Evening star., 1923-05-06
No+ad uorea Sold IN e y
ave u G
Enlarge Capitol Park. and 1st, A

Noted House Sold to } 8 ey
Enlarge Capitol Park. and 1st, A
and 3 streets southeast. the section
opposite the present House Office
building. In The Star of May ]. 1878.
is a news account OF the sale Of the
buildings, which took place thai ,
morning under the direction OF Mr..
Latimer, one of Washington's best
known auctioneers. The Star says:
There was a very large crowd III
attendance and the bidding was spir
tied. Although there was an active
competition TO secure the buildings,
especially those having the best ma
terial. Mark Latimer, by his humor-
Gus sallies, kept them all in the best
spirits and talked high bids out OF
some who had cautiously picked It
limit beyond which they thought they
could not be persuaded to go. The
! assemblage at the sale was composed
of builders. spectators. furniture
dealers, landlords and lookers-on of
every grade, from the three-cent
bootblack to the bloated bondholder
The ball was opened at IL o'clock
| at the Sanderson House, on the corner
! of New Jersey avenue and South y
/ street. This is 4 tWo-story frame
! Dull0lnE. Win DTlCh duultlOl VI
! the same height. For many years
! it has been restaurant, and for a
. long time the favorite resort or tired
| senator's and representatives. About
! lunch time, or when the members OF
! Congress were tagged out by Ions
| sessions and tiresome debates. rush
| was made for this house. The late
! James Casparis conducted II for many
years and it was on that corner that
! he amassed his wealth. Some eigh-
/ teen or twenty years ago he erected
a large brick just above the corner
on South A street and disposed or
| his interest i'm the old frame corner
10 Mr.. De Saul. In 1857 It was pur-
| chased by Mr.. Joseph Hamlin. who
managed the establishment until 1851
Of Of it. '1
/ Many important public questions
were informally discussed there over
| an array of juleps or a bottle of wine.
| and could the walls of the old build
| ing reveal the secrets that have been
! confided TO them an interesting his
! tory could be written. On one occa-
| sion years ago, when there was
very important measure before Con-
gress involving a much need%S Oh
| ternal improvement. there was vio1
lent opposition on the part of some
senator's. and especially those from
4 the south. The matter had already
been approved by the House and
\
| in the Senate. Some of the outside
| friends of the measure, who Were
! hard at work to secure it's passage.
! laid u scheme to get the opponents
! of the bill out of the way, and il WaS
! not long before half a dozen of the
most prominent leaders of the opposi
] tion were having a good time in the
! old corner house. Champagne. corks
popped loud and fast and the sparE
| ling fluid brought out many 81 Joke
! and hearty laugh. Suddenly page
rushed in and requested the abseptees
| to report in the Senate at once. as
| they were wanted. The fun was at
| it's height and they could rot leave
| just then. When they did return TO
1 the Senate chamber they learned that
! the measure to which they had been
| so stoutly opposed had been passed in
| their absence.
Among the prominent men who
| lunched at this noted corner were Jeft
| Davis. Anson Burlingame, Z. JOY Nor
ris, Roger A. Pryor, Speaker Orr and
many others who at that time and
have since occupied 4 considerable
| share Of public attention. The re
| ceipts then of the establishment IRE
quently ran from $3.50 to 5000 Il Gar.
| In the noted contest for the speaker-
! ship of the House which resulted in
! the election of Mr.. Pennington TIE
| members could not leave the hall eA-
| cept i'm pairs. one from each OF the
| leading parties. and one could never
| go for his smile unless he succeeded
! in persuading one OF his opponents to
| Join him. All political feelings ended.
however. when they reached the house
! at the corner"