Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-11
OLD TIMER WHO SHOT MARBLES
WITH TAD LINCOLN IS IN TOWN
Norman R. Smith Recalls
Many Little Incidents in
City's History.
often Visited White House
as Presidents Page
of the Senate.

Norman r. Smith, who spent much Of
his life as a boy in Washington during
the Civil War. often played marbles in
the White House with Tad Lincoln, one
of the sons of the martyred President,
and was the Presidents page" in the
Senate during the first two years Of the
administration of President Grant Is
back in this city on a short visit In the
interest of the development of Northern
California, which has been his home for
many years.
His father, Victor Smith, was an as
Sociate editor with Murat HalStead on
the Cincinnati Commercial before the
Civil War. Norman r. Smith was
born at Loveland, Ohio, in 1887.
Under Secretary of the Treasury
Chase during the Lincoln admin
istration his father became connect
ed with the Treasury Department. first
as collector of customs for Puget Sound
and then as special Treasury agent for
the whole Pacific Coast. Young Smith
made five trips with his father between
washington and the Pacific Coast by
way of Panama.
1t was doubtful for some time whether
California would remain in the Union
or Join the Southern Confereracy, and
his father was frequently in conSulta-
ton with President Lincoln with regard
to financial and other affairs of the
Federal Government on the West Coast.
Played Marbles With Tad.
while father was talking with Mr..
Lincoln in his Office 1 often played
marbles on the floor with Tad Lincoln, -"
said Mr.. Smith today at the Hotel Con-
tinental Il remember pushing away
President Lincolns boots to find my
marbles"
His father helped to organize the
citizens of Washington when the city
was threatened with capture by the
Confederates. AS a boy years old he
remembers the second Inauguration of
Lincoln and his assassination soon
thereafter
After his father was lost at sea of
the Pacific Coast in 1865 the boy re-
turned to Washington and was appoint
ed a page in the Senate. He was as
signed to the Presidents room and re-
members distinctly how an attempt was
made to bride him to put a certain
bill at the top of the pile so that Pres
ident Grant would be. sure to see it
when he came to the Capitol at the
end of a session of Congress to sign
bills passed in the last hours.
Grant Proud of Team.
Mr.. Smith remembers most of the
events that happened during that Pc
Rod. He spoke today of the beautiful
team of horses, Cincinnati and St.
Louis, which President Grant used to
drive through the streets of Washing
ton to a basket phaeton.
Anybody who admired the Presi-
dents horses was sure to win his favor" "
said Mr.. Smith.
He also recalls distinctly the famous
visit of Red Cloud, Rain-in-the-face,
Spotted Trail Sitting Bull and other
Indian chiefs of the West, who were
brought to Washington by the Indian
commission to be Impressed with the
power of the Government" in the hope
that they would go back and advise
their tribes to stop their depredatlonS
against the white men.
Apparently their visit did not ac-
complish much, because Red Cloud
went back home and told his tribe that
it was true the white mems Govern
ment had mountains of bullets and
many great guns, and the white men
were as numerous as the grass on tne
Western prairies, but 1t was all heap
too damn far away so that the Indians
could do as they pleased"
Lives on Pacific Coast.
Mr.. Smith made his home perma-
nently on the Pacific Coast in 1876. He
worked on a pilot boat in Puget Sound,
saved his money and studied survey
ing and engineering. For many years
he has been a consulting engineer. His
home is at Trinidad, Humboldt County,
Calf. He is in Washington now as
delegate to the National Rivers and
Harbors Congress from his city and
county.
He is seeking the aid of the Rivers
and Harbors Congress and the Cali
fornia delegation in Congress to have
the Federal Government make a survey
preliminary to the development OF a
deepwater harbor at Trinidad.
If the Government will help US In
this work" said Mr.. Smith, I'VE Will
have a city of 100000 people there in
10 years.
In 1890 Mr.. Smith visited Washing
ton and was instrumental in having
Port Angeles, Wash, made port OF
entry. He was afterward mayor OF Port
Angeles. He spent seven years later IN
Alaska making the preliminary survey
for the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.
On his visit here in 1890 he saw
many of the public men whom he had
known when a page in the Senate. It
was the interesting time when the
Mckinley tariff bill was being debated
in Congress. Representative Mckinley
of Ohio, afterward President, and
Senator Sherman of Ohio, were among
his friends who helped him on that
occasion