The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-12

N tsAAohn ~ the contrary
notwithstanding. The accepted author
tiles agree also that history does not
always deal strictly in hard facts. Bits
of fiction have been dropped in from
Tune to time, or unpleasant truths
CLOSED over, if not wholly omitted,
SIMPLY to save the popular fancy from
a shock. Historians are wont TO ex.
cuse this kind of inaccuraey on the
ground of poetic license and let it 90
at that, says the Philadelphia Ledger.
Lit was this iong-eherished. popular
Fancy, doting on historic idolatry, that
raised such protest when Secretary
TAFT IN his Decoration Day speech
made reference to one of General IT 8
Grant s unfortunate weaknesses. He
dealt out nothing worse than genuine
facts, but great was the shock thereof.
Historians generally tell the truth
but not all of it. Their reservations
are responsible, in great measure, for
an endless lot of inaccuracies that have
| erept into the records. General Grant
| himself was the least charitable of his
| bIographers. When it came to his
| habits he made no attempt to pass
| them by unnotieed and so deceive the
public. While it may not be exactly
chivalrous to exploit the weaknesses OF
the dead, it has at least the merit of
conserving historic facts.
| Grant never made any attempt to
| conceal the fact that at times he drank
to excess, but historians generally have
studiously SHE'D at it. Is there the
least likelihood that the public will
| hold his memory in less reverence when
1t hears that he not only INDUCED free
ly in liquor, but Fcussed' - with the
proficiency and abandon of a deep-sea
sailor?
Men who knew Grant intimately say
that he defended occasional excursions
into profanity on the ground that no
we'll regulated man could carry on a
war successfully without it. A. r.
Waud, one of the best known of the
civil war artists, who was with Grant
in nearly all of his campaigns, is au-
thority for the statement that he could
fire such broadsides of oaths in mo-
ments of extreme excitement or when
the tide of battle was against him as
were intended to make the average
effort sound like the hum of Chris.
tian Endeavor convention.
Mr.. Wand CHANGED to be standing
near Grant at one of the crucial mo-
ments in the battle of Cold Spring har.
Dor. An aide rode up at a mad gallop
to report that one of his generals had
been repulsed with great loss. The
artist says that Grant s Vesuvian out.
burst of "euss words made Washing.
ton s linguistic achievement at the bat
tie of Monmouth Junction sound like
an infant 8 CHOW / lay me down to
sleep. And still it must be admitted
that Washington was somewhat of an
artist in that line.
Although standard historians make
no mention of it. there is reason to be-
lieve that General Wolfe was shot by
one of his own men in the battle with
Montealm before Quebec He fell early
in the conflict. Edward E. Ellis of
Montclair, n j., for many years a pro-
found student of history, furnishes
probably the most accurate account of
the killing of Wolfe that is to be found
outside of the histories. He does not
vouch for the truth of it, but gives
it for what it is worth and thinks it
merits consideration.
<fI have no doubt many will not be
willing to accept what ] say about the
matter of General Wolfe's death,
says Mr.. Ellis, "'but at the same time
/ think that even the most skeptical
must admit that my version of it may
have foundation in fact. Here is my
authority for it:
e'My father was born up the state in
1903, and lived to an advanced age.
When ] was very small boy | recall
that one day he pointed out to me
faded old house not far distant from
our old home, and said. There once
lived the man who shot General Wolfe.
.tOf course, this incident of my early
life is rather vague, but that it actual
" happened | cannot doubt, for | have
always been blessed with a retentive
memory. AS | recall now, my father
said that the man who lived in the
house he pointed out to me was named
Smith. but as to that there is some
doubt. since he died long before my
time. and his family was lost trace of.
e'But that my father knew and re-
membered him well cannot be doubted.
He and others in the neighborhood
often listened TO the old soldier s ac-
count of the shooting OF Wolfe. L
know that my father was rigidly truth
full, and that he and his neighors,
without exception, accepted the veneer
able soldiers statements as trust
worthy.
My father handed the story down
to me just as he got it. The soldier
said that he and brother several years
his junior were serving as privates IN
General WoIfe's army at the time of
the siege of Quebec. One day letter
was brought to them through the lines
apprising them of the fact that their
mother was at the point of death at
the family home, not many leagues dis
tant. The letter begged them TO make
haste if they wished TO see their moth
er alive.
''The brothers applied for brief
furlough. but, in the extremity of the
when every man was
needed in the ranks, this was refused.
The elder brother then begged that
the younger one be permitted to see
their mother. pledging his own life that
the brother would return to the army
IL. IL ~.