Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First TimeFreese, Jacob R.
History
Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First Time
Freese, Jacob R.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865
The two following days Lord Brewerton spent in New York attending to
various business matters, and on the third day he and Mr. McLane went
together to Baltimore. At Philadelphia Mr. C. C. Pollard joined them.
At Baltimore they met Colonel Ralph Abercrombie, who chanced to be in
Washington at the time, and who had been telegraphed for, through Major
Weightman, to meet them at Baltimore. That night and the following day
were spent in consultations with Messrs. Thomas, Grundy, Wilson, and
others. In the evening McLane and Pollard returned to New York, while
Lord Brewerton and Colonel Abercrombie went to Washington. They walked
from the depot direct to Ben Beveridge's, where a scene occurred which
is difficult to put upon canvas--a scene much easier imagined than
described. When the two came into the saloon Ben was absorbed in
conversation with some gentlemen, and did not see them enter. The
Colonel, desiring to attract Ben's attention without calling upon
himself the attention of others, stepped up to the bar and asked for
"Bourben whiskey," putting special emphasis on the word Bourben, as this
was the Confederate password which had been agreed upon between him and
Ben. The clerk behind the bar sat a bottle of Bourbon whiskey upon the
marble counter for the Colonel to help himself; but still Ben did
not come up, and kept on chatting and laughing with his friends. The
Colonel, determining to attract his attention, put the glass to his
lips, and then, with an oath loud enough to wake the dead, smashed the
glass into a thousand pieces on the marble counter, and declared that
such BOURBEN as that was not fit for a dog to drink. Of course, Ben
rushed to the counter to see who had dared commit such an outrage in his
saloon; the Lord shrank back aghast, as though an earthquake was about
to open under his feet; some Indians who chanced to be in the saloon at
the time became very much excited and seemed about to raise a war-whoop,
and, for a moment, confusion worse confounded prevailed; but so soon
as Ben recognized the Colonel he comprehended the whole situation,
acknowledged that his clerk had made a mistake in setting out some other
bottle than "Bourben," made a thousand apologies for the mistake, and
then, in a tone as mild as that of a sucking-dove, invited the Colonel
and his friend "John" into a side room, where they might take a drink
alone by themselves. The outsiders had been completely hoodwinked, while
the insiders had a hearty laugh all to themselves over the incident and
its happy ending. Major Weightman was then sent for, and when he came he
and Lord Brewerton had a conference of some hours. When this had ended,
a cab was called, and Lord Brewerton was driven direct to the residence
of the British Minister, Lord Lyons, while the Colonel was driven to his
sister's (Mrs. Professor Joseph H. Saxton), on Capitol Hill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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