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Show historical 11 Aighlights Ltj. Cdtna Scait WcM&h. (Iti'liNtsed by Western Newspaper Union.) Killed by a 'Peacemaker' "IjXTRA! F.xtral Two cabinet ofTt-L ofTt-L ccrs killedl President safel Kxlra! Exlrn!" Such milit have been the cries of the newsboys on February 28, 1814, had it been the practice of the newspapers news-papers of 100 years ugo. to get out extras. For there was big news that day the story of a President's narrow nar-row escape from the death which overtook two members of his cabinet cabi-net and four other persons. The President was John Tyler and on Hint day he had gone aboard the 1 "' warship Princeton Prince-ton for a trip down the Potomac Poto-mac as the guest of Captain Stockton, Stock-ton, its commander. command-er. He was ue-companied ue-companied by Abel P. Upshur, secretary of state, Thomas W. Gilmer, Gil-mer, secretary of the navy, mora- ' .. ,. bers of the diplo- Juiia Gardiner ,. , matic corps, and a gay party of ladies, including a Miss Julia Gardiner to whom the widower-President had recently become be-come very attentive. As the party came aboard, a salute sa-lute of 21 guns was fired in honor of the Chief Executive and the Marine bund played the national airs. Then he was taken below deck where, in the words of a contemporary chronicler, chroni-cler, "an elegant collation was served in the saloon." While the President lingered at the table with the charming Miss Gardiner, other members of the party went up on the deck to inspect the armament of the ship, of which Captain Stockton Stock-ton was very proud. On the return trip he promised to demonstrate the power of the largest larg-est gun aboard, called the "Peacemaker" "Peace-maker" by the sailors, which fired a 250-pound cannonball. The President was still below deck when the demonstration dem-onstration took place. There was a terrific explosion and when the dense smoke cleared it revealed a terrible 7; 777 rA7 Explosion of the gun, "Peacemaker," "Peacemak-er," on the U. S. S. Princeton, February, Feb-ruary, 1844. (From an old drawing.) sight. The gun had burst near the breech and the killed and injured were scattered over the deck. One woman was blown up into the rigging rig-ging but was brought down uninjured. unin-jured. But six men had been killed instantly. in-stantly. They were Secretary Upshur, Up-shur, Secretary Gilmer, Commodore Commo-dore Kenyon of the Princeton, Mr. Maxey, formerly minister to the Netherlands, Mr. Gardiner (owner of Gardiner's Island near New York and father of Julia) and the Negro bodyservant of the President. The injured were Captain Stockton and Lieutenant Hunt of the Princeton, Sen. Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, Mis-souri, a Mr. Robertson of Georgetown George-town and a score or more sailors, several of whom died later. Washington seethed with excitement excite-ment when the news of the death of the two cabinet members and the President's narrow escape from their fate reached the city. The next day the bodies were brought from the ship and taken to the White House where Tyler ordered that they be laid in state in the East Room. There funeral services were held the following fol-lowing day, attended by high government govern-ment officials and foreign ministers. A military escort, commanded by Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, headed the funeral procession that passed down Pennsylvania avenue to the Congressional Con-gressional burying ground. "No such scene had been witnessed in Washington Wash-ington since the burial of General Harrison three years ago," said a contemporary writer. Returning from the cemetery, the life of the President again was endangered en-dangered when the horses, drawing the carriage in which he and his son were riding, became frightened while descending Capitol Hill and ran madly up Pennsylvania avenue. They were brought under control, however, before any damage was done and Tyler lived to make Julia Gardiner his second wife in a secret se-cret wedding which took place in New York a few months after the tragedy on the Princeton. Gilmer was an editor who had once served as governor of Virginia. Vir-ginia. He had been one of the founders found-ers of the Whig party and as a member of congress con-gress his support of Tyler's policies was rewarded by his being made secretary of the navy. He held the position only two eks before he wras killed. I |