Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-12-08


had no time. At eleven he plowed a
prairie in Missouri with four yoke of
steers, and sowed it to wheat. He spent
one winter as coal-miner, and worked
necessarily through his youth He be-
came, meanwhile, an expert teamster
and woodman, and the best young rifle
shot in the country
Though but thirteen when the war be-
gan, he enlisted in the Confederate army
and fought to the end of the war, re-
ceiving several wounds and being once
given up by the surgeons to die of fe-
yer. After that, he got an education by
the hardest knocks, hauling stone in va
cations TO LAY fer his schooling.
In $40 he was admitted to the bar at
Charleston, w. Va, and rose so rapidly
that in 1875 he was elected county Judge
The next year, at the age of twenty
seven, he ran for Congress, and stumped
the district against two Democratic OPP
ponentS. The conservatives of the State
were alarmed, and twenty-eight of the
leading lawyers and business men of his
own county came out in card against
him on the ground that he was too
young.' Kenna appealed to the people
direct s. have no word of unkind-
ness" said he at meeting where his
critics were present, for any of these
distinguished men; but you will pardon
me when ] say that if L could exchange
places with any one of them-it / could
stand a matured, successful, established
man and look upon boy left in orphan
age at eight years; If / could watch the
progress of his childhood. see the OBJ
structions confronting it and witness his
struggles, his hardships, his labors and
his prayers; if / could see him marching
on through adversely until kinder stars
seemed to shine upon him and he was
about to attain through trial and vicissi
tude a position OF honor to himself and
of usefulness to his fellow men-before l
would sign IA paper whose only effecr
would be to break down and ruin tina.
young man, | would be carried to one ot
your lonely hillsides and laid to rest for
ever
The pathetic appeal struck home.
Young kehna was elected His youth.
pluck and ability, united to splendid
health, phenomenal strength, q clear and
resonant voice, tact and courtesy. and
positiveness of purpose, gave him in
huence from the first He was elected
TO Congress for eight successive years,
but at the beginning of the last term
was chosen lin / $3.50 to be United States
Senator.
While in the House he refused to obey
the instructions OF the Legislature Of
West Virginia Ito vote for the Pacific r.
r. subsidy and the Legislature recon-
sidered and reversed its instructions.
Congressman Kenna had very funny
experience during the campaign to re-
move the capital from Wheeling to
Charleston. A friend of his has recorded
it in lively style: We had a red-hot
time that summer. Kenna and Freer
took the stump for Charleston. Present.
ly they found themselves billed along the
Kanawha Valley parallel with John Rob
inson's circus The circus drew the
crowds. When Kenna spoke he had no
audience but Freer-the rest were at the
circus.
One evening at the hotel after an
nnremunerative days work, Freer said:
'Kenna, something's got to be done or
we may as well haul off We can't get
at the ears of the people, Kenna sat
with his feet on table and Wheeling
stoga between his teeth, thinking Pres
entity he answered, I've got it, Colonel.
We must travel with the circus and
shake up with the clown + Both laughed
boisterously at the thought, but they
adopted the purpose, and started off for
Huntington. Robinson was liberal. he
agreed to give Kenna and Freer ten min
iutes each, the first to speak near the
beginning and the last midway of tho
performance, and the clown, John Lolo
should introduce them, and interrupt
them at his discretion