Show written for this paper WHITE HOUSE WATCHDOG WATCH DOG the whitt white house has never been more carefully guarded than it is today tramps are swarming into washington from all parts of the united states and a report was received here the other day that 1500 were on their way from the south to the capital the presidents mail includes all sorts of cranky letters and the financial distress which prevails over the united states has de a discontented army many of the soldiers of which think that president cleveland can redress their grievances the air seems to breed cranks and the demon of destruction is abroad in the land A week or so ago ing tons jack the ripper got into the white house and amused himself by carving up the furniture he cut the curtains ains in the green room and ran his knife through the elegant coverings of the sofas and chairs since then the private rooms of the white house have not been shown to visitors and the vigilance of the guards has been increased the hawaiian matter with the severe editorial criticisms ot the president upon it from many sources has not helped his position in the eyes of the cranks and the possibility of a guiteau or a prendergast hangs like a shadow over the executive mansion THE WHITE HOUSE DEFENSES I 1 have devoted some time this week to finding out just what safeguards are placed around the president he is is almost as well watched as any monarch of europe policeman are stationed about the white house grounds and the white house itself as it is now arranged is almost crank proof it is you know surrounded by acres of green grass and trees it is fully three hundred feet back from the street and the grounds in the rear and at the sides cover acres the trees are large and there is no dense shrubbery anywhere the burglar who would attempt to pass through it either in day or night could be easily seen and it has practically no hiding places an iron fence about five feet high runs around the grounds this fence is set firmly in a sandstone basement and the bars which compose it are tipped with sharp points so that it would be impossible to climb over them without injury and each bar is about an inch in diameter they are so closely placed together that it would require the breaking of two or three of them in order for a mans body to be gotten through the fence and the only access to the grounds is b by the gates there there are eight gates to ake the p park ark of the executive mansion two on t the he side next to the treasury ana and two facing the state department there are also four gates at the front facing pennsylvania avenue the gates at the sides are for foot passengers only and they are locked every evening with great iron chains and padlocks the front gates are larger two of them are for carriage s and two for foot passengers they are of the stron strongest gest of wrought iron and they are locked every night in the same way as the gates at the side TUB THE POLICE ON GUARD the police of the city are constantly on guard on the streets outside of the grounds they patrol pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house and they move up and down between it and the treasury and the state department they also keep their eyes on the white lot which extends behind the white house barkand Par kand any one paying especial attention to the building at night is care full watched in addition to this force there is the white house police proper and it will surprise some to know that it requires the services of thirteen policemen to guard the grounds and the house itself this is in in addition to the messengers and servants of the executive mansion and these policemen have their regular watches and are on guard night and day during the day the gates are open and certain parts of the grounds are practically free to visitors but no one can move through them and be for a moment out of the sight of one ol of these police this corps of police though it comes from the city is under the charge of private secretary thurber or more immediately of capt decker who may be called the chief watch dog of president cleveland within the past ast few years a wire adire fence has been built built around a part apart of the ground nearest the white house coming into the great half moon drive through the gate above the treasury you walk up a flagstone sidewalk until you get near the mansion and you reach this wire fence at about twenty feet from the white house itself running parallel with the white house from ake the corner to the front steps this fence is of great barsot bars ot iron about two inches thick tipped with gilded arrow heads and reaching as high as your chest there is an area way between the wall upon which the fence is built and the white hite house itself and looking down this at the corner you see one of the doors which lead into the basement this door is guarded by the policeman at the back of the house and also by the guard who always stands in the long central corridor of the basement the gate leading from the drive down to this door is kept locked and the wire fence which extends from this gate down to the treasury entrance begins again at the back of the white house and shuts off this side yard and this door from visitors it runs around to the back of the white house to the back steps and on the other side of these steps shuts on off visitors from access to the house TIRE THE REAR GUARD A policeman stands at the back steps night and day and the basement and the first floor entrances are guarded by him his position gives him a view of the grounds in rear of the mansion and he is one of the most important guards of the force should he go to sleep or be removed one ot of the main entrances to the white house supposing the crank could pass the guards on the outside would be by the back steps and the blue room which are less carefully guarded than the basement even in th this is ca case s e however the burglar would have to P pick ick the locks of the doors leading into the blue room and he would then have to pass through a number of other doors before he could get at the presidents valuables or his person it was in this way that a son of a united states senator broke into the white house not long ago he got in through gh the window of the red room but it t was found that he was drunk rather than chizy crazy and the matter was hushed up A redheaded red headed crank from idaho haunted the grounds back of the white house for some days about the time of the close of the last session of congress he was crazy on the subject of the silver bill and probably meditated some injury to the president his case was investigated by the police and it was found that he had written threatening enin letters to the president he escaped ca pA I 1 however before his true character was known INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE the police inside the white house are the most important of the presidents watch dogs supposing the crank to have passed the policeman on the grounds he enters the white house by the front door this has a massive lock and it is never left standing open it admits you to the great vestibule of the executive mansion which is you know twice as big as the average city and which is shut off from the rest of of the house by walls at the ends and by a great glass screen at the back this vestibule always contains from three to five guards some of them are the messengers of the white house and others are policemen in uniform it is only within the last few months that alice police uniforms have been used in the white hite house these policemen are heavy est fellows they are the pick of the force and they are men who have good detective faculties as well as strong muscles muscle sand and courageous hearts they can usually detect a crank at a glance and every visitor who comes into the white house has to pass under their eyes one of them usually sits or stands at the right of the door as you come in and if you pass the doorkeeper you are motioned to the left goerg across the vestibule you find here the door that leads you to the hall and to the east room here there is another policeman on guard and if you have no business with the president this man does not permit you to mount the stairs you are permitted to go into the east room and look about but no further the action of the vandal who cut the green room curtains and sofas will probably prevent the private rooms of the white house being open to the public for some time to come this man recalls a case which happened during the days of president lincoln A woman sightseer in her anxiety to carry away a relic of the white house had taken a pair of scissors and snipped a piece out of the lace curtain she was caught in the act and was taken up to president lincoln he gave her a good sermon but let her g go the man who cut the greeta greeb room furniture seems to have been actuated buhe by the desire to destroy rather than to have ave been a relic hunter WHERE THE PRESIDENT WORKS grover cleveland does all allot of his work above stairs it is on the second floor of the executive mansion that the president and his family live and this is the part of the white house houe which is most carefully watched the living rooms of the family are at the west end of this floor the end nearest the treasury is is devoted to offices and it is always filled with clerks and messengers this is the only part that is accessible to people who have public business these men after they have passed the guards down stairs are allowed to go up the stair case between the east room and the vestibule at the top ot this there is a guard in citizens clothes and passing across a hall you come into another corridor in the rooms of which at the back are the offices of the president and mr thurber and also the big parlor in which the cabinet meets As you step into this corridor you see seated al a desk one of the most trusted servants and best watchmen any ruler has ever known this is sergt loeffler the special messenger of the president his a wiry sharp eyed man with a gray mustache nu stache no one knows how old he is but his muscles are iron he was fighting the indians long before the war began and for the past twenty years he has been one of the confidential servants of the white house it is he who takes in the cards that reach the president he knows all the prominent men of the country and he sometimes detects bad characters who have passed the men below in this same corridor you find a couple of colored guards among them arthur who has been the messenger of the private secretary of the president for years and if you are an unknown man your card will be given by sergt loeffler to arthur and you will have to o in and have an interview with private 0 secretary ecret ary thurber before you can pierce the divinity which hedges our american king mr thurber has naturally a great reverence for the president he appreciates the dangers which surround him and one must have indeed good credentials and an honest face to be admitted m i tt e d b by h him into president Clev elands office arim just across the hall are the offices ot of another corps of clerks including col wm win H crook who has been twenty eight years connected with the executive mansion and who was one of president Lincol ns special body guards when he made his trip to richmond all of the employed emp loyes of the white house are connected with the president and the private secretary by electric bells and the whole army could be called into the presidents room by the pressure of a button NIGHT IN THE WHITE HOUSE I 1 have shown you that it would be almost impossible for any on to break into the white house at night I 1 want to tell you vou how easily the man would be caught if he got in he would in the first place have to pass the men on the city police force climb over the fence and get to the te white house itself he would have to do this under a blaze of lights for electricity and gas unite to turn night into day and the lamps in front of the mansion always burn sup pose he got to the front door and picked the locks he would find himself on entering the vestibule in the hands odthe three policemen who are always on guard there after dark he could in no 0 way break into the front aront of the mansion except through this door or the windows at its sides if he attempted to enter the basement door facing the treasury he would be captured by the policeman stationed there and if he eluded him upon g getting etting into the base ment he would find himself in a wide hall lighted by electricity and patrolled by a stalwart officer armed to the teeth if he could possibly pass him lie he might get to the second floor of the house by the stairway which comes out into the private corridor of the mansion near the conservatory and thence he could slip up the private stairs to the second floor and be in the living rooms and sleeping rooms of the president to 0 do this however he would have to break locks and the slightest noise would be heard by the officers in the vestibule so that you see he would have an almost impossible task in case he got to the presidents bed room a touch of the button by mr cleveland would set the electric bell on the lower floor to ringing and the policemen and the servants would come rushing in at the sound A ring at the telephone of the office nearby near by would call the whole police force of the city to the white house in a few minutes and a connection could be made with the armed forces at the navy yard so that a force of soldiers would surround the mansion and prevent any possible escape DANGERS OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE the chief danger lies outside the white house so far no attempt has ever been made to attack a president in the executive mansion the risks are too great the attacks upon lincoln jackson and garfield were all make when they were away from the house and the scheme to abduct lincoln in eluded the capturing of him while he was on his way to the soldiers home the guards which are now placed about a president when he is away from office are better than they have ever been before and the safety of the president is carefully watched when he is at his country home eight mounted policemen vatron the roads of this part of the washington suburbs and you can hardly go into the country now about here without meeting a policeman on horseback the police service of the capital has in fact never been so efficient as it is today and the president is seldom away from the eyes oi of the police when he goes to church there is an officer on the street outside and his afternoon rides seldom go outside the range of the mounted police THE PRESIDENT A BRAVE MAN I 1 am told that the president objects to the close watch which is kept upon him he is a brave man and he does not like it he was you know attacked by a crank when he was governor of new york just before he was elected president he was on his way to the capitol in albany when a man sprang out from t the he corner of the street and tried to strike him in the face president cleveland at first acted merely on the defensive but toward the last of the trouble he pave gave the man a fairly good pounding white while he was making the assault a friend of mr Clev elands came up and seized the man and mr cleveland thereupon went on to the governors office the man was not pati satisfied fied with some action of cleveland in in regard to a pardon and the trial which ensued showed that he was crazy there is a story here that president cleveland was attacked during the cam laign by a crank in new york I 1 cannot vouch for its truth but it is said that about three weeks before the election a man called at mr Clev elands house on west street in new york and asked to see him he was shown into the parlor and a moment later mr cleveland entered As he did so the man raised a revolver and snapped at him the cap missed fire and mr cleveland throwing his arms around the man pressed |