The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-11-11
wEBSTER'S VISIT TO
STRATT0N MOUNTAIN
Slept at Luther Torrey's. Near the
Rally Grounds, After the Meeting.
Interesting Facts.

] Interesting Facts.
! In view of the recent erection Of
monument on Stratton Mountain I
! commemorate the mass meeting Q
I lS40, when Daniel Webster was one O
| the speakers, letter written to Tn
/ Vermont Phoenix July IL, 1907, by I
/ NJ. Torrey of East Dorset, now de
; ceased, copy Of which was preserve
by his niece, Mrs. Henry Payne o
!; West Wardsboro, will be of interest
Dear SIR Sixty-seven years age
July 7, lS40, the people of Brattlebor
were up, out, around and astir uncom
monty early. The "Godlike" DAME
Webster had spent the night Of the 6tl
there and the Tippecanoe & Tyler Too
club of which young Mr.. Fredericl
Holbrook, now our venerable ex-gov
ernor, was president, and some on,
hundred others, were to escort him Il
Stratton, where he was that day to ad
dress an outdoor mass Wing conven.
tion on the issues of the campaign
Many errors about this convention
have appeared in print. A Vermont
Historical reader" says: webster
was there and ate his dinner from a
shingle like the others, there being no
plates" Twenty thousand persons
dining off twenty thousand shingles
A newspaper account of Mr.. Webster's
dinner: president Holbrook passed
Mr.. Webster good-sized plateful of
baked beans and pork" Again the
same historical reader; "When all
was ready he (Webster), mounted a
stump and delivered his speech" He
was then in his 59th year and portly.
The president of the convention, Wait
still r. Ranney, and Hiland Hall
mounted the stump" with Mr.. Web
ster and made short addresses. Some
fifteen or twenty others, also, prob
ably including President Holbrook, had
seats thereon.
The site of the stump or Of the
webster Grandstand" was natural
amphitheatre in rough pasture,
little north Of good stage road and
three miles east Of the top of the
Green mountains and three-fourths of
a mile east Of Whites saw mill, now
Grout's, so-called, on Deerfield river
The mill and pasture were owned by
Phineas White of Putney. Mr.. Web
ster spoke Saturday, July a, 1910, in
Barre, Mass, came to Brattleboro
Monday, the 9th, to Stratton the 7th
and spoke in Bellows Falls the 8th.
Brattleboro's "prancing cavalcade
of horsemen" didn't prance through
her streets in honor of Daniel Web
ster July 5, 1910, as in print, for that
day was Sunday. More likely they
were singing "Auld Lang Syne" and
the "Doxology." Nobody knows
where in Brattleboro Mr. Webster
spent the night, July 6, or where he
lined at the Stratton convention.
Maybe it was at Luther Torrey's next
house east of the grounds where he
stopped on his way to address the
and where he spent the
light after the rally. Maybe he dined
IN the stand he was to speak on
here was plenty of room-and maybe
n "a large tent" but that tent wasn't
pitched on the summit of the noun
ain." That summit was an unbroken
crest then as now and always except
" the road and three miles distant.
iaybe and more likely he dined with
us new-made political friends in the
og cabin, 100 feet long, from north
o south by so feet wide, cut in two
by drive for teams. The
Democrats celebrated this log cabin in !
song beginning thusly: {
Dad and went up to Stratton early :.
Tuesday morning
And there we saw the Federalists as
thick as bees a-swarming. y
a great log cabin there was built all
filled with hard cider, .
As long as uncle's barn and shed, | =
guess it must been wider. = :
1t is in print that Mr.. Webster spent Fl
le night after the rally in West a
'ardsboro at the private house of a "
ranger. Guess not. And that that 81
ranger set fire to his only cigar and al
lfter putting at the weed some little b
me" handed the residue to Mr.. Web di
er, who finished it, "appreeiating the CT
xury" He did not. He had such an m
fer on the steps of the hotel at West
ardsboro, where he stopped on his if
ay to the convention, but declined dc
ith thanks. In 60l2 years the story W
'ew to the improbable and nauseat- ia
z dimensions as above. Mr.. Web TO
er was remote from his teens. He el
d travelled from Brattleboro TO the or
ration eonyention 37 miles nv the lvs