Evening Star Newspaper, November 10, 1929, Page 111

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., NOVEMBER 10, 1929, e 0 s to get those chambers painted and repaired for months. A 3 ‘The contract provided that work should start at once, so all next day we scurried around, assembling our equipment. One of our best “flies” and five steeplejacks were ordered to report on the job the following dgy. . More men were to report as soon as other: J6bs = o were finished. Charlie and I were congrittulating ourselves on picking up some easy money, but it turned out to be a case of counting our chickens before they were hatched. . Next day we hoisted our-equipment to the roof of the first chamber and hung our rigging. As yet none of us had seen the bottom of the chamber, but.we had no misgivings. putting some of the men to work on the ex- terior, my brother stuck a miner’s lamp in his hat, got into a bo'sun’s chair and let himself down through the trap. b I watched the flicker of his lamp as he @escended further and further into that black well. Suddenly the creak of the rope as it blipped through -the block ceased entirely, and Charlie’s voice echoed up to me: “Help! This place down here is full of rats!*” “Then you'd better get out quick,” I yelled back. “I can't,” he sald. “My chair is caught on a cross beam.” “I'll send a man down to free you,” I called. “O. K.” sald Charlie, “but let him bring down a couple of clubs. There must be a mil- lion rats in this hole.” “How far are you from the bottom?” I asked. “Don’t know. Can't see,” replied Charlie. *“Can’t hear anything but these rats. They're squealing and jumping around like mad.” Alarmed for his safety, I urged Mueller, our man, to hurry. He stuck a lamp in his hat, picked up a couple of iron rods and seated himself in another chair., Next moment he had disappeared through the trap. I watched his light going down until it seemed on a level with the other light. Then there was a crash. Mueller’s chair had struck the same cross beam my brother's was caught on. The impact knocked the lamp out of his cap and caused him to drop the iron rods with & clatter. Some of the fanciest cuss-words I ever heard come out of & man's mouth rose out of that sieel-cavern: - If it hadn't been serious, it would have been funny. In the excitement Charlie lost his lamp and they were left in total darkness. ! THEY were in a worse fix now than before *™ Mueller had gone fo the rescue. I hustled the other men back on the roof and sent three of them down with extra lamps and five more iron rods. They proceeded more cautiously this time, and presently they released Charlie and provided him with another lamp and a club, ‘Then they got Mueller free, and all five lowered themselves to within a few inches of the floor. For the next half hour all I could hear was yelling men and squealing rats and the thud of the iron rods on the steel sides and beams of the chamber. Every once in a while one of the men would miss a rat and hit a companion on the foot or hand, and then the yelling would start in earnest. From my observation post on the roof it Jooked as if the rats, with the advantage of :oumhen,mwlnn!ncthenght. I shouted wn After - “The man with the torch had slid down the rope and when the beasts returned he cut out at them with live flame.” “Many more left?” ‘To which Charlie replied, “About a million!” I decided we were wasting time, so I called to them: “Come up, all of you, I've got another way to fix those rats.” Soon the rat fighters emerged through the trap, and I don't believe I ever saw a dirtier, tireder looking lot. They were cut and bruised and their clothes were torn to ribbons. While they were washing up I went to the telephone and called up a friend of mine who was in the roofing business. Next day we poured 25 barrels of hot tar into that rat-in- fested pit. The next day following Charlie went down again. He reported there wasn't hide or hair 6f a rat to be seen. p Even the rat holes were plugged up. The plan worked so well, in fact, that the granary company, at their expense, had us pour tar into each chamber we repaired. In the course of time the job was finished. We did not make any money on it, but we collected a lot ef valuable experience. Later I got to be good frierids with the offie cial who had given me the job, and he told me the main reason they wanted their granary cleaned was to get rid of the rats. Nobody would undertake the contract until we came along and they were getting desperate, so nothing was said about rats until we had signed up. Then, of course, the laugh was on us. (Copyright, 1929.) China Used by Gen. Grant Presented to His Grandson BY JAMES E. MAYNARD. IEUT. COL. U. S. GRANT, 3d, director of public buildings and public parks of the National Capital and grandson of Gen. U, 8. Grant of Civil War fame, may now eat his breakfast toast and sip his coffee from the same dishes which were used nearly 70 years ago by his distinguished forebear. He was formally pre- sented last week with pieces of the Weatherby- Grant china, the gift of - Mrs. Josephine Weatherby-Russell of Shullsburg, Wis., grand-~ daughter of Squire Edward G. Weatherby, many times host to Gen.. Grant before and after the Civil War. The presentation was made on behalf of Mrs. Russell by Thomas W. Brahany, Wash- ington banker and former assistant secretary to Presidents Taft and Wilson, and James E. Maynard, past department commander of the District Spanish War Veterans, both natives of Wisconsin. The china, which bears the Haviland stamp, was purchased in 1859 by Mrs. Edward G. ‘Weatherby to be used on the visits of Gen. Grant to Shullsburg, when he made his head- quarters at Squire Weatherby’s home, one of the pretentious estates in Lafayette County. The home was destroyed by fire several years ago and among the few articles rescued from the flames were a number of pieces of the Grant china and a historical autograph al- bum belonging to Squire Weatherby's daugh- ter Elizabeth, in which Grant wrote his auto- graph May 22, 1880, while a house guest. HE idea of the granddaughter of Gen. Grant’s friend and host sending the china to the grandson of Gen. Grant came about through Gen. Grant reading in the Shullsburg Pick and Gad (published in the center of the ginc mining industry of Wisconsin) of the impressive ceremonies held in commemoration of Grant’s birthday on April 27 last by the Weman's Relief Corps of the Thomas H. Oates Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Shulls- burg, when Mrs. Russell was in charge of ar- rangements, The colonel was impressed with the account of it and wrote a letter of appreciation for the tribute to his grandfather’s memory. Mrs. Rus- sell replisd and told of Gen. Grant's many visits to the Wisconsin city and of the close friendship that existed between her grand- parents and the general, and feeling that Col. Grant should have a memento of the warm neighborly regard in which the citizens and veterans of her home ‘town held his grand- father sent him the pleces of china that were salvaged from.the five, . . ... . . The Grand Armp post at Galena, Ill., and Thomas W. Brahany (left) and James E. Maynard (right) presenting the Grant china to Lieut. Col. U. S. Grant, 3d, on behalf of Mrs. Josephine W eatherby- Russell. the Thomas H. Oates Post at Shullsburg were among the first Civil War organizations to hold exercises in memory of Grant's birthday, and the following officers of the latter inaugu- rated the custom in Shullsburg: Dr. €, C. Gratiot, John W. Honeycomb, Frank A. ‘Thomp- son, William G. Douglas, William Hoskins, Ad- dison A. Townsend and Thomas Teague. Since the ranks of the men in blue thinned so rapidly in Jlater years the Woman’s Relief Corps has taken over these ceremonies, and ... one of the most important annual events of the Badger town is the program each April 27 commemorating the birth of Gen. Grant. WHEN Grant resigned from the Army in 1854 he became a clerk in his father's leather store in Galena, Ill., and later made business trips through Southern Wisconsin, fre- quently driving through on a “buckboard” from Galena to Shullsburg, 18 miles distant, when his friendship with Squire Edward G. Weath- erby began. He visited in Wisconsin at various. times at the close of the Civil War and after his retire- ment from the presidency, and following hia trip around the world he visited the little Wis- consin city in 1880, and again made his head- quarters at the Squire Weatherby mansion, where dinners and receptions were held in his honor, Mrs. Weatherby taking much pride in displaying her Grant china.” His old-time Wis« consin friends traveled from near and far to - pay their respects to the famous ‘soldier<Presie- dent in the Badger mining and farming com= munity, and he gave them a democratic greet~ ing. . At that ‘time a story went the rounds about a sergeant who served in the Iron Brigade in the Civil War and who had met the general once during his soldier career. He read in the press that the former President was to visit in Wisconsin and Illinois and informed the mayor of his home town that he was going to see him. The mayor thought he should have a letter of introduction to insure an audience and wrote one for the sergeant, who pocketed it and made the trip. He found the general at Galena, Ill, told him who he was and began a search for his letter of introduction. Before he could find it Grant gave him a hearty hand- shake, asked him to sit down, and the pair exchanged war experiences for more than an hour, the sergeant forgetting all about the mayor’s letter. When he returned to his home city he wrote the general, inclosing the letter he had forgotten to present, saying: “I'm glad I didn’t hand you the letter, for if I had I'd have always believed you were neighborly on account of the mayor. Now, I know it was on my own account.” Badger State Army men who were with him in the Mexican War told many stories of the democracy and indomitable courage of the intrepid young Second Lieut. Grant, who was made a first lieutenant and captain for bravery at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec while serv- ing under Gen. Scott in the Mexican invasion. These grizzled veterans having in mind his Mexican campaign invariably called him “Cap'n” Grant even after he had been made ;ug:;eru and became President of the United WHI_LE Squire Weatherby’s acquaintance be- gan with Gen. Grant in the late fifties, the real intimacy was formed just preceding the Civil War, when many conferences were held with Grant at the Weatherby home and plans discussed for raising volunteers in the event of war for the preservation of the Union. At the beginning of the war Grant offered his services to the Government by letter but received no reply. He raised a company at Galena and was made a mustering officer and colonel of the 21st Ilinois Volunteer Infantry. Then . began & career of military activity that made him famous throughout the world.