The Press., 1911-12-13
LUCKY LAST LOOK
1t Preserved the Declaration of
 Independence In 1874.
SAVED IT FROM THE BRITISH.
The Precious Document Would Have Been In the State Department When 1t Was Burned but For PIeasonton's Final Glance Around the Room.


 Been In the State Department When
 1t Was Burned but For PIeasonton's
 Final Glance Around the Room.
 Comparatively few of the present generation know how near to being lost was once the most precious of our national documents. the Declaration of Independence. It was during the war of 1872. The Declaration of Inde- pendence hung for many years in frame in the state department in the room then occupied by Stephen Pleas OntOn. MT. Beaseley, commissary of prisoners of war in London. forwarded to the state department some London newspapers. stating that the English fleets and transports were receiving troops at Bordeaux, France, with the intention Of operating against Wash ington and Baltimore. Soon after it was learned that the British fleet was in Chesapeake bay and that it was ascending the Patuxent The officials and citizens of the little capital city were hourly expecting an attack.
 Upon receipt of this information, which was q few days before the enemy entered Washington. MT. Mon roe. then secretary of state. James Madison being president. mounted his horse. rode to Benedict, small village on the PatuXent. where the British forces were being landed, and climbed an eminence within quarter of mile of the village. in order to ascertain the strength of the enemy. Being con- vinced. after his inspection, that we had no force available that could sue cessfully resist them, he sent a note to MT. Pleasonton by a vidette. advising him to see that the best care was talk en of the books and papers of the state department.
 Acting at once upon this authority. MT. PieasOntOn purchased some coarse linen and had it made into bags of suitable size. in which he. assisted by others in the office. placed the books and other papers.
 While engaged in this work General Armstrong. then secretary of war. i passing the state department on his way to his own office, remarked that ! he thought they were unnecessarily | alarming themselves, as he did not think the British were serious in their intentions of coming to Washington, l Fortunately MT. Pleasonton was of different opinion. and observed that it !, was the part of prudence to take meas ! ures to preserve these valuable papers of the revolutionary government. Had MT. Pleasonton delayed but a few ' ho &ho oF the secretary of war, an irreparable :, loss would have been sustained. For the papers which MT. Pleasonton had placed i'll the coarse linen bags com prised the secret journals of congress, | then not published; the correspondence ] of General Washington, his commis- 1 sion. resigned at the close of the war; l the correspondence of General Greene !, and other officers of the Revolution. as ! well as laws, treaties and correspond i ence of the department of state from , to that time. -sIr.- -Pleasonton F yd the bags carted to grist mill, wh1LA he 5clSoted as a suitable depository. The mill. which was unoccupied, belonged to Edgar Patterson and was situated on the : Virginia side of the Potomac, beyond ! the Chain bridge. two miles above Georgetown.
 The last load had left, and MT. | Pleasonton was just quitting the va cant rooms when, glanctng back sud denly to see whether anything had been left behind, to his consternation he saw the Declaration of Independ- ence. which had been overlooked, hanging upon the wall. He hastily cut it out of the frame and carried it away with the other papers.
 He then began to be uneasy about the place he had chosen. for if the British took Washington. which he firmly believed they would do, and very soon at that, they would in all probability detach force for the pur- pose of destroying a foundry for the making of cannon and shot in the neighborhood and, of course, would consider a grist mill too valuable thing to be left standing in a country they meant to subdue. MT. Pleason- ton therefore visited some of the vir- ginia farmhouses, whose owners were only too willing to loan him wagons in which to convey the documents to Leesburg, a distance of thirty-five miles. There they were deposited in an empty house. the keys of which were given to Rev. MT. Littlejohn, who was one of the collectors of internal revenue.
 Worn out with his labors, MT. Pleas onton states in letter, he retired ear ly to bed that night and slept soundly. Next morning he was informed by the people of the little tavern where he had stayed that evening that they had seen during the night, the same being the 24th of August. a large fire in the direction of Washington, which proved to be the light from the public build ings. which the enemy had set on fire Snd burned to the ground
 When he returned to Washington on the 26th he found the public buildings still burning and learned that the Brit Ish army had evacuated the city the preceding evening in the belief that the Americans were again assembling in the rear for the purpose of cutting off their retreat. : Kansas City Times.
 An Elastic Appetite.
 The American black bear has an ap- petite that may be appropriately term ed elastic. He will kill a thousand