Arizona republican., 1909-10-18
CORRECTING RECORD
 Of ARIZONA HISTORY
The ReteIlins of a Timely Story in Greater Detail. General Shermans impressions of the Country.

The tour of President Taft has
 stirred up a matter that it is just as well to have settled right now as
 to let it go dragging along until all
 the historians are mixed up and future generations are given bum
 steer. General Adna R. Chaffee at
 the reception of the president in Los Angeles took occasion to spring a little story about the time Presi- dent Hayes passed through Maricopa on a presidential tour. accompanied by General McCook, then of equal rank with General Chaffee and both of modest rank. Chaffee, with a company of soldiers stood on the platform to greet the party when 1t came According to the story the train did not stop and McCook gave Chaffee the horse laugh from the rear end platform.
 That the aforementioned presi- dential party did pass Maricopa in the winter of 1880 is attested to in many ways and General w. T. Sher- man was also along. but that General Chaffee got the laugh from General McCook on that occasion, is said by living witnesses to be mistake in the record. It must have been some other time. and some other station that Chaffee got his snubbing for though Chaffee was at Fort Me Dowell about that time and was prob ably at Maricopa with his men; the train stopped and the president shook hands with everybody on the plat form. a proceeding that is shortly to be described. The story of that in cident is thus related by Colonel McClintock of this city who was then an impressionable youth and for the first time in his life saw a real president and remembers the particulars of the incident vividly
 Col. NcClintock. his brother and mother. and the late Captain Will liam A. Hancock and Mrs. Hancock. formed a party that drove to Mari copa solely to see the president. the Maricopa of those days being about five miles west of the present station of that name and almost due south of Phoenix The colonel says he even remembers in considerable de- tail how the train looked There was no available water at that time be- tween the old Sweetwater tank in the vicinity of Casa Grande and Gila Bend, or perhaps even west of that point. and all trains carried huge water tank cars. There were two of them on the front end of the presidents train. and as usual they were covered with Indians who were then carried free whenever they chose to ride, which was most of the time.
 When the train came to stop the president and Mrs. Hayes ap- peared on the platform and the former addressed the little knot of perhaps thirty or forty people, citi- zens. freighters. Indians, etc. that had gathered. beside the company of soldiers from Fort Mcdowell that was lined up in an attitude of pre- sent arms" later carrying their car pines to the shoulder At the con- cluston of the speech the president suggested to the subordinate offi- cer in charge that as the soldiers were so far out on the frontier and away from civilization they would doubtless appreciate his disregard ing a usual custom and shaking hands with each of them. They did of course and were so instructed when the president got off the car and passed along the line. What i'm pressed Mir McClintock was the