The Washington times., 1920-05-30
BrookeviNe Capital of
u. s. For Day; "White
House, Still STANDING

| Brookeville, Md. a tiny village in
Montgomery county. twenty-three
M les out Georgia avenue, has two
distinctions connected with the Cow
| ernment of the United States.
1t was for twenty-four hours the
nations capital.
1t probably is the only town in the
country where a President ever was
refused a nights lodging:
This all occurred on the night OF
August 20. 1914, day after the Brit
tish burned the Executive Mansion
and Treasury building In Washing
| ton.
| That a CLief Executive with his
wife. regarded as the most beautiful
woman in the United States, and his
Attorney General could be turned
away from a door where they had
| sought shelter, is hard to believe at
| time when Charles w. Morse, Charles
II. Crane. Mrs. George Vanderbilt and
dozen other multi -millionaires are
Offering the use of princely estates
| for the summer Capital.
Yet II happened to President James
Madison and Mrs Madison and At
torney General Richard Rush.
Tablet Tells OF Incident.
| The house where they were shelter
| ed was then the home of Richard
Bentley and is now owned by William
| T. Jones. The event is commemora-
ted by a bronze tablet placed on the
wall by the Star-Spangled Banner
| Association.
Two doors away Is the house that
| once was owned by Jimmy Pleasance,
| an early settler.
| The story is a family tradition and
1 a t,Na tor
OF Brookeville and a great grandson
OF Pleasance.
| When the British arrived at Bla-
densburg on the expedition on which
they burned and sacked the Capital.
President Madison and the Attorney
General went into Virginia. The
plucky Dolly Madison remained to
| watch her household, refusing to
leave until she should receive definite
work from her husband that it would
be unsafe to stay.
| She had the Presidential coach
made ready and halted at the door OF
the Executive Mansion, and placed in
it. under guard, some of the more
precious treasures of the household.
On the afternoon of August 20 she
received hastily penciled note tell
ing her to leave. She hurried through
|
thing which she ought to take with
her The table was spread for a large
dinner party and the wine was cool
ing in the sideboard. These she was
Obliged to leave, but her eye fell on
the stuart portrait of George Wash
ington, regarded as the best in exist
| ence Seizing carving knife, she
ran IL deftly around the edges OF the
| frame rolled up the canvas, and took
the portrait with her to the coach.
She Joined her husband and retinue
at Georgetown, then a separate mu-
| nicipality, where the party spent one
| night. From there they travelled over
| Indifferent roads into Maryland, the
| British closing in at their read and
| doing their work of destruction.
| Sec Haven of Refuge.
| They arrived at Brookeville after
| nightfall. The home Of Jimmy Pleas
ance. a large structure, seemed to
| offer a haven.
Pleasance had gone to bed. He
heard stir in the front yard and
showed a night-capped head out of an
upper window.
| "who is there" he demanded.
some gentlemen seeking shelter"
was the reply.
| "Well, they can't come in" said
pleasance, and returned to his slum-
| bers.
A servant. however. went down
| stairs to investigate. He returned
| with the information that il was the
President of the United States and his
| Cabinet.
We'll. l don't care who II is," re-
| torted the sleepy Pleasance. definitely.
| and soon afterward was snoring.
From the Pleasance home thepartv
went two doors further, to the large.
old-fashioned mansion of Richard
Bentley This sits at the brow of a
hill which is unpleasant even for an
autoist in daytime, and which had a
forbidding aspect for tired coach
and horse party after dark.
| They turned into the driveway and
| we're met with a welcome. Their ex.
pcriences are described in an old let
| ter published several years ago in
Scribner's Magazine.
Mrs. Madison was tired and went
TO bed. the best room In the house
being given to her. President Madi-
son sat at an old desk, the desk and
chair both being now IN the possess
sion of Mrs. Moore, of Sandy Spring, n
granddaughter of Mr.. BENTLEY. Here
, he wrote up his journal and attended
| TO some state matters.
A guard OF soldiers that had accom-
panied the coach found camping
ground in the creek valley below the
| h house. The letter tells of the COM
forting glow Of the campfres prick
ing the night. The officers werN
housed in an old mill which is still
standing.
In the, morning word came that the
Executive Mansion and Trea ury
building had been burned. Bentley
had stout barn across the street.
which has since been torn down. He
set about making plans to convert
this into a treasury building. hoping