Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-05
WHEN WARWICK GRATED
Meeting with General Latta Recalls
to Col. Mccain Story with Punch
Which Made Hit During Gu
bernatoriaI Campaign Of 1894
BY GEORGE NOX MCCAIN

r MET General James w. Latta on the
L street the other day. He Is best remcm-
bcred by the older citizens and politicians as
secretary of internal affairs of the state for
two terms from 1895 to 1908.
In spite of his snowy beard and mustache,
he carries himself and his eighty years with
a hint of the Old martial bearing that char
acterized him when he was assistant adJu-
tant general of volunteers in the days OF the
Civn War.
He is one of the young old men of Phila-
delphia. He keeps himself in trim by keep
ing busy. He is in daily touch with the
big affairs of life.
CENERAL 'LATTA was one of group OF
~ men that witnessed unique demon
stration at Greensburg, Pa. In the party,
as l recall. were the present Attorney Gen
eral W. I. Schaffer, Colonel Reeder, OF
Belefonte: Colonel Henry Hall, now Wash
ington correspondent of the Pittsburgh
Chronicle Telegraph, and Charles +. War
wick, afterward Mayor Of Philadelphia. 1t
was during the gubernatorial campaign OF
1894,
The party had jumped from Franklin,
Pa, to Greensburg. 1t was Saturday night
and everybody was hurrying to get back to
Philadelphia.
On the trip from Franklin down the AL
lcghcny river the famous painted rocks
near Franklin were pointed out. They
recalled an incident to the mind of Colonel
Hall, who related it to three others of the
party facing in n double car scat
AS Hall concluded the story Warwick
slapped his knee in enthusiasm and said,
"I'm going to use that story tonight at
Greensburg. It'll bring down the house."
And it did
THE mass meeting was held in the old
Il court house in Greensburg. IL was n
splendid audience. The greatest enthusiasm
prevailed.
General Latta opened the meeting He ad-
dressed himself particularly to the front
benches filed with Grand Army men.
Charles f. Warwick closed the meeting.
lie. too. addressed himself specially to
the veterans who were in uniform. His per-
grafton was the cory told by Henry Hall
on the railroad lin. This it was, in brief:
Down in N ter county at the outbreak
of the Rebelnon one of the first men to
enlist was gaunt woodsman more than SIX
feet tall and built in proportion. He was
rough. uncouth, and the homeliest man in
the region.
He was so ugly that they nicknamed him,
THE Indian God"
lie was made color sergeant Of his regi
ment.
Somewhere down in Virginia one morn
ing a year or so later headquarters re-
ceived information that q body of the enemy
was in the vicinity. Skirmishers were
thrown out. the regiment assigned to posi-
ton. and preparations made for an en-
gagement.
In the meantime the color guard in ad-
- A. III.
had halted. The order to halt was given, but
the guard failed to hear. In n louder and
more emphatic tone the officer in command
shouted:
"Color guard. halt! Bring your colors
back to the regiment
The guard halted. The sergeant. the I'm
dian God,' fearless, crude, and profane,
turned half round and shouted back so that
his words rang along the line:
Bring your damned old regiment up to
the colors."
I never recall such scene. The climax
had been worked up beautifully by War
wick. who was an eloquent and captivating
speaker.
The Grand Army men leaped cheering to
their feet. Women rose and waved their
handkerchefs Hats were tossed in air and
the band in the midst of the uproar played
the "Star Spanged Banner" The effect on
Warwick himself was so pronounced that
tears trembled in his eyes
We barely made the midnight train for
the East
A MEDIUM sized, strongly built man,
brown skinned and vigorous, and wear
ing mandarin glasses. who seems to have a
speaking acquaintance with two or three
persons in every block on Chestnut street,
answers to the name of Timothy O'Leary.
When he was assistant superintendent of
police some years back he was known as
Tim" O'Leary, the man who drilled the
police force in military tactics for four
years and who had the best dressed and most
soldierly police force in a generation.
O'Leary had been in the army and was
drillmaster himself
To Tim O'Leary belongs the distinction,
held possibly by no other citizen of the
United States, of having administered a
good sound punch in the face to a futura