Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-03-14
New Series-vol. IS No 8

der discussion, Mr.. Toombs referred q
it with sneer, as measure for white
Panpers, when Mr.. Wade arose and
said: j15si H1tliil-Af N'hHit7 -''-7
tSir, you sneer at the Homestead bill
becOase 1t gives land to the landless,
do you? What is your pet schemes
] Buying Cuba, stealing niggers for the
niggeriess. We will go The country
upon 1t. Land for the landless, against
nlggers for the niggerless. ! am very
glad that this question has at length
come up. am glad, too, that it has
antagonized with this nigger question.
have been trying here for nearly q
month to get straightforward vote
upon the great measure of land for the
landless. glory iu that measure. II
Is the greatest that has ever come be-
fore the American Senate, and it has
now come so that there Is no lodging
1t. The iquestion shall be, Shall we
give niggers to the niggerless, or land
| to the landless?' l7iiA n,
Wade one day replied to Toombs,- OF
Georgia, and to ali appearance used
language which would compel Toombs
: to challenge him. Several friends
sist, but the old mlan grew more and
more violent, until TOombs indicated
his Intention of calling Wade to ac-
count for the language he was using,
when Wade quietly sat down, seem
ingly having accomplished his object.
The Southern men looked at each
other in surprise, and il was manifest
to all that Wade had deliberately
sought to quarrel with Toombs. That
night friend of the Southern Senator
called on Mr.. Wade, to know If he
would retract the offensive words he
had used. i-
No, 1 won't take back word was
Wade's emphatic reply. 49,. q.
Then,' said the friend Of Mr.. Toombs,
1T will be necessary for Senator
Toombs to challenge You to mortal
combat
That i@just what / want, and we
might have got to the point without
all this palaver,' said Wade.
You certainly cannot be in earnest,
Mr.. Wade, said the SOutherner.
why, of course, l aIn. You see, sir,
we Northern men don't like to fight,
Now, am opposed to the code, and 40
are my constituents; but you fellows
have broke Summers head, and we
must spunk up u little, Or you will
break all our heads. The shortest way
to end the matter is to kill off q few Of
you, and | have picked upon old
TOOmbs Ms my man; he will have to
challenge me. Then, of course, will
have the choice Of weapons, and will
take my old rifle and - me il don't
biing him down the first crack
When ToOmbs heard of what Wade
said, he replied: Il can't challenge
him; If L do he will kill me-
Itappears that Toomb5 and Wade
had been out together shooting with y
rifle several times, and while Toombs
could shoot well with y pistol, he was
poor rifle shot. Wade was an old
hunter, and, at distance OF hundred
yards, could hit dollar almost every
shot. F
Mr.. Wade afterward said to the wri-
ter: If old TOOmbs had challenged
me that time, as expected he would,
l would have made him put a patch
the size of dollar, over his heart, and
the old fellow would have got DONOR.
allied when he saw me drawing bead
ON it and missed me. while, - me If
l wouldn't have cut out the patch!'
Not only did TOOmbs refuse to chal.
leuge Wade, but no Southern member
could ever be induced to send ehal-
lenge, no matter what he might say.
During the Impeachment trial Of
President johnson very amusing Oc-
currrnce happened Une day between
Mr.. Wade and Mr.. Chase, who presi-
ded at the trial. The session was to-
open at l2 O'Clock M, and it was with
in 20 minutes of that time, and the
Chief Justice had not made his appear
ance Ia the Vice Presidents room. The
hands of the clock crept slowly bat
surely nearer the figure XII, when
suddenly the door WAS thrown open,
and in stalked the Chief Justice. He
walked hurriedly to the wardrobe, but,
his robe of Office was not upon its &C.
custOmed peg, nor on any peg. What
was to be done? Pages were summon
ed; this, that, and the other room, desk
and drawer were examined, but no
robe was discovered. In the midst of
this excitement the grim, honest old
hero, Ben Wade, made his appearance,
with nod and grunt to the hurried
occupants of the room. He walked to
the hat-rack, and after depOsiting his
hat went to q sofa on the opposite side
of the room to leave his umbrella in q
safe place. The excitement was still
going on, when Wade, after learning
the cause of the trouble, without en-.
tering into the furry Of the hunt, lean
ed ever the sofa, and with his umbrel-
Ia hooked up an notwithstanding
black bundle. Seeing it was the long
looked for robe, he held it toward Mr..
Chase, with, Here, Chase; here's yer
old frock you've been making such
confounded fuss about The pages
smiled smile. The Chief Justice was
too overjoyed to do anything but
speedily get inside of his robe, and If
on that morning the heated, crowded
audience saw the Chief Justice looked
redder than usual, they now know the
cause of 1t, it was all about that 'frock.'