The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-08-29

pers Of the death Of "Jim' Gordon, =
former msmber Of tho Ohio Leaisla-
sars, hss brought him vividly before
ear ''mind's eye" % he appeared IN that
body during the winters Of 1915: He
was : splendid looking fellow. and may
be said to have possessed the head
OF IN Apollo on the shoulders OF Her.
oules. He WAS q journalist by profes-
sion, aud had one Of the brightest in
tellecls ~ ever knew. He was Ss cour.
skeous, too, - lion. aud knew. no such
thing % fear. He was the. mover of y
re1olution charging bribery 10 . county
seat case, during the investigation Of
which \ paid bally was induced to sp.
prsach him, when ontside the House.
70 iasalt and then whip him; but one
blsw from Gordon's nat lifted tho fel-
low clear Of his feet aud sent him
spEawling upon his back nearly tea, feet
.Ae Afssr tt,ast spisode Al further at
saorss. ea-thst seuiar line tp d.
lShos.hi were indefinitely posep0ned:
On the loof Of tho House his bearing
w.s lofty aud very prepossessing. On
one ocession . member of his party of.
fered = resolution Of adjournment on
st. Patrick's day, out of respect, as the
resolution read. to "lreland's patrol,
saint" The resdlng Of the resolution
brought Gordon, who was Democrat,
instantly to his feet with al indignant
protest. 2"Mr. Speaker" he said. II
hope We will have none Of this non-
sense. In the first place, st. Patrick
was not IN Irishmau. Secondly, there
wss no such man; he is wholly u myth. u
The mover Of the resolution laughed
audi6ly, asked leave to withdraw it and
sat down. He was particularly sharp
in repxrtee, and woe to the man who
encountered the rapier Of his wit. One
day a member by the name of Stone,
who had voice like speaking trump
ct, thought he could embarrass him by
asking him an impertinent question,
but Gordon, assuming listening at
titude) got away with him the follow
Ing apt quotation from Byron:
"W.s it the wind through some hollow Stone.
Tn at sent that soft and tender mOan?"
There was another Democrat in the
House Of most Insignificant appear
ance, known ~ Light of Putnam. "
lie was Light by name. light in stature
and light intellectually. But in the
House proceedings he was as ubiQui-
tous rs cows tail in fly time. and full
ly as great a nuisance. Oae day when
he had become peculiarly exasperating.
Gordon said of him: "Mr. Speaker, l
once thought that when God said. let
thore be light. and there was light,
it was the most sublime utterance
known to men-until saw the gentle
man from FHtnam,'' =.
But even ut that early day (f0r he
could not have been thisty years Of
age,) GOrdon's friends saw with regret
that whisky was getting the better of
him-that he was clearly on the down
grade. lie had u young and pretty wife
to whom he gave a world Of trouble
even then-and sweet, fair-l,"ired
hoy. Three 1T four years ago we read
In the papers that that fair young wife
Wan seeking u divorce from her hus-
band in the Courts, on the ground OF
habituxl drunkenness! We do not
know whether she obtained u divorce
then or not. but she has got one row
from Hexven's high Chancery Court
And tho brilliant jim Gordon is dead
- !eAd at what shoull have been the
n0ou-time of his life!
''Oh, dumb be passions stormy rage,
When he who might
Have lighted NJ and led his age,
Fails back III night,