Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1884-12-29
A CONGRESSIONAL ROW,
The Scrimmage in the House of Representa-
tives i'm 1858.


The scrimmage in the house of rep
resentatives early on Saturday morn
ing, Feb. 9, 1858, was an exciting affair
as seen from the reporters gallery. 1t
was inaugurated by Keitt, of South
Carolina, who rushed belligerently at
Grow, of Pennsylvania, when he re-
ceived-not from Grow, however--a
blow that knocked him down. A dozen
southern men at once left their seats
and rushed to the spot while as many
anti-Lecompton men came to the res
cue. Foremost came Mr.. Potter, of
Wisconsin, very athletic, compact
man, who bounded into the center of
the excited group striking right and
left with tremendous vigor. Wash
burne, of Illinois, and his brother of
Wisconsin, also were prominent, and
for a minute or two 1T seemed as
though we were to have a Kilkenny
fight on a magnificent scale. Barks-
dale had hold of Grow, when Potter
struck him a severe blow, suppOsing
that he was hurting that gentleman.
Barksdale, turning around and sup
| posing it was Elihu Washburne who
struck him, dropped Grow and struck
out at the gentleman from Illinois.
Cadwallader Washburne, perceiving
the attack upon his brother, also made
a dash at Mr.. Barksdale and seized
him hy the hair, apparently for the
purpose of drawing him "into chan
Gerry and pummeling him to greater
satisfaction. Horrible to relate, Mr..
Barksdale's wig came off in Cadwalla-
der's left hand, and his right fist ex-
tended itself with tremendous force
against the unresisting air This
ludicious incident unquestionably did
much toward restoring good nature
subsequently,, and its effect was height
ened not little by the fact that in the
excitement of the occasion Barksdale
restored his wig wrong side foremost.
The speaker yelled and raped for
order, without effect. The sergeant
alarms stalked to the scene of battle,
mace in hand, but his american
eagle had no more effect than the
speakers gavel. Owen, Lovejoy, and
Lamar, of Mississippi, were paving
each other at one point-each proba-
bly, trying to persuade the other to be
still. Mr.. Mott, the gray-haired Quaker
representative from Ohio. was seen
going here and there in the crowd.
Davis, OF NJ ississippi, got severe but
accidental blow from Mr.. Grow, and
various gentlemen sustained slight
bruises and scratches. A Virginia
representative, who thought Mont
gomery, of Pennsylvania, was about
to ''pitch in," laid his hand upon his
arm to restrain him, and was per-
emptorily ordered to desist or be
knocked down. Mr.. Covode, of Penn
sylvania, caught up heavy stone
ware spittoon, with which to "brain"
whoever might seem to deserve it, but
fortunately did not get far enough into
the excited crowd to find an appropri-
ate subject for his vengeance; and all
over the hall, everybody was excited
for the time.
Fortunately, it did not last long, and no
weapons were openly displayed. When
order was restored, several gentlemen
were found to present an excessively
tumbled and disordered appearance,
but there remained little else TO recall
the excitement. Gentlemen OF oppo-
site parties crossed over to each other
to explain their pacific dispositions,
and that they got into a fight where
their only purpose was TO prevent
fight. Mutual explanations, and
hearty laugh at the ludicrous points of
the drama, were followed by quiet and
return to business Ben; Perley
POOre, in Boston Budget.