The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-02-23
TIE uUMoR OF SUNSET COX.

TIC AalkA OF hls NeputhllOu hb u tunny
Man Some Queer Instances.
81 was Chairman Of the Committee OF
the Whole during the Forty-eighth Con
grefs," Mr.. Cox lately ssid, "whsu We
had two 'ChsracterD' in the House, one on
each side OF ths chamber. One was
White, Of Kentucky, man Of fair ability,
but an undoubted crank, and the other
wss tie remarkably loQuscious and vi
vacious Iowa man who wss known as
Calamity Weller.' 0ne day these two
men had taken up the time Of the Ho1se
in q vigorous and irrelevant debate
on opposite sides Of certain motion,
The House was laughing at them,
and the question was ordered to be
taken by the tellers. l called the gen.
tlemRn from Kentucky, Mr.. White, and
the gentleman from Iowa, Mr.. Weller, to
net as te!lers, and Ra the two approached
each other in front OF the Speaker 1t was
like tho meeting Of two intellectual Dro-
mics. The House grasped the situation,
and the roar Of laughter sounded like the
bowling OF Barnum'e menagerie. Speaker
Carlisle heard the noise in his private
room, and he rushed into the House with
his eyes protruiing, and was about to as
sumo the gavcl to restore order. A mo.
ment later, however, he learned the facts,
and saw that the procedure was regular,
and that the Hocalled fun was rather Acci.
dental than intentional. 1t was the only
thing that could have been done under
the circumstances, SO the two were the
champions Of the opposite sidss Of the
question at issue. In this case / got the
credit for being humorous, where, indeed,
could not have acted otherwise.
cat another time, while l was In the
chair" continued Mr.. Cox, "Gen. Steele,
OF Indiana, had tho floor for an hour on
iavorite measure. He was psrcoling out
his time, IS 10 the custom, giving certain
members q lew minutes, and endeavoring
10 preserve the last few minutes for him
sell. He had, however, given ont all but
q quarter Of a minute, and be asked thst
this might be left for him. He neglected,
however to claim the floor ct the proper
time, and he loet his qusrter OF q minute.
His measure was called up without the
previous question, and he was thus placed
in coventry. He rose in great indignation
and cried, shaking his list at me:
"tMr. Chairman, what has become OF
my quarter Of minute?'
ITO this replied, 1t has gone to the
rearWard and sbyBm Of timep Here the
House laughed Justify, but 1t was not my
fault that the situation was humorous
one. / stated plain matter Of fact. Gen.
Steele, however, was not Satisfied with
losing HE quarter OF q minute. He nursed
his wrath and kept 1t warm until the end
Of the session, when l had the floor on
some critical bill and was persuasively
asking for more time. Then came Gen.
sseele's opportunity. He claimed the
floor and offered to hand over to me the
quarter OF minute which he said l had
once stolen from him. OF course the
House reared, and / got the credit for be.
ing funny, when 1t IVES, in fact, Gen.
Steele.
"As to tho funny things which have
happened during the time l have been in
the chair this session they were not inten-
tional. AT one time, when the House Wss
being counted, l made the routine In
uuiTy: AS many as are in favor OF the
proposition will rise and stand until they
are counted No one rose. then an
nounced: Affirmative, none and fol.
lowed with the formula required, which
states: Yeas will be seated and the nays
rise.' There were no yeas, and the Irish
bull wss at once caught up by Collins, Of
Massachusetts,, and 0'FeTral, Of Virginia,
and several other Irishmeu, who are al
waya ready with their lsriat to lasso the
Celtic bovine when he Ia loose.
"At another time, while was acting as
Speaker, l committed what might be call.
ed an objectionable bull. It was during
a time oil great confusion on the floor, and
| exclaimed: II the gentleman from
Missouri would be heard he must sus-
pendl But had no intention Of setting
the House In roar, and suppose my
mistakes come from my Celtic extraction,
which Is certified 10 by my middle name
Of Sullivan, Of which l am proud"