Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-31
THE srEAKERsHIP.
Claims OF Colonel Henderson, ofIowa,
for That Distinction.

The Bee. The contest for the speakershlp
Of the Fifty.first congress is so close at hand
that gossip concerning those prominently
connected with IL becomes OF interest The
candidates 80 far in the field are Messrs,
Reed of Maine, Mckinley of Ohio, Cannon OF
Illinois, Burrows Of Michigan, and Hender-
son of Iowa The newspapers have gossiped
more about the first four named gentlemen
than the last one mentioned, although he Is
one Of the strongest men in the country.
Less il known OF Colonel Henderson than
any of the other asprants largely because he
is man of very retiring and modest dis
position, although one OF the strongest de-
baters In the house and one of its oldest
members. 1t is therefore proper, just at this
time, TO tell who ne is, what he has done 10
make him merit recognition at the hands OF
the Fifty-tirst congress This can be done
as matter of interest and not as au adver-
tisement for him in any sense.
Colonel Henderson is q man of fine
phsique, with a face that Is good rather
than handsome, honest, earnest, strong, III
a sort OF rugged regularity as to features,
with high, broad forehead, surmounted by n
full suit of hair--after the manner of his
Scotch ancestry-hair aud moustache soft
both IN texture ana hue, which is iron gray,
rather large, in carriage graceful even in
spite of his artificial limb his pose stately,
and his manner exceedingly magnetic. He
is born statesman. and in the conduct of a
question on the floor of the house l havo
never known him to be ruled out of order,
although the opposition have tried
many times TO do so, when
he was making boyonet charge right
into their ranks. HIS strength is quite
equalleu by his courtesy, however, and those
who expect an easy victory over HIM because
he does not bluster invariably have the NOR
tification of their defeat intensified by the
chagrin OF disappointment. For instance,
when an opponent attacks his position on "a
question. Henderson does not howl q vitu-
perative denlal-as, am sorry to say, is the
frequent style among Cur lcgislutors-but
gently, with manner almost hcsitating, and
somewhat misleading on that account asks
to have the records read, aud the records in
variany agree with him.
He was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
the youngest of ten children, and even as u
boy manifested the strong traits of charac-
ter so common to ancestry. IL is as hard to
find namby -pamby Scotchman as a bald
headed one. His grandfather, on the ma
ternal side, was scceder from the estab-
lished church of Scotland, and founded the
first Sunday school IN his parish, in which
he also taught. With great coutcmDt for
the ''divine rights of kings or priests" and
u high regard for his fellow men, he coupled
a strong desire to better their condition by
the diffusion OF knowledge, if only
IN Sunday schools, though such course was
awfully radical there, in those days, even
when tncturcd with theology. And the son
iuherits from this staunch, old churchman
faith in the rights OF inau, and the strongest
hatred for everything savorihg of oppres-
sion, either in mental or pysical bondage
He was a leader when school boy, partly
for this reason and partly because he never
allowed himself to fail IN an undertaking.
When he was little chap, not more than
eight or ten years of age, his mother usually
sent him to the market near the old home
stead in upper iowa. to dispose of the smaller
products of the farm: and Davie never
brought an ounce of butter or eggs back.
my mother told me to sell them,
and rll do it, if it takes all night"
the purchaser with the fact that pro-
ducts had a value equivalent to the price
pain, declining 10 yield to the various dis
couragernts of trade, just as he did subse-
quently when his country sent him to recruit
for the army, and afterwards to fight for the
old flag, aud as he docs now, when he is still
upholding our liberties in the halls of con
gress. So you see the popular saying of Cen
eral Grant that he would ''ightl out on this
line if IL took all summer" was borrowed,
after all, from little Dave Henderson forty
years ago.
He was boy, in school at the Upper Iowa
university, when the first shot was fired on
| Sumter, and his young heart was instantly
on fire. He determined to go to the war,
but not alone; so springing the muster roll
on his fellow students IN the chapel one
evening after prayers, he made a rousing
| speech for the old flag and the union cstab-
| lished by our fathers. Even then his per-
suasive eloquence swayed the hearts of his
hearers, and twenty recruits responded,
thus forming tho nucleus of Company G,
| Twelfth regiment, Iowa Infantry.
| His success was the cause of him being
| designated, young as he was, to recruit for
| the company and regiment, so he held war
| meetings daily, ana in one week the COM
pany was filed. Then he was nominated as
| captain, but declined because he thought he
was too young for so responsible a place,
! though not TOO young to create the body that
called him to be their chief. He accepted,
! however, the first lieutenancy, giver him
unanimously in which position he performed
the duties of commander most of the time.
This exhibits one rare characteristic. Hen
dersOn never does anything for buncombe; If
| he undertakes job, it is because he knows he
can put it through, and that is why no one
| ever knew MIN TO fail.
Among his recruits he enlisted strapplng
| young fellow with about one-eighth of the
| despised negro blood in his veins. This fact
never occurred to the sturdy Scotch-Ameri.
| Can liberty.lover as bar to his acceptance
| rs a soldier, especially to fight in his own
cause, but Dave was far in advance of the
times, the men of the company refused to
serve with one ever so slightly tainted, and
! it took years of bloody war to teach these
natlVe DOfu Americans tHat his INFANT lungs
| had breathed in with the air of the lana of
| Wallace and Bruce, and imbibed with his
| Scottish mothers milk, that all men are really
| and truly born free and equal
The 18th Iowa was one of the regiments
of tho brigade selected to storm Fort Dom
aldson on the left of the union line. The
| charge was successful, but Dave Henderson
| was severely wounded in the throat, on the
| rebel works, yet he resoluteiy declined every
| offer of assistance to leave the captured
| works till our lines were IN indisputable po-
| session and he had become weak that he
could no longer stand. His staying qualities
were still further exempiiiied when he was
/ wounded second simo at the battle of Cor
| iuth when our men were resisting u charge
| Of General Price This wound cost him IL
| leg and very nearly his life, and yet, before
| it was fairly healed he returned TO the field
as colonel of the 10Th Iowa infantry, said
| his brother, Capt. w. l.. Henderson OF Mn
nesoIa, from whom / obtained many of the
I facts used here, and who was himself brave
soldier and useful officer.
~ have had opportunities of knowing this
brother of mine thoroughly, from u child to
| manhood, and he never betrayed trust,
| proved false to friendship or took undue ad-
| vantage even of an enemyn
AS AN illustration of the integrity of his
| character, his brother told the following IN.
| cident. When he left home, boy to attend
| school, his mother said TO him:
'David, you are going away from home.
| Will you write u letter to your mother once
| week till you returns"
Mother, 1 WILL" he replied; and, al
II