The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-09-04
(By Frank w. Salack in Harper's
WppkfNA

(By Frank W smack in Harper's
Weekly.)
OTANDING between the two men on
y the staircase Of the Fifth Avenue
hotel that October morning in
1884 ] heard the Rev. DR.. Burchard
hail James G. Blaine as the leader of
Republican hosts against 1.-The party
whose antecedents lad been rum, Ro-
manism and rebellion" My gaze had
been fixed intently upon Dr. Buchard's
earnest. slOW-mOving face as he spoke,
but instantly the famous ALTERATION
reached my ear I tnrned to see how
Blaine received it. 1 felt that some-
thing bad happened-something large.
important. But Mr.. Blaine had not
been so impressed. Indeed, 1 do not
believe he heard the three fateful
words 1t is my conviction that while
they reached his ear, they were not
carried to his brain. His eyes were
gazing over the heads Of the crowd
below him. They were seeing. but
not observing eyes. He was wearied
by travel. anxious about the election
DAY crisis, which was then less than
one week away. Surely ne was safe
IN the hands of & company of clergy
men who were there to help him. They
had gathered. she was there, the ora
tory Was pouring over him. Might he
not relax without fear? And so. l be-
heVe. Blaine's mind was somewhere
away off, busy, perhaps, with other
plans.
A presidential candidate was i'm
deadly peril but did not know it. He
was being defeated among his adher-
ents five days before the battle of the
ballots. The hostile words of the
friendly old preached floated past him
unheeded; in his response he failed to
rebuke them, and the supreme moment
Of opportunity had gone by Destiny
had waited just around the corner"
put turned now away and laid a new
trail for history.
Through its local bureau I was re-
sponsible to the Associated Press for
ne national end of politics i'm New
York City at the close OF that great
campaign. That Wednesday morning
the manager had objected 10 nv
shortening his staff by taking away
Lewsley and Mulvey TO act as stenog-
raphers at "a simple cut-and-dried
meeting Of dominies that any man
should be able to report alone he
said. On the face of things before the
event 10 looked that way, and I frank
~ admitted as much. But inside me.
somewhere behind the brain. I felt an
msistent impulse to caution.
News of Clerical Meeting.
But you don't need two stenog-
raphers," protested the manager. lone
shorthand man can take it all and
then get it out soon enough for first
editions-guess tie world isn't so -
anxious TO get quick news about this
clerical matinee
Ny mentality agreed With his, and
! felt half silly about il: but beyond
that was the dread lest something of
importance be forgotten Being re-
sponsible. l insisted on that ground.
and. with the two stenographers'
started for the Fifth Avenue hotel.
where the reception to Mr. Blaine was
10 occur. / felt safe then, like one
who has got up in the night and made
note o. something he might otherwise
have forgotten. l would do the in
PRODUCTION and the descriptive part of
the story.
On the parlOr floor of the Fifth Ave
nue. hotel, one flight above the offices.
a deeply carpeted space forms a
court upon which open the reception
parlors and the great dining hall. and
from which radiate the corridors and
cut of which rises the broad staircase
20 upper floors.
A stable and increasing company of
men were chatting in groups about the
broad hall and the place was bright
ened by women who had sought this
available spot to observe a great man.
and. though no one yet suspected. a
great event
1t was the Wednesday before cleo
ton day. The good men greeted and
bespoke each other with that import
ant air that marks the man apart
from the world when occasionally he
steps in TO rub against real life A
few hardheads like DR.. Macarthur and
Or. James NJ, King emphasized the al
most boyish exuberance of the others.