William Penn, 1962 (45. évfolyam, 5-23. szám)
1962-07-18 / 14. szám
PAGE 8 July 18, 1962. William Penn LINCOLN AND THE HUNGARIANS By EDMUND VASVARY (This is copyrighted by the William Penn Fraternal Association This triumvirate became the moving spirit of that tragic revolutionary attempt which is known as the “Makk conspiracy.’’ Makk went to Bucharest and then to the neighboring Transylvania, disguised as a Roumanian peasant with a “dancing” bear. Figyelmessy with his flowing beard could pass as an Orthodox Jew, and Rózsafy as a “French” traveling salesman, although he did not know a word of French. They went from village to village, distributing Kossuth’s revolutionary appeal by the millions. It is a proverbial fact, however, that the Hungarians are the worst conspirators in the world. This proved to be true in this case also. In no time the Austrian spy system knew all about the conspiracy. Figyelmessy and Makk succeeded in escaping, but Rózsafy was arrested and sentenced to death in his native town, where he went to say farewell to his family. Somehow, dressed as a woman, he escaped the day before the execution. On the street he met his mother. They recognized each other, but could not talk. A wave of the hand was their last greeting. They never saw each other again. Afterwards the Austrians executed more than a hundred Hungarians. The three conspirators met again in London, where Kossuth himself lived after his American tour. Living there for some years, Rózsafy married the daughter of an English family and came to the United States in 1858. He tried farming near Wilmington N. C. Makk lived with them, dying a few1 years later. Later on they moved to Peekskill, N. Y. In the Civil War Rózsafy served under General Pope as Captain of the 1st West Virginia Light Artillery Regiment, and was mustered out as a Major by brevet. Securing a government position, he lived later in Washington, D. C. Rózsafy took an active part in Hungarian American affairs, wrote frequently in the contemporary Hungarian papers, and also sent articles to Hungary. Ho was largely instrumental in founding the “Szabadság” (“Liberty”) in Cleveland, Ohio as a modest weekly in 1891. The paper, long since a daily, is now in its 72d year. Rózsafy died in Washington May 8, 1893 at the age of 65. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A delegation of Hungarians visited his grave in 1939, when his last living son, Louis A. Rosafy, since deceased, addressed them. His descendants are living mostly in Washington. (2) David Glück (1843-1917) was hardly twenty years old when he became a soldier of Lincoln. He could not fight for Hungary under Kossuth because at the time of that struggle he was a mere boy of 5 or 6 years of age. A few years afterwards he came to the United States with his parents. The family settled in St. Louis, Mo. where young Glück enlisted in the Union Army. We have no information about his military career. What makes his later life interesting is the fact that considerably after the Civil War, in the 90’s of the last century, he was elected Mayor of the erstwhile notorious Western town, Dodge City, Kansas. This town, although very small, had the reputation of being the “wickedest little city” in the United States. When after the Civil War, Glück as a watchmaker and jeweler settled down in Dodge City, the place had only 700 inhabitants but had one saloon for every 50 people, and some 20 “dance halls” where the day was called lost which saw no man killed or some other serious mischief done. “Bat” Masterson and Wyatt Earp, so well-known today through television, flourished there during those days, althongh not in the glorified manner in which they are portrayed today. Glück lived there during those turbulent and inglorious days and undoubtedly was well-known as a solid citizen who amply deserved the distinction of being elected one of the members of the town council. This was followed in the 90s by the highest distinction the town could bestow on him: they elected him Mayor. At this time the erstwhile lawless and deservedly ill-reputed manner of life was only a bad reminder of the old times. The town, although bigger, slowly muddled through the years and saw bad days at times. Some prosperity came along when the Santa Fé Railroad constructed a branch line from Dodge City. We do not know what role Glück played in securing a better name for his town, but he undoubtedly rendered meritorious service, otherwise the people would not have elected him their Mayor. The town at present has about 11,000 inhabitants. Glück died in Dodge City in 1917 when 74 years old. (3) IGNATZ DEBRECZENYI (1823—1913) was also Kossuth’s soldier and had to flee the country. In the annals of the Honvéd Army veterans, he is registered as a former First Lieutenant. During the first years of his exile the Austrians watched him as closely as possible, although in their lists he was characterized as “a man of no importance.” True, he was not an important member of the emigration, but as a man he was an interesting individual. For this reason we remember him. He was born in the city of Szeged, in the district called “Lower Town” (Alsóváros). His father was a tailor. He was a bright boy, but in spite of this he finished only one year at the “gymnasium” conducted by the Piarist Fathers. He became an apprentice of his father and a journeyman tailor. Later, however, owing to his distinctive handwriting, he became a clerk in a lawyer’s office. He was 25 years of age when he enlisted in the National Army of Hungary. He especially distinguished himself at the siege of the old fortress of Buda, when on May 23, 1849 he was among the first who scaled the walls and planted the first Hungarian flag on the regained stronghold. He was promoted to First Lieutenant for this deed. In August, with several unhealed wounds, he returned to his native city to recuperate, where within a few days he heard the news that the Hungarian Army had surrendered to the Russians. At almost the same time, in a fit of jealousy he shot to death the woman he planned to marry. Now he had two very serious reasons to flee the country as fast as he could. He succeeded in going to Germany from where he proceeded to the United States. Here he became a barber. He was well-known in emigré circles as a loud, blustering, loquacious man, about whom the Rev. Gideon Ács, who became the first Hungarian Protestant minister in America, wrote in his “Memoirs:” “He was a man who bragged of his taciturnity, although he was and can not be reproduced in any way without permission.) prattling all the time, never keeping his mouth shut.” After the general amnesty, Debreczenyi returned to Hungary, but first the old crime had to be settled somehow. He engaged one of the best known lawyers of his native city, who later became his fast friend. The lawyer succeeded in presenting the case so that it appeared to have been the consequence of political intrigue. The rival who alienated the affections of Debreczenyi's lady love was proved to have been an Austrian officer. Debreczenyi was pardoned. Debreczenyi became a mounted process-server, delivering official documents to the people of the plains. Only a brave and hardy man could fulfill the requirements of this job. The process-servers could easily disappear in the immense, endless plain, constantly terrorized by outlaws. He continued in this job for about four years, when he got a position in the city as a customs official. He retired only when he was 85. Although he was an ardent ladies’ man, he never married. He was 91 when he died in December, 1913, and received his Civil War veteran’s pension until his death. According to iiis wish, a gypsy band followed his coffin to the cemetery where a small mausoleum was ready for his remains. In 1929 a lawyer in Szeged, Antal Czibula, wrote a novel, based on personal reminiscences, entitled “A nagy diktátor” (“The Great Dictator”). The main character in this novel is the lawyer who was instrumental in obtaining Debreczenyi’s pardon for the old crime, and in whose office the author worked as a young attorney-candidate. The character’s are all well-known old-timers of the city, under other names. One of the characters is Debreczenyi himself (under the name of Uncle Náci Szegedi), who willingly and often tells his war exploits to the members of the younger generation, especially emphasizing the scaling of the walls of the fortress of Buda and the planting of the first Hungarian flag by himself. (4) CHARLES BARÓTHY (1845—1944) interests us only because he lived longest among the Hungarian American Civil War veterans. He was 99 years old when he died in 1944 in Omaha, Neb. Baróthy was born in Nagyvárad (now in Roumania). His father, László, was a Major in the Hungarian revolutionary army, who was hunted by the Austrians with special thoroughness because of his effective revolutionary activities. The family came to the United States, where Charles at 18 enlisted in the 1st Nebraska Cavalry Regiment, serving two years and nine months. After the war he became an Indian fighter and later was occupied in different business pursuits. His younger brother, Árpád, was a well-known physician in Chicago. In 1938, at the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, when for the first and last time the U.S. government invited all the living Civil War veterans, Confederates included, to a joint memorial meeting, Baróthy was among those who attended the historical occasion. When he died, there remained only nine living Civil War veterans, all of whom have since died. CHAPTER SIX Two Hungarian Aristocrats “Survey” the Civil War In the summer of 1862 two Hungarian aristocrats arrived in the United States. Their purpose was to study the general conditions of the country, although during the years of the fratricidal war the country was able to supply only scanty information about its normal conditions. The waves of war already overflowed the eastern part of the land and naturally nobody was able to predict the final outcome of the conflict. At the beginning of the contest the South seemed to be more fortunate in having more and better military leaders who were responsible for a larger share of the initial successes. The two young men bore old, historical names. One of them, Count Béla Széchenyi (1837—1918), was the son of Count István Széchenyi, whom Kossuth himself called the “greatest of Hungarians.” The other one, Count Gyula Károlyi (1837—1890), was the descendant of the ancient Kaplony clan, which family received the title of Count after the defeat of the Rákóczi rebellion in 1711, as a reward for the role Sándor Károlyi, Rákóczi’s “chief general,” played in signing the peace treaty. Thirteen years after the American trip, Gyula Károlyi became the father of Michael Károlyi (1875—1955) who was one of the most controversial figures in Hungary’s recent history. The two young men were of the same age: both were 25 years old. Their education was about the same, the usual education of young European aristocrats of that period. Besides Hungarian, they spoke more or less correct German, French or English and saw some of the world through their travels in different countries. As “hereditary legislators” of their country, future members of the House of Magnates, naturally they were interested in the problems of their own country. They tried to make their travels fruitful, which, especially in the case of young Széchenyi, was a family tradition and duty in respect to his father, the famous reformer. They had also another obligation of minor significance which they were pledged under solemn oath to observe in all their wanderings. When they were about to start to America from Europe, the member of Gyula Károlyi, née Countess Caroline Zichy, a fervent patriot who fiercely hated the Habsburgs and who up to 1882 lived in emigration, took a solemn oath from them that during their travels they never would wear anything else but Hungarian style clothes. (Her sister, the Countess Antonia, was the widow of Count Louis Batthyány, the first constitutional Prime Minister of Hungary, who was executed by the Austrians on the same day as the 13 Hungarian generals were executed, on October 6, 1849.) The two young men were fortunate that during their two month’s stay in the United States, they were accompanied several times by Colonel Philip Figyelmessy, the hero of several wars, and at that time an active officer of the Northern forces. Figyelmessy had already been in the United States almost a year and spent ihis vacation with his newly arrived wife in Hoboken. Károlyi eagerly advised Figyelmessy to return to Hungary but the Colonel did not show any inclination to do so. Tyranny was still rampant in Hungary, (To Be Continued)
