The Washington herald., 1908-06-21
Three Ohio Mayors Often
in the Public Eye Are Tom
L. Johnson, Brant Whit
lock, and Leopold Mark
breit-In Boston, George
A. Hibbard Is Acting Like
a Business Mayor.


Clellan. Of New York City. the distinc-
ton Of being the best known of the coun-
try's mayors. Brand Whitlock's fame is
commensurately larger than the city Of
which he is chief executive-Toledo. In
Boston George a. Hibbard. the first Re
publican mayor or the Hub in years, has
stirred up the politicians nightly and is
gaining a national reputation as a busi-
ness reform mayor by trimming the city S
budget hundreds of thousands OF dol
lars and doing other equally astonishing
things
After Eugene V. Schmitz San Fran
cisco is having its affairs directed by a
man who started I'm life as a country
printer and has for years been one of the
Pacific Coasts leading physicians. edu-
Gators. and litterateurs-Ed r. Tay-
lor. in Fred A. Busse the metropolis of
the Great Lakes has its first Republican
mayor in a long time, and in him. too,
It has a mayor who has been in politics
since he was Of age and who knows the
game from the ward division up. Besides
having gained wide notoriety by his stric-
lures on President Roosevelt, John +,
Reyburn. Philadelphia's chief executive,
is famed among sportsmen as having
been a member of the first four-oared
racing crew 70 use the now common slid
ing stroke. That was back in the COS.
Others Began at the Bottom.
Not the least interesting experiences
IN the career Of Charles A BookwaIter
mayor of Indianapolis. the home city Of
Vice President Fairbanks, were gained
when he was cumming about the coun-
try IN freight cars James G.. Dahlman.
mayor Of Omaha. and close friend Of W
J. Bryan. Is as expert a cowboy as ever
left high pommeled saddle for the city
As for Leopold Markbrcit. of Cincinnati.
he who got the country's ear not long ago
when he asked his city council 90 prohibit
women running automobiles In Cincin-
natl, on the ground that they are fitted
only 20 run sewing machines. the civil
war chapter Of his life was practically
one continuous thrill from beginning to
end. And thus the list might be contin-
ued at much greater length.
Mayor Markbreit is one Of the com
paratively few chief executives Of our
larger municipalities who was born
abroad. James y. Adam. Of Buffalo. is
another. but while Mr. Adam did not
leave his native Scotland for America
until lAi2 when he was thirty. Mayor
MTkbreit left Austria when he was "A
boy. BY the time the civil war broke
out young Alarkbreit was in the law Of
fee Of Rutherford b. Hayes. afterward
President. Referring 10 this part OF
Mayor Mark5reit's career. President Nc
Kinley, who knew Markbreit well. once
said.
Hayes entered the service in 1861 and
left Markbreit 10 take care OF the office.
and Markbreit sacredly promised 10 do
So At the battle Of Carnlfex Ferry
Hayes saw at some distance young Mark
brett approaching at the head Of q COM
pany. The latter was a striking figure.
handsome and soldierly in his bearing
Hayes expressed great surprise 70 find
that the young man whom he had left
in Cincinnati should thus early have de-
serted the Office and come to the front %
Soon Became "A Captain.
Markbreit entered the Twenty-eighth
Ohio Infantry as a sergeant His BRAY
cry soon won for him a captaincy. and
some time before December Of 1863. when
he became a prisoner of war. he had been
made adjutant general to Gen. Ayerell.
AT the time l was captured" Mayor
DIarkbreit told me recently. eve were
making a raid in Southwestern Virginia.
and I had been overcome with illness.
The Confederate general, W. II. Jackson.
succeeded by an attack from the rear I'm
cutting of a portion OF our column. there
by capturing about 100 officers and men
and the ambulances and the train. Gen.
jackson sent the greater part of his pris-
oners TO Richmond but I was sent on TO
Warm Springs 10 await the possible IA
vorable outcome OF special negotiations
under which / was 20 be exchanged
through the offices of Gen. jackson.
whose command I had frequently fought
against. But this order was counter
manded and I was sent on 10 Libby
Prison
within six months I and six other
Union officers were held as hostages or
pledges that a number Of Confederate
officers would not be executed by the
North. These Confederates had been cap
tured within our lines recruiting I'm Ken
Iucly, and when captured wore the Union
uniform. They were convicted as spies
and ordered executed but after months
OF endeayor and on the plea Of the wife
of Senator George II. Pendleton, the SEN
tence was suspended by President Lin
coin"
Prisoner I'm Libby.
rs
breit's experiences as a hostage. which
continued until a short time before his
release as a prisoner of war in February
Of So, were spent in one Of the famous
by 10 feet underground cells OF Libby
Prison. The captain and his fellow-host-
ages suffered greatly from foul air and
lack Of proper and sufficient food-thev
received but one meal n day-but their
greatest suffering came from another
source. Every now and then" the
mayor told me, "a rumor would reach us
Of an exchange 70 be made. but this was
soon followed by denial Thus we were
treated 10 all the horrors of alternate
hope and despair
When there vas more need OF soldiers
al the front" the mayor continued. our
Confederate guards would be substituted
by citizens. BY the way they called out
we could tell what was the nationality.
and when the guard was a German I
would talk TO him. II he seemed friendly
we would get him to give US something
70 read or a scrap to eat Thus these
good guards kept us alive
When we first entered the cells they
were filed with rats. These our negro
attendants would catch and cook for us
20 eat. We were glad to get them These
negroes. too. would smuggle notes for us
10 the prisoners above and they in turn
would get the messages out and on 70 our
friends IN the North. Some Of these let
ters of mine have been printed In the
official records Of the United States"
Taken to salisbury