The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-08-04
OLD TIMES AT THE CAPITOL.

OLD TINES AT THE CAPITOL.
Open Sale of Liquors I'm the Capitol
In Former Days-WflsOn's Crusade
| Against the Hole In the WALL
Great Speech.
A correspondent of the Chicago
Times writes chapter of Washing
ton "reminiscences, from which the
following extract is taken: For years
whisky and all sorts of liquors were
openly sold in all the refreshment
rooms of the Capitol Building. Com
mittee rooms were stocked like the
sample rooms of the present day, and
1t was no uncommon thing during q
over one-half Of the members drunk.
Building was abolished in 1866, by act
! of Congress This has had an effect
with the surveillance of the newepa-
pers, and a growing public sentiment,
| TO restrain the members outwardly,
| but it is still not uncommon t6 see
members in attendance upon Congress
under the influence of liquor There
was quite scene made in the House
last winter by Gen. Pierce M. B.
Young, Of Georgia, coming into the
House, slaboring under a very heavy
stress of weather. He staggered to
ward sofa, and fell upon it, and in a
moment was In dead. drunken sleep.
As he fell a pOcket-fask of whisky
slid out of his pocket upon the floor
beside him, as II in explanation of the
sudden prostration of the gentleman
from Georgia. During the war there
were some very exciting scenes during
the night sessions. Members swcre
and threatened one another in their
speeches without any of this appear
ing in the so-called verbatim reports
of Congress. The carrying of weapons
then was also quite common. Henry
Wilson was the man to whom is due
the credit of securing the adjustment
of the open sale of liquors in the
Capitol Building. He became indig-
nant finally at the continued disgrace
full scenes occasioned by drunken men,
and he moved SO vigorously in his
crusade, that ''The Hole in the Wall
and its twin saloon under the house
was abolished. In its place are now
two restaurants Their bad food does
more to depress humanity and ravage
the average Congressional stomach
than ever did the devils dives" of
the past. There were several incl
dents that led Henry Wilson to insist
upon a resolution prohibiting the sale
Of liquor in the Capitol Building.
One of these peculiar incidents nearly
cost the life of the presiding officer of
the Senate. The correspondent of
SOME ARKANSAS NEWSPAPER
was one day leaning carelessly over
the front railing of the reporters gal
lery, eagerly listening to some favorite
speaker upon the floor, when he
leaned over further than he calcu-
lated, and bowie knife that he car
ried between his shoulders slipped
out, and, turning over, descended
with the rapidity of a fash, landing
with loud noise as it stuck into the
desk in front of the presiding officer.
One can, we'll imagine that there was
some excitement at this. The cOrres-
pondent was at once brought before
the bar of the Senate, but he was re-
leased at once, when he explained
that the whole business was an acci-
dent. As one genial Senator said,
slapping one of his pockets to indicate
a concealed weapon, that was an acci-
any gentleman" Another time Sem
ator Salisbury, of Delaware, brother
of the present Senator from that State,
Senate very drunk, and interrupted
He told one Senator right out in de-
bate that he was "a id liar" pos
sible fact, but a not exactly parlia-
mentary statement. Salisbury was
removed, after while, by his friends.
This scandal was a subject of great
indignation in the circle made up hy
Henry Wilson and his friends. They
prepared a resolution of expulsion,
and resolved then and there to crap
pie with this growing evil of drunken
ness among men in the high positions
of legislators. The next morning
Salisbury had recovered from his
spree; he had dim idea that he had
been doing something not entirely re-
bounding to his credit as statesman.
He was at a loss to get at the exact
truth of what he had done. He met
one of the official reporters of the
Senate on his way up to the Capitol,
and accosted him. See here said
Salisbury, Il want you to tell me
frankly whether | made id fool
of myself last night or not. can't
go to my friends about it, for they
will lie to me for the sake of flattering
me" The reporter looked at Sauls-
bury with due humility as he replied:
| MIR. salisbury, you are q Senator, [
am an employe of the Senate. 1t
would not do for me to tell you that
you made id fool of yourself, and
= corr ~ >,oU @ " rrY A m xoY- nm >,or,
without lying. So you must excuse
me-" well, that is plain enough"
muttered salisbury, and upon the
strength of it he went off and prepared
an humble apology to the Senate for
his misdemeanors. This action on
his part saved him from expulsion.
Henry Wilson, however, was resolved
that Congress should no longer en-
courage the repetition of such scenes.
He then moved upon the enemies
works, and proposed to drive out the
rum sellers from underneath the pro-
tecting portals of the Capitol. Sena-
tor McDougall, Of California, was at
that time one of the greatest charac-
ters in the Senate. He was one of
the most finished Of classical scholars,
and possessed q ready fund of elo-
Quence eXceIIeO Dy lew. Ills intellect
was much impaired in later life by
the excessive use of liquor. No better
appreciation of the times then exist
ing in the Capitol can be had than by
contemplation OF the fact that Nc
Dougall took the floor and openly ad-
vocated dram drinking. and opposed
the adjustment of The Hole in the
Wall" as an Infringement upon the
personal rights Of congressman. That
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