Evening Star Newspaper, September 18, 1921, Page 63

. FICTION | The Su - MAGAZINE SECTION - St Part 4—6 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 18, 1921 When Peggy O’Neal, Beauty of Another Day, Raised Capital Social Set’s Ire ET me tell you a story.” said a courtly man born in 1854 and not old. “When I came to this place, and that was + in 1874, and old lady used to come here to talk with me. We would sit on that bench in the shade of the lodge —well. not that very bench. but the one that was there before. She was old, though sprightly and vivacious, and there was a charm in her way of speaking. and in the expression of * her face and in her gestures. which would be hard. if not impossible. to describe. so let us say that she was fascinating. Her hair was white, but her eves were bright and merry. and her voice was still clear and musical. It was still the voice of a young woman. “It ‘was very easy to understand that.in her youth she had been & woman of exceptional beauty and charm of manner. We talked about many things, especially about the old homes and people of Washington and Georgetown. She had had an exten- sive acquaintance, and, although she told scores of gossipy little stories about men and women who had been Prominent in the long ago. there w nothing uncharitable in the storie At last, she died, and she lies buried on that slope. You could see the monument at her grave from where we. sit if it were not for the trees and other monuments that are be- tween it and us. That old lady was Peggy O'Neal. who was the central figure in the bitterest social war. that ever broke out in Washington. That « war extended outside the bounds of society and got into politics. It up- sct the cabinet of a President and blayed a part in thwarting the pres Uential hopes of a foremost 3tates- man and gave the prize to his po- litical rival. It resulted in the re- call of at least one foreign minister 1o the United States. And all that happened back in the first adminis- tration of President Andrew Jack- son.” &« The man who said this was sitting « on a sla t bench in the shadow of an old brick ho 3 use painted yello wide brick pavement. Beyond the pavement roadways and paths wound through thirty acres of hilly land. shaded with tall oaks and closely dotted and pointed with tombstones 2nd monuments white and gray. On a green lawn, a few yards away, and amid bright flower beds and big palms. stood the monument of John Howard Payne, author of the words f one of the world's great songs. Home, Sweet Home. K the monument was the flat white marble gravestone which was brought from Tunis, when the ashes of this exceptional man were brought bacKiin him that he has taught his con-|ants for succession to the Presidency. stituents to call him “Honest Jim."jit is written: |He gets a high office, On our right were is homeland. the sandstone piers and the three tall red In! front and around the bench was a At the base of | 1 the chairman of the national com- mittee and the Hon. Dunk Tunkem know that Jim is a power in his state ‘and that to keep him bought they've got to keep on buying him. He is a crook with S0 many crooks something that heavy gilt-topped iron pickets of the s very distinguished. gates of Oak Hill cemetery. * x k¥ THE story of Peggy O'Neal. her charm, her life and her adven- tures is one of the traditions of old Washington, but perhaps the many thousands of mnew Washingtonians— if there can be such a thing as 2 “new” Washingtonian—might like to read about it. The story has never been told as it deserves to be, and will not be so told in this case. The story has usually been given from one side or the other, eitliér by those who hated Peggy or by those who Supported the position which Presi- dent Jackson maintained in her de- fense. So far as the writer knows. no one has sought to gather up all the evidence and make a character study of Peggy. Writers on this sub- ject have side-stepped the hard work of building_up a story. ‘They have Sketched the outlines and touched the high places. . It is #aid that Peggy was bewitch- she was beautiful, that she s spirited, that she was fascinat- ing, captivating and all that, but the man writing this has looked through many stories on the Peggy O'Neal socio-political war without finding out much about her. He has seen nothing to indicate whether she was tall or short. fat or lean, whether she ‘had auburn r or golden hair. flaxen or raven locks. There is nothing to +how whether her nose was straight or whether it was turned up or turn- ed down. Nothing about her ears, aeeth, her neck, hands or feet. There is no_description of her dresses and her hats. We do not seem 10 -learn whether she played the Tarpsichord and danced the minuet, though she must have done so. Noth- ing has been handed down to us about her achievements in embroidery, in crocheting, in painting or in French. Not even one word, so far as the Writer has found, about her eyes. Were they gray or brown. blue or hazel? Yet men raved over this wom- an and other women wrought them- Selves into a fury against her. They denounced her character or denounced *her as having no character. Whether they had the facts on Peggy or whether they were filled with jealousy and sought to stab her character is Tot to be learned at this day, though e know that when a crowd of wom- en have any score to settle with an- other woman they can make a twin- Xie of the eve or,a little indiscretion 3n their victim look like a life of tur- pitude. Peggy W . . . s a daughter of William ©'Neal. keeper of a hotel, and a small Totel was often cailed a “tavern.” Iu the old chronicles O'Neal's place of business was sometimes called O'Neal's Hotel” and at other times .0'Neal's Tavern.” Therefore. Peggy avas “a tavernkeeper's daughter. *That was a horrible position for a woman. A crooked ignoramus. with- out principle and without morals and ~ithout that quality of intelligence ~which decent men Tespect, may get into public life. He may begin by dis- tributing poor whisky and false prom ises to ignorant men in his townsh @nd his county. He climbs from coun- Iy constable to the state legislature He swears to his constituents that he js “one of them” and proves it by drinking out of a bottle, never taking v 2 bath, never having his hair cut and Wearing patched pants and run-down shoes. Every time he has the seat of his pants patched he calls up the ed- jtor- of the country paper to tell about it. It makes a hit with the “ecommon peepul.” They gather around the crossroads store to whittle 2nd spit tobacco juice, and they sa: "Qur Jim ain’t no aristocrat, him ain’t! He are one o' ther peepul! See ¢ that ere piece in the County Adver- tising Grafter ‘'bout Jim an’ his patched pants? Jim's one of the boys, he are!™ Jim comes to Congress. He s built up a personal following in his state. He has a “machine.”” He de- vers the delegates in_ the presiden- 1ial convention to the Honorable Dunk *funkem, the favorite son of the im- rial state of Bazoo. By a combina- tion of popular ignorance, misunder- standing, misrepresentation and sel- fish designs, the Honorable Dunk wins and the papers get out extras with the first page given over to his picture and ninety-four columns of stuft about how he was born in a log cabin of poor but honest parents, studied the Commentaries of Caesar and Blackstone behind the woodpile by the light of a tallow dip and over- came all the hardships that dog the Steps of ragged, virruous youtn, and, at last, unaided, and by the very force of his intellect and his untainted mor- als, has reached the pinnacle of fame! He de- * x x % \ ELL. Jim wants an office. livered the goods and he must have his pay. He is a practical man, rot in polities exactly for his health, @ond it has never occurred to him to do anything for nothing. He has ione tie state some service” and ! I ‘Well, Honest Jim has a wife. When they were married she was peeling oniors in tke kitchen of the Com- mercial Hotel on Main street in the town of Yap. And after she quit peeling onions she never learned any- thing else. But when she came to Washington she entertained at teas and telephoned all about those teas. She had forgotten all about the onion-peeling days. Could she asso- te with a tavernkeeper's daughter? ‘ot much! Why, that tavernkeeper's daughter must be a very ordinary person! “The men say she's beauti- ful. intelligent and interesting. much the worsé~for that!: I hate her all the more! I'll denounce her as a tavernkeeper's daughter and 1" ihrow out hints which will grow as they are repeated that she is even worse than a tavernkeeper's daugh- ter.” The wives of politicians in Wash- ington at the time of Andrew Jack- son surely did heap abuse on Peggy O'Neal. They said the worst things they dared to say and urged their husbands on to saying worse. And the man who writes this takes pleas- ure in doffing his hat to the memory of old Andy Jackson for standing up for this iittle woraan, even though his cabinet tumbled. even though John C. Calhoun was beaten for suc- cession to Jackson as President the United States and even though Chevalier Bang>man Huygens, ister of the, Netherlands, was re- called! Andrew Jackson stood by this wom- n ard her husband. John Hen Eaton, in a way that ought to make, deficit. From that month forward the cvery plain and common sense man feel ‘a pride in Jackson The gossips then coupled Jackson's name with teat of Paggy. And this was so much the worse for the gossips. You know, the gessirs, influential whi and whig newspapers had said printed very much the same kind of matter about Andrew Jackson and Pis wife that the Washington gos- sips were saying about Peggy O'Neal and John Henry Eaton and Peggy O'Neal and Andrew Jackson. There is a short bit of material con- cerning Peggy O'Neal in the Ency- clopedia Britannica and it follows: Margaret 0'Neal Eaton, 1796-1370. well known as Peggy O'Neal. was the daughter of the "keeper of a popular Washington tavern and was noted for her beanty, wit and vi ity. ~About 1823 she married a purser in the United States Navy, John B. Timberlake. w committed suiclde ‘while on servic Mediterranean in 1828. In_the follos ei she married John Henry Eaton, 1790-1858, a Tennessee politician, at the time a member of the United States Senate. Senator Eaton was a ciose personal friend of President Jackson, who. in 1829, appointed him Secretary of War. This sudden elevation of Mrs. Eaton into the cabinet social circle was resented by the wives of several of Jackson' secretaries and charges were made against her of improper conduct with Eaton previous to lier marriage to him. The refusal of the wive of the cabinet members to recognize the wife of his friend angered President Jackson and he tried to coerce them, . Eventually and partly for this reason he al- most_completely reorganized his cabinet. The effect of the incident on the political fortunes of Vice President John C. Calhoun, whose wife Was one of tha recaleitrants. was perhaps most important. Partly on this account Jack- son's favor was transferred from Ct Martin Van Buren, the Secretary of State. who lind taken Jackson's side in the quarrei and bad shown marked atte Ea whose subsequent ele: presidency through Jackson's favor was no doubt partly attributable to this Incident. In 1886, Mrs. Eaton accompanied her Lusband to Spain. where he was United States minister from 1836 to 1840. After the death of her hueband she married a “young Itallan dancing m Antonio Ruchignani, but soon obtained a divorce from him. She died in Washington, November 8, 1879, * * k% ANTONIO BUCHIGNANI was a teacher in Marini's Dancing Academy. The marriage was a very injudicious one and caused a great deal of pain to many Washington peo- ple, and there is no use in recounting that part of the story. Old women sometimes make the mistake which old men often make. A brief biograpl sketch of Secre- tary Eaton is found in Ben: Perley Poore's Political Register, and here it is> John Henry Eaton was born in Tennessee in 1790, received a thorough English education, studied law, was admitted to the bar and prac: ticed at Nashville: was elected to the United States Senate from Tennessee as a_dmocrat In place of George W. Campbell, resigned. and was unanimously elected, serving from Novem- Sifned Was” appoingea ecrerary of War by igned. ppoint tary of War by his personal friend. President Jackson, serving from March 9, 1839. to June 18, 1881, when he married Mrs. Timberlake, and the wives of the other members of the cabinet refusing to call upon her, resigned, was appointed gover- nor of Florida, serving from 1884 to 1836: 1856. Published a life of Andrew Jackson. There are bold inaccuricles a dates and some Inaccuracies ai other things in the encyclopedia and in_Poore's Register. In Appleton’s Encyclopedia you will MRS. MARGARET EATON (PEGGY O'NEAL). (Photograph from Handy-Brady collection.) ————————— H f So | 1 i 1 min~| 3 g3 |operating expenses $122.541.24, leaving nd a profit of $43,824.86 for the line. In “lat equal speed. p Monuments — Some EGGY. as an Old Lady, Talked Often With a Washingtonian Who Gives Star Writer an Interestifid Interview—Visits to a Shady. Hilly Land Dotted With Tombstones and Career and the Trouble She Is Claimed to Have Start’ed—Question of Whether All Facts | Will Ever Come to Light. | Facts About Peggy‘s Secretary of War, married a Mra. Timberlake, with whose reputation gossip had been busy. It was said that he had shown her too much at: tention during -the lifeitme of her first husband. Jackson was always slow to believe charges against a woman. His own wife, who had been newspapers during the campaign, had lately died and there was just enough outward similarity between Eaton's marriage and his own to make him take Mrs. Eaton’s part with more than his customary vehemence. Calhoun and the wives of the secre- taries would not recognize Mrs. Eaton. Mrs. Donelson, wife of Presi- dent Jackson’s nephew. and mistress of ceremonies at the White House, took a similar stand. but all in vai President Jackson found that van. quishing Wellington's veterans was a light task compared with that of con- tending against the ladies in an af- fair of this sort. those who frowned Mrs. Eaton out of society was Mrx. Calhoun. On the other hand, Mr. Van Buren, a widow er, found himself able to be some- what more complaisant and accord- ingly rose in Jackson's esteem. “The fires were fanned by Lewis and Kendall, who saw in Van Buren a more -eligible ally than Calhoun. Pres- ently intelligence was obtained from { Crawford, who hated Call.oun, to the effect that the latter, as # member of Monroe's cabinet. had_disapproved of Jackson’s conduct in Florida. This was quite true. but Calhoun had discreet- 1y yielded his judgment to that of the cabinet, led by Adams. and thus had officially sanctioned Jackson's conduct. “These facts, as handled by Eaton and Lewis, led Jackson to suspect find a ver. Peggy O is draw fair statement of the al war and the following from that work. After re- ting that Vice President Calhoun and Jackson's Secretary of State, Martin Van Buren, were rival aspir- and the result was a quarrel whi broke up the cabinet. In ¢rder to get ! Calhoun’s friends, Ingham, Branch and Berrien, out of the cabinet, the other Secretaries began resigning. This device did not succeed and the oustings of the three Secretaries en- tailed further quarreling. in the course of which the Eonton affair and the Florida business were beaten thread- Early in 1829, Eaton.'bare in the newspapers and evoked A curious affair now comes in to influence Jackson's personal relations to these men. HE great dream of a hundred cities along the course of the Mississippi from St..Louis to New Orleans and shippers of a half dozen middle western states that some day the waters of that great river would become a gigantic highway of commerce linking these states with steamship lines for all- water foreign export has come to pass. 7 The inland and coastwise waterways service, a part of the Quartermaster Corps of the Army, has announced that after two years of uphill effort and many discouragements the federal barge line, operating 1,142 miles along the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans is showing a profit. The turn in the tide came in April of this year, when for the first time the monthly statement of the line did not show a tonnage carried has increased appre- ciably until figures for the month of August are said to be in excess of the revenue for any previous manth. Revenue for April was $166,366.10, May tonnage dropped slightly and operating expenses cut the revenue to $28,707.25, but a new record was set for tonnage carried in June and the revenue was $37,418.45. With the actual successful operation of this line, established late in 1919 by the acquisition of a fleet of nonde- script craft, the officials of the line have proven beyond doubt that regu- lar sailing can be maintained on the river, freight carried at rates ap- proximately 20 per cent less than those of the railroads for the same distance, and the cargoes delivered was assured. Not only has it opened up commerce by water from South America, Cuba and Mexico, but by means of joint rates with steamship lines, operating from the Pacific coast and Seattle, commodities from the far west have begun to pour into New Orleans by way of the Panama canal and proceed by the federal barge line to points in the middle west. These Pacific coast steamers are returning with cargoes from the central states. * k% % PERMANENT operation of the line is assured, officers in charge of its operation declare, because if it is sold or chartered to private operators the transfer will be accompanied by a stipulation and bond thst its oper- ation continue as”developed by the government. Tonnage having been assured for the equipment of the line, Army offi- cials are turning their attention to cheaper operation. They have many difficulties still to overcome. River transportation, once heralded on the Mississippi, has declined within the past decade until the war period found "the great government-main- tained channels of the Ohio and Mis- sissippi ‘being used by only a hand- ful. of local packets and gasoline bodts. Again and again private oper- ators attempted to revive long di tance hauling of freight. They were aided by chambers of commerce along the Mississippi, but the railroads. alive to the possibility of lower. rates by water, cut rates to such an extent that the river steamers were forced out. The greatest advantage with the railroads lay in the cost of handling freight. The steamers, irregular in schedule, had practically no terminal facilities. It is to terminals that officials of the federal barge line are now.turn- ing their attention. Figures obtained from operation of the line show that the cost of handling freight at terminals In St. Louis and New Orleans is more than the cost of transporting the freight the entire distance between the two cities, 1,142 miles. ‘There are only four terminal points on the line, St. Louis, Memphis, Natches, Miss., and. New Orleans," St. Louls, is the grain center. Memphis as the world’s greatest cotton market furnishes the barges 650,000 to 700,000 bales for transporting to steamers. at New Oseans for export annually. Natches obtains cargoes from its.rail connections and New Orleans fur- nishes the outlet for the downstream cargoes and upstream cargoes. ‘The city of St. Louis provided an elabo- rate $1,000,000 terminal, but the ba: line officials, elated over the lack df defl- cits, have decided to build new termi- nals at both St. Louis and East St. Louis, in the construction of whieh will be incorporated the ideas by ‘which they expect to cut down ‘the present high cost of loading. These innovations will also be introduced at the other three ports of call. “Damage in transit-is ailss a drain on the profit of the line. Inability’ of * % ¥ x OLD river men on the Ohio and Mississippi scoffed at the idea when the federal line announced that it would build a fleet of six all-steel towboats, oil burners, with triple ex- pansion engines and screw propellers, in all respects, the engine equipment of deep-sea vessels. They said the screw propellers would not operate successfully on the Mississippi with boats of such draft and that the all- steel equipment decided upon was too costly to warrant a reasonable re- turn. Private enterprise having fail- ed, the government's barge line re- corded a succession of months in which the high-pressure, costly oper- ated paddle-wheel steamers, charter- ed to inaugurate the line, made ir- regular trips of from fifteen to thirty days up the river from New Orleans with lean cargoes and returned down stream with a volume of freight that spelled anything but success for the line. Offisials in charge of the enterprise were discouraged, but they awaited the magnificent fleet. Delays were encountered. The contracts for the forty steel barges and six big towboats were let when the war was still in progress and every shipyard in the country feverishly turning out sea vessels. Finally, several concerns on the upper Ohio were induced to take the contracts. Changes in the specifications also had to be made, bringing further delays. Early in April of this year, four of the big towboats had been deliv- ered. The end of the month brought reports telling of the greatest volume of business ever carried by the line. The steel towboats at last were push- ing cargoes of sisal, coffee and sugar upstream from New Orleans, where they had arrived from Cuba, Mexico and South America, to the rich grain fields of the middle west, and turning with bulky barges of grain and manufactured commodities. Although thé profit from April has surpassed that of any month yet re- ported, greater revenues obtained in June were consumed by necessary re- pairs to some of the equipment and changes- to conform with views reach- ed from the experience of operators. Officials at the office of Brig. Gen. G. F. Downey, chief of the inland and coastwise waterways service here, declared there ho lenger was.any doubt but that use of the Mississippl us a regular highway of commerce | sundry cl outrageously maligned by the whig | Mrs. | Foremost among | Calhoun of treacherous doubledealing, | llenges to deadly combats. n the summer of 1831 the mew cabi- net was formed, consisting of Edward Livingston, Secretary of State: Louis McLane, Treasury; Lewis Cass, War; Levi Woodbury, Navy: Roger B. Taney. Attorney General; in the Post Office Department, no_change. On Van Buren's resignation Jackson at once appointed him minister to England, but there was a warm dispute in th> Senate of his confirmation, and it was defeated =t iength by tie castin vote of Calhoun. This chec strengthened Juckson's ceterminstion to have Van lsuren for his successor in the presidency ““The progress of this quarrel en- tailed a breach in the kitchen cabi- net in which Duff Green, editor of the Telegraph and friend of Calhoun, was thrown out. His place was taken by Francis Preston Blair of Kentucky a man of eminent ability and earnest patriotism.” * % % % THE cabinet of President Jackson as first constituted, and which was disrupted was: Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State: Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, Treasury; John H. Eaton of Tennessee, War; John Branth of North Carolina, Navy John M. Berrien of Georgia, Attorney General, and William T. Barry, Ken- tucky, Postmaster General. In a modefn book, called *Story of the White House.” there are refe ences t the roclal war and an ex- tract is made from “Letters of Margaret ;Bayard Smith.” This particular letter. written during the fracas, shows ‘the sentiments of one of the leaders of the exclusive society at Washington during that period. It follows: “The papers do not exaggerate nor do they detail one-half of his (Jack- FREDERICK N. SOMMERV they do not yield to the President's {will on this point will, it is supposed. son’s) imbecilities. He is completely;soon be dismissed. Several of them under the government of Mrs. Eaton. [ in order to avoid the dilemma are d one of the most audacious. violent.!termined not to keep house or bring malignant, yet silly women you ever|on their familic: Therefore, heard of." ‘Mrs. Huygen's (wifk of | keeping house they will not give par | is commendable. The new cabinet if MAKING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER A GREAT COMMERCE HIGHWAY BY FEDERAL BARGES STEEL CARGO BARGE OF THE TYPE DESIGNED FOR SERVICE ON THE MISSISSIPPI i ——————— duct in refusing to visit Mrs. Eaton|of entertaining the favorite Netherland’s minister) spirited ton-lllen. ete.. and thus avoid the disgra “It was hoped on her husband's Zo- loading fre. elevator foi bt and has leased a large storage of wheat before it is loaded on the barges. The baiges can be moored alongside the elevator and the grain pous to them by means of ipes. Joint freight airo as weli as Louis, so that the only effect of ide will be the loss of some 250 miles of transportation to the boats. Despite the many towns which dot the Mississippi, operators of steamers up the river have found that ft is almost impossible to keep in com- munication with terminal stations. and that craft plying betwe:n them are as far removed from receiying instructions and calling for help in case of disaster as though they were at sea. To overcome this cach of the new towboats has been equipped with radio equipment. and instruc- tions for movement will be rcceived from stations at St. Louis. Memphi atchez and New Orleans, where vwers for radio stations are now teing erected. JOL\'T water and railroad rates pub- “lished in tarifis issued by the barge line are applicable to shippers A1 * % ¥ * in Ohio. Indiana. Illinois, Michigan. Wisconsin, Iowa. Kentucky. Mis- souri, Tennessee. Arkansas and Mississippi. By eliminating all way stops the line has stopped the over- head charges which caused disaster to So many private operators. Efforts of private operators to establish efficient and profitable water transportation from the middle west to New Orleans date back for a score of years. In 1917, when railroads were marshaled for the transportation of war material to the eastern seaboard. even the one or two historio lines which operated between Memphis and St Louis, Memphis and Natchez and Natchez and New Orleans were beginning to disappear, following the loss of -steamers each. season from wrecki and iow water and lack of cargoes. In an act of Congress approved ‘August 29, 1916, a council of national defense was _established to co- ordinate industries and resources to insure national security. This led, in June, 1917, pointment of the inland water transportation, which concelved _the federal barge line program. The Shipping Board and S ATals Fmdnrgeni\cy Fleet Corporation aided . n drawing u Officials in charge of operation of i Jrawing up pans for the towboats the line are not content with merely | nigdern equipment ever used on & profit. Shide April, when the fIrst | jnignd rivers. Construction of the river steamers to deliver cargo in as good' condition as transported by the railroads has been 2 handicap for the line from the first, its solicitors being unable to convince- shippers of the higher class commodities for which higher rates are obtained that, they will be received at their destinations in good shape. With the new termi- nals operators of the line. expect to get _much more of this high-class freight. GTUDY of the manifests on one trip show that the line is not dependent on certain seasonable -frelght, such as grain ‘and cotton for business. Farming _implements, woodenware, grain in bulk, loaded and unloaded by suction pipes; furniture, flour and scores of manufactured articles were carried. On thé return trip coffee, Bugar, molasses, now used extensively in the middle west for the manufac- ture ,of ‘stock feed, ‘were brought back. Tons and tons of sisal for use of the harvesters of the great grain crops of the Mississippl valley are going up the river. from * X % K to the ap- committee on | | ‘Mexico ! earnings were reported, they have al- | vaft was under the direction of the lotted $86,779.20 from. the profits for | chief of engineers of the Army. depreciation; which mieans that If the | ' The various surveys and investiga- government continues to operate the | tions made by the committee on inland line the project-will not come to a|waterways occupied about six months, close when the present equipment is a critical period in the history of worn out. | transportation in the United States, Another ~problem being faced in|during which the railroad administra- dperation of the line is obtaining | tion was perfecting an organization capable crews for the new steel tow- | for more effectively handling the na- boats. The machinery of the boatsijonai traffic crisis. is quite different from that of the old | “ Toward the end of August, 1918, the river. steamers and requires skilled | necessity for a more formal organiza- enginers and .mechanics for opera- |tion in Washington to supervise the tion. Costs. for repairs to the big |work of:.the agencies established at steel boats have been higher also { New York and New Orleans to carry hecause local repair shops along the | through o completion the recommen- rivers have -mot been equipped to |dations.of the committee became ap- kandle this kind of machinery. Thus |parent. Accordingly the committee far no difficulty has been experienced | was released and a new branch of the in obtaining .pjlots. . The pay for the | railrond administration, the “division crews compares very well with pri- |of -inland waterways,” established. vate operators. The division functioned until March, Officers at Gen. Downey's office said | 1920, when, in compliance with the that full success of the line with |transportation act of 1920, the activi- greater profits will result when the | ties were transferred to the War De- last two of the steel towboats, now |partment. 96 per oent .complete, have ' been| That the Mississippi has always turned over to the government. They | been the logical route of export trade are. being .built .at . Point Pleasant, | between the middle west and South W. Va., and_cannot be -taken down | American and Pacific ports since the the Ohio until a higher stage of wa- | Paiiama canal began operation has ter is:recorded: - With-the entire new | been pointed out again and again. equipment in use and terminals ar- | Despite the advantages of cheaper rangéd to handle freight efficiently, | transportation by this route, freight they predict an entirely new era in jhas continued to pour to the eastern tiansportation don the Mississippl. The | and southeastern seaboard. by higher vew line makes no stops except at | freight rates. It only awaited a na- the four terminal poluts and at Cairo, | tional emergency like the war to bring Tll, st the confluence of the Ohic |about use of the river on a large scale. and Mississippl.. During’ shout two | Present high rallroad rates are the months of each winter the Mississippi | greatest factor in favor of the line. is choked.with. ice between Cairo and | The barges carrying freight at Tates St. Louis and the big steel boats can- | 20 per cent lower than those of ‘the not make their way to the northern | rafiroads have now been put on such a termingl. © However, this will work vio: disadvanfage. as the’line ‘ip byild- ing &y incline and fwo concrete’ track ‘barges it Cairo for -loading and un- ratio of rates can be maintained even when' there is a decrease in the cail- road tariffs. l | not | basis of operation that it is hoped this ' R. of Peggy dolph was a daughter O'Neal Timberlake. The man with whom the writer sal in the shade of the lodge at Oak Hill and who told him of the littie oid woman who used to come thers and talk with him, is Frederick N Sommerville, superintendent of tie cemetery. He was born at Martins- burg, Berkeley county, Va. son of Robert A. and Mary Ann (Waite) Sommerville. His maternal grand- futher was Judge Obed Waite of Winchester. Robert A. Sommervilie was z lawyer and clerk of the cour! of Berkeley county for many years After the cvil war Fred came 1o Georgetown with his parents. Th: war had impoverished this famil. it had most families in the south who had property at the outbreak of the var. Fred Sommerville married Mi; Jcsephine Poore of Georgetown. In the little lodge hang many pictures of interest. One is a rare engraving of Andrew Jackson which Fred came upon a long time ago in a second- hand book store. Andrew Jackson kas the place of homor in the lodge Near it, in a little frame. is a “Minute of the Service in the Revolutionary War” of Willlum Sommerville. Fred erick Sommerville’s grandfather. The term of service was four vears five months and twelve daye. The ‘minute” reads: “I entered the cervice the 3th of August. 1776; resigned the 20th o. January, settled my accounts with the board of war at New York in July or August. ‘a8 conductor of the train under the immediat: icommand of Chevalier Col- de Cam Lray of the artillery and engineers in the Western Department.’ al cap- tain's pay with sustenance. which 1'final settlement certificates’ w funded. agreeably to the ‘funding sys tem_act’ at Richmond, in the Le of Virginia. William Sommerville. artiliery. Continental Lin, The children of Frederick Sommer- ville and Josephine Poore. his wife are Charles, John, Mabel. Annie and |Jessie, all married and of Washing- jton. Charles was overseas, and. framed on a wall within the lodge is 2 copy of John J. Fershing's ord.i. duted, “France. February 28. 1915 announcing that the American. expe- ditionary force had done its duty. The copy was sent to “Private C. M. Som merville, Company B, 134th Machine Gun Battalion. Capt. Francis P. Me- Cook. commanding.’ ear it is a tel- egram: “December 10, 1918. Mr. Fred- erick . Somerville, 3001 Strec.. Washington, D..C. Deeply regret to inform you that it is offisially report-d that Private Charles M. Sommerville. Machine Gun Battalion. was severely wounded in action September 29 i ived. Har- Charles WHO KNEW PEG! O'NEAL ing out of office she would leave the city. but she will not. She hopes for ‘a completc triumph, and, not satisfied with having the cabinet |broken up und @ virtuous and in- telligent forcign minister recalled and many of our first citizens frown- €d upon by our President. our sociely i in a sad state. Intrigues and par sites in favor, divisions and animosi- | Maj. Leroy Herron. Mabel Sommer- | ties existing. "¢ ¢ = Yet no one‘canville married William A. Marceron of !deay that the President's weakness|Georgetown, Annie married J. William joriginates in an amiable cause—his{Shea and Jeisle married Charles A. Mt }devoted and ardent friendship for Gen. | Mahon, both of Washington. Eaton.’ she The Labyrinth. You can read there that the and aristocratic families” of Waull-‘ ¢« HE alleys are a perfect laby- rinth’ ‘a labyrinth of hall- ington at that time were considerably ! wrought up. ‘When Congress and the rest of the | ways.” and.“the police are following a clue!” These are phrases that are met with often. “Labyrinth” has such ! government came to Washington in 1800, William O'Neal, like nearly every a fine sound that some conversation- alists make the most of it and some one else in Washington. had “lodgings of them even go 8o far as to zay of to let” His house was on the north a man whose speech or paper is in- side of 1 street between 20th and et ‘streets and he advertised in the volved or muddled that “his argu- ment is a labyrinth.” ational Intelligencer that he ad accommodations for three or four gentlemen during the session of Con- gress.” The advertisement read that he was located in “The Three Build- ings near the Navy Office” At that time little Margaret, or “Peggy.” was four years old. By 1813 “O'Neal Ho- Labyrinth and clue are interesting tel,” or “O'Neal's Tavern,”” which was|words. They are probably fuller vf meaning to the well schooled boy and girl than to the average man and woman, because children are closer to the storics in which the labyrinth of classic lore most famously figurer. The word “labyrinth” brings back 1 the memory one of the hero situated at the northeast corner of achievements of Theseus, that great Pennsylvania avenue and 21st street and which was called the Franklin and fearless son of Aithra, princess of Troezene, who was the fair and House, had becme one of the principal places of the kind in the young capi- tal. When Eaton came to Washington as a senator in 1818 he put up at O'Neal's and during his service in the Senate for eleven years lived at O'Neal's. When he came to Washington Peggy was twents-iwo vears old. She had been two vears the wife of John B. st il et P benake end. had. = littie many ] eeatial EeuEhies. e - Wilhelmus _Bogardus = Bryax 1 “Theseus had established his fame *History of Washington’ as a slayer of monsters, defender of ! the announcement in the National In- | fhe weal and the avenger of many | telligencer, June 20, 1816, of the mar-|«wrongs His adventures had been jriage by Rev. Stephen B. Balch of|mauy and bloody and at last he had John B. Timberlake, a purser in the!come to Crete. “and to Cnosus be Navy, and Miss Margaret O'Neal. In!peath the peaks of ida, and to the paluce of Minos,- the great king. 1o whom Zoas himself taught law. The business that brought Theseus to Crete was to meet the dreaded and hated Minotaur, to whom Minos. had annually thrown twenty of the youths of Athens in revenge for some old murder done by Aegeus, king of Athens. This Minotaur had the body hat way Senator Eaton was atten- of & man; “but his head was the head tive to Mrs. Timberlake is not to be read in any of the material which of & bull and his teeth were the teeth of a lion, and with them he tore his the writer of this sketch has seen. As an old boarder in the house, he may have sat at the proprietor’s table, or he may have taken the proprietor's daughter to the theater—the Old Washington Theater—or danced with her in a ball given in the dining.room of the hotel after supper. It is quite easy to see that the Washington so- . ciety of that time was scandalized, | pre: The Minotaur lived in the and when the proprietor's daughter. { labyrinth and in the words ‘of Charles on the death of her husband, beeame | Kingsley, who so dearly loved the old the wife of a United States senator|Greek fairy tales, Theseus ‘“went one can see that native and importéd | down into the doleful gulf, through aristocrats of Washington village | winding paths among the rocks, un- were shocked, but when this samé|der caverns and arches and galleries proprietor's daughter became a cabi-{and over heaps of fallen stones, and net lady, and friend of the President, | he turned on the left hand and on sfrom whom most of the local aristo- | the right hand and went up and down Terats wanted favors, or expected fa-|till his head was dizzy vors, or hoped for favors, it is quite| Minos had a daughter, Ariadne. She easy to understand that the village|was beautiful, as all kings' daught- nobility was horrified and flabber- | ers, millionaires’ daughters and brides gasted. be. And just like girls today her heart was in the right place and she could fall in love at sight. And she loved Theseus. _ She came at night. notwithstanding it was an indiscretion. (o the prison which Minos' guards had locked young Theseus up. She had learned that he was to be fod to the Minotaur in the labyrinth. She pleaded with the youth. saying, according to re- port. “Flee down to vour own ship once, for I have pribed the guards before the door. Fiee, you and all Your friends, and go .back in peace 10 Grecce, and lake me with you, for |1 dare not stay.after you are gone. bought the property becauss of -lis |34Y father will kill me miserably if friendship for his old host, William | he knows what 1 have done” O'Neal, who will qquarrel ‘with.him |, But Th for that? - If he bought it because ' from his he had sentimental feelings toward William’s daughter Peggy. why, most men will approve. She was charming and otherwise an intelligent young woman. Nearly all men who amount to shucks want to help a beautiful woman, but this United States senator put up real money to buy in the prop. erty, and perhaps he blocked the plan of more than one hard-fisted tight- wad of a prominent citizen who ex- ther information when rec ris. The adjutant general recovered from his wounds. but was in different hospitals for many months. His brother. John F. was also overseas in the artillery regi- ment one battalion of which went from the District under command of reprints ! * * x X - ; ABOUT 1820 the fortunes of “the Franklin House began to decline. The popular hotels were around :the Capitol or in the neighborhood of the Avenue and 4% and 6th streets. O'Neal's was too far uptown. O'Neal owed money on the property, The trust was held by the Bank of Wash- ington, and a trustee’s sale was or- dered. At the sale Eaton bought the property. That was in 1823. Tf he tod on mixing o 3 ty Ariadane gave a sword to Ti?::e‘u.:l and a little bundle of thread ‘which was calied a “clue of thread,” whiech he was to unwind as he went into and along the Labyrinth, and by fol- lue” he terrible All the world knows that brave and mighty Theseus made quick work in dispatching the Minotaur, that by the aid of the-‘“clue” he found his way out of the Labyrinth, and wi his loved and loving Ariadne as his ‘Wwife. he escaped. But other troubles came upon Theseus in other lande and at pected to buy at this mortgage sale a plece of property for one-half its value. At a later date Eaton sold the O'Neal Hotel to John Gudsby, and Gadsby made it & famous place. It was Gadsby's introduction to the last he fell because he came to be came to Washington from Baltimors I Where he was the proprisior of the | 100 full of pride. l;'ld.llanueen Hotel, whi:lh. -Iz a later| time, becamre Barnum’s Hotel. g 3 o Bl bvialy e lemenn | Fafiguod by Light. ment inscri “John ton, n June 18, 1790, died Nov. 13, 1866. RECBNT experiments confirm the Was U. S. Senator from the state earlier observations, following of Tennessee for 18 years, Secretary | Herts's discoveries, on the “fatigue” of War, Governor of Fiorlds 20d!inquced fn metals by the coutinued Mrs. Eaton ‘was buried by thé side!act of that monument in 1579, bat her|light This fatigue affocts the capac- name is not on the stome.’ I Same 1ot is s tomb, inscribed: “Brered | Oho. tnserttrast oo T Tects: 1o the memory of Jobn B. Kandolph, the fatigue of Zine, he has lieutenant U. 8. Navy, born Murchiobserved that the ication of the 12, 1818, died July 20, 1854; Margaret, longer light waves brings about = wife of John B. Rlndolg ,_born | certain ameunt of recovery of photo- March 16, -1835; died March 24, 1855. | electric activity. -These results, al By her fond mother.” - The man writ- | though primariiy of technical interes: belleves that Margaret Ran- | only, possess practical im hotel business in Washington. He e t of drid.” e e Wriat he n of the ultra-violet rays of ing th