Mohave County miner., 1890-12-27
TINE ARTIST SENATOR ~.
A SssS Inss hss sketch DS"a

One az the most interesting mes " ~
have come into the United States oep'
ate ia recent years Is Nathan Fellows
Dixon Of Westerly. X l., elected 70 MI
tho upexpired term OF Jonathan Cnace'
who resigned In. April. 1889. ~ "
matter Of history thst Daniel weDsts.
ssd other fnen OF his time eouid repeNl
word for word tbs Constitution OF tne
United States. aud that II was no task
AZ All for them TO rattle on the Decla-
ration Of Independence from memory
without missing word, Senhtot
DIxoa has not yet put bis memory "
this test, bat he has shown What =
wonderful one II Is In another snn'
perhaps, more difficult manner eonis
time ago. after he had been senator
but q few months, he &stopished DIS
colleagues one day by repeating en-
tirely from memory and without maN-
Ing 4 single error the roll call OF the
senate, consisting Of eighty-four names
arranged alphabetically. There were
many expressions Of surprise al TINS
exhibition Of his peculiar powers, but
MIR. Dixon niodcstIy protested that pc
had performed DO feat at all. and then
10 prove II he almost paralyzed his
astonlshed hearers by repeating the
roll cali backward. without once besi'
tating or committing an error Of any
kind.
Repeating the roll call In aiphabeti.
cal order is NOT tbs only evidence OK
Senator Dixonis wDsidetful memory.
So closely has he watched the prcceed-
ings in tho Senate and 20 keen is ms
sense Of observation that he can at apy
time call oil. entirely from memory.
the list OF pairs, stating accurately just
what senators are paired with each
other, and on what subjects. Senator
Casey has charge Of the matter OF
arranging pairs in the Senate. and re-
peatedly be finds II necessary TO con-
suit With Senator Dixon. and always
receives information NJ to the status Of
the pairs which enables him 20 arrauge
everything satisfactorily for all parties
As told In the N. Y. Sun lately. dur
ing almost the entire tariG debate
Senator Dixon kept his head studiously
buried In the report OF the finance
committee. When IL was accidentally
discovered In the Senate a few days
ago. II was found TO contain ani0ng
other things caricatures more or less
aattering Of several Of the more pict-
uresque members Of the Senate. In
many cases however. his pictures we're
In no sense caricatures. but presented
striking likenesses OF the subjects.
For instance. on the margin Of one OF
the pages he had sketched q most per-
feet outline of the clear-cut profile OF
Senator Eyarts Of New York. The
sketch Was such q clever one that the
portrait was recognized at q glance by
all who saw II. and Mr.. Dixon has
been KEEP. busy explaining that be had
no motive in making the picture except
to occupy his mind. The book In which
be made his drawing is large volume
containing the various sections Of the
tariE bill, and the reason why the
changes we're proposed. arranged on
alternate pages for ready reference.
TIE margin Of these pages 10 very
broad. and L was here that Mr.. Dixon
arranged his caricatures. and where he
drew on the page relating to works of
art and antiquity an almost life-sized
reproduction Of The cherub-like face Of
Senator Hoar. To give an interesting
and humorous turn to the picture the
artist purposely neglected TO draw any
hair on the head of Mr.. Hoar, and the
effect Was most ludicrous. The book
was shown about In the cloak rooms
for soms time before Mr.. Dixon discov-
cred his loss. As foon as he obtained
possession of his improyiscd album he
locked it In his desk aud refused to
show II 10 anybody. Il must not be
supposed that Mr.. Dixon used his tariff
book only for the purposes of sketch
Ing. II Is fact that on the margin Of
the pages he recorded every amend
inent made TO the tariff bill from the
time II was first called up until 1t was
disposed Of, together with the votes
upon them. His album furnishes a
complete illustrated record of the con-
siderstion Of the tariff bill in the Senate.