Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-01-23
culberson were ready % crown aIm wIth


member.
HON. JOHN II. REAGAN
Is the Nestar Of the delegation. II there
Is man In the country whom the rtil-
road niorOpolists hate and fear above all
others, n is Mr.. Reagan. II there is a
man IN congress distinguished above hts !
fellows for transparent honesty and /
purity OF public lille, Il Is Mr. Reagan /
He has been u planter, a lawyer, iecge, |
a cabinet minister and n law-giyer, and In |
every walk has proved himself q pure,
patriotic, fearless ard conscientious man,
Nhom the power II Pyrrhus coEld not
daunt and whom che wealth Of Lidia's
king could not corrupt.
MIR. Reagan is a large, burly man, with
the poorest voice Of any man Ia congress.
IL is the highest compliment that can be
paid nember to say that he commands
the attention Of the house when he Is on
his legs Many members who are fine
speakers, and who, at home ON the stump
can raise the very devil and split the ears
of the groundlings, crate themselves
hoarse on the floor Of the house without
siBgle member paying them the slight
cat uttention; but Mr. Reagan, without
the least pretensioh to single one OF the
Cruces nf oratory, nay, with voice as
discordant as the bird sacred 70 JHno,
commands the closest attention of all,
not because he Is Il nian OF high cbarac-
cor, bet because II is known that he
never speaks without saying something
that & is profitable to hear.
In the FoTty-seventh congress- believe
1t YVES, there was a fellow named Van
Vorhis, who represented the Rochester,
N. r., district. He was a tall, gangllug
disciple, with villainOus cOgnteuance,
over and across which God Almighty had
written in indelible characters the words
'thief," "liur" 'scowardr He was a
man 10 have tortured incas with Plzarro
aud pilaged ships with the buccaneers OF
the Spanish main. II he had soul the
New York Central railroad possessed n
life estate In 1t, with remainder TO the
devil in fee. can understand how fool
frequently breaks into congress bat how
1t happened that this fellow got there
passes my ken He bad infinite assurance,
but even his Republican-party friends had
no use for him, aud looked upon him with
suspicion, hatred and contempt. He was
a flippant speaker, plausible, oily and, II
| without sagacity, as your scoundrel gen
orally Is, he had cunning, and was ex-
ceedingly adrOit and cute. He was eter-
nallY introducing bills, and was quite dill
| igent In visiting commltteeTooms aud
4 having the subcommittee examine pa
| pers, and II he could persuade them to do
SO, write and present favorable reports
thereon
One day he presented bill, which was
referred 10 the committee on commerce,
of which Mr.. Reagan was a member, and
to whom II was referred as Il sub-cOmmit-
tee. Van Vorhis was importunate In
urging a report, aud finally Mr.. Reagan
made one, suggesting an amendment that
materially changed the scope and
effect Of the measure, and from
his committee reported the bill
with the amendment back 10 the house
Van Vorhis was not satisfied, and secretly
substituted new bill for the bin as
amended, and hud 10 passed in the house,
every member except himself thinhing IL
was the committees BILL Several days
after the fraud was discovered, and Mr..
Reagan arose TO u personal explanation,
and denoun, ed Van Vorhis In unmeasur.
able terms, giving him a terrible excoria-
ton. the fellow was mpudtnt, even
defiant, and bcgau to criticlse the river
and harbur bills Of the committee ON com
mcrce for several sessions. The whole
! house became disguised, and the speaker
hauled him to windward, / believe he
| was censnred, aud am sure he would have
! hren expelled had the matter been
! pr, ssed. He went home aud posed as a
martyr, but his constituents sat down on
him even harder than the house did.
I The man on the floor who disputes the
palm Of intellectual supremacy with the
speaker, and who rivals Breokinridge and
Wellburn as an orator, Is
DAVID II. CIluEpNDN
OF all the men of the pr, sent age whom
| have heard speak and whose productions
| have read, >, crebry Lunar and Rev.
George q. Barnes are endowed In great-
est degree with that rarest uS the intelec.
tual iacultcs-inagiuatio IL was this
quality OF the human nina that gave tin,
exquisite charm To the writings OF Shakes
peare and Burke, Hugo and Poe IL
made Mira eau tirst OF Inc leaders In the
early days of the revolution. il brought
Disraeli from obscurity and ostraeism and
placed him In the highest station ON
earth IL simulated the genius Of Stone
wall Jackson, whose early d uth,eul short
the career of the foremost American 1t
illumned the dreams OF Napoleon Bona
parte, and made OF thai wonderful being
the greatest man of any age.
IL is said by those Who are Intimate
with MIR. Culhersun that he has gOr
aeous aud splendid Imagination, that gives
color to HE thoughts aud adds charms to
his utterances His mind Is so occupied
with revvrie that il is dtlllcult TO muVr
him To action, He rarely speaks, nbd
cares nothing for applause. Like many
Other men whu reflect much he is nou.un-
der-tuod aud IL pronounced 'hzy" by
those who require much luxurious study
TO produce anything worth preserving
He was the leauiug counsel OF Roth
schild, the Texas homicide, whose trial
attracted great deal OF attention
throughout che country
Culberson was deeply Interested in his
client. He thought of the time when
Joshua saved RthaD aud her household
when the lrleudshipo OF David aud Jona-
than gave occasion for the nnest apoStro.
phr IN any Language. He Thought of the
days when the Lpmhatds were expalled
srom Italy, when Isaac of YORK was
prosecuted by the Tempars, when Re-
hscca was saved by Ivanhoe. He thuMSh
III thu graf man who had receally added
the historic Isle, domicile Of Aptrodltc
and retreat OF IRrasure's voiary, Aiclhia-
dies, 10 the Englis,h realm and had sr,gsd
ihts rst fruits VI Rus>ia's overthrow Of
fhIrkey, and when ie came 10 address the
jury, on henalf OF bis Hebrew client lds
miutlsyas wrought 60 the higheAt pitch
aud brought TO his Kid thousand int, J.
ite,ual weapons ia assist his effort. Those
who heard II pronounced II one OF the
grandort spec ches ever made and K re-
~nff..d .tu m op0ultfaf ~ htA eli..ut