's his tory only to his intimate friends.
 
 Croker's Return Announced. NEW YORK, Jan. 21.-The return of l uI I,sr IT le,In