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INCIDENTS RECALLED IN WASHINGTON.

RECOLLECTIONS OF EX-SECRETARY MCCULLOCH AND MRS. MCCULLOCH AND JUDGE SHELLABARGER.

BY JANET JENNINGS.

EX-SECRETARY MCCULLOCH, now eighty-six years old, but still in good health, delights in reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. McCulloch was president of the Bank of Indiana, with his home at Indianapolis, when called to Washington by Mr. Lincoln to organize the Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency. It was

a work of great responsibility, incessant labor, untiring zeal, watchfulness and patriotic devotion to the Government. History records how ably and loyally Mr. McCulloch served at the head of this Bureau for two years, when with his second administration President Lincoln appointed him Secretary of the Treasury. It was at the darkest hour of the War, just before the light of victory which brought peace to the country. He was very loth to accept the position even after his name had gone to the Senate. Speaking of it the other day, and of the tremendous strain he was under while organizing and carrying on the affairs of the Currency Bureau, the ExSecretary said: "But I could not help myself. Mr. Lincoln sent for me, and when I went into his room, he looked at me with his sad, weary eyes, and throw

ing his arm over my shoulder said: 'You must; the country needs you.""

Many of Mr. Lincoln's stories are parables. But he was not more ready with their appropriate application, than he was with quotations from the Bible, for the same purpose, as the following related by the Ex-Secretary will show:

"It was in the darkest days, when the credit of the Government was at low ebb, and we were trying to dispose of the ten-forty bonds. Jay Cooke had come forward and taken a large amount of the bonds - the only banker, apparently, who at the moment had the patriotism and courage to do it. Cooke, in my opinion, has never received the credit he deserved for that act, at once so noble and brave. The bonds proved valuable, and it was soon a fact, that it was no risk to take them. Then it was, that other bankers felt reassured, and a delegation of bankers, from New York and other parts of the country, came to Washington, to see the President about the bonds. They first came to me at the Treasury, stated they were actuated by patriotic motives to save the credit of the Government, and desired an interview with Mr. Lincoln. My nephew, Albin Man, now a lawyer in New York, was in my office, where he had come broken in health by duty at the front. I sent him over to the White House to ask the President for the interview — and, by the way, my nephew was here a few days ago, and recalled the incident. The President said he would see the gentlemen, and shortly after we went over, and were shown into Mr. Lincoln's room. He looked very tired and worn-sat with his feet stretched out, resting them on the table he used for his desk. He arose at once, stepped forward, and I presented the bankers, Mr. Lincoln shaking hands with each as I introduced them by name. Then I said, by way of explaining their business: “Mr. President, these gentlemen have come to Washington from patriotic motives to help us save the credit of the GovernThey want to buy our bonds; they will put money in the treasury; and, Mr. President, you know "where the treasure is, there will the heart be also."'

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"I am a big man, but Mr. Lincoln drew himself up, standing

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head and shoulders above all, and, with a peculiar smile on his face, replied:

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"Yes, Mr. Secretary; but there is another passage of Holy Writ which you may remember-"Where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

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Mrs. McCulloch, who at that time largely shared in her husband's anxieties and cares, spoke of two little incidents illustrating Mr. Lincoln's nature, so quick to forgive and condone. She said:

"I went to the White House, one Saturday afternoon, to Mrs. Lincoln's reception, accompanied by Mrs. Wm. P. Dole, whose husband was Commissioner of Indian Affairs. There were crowds in and out of the White House, and during the reception Mr. Lincoln slipped quietly into the room, and stood back alone, looking on as the people passed through. I suggested to Mrs. Dole that we should go over and speak to the President, which we did. Mr. Lincoln said, laughingly: 'I am always glad to see you, ladies, for I know you don't want anything.'

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"I replied: But, Mr. President, I do want something; I want you to do something very much.'

666 'Well, what is it?' he asked, adding, 'I hope it isn't anything I can't do.'

"I want you to suppress the Chicago Times, because it does nothing but abuse the administration,' I replied.

“Oh, tut, tut! We must not abridge the liberties of the press or the people. But never mind the Chicago Times. The administration can stand it if the Times can.'

"I went over to the White House one evening. It was the last time Mr. Lincoln spoke in public. The news of the surrender had come; the city was excited, bonfires burning everywhere, and before the White House a crowd so dense that I and the friends with me went around to the basement door and were let in there, then made our way upstairs to the window where the President stood speaking to the people outside packed about the portico. Mr. Lincoln had written out some remarks on about half a dozen pages. Tad sat at a little table by the window; and when his

father finished the sheets he took them and placed them carefully on the table, one by one, until Mr. Lincoln had ended. I remember well that all through Mr. Lincoln's speech there was uppermost kindly feeling for the South and dissuasion for the excited crowd outside from all bitterness and hard feeling. Mr. Lincoln was followed by Mr. Harlan, Secretary of the Interior, who, however, did not follow Mr. Lincoln's line of thought and words; and when Mr. Harlan said, 'What shall we do with the rebels? what shall we do with them?' the hoarse voices outside shouted up: 'Hang them!' Tad Lincoln looked at his father and said, quickly: 'No, papa; not hang them, but hang on to them.'

"Mr. Lincoln replied: 'Tad has got it. We must hang on to

them.'

"The following night Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. My husband had gone early in the evening to ask about Secretary Seward, who had been injured by a carriage accident a few days before; then on his return from Mr. Seward's he had retired early, being very tired. About twelve o'clock we were roused by the news of the assassination. My husband started at once for Ford's Theatre, walking down alone, though I begged him to take a man with him. But he would not, and went off alone to the house on Tenth Street where Mr. Lincoln had been taken; and there, with the other members of the Cabinet, he remained till morning."

Judge Shellabarger, of Ohio, whose Congressional service covered President Lincoln's years in the White House, speaks of a visit to Mr. Lincoln, giving this incident:

"I, like many other members of Congress, did not see Mr. Lincoln often, because we felt that he was overwhelmed with the burdens of the hour, and people giving him no rest. But a young man in the army, Ben Tappan, wanted a transfer from the volunteer service to the regular service, retaining his rank of lieutenant, and with staff duty. There was some regulation against such transfer; but Tappan's stepfather, Frank Wright, of Ohio, thought it could be done. He had been to Secretary Stanton, who was an uncle of young Tappan by marriage, and, on account of this

so-called relationship the Secretary declined to act in the matter. Wright and I therefore went up to the White House to see the President about it. After talking it over Mr. Lincoln told a story, the application of which was that the army was getting to be all staff and no army, there was such a rush for staff duty by young officers. However, he looked over Lieutenant Tappan's paper, heard what Secretary Stanton had told us about his delicacy in transferring Lieutenant Tappan against the regulation because of the relationship by marriage. Then Mr. Lincoln wrote across the application something like the following endorsement :

transfer to

"Lieutenant Tappan, of Regiment, Volunteers, desires Regiment, Regular service, and assigned to staff duty with present rank. If the only objection to this transfer is Lieutenant Tappan's relationship to the Secretary of War, that objection is overruled.

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'A. LINCOLN.'

66 "This, of course, threw the responsibility of breaking the regulation on Secretary Stanton. We never heard anything more

about the transfer."

WASHINGTON, D. C.

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