Evening Star Newspaper, April 13, 1924, Page 78

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. e Comedy Kid BY ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE With a Tendency to Fist and Footwork Faster Than His Headwork ORRY ROAD was on the other the bell which opened and closed a side of the railroad tracks. The least undesirable section of Corry road was farthest from the tracks. No. 1-A Corry road was so near the right of way that its cccupants could tell in their sleep whether the 12:37 was burning hard coal or soft. In No. 1-A Corry road was born Roderick VicAlpine Dhu ient. His father sex English and his mother was Chicago Yankee. But his mother had recelved as a wedding gift from the family for whom she worked an ornate and flaringly illus- trated copy of “The Lady of the Lake." Much of it she did not understand, but she thrilled to the soul at one of ts full-page illustrations—the draw- £ of a darkly magnificent and pant- man with brandished sword .nd a scowling brow. The pictured man, she learned from caption and context, was Roderick VicAlpine Dhu. oftener referred to during the rhymed narrative's course as Roderick Dhu. Wherefore, when a lustily squall- ing son arrived in the Kent house- hoid, some months later, his mother had him christened Roderick VicAl- pine Dhu Kent. She had her way in ng of hér first and only child. 1se her hushand was barred, from objecting. While too zealously the example t eve. he had mistaken iniform for a nam eman’s E waxed By reason of which from the house of fortnight after the vith did not correction na and its wearer. until a christening om the hour of his baptism of the hou of Kent name. He grew up was t ir d by *Roddy On Corr: of their ddy Both was cal s full »s did mdst Those who died. children ging. doing so road wn upbri knack for ve hi: ten. St. Thaddeus' orphanage m in Then eight years with adoptive par- ents smatter of educa- tion and of mannpers. He managed to get through grammar school at six- anks to and not dropped from high scho: r the end of the first term. d last, books were a mys- iim. In ope thing alone did As an all-round athlete he d not his equal within two years of his ow e Otd Justir had ch eved extra coaching the former pug, w the high school g¥m, start as a horse- might regard some future Derby He insisted on teaching the 1 pug-nosed lad to box and rd he all but wept with nt's progre % 2 later Justin received a from Roddy. left home,” reported the youth. t's left me The old gentle- ¢ month. They've fig- estate He'd lost a lot. just enough left to keep the old going. If I stayed on there'd be « meal and a half a day for each us and about half enough money verything else she's got to have. I've lit out 1 figured she'd feel ter that y—you know—thinking was making @ get-away from a sinking ship—than if she thought I was going hungry out in the tall grass she can, get three squares. I wrote @ rotten note and I skipped Gimme a job, won't you, or try to get me one somewheres?” It was a long speech for the taci- turn Roddy Kent. And old Justin let pass a longer inte: 1 of silence be- he answered 5 cars after hou Twe 3 visi “T've dieg his AL th r homn “you'd be worth week in United pause line hat fits in said he, cents work raising about States mone: Roddy's level little ch. The heavy young 9 a He mpas the same,” pursued Justin, a decent thing when you raft that wasn't enough to hold you and the old dame. A u done a decenter thing when You he at you instead of sad giving you credit tor the les for 3 sore I'm boy frowned, g to interrupt, But old Justin w. here's on sonld make about the “1 know one good ring. mé size job you I'm talking assented Roddy, “I knew you were going to. n you art * promised Justin. “So could Ise whose opinion the fight 5 do a bit more. 1l train you myself and I'll manage you on a you being only and T'll board n you there. later the first semi- f the Cestus Athletic Saturday night program was scheduled ten-round hout be- sween Coal Mine Crump and Kid Kent. Hoth were welter-weight: pork-and-beaner, you shack and tra Three months final as the other a 2 former mine hand, slight following not among sporting men of his old mong a fair contingent o He barely escaped heing a formidable fighter. Jus criticized for start rotege’s career against so wxperienced a third-rater. But the ol had made his cholce. “Here's the idea, Roddy,” he had 1f you're the comer I think!“Kid Kent's manager told him to start to | hitting as soon as he heard the gong. maybe | He didn’t say which gong.. The Kid ou are, you're able last out against even get first punch n and keep on tearing in. Be ready for the gong. When you hear it get ap with Jjump and make for him. iug as soon ux you get in reach. No matter he ain’t h chair yet—siug! Fight's on as soon as th that. right Crump or ade on him. now a s Hit the * % 0 ATURALLY, it did not occur to L nary gong sometimes is sounded be- fore a bout, the gong which calls the bath-robed fighters to midring to get their instructions from the referes, fafter wi nors, gong which begins the bout It seemed-as needlesy for the man of many vears' ring experience to explain this to his disciples as for a =chool teacher to tell his pupils they need not translate the printer’s name and the date on a Greek examination paper. To Justin. as to all his wind, the t ' E only of parents died before 1el big| though | ent on: | —one a vet- | Justin to mention that a prelimi-| | { 1 | man had studied the situation and | the ropes and waved both arms to the keep on hitting. Tear | when the prelim gong sounded he got If up off his! tion, gong sounds. Iiemember | N ich they retire to their cor- | make Tolks come to see you fight than there to strip and await the|If you'd scored six knockouts on bet- i | Aehts | Aighter since a handy way round. The second preliminary at the Ces- tus Athletic Club on Roddy’s debut night was ending as Roddy Kent sat beside Justin In an empty ringside box swathed in his bath robe and watched the feather-weight slapping match drag itself to a close. Then, at Justin’s command, he climbed up into one of the ring’s newly vacated corners. Not a handclap greeted him. Novices and unknowns and dark horses were no novelty to that crowd. Instead of growing nervous at the walt, he fell to rehearsing Justin's| myriad wise instructions and warn- ings. This done, his gaze roved again over the sprinkling of on-lookers be- low and above the ring, and came to | a brief and puzzled rest upon two| women wio sat in the second row | behing the boxes. To be accurate, it | was merely the younger of the two. ; She was a girl of aboul his own| age, well set up, neat, capable look- | ing, cdomely with youth's freshnes but with no claim to classic beauty. | She was sitting beside a woman per- haps ten years her senior—a woman of evident and almost aggressive re- spectability. Kent recognized the girl at once, though the recognition sent no thrill through him. She was Mary Bonnell, who had gone to high scool with him. The two had never been overwell ac- | quainted with each other. Indeed.| they might never have met had not! Roddy chanced to thrash a lad whom he caught snowbaili on the way to school. But n thereafter Kent had ft high school | and the acquaintance had lapsed | Nor did he waste a second thought | on her new, except to wonder vague- | Iy why nice girls should zo to prize | Their eyes met. slightly without smiling. ducked his head in response. Roddy | there arose a handclapping. scattered ripple seconds and handlers. Crump was perhaps thirty-two years old. Always he had been a with his fists had lifted him out of the mines and into the ring. But somehow he { did not altogether qualify. | There were vague tales afloat about | Crump—rumors that he had a real| gift for unperceived fouling and for| selling fights and for “laying dow at precisely the moment when certain heavy backers of his opponent had| prophesied he would. Nothing was | proved, but he seemed to be semi-| perpetually in funds—a condition not | common to a pork-and-beaner of his limited chances. | * % % ! P through the ropes now Coal| Mine Crump made his laz; - He glanced around the house. He caught sight of Mary Bonnell and the woman with her. He grinned at| them. Mary waved her hand gaily in reply. The older woman smiled ma- ternally. Crump turned from them, bobbed his head in recognition of the mild applause, sneered chillingly at the interested Rodd, then sat down on the stool his officious handlers put in place in his corner. The two sets of gloves were in- spected and drawn on. Ensued a mo- ment's pause while the referee strode | majestically to midring. He signaled | the timekeeper to strike the hand-| gong which should call the fighters | to him for instructions. i Before the clangorous note had | chance to echo to the farthest reaches of the building Roddy Kent was out| of his seat and darting across the| canvas with the formidable speed of | an express train. Past the wonder- | ing referee he flashed, just as Crump | was rising gracefully from his stool. | An instant later Kent's piston-like left fist was crashing into the wholly | unprepare@ jaw of the newly arisen | Crump. Roddy was obeying old Justin's or- | ders to the letter. At the clang of| the gong he had gonme violently into| action. Stmilarly he had hit the first | blow. But he could not follow the | advice to “keep on tearing in." There | was nothing left to tear into. H Crump, hands at sides, was taking | lLis first forward step toward the| beckoning referee as Kent's first) landed. The blow was backed by | Roddy's flying momentum, and it had all Roddy's 140-odd pounds and, whalebone muscle behind it. | Coal Mine Crump shot backward ac from a mule kick. Clean through the ropes he tumbled and fell, spread- eagle, athwart the press table. The | entire audience was on its feet, yell- | ing, gesticulating, milling. Seconds and handlers piled into the ring. The aumfounded Roddy stared about him, wondering at the insanity caused by his initial punch as a professional | fighter. He had a fleeting glimpse of | Mary Bonnell, standing with clenched | hands and widely incredulous eyes,| and of the older woman fairly jump- ing up and down. in wrath. Then referee and seconds and Justin had hemmed him in and his ears were deafened by a babel of undistinguish- able language. Out of the ruck of it presently he | gleaned that he was assailed right| furiously for what he had done. And| he babbled to the scandalized Justin: | “You told me to! You said to sail| in at the sound of the gong and to| 1pnd the first punch. g ‘The clamor broke out afresh on his! excuse. The announcer advanced to | | | | | i P racketing spectators. “Ladies and gentlemen!” he bawled, never even saw a fight before. So busy. That's how it happened.” Anger-reddened ‘faces twisted into ! laughter. From all over the house came a2 ragged guffaw ol apprecia- * % % ¥ i EXT morning on’the front page— | not on the sporting page, mind you—appeared a story whose gist the Associated Press had already sent to the ends of the continent. “Son!" he exulted, “it's the making of you! That yarn will be in the mouth of every fight fan in'the state. | It'll do more to make you known and ! | ter men than Coal Mine Crump. I won't have to go begging and wheed- ling to make the Cestus hard-boilers give you your next chance. Don't go looking like you was spanked. It's the biggest lump of luck that a be- | ginner eveér run into. “A fool for luck, like the feller said. Tl go down soon as | define nor curb, Then he forgot her existance, for|by that time, and I won't make such |€alm honesty which was her key- of | @ monkey of myself. I'm—I'm signing [Bote a5 to have her sister persuade Coal Mine Crump was |up to fight Alabaster Mayo four weeks! Crump to take the two women to the advancing toward the ring amid his|from last night,” he finished, in sorry | Mayo-Kent fight, and then to make |ner sister and brother-in-law | hardly ever go to the Cestus unless ! not see his manager about. they're awake emough to have read their papers.” 5 He did. He came home at moon glorified. “Talk about luck!” he crowed “They near kissed me. Whatcha think? You're to be signed up to meet Alabaster Mayo, four weeks from last night! Get that! Alabaster Mayo. The coon that's in line to meet the welter champ of the middle west. And- you've got a fight on with him! Luck! Of. course the matchmaker chap thinks it's a set- up for the coon. He counts on this noospaper dope to bring out a crowd to see you. You pack the wallop. Why, everybody I met has read about last night! But I seem to be the only one who saw all you put into that smash you landed on him Hand Alabaster a few of those and yowll cut through to that yellow streak I've always sald he has.” ‘When Roddy Kent came home from his afternoon’s road work that day he avoided the livelier streets. He dreaded to meet any friend. In spite of this or because of it, he rounded a corner to find himself face to face with Mary Bonnell. The girl made as though to pass him without speaking. But, urged by a queer impulse that was too sudden to resist, Kent stopped timidly in front of her “I'm sorry you were there to a fool mysclt,” he blurted. | 't fault. I didn't know | my [the homely and stupld youth. | o 1l she interposed frigidly. heard what the announcer said. read the paper this morning.” i “If youll come again to see me| Mars bowed | 18ht" he stammered, driven on by Ment. she found she did not want to that same odd impulse he could not “I'll be doing beu-r\ pride. The tidings did not seem to impress | her. ; “Yes," she answered, “I heard you | were. But it isn't likely T'll be there. | 1 don't care for fights. They are bru- tal and—and- “You heard about it?" he repeated, too much confused by this statement | to take in the rest of her words.| “Why, it wasn't settled till late this morning.” | “A friend of Harry's dropped in a! few minutes ago,” she explained cold- | 1y, “to ask about his poor shoulder. He told—" i “Who's Harry? | “My brother-in-law. My husband. Didn't you know? “No, I don't even the fight game?" “His fighting name is ‘Coal-Mine.' " | said Mary. *‘Coal-Mine' Crump. Hej 18 my brother-in-law. That's why and I were there last evening. { sister” now, Is he in weal i Harry is fighting. He—" 1 She paused, struck by look on his ruddy face. { “Gee!" he faltered. “And you saw | me land that crack on his jaw! No| wonder vou froze me! Say, I'm aw-! fully sorry, Mary! Honest, I am!" ”ox ok % the blank i HE sought to maintdin her frigid bearing. But there was something so unhappy. so childishly contrite in the man's aspect that her heart soft- ened. Sne frowned in self-disapproval and forced herself to speak with add- | ed rebuke “It means more than a joke tol Harry and to us all,” she “re| means more than a wrenched shoulder to him, too. The shoulder will be all well in a week. And the joke adver- tises him a little. But—he needed that fight badly. It was the first one he's been able to get in ever so long. And he had all the expenses of sis iliness to -pay. He counted on the money he'd get from last night. I sup- | pose the newspapers think it's a love- | Iy joke. But it means hard times to| all of us till he can get another match. That night, after an hour of earnest | effort at thought, Roddy Kent nmxzed; his manager by suggesting: “Say! Why not get a return match | for Crump and me? You said I'd be in demand for a while now. Why { happened ee me | quent | muscles a good gate is likely to.hel on his feet, I should think.” *“He sure needs it!" assented Justin. “Lately there’s been funny cracks made about him and how he got some of the cash he always used to be flashing. Promoters have been leary of putting him on. Now g0 to bed. You're due to start tralning tomor- row for Alabaster Mayo.” If it was something akin to chance that made Roddy encounter Mary Bonnell three times the next week on her way to or from the grocery, then the kinship belonged in the | poor-relation category. For he ar-{ ranged his afternoon road work to| end always In precisely the | place and at the same time His | luck did the rest. | Not being gifted with anything ap- | | proaching self-analysis, he did not | stop to conmsider why he was going out of his way to meet and walk | with a girl who had been out of | his life and out of his mind ro long | |a time. All he knew was that he had come upon her, by accident, that first afternoon and at an hour when he was troubled and ashamed and bit- terly lonely and a newspaper laugh- | ingstock, and that something had to his heart as he had| stood there looking confusedly down into her grave eyes. Mary did not encourage these fre- meetings, Indeed, between their occurrences she used to tell herself she must find some way to avoid But, somehow, to her own self-disgust she could not think of any deft or kindly method of stopping the queer acquaintance. Then, to her amaze- put him same stop it. So it went on. She even departed so far from the think she herself went thither with them right reluctantly. * % % ROPPRICK VicAlpme Dhu was careful to make no blunders in the matter of procedure at this sec- ond fight of his. With Justin he had witnessed several intervening bout: during the past month. And he was letter-perfect. | His opponent this second time whs | a redoubtably scowling and thick-set negro of burnt-coffee hue and mighty The two came together at | the gong before a thronged audi- torium. Kent had peered furtively bout him as he awaited the entrance of Mayo into the ring, and by a mira- cle he had able to recognize Mary and her sitting with Coal-Mine Crump, toward the rear of the two-dollar seats. The seats, by the way, had been complimentary | from the management, or so Crump | had thought, when they came to him, anonymously, by mail, Following Justin's precepts, and subconsciously aware that Mary was watching him, Kent began the fight | with a whirlwind attack. Alabaster Mavo had looked for swift tory from this youngster who bad | been described to him s a clowning novice. At the formidable and un- ceasing and scientific assault of the despised beginner, gradually a super- stitious fear posseszed him. Surely this was no novice, this ever- attacking fighting machine whom his | own best efforts weaken This European or easte for an easy victory nonplussed, then scared. Terror and bad training and much | h living combined to soften Ala- baster.to the furious battery of the younger man. Twice in the third round floored the negro while the house | screamed itself hoarse. Unknowing- ly, Kent was taking chances, now and then, from which a more seasoned fighter would have shrunk. In the fourth round, for example. Alabaster let drop his arms after re- | ceiving 2 light Llow on the -side of the head. He reeled back as if dazed or weakened past defense. Now this trick is 80 old that none but an ama- teur taken in by it. Instead of cov- ering up dancing back, Roddy bored in, and he landed a stomach- punch a fractipn of a second earlier | than Mayo's artfully prepared hay- maker could be delivered. Down crashed Alabaster, the breath hammered out of him by the terrifi ster could not was block or a ringer—some -hampion out The negro was n Kent | | | smash in the stomach. He arrived in ~ ST | q i = “Glory be!" snorted Justin, goggle- eyved with astonishment. “The ivory mine gets to work sometimes, just like it was reg'lar folks' brains! And I never thought of it! It's a pip! That's what it is. How'd you ever happen to hit on that, Sonny?" “I—I jusp kind of—" “And you was dead right!” proved Justin. “First fight you knock him out two minutes before the round's to begin. That got him sore. You'ro sore, too, 'count of the guying and joshing you got in the papers. Both of you wants to get back at t'other. A reg’lar ol' grude fight. The kind that brings in the gate.” ap- OO o v el | — “He's—he's kind of—kind of hard- up, Isn't he?' asked Roddy, with elahorate caretessness. A tight with | going to fight any | toward and he | knoek | gulped as he APRIL 13.° anguish. And then there cropped forth the well hidden yellow streak which Justin had suspected, Motioning Roddy back, the referee began to count Mayo out. As he did 80, he surveyed the fallen man: and he was led to belleve that terror rather than inability to rise kept the negro glued to the floor. Wherefore, after counting up to five, the referce | addressed Mayo in a quick undertone, then went on counting. Thus “One-two-three-four-five,” he toned, adding, “Aren’ fiercely t more “Yassah!" replied the stricken Ala- baster as the count proce sah—but“not tonight!" < * x % % T was a shining-eved Mary Bonnell who grested Roddy at the corner of her home street nest afternoon. She had even been guilty of waiting there for him. Sheepishly Re ceived her congratulations. And they fell into step, as usual noticed that they were strolling away from the Crump bungalow it They actually ing a walk together: their f As, finally, they turned back, a little of the light died in Mary’s dark « “Harry is ever so happy.” fided “He will mean a jammed he fight. That's all he think about. And the newspapers have gotten hold of that funny thing Mayo said when he wouldn't get And Harry says that'll add to reputation, too. by making peopl laugh again. But. bul suppose Harry out! t's what I'm Roddy at as stead of were ak n- he to Kent says last se when seems tof you try to T da golng to ed her; then h lized belatediy tha wrong thing again. she explained, how horri- re he had said the “But don’t vorriedly, “don’t that'll be for Sis you see,” coking on and for me, t “For you, too itated m lick see he ridiculously like a grieved child. Perhaps it perhaps it was her ir that made her silent “Mary,” he begged rather see him lick me than lick him? Would you. bonest Jon't ask such silly questions!” reproved, taking r “Besides, it fsn't rd rath wouldn't rather. 1t means more than that. Mr. Justin made Harry agree that the winner is to get per cent. Harry wouldn't have apreed to such terms w tation and everything. to persisted as his tone or his n would you me she fuge in vexation. fon of what novi badly. And he loses, the per cent wili only help & third as much as if he'd won. Sis found out yesterda: that he's been borrowinz all the money he could met hold of. He been betting it all on himself e 27 HE HAD STOOD THERE CONFUSEDLY. LOOKING DOWN INTO HER GRAVE EYES. neither | UY night | all his repu- | o hadn't needed money so ! 1924—PART 5. |loses, the purse to pay his debts, and we’ worse off than we are.” Her shook. A note of grief land anxiety ripped its way to Roddy | Kent's soul. The pang of it started his | wontedly dormant brain to working voice ril as when a vhen a staid fwork plow-horse runs away milch cow turns vicious I—I wouldn't get too much het up |over 1t," Kent said slowly, after u lonc | pause. “Maybe it" right.” | Coal-Mine Crump was { for the prize ring, and | back steadily. No one knew it better | than did he. And from the punch he had received from the novice as well as from the reports he | of the lad’s training, he newecomer was almost | good for him. | 1t was true Mary had said, that ! he had been straining his feeble credit wholes borrowing. But Crump his wife he was betting the borrowed cash on himself. He was betting dollar of it | through commissioners, for Rodd { Kent to win tn the second round. On the strength of this p! been able to borrow frecly from friends | srdinarily would hay nim a cent. He and they we: | their bets at the best obtainable Already enough money had been g | to brinz the odds undesirably than to cover the difference be- 5 and 75 per cent of the mod- there is as much waxing as going realized t} certainly telling Tent placing odds. aced ho not more tweer {est purse. He was not new to schemes like {and had a zenuine talent for them The pang-born thought that had en- tered Roddy's brain hlossomed there. | Tt bore its fruit in the second round o | his with Crump, the Cestus Athletic Clyb, four weeks later. This time Mary ard her sister were 1 a ringside box. But Roddy heed to them. He paid less heed hearty i w bout weicome of the ¢ TROM he fought w aggressivene was match for | cculd probably end he might choose to. After the verely 1o t <t round I little of his former With fighter- that this oldster him and that e battle whenever st round Justin took h E . as Kent had for for his lack of aggression. In seeming ohedie: to his le started t second round in his wonted hurricane style, boring savagely in dfove Crump before him in m rally that set the spectators wild, He slammea him to the ropes He held him flaftened (here with volley of lightning-quick blows 'he raferee, of course, interfered as & could = en, manager’s orders a ought to thrust Roddy bac Tout & ipparently. had lost his with rage and ignored the s the beliowed admonition x nas t and Crump dipped gracef preparatory to keelinz over in well re. hearsed unconsciousness. As he did <o, | Kent flashed the protestingly andalized referee and struck lightly but resoundingly on the che From all over the noisily daft house went up a gasp < more than a groan. The young had thrown away the fight when <all his. In his battie mania h so far for: gotten every rule o ring as to Fesist the referee and then to strike a tnan who was down. Truly, Kent' ow thinking had been dcne to some past at w fool w had the purpose’ As soon as he had landed the ? to- himsel ke sh shove. blow he seemed to comc P 4 For he stepped back, U urgence of the refere: stood there, gquiescent, the house hissed ‘and roared. His work was done. It had all come out precisely as he had planned it. He had mot dared trust his powers—or llack of powers—as an actor, b staging a false knockout with him- self as its vietim. Thus, hie had lost the fight by the most palpable sort of foul. And, somechow, he had dome it very convincingly. Yes, when a stupid man’s brain begins to work there is much peril. | Coal-Mine Crump did not sink limply to the floor as he had plan- ned and then turn convulsively over on his face. He knelt as he was. He could not bring himself to speak or to stir. He was sick with horror. Before him lay ruin and penniless- Tess. He had wagered overy vent he had in the world and much more bor- rowed cash that he would be knocked out in this round. And, lo! he had won the fight on a foul! He was ruined. Most cheertully he could have mur- ered the young idiot who had made | his beautiful plan miscarry. He could have murdered him and then cut him into dice. Then, on the instant, his crafty brain’ began to work. That noisily hight tap om the chest—assuredly He paid | | The t When a stupid man’s brain begins to | | in token of victory. old | had gleaned | too | Crump had | low, and | | | | { | does the | | { | | | | noveless. while | t 1 —_— —_— —— KENT FLASHED PAST THE PROTESTINGLY REFEREE. that dened athlete Something ws »ught cleared his The referce caught right & 1 ha ove and was r £ Mine Ho carrying shri “Hold nd or e place. didn Es He down! wn glo swatting t wasn't foule rushing me him tw ters twoen and won't He did 1 fouled ¥ > (GLUMLY. throug: roar, the rofers falsely confessed bergasted Ke abruptne “Ladies dered, the resumed up- e stared from the flab sharp audie fouler 16 tur gentlemen taking refuge in Roc ortal formula, “I was asked to ref contest. This know just what his s, d to and 2 is no contes: add whatever bets. I thank you.” He stalked out of in own account is is, it's off. So are all the ri { 1 “Bub | his brtet lite, dia followinz r thronged wha he chaneed to fight scores of disa tness another front-pas t was a made mar ails Harrs after- 1 scarce ing in his house?” nose so shouted Kent, and brilliant He—" tten by the of all Let's go house- How about { first sound hunting Hurroo then Come on!" ¢ bt, 1924.) Hey? \Took Testimony at Hearing On Assassination of Lincoln BY STEPHEN F. TILLMAN. IFTY-NINE row night was shot i wh ago sident Linco attending 1 Ford's Thea- street northwest at fateful evening st Americans. Especial emory of April 14, with "James Tanner, Washingtonians Tanner. the old Fo ton performance t 10th of th memory lingers wi linger poral Today owned better “Cor- as rd Theater is the War Department. It part by the publicatio of the adjutant d by the local office h of W son of d in division oft cruiting Army district nington. ah who to House, stenogra; a bed- sido the Peterson from the theate; r in charse of il £ of Columbia rl W. Tanner oc old ¥Ford Theater, Corp. Tanner served as commander- in-chief the ‘Grand Army Rep during 1905 and 190 enlisted in the 1'nion Army wh 1 cighteen vears of age, and befors he nineteen had lost both legs in the second battle of Bull Run. He lived near the Ford Theater on the night as shot. Maj. Gen. Augur asked for volunteers to take stenographic Corp. Tanner was the volunteer the court of I cyive participation f Washingion, he city in just now of of the blic e was Lincoln s many years of the civic affairs has made many He lives at 1619 the ac b fends in the 19th register of wills street northwest and is € that his recollec- shocked the Corp. Tanner, the 2 i ¢ P country, was n 1565, 1 bureau of the War De rtment, and had some ability as a shorthand writer. The latter fact brought me within touch of the events of the awful night of April 14. I had gone with a friend to wit- ness the performance that ing at Grovers Theater, where now sands the New National. It soom after 10 o'clock that a 3 rushed in from the lobby, orying. ‘President Lincoln has beep shot in Ford's Theater.’ : “There was great confusion at once, most of the audience rising to their feet, when some one cried out, ‘IS a tuse of the pickpockets: look out’ Practically all then resumcd their seats, but immediately one of the cast .stepped out on the stage and said, ‘The sad news is top true: the audience will disperse.’ “My friend and 1 crossed to Wil- lard's Hotel and there were told that April, of the ordnance was man Secretary Seward also had been kill- | ed. Men's faces blanched as they at once asked, ‘What news of Stanton? Have they got him, t00?” The wildest rumory soon filled the air. “I had rooms at the time in hovse wdjotning the Peterson H the seneral’s | it Tresident Hastening down nass of humanity I aad crowd constant A cilence was ap- prevailed. Interest centere or emerged fro: of th. Guestioned as ¢ dent's conditior answers were s no hope! r guard had been place the house and those ipon telling the com I lived P to my mpartment, second storr ound my thre by paliing on ¥ the Peterson latter were all who entered House, losel un er that there T passe s baleony cupa nged the Horror wa dismay on ever ust haa joy over the Richmond and the ool Confederacy, and in every heart countenar the no- instant all this was chansed the deepest woe by the foa] sh the cowardly assassin, "It was nearly midnight when Ma: in an ot | General Augur came out on the stoor i | Gen. of the Peterson Honuse and asked i there was any one in the crowd who could write shorthand. There was nr response from the street, but one of friends ‘on the balcony told general that there was a voung m to come down, thy So it was that T came | as needed me to close touct events that sur- urs of Abrahar with the scenes as rounded the final b Lincoln's 1ife Entering Augur do rear parlor. As passed the door of the front parior the moans and an employe | sobs of Mk, Lincoln struck painfully upon our ears. Entering the rear parlor I found Secretary Stanton. Judge David K. Carter, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia B. A. Hill and many others. T took up my seat on one sids of 2 small library tabls, opposite Secre- tary Stanton, with Judge Carter at thé end. Various witnesses were brought in 0 had been either in Ford's Theater or up in the vicinity of Mr. Seward's residence. “Through all the testimony giver by those who had been in the theater that night there was an undertone of hérror which held the witnesses back from positively identifying the assassin as Booth. “Our task was interrupted very many times during the night, some times by reports or dispatches for | Secretary Stanton, but more often by him for the purpose of issuing orders calculated to enmesh Booth in his flight. ‘Guard the Potomac from the city down,’ was his repeated ai = tion. ‘He will try to get lonl}; A dispatches were sent from thae’table before morning, some to Gen. Dix at New York, and others to Chicago and