Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-06-16
Mistellameuns &eadiug,
AN ODD CHARACTER.
ANECDOTES OF IN OLD CON-
GRESHAM.

AN UUU CfARAC En-.
ANECDOTES OF An OLD KENTUCkY CON
GRESHAM.
A Washington letter to the Minneapolis
Tribune says: One of the characters in
the House is General Wolford, of Ken
lucky. When he is at home he wears an
old flannel shirt and rowsers strapped
about his waist. When he came here he
found he had to change his costume and
put on a "biled" shirt and black clothes.
At first he was averse to this, but some
friends bought him a black suit. He has
worn it ever since, and this is his second
term. But he would not dare to go home
dressed as he is now, for his constituents
would think he had become effeminate.
Several good stories are told of his first
campaign when he took the stump against
General Fry. When he was first nominal
ed for Congress, General Fry asked him to
unite with him and make several speeches
together. Wolford accepted the invitation.
The first meeting was enough for General
Fry. General Wolford commanded the first
Kentucky cavalry in the Confederate army,
and the regiment was known as the crit
ter-backs." He had several of his men on
the platform with him when he made his
speech. He opened most brilliantly but
suddenly startled General Fry by asking
the assemblage if they knew what the
Union had done with General Lee after he
surrendered at AppomattoX. "Why, gen
tlemen, will you believe it, when he was
out walking under on apple tree, near the
very house where he surrendered, they
grabbed him. Yes, the men who had
granted him a parole seized him, and, sir,
they not only did that, but they hung Gen
eral Lee to the very apple tree under
which he was walking! Hung him dead !"
General Fry was so surprised he could not
speak, but jumping to his feet, he said:
General Wolford, you know that is not so.
General Lee was hung"
"But, sir" exclaimed General Wolford, 81
was there, and I know it is SO. Wasn't it,
John !" and he turned to one of his "crit-
ter-backs." The man nodded his head, as
did the others, who sat neal him. General
Fry sat back in his chair overcome.
"This is not ALL" said General WOlford,
turning to the crowd in front of him. "The
Union men locked Jeff Davis up in Fort
ress Monroe, and one beautiful moonlight
night when the tide was low, they took
him out and tied him TO a stake on the
beach. The sea came in gradually, the
waves swept over him and he was drown
ed, and they stood and heard his cries."
This was too much for General Fry.
Again he protested and said that jeff Da-
Wis was alive still, but the "critter-backs'
endorsed General Wolford, and seeing that
his opponent intended to keep the thing
up, General Fry withdrew and General
Wolford was elected by a rousing majority.
Another story is told of General Wolford
when he was trying a case in his native
town in Adair county, Kentucky. His
client had been charged with poisoning
some one. The chemist for the State had
testified to finding arsenic in the stomach
of the deceased, and then General Wolford
took the witness in hand.
Ibid you find any flies wings in the
stomach?" asked the general. mo, sir,
for I did not look for any. l found arse
MIC" answered the chemist.
"Could you swear that there were no
flies wings in the stomach ?" he asked.
"No, sir, because l did not look for
Them"
elbow did you know they were not
there?"
II don't say they were not"
"That's funny you say you found arse
mic but no fly wings. Yet you are not GER
tain as to their not being there" said Cen
eral Wolford. The witness in vain tried to
explain, the lawyerhad twisted the witness
up, and so he addressed the jury. "Gentle-
men, 1 demand the acquittal of my client.
This chemist says he found arsenic in the
stomach of the deceased, but no fly wings.
Yet everybody knows that when any one
swallows one or two flies they turn to arse
mic in the stomach, yet no fly wings were
found; therefore I doubt if there was any
arsenic there either" The man was ac-
quilted!