Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1834-08-07
a Short account Of the Political career offh
T.. I. THIRD SENATOR.

| a Short Account Of the Political career offhe
RI THIRD SENATOR.
Mn. EDlToR--
\ Permit me to occupy your columns
in giving a short history Of the political
career Of ELISHA r. Porter, as it has
come under my own immediate observa-
ton, in which shall ask some questions
and state some facts, perhaps not very
generally known. Who is Elisha r.
Potter? What are his claims, and what
his qualifca atoms =? The first of these
questions ] shall now answer very brief
( ly-the other two shall answer hereaf-
ter. Elisha II. Potter was born in the
Narragansett country, in the county of
Washington in this State, some where in
the summer (dog g-days most likely,) of
l76l, making him now about 73 years Of
age. He has nothing beyond common
school education, and that education, be
il what It may, is now precisely what it
was so years ago. He was remark able
Cor nothing during the first quarter Of a
century OF his life, except his strong and
une overnable propensity to quarrel with
ger was likely to befal him in the quar-
rel. When he arrived to the age OF %,
he married a widow lady, venerable for
her great age, and respected for her ma
ny virtues, possessed Of what in those
days was deemed large property, some
twenty thousand dollars, chiefly if not all
in cash. But for this incident in his life,
the space Elisha II. Potter would have
filled in the world, would have been
small indeed, hey yond that necessarily ta-
ken up by his enormous carcase. Situa-
ted as he then was, in the midst of a
country population, thinly scattered over
a rich, but i'll cultivated tract of land -
having at his command this large amount
Of ready cash, he set himself,o the work
of making himselfa great man. Nature
had furnished him with an ordinary share
Of intellect, aud an exterior Of an impos-
ing and somewhat irightful appearance
HI is rather over six feet high, with
huge brawny shouders-his complexion
s of dark, Indian hue; his eyes large
md glaring, and very much overshadow-
ID with coarse, long black eye brows.-I
iA'S iSotuiSS aIo idiSc anu pTOUInent,
md every way unseemly and repulsive;
lis weight is about 800 lbs. His ap-
'earance, his furious, malicious and vim
ictive temper, enabled him, with his
money, to browbeat those he could not
ersuade, to become his dupes. He soon I
ommenccd shaving notes and mortga-
es, in style and to an extent that
,ould have made old Shylock hmselfI
lush.-By this trade, he acquired an in
uence and control over large number '
{ the poorer, or midding class of peo- :
lie, which enabled him very shortly to
btain a seat in our General Assembly,
! the year '9l, about which time he got |
Omitted to the bar. But if his own word p
an be taken as evidence, he never ac- I
uired much legal knowledge. ] have C
heard him say, or rather boast C
his lille speeches in the Legislature, GO
lat he "never knew any thing about tt
Wand on one Of those occasions he o.
I'D he was 800 honest to make a law j
er;" this assertion occasioned grca,
lighter, and well it might. fc
l shall not now, trouble you any fur p,
er-you will hear from me again, 81
'wever, in better season for your next b,
DioGENEs.
We would be much obliged to our ct
ING ston corresponden if he ,so,,H Cor. 4