John Adams...... Time to reconsider him.

March 2006








I truly believe him to be one of the most disregarded of our historic figures. Over shadowed by Jefferson who was not at all equal to Adams raw talent or bravery.

Over time the name of Adams was lost in the dusty pages of history . I find that in the last 50 years...(a short time historically) Adams has been making a comeback, and Jefferson is starting to be seen as the hypocrite he truly was.
I will do a good deal of writing on Adams as time goes on. I welcome others who wish to comment on the "Atlas of American Independence" (Jefferson's words not mine) and hope to post a tremendous amount of info on one amazing man who changed the course of the world's history.

I will admit that Adams was not a warm person to deal with at times. He was not as classy as Jefferson. He did not write as well as Jefferson. But he had guts! He had more raw passion than Jefferson..and was the powerhouse behind what happened in July of 1776.

I have a lot of respect for Jefferson, I think he was a great man. I find that Jefferson was not at all kind to Adams when it came to politics. But Jefferson was always a political animal. He and Washington even stopped talking.. He referred to Washington as "old muttenhead".

The two main political animals of that time were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Both were not warm or friendly people. Both of these two guys were snobs and both of them disliked Adams who was really down to earth. Neither of those two guys were in their fields plowing, or planting crops, or doing the work...Adams was.

Jefferson who said that all men are created equal had a large amount of slaves. Nor did he free them... Adams had hired help.

Although Aaron Burr was not to likeable a person either....I like him more than Hamilton. The reasons for their duel have a lot to due with what Hamilton said of Burr...and it was really nasty.

But I think that we have bypassed Adams. I think it is time to honor the Atlas of American Independence!! Let's have a monument to him in Washington..

Garret Hobart 1844-1899 ..One of the most forgotten Vice Presidents..However, his death changed the world..A look at his grave in Patterson, NJ

President William McKinley and Vice President Garret Hobart relaxing on a vacation. They were very close and often would go on vacations together with their wife's who were also very close.

It was perhaps the nicest and warmest relationship in the Presidency. Hobart was often referred as to as the co-President. Both he and McKinley were beloved by just about everyone.
Hobart was involved in every aspect of the Presidency. McKinley made the office of the Vice-President a vital one to his administration. The main reason was he very warm relationship with the Hobart's.
Hobart was also McKinley's savings advisor. As Hobart was involved in many businesses and McKinley had once had the misfortune of having to declare bankruptcy. Therefore McKinley gave Hobart part of his paycheck as President to him to invest so he would never have such a problem again.

(Remember, ex-Presidents did not get a pension or anything from the government save for free postage.)

It was planned that Hobart would be a part of McKinley's 2nd administration. But fate had other ideas.


Hobart was strickened in mid 1899 with heart disease.
By the fall he was in pretty bad shape. McKinley wrote often from the White House and the Hobart's were writing back.
It was heartbreaking for McKinley as he was not only seeing a dear friend dying, but the one person who made his administration so happy and successful, his friend and Vice President.
The letters from William McKinley and his wife to the Hobart's are just filled with love and hope. The Letters back from the Hobart's were full of love and realism.

They knew it was only a matter of time. On November 21, 1899, Hobart died.






The entire world went into mourning for the very much loved Vice President.
Much of the Senate, Congress, Supreme Court, Cabinet, and of course his friend, the grieving President came. McKinley said it was great loss for him. He seemed very effected by it all as it was noted in the papers.

It was a grand event in Patterson, New Jersey. As all of the American and much of the world's political body came to honor Hobart. He was laid out in a Tiger Oak casket with silver handles. On the lid was a shield saying. Garret Hobart 1844-1899.




The Vice President was then laid out in City Hall in Patterson, and then the service was held in the Presbyterian Church. It was standing room only and most of the locals who knew him were sadly not able to go inside as it was over crowded with visitors.

After the service there was a march to Cedar Lawn Cemetery on the edge of town where Hobart's body was placed in the Receiving vault. President McKinley was with the body all the way to the vault and then made it his business to thank the heads of the cemetery for their work. He kept saying it was a great loss, not only to him but the country.
McKinley while there was able to see New York from the Hills of this Patterson cemetery. Then they all left and the Body rested in the receiving vault till the following year.



The inside of the old Receiving vault. The door leads to vaults to hold the caskets of those who do not have mausoleums yet or it is too cold to dig a grave. Today with tractors to dig, cold weather is usually not a great problem. but still they get their use now and then. But this is was Hobart's first resting place.


What is not really known today is that Patterson was one of the wealthiest communities in the United States at the end of the 19th century. The location of the Hobart Mausoleum is surrounded by many like it and many graves marked with very opulent funeral statuary. It is a most incredible place.
To look at it today one can only look with wonder at the grand graves and mausoleums. In this picture you will see the Hobart Mausoleum on the left and many of the other graves of that era in its locale.



This is the Hobart Mausoleum built in 1900-01. It is the largest mausoleum in the cemetery.



The name is on the front. Oddly there are no flags or markings on the structure to say who is there and who he was.



The inside of the Mausoleum. It was very hard to photograph this. I had to try several times taking pictures through the grating of the Bronze doors. It is quite lovely inside. In this structure rests Hobart, his wife and daughter.



Now comes the great change that Hobart made by his death.

History just needs a little thing to change the entire world. Hobart was to be in McKinley's second term. But by his death the political bosses were at a loss as to who to make Vice President.
Theodore Roosevelt who was at this time the Governor of New York was a real pain to all of the political bosses, but mostly Thomas Platt.
There was little love between McKinley and Roosevelt, But the bosses wanted to get rid of Roosevelt.
The best place to put him was the Vice Presidency. As it was a nothing position, at least it was now.
Senator Mark Hanna put it best to the Republican bosses saying.."You have put one life between the Presidency and that damned cowboy".

McKinley had no plans to make Roosevelt a part of his inner circle. Roosevelt had embarrassed and insulted McKinley many times in the press. Saying when it came to war, McKinley had the backbone of a Chocolate eclair.
The thing that Roosevelt failed to grasp was that McKinley knew war, Roosevelt had his fantasies of what it was.
Also McKinley had more class than Roosevelt. But that did not stop Roosevelt from making a fool of himself and once again embarrassing the President. But McKinley when told that Roosevelt would be his running mate was as kind as he always was. He was like a kid in a candy shop. He was shocked when he saw McKinley's modest home in Canton. Roosevelt could not have that, he was as Harry S. Truman put it. More bull than moose. I am sure that McKinley's scotch consumption went up, knowing that he had Roosevelt with him for 4 years. But once again fate laid out its icy hand.

In September, 1901 McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt was President. If Hobart had lived how different the history of the United States may have been.

If you get the chance visit the mausoleum of Hobart. No one comes by anymore, nor does anyone know who he was, or what he was, which is sad and what prompted me to write this.

I was glad to drop and wish the former Vice President well, and to ask him to give my best to his friend President McKinley as well.


McKinley and his running mate. There are very few of them together.

Traveling through Putrajaya, Milaysia Feb 20, 2008

Here I am sailing down by many Government buildings and bridges in PutraJaya, Milaysia. Milaysia is in many respects a rather new country. It was once a colony of the British Empire. But in August of 1957 it became its own country. It was interesting to see the country and many of its small towns and villages. I look forward to seeing it again. Milaysia is a country that is growing fast. In the next 25 years we will be seeing a lot about this country and the industry and influence it will have on the world. I have not been writing too much here for the last month. First off since I was away...Now I am back and ready to write a lot more about history.

My credo....I am glad to be this way. I could never be like others. Sharing with all the other crazy people out there.

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do

This was part of an commercial for Apple Computers.

I love this. I live this too. Much to the trouble of many people I deal with. But I have to walk to beat of my own drummer. I hope you do too.

The last of the 'spit ball" pitchers in baseball.. Burleigh Grimes ..... He tossed the slick ball till 1934

He was nasty on the diamond. He was scary in his actions. He did not shave on the day of a game. He would battle on a moments notice. He was quite the character.

But old Burleigh Grimes was the last pitcher who threw a spitball in professional baseball. It had been outlawed in 1920, however the remaining fellas who used the spitball were grandfathered in. All 17 of them.
At the time of his retirement in 1934, he was the last of the 17 spitballers left in the league.

He would often fake a spitball and then surprise the batter. He finally left the Field in 1934. With him went the notorious spitball and the last bit of the golden age of stunts of that game. Rules became paramount, and they standardized the game. Today's baseball is so very different from that of a century ago.

By the way I hope you all know what a spitball was? Well it was a ball whetted with saliva to make it slick, and to make it move in ways a dry ball would not.

In addition, there were many safety issues with the spitball, as at times pitchers would use tobacco spit from chewing tobacco as their spit. This was not only rather vulgar but nasty to the hitters.

In fact the spit ball is credited with the death of a batter. Many consider the death of Ray Chapman in 1920 partially as a result of the spitball, since Chapman could not see the ball coming before it struck him in the head, killing him.

After that incident the spit ball was banned save for the 17 users. I find that odd that it was not banned altogether. But that was the rule.

It is interesting that at the same time the entire country through prohibition went dry. However the baseball remained wet. In 1934 the entire country celebrated as the country became wet again as prohibition was repealed. Then baseball became dry. Rather ironic isn't it?

Ramon Reyes Lala...Born in Manila, educated in Europe, and later banished by the Spanish, Lala became the first naturalized Filipino-American citizen

His first book on the region from 1899.
Here you see a picture of him from the book
Here is the book that he would often have around during his talks on the Philippines.
He would sometimes sign one of these copies for a person interested in the message. These books are quite rare.




Born in Manila, educated in Europe, and later banished by the Spanish, Lala became the first naturalized Filipino-American citizen. His talks would cover the early history, the British occupation, the Spanish colonial government, the Church, religion, tribes, Muslims of Sulu, Manila and other cities, commerce, agriculture including sections on hemp, tobacco use and culture, coffee cultivation, Betel-nuts and grains, wood, minerals, natural history, plus the various insurrections, rebellions, the loss of the Spanish to Dewey, and the American occupation.
Much of the history of the Philippines and our war there, was much like our battles in Viet Nam

Dr Franklin, King George III did not like your lightening rod and made some changes to it.

Benj. Franklin invented the lightening rod and was very proud of the invention. As a gift to the public he never took out a patent on it. Now Franklin's work on the lightening rod started in the 1750's. His lightening rod had a sharp end to it.

By the 1770's when there was not to much love being shared between the American Colonies and their mother country England, a controversy started concerning lightening rods. In fact it was stated and ruled by King George himself that a lightening rod should have a ball on the end of it. In fact he had small cannon balled put on to the ends of all lightening rods. In fact he made it a law.

Franklin was not at all pleased by this action and wrote to the King to dispute that opinion. But the King did not change his course or opinion.

Who was right?

Funny to mention it, but King George the 3rd was.

In fact today lightening rods do not have a sharp point on their end, they have a bunt tip like a small ball.

So to Franklin we thank you for the invention of this wonderful device and to King George the 3rd, thanks for your improvement to the invention. Although we hardly ever hear about it.

The death of James A Garfield...Shot by a madman, sadly killed by his doctors. The great and terrible assassination in 1881

James A. Garfield 1831-1881.... 20th President of the United States
Even Alexander G. Bell got into the act trying to locate the bullet with a crude metal detector. However the bed springs interfered with his signals and he mentioned were he thought the bullet may be, but was not sure. Of course the doctors operated on the poor man again with out finding the bullet.
The assassin
Pass to view the remains in the Capitol rotunda
The President as drawn after his death in New Jersey.
The widow mourns over her fallen husband.
The President and his wife lie in state in their monument in Ohio.
Garfield's casket lying in state under the Capitols rotunda.
A closer view of the two coffins in the tomb. There are several points to be made here. The first thing that comes to mind is the difference in the styles of the coffins. Mrs. Garfield died in 1918, so her casket is quite a bit more modern in style. Secondly, Garfield's casket that we see here is an out covering of the casket, not the casket like we see in the photo above. The casket he was placed in was put into a larger outer shell. That is what you see here. It was a common practise in the 19th century to have several layers to a coffin or casket as we call them today.
One of the many memorial books put onto the market as soon as Garfield died. This book came out in fall of 1881. I am sure every memorial book was already written and sadly the writers were waiting like vultures for the moment of death to pounce and produce their book.

A you can see here this book fills us into all the details of life, death, autopsy, burial, etc etc...




Dr. Willard Bliss and his team of doctors is in many respects one of the reasons James A Garfield died. Many may find this statement harsh, as Bliss was Garfield's head doctor in the case after he was shot.
Yes, Charles Guiteau became incensed when his application to be the U. S. ambassador to France was denied. And yes he shot the President in the back on July 2, 1881. In the Washington D.C. train station terminal.

But what that madman could not do, the Presidents doctors did! Bliss would insert his fingers, unsterilized probes, unsterilized knifes into President's wound.
Many other doctors would make probes into the poor man's wound. Doctors from the Army and Navy were brought in to consult on the wound. One of them actually pierced the Presidents liver with their finger!

There had been talk before of cleaning instruments and sterilizing them. But these doctors did not believe in that. Therefore the wound that started as a small entrance wound ended up being a 20 inch canal of oozing puss. It was a loosing battle.

The President grew steadily weaker. No one thought that perhaps they might just leave the bullet where it was. They just kept probing and digging and cutting...All the time the President got weaker still. Till he was so weak that it became only a matter of time before he would die. Garfield was in fine physical health before he was shot, yet by the time of his death he looked like a man in his 70's. He was but 49 years of age.

There was matter of arrogance here, but of course they were the experts. Garfield's wound was not that serious. In fact he should have been encouraged to move around. But they pushed, probed and cut him till he was a lost cause. I find the assassination of James A. Garfield a terrible loss. It needed not to be.

For of the four Presidents who have been assassinated, he is the one who should not have died from his wounds.

In fact if the doctors had done absolutely nothing, he would have probably lived!!!!


But hindsight is 20/20, and Garfield died. He was the second of three Presidents to die at the hands of an assassin in a 36 year period from 1865 till 1901.


This of course led to the many memorial books that came out in droves that had hardly an accurate statement in them. But they bought by a grief stricken nation as they mourned their dead leader.

Garfield was pictured all over and his casket laid in state under the dome of the Capitol.
Garfield was given a grand funeral and today lies in state in his mausoleum. His and his wife's caskets are on display, and in a sense they remain lying in state there, so long after the fact.
It is a unique thing in the world of the Presidents. No other President's casket is on view. All of them are buried, in mausoleums, or uncased in stone vaults.