The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-31

Nhen ne postmaster learned
the nature Of the mail he refused
10 permit Il 20 90 forward.
neighborhood" The insulied Harding
J promptly punched an Appleman nose.
When the story was taken 20 the
| Appleman home Il made hard feeling.
although the elders AZ first laughed at
| H. But the children took Il up. As
children will sometimes when they hap
pen upon a particularly annoying and
! Irritating epithet. they pressed Il hard.
They kept IL going. Never people 10
submit 20 any sort OF insult the
| Hardings resented q. and there were
many fights among the Harding and
Appleman children.
This spread about the neighborhood
| and before long unthlnklng people be-
came involved In a perfectly baseless
and foolish controversy. IL happened.
TOO. that the old Hardings OF Morrow
county, like most people, doubtless had
i'll wishers as well as good friends
There were people about who were not
unwilling to spread tale that they
knew absolutely TO be false From time
to time the echoes of the silly accusa-
ton died away. Then something would
happen TO revive the story.
For example. there was n David C.
Butler, a blacksmith of Iberia. Ohio.
who married young woman OF the Har-
ding stock. The smith had n customer
named Smith. A dispute arose between
them over a money transaction. This
was on October 10. 1S49. The customer.
standing in the doorway OF the sm!thy,
made a nasty remark TO Butler. some
thing to the effect that nobody could
expect to get q square deal from a man
who had married n niger Butler
wasted no words He snatched up n
gouge. sharp circular. edged tool. that
was ready to hand and threw It, killing
his insulter
He was arrested and tried for murder
and was convicted But he was pardoncd
within o short time, largely because pub
lie opinion eXonerated him. The notion,
at the time was that Dave Butler had
been a little hasty."
In the next generation or two the story
kept rising to the surface, yet never with
a scintila OF proof or creditable sugges-
ton to support it. AS the years went by
it produced desperate encounter or two
between insulted men and their defam-
ers. but in the old Harding neighborhood
of Morrow county and subsequently in
and around Marion, the Senator's pres
ent home. the story was ridculed. The
home people were too familiar with the
physical appearance of the Hardings
for one thing. to be impressed by the &C.
"asional recurrence of an old Islander.
The old folks OF these neighborhoods
"aturally recalled with great distinct
'ess the personal appearance of old
Amos Harding himself. now made the
central figure of the Islander of Phoebe
Trip. his wife OF John and Joshua
Crawford on, the maternal side OF Sena-'
tor Hardinss' family, who came from the.
stock of that Col. Crawford who was
burned at the stake by the Indians in
northern Ohio and who were among the
finest pioneers OF the new Western coun-
try; of George Tryon Harding, the Sena-
tors great-grandfather. and Elizabeth
Madison his wife. reputed this country
over for fine old character. and more
especially Of the younger Hardings.
Everybody in these parts knew as
well as they knew their own family
history that the Hardings were white
folk In every sense of the word. the
women especially fair skinned, the men
blue eyed and gray eyed, with straight.
slender noses and with every reveal.
able mark of the undoubted aid UNI
strained Caucasian race. Ohio has
known the story for many years and
has laughed at it. 1t has cropped Up
In family rows and in political cam
paigns.
1t came TO the surface viciously
enough in 1891. when Warren C. Harding
married Florence King, a daughter of
Amos king, who was one of the we'll
to do business men OF Marion. Mrs.
Harding had been married previously
and not very successfully. II is known
that her father had very large ambi-
lions for her, being wealthy himself
| and socially ambitious. His notion was
| that she was throwing herself away
| to marry a young newspaper editor
| who had no other assets than n strug-
Cling rural journal that was not max
| ing out very well IN those days. More
oyer. he had a grudge against Warren
G.. Hardng's father. DR. George Tryon
| Harding. Mr.. King and DR.. Harding
| had built together a brick business
| block in Marion and had quarrelled over
the ownership OF this property. The
| quarrel was bitter. Mr. King was of
an unforgivng and resentful dsposl-
| ton and prone to visit upon the son
the anger he telt toward the father.
Came Ut In Former Campaign.
| He seems 70 have seized upon this
| story eagerly enough az a means OF
| dissuading his daughter Florence from
the marriage She ignored his inslnua-
| lions. Personally and through trusted
! friends she took the trouble to invcsti-
/ ga.e the SANDER and satisfied herself
| thoroughly that there was not n trace
| Of truth I'm g. Whereupon she married
young Harding and was disowned by
/ her father Thereafter Mr.. Killing walked
| the streets of Marion nursing a new
! grievance and eagerly repeated to all
corners the old, old SANDER. That IS, he
did IL up to a certain night. On that
night Mr.. Harding went TO him and
| said something. Nobody knows what
Il was except Harding himself. But
after that night King never repeated
| the story. After that talk nobody could