Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa Territory [Iowa]) 1840-1846, 1844-05-11

Gross Outrage I'm the U. 3. House
Of Representatives.
The Globe Of the 23d ult., contains The
following; IT,
We went to the House this morning for
the purpose Of hearing, among other things,
Mr.. Wright, ofIndiana, conclude his speech
on the tariff, Which he commenced yester-
day; but he had concluded before we reach
ed there, and Mr.. White, Of Kentucky,
Speaker of the last House of Representa-
tives, had the floor on the same subject
when we reached the Capitol. Although
the tariff was the subject before the Com
mittee Of the Whole, we did not hear Mr..
White make single allusion TO il during
the fifty minutes which we heard him speak.
He may have alluded to it in the ten min
utes which he had consumed before we
reached the House. The whole If what
we heard him say was in relation to the
bargain which has been charged as entered
into between Mr.. Adams and Mr.. CLAY, in
the year 1925, when Mr.. Clay elected Mr..
Adams President Of the United States, and
Mr.. Adams made Mr.. Clay Secretary of
State. Mr.. White denied that there was
any bargain between them, and read, and
had read BY the Clerk Of the House, letters
from sundry persons, and speech made
by Mr.. Adams year or two ago. to bear
him out in what he said.
Mr.. White, just at the close of his hour,
4 Sfafcd hat Hxto ~varflopn ~, &c H. L. i
certified to what the newspapers had charg-
ed Mr.. Clay as having said in his speech
on the Missouri question, in February,
1919: eff you won't let US have black
slaves, we must have whites ones" &c.;
which speech he said Mr.. Clay had never
written out.
The extract, he said, was taken from a
note to Mr.. Rich's speech, published in the
National Intelligencer more than year af-
ter that gentlemen had made his speech, in
which note Mr.. Rich had said that Mr.. Clay
used those words. Here Mr.. White he ur
ran out, and Mr.. Jacob Brinkerhofr obtain
ed the floor. Mr.. Andrew Kennedy asked
Mr.. Brinkerhoff TO yield the floor to him
moment, as he YVES one of the five gentle
men alluded to, and he wished to prove
what he had certified 10. Mr.. Brinker-
hoff refused to yield the floor; when Mr..
Rathbun, who sits directly in front Of, and
not more than three feet from, Mr.. White,
said to Mr.. Kennedy, ''never mind, we can
prove it all over the House." Mr.. White
replied, "You can prove id lie, then;
swallow that, d-n YOU" Mr.. Rathbun
rose slowly from his seat, with his thumbs
in the pockets Of his pantaloons, and turn
ing round to Mr.. White said, s'Do you in
tend to apply the lie to me personality"
To which Mr.. White replied, 81 do, God
d-n you;" shutting his fists, and putting
himself in defensive, or offensive position,
as he said so. By the time the words were
out Of his mouth, both Of them had aimed
blow at each other. We could not discern
which struck first. As soon as we saw
this, we ran to where they were, but be-
fore we reached there they had been sep
arated. We entered the aisle where the
combatants were, side by side with the
sergeant-at-arms. The members ordered
manner, some Of them putting their haads
against him. While they were doing this
we have been told, man named Moore,
who resides in the Lexington congre ssion-
al district Of Kentucky, was behind the
scrgeant-at-arms, trying TO pull him out,
and saying, at the same time, "let them
fight it out" We neither saw nor heard
this. Our attention was drawn, at the
time, to the members in front Of the SER
geant-at-arms, who were ordering him out
of the bar of the House. We thought if
the sergeant-at-arms was out Of his place,
or exceeding his duty, that we certainly
were clearly out Of ours, and that we had
better keep bright look out, else we might
te elected very suddenly. BY the time
we thought this much, we concluded to get
out of the bar Of the House; and as we got
out near the door that enters the hall from
the post Office Of the House, we saw the
flash and heard the report of pistol in the
doorway.
We rushed to the door, and found three
or four persons just outside the door, grap-
pling with the Kentuckian whom we have
mentioned, trying to wrest from i'm pis-
tol. As he appeared to ''hold his own"
WIFI then, we COncluueU 10 aSolSt tnems
and just as we were about doing so, avoice
at our side said "7akc me, Mr.. Rives, for
! am wounded" We at once recognized
the person who spoke, to be Mr.. Isaac H.
Wales, one Of the police Of the Capitol
We took hold Of him, and found that he had
been shot through his right thigh, near
where il joins his body. Two men assist
ed us to take him to his house, about 900
yards from the Capitol. On his way thith-
er, he informed us that, hearing distur-
bance in the House Of Representatives he
thought it his duty to go in and assist in
quellng it; that, as he entered the door
nearest the post Office, Mr.. McCauslen, al
member Of Congress from Ohio, was put
ting the Kentuckian before mentioned out
at It; that as soon as he was put out, he
drew pistol from his breast and attempted
to shoot Mr.. McCauslin, who was then
iustinsid the House, while he, Mr.. WALES,
was in the door; that some person ut that
moment took hold of the man who had the
pistol, and turned him 70 much, that he
shot him, (Wailes,) who was by one Of the
cheeks of the door.
BY the time we got Mr.. Wales home,
we ascertained that his thigh-bone was not
broken; and we returned to the Capitol