The Portland daily press., 1890-10-01
STORIES OF SENATORS.
Walter WeIlman Weaves them Into
a Washington Letter.


within the senate cloak room, with a
fragrant cigar between his teeth and a
crowd of his fellow senators gathered
about, listening to his stories. 1t is one
of the traditions of the senate that Jones
has new story every morning, and SEN
ators on both sides of the chamber think
a day has been lost if night comes and
they have not heard the newest yarn of
the senator from Nevada. Jones' fund
OF stories appears to be inexhaustible.
Many Of them are anecdotes of his per-
sonal experiences in the far west.
Speaking about judges" said Jones
the other day, 'let me tell you of the
old alcalde we used to have out in Mari
posa In the early days, just after we
had acquired Lower California from
Mexico, the judicial system had not been
organized under the laws of the United
States, and by common consent the old
alcalde continued to hold court and set
tie disputes. Most of the litigation grew
out Of mining claims. The laws were
very crude and unsatisfactory, and SO
we made law of our own to the effect
that if man did no work on his claim
for thirty days it could then be taken
possession of by another.
"One poor fellow named Harris took
claim and worked it for week or two
and then fell sick. Week after week
passed and he grew no better, and finally
the thirty days, and then forty and
more had elapsed since dirt had been
turned over on his claim. There wasn't
man in the camp that would jump the
claim, but stranger came along, sized
up the situation and took possession AS
soon as Harris was able to leave his bed
he brought suit of ejectment in the al
calde's court. 1t was clear case. The
evidence was overwhelming that the
original claimant had lost his rights un-
der the local law, and nothing re-
manned for the alcalde to do but,
to decide in favor of the defend
ant. This he was very reluctant
to do, and was hemming and having
over his decision when Harris, seeing
that the case was going against him,
lost his temper and sprang at the throat
of the man who had dispossessed him of
. ms property. The men clinched and
rolled upon the floor, with Harris on top,
and in fair way to choke the wind out
of his antagonist. Two or three bailiffs
ran forward to pull the man off, when
the old alcalde, his eyes f4shing and his
gray hair waving about, leaped from his
bench with revolver in his hand, shout
ing:
"'Let no man touch them. These liti-
giants are settling their difficulty in their
own way, and it is the duty of this court
to encourage private adjustment of all
disputes. If any man touches them I'll
shoot him on the spotr
mo man did touch Them" added Sen
ator Jones, land Harris gave his man
such q licking that he was not able to do
a stroke of work for six weeks; and
Harris thus got his claim back. That is
the sort of justice we used to have in
the wild west"
Laughter over this anecdote had not
subsidized when Senator Jones was re-
minded of another story.
"Out in San Francisco good many
years ago." he said, "a Hebrew mer-
chant killed a man. He was indicted
and brought up for trial. The jury was
impaneled. johnson was the name of
the first man drawn. Johnson ex-
claimed the defendant, dot ish bat
The next was Hamilton. Another
Christian. was the defendants despair
ing comment The next name was Aus
tin oh, DEAR exclaimed the defend
ant, i hat no show at all The verdict
will be in the Wrist decree Eleven
names were finally drawn, every one
that of Gentle. The defendant was
wringing his hands in despair. But
mention of the name of the last juror
gave him hope. 1t was Isaacs
All! exclaimed the prisoner at the
bar, L may be able to do something
with Mr.. Isaacs. That night the de-
PENDANT and Mr.. Isaacs had an inter
view. 4 gif ten thousand tollars for a
verdict in the second Decree said the
accused. Terms were finally arranged
at SEC, 900, cash on delivery of the YER
dict. The trial was held and the verdict
brought in. 1t was guilty in the second
degree Then Juror Isaacs and the con-
victed man had another interview. Mr..
Isaacs wanted his money.
Cant you make it eighteen thou
sandY pleaded the unfortunate.
"'No. can't. Must have Che whole
twenty thousand.
with much reluctance and many
groans the twenty thousand was paid
over. After folding the bills into fat
roll and stufing them into his pocket
Mr.. Isaacs looked up with an injured
air and remarked:
st was unkind of you to ask me to
throw off two thousand after all the
trouble had to get that verdict in the
second degree for you. Why, had to
pay them eleven Christians a thousand
dollars apiece to get them to vote my
way. They was all for acquittalP"
Senator Plumb, who has been unusu-
ally conspicuous of late on account of
his independent attitude on the tariff
bill, is one of the busiest men in con-
gress. have watched Plumb for a long
time, and have never seen him idle.
ne hVes at the Shoreham hotel, but
keeps a den" on Fourteenth street, near
the newspaper Offices This den, which
Is a curiosity in its way, the senator en-
tiers regularly every morning at 8
o'clock. For two hours he does nothing
but sit there, with his western sloncb
hat upon his head, reading newsnaners
He is the most omniverous newsnaner
reader / know Of
He takes all the New York paners
several from Chicago, one from Phila.
delphia and perhaps dozen dailies from
other large cities. Three daily papers
from Kansas City and two from st.
Louis reach his office regularly. There
are magazines and weekly publications
by the score. But the bulk of the sem
ator's newspaper mail comes from his
own state. He is a subscriber to every
paper in Kansas. AS there are four or
five hundred papers in that state, a score
or more of them published daily, 1t Is
easy to see that Senator Plumb has his
hands full.
Hereads newspaper like the exchange
editor Of a great daily. His typewriter
operator opens the papers and spreads
them out on his desk, and when the
senator goes at them they disappear at
the rate of three a minute. A rapid
glance finishes ono naoe and a caoond