Evening Star Newspaper, November 1, 1936, Page 60

WASHINGTON DECISION BY HOUSE Selection of Jefferson Came as Close of Bit- ter Campaign—Impressive Inaugural Ceremonies. By John Clagett Proctor. ) T HAS been just 136 years since the residents of the District of Columbia were permitted to vote for the President and Vice Presi. dent of the United States, and per- haps many are unaware of the fact that the people of the Nation’s Capital ever did vote for these high offices; but they did, just once, and that was in 1800, when John Adams and ‘Thomas Jefferson were the principal contestants for the office of Chief Magistrate. In the so-called residence act of Congress, approved July 16, 1790, pro= viding for the acquiring of a “territory, not exceeding 10 miles square, to be located as hereafter directed on the River Potomac,” etc., it was provided. “That the operation of the laws of the State within such district shall not be affected by this acceptance, until the time fixed for the removal of the Gov- ernment thereto, and until Congress shall otherwise by law provide.” And, since the Federal Congress did not move here, and meet, to open its first session, until November 17, 1800, the laws of Maryland and Virginia, so far as voting for National and State offi- cers were concerned, were,at least still in force up to that time, and the peo- ple of the District of Columbia, which then included much Virginia territory, including Alexandria—in addition t2 its present boundaries—took advan- tage of this franchise, since denied them, and voted for the candidates then up for election, THAT part of the District of Co- lumbia acquired from Maryland, included parts of two counties—Mont- gomery and Prince Georges—and the polls for the latter county were set up at Bladensburg, as we learn from the following announcement appearing in tb};e National Intelligencer on Novem- r 7 “ELECTION OF ELECTORS. “The Federal Republicans of the City of Washington are requested to meet on the Capitol Hill at 8 o'clock, in the morning, on Monday next (be- ing the second Monday in November), & from thence proceed to Bladensburz, where the election will be held.” “Federal Republican Candidate, “FRANCIS DEAKINS.” And then follows the statement: “Francis Deakins is well known for his attachment to our excellent Con- stitution and the Rights oi the People, which he will support, as he has sup. Ported, the administration of the Im- mortal Washington and his venerable successor to whom under God we owe our present Independence, peaceful and happy situation.” When the election was held Mr. Deakins received 201 votes for elector while his opponent, Mr. Duckett, who was for Jefferson, received only 91 votes, or less than one-half as many. In the fifteenth, or Fairfax district, in which Alexandria was then located, there were 218 votes cast for Adams and 240 for Jefferson. But the most interesting voting place in the Territory of Columbia, es it was then called, was in George- town, and here Mr. Duckett, the Re- publican candidate, received 152 votes to Mr. Deakins’ 138. Indeed, through- out Maryland, the race was a very close one, as it also proved to be elsewhere. THE press at that time rarely gaye the details of local happenings, confining itself largely to political matters and such “fillers” as the life of Ben Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar and other notable his- torical personages. But fortunately, one of our local historians, Christian Hines, who was present at the George- town polls upon this celebrated oc- casion, has left us an account, which is worth repeating here. He says: “AN ELECTION IN GEORGETOWN. “The election between Mr. Jeffer- son and Mr. Adams for the presi- dency, which eventuated in the choice of Mr. Jefferson, was held in Suter’s tavern, in Georgetown, in the year 1800. The house was a one-story frame, and stood on High street, be- tween Bridge and Water streets, and a little east of the canal bridge. George Peter, who was then a lieuten- ant in the regular Army, had, I think, his recruiting office in a three-story brick house directly south of the tavern, or pretty near where Waters’ flour warehouse now stands. In those days there were two political parties— the Federals and Republicans. The Federal party upheld Mr. Adams and the Republican party supported Mr, Jefferson. “Well, the ballot-box was brought, and the polling of votes commenced, while & large crowd, as is usual on such occasions, was gathered in front of the tavern. After the election had continued some time, and the bad whisky had begun to operate, some of the crowd began to dispute and quarrel, and perhaps a few had al- ready the mortification of having been knocked down. It was very muddy in front of the tavern, a rain having descended but a short time previously, 80 that the mud and water was nearly ankle deep. The whisky operated more and more until nearly the whole erowd was in motion. “At length, a man named Shipley stepped out and challenged any man of the opposite party to come out and fight him, promising to whip him if he would do so. A short time elapsed when Lieut. Peter, who was of the opposite party, undertook to furnish & man to fight Shipley. So he sent for one of his enlisted sol- diers, named Lovejoy, who accepted ready proj about 6 feet high. Shipley was nearly the same height, and very bony and muscular, but not so stout as Lovejoy. “The crowd having formed a ring, the combatants went into the fight with a will, those in the crowd occa~ sionally cheering and otherwise en- couraging their choice of the men. In those days the practices of goug- ing, choking and biting were very much in vogue among the bullies, and when one would succeed in get- ting the other down, the first thing he would do would be to feel for his antagonist’s eyes and there insert his thumb or finger, and, if possible, force out an eye. If he could not succeed thus in making his opponent cry enough, he would seize him by the throat and choke him, when, if he would signify that he had enough, the by-standers would separate them. “In this case, however, Shipley and Lovejoy pounded each other a while, then closed and wrestled until one of them slipped and they fell in the mud together. Shipley proved too ac- tive for his adversary and succeeded in getting on top of him, when he instantly felt for Lovejoy's eyes, which he smeared full of mud. The crowd then parted them, raised Lovejoy up and proceeded to wash the mud from his eyes and face; but, alas! Lovejoy was a blind man for the remainder of his days. Since then I have seen him led about the streets of George- town by a boy. With Shipley, who was & tailor and lived in Georgetown, I was well acquainted.” THE population of Georgetown at this time included 2,993 whites and 731 slaves, and in Washington there were 2464 whites and 623 slaves and 123 free colored people. There were also in Washington at this time 109 brick houses and 263 wooden houses in a habitable state and 79 brick structures and 35 frame buildings in an unfinished state. These figures, of course, as we look backward to the visit here of Tom Moore in 1804, seems to have justified that poet in referring to the Capital of our Nation as the “city of magnifi- cent distances.” It has been said that the present campaign, now almost at ‘an end, would be a dirty one—a statement which would apply in a more or less degree to all the campaigns we have ever had, and many of us recall when presidential candidates have been ac- cused of most everything under the sun, including immorality. Lincoln's opponents accused him of having cols ored blood, and poor Andrew Jackson never forgave, to his dying day, the traducers of his wife, whom he loved dearly. Fortunately, nothing of this nature has cropped up in this cam- paign and after it is all over there will not be the same justification for any personal grudges or everlasting hatred. Seemingly, both Adams and Jeffer- son were accused, in the campaigns of 1800, of not being patriotic. Same man in Frederick County, Md., even wrote & letter—which was used for political purpose by the opposite party—in which he stated that he heard Adams say that he expected to see the day when the people of America “would not be happy without an hereditary Chief Magistrate and Senate—or at least during life,” and Samuel Harrison Smith, editor of the National Intelligencer, in defending the author of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, or in order to call attention to that great man’s intense patriotism, quotes Jefferson in his “Notes on Vir- ginia,” where, as indicated, he makes these statements about the forming of the Constitution of his own State: “In enumerating the defects of the Constitution it would be wrong to count among them what is only the error of particular persons. In De- cember, 1776, our circumstances being much distressed, it was proposed in the House of Delegates to create a dictator, invested with every power legislative, executive and judiciary, civil and military, of life and death, over our persons and over our prop- erties; and in June, 1781, again under calamity, the same proposition was repeated, and wanted & few votes only of being passed. “ONE who entered into this con- test from a pure love of liberty, and a sense of injured rights, who determined to make every sacrifice, and to meet every danger, for the re- establishment of these rights on s firm basis, who did not mean to ex- pend his blood and substance for the wretched purpose of changing this master for that, but to place the pow- ers of governing him in a plurality of hands of his own choice, so that the corrupt will of no one man might in future oppress him, must stand confounded and dismayed when he is told that a considerable portion of that plurality had meditated the sur- render of them into a single hand, and, in lieu of a limited monarchy, to deliver him over to a despotic THOSE WERE THE HAPPY DAYS! WHEN WASHINGTON ,HRD AVOTE, ANOY™, G 200 QoUNOE BER OF “THE THE- SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, NOVEMBER 1, 1936—PART FOUR. JOHN ADAMS, Who failed of re- one! How must he find his efforts and sacrifices abused and baffled if he may still by a single vote be laid prostrate at the feet of one man! “In God’s name, from whence have they derived this power? Is it from our ancient laws? None such can be produced. Is it from any principle in our new Constitution, expressed or emplied? Every lineament of that expressed or implied is in full oppo- sition to it. Its fundamental principle is that the State shall be governed, as a commonwealth. It provides & republican organization, proscribes under the name of prerogative the exercise of all powers undefined by the laws; places on the basis the whole system of our laws, and, by con- solidating them together, chooses that they should be left to stand or fall together, never providing for any cir= cumstances, nor admitting that such could arise, wherein either should be suspended, no, not for s moment. “Our ancient laws expressly de- clared that those who are but dele- gates themselves shall not delegate to others powers which require judg- ment and integrity in their exercise. Or was this proposition moved on & supposed right in the movers of abandoning their posts in a move- ment of distress? The same laws forbid the abandonment of that post, even on ordinary occasions; and much more a transfer of their powers into other hands and other forms, without committing the people. They never admit the ides that these, like sheep or cattle, may be given from hand to hand without an appeal to their own will. Was it from the necessity of the case? Necessities which dis- solve a government, do not convey its authority to an oligarchy or a monarchy, They throw back, into the hands of the people, the powers they had delegated, and leave them as individuals to shift for them- selves. A leader may offer, but not impose himself, nor be imposed on them. Much less than their necks be submitted to his sword, their breath to be held at his will or caprice. The necessity which should operate these tremendous effects should at least be palpable and irresistible. Yet in both instances, when it was feared or pre- tended with us, it was belied by the event. It was belied, too, by the preceding experience of our sister States, several of whom had grappled through greater difficulties without mn:lnmng their forms of govern- men WHEN the proposition was first made, Massachusetts had found even the government of committees sufficient to carry them through an occasion. But at the time of that proposition they were under no invas sion, When the second was made, there had been added to this example ERES AN ELECT- election in 1800. those of Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in all of which the republican form had been found equal to the tasks of car- rying them through the severest trials, In this State alone did there exist so little virtue ‘that fear was to be fixed in the hearts of the people, and to become the motive of their ex- ertions and the principle of their government? The very thought alone ‘was treason against the people, was treason against mankind in general; as riveting forever the chains which bow down their necks, by giving to their oppressors a proof, which they would have trumpeted through the universe, of the imbecility of repub- lican government in times of pressing danger, to shield them from harm. Those who assume the right of giving Suter’s Tavern in Georgetown, where the trict pf Columbia voted for the President in 180( ‘Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were tied for first place with 73 votes each. Adams and Pinckney had 65 and 64 votes, respectively, and John Jay had one vote, Hm was a condition not expected. Burr was not running for the presidency, but for the vice presi- dency, and everybpdy understood this to be the case, and yet, according to the Constitution at that time, it be- came the duty of the House of Rep- | resentatives to “chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no per- son have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the Presi- dent. But in chusing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State hav- ing one vote * * *. In every case, after the choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President.” And the choosing of a President at this time was one of the hardest problems Congress ever had to solve. On the first ballot, taken at 12 o'clock noon, on Wednesday, Febru- ary 11, Jefferson had 8 States; Burr, AARON BURR, Who was defeated by Thomas Jefferson when the House of Representatives selected the latter. away the reins of government in any case must be sure that the hand, whom they hand on to the rods and hatchet of the dictator, will lay their necks on the block when he shall nod to them.” And so the battle was fought in the press. But when the electoral votes were counted in the Senate on Feb- ruary 11, 1801, it was found that !6: divided, 2. From that time on, and until 4 ¢'clock p.m,, eight ballots in all were taken, with no change in results, when a suspension of ballot- ing was ordered. Everything was done behind doors, and for a time no one was allowed to leave the chamber. The twenty- seventh ballot was taken on Thurs- day morning at 9 o'clock, when the | ION BET THAT _= Balhdl) A7 TRACTED MUCH 3 LOCAL ATTSNTION WHEN =3 COL.GEO. H.EDWARDS, A @ ANO MEM=- “GROWLERS cLOB 0S¥ TOo CAPT. — WHITNEY, OWNER OF A CIDER ‘= ESTABLISHMENT AT T2-0O- —g ST.NJMW. WHO (3ET ON GROVER CLEVELAND. M. ESCORTED THE LOSER F1ROM WASH.T0 ALEX. VA. oAl @Y THE JEFFER/ON MAOISON LT “Election Memories” Jzeople of the Dis- members agreed to be separated until 12 noon, when the twenty-eighth bal- lot was taken, and further balloting was postponed until Friday morning at 11 o'clock. Friday came, and still no results, and Saturday was likewise wasted. On Monday, February 16, the thirty-f ballot was taken, with party lines still holding, and adjourn- ment was taken to the next day, when, on the second bafiot of that day, or the thirty-sixth in all, Thomas Jefferson was chosen President. The final vote showed Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee as voting for Jefferson. Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts voted for Burr. Dela- ware and South Carolina cast blank ballots. “In the instance of Vermont,” the report states, “Mr. Morris with- drew; in the instance of South Caro- lina, Mr. Hough, who is understood PEOPLE VOTED IN ONE SPIRITED ELECTION THOMAS JEFFERSON, Who was chosen President by the House of Representatives in February, 1801. previously uniformly to have voted for Jefferson, also withdrew from a spirit of accommodation, which enabled South Carolina to give a blank vote.” Maryland cast four votes for Jefferson and four blanks. TH!:RE were many things that took place in the House of Representa- tives when the President was being selected upon this momentous occa- sion, but the pluck and spirit of Joseph Hopper Nicholson, a member from Maryland, and the fidelity of his wife, certainly form one of the principal and most interesting high lights of the occasion. ‘When the balloting was about to begin it was ascertained that Mr. Nicholson, who resided nearly 2 miles away, was critically {ll. Those who had inside information on the way the votes would be cast found that it (Continued on Seventh Page.) GHOST TRADITION IN CAPITAL Vivid Imaginations Keep Alive Stories of Famous People Who Are Believed to Revisit Scenes of Their Triumphs and Thrilling By Mildred Ockert Waugh. ASHINGTON is & haunted city where the past and present mingle and where the future is forming vis- ibly in the activities of today. Old streets have their stories; old houses are filled with “hants”—imaginary, perhaps, but none the less persistent, vivid and real. And as the great city of Rome has been discovered to be many cities, one built upon the other, 80 tradition in Washington is layered and overlapping. Ghosts and appari- tions of one generation linger on and mingle with kindred ghosts of later years. ‘Washington ghosts are not trivial ghosts. Mere little graveyard shim- merings have no place in the recollec- tions of the old settlers here. As is fitting, the ghosts of the Nation's Capital are lusty spirits, brought out of history, by the turbulence of 300 years of nation building. Nor are these ghosts regarded, even in this modern day, as figments of old dreams and apprehensions. In a number of sections of the city residents are still loyal to the city’s ghosts, and it is in- teresting to find that even the minor ghosts are still potent enough to af- fect the local real estate business. ‘Tourists coming to Washington see beautiful new buildings. A boom in small houses under the stimulus of the | F. H. A. is definitely under way. Al seems clear and distinct and modern. But old Washingtonians know differ- ently. TH! fact is that you still ind Wash- ! ington city streets dotted here and there with houses which do not rent. gave his house rent free for a year —Byv Dick Mansfield | T — i e | LT 2] il W P WHAT DEMOCRAT | WHAT DoYoo Rememaer ® ANSWER 7O LAST WBEKS GLLUESTIOA, : HEN WAS THE FIRST TELE- | CHONE INSTALLEO IN “THE WHITE HOUSE © Tragedies. A city block will show & row of fine buildings in good repair and one in the row falling to ruins. No amount | of argument will bring a native of | ‘Washington within these walls to live. | Newcomers, urged sometimes even by free rent offers, do not linger. | And often the offending building has | to be torn down to lay the ghusts‘ which have made it worthless as resi- | dence property. As recently as 1881 | the records show vigorous efforts on | the part of 12 leading citizens to put | an end to reports about a house on K | street. These 12, it seems, stayed the | night out in the old house. The early | evening was marked only by the shuf- | fling of the wind in the old chimney, of boards creaking in the old rooms | and of loose doors banging now and | then. Each man was stationed in a sep- arate room, and it was jpst becoming | evident that the ghost was indeed a legend, when two long, vibrant screams | cut the night. A practial joke? The watchers hurried downtairs to the| drawing room, their candles flickering | in their haste to get together. Each | was inclined to blame the other. The | chairman was excited. And then, while they were all together discussing the happening, the screams came again! The 12 searched the house and grounds and found nothing, and gathered in the drawing room in a substantial group they watched until dawn. Newspapers of the day commented upon the experiment, and altogether it was agreed that nothing had been | accomplished to prove the non-exist- ence of ghosts in Washington. It is recorded that one owner of haunted property, about that time, pierean Co0ES LT OF FIFTY- ONE GIVE GRYAN- M KINLE Y —_4: 0 oY to a girls’ school with the stipula- tion that prayers be said daily to lay the ghosts. Another went to the ex- treme of having a haunted bedroom torn out and a large bathroom in- stalled in its place. It was recorded from time to time in the newspapers of the city that at least 15 houses at various locations would not rent be- cause they were haunted. The ghasts of Washington are very real. NO GUIDE book will take you to these haunted places. You have to know the people who have lived here year after year. The transient official population comes and goes. The social whirl catches the eye. The city has its charm of cultural op- portunity. Yet even today there is a city within a city. Tourists and gov- ernmentals come and go. But thou- sands of men and women and chil- dren know this city as home. They have lived here through many changes of administration. They observe the official city comparing the essence of each regime and the characteristics of its people. They make up the resi- dent city. o For many families, 50, 75 and 100 years or more are the spans of rheir Washington living, and the stories of the old days here are handed down from father to son, after the fashion of the tribal legend, each tale catch- ing and preserving the feeling behind the event amd the characteristics of the hero. Here the ghosts of Washe ington linger and their stories make up a kind of national saga running back 300 years. The placid Potomac River, which | gives such beauty to the city, is a treacherous stream. Swimmers of today are warned. Small craft saile ors know its devilish cross currents. Plunging over rocks in a nsrrow gorge at Great Falls, north of the city, it | widens out around the Three Sister Island and drifts on to the Bay. Do you recall that Capt. John Smith was & familiar figure in these parts in an earlier day? That ke Lunted and fished and trapped in the marshe lands and woodlands where the Dise trict of Columbia now stands? And that to him must be credited the earliest of Washington's ghost stories? As early as 1608 his records tell that the moaning and sobbings that arise during storms around the Three Sise ter Island are the voices of three Ine dian girls, trapped on the island and drowned in the high flood waters of & long-ago Spring time. As time went on, three men—and only three—had seen the possibilities latent in the wilderness along the Poe tomac. By 1664 the District was farmland, partly cleared, and cwned by the famous three—and one of these, Francis Pope, had built his house where the Capitol now stands, prophesying & splendid city to come into being on that site, and naming his estate “Rome,” with prophetic vi- sion, while neighbors laughed and 1ee named “Goose Creek,” whicn ran through his acres—calling it “The Tiber.” (COMMISSIONERS coming to buy ground for the new city, as nae tional life accelerated, found 91 farme ers in the vicinity by 1790, with the three main properties still intact cove ering the present site of the District— Duddington Manor, first house built in the new Washington; the farm of Notley Young, and that of David Burnes, which includea =1 land in tne vicinity of the present Corcoran Art Gallery. And here the real ghost stories begin. The house called Duddington Mane or, off to a bad start, was built 7 feet over the line of one of the proposed avenues of the new city. This en- croachment so enraged the city archie tect, L'Enfant, that, it is said, he had the offending structure torn down in the night—an action which brought much trouble in its wake and caused his troubled ghost to wander about the scene for many years. “Davy” Burnes' beautiful daughe CANDIDATE oM THE PoRPLLARNOTE FoR OENT “THREETIMES ™ 4 ter Marcia married John Van Ness, Representative from New York and quite & person in his way. John and Marcia, when their daughter was (Continued on Sixth Page.) .