Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-02-06
ANECDOTES OF WHITNEY
gncident Connected With His
 First Cabinet Dinner.
COSTLY PEACHES HIT OF THE FEAST

COSTLY PEACHES HIT OF THE FEAST How Ek-President Cleveland Ate S25 ! Worth of Them - Negre Hostlers
 Faith In the Prophetic Power of
 whStney's Hands-A Joke Played
 by Him on R Toboggan Party.
 Since the death of William c. Whit ney, the financier and sportsman, many stories of his life at Washington while he was secretary of the navy have been told, but none more frequently than the story of the peaches, says the New York World.
 ! When MT. Whitney came to give his first cabinet dinner, at which he en- ,tertained the president and his col- leagues of the cabinet, he desired to ,have some novelty, and peaches ap- Ipealed to him more than anything else. Ills dinner came in the middle of Feb Iruary, when peaches are not ordi- Inarily in the market in Washington. He went to a fruit dealer there and asked him where he could get some peaches.
 ! The fruit dealer told him of man in IPennsylvania who grew hothouse peaches and suggested that he might get some of him. Mr. Whitney gave the fruit dealer a fifty dollar bill and told him to go to the grower and see what he could do. The marketman ,jorrneyed to Pennsylvania, found that the man had four dozen ripe peaches and bought the lot for dollar apiece, TOT S48 for the lot. He brought them to Washington and notified MT. Whitney that he had forty weight fine peaches.
 How much did they cost?" asked MT. Whitney.
 He's robber," said the marketman. "He made me pay $48 a dozen for them" -
 MT. Whitney thought the price pretty high, but he gave the man check for $2O0 for the forty eight peaches. They were the hit of his dinner, which was as it should be, inasmuch as they had cost MT. Whitney $250 all told.
 "They were fine" said MT. Whitney in telling of the dinner, "but thought President Cleveland rather crowded the mourners on them. He ate i've"
 %
 The following story is told about Will liam c. Whitney and one of his negro hostlers, says the Chicago Record Her Iald. MT. Whitney had noticed that each time he visited his stable this man watched every move he made and, up- on one pretext or another, managed to keep near to him from the moment he entered the stable till he left it. The inancier was greatly puzzled by the conduct of the negro, and one day he called him aside:
 Peter" he said, ''why do you follow me around and watch me so closely must have some good reason for your actions. What is itT'
 "Has gotter splain, sahr'
 ftCertainly."
 .Ts powerful 'fraid it'll spoil de charm, sah."
 ''spoii what charm? What do you meanY'
 'sWeil, sah, it's dis here way. Ev'ry mawnin' l looks up de entries fo' de days races. Den names t'ings in de stable fo' de hosses. See? De wheels of
 
 de shoulders an de Hanks of de hosses, de harnesses, whips ey' y'rything in de stable's done gotter name of one of de hosses dat'll run in de races today. Fo' instance, when yo' comes in yo' walks round an 'spec's things, an yo' kouches things. Whatever yo' touch I plays. Dat air wheel what yo' just shook ter see if it's sound is named Gold Heels, an dis nigger s gwine ter play Gold Heels fo' de limit 2 MT. Whitney laughed heartily.
 Are you lucky, Peter?' : Lucky! Why, MT. Whitney, dem hans of yourn knows mo bout proph- !ecy dan ole 'Lijah hisself!" :. William c. Whitney, who occasional Ay found time to tell story, related the following about a young frequenter of the race track in whom he took. some little interest, says the New York Hines: After working steadily for some months, this chap took his sav- lngs to Saratoga and at the outset of the race meeting started in to get all the bookmakers' money. Luck was against him, and after two or three days of plunging with indifferent sue cess he found his capital sadly reduc- led. Then he took turn at roulette and lost about all he had left.
 "On the following morning," said MT. Whitney. T found the chap sit ting in one of the spring houses, where |one may drink all the water he chooses for 5 cents. At noon when I stepped In he was still there. There he sat at the same table when with a party of friends stepped in to get mineral water nightcap in the late evening. i'Jokingly asked him if he'd been there all day.
 "Yes, sir, I have was his reply, and concluded, This is the. only game I can beat up here"
 The entire community about race track rejoiced when William c. Whit Iney's outfit arrived, for money was certain to be circulated freely, and