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Vol. 76 No. 29 July 21, 1976
QUEHANN/
Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Builet...
MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA.
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Ratph M.
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Mount
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Joy, PA 17552
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ru «EN CENTS
Edna Guhl knows inside story of Pres. Buchanan’s tragic romance
Mrs. Edna Guhl of
Mount Joy knows the in-
side story of U.S. President
James Buchanan’s tragic
love affair with heiress Ann
Coleman.
After reading an account
of that sad tale in the Sus-
quehanna Magazine, Mrs.
Guhl called our office and
gave us her information.
Mrs. Guhl’s story throws
Ann Coleman; she died of a broken heart.
new light on the history of
the only president from
Lancaster County.
The public facts of the
affair are as follows: It was
shortly after midnight,
Thursday, December 9,
1819, that Ann Coleman,
daughter of Robert Cole-
man, the richest man in
PA, very suddenly died at
her sister’s home in Phila-
delphia.
The day before, she had
been seen walking along
Chestnut Street, ‘‘in the
vigour of health.”
Ann was depressed be-
cause she had just broken
off her engagement to
James Buchanan, a tall
handsome lawyer whose
star was rising in Lancaster
Society.
Lancaster had been buz-
zing the week before Ann’s
death about her broken en-
gagement and her resulting
depression. When they
heard of her death, many
people felt sure she had
killed herself in her despair
over James.
Mrs. Guhl of Mount Joy
has this to say about the
affair:
‘James Buchanan was
my grandmother’s attor-
ney. Her name was Lydia
Straub.
One day Buchanan asked
Lydia why she didn’t get
married again. Lydia told
Buchanan she had been
iaarried three times, and
was widowed each time.
Her total married life had
been six years.
Then Lydia asked Buch-
anan, ‘‘Why don’t you get
married? There's as good
fish in the sea as have ever
been caught.”
Buchanan answered,
““There’s only one Ann for
»
me.
Lydia asked what had
happened between them.
“Lydia, I'll tell you,”
said Buchanan.
James Buchanan and
Ann Coleman had attended
a. dance. ‘He wore a
swallow-tailed coat with
pockets in the back.
When Buchanan danced
with a girl who wore long
white gloves, the girl asked
him to hold her gloves in
his pocket.
[continued on Page 2]
Maytown’s Spinning Spokes conquer swollen
es 3 oe AR
Photo shows the Spinning Spokes. From left to right
are;top row- Sue Heinaman, John Hay, Kathy Hay,
Dorothy Hay, Diane Leonard, and Dale P. Boyer;
middle row-
Tish Barnitz,
Vickie Blake, Radean
Gordner, Kim Boyer, Irene Penwell, Bonnie Boyer, Dale
Nancy Heinaman,
Hall,
A. Boyer, and Paul Hay; bottom row- Greg Nell,
Sandy
Hall, Scott
Denny
Penwell and Bruce Sipling. The girl in front is Anne
Boyer. Not shown in the photo are bicyclists John and
Judy Kerschner, Denny Ebersole, Beth Blake, Donna
Hay, David Hall and Brian Hall.
a
Mrs. Edna Guhl, local teacher and historian,
/
sits In
front of a dresser that was owned by her grandmother,
Lydia Straub. Lydia heard the story of Buchanan's
fateful romance from the president’s own lips.
Last Saturday the
‘Spinning Spokes’ of St.
John’s Lutheran Church,
returned to Maytown.
The 29 bikers pedalled
187 miles in eight days.
Despite almost nightly
thunderstorms, leaky tents,
and a steady diet of
granola, gorp, and eggs
McLeonalls, they managed
to traverse most of their
route.
The group stayed in a
Lutheran campground and
various parks. At Ohidpyle
State Park they rode rubber
rafts seven and a half miles
down the rain swollen
rapids of the ‘Youghiogheny
River.
They had to sit on the
edges of the rafts to
cushion their bottoms from
the jagged rocks. Thanks to
this cushioning effect, only
ten women and girls fell
out.
Diane Leonard, thinking
quickly, held onto both her
paddle and her glasses
when she went overboard.
She failed to hang onto a
rock, however, and had to
be picked up by a kayak.
river, pedal 187 miles
*‘I was frightened at the
time,”’ she said, ‘“‘but it
was fun. Also cold!” She
later volunteered to float
down the Swimmer’s
Rapids without a raft.
The trip was made
somewhat more comfort-
able by Paul Hay’s motor
home, which accompanies
the bicycles. Lloyd Derr’s
van also went along.
Dale Boyer, scout mas-
ter, made himself useful on
rainy nights by collecting
‘‘squaw wood’’ dead
branches that are too high
to reach. Dale tied a
weight to a string, threw it
around a branch, and
pulled down the dry wood.
“We taught the other
campers to do it, then left
before the rangers came to
arrest them’ Dale explain-
ed.
The Spinning Spokes
club was organized by John
and Kathy Hay, who had
been bicycling on their own
for some time. They
thought it would be a good
idea to involve other mem-
[continued on Page 2]