The Washington times., 1904-07-30

1t may be that the reason whv
Washington seems to lack local color
is that all colors are combined. as they
are in sheet Of white paper. As
light Is shivered into rainbows by the
prism, or a secret message starts out
mysteriously from that same innocent
looking sheet Of paper. when treated
with the proper chemicals so the city
is written and cross-written with ro-
mance-a very palimpsest. There is
certainly q great deal Of comedy and
tragedy here which cannot be viewed
from the Seeing Washington cars nor
bawled through the instructors mega
phone The most of 1t has never been
put into any novel. There was that
story Of a woman's revenge which lost
statesman the Presidency when it
was all but secure; but that has been
written in the history books. Other in
trigues without number have never been
written at all.
But when you consider that there are
men In this city who hold the ends OF
lines stretching thin as spiders webs
and tenacious as suspension cables thou
sands and thousands of miles. and that
these lines are numbered by the hun
dred In every Department. you cannot
help seeing that things must happen
here. Despite the mightiness Of States
Rights and far-off popular opinion. and
the difficulties attending the efforts Of
one single group OF cats keeping an eye
on eighty million mice with half a con-
tinent to play in. despite the sleepy as
poet of the city which basks in the sun
beside the yellow Potomac. the men in
office do really earn their board and
clothes.
A man who took care OF the other end
Of one of these myriad lines, away out
on Puget Sound. on one special occasion,
turned up in Washington one autumn
day, 70 go to school. He was in the
Secret Service, and had learned pretty
much everything that man need
know in that calling. except what can
only be learned from books; and on
books he was shy. So they had told
him to take a few months on and at
tend 10 his general education. with par
ticular reference to certain points IN
law. He could use a knowledge OF law
in his business.
BE was a big. strong, quick mouoheo
Western negro. and his name was Gre
gan. be had been in one OF the negro
cavalrv. regiments-this was long before
. l4fAa
the frontier, and then gone into the Sc
cret Service. He could shoot after the
miners fashion. without taking his re-
volver from his pocket: he could smoke
or drink or ride anything. though trolley
car was all he had chance to ride
in the East, and for various reasons he
did not try to drink anybody under the
table while attending Howard Cniver-
sfty; and he was as quick as cat 10
| learn. II he could have been induced
to tell half his experiences they would
have made good reading for sensation
H. nters They included nearly all SEN
sations except pleasant ones
Just before he was detailed 10 hunt
knowledge In a school-room, he had been
up on the Canadian border hunting
Cinnamon. It was not long after the
| Chinese exclusion law began to screw
down hard, and pinch certain careless
gentlemen up there. and the Govern
ment had reason to suppose that Chinese
coolies were being landed just across
the line and struggled into this coun-
try. 1t Is about as easy 10 pick out new
| Chinese from old after they have been
a few hours on American soil as 1t
would be to know beans OF particular
| handful after they had been dropped
back into the bag. Therefore, the only
course for the revenue officers was
to catch the smugglers> in the act. Gre
gas's assignment was to find out when,
where. and who
1t will be news to some people that
the Secret Service ever has employed ne
| groes, but it does. now and again, when
! it can lay hold of the right kind OBJ
viously a negro can often get into
places where he can see. and hear. and
| take notice, when a white man could
not. owing TO the convenient habit the
white man generally has of regarding
/ him as a piece OF furniture. Cregan had
| been a valet, a bootblack, hostler. and
/ a roustabout on occasion. This time
/ he looked for a steamer that wanted A
good, strong. stupid deck hand, and
| there was only one steamer on which he
| cared to work.
| Perhaps pirates in the juicy days of
| Blackboard and Captain Kidd had more
applications for jobs than they could
| handle. but the modern piratical craft.
| especially when a revenue cutter is nos