Some falls are only a stumble on marble, yet they can open a door into older stories that the building itself has been keeping. Chad Pergram, a congressional correspondent for Fox News, tripped on the Capitol steps while chasing a question about baseball and a possible return of the big leagues to Montreal, and in the telling he found himself reaching back to 1890, when a Kentucky congressman was shot in the same halls by a reporter he had quarreled with. Set against the long human habit of seeking meaning in misfortune, the episode becomes less about a tumble than about how a place remembers
A Fall on the Capitol Steps Leads Chad Pergram to a Century-Old Ghost Story
I struck out. And Trudeau departed.
Mark
Why is a fall on the Capitol steps worth a whole column?
Mimi
Because it's a reporter's small failure told honestly. He went after a baseball question for Trudeau, and the question never got asked.
Mark
And the baseball angle was real?
Mimi
There was a report that the Rays might split seasons between Florida and Montreal. That's what he wanted to ask about.
Luke
Worth noting that's a report he mentions, not something he confirms. The column doesn't say whether the Rays plan ever went anywhere.
Mark
How does the ghost come in?
Mimi
He tells the Taulbee story. Kincaid shot Taulbee on Feb. 28, 1890, and Taulbee died 11 days later.
Luke
That history is stated as fact. The haunting is not. Pergram says Taulbee's ghost is known to lurk, but that's lore.
Mark
Does he actually claim a ghost tripped him?
Mimi
No. He lists his own theories, like fatigue, a lip on the stair and his shoes, then leaves it open.
Luke
Right, and the bloodstains lasting on the marble are his claim too. I'd treat that as the author's account, not something the piece verifies.
Mark
So what's the takeaway?
Mimi
It's a light feature. Nothing to watch for, just a reporter laughing at himself.
Il Polso
- A reporter goes sprawling on the Capitol steps just as a sought-after comment from a visiting prime minister slips away.
- The stumble lands in front of Justin Trudeau, turning a routine press moment into an unplanned spectacle.
- Pergram reaches for an explanation, weighing a loose staircase lip, rushed footwork, and his worn loafers against his own fitness.
- Memory of an 1890 shooting in the same building surfaces, and the story drifts from embarrassment toward legend.
- No policy consequence follows; the matter rests as a lighthearted personal essay with the ghost question left open.
Some falls are only a stumble on marble, yet they can open a door into older stories that the building itself has been keeping. Chad Pergram, a congressional correspondent for Fox News, tripped on the Capitol steps while chasing a question about baseball and a possible return of the big leagues to Montreal, and in the telling he found himself reaching back to 1890, when a Kentucky congressman was shot in the same halls by a reporter he had quarreled with. Set against the long human habit of seeking meaning in misfortune, the episode becomes less about a tumble than about how a place remembers its own violence and its own jokes.
On a sweltering July day, Chad Pergram, Fox News's congressional correspondent, saw then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau coming down a staircase at the U.S. Capitol after a meeting with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pergram stepped forward with a microphone, hoping to ask about a report that the Tampa Bay Rays might split their season with Montreal, which would bring major league baseball back to Quebec. He never asked. He went down on the marble near the Memorial Door.
He had been thinking about the Montreal Expos of the 1980s, and about a photo of a young Trudeau with his late father at Olympic Stadium. Mid-stumble, he judged that catching himself would snap a wrist, so he let himself fall and rolled onto his shoulder, the way years of martial arts training had taught him. His photographer shouted his name three times. Trudeau paused, then walked on. Pergram stood up with nothing to show for it. In his telling, he struck out.
People keep asking what tripped him. He offers his own candidates: fatigue, a lip on the small staircase catching his rubber-soled loafers, and the rush to file. He rejects the label of clumsy, pointing to his daily workouts and years of skiing.
Decades at the Capitol, though, gave him a suspicion. In the 1890s, Kentucky Democrat William Taulbee feuded with reporter Charles Kincaid, who wrote pieces about Taulbee's private affairs that Taulbee considered dishonest. On Feb. 28, 1890, Kincaid, carrying a pistol, shot Taulbee in the eye. Taulbee bled down the House's "Y" staircase, and Pergram notes the stains are still visible. He died eleven days later.
Pergram suggests Taulbee bears no fondness for the press corps and may still be tripping reporters on the ornate stairs. Asked whether it was a ghost, he declines to say, leaving readers to decide. The column goes no further than that.
On a sweltering July day, Chad Pergram, Fox News's congressional correspondent, spotted then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau coming down a spiral staircase at the U.S. Capitol. Trudeau had just met with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and he was moving with a small group of aides and a security detail. Pergram stepped toward him with a microphone in one hand, mumbled something about Tampa Bay, and went down on the marble steps near the Memorial Door.
The question he never got to ask was about baseball. A report had surfaced that the Tampa Bay Rays might split each season between Florida and Montreal, which would bring big league baseball back to Quebec. Pergram figured a comment from Trudeau would be international news, carried on Fox, FS1, ESPN and TSN in Canada. He also knew Trudeau had watched the Montreal Expos of the 1980s, the teams of Andre Dawson, Warren Cromartie and Steve Rogers. Pergram recalled a photo of a teenage Trudeau with his father, the late Pierre Trudeau, at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 and became the Nationals. Montreal has had no major league team since, and was denied a possible 1994 World Series run by the players' strike.
Pergram says he realized mid-stumble that he was going to fall. With the microphone in his hand, he judged that trying to catch himself would break a wrist or hand, so he let himself go. Years of martial arts training under Master Kim and Master Yang at a Tae Kwon Do dojang, where he earned a second degree black belt, taught him how to fall. He rolled onto his right shoulder, toward Trudeau. His photographer, Robert Fetzer, shouted his name three times. Trudeau paused briefly. Pergram sprang to his feet hoping for a word about baseball, but Trudeau left. In his words, he struck out.
Since then, people keep asking what tripped him. He lists his own candidates. He was a little tired. He noticed a lip on the small staircase that may have caught the edge of his brown loafers, which had rubber soles and slightly scuffed toes and went with his tan summer suit. He was also in a hurry to get the story. He rejects the label of clumsy. He works out daily, has taken a few tumbles on predawn runs in Alexandria, Virginia, and used to snow ski. He felt nothing across his shin or ankle.
But, after decades of working daily at the Capitol, he had a suspicion about who might be responsible. In the late 19th century, Kentucky Democratic Rep. William Taulbee clashed with reporter Charles Kincaid, who wrote pieces about Taulbee's personal affairs that Taulbee considered dishonest. Taulbee was tall, Kincaid was small, and Taulbee was known to beat him up at times.
Taulbee was no longer in federal office by 1890, but Kincaid knew he would be at the Capitol. Kincaid carried a pistol, and on Feb. 28, 1890, he shot Taulbee in the eye. Taulbee bled down the House's "Y" staircase, and the stains on the marble, Pergram writes, are still visible today. He died 11 days later.
Pergram reasons that Taulbee holds no affection for the congressional press corps, and that his ghost is said to haunt the Capitol, occasionally tripping reporters on ornate staircases. When people hear the story, they excitedly ask whether it was a ghost. Pergram declines to say, leaving readers to reach their own conclusions. The piece is a personal essay, and nothing in it points to any follow-up.
Citazioni salienti
Pergram says he doesn't think he is clumsy and has his own theories about what tripped him, but leaves readers to decide.— Chad Pergram, Fox News
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