EX-UNITED STATES SENATOR EMPTIES HIS WINE CELLAR.
WASHINGTON, May 17.—Last night nearly one hundred Rechabites were invited to the magnificent “castle” of Ex-United States Senator John B. Henderson to assist in destroying the wine in his cellar. They did it, and did it well, pouring a thousand dollars worth of rare old wines, some of which cost ten dollars a bottle, into the gutters, with appropriate ceremonies. For some time General Henderson has been hanging around the edge of the temperance question, and had already discarded drink. His wife had recently joined a local tent of Rechabites, which helped the thing along greatly. The butler of the Henderson mansion, Mr. Edwin V. Bennett, is also one of the most active Rechabites in Washington. Some days ago, General Henderson intimated a desire to hitch up with the Rechabites also, and an arrangement was made to “initiate” the general in his “castle,” and empty his wine cellar at the same time. The process was duly carried out with appropriate ceremonies, but the general, who had been ill for some time, was declared too feeble to undergo the ceremonies, and that part of the program was postponed. The delegation of Rechabites who “stormed” the “castle” in full regalia, with an American flag at the head of the procession, was headed by High Chief Ruler Wayne W. Cordell. After an address by Mrs. Henderson, by invitation of host and hostess, a committee was appointed and the bottle-smashing part of the program was carried out. General Henderson is one of the most remarkable characters in Washington. Until recent years, when age crept upon him, he has been in public life continuously since 1848, when he was elected a member of the Missouri legislature. He was presidential elector in 1856, and again in 1860. He was a member of the Missouri convention to determine the question of secession; chosen United States Senator in 1862; special commissioner to make peace with the Indian tribes in 1867; governor of Missouri in 1872; United States special attorney to prosecute the “whisky ring” at St. Louis in 1875. He presided at the National Republican Convention of 1884; member of the Pan-American Congress of 1889-90, and is a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.—Associated Prohibition Press.