Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-04-26
Fiue Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents
The Second Dark Horse.
BY JAMES MORGAN

The country received tbs unherald-
cd nomination of Franklin Pierce for
President with as much surprise as
when Polk was sprung upon 1t.
Hereafter" Stephen A. Douglas in
dignantly exclaimed with a taste of
sour grapes in his mouth. mo private
citizen is safe"
A stranger in New Hampshire is
said to have looked up I'm bewilder-
ment from the newspaper headlines
and asked his tavern keeper about
the nominee. Wall. up here" was
the drawing reply, where every
body knows Frank and where Frank
knows everybody, he's a pretty con-
siderable fellow. But come to spread
him out over this whole country, I'm
afraid he'll be dretful hin i'm spots"
| New Hampshire Democrats were
In the inner councils of their party
from the Inauguration of Jackson to
the Civil War. Their bunker par
|tisanship was as rock-ribed as their
hills. and from 1892 to 1856 the little
state never faltered in It's support Of
the Democratic ticket.
Granite State Democrats were spe-
citl pets of Jackson. and there is a
tradition that when he selected a
Buren, as his successor, he slated Levi
Woodbury. of New Hampshire to SUE
coed Van Buren,. That slate was
broken first by the defeat of Van
Buren, for reelection in 1910 and
finally by the untimely death OF
Woodbury..
The Democratic convention Of New
Hampshire in June, 1851. indorsed
Woodbury. for the Presidency. but
that associate justice of the Supreme
Court died in the following Septem-
Der. Another State convention in
January, 1852, substituted Franklin
Pierce. but he positively forbade such
q use of his name, declaring it would
be utterly r~epugnant to my taste and
Wishes" n earnestness of this re-
fusal was not doubted by the public.
at least. Apparently the proposal
was dropped, but under cover loyal
friends kept at work for Pierce's
nomination.
When a political party is going
wrong, or does not Know where 1t is
going, the first thing IL does is to try
to hide behind either a respectable
or an unknown figurehead. After
the Democratic National convention
of 1852 had baked through 33 bal
lots at h nomination of such con-
spicuous leaders as Cass and Bu-
chanan. Marcy and Douglas. the time
came to trot out a dark horse. Vfr-
ginia picked Daniel s.. Dickinson OF
New York. But he was a delegate.
who felt in honor bound to stabd by
Cass, and he put a stop to the move
ment In his own favor. Had he only
sat silent In his seat or spoken with
a double tongue he would have been
President.
Senator Bradbury of Maine. who
vas at Bowdoin College with Pierce.
had been persistently coaching his
friend as the dark horse. Unde the
Senator'S timely inspiration the Vir-
ginians next cast their votes for
Franklin Pierce on the seth ballot
The little known name did not start
a wild fire. 1t was not until the 49th
roll call that the wearied delegations
reluctantly nominated him in a per-
functory stampede.
Presidential honors never were
less welcomed In any home than in
that of the Pierces. Washington was
dreaded by Mrs. Pierce as a place of
exile. When Benjamin her little son.
who was away at school. heard of the
nomination, he sat down and wrote
her that he hoped his father would
be defeated In the election, seemingly
having caught his mothers dislike
of the capital and of public life.
The boy was not to keep his
parents company in their unsought
residence in the White House. In a
train wreck between Boston and Con
cord the month after the election no
was killed while travelling with his
father and mother.
A%fetrward the railroad was sued
ON account of the death of another of
the passengers on the wrecked train,
and Pierce requested Benjamin +.
Butler to defend the road from the
charge of negligence. The reason he
gave was a strange one. Mrs. Pierce
was convinced that the company was
blameless. because n looked upon
the derailing of the train as an act
of God. She was anxious not to be
disturbed by a cour decision that
should run contrary to her consoling
belief that u special providence had
taken away from the President-elect
his only child in order that he might
give himself wholly to the duties of
his great office.
The cynical lawyer did not attempt
to prove hat the accident was due to
a supernatural cause but he so clev-
erly upset the technical evidence of
It's mechanical origin that he cleared
the corporation. With such comfort
as she could fin in hat result of the
trial, the bereaved mother dwelt her
term in the White House under the
pail of this domestic tragedy.