Evening journal., 1915-09-04
New News Of Yesterday
The Man Who Bed Frank
lin Pierce at CHECKERS
ny Holland.

Judge William Folsom, Ieading citi-
zen of the town of Heniiker, N. H..
recently related to mo .tveral very
Interesting anecdotes ass tiated with
Franklin Pierce. who vas elected
President of the United shtes in No
vember. 1852.
pierce was born" saidlJudge Fol-
som, Gin the town Of Hinshoro which
AaGjoins this town. The houle in which
Ihe was born is still stand 1g and his
llephew. Kirk Pierce, who WAS one Of
The heirs to whom President Pierce
loequeathed his estate, lyts near by
ihnd has in his house mank articles
INCLUDING the sword which Pierce
wore when serving in he Mexican
which are associdt tied with
4 Pierce
= asked Judge Folsom if he had
f ever seen or heard President Pierce.
and in reply he said:
when I was young man | heard
Gen. Pierce speak. He wasIa very nne
,orator. With the exception. possibly.
lof Daniel Webster. he was the finest
hlorator New Hampshire has ever pro-
lduced. My recollectons of General
Pierce. however, are more vivid and
Iltender than any which is associated
with hearing him speak. When l was
Ia boy about 12 years of age, / went
. with my father into the tavern at
i concord. It was in the year 1852 and
shortly before Pierce was nominated
for the Presidency. We found him
kplaying checkers, a game of which
kIhe was very fond. He had just beaten
hls opponent and as he saw my faith
ler he said. Come and have q game
LOT checkers with me- My father re-
piled that he did not play, but he
said that he had a son with him who
was reported TO be a pretty good
fchecker player. Thereupon Gen.
Pierce called me to him and asked me
.if ! played checkers and when / said
II did sometimes he invited me to
have a game with him.
Il sat down opposite him at the
tcheckerhoard. There we were in the
ftayern office. a man who had been
NUnited States Senator and only 80
Iyears old, who had been a general
funder Scott in the Mexican war and
fwho within few months was elect
He'd President of the United States. and
l. boy of 12, about to engage in a
cgame of checkers.
+ We played one game and l beat
him He complimented me on the
way | played and asked me to have
ianother game. So we played again
and once more ! beat him. Gen. Pierce
seemed to be not a bit annoyed that
he had been beaten by a boy and he
invited me to play another game.
So we played again and l beat him
the third game. He came around to
lwhere ! was setting. put his hand on
lmy shoulder and said My boy you
have done we'll. l hope you will dis
Nplay the same ability as you go on
lthrough life as you have shown in
lplaying these games of checkers with
me. It takes a good deal Of ability TO
elay a good game of checkers
Then he took from his pocket a
50-cent piece and gave it 10 me. say
ing that l deserved even better re-
4 ward for >the skill had shown in
n}ayi5ee checkers than could be given
-. mere words. Again he patted me
on the back.
-"In after years, have often thought
how thoroughly this little incident
characterized Gen. Pierce. He was al
says kindly. He never spoke with
II .arebness to any one and his court
80, even to the lowliest man or wo'
man whom he met furnished a splen'
Kid exau-ple for any one to follow
1convrght. 1915. by E. j. Edwards
All rights reservedD