The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1875-11-05
A Gall Of the House.


It will be impossible for me to forget
my first experience on a call of the
House. 1t was in the merry month of
May, 1853. 1t occurred on private bill.
1 had not then learned the secrets of the
prison house. Being caught by the SER
geants officer on my way to duty, was
graciously allowed the freedom of the
mail wagon. How 1 ehafed under my
! first arrest! What would lynx-eyed
constituents, and especially my oppo-
nents, in Ohio think tremble as re-
call these eapprehensions. Twas brought
before the bar with Zollicoffer and James
B. Clay. The then leviathan of the
House, Humphrey Marshall, was in the
chair. How he glOwered on me with
ponderous savagery He made me feel
that / had personally effronted him.
1 told him that l was sorry to UGist his
precious time, and would lean on him
| for mercy; but there was no mercy in
him. What a company there was that
night Minister Washburne, General
Quitman, Jones of Tennessee, Governor
Houston of Alabama, General Sickles,
Grow, Stevenson, ColfaX, Bishop of Con-
necticut, Bingham, Lamar, Groesbeck,
Pendleton, Governor Smith of Virginia,
! Giddings, Farnsworth, John Cochrane,
and many others, since then Ministers,
Governors and Senators. Some of them
are in the cold, cold ground. "WheFe
be their gibes now ?n Another ''ealp'
has summoned them to a more serious
session. But it happened that on that
night, as frequently since, that the Wig
liant and leading men were absent,
while the dilatory wags were on guard.
How they delighted to catch Mr.. ].
| CLANCY Jones, chairman of the Ways
and Means, at President Buchanan's
dinner-table What a RANT row was
made over his white tie and rubieund
face and the Pennsylvania delegation,
with the ~. B." brand on their brows,
fresh from festivity Few excuses were
received, though many were rendered.
A member from Niagara had "paired off''
with his wife; another felt so bad be-
cause his wife had gone home, he could
not participate in deliberatiOn; a mem
Der from Maryland was remarked as
showing a disposition to be in the hall,
by being in the gallery. one. member
found the sergeant before the sergeant
found him, aud asked to have that off,
Ger fined; a Kentucky member had at
tended all day, expecting to die in his
tracks, for a favorite measure; but as
the measure did not come up, he could
not die, so he left for home.
When John Cochrane was called, we
all knew be had been to the Presidential
dinner; aud his exculpation was moi
only fine piece of oratorical humor
but he turned the tables on the House as
he did on the "fell sergeant" who had
shocked him by the arrest. The man
physiological was astounded, the man
psychological was appalled,, his federal
Iconstitution trembled, and nature gave
Esigns Of woe that all was lost, for had he
not been rudely grasped by the hand o.
; authority? He had been called high
he felt low; and then some one suggested
that the sergeant-at-arms held "Jack"
and the game. Upon these occasions
the native style of the member thus
comes out. A dozen members exclaim
that they had gone out for bite, etc.
but General Cochrane disdained the or.
dinary Saxon tongue, and sailed intC
the empyrean of Epicurus. ri
The, stately GrOesbeck is brought in.
He asks for counsel. Counsel is freely
rendered. He makes a solemn plea il
extenuation, whereupon Hughes of In
diana likens it to the sermon the ole
woman heard, "the best she ever heard.
Sne could not remember the text, or the
! pOluJSJ VI OuC oGEu1Out OuJ II udu SuCL
godly tone ~ General Curtis, of Iowa
comes in voluntarily; and he is fined fol
coming in without compulsion. TheI
arises the member from the wild-ca
districtof Pennsylvania, Mr.. Gillis. h
: makes his excuse. Is it expected tina
J he should know the rules of such a dis
orderly body? He confessed that he haI
been to dine with the President. Al
he knows of etiquette is to go and dine
when asked, and he is willing TO pay TO
: it like man. He had heard that b.
was to be arrested, and flew, not to th'
horns of the altar, but to the horns 0
"Old Buck" Harry Phillips, of Phila
delphia, who had himself moved tn
call, had abandoned the House for tn
dinner. He was caught. He claimet
to be the author of all their amusement
and threw himself on their gratitude.
: And so on through the long night
: the imprisoned members indulge il
what seems the very puerility Of friy
olty.-The Honorable S. s. Coz, IN HaT
pey's Magazine for November.
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