Evening star., 1926-12-12

TN the story of William P. Wood
superintendent of old Capitol
Prison, this was written: He was
Il & veteran of the Mexican and
Civil Wars and one of the few re-
manning survivors of Walkers filibus
tering expedition" The story from
WHICH that quotation came was print
ed in The Star on the day after Mr..
Woods death at Soldiers Home, March
20, 1903. and likely il was taken from
the memoirs Mr.. Wood was writing a
few days before he died. The clause
ffew remaining survivors" jars pur
list and ii sounds too much. There
was no logic in calling out descend
ants of the words 'remanere." ''su-
pra" and "viVere." A few survivors"
would have been enough. Many read
ers are not interested in such ques-
ton, and their sleep at night would
not be broken by the phrase, few liv-
ing survivors"
You are not old enough to remem-
ber the excitement due to Walker
Walker. the filibuster-Gen. William
Walker-President Walker of Mica.
ragua. Particularly is it not thought
that any woman who reads the ram
bles is old enough to remember Wal
ker and his men. But some women
should recall that her grandfather
talked about Walker, and that he ar
gued that Walker was great Ameri-
can, deserving gratitude of his coun-
try, or that Walker was a pest and
should be hanged. Some called him
'the gray-eyed man of destiny"
In old Washington one often met a
man who was with Walker" The
man who was with Walker" sat
under the elms in front of Wizards,
where chairs from the hotel office
were brought 70 the sidewalk The
man who was with Walker" was
prominent At the bar of the Metro
politan Hotel, and he was numerous
in the Hobbies of the National and ST.
James. He was looked on as one who
had faced death and had license to
speak of hairbreadth sea pes l. the
imminent deadly breach" and "of the
cannibals that each other eat the an
thropophagi. and men whose heads do
grow beneath their shoulders. The
man who was with Walker was well
treated. and so often treated that he
showed the effect ] have wondered
whether all these men who were with
Walker were with him in a construc-
tive or destructive sense; that is.
whether they carried a gun with him
or supported his cause in the discus.
sionS that were frequent in the years
1853 to 1860. In these debates many
men were with Walker who were not
with him in any other way
few years ago ships crossing the
Gulf OF FonSeca, on which parts of
Honduras. Nicaragua and Costa Rica
front, would sight a white shaft on
shore. Word would pass among the
passengers that II was the monument
TO Walker. Walker was killed by a
firing squad at Trujilla, Honduras
september u, 1860, and l think the
white shaft marked where the Ameri-
can adNenturer was killed and buried
X 4 y
MY belief is that William Walker
Ava was a man of eminent courage
and following the call of his ambi
ton. thought he was doing credit to
his country. Much has been written
Of Walkers exploits and failures. II
the subject interests you, books await
you in the busy, useful Washington
Public Library, and there are Walker
books in the great National Library
or at least. the great National Hor
reum Librorum. Before me is a col
lection Of letters preserved and pub
lished by Mrs. Elleanore Gallagher
Ratterman under the title with
Walker in Nicaragua" To refresr
your memory of Walker / take the
following from that work:
"William Walker was born in Nash
vile May 8, 1924. His father wa.
James Walker. a Scotchman wht
settled there in 1920 and married
Mary Norvell of Kentucky. Ther'
were three other children, Norvell
Jamna and Alice. William Walke
was graduated from the University o
Nashville in 1888 and In 1S4S received