The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-03-04
Two Presidential Inaugurations
President Grant in 1873 and President
Hayes in 1877.

Hayes In 1906
When President Grant was inaugurated
on the 4th of March, 1879, was only 40
miles away, at the night desk of the Bal
timore Gazette, and was unable to wit
ness the ceremonies. On the 18th of May
following | became a resident of Wash
ington. | had rooms on the south side
of Pennsylvania avenue near the corner
of 18th street, in one of a row of dwell
lngs that antedated the administration
of President Jackson, taking my meals
at Wizards Hotel opposite. Washington
is very different city today from what
it was then. There is no trace left of
the dwellings mentioned, and the New
Willard, the SWEETEST of swell hotels at
the National Capital, bears little resem-
blance to the modest hostelry of which
Sykes & Chadwick were then proprie-
tors. | think 7th was the only paved
street, and that was paved with cobble-
stones. 1t was the muddiest place in
wet times and the busiest place in dry
times that l have ever had any expert
ence of Congress had adjourned, the
horde of office-seekers that storm new
administration had with few exceptions
dispersed, the floating population had
drifted off and the fashionables We're
fitting to the sea shore or the springs.
Washington was 3 deserted village.
N 1878 I was ore of four who reported
the second inauguration of President
Grant for the New York World The
Others were the Worlds Washington
correspondent, George W, Adams; Ed
mund Hudson, his assistant, and Miss
Austine Snead. a writer of society news
over the nomnae de plume of Miss
{srurdy." The work was all mapped out
some time before the eventful day; otn
the outdoor scenes and incidents from
early morn until the starting of the pro-
eession | had also the afternoon hap
peni7gs and the illumination and fire.
works al night. Adams attended to the
procession. Hudson to the ceremonies at
the Capitol, and Miss Snead had the ball,
which was really the great feature. At
nv suggestion the report was made a
cor inuous narrative, as though told by
glr nprson, bringing in the events in
tf-ir fegular order, something that was
NOT 3one by any other paper, l believe,
III New York Herald for example, had
SEPARATE articles from Charles Norihotf,
It's chjet Washington spondent, from
Dor Piatt and from Edmund Yates. The
latter was Of Dickens young men, "
a contributor t. Household Words and
later to Temple Bar and still later he
established The World, a London weekly
OF tn seven people here named only two
are living-Edmund Hudson, now the
editor of the Hartford Times, and the
present writer.
No doubt some of my readers have
heard Of the blizzard that visited Wash
lngton on the 18th of March, 1878, and
few may have experienced its rigors. 1t
is recorded that 1.-The night before was
the morning the window panes were or
namented with the frescoing of Jack
Frost" The wind blew gale and in
the dust that swept through the streets
in clouds was intermingled particles of
gravel that stung the cheeks like hail.
III the movements preliminary to the
forming of the procession it was said:
The corps of cadets from West Point,
uuartered at the Ebbitt House, We're
paraded on F street before marching to
their appointed station, and excited much
con}uiseratior among the spectators
from the fact that they We're without
overcoats. Their light gray uniforms
and white gloves certainly made up
very airy-Iooking costume. Now the
Boston Lancers go through the streets
mounted on Washington horses of all sizes,
coio.s and conditions, some men wearing
oveIcoats and some without them, thus
presenting a decidedly notified appear
anc4. Next came the jolly little middies
from Annapolis, looking very warm and
comfortable as they proceeded up the
avenue at a brisk trot trailing their
howltzers behind them. Some idea of
the force of the wind may be had from
the fact that the arms of the Burgess
Corps of Albany, which had been stack
ed II front of the Kirkwood House, were
blown down and scattered about like
Jack straws"
Of the scene on the avenue at the time
Of the procession Mr.. Adams said: 1.-THE
frosty sheets of wind went screeching and
searching into every human frame not
sheltered from their touch. Over the
heads of this dense crowd nothing could
be discovered by those on the same level
but the occasional futtering of snowy
plunes or the glistening of the inter-
minable sheen of steel. Whenever the
icy winds struck the wood pavement
they lifted the dust into long clouds of
dust that blinded the eyes, sputtered in
She fac, and filed the ears of citizen
and soldier alike, increasing in volume as
1t assembled until nothing could be seen
u how. II FROM tho TraocI,rIr viayU bIlt the