Evening star., 1921-08-14

that side Of the street One was
Joseph Macfarland, New York Herald
correspondent, editor of the Washing
ton Chronicle and father of Henry B.
Macfarland. 1 believe it is. Another
was William P. Copeland, a very
witty man. representing the New
York Journal of Commerce. Further
up the row lived Don Piatt, long
noted in local newspaper annals.
Washington Sunday Capital Next
door to Piatt lived Townsend and
next door beyond Townsend lived
George o. Seilheimer of the New York
Herald.
sTOWNSEND was a man of great
confidence in himself. You
might call him energetic and re-
sourceful He had that push which
carries men on, and for a long time he
was the biggest earning correspondent
in Washington, his income from his
newspaper letters being estimated at
$4,000 a year. When he was a young
reporter on the Philadelphia Inquirer
he married Miss Bessie Rhoads of the
frankfort section of Philadelphia;
They had three children. One died
young. One was Genevieve. who mar
ried Mr.. Bonaventure, a Frenchman
and dealer in rare books on 5th
avenue, New York. He is dead. The
after leaving the Library of Congress
went out as a travelling salesman. l
have lost sight Of him:
TT was in the mid or late sos
that Townsend bought the property
at Crampton's Gap. South Mountain.
been through that country with Nc
Cleilan's army and probably formed
an attachment for it in 1862. While
living there in summer he would
drive about the country. or ride
horseback. collecting material for let
ters and stories on the historic places
and historic associations of the re-
gion. and he wrote many stories
about Antietam, South Mountain.
Frederick. sharnsburg. tsoonsboro. Har-
John Brown subject was one in which
he was much interested and about
which he knew a great deal The
John Wilkes Booth story was another
one which seemed to grip him. He
followed Booths trail through south
ern Maryland, across the Potomac and
Rappahannock to the Garrett farm,
and talked with most persons who
had any knowledge or connection
with the great tragedy"
Maryland is a range of mountains
running north and south. These are
the Catoctins. Five miles west of
the Catoctins you come to the main
range Of the Blue Ridge. In this
ridge five miles north of the Potomac
is Champions Gap, and the continue
tion of the Blue Ridge north from
Champion Gap is called South Noun
tain. Crossing this part of the Blue
Ridge north of the Potomac are four
passes. the first from the Potomac
being Brownsville Gap. the next
Champions, the third Foxs Gap, and
the fourth Turner'S Gap. which Is
sometimes called Dah1gren Gap. from
Dahlgren Church, which stands by the
roadside. and that road is one of the
important ones in the Washington re-
boro pike. On historic South Noun
tain, at Crampton's Gap, George Al
fred Townsend built his summer
home. Through that gap passes a
road connecting the Middletown valley,
east of South Mountain, and Pleasant
Valley, on the west.
DY the side Of that road in the gap,
- and commanding a grand view
east and west, Mr.. Townsend erected
the tall. wide structure, a picture of
which is shown on this page. and
called it a memorial to the corre-
spondents and artists of the civil war"
Carved on this monument are the
names of the following civil war cor
respondents:
Finley Anderson. J. n. Ashley. Adam Ba-
dean. T, Bernard. George W. Reaman, II.
Bentley, W. d. Bickham. A. H. Holman,
Georse g. Bower; ,t =, v HeynfoR R,,nssna sseSs q
OaAwaliaAAK 4 II. OaIpa1taR. O. o. Conn,