"The writer will now give a more definite account of the Hotels as he remembers them; the first in order was the Fountain Inn on Light Street, now the Carrollton; this Hotel was built in the latter part of the last Century, and when Jefferson was Vice President was kept by a Scotchman by the name of James Bryden; this man was one of the founders of the present 'Saint Andrew's Society,' and he was the uncle of the writer's wife, I will therefore, take the privilege of relating some incidents in regard to the Hotel that occurred before my time; during the tenancy of Mr. Bryden, Captain William Bryden, who had the command of a vessel, came into this Port for the first time and happened to go to the Hotel bar, the man in charge asked him for his name, for the resemblance was so great between the proprietor and the Captain, when told he said, 'I believe that the proprietor of this house is your brother,' which turned out to be the fact; they had been separated since boyhood and neither had an idea that the other was living; The consequence of this discovery was that the Captain settled in Baltimore and for forty years was a resident on the Northeast boundary of the City fronting on Loney's Lane, and for the first half of that period commanded and sailed from this Port the largest class of vessels of that day.

"The next incident was that it became known that Jefferson, who was then Vice President of the United States, was to pass through Baltimore, and James Bryden, thinking that he would have a large retinue, for he was then only second to Washington in the hearts of his countrymen, was keeping all the spare rooms for Jefferson and his friends. Jefferson came, unattended, he hitched his horse to a post and walked into the office with his saddle bags on his arm and asked for a room; Bryden told him that they were all engaged, Jefferson expressed some regret, as he was very much fatigued, but took up the saddle bags and rode up to the Globe Inn and got a room, a few moments after he had left Bryden discovered who the man was that he had turned away, and he became almost frantic, he sent a servant up to the other Hotel requesting Mr. Jefferson to come back as he had been keeping all the spare rooms in the house for several days for him; Mr. Jefferson thanked him, through the servant, but said he was comfortable where he was and as he intended to leave the next morning it was not worth while to change for so short a time; what made the disappointment so great to Bryden was, that he had a select room that he called the President's room and was intending it for Mr. Jefferson's especial use."

"Another incident in which James Bryden figured as a hero was this, just opposite to the Hotel stood the First Methodist Church, in those days the style of worship was so noisy that it became annoying to the Hotel, to drown this singing and shouting Bryden employed a band of music to play during a revival, but the Methodists held the Fort, and after a few years of occupancy Bryden had to retreat and the church remained for many years."