Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-19
A PRACTICAL JOKE
UNUSUAL INCIDENT ON EAST
FRONT OF CAPITOL.
Two Men, One Blacksd Up, the Other
Made Up for FRsident,
Kinetoscope.

President Roosevelt is. the prospective
victim of a rather unsavoEy practical joke
II, indeed, it was intended for nothing more
than a minstrel "gag.s-whinh was at
tempted upon him today. The occurrence
caused some excitement in ofncial circles
and undoubtedly, by reason Of, the unpleas-
ant possibilities Involved win be further
looked into by the proper officials.
This morning shortly .beforeg8 o'clock a
man made up as negro pretended to have
an accident on the Capitofs plaza, In front
of the George wash4Astpk srakue, falling
to the pavement. Then "a 6pen barouche
drove up, from which stepped man who
was made up to resemble President Roose-
yelt With the aid Of his poachman. who
wore livery the fac-simile of the White
House livery, the fictitious colored man
was tenderly lifted In the pretended Presi-
dents carriage, the president" tipped his
hat to the man, and after offering him a
cigar, PERMITTED him to- be driven of In the
presidential barouche.
Kinetoscope Was Working.
All this time kinetoscope, or moving
picture apparatus. which had been set up
by the statue, was busily taking photo
graph of the occurrences. In order to make
double sure of the negative the act was
repeated.
1t was witnessed by many people, quite
little crowd of ce-bDund people stopping
to look on, and furnishing unconsclousiy
the suitable human background for the PIC
ture. D
The story soon got around town and Gre
ated a great deal of talk. Some people
said it must have been. Intended as a po.
litical trick intended to put the Presloent
in an attitude that would subject him to
renewal of the criticism that followed the
Booker Washington incident Details OF
the incident, however. led others to say
that 1t looked to them as II mlnstrei
show was after some free advertising.
Two employees of the Capitol witnessed
the incident, Special Bicycle Officer J. A.
Jones and Capt John Brady. Special Om-
Ger Jones gave to Star reporter this att
ernoon this account of the affair.
Mr.. Jones' Account.
"About ten minutes before this morn
ing was standing on the east steps OF the
Senate and saw man with a big photo
graph instrument setting up his machine
over by the George Washington statue.
Two carriages were hard by one of them
an open barouche and the other an open
carriage. saw a man get out Of the open
carriage and lie down on the asphalt In
front of the machine.
II went over to see what It meant. There
on the ground was fellow nlacked up as
a negro. He was big, tat fellow with
jowls and he wore minstrel shoes and
regular minstrel outfit. As came UP, the
other carriage drove up, and from 1t
alighted man who was dressed up like
President Roosevelt. He helped the pros
trate negro into his Carriage and offered
him a cigar, tipping his hat to the negro.
and that carriage drove on.
THE picture man was grinding away
with his apparatus all the time. and they
did the act over twice. At one time l
heard one of the men say to the other:
That's fine, Lew and I ren,arked to
man nearby that the fellow must be Lew
Dockstader, the minstrel man.
1.-THE man dressed like the President
really did resemble him. He had a reddish
mustache, wore glasses a long coat and
silk hat. The carriage was like one of
the. White House carriages and the coach
man and footman wore the White House
livery. I did not Interfere with them be-
cause photographs are permitted to be
taken in the roadways and drives of the
Capitol grounds"
Capt. Brady's Version.
Capt. Brady said: II vas standing near
the scene and walked up to see what was
going on. I saw this made-up negro walk
off and chalk a place on the asphalt, with
in range of the camera, suppose. then fall
down. Up drives the other carriage and
the fellow dressed as the President steps
out, and with his coachman lifts Mr.. Negro
lHto lHc carriage. s1nefe IS q great zeal OF
bowling and hat tipping. and exchanging OF
cigars. and of course the picture machine
keeps on taking it in. The act was done
over again. SO as to make sure, suppose.
''Of course, the man who represented the
President was not the President. I was
near enough to see that he was well made
up. but to anybody whos knows the Presi-
dent by sight II was paapable makeup
The Capitol officials were making inauir-
les this afternoon to aaccrtafn ii possible
the identity Of the people who participated
in the affair.
At the White House today 1t was said
that the President was not out of the
White House this morning.
Trying to Trace the Men.
Special policemen from the Capitol were
sent Into several parts of the city today Ia
order. 4 possible, to trace the men who had