five o'clock
I was one of the very few who could not borrow a revolver or did not want one -- no matter which . `` Suffice it to say that I reached Washington on Sunday morning -- the day previous to the inauguration -- found the hotels full and took lodgings at a private house a few hundred yards from the Capitol , and spent the early part of the day in inspecting the preparations made for the holiday show , in and about the Capitol building . The courtesy of Colonel Forney , then Clerk of the House , arranged for my admission to the building during the ceremonies of the next day ; and that of Douglas Wallach , of the _ Star _ , furnished me a seat in the reporters ' gallery of the Senate for that evening when the last session of the expiring Congress was to be held and a last effort made for putting through those ` compromise resolutions ' which it was then believed might ` save the Union , ' but which we now know to have been as useless , even if they could have been passed , as so much whistling against the wind . `` Although it was Sunday , time was pressing , and the fate of the nation seemed to be hanging upon a breath ; so the Senate had arranged a session for five o'clock , which seemed very likely to last well into the night , and was almost certain to be crowded to suffocation . As you will remember , it _ did _ last until seven the next morning -- after daylight , and witnessed one of the most exciting debates in the history of that body , -- in which Baker of Oregon flashed out even more than usual of his patriotic eloquence ; and white-haired , sad old Crittenden of Kentucky moaned out words of fear for the nation , that have since been but too truly realized ; and Mason of Virginia showed more boldly than ever the cloven foot of the traitor who would not have reconciliation at any price ; and Douglas rose above his short stature in alternately lashing one and the other of those whom he believed to be equally enemies to his type of conservatism . No one who sat out that session will ever forget it -- but enough of this , which should be written and not spoken . `` Of course after dinner that day I went down to the Hotels on the Avenue , to take a peep at the political barometer and see what was the prospect for violence on the morrow .