davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

Landing, he found the well-wooded
soil bringing forth an abundance of
grapes-a circumstance which made
him christen it Vinland.
Eric and his men built huts and
lived ashore awhile, recuperating
from the fatigues Of their voyage.
They saw no people save thmselves.
But they did find leathern boats and
stone implements Just like those use d
by the "Skraelings," or cative Eski-
mos of Greenland.
Left Ericsson eventually got back
home safely, and his tale Of discovery
spread far and wide among the scat
tered Mortimer. 1t reached among
other ears those of the great Ice
landic merchant Thorfinn karlstefni,
a sufficiently famous parsonage to
have saga grow up around him
later. Karlstefni set out to explore
the land Left had discovered by acct
dent. His first attempt was an utter
failure. He made second. Sailing
from Greenland little west of south
he first encountered hitherto un-
known country which he christened
Helluland, or Stone-land, because OF
the long fiat rocks which covered its
surface. 1t was probably the Labra-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15
Peggy O..

1t was the custom to lay large
wagerS. Cock fights were of almost
nightly occurrence, and Gen. Jackson
himself imported his best birds from
the Hermitage to participate in the
mains.
1t was the height of the dueling
days in America, and hardly a morn
ing passed that two hot-bIooded
gentlemen did not meet at Bladens-
burg to satisfy their grievances on
the field of honor. 1t was a swash-
buckling. boastful, prideful time,
when men talked expansively with
large compliment, bowed gracefully
over ladies' hands, took snuff and
drank much and often. 1t was a
time of sparkling social activity.
Balls, routs, ievees, drawing rooms
and dinners held constant sway.
Beaux and bellies, young matrons
and old, dignified, austere statesmen
and frivolous younger politicians all
threw themselves into the gayety,
which was a continuous performance
from noon one day until or
o'clock the next morning. Hoop
skirted, gay-turbaned ladies, in peri
wigs, powder and patches. trooped to
Congress, where members welcomed
them to seats on the floor, and gossip
was. never so furious and spicy in
the whole history OF the country.
x X x
THE most romantic spot in this
4 little world of romance was the
taproom of O'NeaIe's Tavern, on the
north side of the road to the artistic
cratic village of Georgetown, less
than half a mile beyond the Presi-
dents Mansion. Here the gay, proud
spirits of the gay little capital, the
rich young bloods from the Virginia
and Maryland plantations, the adven-
turous, picturesque foreigners of the
Legations and the youngsters of the
Army and Navy gathered nightly for
song, toast and revelry-and for a
smile from the red lips, a nod from
the dark head, bright sally from
the quick tongue or a slap from the
dainty pink fingers of Peggy MAR
garrett O'Neale, the daughter of Billy
ONeaIe, the jovial Irish proprietor Of
the inn.
Peg frequently acted as barmai6
for her father, and her rare beauty
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

dragged Old Hickory's beloved Rachel
(whose memory he held sacred) into
the scandal, and the reason thereof
opens a most curious page of White
House history. Rachel had been mar
ried when a young woman 10 a Vir-
ginian named Robards, with whom
she did not get along we'll. After a
short time they separated and moth
ing was heard of him for some time.
Then news came TO Nashville by word
of mouth or letter Ghe only means of
communication that Robards had OBJ
tanned n divorce by act of the Vir-
ginia Legislature. A short time later
Jackson, then a rising young lawyer
OF Nashville, and Mrs Richards were
married. Two years later they learn
ed, for the first time, that she was
not divorced! The news came in
brutal form-through the filing of a
divorce suit by Robards, charging
that his wife was living in adultery
with one Andrew Jackson.
The charge was technically true
and the divorce was granted, where
upon Jackson and Rachel were re-
married. No criticism was ever lev
eled at them in their home COM
munity, where the facts We're all
known, but the story was dug up in
the 1928 campaign and used all over
believed caused Rachers death on
the eve of their departure for Wash
ington for his inauguration, and after
the neighbors had worked for a
month Quitting Mrs. Jackson with a
wardrobe suitable for her new sta
ton.
This experience planted q bitter
ness in Jackson's heart Especially
against Henry Clay, whom he be-
lieved instigated the use OF the story
that affected his whole life and re-
manned until his death. When the
| Washington gossips, therefore, eX-
planned Gen. Jackson'S defense OF
Peggy Eaton on the theory that
| birds of a feather flock together
he became more indignant than ever
and more determined than ever that
| his protege should be eXonerated.
| The pastor of the principal Pres
| byterian church of the city, where
Jackson, though not a member, paid
| for pew and frequently attended
services, Joined with n Philadelphia
preacher in making charges to Jack
son against Peggy. The old war
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

dor Still further south he skirted
Il second region, which, because Of It's
dense woods he called MARYLAND At
last, after many perils, he reached a
third land, which, in its products, cor
responded to Ericson's Vinland.
l. = =
THERE, in the year 1902, harlstefni
established his colony. "Skrael-
ings" made their appearance after a
time, and the colonists traded with
them. But clashes between the Ice
ianders and the Eskimos developed
into warfare, which became so sharp
that Karlstefni had to abandon his
first colony and build another settle
ment further to the North. Here the
Skraelings were less troublesome. But
internal dissensions arose, and in 1905
the colonization enterprise was aban-
dcned On that account The traders
started back to Greeland in their two
ships. That which bore Karlstefni
and his wife Gudrid made port safely.
The other, wormeaten by its sojourn
in warm waters, foundered in gale,
half it's small crew finally reaching
Ireland with a thrilling tale of the
heroism of their captain, who had
deliberately sacrificed his life that a
young cabin boy might be saved.
| That master marines name was
| Bjarni. Pronounce it Barney, and it
| comes within the bounds of posi-
! bility that the Irish have been pay
| ing unconscious tribute to the fine
! spirit of him ever since.
! The last historical notice Of Vim
| land is found in the annals of lee
| land for the year 1921. 1t is very
| brief: Bishop Eric was searching
! for Vinland." He never found it, II
/ had shrunk back into the mists which
! for centuries had yelled the mystic
/ company Of it's congeners, 81. Bren-
dams peripatetic Tir ma n-og, Plato 5
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

rior's eyes flashed fire as he snapped:
Proof, Bring me proof. L want
no words
The two pastors said they could
prove their charges, which were that
Eaton and Mrs. Undertake had been
together in a New York hotel. In
true military fashion Jackson turned
the affair into a trial, in which he
and ali of his cabinet except Secre-
tary Eaton were the judges. The
preachers appeared, failed utterly to
sustain their charges and were sum-
marily ordered out of the White
House by President Jackson, who
gave up his pew in the church and
never entered that edifice again.
Gen. Jackson thought his trial had
cleared Peggy and would end the at
tacks on her, but it only added fuel
to the flame. Three members of his
cabinet had been appointed at Vice
President Calhoun's suggestion, as
Jackson and Calhoun were then
friends. personal and political. They
were Attorney General John NJ. Ber-
rien, Secretary of the Treasury Sam
uel D. Ingham and Secretary of the
Navy John Branch. All were married
and the wives of all three were sec
ond only to Mrs. Calhoun in hostility
to Peggy Eaton.
X = X *
A T the head of the cabinet, as Sec
Il rotary of State, sat Martin Van
Buren,, the RED Fox of Undertook, "
who, fortunately for his own political
future, happened to be a widower. He
did not arrive in Washington until
two months after Inauguration, when
the Peggy O'Neale row was at it's
height. Perhaps it was his kindly
heart; perhaps it was his sagacity
and knowledge of Jacksons charac-
ter; perhaps it was the fact that he
was himself the son of a tavern keep
er, but whatever the reason he
promptly put on his best bib and
tucker and called formally at the
home of Secretary and Mrs. Eaton
| and pretty Peggy flew over to the
| White House that very evening and
whispered the good news into the old
Presidents ear. Which may explain
| the entry in Van Burens diary where
he comments on the warmth and cor
diality with which Jackson slapped
| him on the back and called him
"Matty" the next time they met.
The Postmaster General, William
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

T. Barry. was a bachelor. as was Lord
Charles Vaughn, the British Minister,
and Baron krudener, the Russian
Minister. These three, with Jackson
at their head, went into battle forma-
ton in Peggy's behalf, while practi-
cally a solid phaIanX of the ladies
of Washington went into action
against them. and the controversy
ragged for two years. Pegs friends
gave dinners and balls and went out
OF their way TO give her places of
honor and distinction. Mistresses
Bsrrien, Ingham and Branch retail
ated by giving dinners and levees
to which all and sundry except the
cations were invited In the mean
time every conceivable sort of story,
scandal and gossip concerning the
actors in this strange drama flew
about from lip to lip, while the feud
caused half of the cabinet to refuse
to speak to the other half. Transac-
ton of public business in Congress
and in the executive departments
came TO a standstill. In the mean
time not a whisper of all the row
was published in the newspapers.
Throughout the whole two years it
was all a word of-mouth battle until
it was over.
One international episode occurred
the wife of the Dutch minister, Nine.
Huygens, refused to sit at the table
because the position of honor was
given to Mrs. Eaton. She rose, called
her husband and left the room
whereupon, in the dead silence which
| followed, pert Peggy trilled a rip
| ping laugh and exclaimed
Has not madame a beautiful
carria gel"
Nine. Huygens was reported to
have said she would give a dinner
| Immediately without inviting Mrs
/ Eaton, and that Mistresses Berrien
| Ingham and Branch would quickly
| follow suit.
! Whether or not the threat was
actually made, the four dinners We're
| given in quick succession. OLD
! Hickory smashed another pipe, roared
| out another BY the eternal" and
swore the Huygens should be bundled
| off home forthwith, "as sure as my
| names Andrew Jackson!" The diplo-
matte Van Buren,, however, Gained
down the fiery old warrior. obtained
from Nine, Huygens written denial
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

V no discovered America
n Was It the Irish? or
wv wasn't IL? No doubt
w twould Ice shorter and
easier to ask who Gidn
discover it? The answer TO that Is
the American Indians. who plainly
couldn't have, seeing that they were
found here themselves.
Barring them, a claim to the honor
has at one time or another been put
ia fo- practically every race and ma
ton under the sun, including the
Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Ten
Lost Tribes. the Portuguese, the
Spaniards, the Chinese, the Japanese,
Christopher Columbus, the Mortimer,
the Welsh, and last and foremost, the
Irish
Whether or not they got here first.
# now seems possible they beat
CHRISTOPHER Columbus to Palm Beach
by nine or ten centuries. BY the
year 1000 according To Father De
vine. the Canadian antiquarian, the
whole stretch Of coast between Ghes-
apeake Bay and the tip of Florida
was Familiarity known as Irland ed
Mikla, which is by way of saying
ireland the Great. In this assertion
he is borne out by Mgr. Luke EVers,
late pastor of St. Andrews Roman
Catholic Church in New York, who
sets the first wave Of Irish immigra-
tion back another 500 years or so.
1t was Brendan, the navigator,
started it," Mgr. Evers said, the same
who was st. Brendan and Bishop of
Clonfert in the sixth century. About
the year $50 he set forth from shan
non and sailed the Atlantic for seven
years, looking for Tri ma u-oE, the
Land of Youth, otherwise known as
by-Ereasill, the Isle OF the BIest. ac-
cording TO the old legend. As mat
ter of fact, he Went as a missionary
TO eSangelize the new countries he
had heard lay in the West. He sail, d
straight west from ireland for 40
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15
Interest Is Aroused in Belief That Irish Discovered A

Atlantis, Iesiods Commeria. Until
Columbus. 354 years later mistook il
for India, it remained a fabulous
region.
To bridge this gap, there are only
two references in the sagas. Both are
richly suggestive. Two separate Vi
kings, it is told. were driven by storms
on the coast Of Vinland. as Left Eric
son had been. But they followed II
further south than he had done and
somewhere below the capes at the
mouth of Chesapeake Bay. perhaps in
the latitude Of the Carclinas or
Georgia they came upon natives who
knew the Viking signs of peaceful
and hostile approaCh-the hanging
out of white or red shields over the
ships side. And the sagas, for some
reason unexplained, call this region
sometimes "Hvitramannaland" -W hite
Mans Land-and sometimes Irland ed
MikIa-Greater ireland. Finally. III
post-Columbian days, a legend was
uncovered among the Shawnee In
dians of Florida that their peninsula,
in the long ago, had been occupied
by white tribe using iron iInple-
ments, while far TO the south, across
the Gulf and the Caribbean, We have
the ancient Mexican legend Of Quot
zalcoatl, the white-faced, bearded go3
who came across the sea from the
East in a ship with wings and
dwelt among them for a time, cventu-
ally departing with a promise that he
and his companions would return
again. When Cortez and his fellow
Spaniards came sailing from the East.
the natives thought QUetzalco2tl was
making good his promise.
Whence come these various tradi-
tions Of white visitors? Why should
there have been a Hvitramannaisnd
and Great ireland? Does the fable o.
Brendan the Navigator rest on solid
fact? Did the irish discover America:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

sparkling wit, ready repartee and
pert, saucy manner made her the pet
of the habitues of the taproom, the
toast of the town, a breaker of hearts
and the despair of the grand ladies,
who protested at her shocking be-
havfor, but were suspected of being
moved in their condemnation of
pretty Peggy by an entirely different
emotion, aroused because so many
attractive men spent so much time
at O'Neale's when they might have
been dancing attendance at the great
houses Of the socially elect
At the height of her reign as
Queen Peg O. the Tavern" this pert
little Irish-eyed Kathleen Mavour-
neen' married John Bowie Timber
lake, a purser in the Navy, but the
young husband soon had to sail away
on a ship for a long absence, so
Peggy went back to the tavern and
resumed her lively activities as bar
maid. At this time she first met (and
straightway idoliZed) Gen. Andrew
Jackson and his beloved wife, Rachel,
who were living at the tavern during
the generals term as United States
Senator from Tennessee. There was
cemented the friendship which ex-
planned Old Hickory's staunch de-
Tense of Peggy later, for she became
like a daughter to the elderly couple,
and as a daughter Gen. Jackson loved
her when he returned to Washington
alone to take UP his duties in the
White House.
Jackson never forgot the tender af-
lection which had existed between
Rachel" and Little Peg" Upon
many and many an evening he sat be-
fore the fire in his library in the
Presidents Mansion, with Peg nestled
on a footstool at his feet, his favor
tie miniature of Rachel propped
against a pile of books on his desk,
while the two who loved the departed
wife best talked of her fine heart. her
noble soul, her unselfish devotion and
her deeply religious faith.
While Undertake was away Peggy
| also met Mai. John H. Eaton, a gal
! liant soldier, who had become the
| other Senator from Tennessee
| Staunch and longtime friend of Gen
| Jackson, he naturally took up living
| quarters near Old Hickory, which also
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

days, and after passing through
place of darkness. which may very
well have been the fog banks off
Newfoundland, he came to a bright
land, rich with vege tation. He and
his monks tramped through ii for 40
days till they reached a great river
flowing toward the center of the land.
was it the Ohio? Anyhow, it was too
broad for them to cross, and they
came back to the coast"
This carries us back another stretch
farther, for how would st. Brendan
have heard new countries lay in TIE
West unless some one told him? 1t
is a Fascinating story, full of tam
talzing gaps, but equally full of star
thing possibilities. 1t is all summed
up in a book by that painstaking
scholar, the Rev. Father p. De Roo,
who dug the material for it out of
the Vatican and Lateran libraries, and
the Vatican secret archives.
NEXT to the works of Moses, the
oldest known written history is
that of standardization of Phoenicia,
who lived some time about the
twenty second or the twentieth CEN
fury before Christ. And he, Father
De Roo points out, speaks casually
of continent lying beyond the
Atlantic Ocean. The old Egyptians
did the same thing, and the early
Greek writer, Homer, talks of Ely
Stun and Cimmeria on the western
verge of the earth, Cimmeria being
the place, according to Hesiod, where
Cronos and the elder gods sought
exile when Zeus and the Young Olym-
puS party made Greece unpleasant for
them at The close OF the Golden Age.
1--WE shall hear of Cronos once more
when We come to speak of Greenland.)
And later Phoenician history tells
how Hanno. in 1900 BIC. massed the
pillars of Hercules at the west end
OF the Mediterranean, and, leaving the
coast of Africa behind, sailed straight
west for so days Till he met land.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

brought him under the same roof with
Pretty Peggy, to whose charms he
was no more insensible than any of
the scores of others who futtered
about her. 1t was not long before the
gossips were busy toying with Sena-
tor Eaton's and Peggy's name, which
only made the Independent, high-spir-
tied girl show him more and more at
tention. Then came a bombshell.
Undertake committed suicide in a
foreign portland the gossips said it
was because of Eaton's attentions to
Mrs. Undertake.
4 X x x
WHATEVER the cause, Peggy
w mourned her departed purser
Cat least outwardly), for shockingly
brief period, after which she was back
in the taproom, as gay and saucy as
ever Then her dear old friend, Gen.
Jackson, was elected President of the
United States. Senator Eaton and she
were married in January, before Jack
sons Inauguration, and a few days
before March A, 1929, Ii was officially
announced that Eaton would be Sec
rotary of War.
Then the tongues began to wag in
earnest. From a person who had
merely made them lift their eyebrows
and shrug their pretty shoulders, Peg
now became menace Ihat caused the
great ladies of Washington society to
burn with indignation. Beginning
| with Mistress Calhoun, the wife OF
| the Vice President, and extending
clear down the line of officialdom, IL
was thumbs down" for Peg o the
| Tavern. A barmaid as d cabinet lady!
Neveri A campaign of conversational
Islander and social ostracism imme-
diately followed. Practically all the
women, led by Mistress Calhoun, took
up arms against that awful Peggy
Eaton" while all the bachelors and
| widowers (and all the husbands who
! dared), became Pegs champions
| None was so vigorous, determined an6
! loyal as Gen. Jackson, who smashed
| his clay pipes on the stone hearth OF
| his library fire by the dozen, pounded
his desk with his fist, reared his wiry
| gray cockscomb pompadour into the
air and swore by the Eternal thai
Pretty Peggy must be accepted!
It was not long before the gossips
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15


with several new members in
Il the cabinet, assumes its Off
cial and social duties recalls,
by violent contrast, the furious bat
tie of petticoats'' that ragged for two
solid years about one of the earliest
and most picturesque occupants of
the White House-Gen. Andrew Jack
son.
A pretty barmaid, transformed from
a tavern keepers daughter to a cabi-
net lady overnight, was the cause of
the controversy, in which Old Hick-
.ory stood staunchly by saucy Peggy
O'Neale and fought the grand ladies
of the gay capital in the wilderness"
on their own battleground-the draw
ing room. Gen. Jackson gave as good
an account of himself as in his ter
rifle Indian campaigns, discharged all
but one member of his cabinet, threw
the pastor of his church out of the
White House and made Martin Van
Buren, President of the United States
And all because Washington $50
ciety" would not fold Peg o. the
Tavern" to it's proud and exclusive
heart.
Those were romantic days in the
new capital of the new republic. By
the time Jackson became President,
IN 1929, the Capitol and White House
(after being burned by the British
in 1870. Pennsylvania avenue had
been opened, though its unimproved
condition made it sea of mud in
wet weather and an ocean of dust
in dry. A considerable number of
fine residences had been erected. The
Indian Queen, on the site now oc-
Cupied by the old Metropolitan on
lower Pennsylvania avenue. and
leI,y Of a
tional, nearby, were famous hostel
ries, filled constantly with wealthy
travellers, distinguished personages
connected with government, titled
and eX-titIed foreigners of wealth,
grace and manners, and a sprinkling
Of spOrtiye Adventures. Horse rae
ing, which all the elite. including the
ladies, attended in good weather, was
a fast and furious pastime, at which
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-15

Left. who grew up in his colony and
was destined to win immortal fame
through a misadventure. BY some
one of the numberless strange con-
tradicitions of human psychology, the
gentle doctrines of the new faith,
Christianity, had made instant appeal
to the fierce hearts of the Vikings.
They were eager to hear them
preached. The handful of bold ad-