The Nome daily nugget., 1935-09-28

the old tr!gate was an insult to her. Despite all the objections, the Jackson hgurehead WAS put In place. But that didn't end the matter.
 One dark, rainy night sailor from Cape Cod named Samuel Dewey twhose grandson was des- tined for future fame as the Hero of Manila Bay'l rowed out to where the Constitution was riding al anchor between two other ships. Scram- bling up over her bow, be set to work to saw off the head of the offending hgurehead. But because he was in hurry and the light was so poor he made his cut just beneath "0ld Hick- ory's' nose and not at the neck as he had planned But he succeeded in making his escape with the head and the Whigs were tubilant while the Democrats in turn raised terrible uproar over the outrage" that had been perpetrated.
 Dewey next went to Washington where after exhibiting It to the leading Whgs he carried It tied up in cloth to the Navy department where he sought an interview with Mahlon Dickerson, secretary of the navy. Then, according to a con temporary account, he was admitted to Dicker- sons office, with the following result:
 Have the honor of addressing the secretary of the navy?" asked the chunky sailor
 You have. and as I very busy. I will thank you to be brief" answered the secretary.
 ''Mr. Secretary, I am the man who removed the fgurehead, and have brought 1t here to restore It," said Captain Dewey.
 You the man who had the audacity to dsfigure old Ironsidesr" asked the secretary, in an angry tone.
 'Yes, sir; took the responsibility"
 "Tll have you arrested!" said the secretary, reaching out for the bell to summon messen. ger.
 "Stop, Mir. Secretary" answered the resolute sailor. You, as lawyer. know that there Is no statute against defacing a ship of war, and all you can do Is to sue me for trespass, and fI,aE i,, mitted. If you desire 1t, I will go back to Mid dlesex county, Massachusetts, and stand my trial'
 You are right" said the secretary, after a moments reflection; "and now tell ne how you took away the head"
 Dewey told the story and Dckerson asked him to wait until he had stepped over to the White House and showed the head to the Presi- dent.
 When President Jackson heard the story and saw the head, he burst into loud laughter.
 "Why, that is the most internal image I ever saw," said he. '"rhe fellow did right Give him a kick and my compliments and tell him to saw it off again."
 When the Whigs came into power later, Dewey is said to have been rewarded with the appoint ment of a postmasership in a small Virginia town and to the end of his days he enjoyed the distinction of having been "the man who cut of | Old Hickory's head.' To add to that distinction | he had printed on his visiting cards picture o | a hand-saw under which were the worlds q l came; l saw conquered '" The subsequent history of the Jackson figure | head is shrouded with mystery. According tt one account, the head was restored and fastened on with an unusually large bolt to prevent | repetition of Dewey's feat. This figure it is said graced the ship for 40 years and had a marrow escape from another Outrage" at the beginnin. l of the Civil war. Southern sympathizers planned to seize it as a sort of mascot for their cause | but were foled by Gen. Benjamin F. Butle 1 who marched the Eighth Massachusetts regimen l to Annapolis and had "Old Ironsides' towet down Chesapeake bay to the protection of thu I guns at Fortress Monroe. After the Civil war | the fgurehead was presented to the Unite States Naval academy at Annapolis and Is pre- l served there today.
 l Another story is that a new fgurehead o