The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-19
BY FERDINAND WARD.

fhe not lie seemed TO DC possessed
of II sort Of sixth sense. which enabled
him 10 size up situations IN flash OF
intuition.
Tale of the Elevator,
Another proof of the fact that fear
and General Grant had never been IN
troduccd 80 far as might ever he de-
lermined from anything IN the gen
cral S manner occurred one day IN our
office building IN Wall street. When
General Grant came 10 The office IN
the morning he usually came pnnctually
ai 10 @ clock. Ono morning lie came III
half an hour late. was sitting at
my desk and greeted him, His manner
BETRAYED nothing which might Indicate
that nc had had an unusual adventure:
He sat down in his easy char and
smoked and rhattcd with me as usual
\ few minutes after he arrived one
of the Officers Of bank which was To-
Gated in the same building came run
ming into the office. His face was pale.
and with thc greatest concern he in.
ulircd of the general if the latter was
all right, to which General Grant re
piled IN the affirmative" in nm uncon-
cerncd way. ] was greatly surprised at
thc scene and asked what II meant, The
general laughed and said hc supposed
his friend from down stairs referred TO
an incident which he had already for
gotten.
"As WAS coming up in the elevator
this morning The rope parted, said the
general and we fell several floors. For.
tunately the automatic brake worked
and we got nothing worse than shak-
ing M. All in all. j. was rather IN
tercsting experience.
That was all. He regarded his cs-
cape from death as something too try
ial 10 mention when he came into
the office And | do not believe he
considered it important enough to men
tion. Later, perhaps, when he thought
of it he might casually have referred
10 ii.
General Grant was above all other
things democratic. This trait was one
Of the secrets of his popularity. He
would sit and talk * freely with one in
comparatively loWly circumstances, II
occasion offered. as with the high and
mighty. And there was no hint of con
desccusiou IN his manner at such times.
He was simple and sincere with every
one.
Often 7 have been asked if General
Grant was drinking man. lie was
anything but that lie very seldom
touched any liquor except ale, and he
drank that sparinGlY and at raro IN
tervals. AS is we'll known, he smoked
necessarily. ] have known him 10 go
to bed with heavy Havana III 'hIs
mouth. put out the lights and continue
smoking for time IN the dark, He
would never finish this nlghtcap cigar.
but when it was about half done he
would pat it somewhere where 1t might
be reached easily in the morning.
The first thing he did when he
awakened was 10 get his stub and light
il. Sometimes he would smoke another
whole cigar before breakfast. Lunch
con and dinner usually interrupted his
smoking, and he would pat his half
finished cigar aside. TO be resumed i'm
mcdiatcly upon finishing hls-mcal. When
he came to the office ] always had
twenty-five Of his favoritc threcfor-
fftv.cent cigars ready for him, and in
variably he smoked them all during the
day.
a Cigar Story.
4 cigar anccdoto. which. I believe,
has never been written. viii show an
other trait Of his character, that of 10y
atty 10 friends.
The incident afforded several of us
the greatest amusement at the time and
we often teascd the general about II,
When he returned from his visit 20
Mexico he was enthusiastic about the
possibilities Of the country and warm
friend and admircr of General Diaz.
ne tOlu US inc StNtidl ldu pToIulScu ~
send him some Mexican cigars, and as
he said the conditions for raising fine
tobacco IN Mexico were uneXcclled, he
had no doubt they would be much bet
ter than even Havanas. Ho said he
had not tried the Mexican cigars while
on his visit as the subject had not
come up for discussion until he was
leaving.
One day there arrived at the office
. 4 i,
from pure Mexican tobacco, Il present
from Diaz. Before he opened the case
the general was as excited about the
gift as II was possible for him TO get.
and he told us that If there were any
more OF the UaVanas on hand 10. give
them away and that it would NOT be
necessary 10 get any more for while.
"Wc will probably like these much
better any way said the general,
der them in large lots direct from Mex
leo. >
The cigars were packed one hundred
each in fifty beautifully lacquercd
boxes. General Grant presented each
of us in the office with Il box and we
began to smoke the new cigars. They
were large, black and coarse, and TO
our educated taste exceedingly rank,
In Difference TO the seriousness with
WHICH lHc peuSTdl lOok lNc O!lI We
stuck it out as long as we could. L. 5.
Grant, ir., managed to smoke about
twenty-five of the Mexican cigars. l
believe. before he was forced 80 dis.
continue them. Fred Grant and | man
aged somehow to finish out q hundred
each, but declined positively to accept
a second box
The general manfully stuck it Out for
a while longer, chiding us for our lack
of appreciation and telling us that we
did not know good tobacco when we
tasted it. Finally he, too, was forced
to give up the unequal struggle aud
confess that, after all. the new cigars
could not compare with the HaVanas
to which he had become accustomed,
Detested Oaths.
General Grant would never listen to
Objectionable stories. He did rot like
IN hear an oath, and al times j have
4 Ia r..N 4