The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 27, 1897, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 1897 SOME HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED LETTERS FROM EDWIN BOOTH - : 5 5 Mary joins Who the devil is ing March 30, 1873, is now 72 years of age, but as erect and heknew Z:\c:hlry Taylor and many others in th‘:’ Kiv‘ollushgn. dl{:. 1:‘!:;;{:\:?&‘:: genddarr'c'l':fi L'uok a M{x; Rl dl ‘imm me ¥ Mrs. Edwin Booth of he boarded the braio, eprightly as many a younger man. He who have since become famous in history. the War of 1812, an s avan ke, ) e Riverside? Did you bound for afew days’ foucht in the Mexican War, in Company He bas an endless fund of war stories, Mexican War. “We are a patriotic fam. whose possession the e e everhear of her? Who visic to Booth. ~As G, Third Reziment of Indiina Volunteers, and nothing delights him more than to be ily,” he proudly szys, and, of a truth, I place now is. Ot Mr. this trip, the Seival I miming they neared the sta- under Colonel James Allen, whoaiterward asked to tell them. His grandfather, he think they are. el Booth’s letters there Adieu! = ‘“"‘L” ":"“"""” tion he jumped from became Governor of Oregon. At this time says, came over with Lafayette and fought Booth, after the death of his wife, sold is nothing to say. Yoursas ev the moving train and They speak for them- selves. The two to s - - . M h an open 0. 2 / e o distance of » A — Lot = H. Barras were partly December 6, 1878, sovalty MG, Bbot oot U % on business, and of oI D Barmas i y T o % S teresting as the oth- a e gentleman by the _ .. . In reply I have butto rom Booth name of Lane, who "~ - . (% €20 er. But the mere S8y tin Ts iiltiototigh. s interest- wasnear when theca- z-— ,_, xz i g name of Edwin ly satisfied thet every this one is tastrophe happened, O _ o g e | Booth signed to a let- penny due for work ption to the had bim removedto e . e S ter is enough to in- done at *“Cos Cob” for was written bome and sent << | ST o e sure its being read. me was prompuly paid ule. It ; nis home an = Wealh taon Tov and that L owe no man to his dear friend formedical aid. Ho .7 o » . o ... Me il know, hox £ ik es M. Barras was found to be so TN T ero yords, 3 E i . The badly injured that “F oy Nl AT how great were his But of course In ju M Edwin Booth he <o solicitously in- recovery was uiterly hopeless and in such ez ways. “Take him all in all tice to you I will make a search among my pa- o pers (which-havein the s about seems frightful pain that e e e e ) course of time greatly haw e i — s e UD. C uiated and be- 10 !n.ni been a they were obliged to — I e e [ :;g‘“e“‘m;‘nfi 1180 at0m Jth, - < : = S s P Sk — sed) 50 200! Sl able \Du L::lcou:“ :-‘dm‘mmrr cdmor(al S s R, (7 15 2 s Sl e LEWISTON. Me.. as my wile's recovery he was. One i A ; i Ak L e e e from & temporary he was. On 2 ¢ k thi = < ~ e A, — . <0 ess will permit hy day a letter came to Uniil Thursday bis o £ L AL et & the de’il is Mrs. R his wife addressed to Mrs. Eiwin Booth of Riverside. e was not the Mrs. Booth, a so the letter re- med its travels; ysanxiou: win in the moon it) the rival E arras was the au- Of *“Booth’s Edwin Booth. the place he filled the w b o ut Booth was al. &rounds with statu- Booth; to find 7Y, and the gleam Meech, at who (as he pnt Of these white figures theater in ght the earned forit the title was given Grave- production; Pike, of and actresses of the body remained there. It was then removed to the Episcopal church in Greenwich, supportea and from there to Harry Greenwood Ceme- whose tery, where he was Buffalo, buried by the side of “Black Crook” hisdearly loved wife. its first All the leadingactors 2y K.th Booth of Riverside? The inciosed came some time ago, and I've besn anxious to solve the mystery—tho' strange to say, I have forgotten transpiring behind the toask your opinion in flimsy curtain or there lormer letters; finding would have been ‘‘an- it just now and remem- other Golgotha.” My bering that you con- assisiant costumer, a template quitting tne man who I've haa in *‘Cob” this month I my employ s number coneluded ’twouid be of years, at the risk of H. D. Barras. to assist me—she hav- ing had full charge of all my domestic busi. ness. EpwIN BootH, and eyes severely Sept. 8, 1875. scorched by the flame. H. D. Barras ksq— He has been in bedever DEARStR: To-day I re- since and to-day is un- ceived your registered able to open his eves, lctter relative to the and when opened by subject we discussed the doctor can’tdistin- the other day and guish anything smaller also concerning the P Pike’ e Dest to seek ‘or- his life seized o coat then a chair. Poorfel. “lodge,” of which you ’ vard, Pike's old opera- day were presen st to seek some in‘or- his seized o : ¥ :}‘?;10} (-‘fv‘e T“uakfll "It the old place house in New York, bis funeral. mation ere you left. and rushea headlong low! He deserves the doubtless forgot to These two men were c0uld speak, what and many, Booth tales it couid tell of others equally well tall, Barras was a bandsome fel- many Mr. Did you ever hear of into the blaziug gas, her ? gratitude ot usalland speak atour interview. > Who is the rival and after scme time the highest praise for Where my vouchers reat fri - sdwin 7 i w s C f- are I eannot tell; no great friends. 3 e 3 5 3 u mde i X~ ZZ7° Edwin? or is it some and with considersble his courage and self- are 3 used, with his sec. the famous people known were among low with winning _ = S "zf“’M ' freudor practical jokxe Aifficulty succeeded in sacrifice. The dooctor doubt in the Safe De. 2d wife, to spend Who in times gone the occasional visi- ways that o 20' s o g : Lo pun G, at my expense ? exunguishing the fire. says his eyes will be posit Compauy’s vaulis : : by loved to gatier tors. him scores of friends. L s 1y of the s mmer After the death of His death came as s Many of the towns He wasscorched badly saved,but for a few days with all m papers of ¢ Barras’ tbere and spend the 5 m"‘s\-ef’,;”’{,?,v"‘a’fi bented sum mer Barras’ mother and great blow to many. Cos Cob, Conn. Booth Months in one an- sisier he sold the Huckeu_ was also & was <o fond of this other's company! place to Booth and great friend of Mr. place that he after. There _were Booth, t0ok up his residence Barras, and when lit- d bought it froms Lester Wallack, Bar- at the St Nicholas tie James was born . : - A are as you surmise but held on with bull- he will suffer and prob- importance, and which Z«—‘fl Lt Z'_( e ot - I e O L rather smallish, but 408 tenacity until he abiy be blind. I cannot get at for at they are ali lively ana had made all safe and This isall the news I least a week. so far I have held my then gave in, but nolcan give you now ex* \yhatever the lo 2 own, my weekly profits until he had spoken cept that I am having cost every dollar of being fully up to the the lines of Francisco ropes and pulleys made vz paid to your broth. (young James and now Barras went something Hackett, Y o = o el S Bl average of the L in the first scene of to bo provided With gr, Gharles M. Barras, sriend, ras, Barney McCau- Hotel, New York. jtwasintended that sfee. - - 3=, S o e 2 TSI lowns and cities, vay 1 “HamleL” tho gas he some means of escaD® ey (e seriors Loy 0,000 for it ley, Jus. 1. Hackett, Then the order of he be named Charies g5 TR S0 AC7 Tep Aany A e e of course expected to inhsled turning himin case of SIMUAT here who furmished Dt g e i . sed, i r, but i : = hly sick, his hands dangers. Mr. Barras bought Who With his wife and things was reversed, in his nonol.nt“_ PETRE T as S s - slmost double them deathly g lumber, cement, brick, ! PO Lrieen Al e e Cedarchiff soon after Dby the death of his wife, K- e e :,UI,J;‘&&:_ plaving at the Bald- was on one of these czme to pass. = from what I had been ete. told of the great desire o Ihave all the re- now a-visiting Booth. It ferea and it never d e B S e Gl o ap el ceipts therefor, but as b ’ to see me, etc. The I tell you they are at Z : B > R LA mntlere, cmdd Ce - halls are crowded, but present beyond m: er the production of Wih) Spent many a excursions that Bar- After the first great ;. y p > % 5 : e g i s W e hok Croog s pleasant vacation ras lost his life. run of the “Black 2 AR S P d Manaa by FER =ty ey don't bold muoa, sl imtug 0y As Sally St. Clair there. Edwin Adams, One Sunday even C’D‘:‘:};'x“"““c‘:"‘:‘f‘“‘: T Sl sl 8 s LN S O SIS i MU e, ter they won't stand Mr. McGonigle's ina- - - somq 0 she danced her way into public favor, and incidentally into Bar- New York prices. The hall here is up twostories, holds about bility to leave his busi- ness to assist me for at year, the profits were divided up between et Lo M el loriyen e it Feea T — § : least & week. So he s H 156 Sour bl Hsnilo® e o e s op"—r'l_p&_- S e ) At Chl MR Peopie, with just writes me to-day in re- i s el et ested in it, and there < - o — one smail door for exit: sly to the letter I told mother and sister B P2 NN T it it oy was found. to be just A panic would result in you would write him Lne. — i, a8 8 K L 3 e the death of at least concerning the “ab- the time of their SLO.000 - aplece i Bor < g S D g LR s ey o L SRS 59 w 3,7 two-thirds of the sudi- stzact and the policies deaths, esch one of them. . 3 EhE = ence and all of the ac- of insurance.” Cedarcliff is a beau- Wiliam Wheatley, 2, o f A LIy o &« _ 744( et SO e i s e, tom, for there is no He tells me all theso spot, standing one of the four, after 3 S (750 5 Pat e s chance ofescaps at that policies are wrong and en elevated bit of making his fortune 2 . o a y e g end of the hall where that he has explained ground, surrounded in this way, studied =z - & - thestage is erec ed save to the ngent, White, for the ministry and T\ ew t aaac from two windows, just how they should by e i b::am: a cler; ;mun 1’6" S o z i i L L e S irom which a break- be made out and send ueas gowin o ti6x, The Ceceslo - ax (L ek Ao i iy ~ neck leap would carry them at ouce to him cedar. 1t overlooks sosn & Sk S = — > - 4‘—*@7 us to certain death, before I pay him. Will Indian Point, and others were: Mr. _.r,., 7 oéf‘a o R iyt . 2 Well, on Saturday you please expiain this e O 4;7“ e S, }"IMA“‘S A = s 9= A%, evening, just before to Mr. Gillette, for I do see all the great and, of course, Sfesen - B =g : curtain rise, an expio- not wish 10 be thought Lt saaic Charles M. B. Barras. Ll TN ol < A k- sion of gas beneath the negligent in such mat- S el Barras left three @ $eeasl- Fe o g Eeaai g RN stage placed a thou- ters. One would have S e brothers, Alfred Bar- 1o , , e g et i ~ und couls on ihe been partilly stiended the sound. The house B4 O TR LS, I D R st SIS S S P Fotes bcuer‘l::l‘(xfi; my unfortunate drive. 1f is of Gothic Washington Barras E il s S a0 d e B 2 — the result tnan I ean I am sorry I couldnot architecture, two sto- of New Jersey and H. /"’"‘ %: Cena . T T Ly e €l describe it. Pip was get at these papers at . Barras of this City. z P B s the only uncoucerned once for I would 1 high. It is built 0 R - N - y s N e i Itisto hislater M. o By e o Lo Beman o} 22 < <ok Delog among us, Mary to afford you all assist- et Sl he il Barras that I am in- & R e e g S e o is somewhat nervous, ance in my power, buc ey debted for these let- £ AL A FE ks )y Ty you know, but she “fif until Mr. McGonigle I t, almiost smotbe - A S e % i e warayiThe tmraahd & wreatalat Ll e s e R e o S e e | i e Y roa i zon re large, of this information. — & B conquered herself. For- Excuse the pencil. 1 el Mr. Barras to leten et ZTam o L F e il 2 . i G | tunately the audience was kept in perfect ig- whom two of these letters were written, tiful drives in them. Booth bougtt canuot yet guide & pen. Truly yours, Charles Barras. norauce of all that was First Ballet Girl of ** The Black Crook.” EDWIN BOOTH. There is something about a lot of old curios that always attracte. It is ade- licious sense of being near to the half- forgotten days of other and greater men. Itis what Thomas Carlyle would call a regeneration of hero worship, an | he says that is the best emotion of the human breast; and Carlyle says this is dormant in every one of us, and be he right or wrong it is true that we feel ourselves nearer to some vague intangible essence when we fonale the stiff and crackling leaves of a Dickens manuseript or touch a tarnished silver buckle that Washington wore. Some, too, like to read of such things, and it may be interesting to know that there are some of these old, old relics | here in San Francisco. Since the old colonial days they have descended from father to son as perpetual reminaers of other and more heroic times. There is an old Algonguin pipe, a sign of a treaty never sizned and never broken; 2 desk piece brought from the Jand of the Sepoy and of Rudyard Kipling; the tooth of & sacred white elephant of Siam, for years worn as a charm by Chan Wang, a former Emperor; a buckle bestowed by *ithe immortal Washingion,” as Napoleon called him, and which beid in place the knickerbockers of a colonial colonel; some candlesticks that lighted to bed the wel- come guest in the days of boundless bos- pitality. There are other rareties, too, and they all belong to one John J. Mc- Cue, who has no desire that his family heirlooms be exploited, but who did permit me 1o see them, to have pictures made of them, and who told me their various histories as the hard wood in the open grate crackled in a cheerful way while the mellow, orange glow of the jamp fell in & luminous circle over them [tion of Union College at- Echenectady. On y reference to some old family records yet | | in the possession of Mr. McCue, it was | discovered that the pipe was the gift of | | a Mohawk chief, who thus pledged bis | | word to Johanues Peek never to make | | war against him nor against his kin. | | The date cut on the stem was put there | in token of the vear when the covenant | was made, and how well 1t was kept is a | matter of history, since it is stated mn‘} | at the later “Mohawk Valley Massacre” | | the house of Johannes Peek was the only | | one left standing. The chief’s name was | Thayandoga, of bloody fame. Chan Wang, Most Holy Emperor of the | Siamese and the Most Great Keeper of | Keepers of the Sacred White Elephant, | must have been as superstitious as his name and title were long, if one may | judge from tue appearance of his tooth charm. 1tcame from the head of a sacred white elephant and was sawed flat so that it might conveniently fit in the folds of his blouse. So long aid he carry it there that the soft bony formation be- tween the ivory ridges is quite worn away. It was supposed to bave the power ol warding off disease and of protecting its royal keeper from bodily harm. It was found in the streets of a Burmese city just after the riots of 1857, in which Chan nearly lost his life, and only escaped by hasty flight. He is supposed to have thrown it away or to have lost it as he fled. It finally came into the possession of Mr. McCue through his cousin, Captain Oliver Burger, who was a native of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He was of those “who go down to the sea in ships,” being in command of an Indian merchantman at the time of the riots. His vessel was wrecked off the Long Island coast in the great storm of 1868; On a previous voyage this Mr. Burger had tonched at Bombay, where a boatman sold him a curiously carved desk piece, |and in the seven years he was away | i waxed rich and returned with the patents | | to enormous stretches of land, portions of | which are yet owned by his descendants. ‘ had caught a Tartar or a thrifty Dutch- | man, waich is worse, for so quickly did | the keepers of the key to Fort Schenectady Louis learn the language and so strong in | and this old key Mr. McCue still bas, It | him were the traits that made bis father | will be remembered by those who know | tae Mohawk Vailey massacres. The forts | wealthy that he became an Indian trader, | the early history of the colonies that in | in thoss days were oaly st A LAMP THAT BELONGED TO GEORGE WASHINGTON In the eariy days, too, the Peeks were | 1692 Fort Schenectady was burned by the Franch and Indians and this and the en- suing massacre are known in history as JOHANNES PEEKS SNUFF BOX, ockades and | this one in particular stood on the edge of | the settlemeat. It was meant for a place ‘_o[ refuge, but the Indians came upon the | settlers at dead of night, fired the stock- ade and many dwellings and then massa- cred the affrighted men. women and cbil- dren as they fled from their burning | homes. 01 the scene J. Fenimore Cooper ‘hns written a magnificent description. The flames lighted the sxy for miles | around and the next morning all that was | left of Schenectady was the house of Johannes Peek, the maker of the treaty with Thayandoga. after the fire, buried in a heap of blood- | soaked ashes near the site of the ga many who had attempted to gein en- trance, but who had been murdered and scalped on the spot. The key has every appearance of having passed through the fire, in addition to which it 1s very rusty. | This Mr. McCue attributes partly to the blovd with which it was encrusted when found. It has never been out of the fam- ily and its autneaticity is beyond ques- | tion. Up in the reading-room of the Baldwin | Hotel there has stood in one of the min- eral cases for many montbs a little old lamp of the pattern of the revolutionary days. 1tis well made after the fashion of the time and is wholly of brass smoothly turned. It is made in four pieces. One of these is the handle, which is strongly riveted to the plate where the flint and steel were kept. To this is riveted the reservoir, which will not hold more than a tablespoonful. Intp the reservoir the wick-holder screws, and the wick channel, which looks like a large needle nollowed, is pierced in one place by an oblong open- ing, into which a needle or pin was in- serted and thus the wick pulled out and | snuffed. Opposite the opening in the channel there are many scratches, as though the lamp had been used late at The key was found | ear it, too, were found the skeletons of | OF HISTORY pair of silver knee-buckles. One of those he kept and the other he gave to his youngest daughter, my mother, who in turn gave it to my father. He carried it in his pocket-book for more than fifty years. Indeed, it was in his pocket-book when he died. From his effects | secured it, and I shall later give it to my son.” ST R b e And thus ends my story of the far- away days of the colonial time, of other climes and other people. A Freak Among Flowers. Now and again, in exploring American woods and swamps, botanisis have come across floral curiosities that almost bridgs over the great gulf that divides the animal and vegetsble kingdoms, says the De- signer. One of these, to be met with no- where in the world save «n North Caro- lina, is scientifically classified as Dionces muscipula, but is colloguially known as “Venus' fly trap.” In appearance the extraordinary plant is prettily but unassumingly the leafless flower stem, running from six to eight inches in height and surmounted by a cluster of tive petaled blossoms, rising erect like a rosettelike bed of leaves. Itis in‘the edge of the leaves that the death- dealing apparatus is set—for this modest little plani, which is so delicate that it dies of the slightest injury to root or stem, sustains its life by feeding upon the un- wary insects that chance to alight upon its leaves, anticing them to their destruc- tion by exuding from the edges of its fatal traps a viscous fluid, somewhat resembling honey. Tie traps consist of two soft, velvety i 5 A : | o night and many times. Attached to the Iz"':dlf "": sy dehcz‘e l;:;,s”" g all, It is a massive thing carved from solid dle of the L 18 this tnacrip. | D 2B fogether on one side. The unsus. e e pe|oBony. At each corner there fsan ele- :li:: © of the lamp there is this inscrip- | pecting fly, lured by the honey, alights on | The pipe was Ecst sleosbine ‘;;?x‘;l bt | phant, perfectin de:ail even to the ivory R This 1amp was used by George Washington 1o | (15 Pristles in anticipation of a feast, but ¥ DucK Lo stemeryi el lesh R ER AN | M e ail e L T e A MAJARAJAHS GIFT. bis campaigns 1or American Iudependence. pre. | 3t the first toush of its feet the hinges war, and, s ooked, lnxl#hgflolux" nooks, cunnuingly concealed, which open sented to E.J. Baldwin by Mrs. S. N. Wiliams, | Cl0se, the two leaves come together, the 1] his son, ‘“the last of the Mohicans, atithetouch of & spring. It was made ot wife of the president of the Jersey Ceutral Rail- | bristles interiock and the hapless insect is | seemed to be fishing again on the banks the behest of a Mabarajah of Singapore, road, May 31, 1894. of the Delaware. From its peculiar fash- b ionment it might have been found in the long-negiected abode oI a cliff-dweller near the walls of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, or in some half-forgotten pueblo of the Arizona Moqais. In this tbhere may be something for the ethnolo-~ gist, for the clay features are marvelously alike. But this pipe has a fuller and bet- ter history. Itwaslast found in the spring 071858 by Mr. McCue while he was plow- ing on his father’s farm at Six Flats, N. Y., & picturesque spot in “the valley where the Mchawk gently glide: and about two miles from the old Dutch town of Echenectady. A springfreshet had washed over the banks of the peaceful river and who gave it to Captain Henry Wilson of her Majesty's Indian troops at Singapore in 1863. It was in the nature of a peace offering, and it was thought might ina measure atone for some of ihe many lives lost in the Sepoy rebellion. The cunning workmanship and ivory mount- ings make it quite valuable, But an old brass snuff-box with Egyp- tian figures carved in bas-relie! takes one back aguin to the Mohawk. vale. This is Another of the relics of Jobannes Peek and was brought over from Roiterdam | with him when he came in 1654 Johannes was the great-great-great-grandfather of Mr, McCue, and this old box, which was fFHE TALISMAN OF AN EMPEROR(AN ELEPHANTS TOOTH END VIEW ) A PRESENT WASHINGTON FROM GENERAL. Mrs. Williams had it, it is understood, from ber erandfather, whose father was an aid ol Washington and who stated that he saw it in use many times at Valley Forge. But the prize of tue whole collection is a silver knee-buckle presented to Mr. Me- Cue’s grandfather by General George Washington himself. The manner of its coming into the possession of the family 1s 1hus told by Mr. McCue: “My gre grandfather, J. J. McCue, was a colonel on the staff of General Washington. He had one chila wuich he named for the Washington family, as they were friends before the war. That child was my grand- imprisoned in a cell from which escape is Impossible. Under the stimulus of the victim’s strug- gle the tiny glands with which the inner walls of the trap are furnished pour fortn a secretion which Darwin analvzed as a vegetable gastric juice, resembling that which insures digestion in auimal life. Under the influence of this curious fluid the fly is actually digested alive, and its juices being extracted :he trap doors are reopened and the skeleton is flung ont. The scientists declare that the plsnt un- questionably lives ubon the juice of its victims, but one or two expert florists take exception to this statemant. . is worthy of note that, aithough the bhabit of the 1 ; 4 bo> father and was named Moses Washington | plant is carnivorous, experiments hav, l'x:‘ n:m Ho::fi:r.cuutl::ishm:nn‘:::o'etr:‘: | l‘l::1 b‘;n: ::l'nygol;l .lltl- ::n:O::nR:;::?;.:, Barker. He was born November 28, 1760, proved that it lives 'longp:r and thr:n: site of an old blocknouse that every | has been handed down from father to sor | ;ten“.:n:ig;?slf:::::: ?hi" :z_:. Ttk i e S panle uiloiad, that B8 iasects one bad forgotten, and in one cor- |during all the intervening years Tne s nalied thooigtone | Sua et ner of the water- washed cavern was found & copper jar. When this was opened the pipe and a copper bell were found within. The bell bore the heraldic embiem of Johannes Peek, tlie founder of Peekskill. The bell is now in the collec- first one to have it after Johannes was Louis D. Peek. When but & child of 12, before the convention with Thayandoga, Louis was kidnaped and carried off to the Mohawk country. Before bhe finished i with them the Indiaus found that thev THE KEY TO FAMOUS oLD FORT_SCHNECTADY. GENERAL SHERMANS UMBRELLA, in camp, where he remained throughout the long siruggle. With the declaration of independence he was mustered out with honors and a good education obtalned from his father during the long evenings about the camptires. On his birthday, 1774, he was presented by Washington with a a superabundance of its favorite diet apparently rendering it even more delicate than it is by nature, The set of muscles controlling its leaves are said 10 resemble those of the human eye- lids.—New York Herald. \ Philadelphia has a greater mileage of Aelectric railways than all of Germany, =