Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1884 — GREAT MEN’S BAGGAGE. [ARTICLE]

GREAT MEN’S BAGGAGE.

' >■■■ The Women Always Have Trunk*. Herbert, the veteran head usher of the old, St. Nicholas Hotel in New York, says of people who carry baggage: “As a general rule, I have observed that women have more baggage than men. When a man travels he wants as little baggage as possible, and he will get along without any if he can. Drummers are excepted, of course. They will fill a hotel with baggage if you will let ’em. Porters never like to see a drummer come to the house, because that generally means heavy trunks. We never had a baggage elevator at the St! Nicholas, and the carrying of trunks was always a big job. I have seen great strong men give way. I have seen four porters struggling with one trunk. It almost seemed the rule that the more important a man was the less baggage he would have. Take Governor Horatio Seymour, for instance, who was a steady patron. I have often seen him come with a little carpet bag. Senator Conkling carried very little baggage, but his wife, a delicate woman, had plenty of baggage when she came with him. Senator John J. Crittenden used to come with no more baggage than you could put in a tobacco box, when he came alone. But when Mrs. Crittenden came with him the porters would stagger under thirty or forty trunks. Mrs. Crittenden was very fond of dress and entertaining people, and all the trunks had to be taken up stairs. “When the Canadians came the porters trembled. Sir Charles McNab would keep the porters busy three hours getting in his baggage. Sir Charles Grey, Governor-General of Jamaica, brought a cartload of baggage. Presidents of the United States were common visitors to the St. Nicholas. Matty Van Buren used to come with baggage that looked like a lady’s reticule. He was a plain man, with no such airs as his son, Frince John, as they used to call him. President Buchanan was another plain man, who did not carry much baggage when he came alone. But when Miss Harriett Lane came with him there was baggage enough to fill an express wagon. Miss*Lane dressed a great deal and had a great deal of company. When she came to or left the hotel the porters generally got tired carrying her baggage. I think I can see them now puffing on the stairs under the load of her big trunks. After the boys had rested they all said she was a dear, nice young woman. General McClellan’s father-in-law, General Marcy, used to be a frequent visitor at the hotel. He did not have a great quantity of baggage, but his daughter, General McClellan’s wife, like most of the lady visitors, had plenty of it. I shall never forget the day she fell sick at the reception of the news of the battle of Antietann. I thought the poor lady would die in the house. “The biggest lot of baggage I ever saw in the hotel was when General Wool and staff came there during the draft riots. The hotel looked like a military camp. We fed 1,400 persons in a day, most of them witlfout baggage, on the day of the great cable celebration. Major, General Benjamin F. Butler came often to visit us, and always carried moderate baggage. The man whose baggage grew most after he came was the famous Marquis of Waterford, who went on a spree with our head porter, Tom Adams, and was locked up in station house for breaking lamps in Broadway. The nobility took a great fancy for Tom.”