The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-11-20
From White House
to Hut Of Hermit
Andrew Johnson Stover's Unprece
dented and Novel Career.


denied and Novel Career.
A grandson OF a former presideE
who as child, played about til
white house and was as free there a
Kermit Roosevelt is today, is no,
living in log cabin In the noun
tains of East Tennessee, near Eliza
betht0n. The boy who was petted b
the great of his day and who locke
with familiar eyes on the brillian
society of the national capital, Is nov
hunter and trapper, dwelling In !,
rude house Of logs, caulked with clay
in the Holston mountains.
To look at him one would thinl
that he was born in the environment
he now occupies. He dresses as thu
other mountaineers dress. He minglel
with them on friendly footing al
times and Is one Of them, though By
nature he is retiring and reticent.
They call him hermit, In his own
neighborho0d. But as q boy he was
an eye witness to some stirring
events in American history events
in which his own grandfather, then
president Of the United States, was
the central figure.
This remarkable man is pointed
out by those who know him as a
striking illustration of the contrasts
that may crowd themselves into the
life of an American citizen.
Many presidents have come from
the log cabin to the White House but
none has gone from the White House
to dwell In log cabin set in the
midst Of mountain of wilderness.
Yet such has been the history Of
Andrew Johnson Slower, grandson Of
President Andrew Johnson who sue
ceeded the great and whose biog-
raphy was itself, as strange and in
teresting as a novel, Not many men
have occupied the White House,
whose life story was as romantic as
that of Andrew Johnson. Few, if
any men have spent their boyhood in
the White House and their manhood
as frugal mountain hermit, In a log
hut like Andrew Johnson Slower.
"A. Johnson, Tailor i
What other nation in the world
can present such a picture as this?
In the little town of Greeneville.
Tenn, between Knoxville and Bristol
there still stands rude structure.
gray with age, over the door Of
which is weather stained sign. up-
on which the letters are still plainly
visible, though more than half a CEN
fury has elapsed since they were
painted there. The sign reads: "A.
Johnson, Tailor"
In that ancient structure in his
early youth, Andrew Johnson piled
the needle and handled the goose.
He made long-tailed coats and fancy
trousers for the Greeneville dudes Of
mat era. Likewise he cut and sewed Z
more sober raiment Of the judges and \
1eacons who dwelt in that village.
All the while he was discussing
ouplic questions. He deftly manipu-
ated the needle, sitting cross-legged h
IN his bench, and argued the wisdom /
u the deeds and speeches of Web t
tier, Clay and Calhoun. He gave H
lis opinion of Senator Benton of Mis- g
ourl, and had something to say re-
'afdlng the trouble of insurgent y
exas with her former mistress, Mex I
co, and the possibility and adyis- 8
plllty OF our going to war with our n
outhern neighbor. n
SO with Andy Johnson, cross-leg- i,
ed on the tailor's bench, the little
mop became sort OF political forum
the community. While men had ],
lelr measures taken for a new A
unday suit of clothes they were Of
lrprised to see what grasp of a,
lblic problems the tailor had. til
ana while his needle was busy til
asting suits for the Greenville beaux II
le loom of fate was busy weaving tn
lother fabric which Andrew John ii,
IN was to sew into one Of the most tn
'ectacular careers in American his dr.
ny. step by step he arose in life all
ltli ne became vice-president of the w
nlted States, and when the Great ne
ncoln was stretched in death nv AZ
e bullet of Booth, the Greenyille so
llor succeeded to the chief mapis- M
acy OF the nation. ou
A fate unique awaited him as an no
cupant of the White House. An ha
parchment trial, the only at wa
npted impeachment of any presi- ole
NJ, was an ordeal he had to pass to
ough And the tremendous con- So,
uCt1On nrOhIamc xyaro III. A. 49, AZ,