THE OMAHA SUNDAY
NINETEENTH YEAR. OMAHA , SUNDAY MOUSING , APEIL 27 , 1800-TWENTY PAGES. NUMBER .307.
You arc not offered a piece of a burned vest for a suit of clothes , but the whole cloth as
good as new , except that itmay ; have been wet. The clothing that was burned is not for
1216. FARNAM : sale at any price. The sound clothing is.
u
1216 Farham Street , Omaha , Neb.
Not one dollar's worth of this stock saved
Every tiling goes without reserve. Clothing , from the fire , will be carried to the new
Furnishing Goods , Hats , etc. , saved from
store. Remember our present location , between
the fire. Everything at prices that will .
sell them. 1216 FARNAM : tween 12th and 13th Streets.
Spring and Winter Overcoats , Men's , Boy's and Children's suitsUnderwear , Neckwear
EVERYTHING GOES.
KIRE GOODS'ON
EW GOODS ON let FLOOR
BROWNING ; KING & COMPANY : 1216 Farnam street
Th-e goods are going fast and those who come -first will sure
ly get the best selection. You cannot afford to. miss this Great
' 1216 FARNAM. .
fire sale.
f \TIMl I TMl I VP 1\T "III VTPft
CLNLRAL GRAM IN MEXICO ,
His Former Private Secretary Gives Some
Very Interesting Keuiimscouces ,
NOT THERE AS A SPECULATOR.
Itc Itefuseil an OlVur of a unilioii null
tliu Presidency of a Mining
Company Writing
the Memoirs.
[ C < ij/i fofif , tKX > , litFrrtiiJ ; Q. Carpenttr. ]
W.CsnfNOTov , April' 23. [ Special to TUB
lUn.-In March , 1881 , the following corre
spondence passcil between the war depart
ment and Gcnonil Grant :
, Nr.w YOIIK , March 21831. . Hon. Hubert T.
Lincoln , Soorotury of War , WnshliiRton , 1) . O.
Dear Sir : May I uslc the great favor of you
fur n sixty Mays' ubsunco for Mr. N. E. Dawson ,
of your department , to accompany 1110 to .Mex
ice , as sou rut H ry ami stenographer.
Ilia knowledge ° f Spanish will nt'ilio him es
pecially useful , I ask this favor ultli inoio
conlldunco because I bulluvu my business to
Mexico Is of greater Importance to the nnttoii
at huge thuu to moor any other person liull-
vlilunlly.
If Mr. Dattsou eowesho should moot 1110 In
Et Louis In time to take the morning train ,
Iron Mountain roail , fur fl.ilvoston ; or oNo
poinoon hero In thno to leu\u with moon Mon
day morning. Would lllvo vury much to sou
him In Now York bufuio wo stait. Very truly
yours , U. S. OII\ST. .
WAI ! ntll'UlTMKVT , WASHINGTON , 1) . 0. , March
ttV , 1S3I. General U.S. Grant , I'lfUi Avenue
Hotel , Now Yoik. HoarOi'iioral : It will Klvo
mo plcasmoto grunt Mr. Duusou leave until
Juno 1 t4 > aeoompauy you to Mexico. Ho will
report to j on on Sunday iiiumlnx luNuw York.
Very respectfully yours ,
v. Peorctarv.
The Mr. Duwson referred to In those letters
Is perhaps the moat remarkable stenographer
in the United States. Ho docs not look to bo
forty , but ho has had the experiences of half n
dozen ordinary lifetimes. Tall , slender and
retiring , ho Is thoroughly modest and unas
suming1 , yet ho sustains the closest
of conntldcntial relations with the
most prominent men of the country and
many of these have dictated to him thotr
reminiscences with his simple promise Unit
they are not to bo used Until they consent or
until utter their death. It was ho who acted
us Urnul's stenographer in the
I'ropnrntioii ol'liiH Memoirs
and ho sustained u closer relation with the
great general during his last days than any
other umn outslilo of the family. Mr. Duw-
son's connection with Giimt eumo about in-
dlivctly through his servlco In the war. Ho
I'lillsteil In the army at the ago of eighteen
and whllo serving as u private soldier was
taken prisoner. His prison was In Texas
and ho improved his leisure time In studying
the Spanish lunmniKo. Ho escaped from
prison and after hti'.lng around In the swamps
for a couple of weeks during which ho was
fed by the negroes ho nindo Ids way to Gen
eral Dunk's headquarters , General Hanks
offered Ulm u clerkship but ho preferred to
KO back into the army and ho remained tticro
until the war closed. After it ho been mo u
reporter on the Burlington Hawkeye- und
took down in shortliaud u speech uiudo by
Senator AllUon. Allison llkod the report DO
well that ho brought him to Washington und
( undo him u cleili to lib committee. When
McCrcary became secretary of war Dawson
was given the place of stenographer and
conlldential seoretary nud ho remained in the
war ( department until the above cor
respondence to place. IIo had served
under Grant at Viyksburg but
had not become acquainted with
him. When General Grdnt was about to
start for Mexico ho needed n private secre
tary who was thoroughly acquainted with the
Spanish language. General Dodge of lowa ,
who had won Grant's admiration by hissplen-
dld qualities at the battles of Atlanta and Pea
Ridge , recommended Mr. Dawoon and made
his recommendation so strong that Omul
gave D.uvson all the funds for the trip at his
first meeting and trusted him from that time
on implicitly. I talked with Mr. Dawson
about this tour today.
Mr. Dawson said : "General Grant's trip
to Mexico was
1'iii't'ly n Patriotic One
and ho nopcd through It to bring the two
countries closer together. Ho was a great ,
enthusiast on Mexico. Ho had been there as
a boy In the Mexican war and had served In
every battle except that of Huena Vista. At
the close of the war In Isl5 ( Tie had impelled
our army in the direction of Mexico and had
thereby made Maximilllan leave the country.
Ho was Indirectly Instrument il In forming
the republic and ho had a somewhat .senti
mental Interest In it. When ho went to
Mexico in 1SS1 it was In the Interest of all
sorts of American investments. Ho wanted
to sec railroad relations established between
the two countries , wanted to push the sub
marine telegraph and In short was doslrious
of bringing the countries together. Ho was
not Interested in any investment and ho had
no llnaneial prospects present or future In
the trip. Ho was offered a big salary by sev
eral companies to act as their ofllcial in mak
ing the trip , but ho refused all such offers.
He llnally consented to be the president
of a nominal company and In
this ho only took enough in the way of pay to
cover his expenses. As n proof of hli > non-
mercenary motives an Incident occuvcd whllo
wo were In the City of Mexico wulch estab
lished this beyond a doubt and evidenced a
courage and probity quite a ? great as Grant
ever evinced In Ids life. The Heal del Monte
is ono of the largest gold mines in the world.
H has been operated for more than a century
and it la said to huvoprodueed more gold than
any other mliio in the world. This inlno was
being worked with good success while wo
were in Mexico and Its prospects for the fu
ture were still great , ' The company which
operated it were anxious to stock the mine
and lloat It In 1'uropo and they wanted to get
Grant to take the presidency of It. An Eng
lishman was the agent selected to influence
Grant In this direction but ho evidently un
derstood their purpose and he did not give the
man a ehanco to make the proposition. Fi
nally the agent called upon mo and told mo
that ho would make mo rich It I could get htm
an Interview with General Grant whereby ho
could Induce him to accept the presidency of
the mine. Ho hung around mo for u long
time and I Dually told the general of his anxi
ety for the interview. General Grant told
mo that he would make no appointment to see
the man hut that it ho happened to call ui > on
mo at some time when ho" was present I could
Introduce him
Anil lie Would Kettle tlu > At'ctit.
As General Grant was in my room at the
hotel at ecrtalu times every day the appoint
ment was nu easy matter , I told the mine
representative and ho called promptly the
following day and although GencVal Grant
had not luioun of the.nppotutmcnt ho was
present. I introduced the uluu when ho
came In and he at once began to talk about
his mine. He said nothing about the floating
of the stock , but described the value of the
mine and bluntly olleied General Giant the
sum of $1,000,000 in cash if ho would accept
the presidency of it. The general quietly
heard him 'through , and then said quite as
quietly that he was sorry lie could not oblige
him , that his , trip to Mexico was without p r-
somil interest'on his part , and that ho had re
fused to accept any remuneration for the
trip. Ho said that ho eould not connect
himself in any way with the mine , but t't it
would bo phul so mention it to his frlendi
when ho icturned to Xt v York. Ills reply
was so decisive the man accepted it as con
clusive and bowed himself out. General
Grant could have accepted the presidency
without dishonor , for the inlno was a peed
one , and theio was no doubt of its value.
Had ho been made , president the company
eould have placed thn .stock In Europe for un
told millions , and it is not improbable that
improved machinery and methods of working
might have even brought in a fair rate of in
terest upon Micluun Investment. "
'General Grant , " continued Mr. Dawson ,
"sat still for llfteen minutes after the agent
left. The loss of a fortune did not excite
him , but It turned his thoughts toward him
self and his family. At the end of this quar
ter of an hour ho got into a talkative mood ,
and yon know ho chatted very freely with
those he trusted. Ho began to talk about
his boys and how they were doing. At this
time the financial prospects of the family
were very bright , and General G rant proudly
told me how Colonel Tred had resigned from
the army and was doing well us the president
of a railroad in Texas. Ho referred to the
prosperity of Uuck Grant with the llrm of
Grant & Ward , and said that Jesse was
making mouoy in his mining operations.
With a
ho went over the different enterpilses that
the boys were In , and then said that as ho
and Mrs. Grant had enough to keep them In
comfort as long as they lived , ho eould see no-
reasoufbrhlin to jeopardize the good name
thatrwbelioved ho hail by entering into any
such sehemo as the one proposed to him.
After this experience no one could over make
mo believe that Grant allowed his name to be
used by Grant & Ward as they did use it.
The truth is , ho knew nothing alwut Ward's '
methods. lie believed that Ward was. a
great llnancier and the Grant bojs thought
the same. The truth is that Ward never let
them have any insight into the business. If
they made Inquiries about it , ho would say ;
Well , now , if you think you can run this
business you can try it. Hut one head is
enough , I am willing to give up any time
that you want mo to leave , but whllo I am
hero I must have the snv.
At limes , however , Ward's mistakes were
so app irent th.it they wore forced to go to
him , but ho always turned them off. At one
time there was a mistake of " > , < XX ) in an ac
count which was so plain that Ulysses S.
Grant , ) r , went to see him about it. Ward
atoiKJfjtaw that ho could not explain It and
ho ir faed their conlldenco moro than .ever by
saying : Yes , that is a mistake and the bill
is wrong. Iluck Grant told mo tu'ut'tuu
family bollovo 1 in him after that moro thor
oughly than before. It was not strange that
they had faith In him and at the time of the
failure it was forgotten that men of high
financial standing were as badly deceived as
were the sons of General Grant. "
The conversation hero turned to Grant's re
lations with Cenkllng , and Mr. Dawson told
tno bow Grout received the uows of the resig
nations of Conkling anil Platt in the senate.
"This happened , " talil lit } "while General
Grant was in Mexico. WO were sitting at a
table in his room when thu news came , and
General Grant picked up the biu-k of a letter
and wrote a telegram upon it tp J. II. Work
of New York , the s > < ; crotiirr of the syndicate
of which he u as the nomiujd president. He
addressed Wink because kvo had a cypher
telegraphic code in common' ' , and ho gave me
the telegram telling mo to translate it and
send it to New York. Htio | is the telegram
as General Grant wrote it , " snid Mr. Dawson -
son , handing me a sheet half covered with the
autographic writing of Gciieral Grant in pen
cil. It read as follows :
"This telegram , " continued Mr. Dawson ,
"was sent by me in cypher , antt had it leaelicd
New York it might have changed the
Whole Coin-so r American History.
It did not get through , . however , and it
lodged at Veen Cruz. It would have gone
through had it not been sent in cypher , but
General Grant was supposed by the
leading financier of the United States
and the leading IIn.inc.ler of Mexico
to be interested in Mexican in
vestments. These two great' capitalists
controlled the telegraph wires of both coun
tries and they thought ( ho cypher disp itch
was a business ono and stopped it. General
Grant did nut know it was stopped until he
began to receive telegrams ho did not under
stand and failed to receive replies to business
telegrams which he had sent. Wo found
shortly lifter this that ono trade which might
have been made to the advantage oT Ameri
can capital was lost in this way. It was the
purchase of the Vera Cruz ralliood which was
offered for sale but which was lost because
General Grant eould get no replies from 3fc\v
York concerning It. Tills .stoppago uf the
telegraph messages got 16 1ho ears of the
government of Mexico through General
Grant mid it caused considerable govern
mental correspondence. "
"General Grant , " Mr. Diw > on went on ,
"received several telegrams from Washing
ton asking him not to mix up In the Conk-
Hng-Garfleld trouble * He roeelvcd an auto
graph letter from Gurfleld , at Vera Cnu but
ho did not answer thU uiitjl he got to New
York. The trouble started him tp talking
alwut Conkling and he told mo that the thing
that Ilrst attracted him U ) Conkling was the
fact that Conkling
llil Not Coma to Him
while ho was in the whltti house with advice
to do this or that as to policy or for the pur
pose of asking appointments. Ho sold that
0110 of the first things heaw when ho gut
into the white house wa.4" that If ho wanted
Conkllng's udvico he would Jmvo to ak for
t. He mild that whan ho. jlld ask , however ,
ho found Senator Couklln very frco to give
it , and told mo that he had never known of
Senator Conkling coming to him on a ques
tion of public policy without first receiving a ,
hint from him that his odrloo would bo ac
ceptable. At the same time General Gruut
gae me instances of a number of prominent
men who were quite the opposite. It will not
bo necessary to mention any names. Kultlco
it to sav that those to whom ho gave the most
nt their own solicitation in the wav of offices
for themselves and friends were thu first to
leave him when they thought they could profit
themselves by a different political course or
by espousing the cause of his enemies. "
"What was his real position in regard to a
third term i" tasked.
"General Grant , " replied Mr. Duvson ,
"went out of his second t > rm p 'rftvtly satis-
tied with his public eareor. Ho was glad ho
was free and he wanted to stay free , IKj told
me w bile in Mexico that after ho came back
from his trip around the world some moves
werumado by the friends bethought the most
of and thoio who were dearest to him polit
ically and otherwise to make him again a can
didate for the presidency. He said ho did not
suppose it would amount to anything and for
u time did nothing. As the movement gained
.strength he had more than once thought of
writing a private letter in such a manner that
it might bo given to the pres- ; , stating that
under no circumstances would ho accept the
nomination. But in each case the reason
for thu delay was the argument that
those men were his friends and that they
were depending upon him. He thus held off
until it was too late for him to decline with-
ont injuring them. Ho told mo that up to the
end of his second term ho had made it a rule
never to sehemo for anything , but to accept
any oftlro or duty at the call of his country.
As far as ho was himself concerned I know
that ho
hoDill
Dill Not Doslru n Tlilnl Term ,
and during his second term ho wrote a letter
objecting to any movement of that kind. "
The talk hue turned to General Grant's
book , and Mr. Dawson went on : "General
Grant commenced the book , intending to
write it all himself. I had loft him and was
employed with the tutor-state commerce com-
mltteo of the senate , which was then going
nbout the country taking testimony. After
his Illness in April , however , ho wanted mo ,
but hesitated to send for mo on account of im
position. When the committee was sitting In
New York I called upon him and ho then told
mo ho needed me , but ho knew how 1 was sit
uated und did not want to disappoint others.
1 replied that I knew that no one of the sena
tors on the committee would refuse to let me
go if I could bo of any use to him and that I
would come. I then saw Senator Cullomnnd
ho said , 'Of course wo will let you oft it the
general wants you. ' The others of the com
mittee also consented , and Mr. Murphy of the
senate , at my request , sent a stenographer to
take my place. At the time I began work
with General Grant most of the first volume
was done. Tills was written al
most entirely with his own hand ,
and only a few corrections were mnda
by htm us to the VIcksburg and Chattanooga
campaigns. Very little of the second volume
had been written though ho had put the
Wilderness campaign Into bhapo In accord
ance with his arrangements to wrlto four ar
ticles for the Century. After I IMIIIO ho began
to dk-tuUr ful ) ) he continued this as long us ho
was able to do so. As ho went on his volco
grow weaker and weaker and towards the
last I had to take my seat very close to his ,
and ho whispered his words in my ear whllo
I took them down In shortliaud. His last
dictation was on Juno 2. After this ho
would sit with his pad on his knee near mo
and would wrlto down life Ideas and hand
them over to mo to put into shape , Ho was
very weak and his hand grew moro and moro
tiembling
As He Nenrcd His Dentil.
There Is quite a difference in his copy as you
will sec by the telegram I have shown you
and this sample showing his idea of a flying
bridge. " Mr. Dawaon here handed mo u
short p igo of General Grant's handwriting in
pencil with a rude drawing of u river and a
flying bridge. A flying bridge , ho said , is a
kind of bridge attached to a rope tied to a
tree , which swinging down a river is nuilo
available by pulling one end to Lhn side so
that the other end swings around ana hits
the opposite bank. General Grant's picture
explained this and tliowriting was as follows :
"At Chattanooga there was n flying bridge at
that time , A third bridge was to take the
place of this. Do you know what n flying
bridge is I' * and then followed the pictures.
"What were General Grant's working
hours I" I usked.
"When I first began his working hours
were from 10 until 13 in the morning. Then
in the afternoon Mrs.Jesse Grant or somoouo
else would read to him out of the books to re
fresh his memory and ho would sit with note
book in hand and make catch notes. Ho had
n good army library and know whcrb to find
things. In the evening ho would have moro
reading and when tlio family were away ho
would sit and think and make notes. At this
time the most of bis dictation was done in the
morning from these notes and ho now and
then hud his pipers looked over for certain
manuscripts to refresh hU mind. The searchIng -
Ing of thcso papers wji' lone by myself and
Colonel Grant. General/Grant dictated very
freely and easily. Hohado / few changes.
During the trouble between the family and
Hudeau , Mr. Johnson , ono of the editors of.
the Century maguilnc , was shown tlio manu
script of bis first volume. This was , you
know , in General Grant's hand
writing Mr. Johnson was astonished when ho
looked at it und ho said there was not ono lit
erary man in a hundred who furnished
AH Clean Copy an Grant.
This manuscript is now in the hands of the
family. It was not sent to the printers and it
was copied by Colonel Fred Grant , Ulysses
S. Grunt , Jr. , and myself before it was handed
in. General Grant's sentences rarely had to
bo revised In any way and It was-only at the
last that ho did not express himself In full.
The dictation for him was painful. His volco
got lower and lower as ho went on. At last
it was a mdru whisper , and then It stopped. I
shall not forget soon his Joy at the completion
of the book. Ho had Intended to have hud
the whole read over to him and to have re
vised it all , IIo was in reality only nblo to
ruviso the first volume und during bin lust
hours ho was afraid that heoutd not
bo able to complete It. Ho usul iu his
writing for his book n yellow miinilln legal
cap ruled with blue lines and ho wrote \\ith
a pencil. The woik tired him very mm h and
at the hist lie was only ableto scratch down
his Ideas. There was considerable arranging
to bo done in the work and ho did not know
that itwas so near completed as it was 1 saw
nt last that ho had reached the end of all that
ho could do cspsclally if ho was able to hear
it read as I had wished. Wo were then
practically at thu end and I said to Colonel
Grant : 'This matter is all in simps now and
I think that wo had boltor toll General Grant
that the book is done. ' Wo then told
him. At first ho hardly realized it and then
ho was very happy for a short time H < told
those around him that his book was finished
and that it ha'l only to bo read over The
next day , however , ho was not so well ami ho
never got to that point at which wo could
read htm the second volume. It was only u
few days after the finishing of the book that
bodied. During his last days ho work -d al
most constantly on thu book. I saw that ho
was sinking fast and woiked nil the time I
could. I was stopping at thu house all the
time and my only reat was now and
then taking a walk In the woods. Thu General - -
oral was much pleased at my actions but ho
said nothing about it ,
"Aftor General Grant's death , " Mr Daw
son went on , "I hunted up all thu slipi that
the general had written and gave them to the
colonel and Mrs. Giant , with the exceptlpu
of less than a dozen which were personally
written for mo. Some of thcso tdlpi relate to
his book. Ho was very cautious in writing
so as not to Injure the feelings of any one ,
and I remember many touching incidents of
how ho cut out sentences which
ir TlliUKllt .MIK1lt HUM.
Ho was even hyporcritlc.il in this regard and
often Imagined things might hurt when tl ey
might have been left in. Had ho been utiio
ho would prob ibly huvo made his in < n iirs
comprise his whole life , but as It was h was
glad to bo able to finish his military e.inv'r.
The proof of the book was all carefully read.
Wo had four slip * of proofs and Colonel
Grant , U S Grant , jr. , Jesse Grant and my
self each held u slip whllo ono of UH ivj.uL
Everything was carefully revised und veri
fied , and this by going through the geninal's
papers as well as by consulting leading au
thorities ,
"General Grant's pjp-rs are ver > valua
ble , " suld Mr. Dawsrm. "Ho. sustain' I the
closest relations to the great men of his day
and ho carried on a correspomloncu with
statesmen In different p irts of thu world.
One of his closest fiiunds was Li Ilmitf
Chang , the viceroy of China His corre
spondence with him continued until the ti nu
of his death and h' ) often Hp iko of LI Hang
Chang In the highest terms. 11 Hung ( . 'hung
would wrlto asking hit udviuo as to matter *
of state , an 1 General Grant you knmv o ill > : d
him the Hismarek of China. "
I hero told Mr Dawson thu high reput itlnn
which General Grunt sustained In Cn ua and
referred to a plctuw < if Ilia general an I M
Hung Chang which w.as niudu by a photog
rapher at TioiiUl. A 0'ipyof this photograph
Is in my possiHitou. It ivpr ents two r at-
cst men of two h"mlsph < ) nH drinKlng tuu
with u Chlnc-su table between thorn Had
Grant been r-H'lecte.l president I doulr not
thu United Si ite-t and Cjilua would bo ol jsur
tugethor ami In all pr liability the Amu i > .m
and Colonial would In UK-ilng nai'h other
l''uINK G. CWBNmi
Now 1'oute * llnuxo , Kan. rity ,
Absolutel } fireproof Finest und hirgesl
hotel In Kunsus City Unexcelled In its uo-
polnlmuita.
