178 POLITICAL LIFE-IX 



wishes to know when he can see the President." "Tell 

 him never," said Grant. 



It turned out that the person whose name the card bore 

 was the correspondent of a newspaper especially noted 

 for sensation-mongering, and the conversation drifted to 

 the subject of newspapers and newspaper correspondents, 

 when the President told the following story, which I give 

 as nearly as possible in his own words : 



"During the hottest period of the final struggle in 

 Virginia, we suffered very much from the reports of news- 

 paper correspondents who prowled about our camps and 

 then put on the wires the information they had gained, 

 which of course went South as rapidly as it went North. 

 It became really serious and embarrassed us greatly. On 

 this account, one night, when I had decided to make an 

 important movement with a portion of the army early 

 next day, I gave orders that a tent should be pitched in an 

 out-of-the-way place, at the earliest possible moment in the 

 morning, and notified the generals who were to take part 

 in the movement to meet me there. 



"It happened that on the previous day there had come 

 to the camp a newspaper correspondent named - , and, 

 as he bore a letter from Mr. Washburne, I treated him as 

 civilly as possible. 



"At daylight next morning, while we were assembled in 

 the tent making final arrangements, one of my aides, 



Colonel , heard a noise just outside, and, going out, 



saw this correspondent lying down at full length, his ear 

 under the edge of the tent, and a note-book in his 

 hand. Thereupon Colonel - took the correspondent 

 by his other ear, lifted him to his feet, and swore to him 

 a solemn oath that if he was visible in any part of the 

 camp more than five minutes longer, a detachment of 

 troops would be ordered out to shoot him and bury him 

 there in the swamp, so that no one would ever know his 

 name or burial-place. 



"The correspondent left at once," said the President, 



