Evening star., 1950-01-01

~ a e
that he hadn't heard any and
would like to know what it was.
Again pressed for his comments.
he said he had none; that he had
not known this statesman: had
had no dealings with him, and
did not like to give. out interviews
on subjects about which he knew
nothing.
Sales resistance was President
Cleveland's long suit. The youths
report was transmitted as an in
terview by the Associated Press,
and the next morning the Wash
ington Posts telegraph deskman
was confronted with two recorded
contacts. that with Mr.. Thurber
in the morning. and another with
President Cleveland himself at S
O'Clock in the afternoon. The desk
naturally wanted to print them
side by side, but how should it
head them up? Finally it selected
words something like this: Grad
ually assuaging grief of President
Cleveland abates."
Fort Thurber'
Our letters at the White House
were in keeping with the SIM
plicity of the era. Most of them
sought Offices. remember one to
Mr.. Cleveland, who had been
married in the White House,
which brought its appeal to a
climax in these words:
Finally, Mr.. President, If you
should appoint me to this Office 1t
would enable me to marry and
support a wife just as the
presidency did you.
In those days there was an edi-
torial writer on the Post named
Dick" Weightman, who special
lied in humorous. cynical and
ironical comments. Mr.. Thurber,
who was one of the finest gentle
men I ever knew. had ordered
the erection of a little building
about the size of a f1agman's
house at a railroad crossing near
the westerly gate to the White
House grounds for the man who
had to keep watch during the long,
cold winter nights of the Presi-
dents personal safety. Perhaps
the Secret Service may have Or
dered the building. and not Mr..
Thurber, but in any event
Weigbtman promptly christened
the edifice Fort Thurber" just
as q later generation accorded to
the columnist Lowell Mellett pro-
prietary claims to the building
opposite the Willard Hotel.
Hotels Have Changed
The hotels OF Washington, in
cidentally. have nearly all changed.
The leading one when I came to
town was the Arlington, on the
site Of the Veterans Administra-
ton. The Willard was then what
we call the Old Willard; the pres
ent structure was in building in
the year 1900, and 1t was done by
degrees. The PENNSYLVANIA ave-
nue. frontage was built first. and
what had been left of the Old
Willard on the F street side was
operated as the Fairfax and main
tanned as a separate hotel until
the owners saw fit to rebuild in
conformity with the Pennsylvania
avenue structure. The Raleigh
Hotel, I feel like saying, has cal
ways been there" In the Civil
War it was the Kirkwood Hotel,
and Andrew johnson was living
there when summoned to assume
the duties Of the presidency.
The hotels around the Union
Station are all new. There was a
Brooks Congressional Hotel"
diagonally southeast Of the Cap
itol on the site of the earliest of
the present House Office Build
+ings. ...
In those days we had two rail-
road stations. the Pennsylvania,
just south of Pennsylvania avenue
on the junction of Sixth street,
and the Baltimore & Ohio. On
the opposite corner from the
Pennsylvania stood the st. James
Hotel, which was patronized large
ly by people from New Hampshire.
The Hamilton Hotel. on the site
Of the present palatial edif1ce. was
a simple structure, patronized
largely by New Englanders, with
some sprinkling of Iowans. Sena-
tor Frye of Maine lived there, and
John D. Long of Massachusetts,.
When he returned as Secretary of
the Navy he took an apartment
in the Portland, at Thomas Circle.