The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-28
FREMONT JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY DUE
 TO BRIDES PLUCK
Wife of Explorer Suppressed Orders Ordering Him
 Back From Trip.
Was Threatened With Prose- cution For Her Action by
 United States.

SH Louis. April 28.-Seventy-on -one afears have elapsed since an eighteen year-pld bride in this city played q tremendous part in the history or the United States by 1nterceptlns al4 withholding important government orders The history of at least three states on the Pacific Coast hinges more or less. directly upon this act or insubordination, pronounced at the time far and wide, as high-handed, but later justified by the exigenctes of the times The bride was Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont, wife of John ~. Fremont the explorer and staIes- man, and daughter of Thos. II. 7en- ton.. for many years 2. senator lroin
 Earlv in 1s43 Fremont received from the United States government commission to undertake the second of his noted expeditions or expiora- ton to the Northwest, then a VdsI, un- inhabited region, the ultimate destiny of which hung in the balance II obedience to it, he came to Sr- Lotus from Washington and irnmediateiy set about quitting his exped1tions With his young wife acting as his secre- tary.
 It is a. matter of history that during the first third of the last century there kWas a powerful sentiment, both n ana out of Congress, against eztenolns .ns eile zdominiou of the United States to the sPacffc Coast Such senators as Wen1 tster and Calhoun were opposed to IT and for the most part were able co in- d1uence Congress to their behe1s on; ftss. other hand Senator Benton, Iol- 7oxvsnx his first. election in 1921, be- came a staunch advocate of western expansfon and was able to command large Following through whose enorts the various expeditions or eAp4oI Istaoi i. were authorized. e1
 In outfitting his expedition. Ere rr,rsif took the liberty of adding a 12- pound brass 11o~itzers secured rom ff1s government arsenal at st. LOUIS upon the representation tnal ne neeu- LVssss- ed it as a defense against possible hostile Indians.
 News of this acquisition, 1t ap- r,ears was carried hastily to Washing ion where the announcement creal- ed something of g. efnsation in gov <rzz,z,s<r,f circles s ,Tzza element not especially friendly to the expedlt1omns m declared that the taking of cannon dnto foreign or neutral territory con stifuted an act of hostility which might involve the. government m grave eventua1ities. M . This view appears to have been shared by the head of the Topograph- fc Bureau, under whose direction the .expIorations were being made. for he straightway dispatched sealed orders to Fremont at St. Louis, directing 1lin to halt the expedition and report forthwith at Washington for the pur- pose of giving an explanation of his
 Fremont had left st Louis for the west in April, shortly before the ar rival of these orders, Mrst Fremont Us his secretafyj being instructed to open his mail and forward by courier such documents as appeared iTnpor- tant He was still within easy re- call having proceeded but short distance into what now constitutes Kansas upon the day of the arrival of the important post.
 The young Mrs. Fremont, who was thoroughly imbued with the ardor of her husband and father for western expansion. thought she disceTned in the peremptory orders a subterfuge to defeat the purpose of the exp edition. For her husband to proceed to Wash ington, she well know, would require weeks and make impossible any jour ney to the Northwest during that sea- son Senator Benton was absent; 1t was before the days of the telegraph; she had no one with whom to coun- seI- Thus. beset, the young wife re- solved to suppress the orders
 Srimnonfng one of the fast couriers at her commanw, Mrs. Fremont dis patched message of love to he1 husband. urging him at all hazards tc hasten his departure from the farth- est fringe of civilization and to pass beyond the Rocky Mountains al quickly as possible. There were hints
 
 reason was not given.
 Thus Colonel Fremont proceedet upon a Journey of months all uncon. scious that his presence in Washing ton was daily expected.
 There was another sensation as Washfrlsfon when the expedient prac ffced fy the young bride ocean, known It was stated that Fremon would be arrested and court-martialet as soon as the government could Ia. hands upoh him and that his wifi ing come of these threats, however when the explorers finally did reacl Washington months later, he foun' praise and promotion instead of pros ecution, while his secretary was re zarded as something of a. heroine be cause Of her part in the success o his expedition
 The Fremont party dragged ths uE1ee1-rnounted cannon across tn fracIrless mountains and plains far t the Northwest, almost to the presen site of Portland, Oregon. Return ing 1t was conveyed down the east .rn slope of the Sierra Nevada Noun fains to about the point where tn Central Pacific Railway now sur mounts that range. There, in al fsmptinr to cross into California, tn expedftfon was caught by the snow of winter and the piece had to b abandoned. At Lake Tahoes pearb! it rests teday-silent mento a girls defiance of the government C the United States
 Madge-Did you scream when h kissed your
 Marjorie why. no, dear. It was to