Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-23
A FREAK STATESMAN.
Remarkable Speci linen Who Broke
Into Congress From Tennessee.
HIS NAME WAS JAMES MULLINS.
When He Spoke Everybody Stopped Work
and Got Ready to Laugh.
SAMPLES OF HIS STYLE OF ORATORY
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.J

sApiIiLles unueI nlgn prOGectlYe tarlH mas
ever been seen in the House of Representa-.
tives than was James Mullins, and it would
be interesting to know the exact circum.
stances, conditions and environment that
combined to produce such character.
All that know Of his previous history is
what is told of him in the brief notice in
the Congressional dictionary. He was
born in Bedford county, Tenn, in 1907;
received limited education; worked on
his fathers farm during his minority, then
became mill-wright; in 1881 was made a
militia Colonel, was Sheriff of his county
for several years; was compelled, on ac-
count of his devotion to the Union, to flee
within the Federal lines for safety; became
q staff officer; participated in the battle of
Murfreesboro; was a delegate to the Nash
vile Convention in 1855; was elected to the
State Legislature the same year; was
Speaker of that body, and then elected a
single term to Congress.
HIS SPEECH WAS WONDERFUL.
Mullins hailed from East Tennessee, and
the wonder was that sort of constituency
must it have been that sent such Repre-
sentative to Congress? His district was
hard by that represented by Horace May
nard, O. man Of undoubted ability, with a
dreamy, meditative manner, and the look
and stoicism of an Indian. But it is not of
him but of Mullins, bless his simple old
heart, that desire now to write. Mullins
was living proof that the Davy Crockett
style of oratory was not altogether either a
burlesque or an exaggeration. Mullins was
a fiery, impetuous character whose words,
in the excitement Of Congressional debate,
tumbled out of his mouth without any ap-
parent conference or connection, and in the
laGo 1f Ill Isa
rules which grammarians ever in
vented to regulate the speaking of the
Kings English; to the intense delight of
his auditors, who at times almost forgot to
laugh at the grotesqueness of the speaker
in their wonder at the performance. He
occupied a seat Immediately in the front of
the Speaker, and when he got on his feet
and commenced one of his astonishing ora
toricat performances, and his arms began to
fly about like couple of fails in a winter
threshing, and his body to twist and distort
into all sorts of shapes under the excitement
Of the occasion, members got close about
him and fairly yelled with delight; for his
style was so unique, so utterly unlike any
thing in the heavens above or the earth be-
meath. that it would scarcely have been any
decalogue to have fallen down and wor-
SHIPPED it.
HE USED A BIG BANDANNA.
It is impossible to do Justice to it by any
words at my command. What he was
driving at, or on what side of the question,
or what question he was discussing, or
whether any question at all, weuld have
puzzled any man to determine; but
Mullins spoke on all the isame. It didn't
make the slightest difference to him, and
when he had concluded he dropped in his
seat wholly exhausted, and wiped his noble
brow with prodigious red bandanna hand
kerchief, with the air Of supreme satisfac-
tion which always characterizes a man who
thinks che has gone and done it,"
But it is too Bad to ridicule Mullins. He
was good old soul and meant all well
enough if he ever knew what he did mean,
and if he did, he was the only man in the
House who did. I hope he still lives some
where among his native mountains and
spends his declining days in fighting his
constituents what he did for the glory Of
the nation and the good of the people in
fighting bloodless battles on the floor of the
National Congress.
But Mullins own speeches will convey a
better idea Of Mullins than any words of
mine, though the speeches OF the members
as they come from the hands of the report
ers, and after they have clicked them into
shape" do not by any means do Justice to
the speech itself as delivered. On bill to
provide for the appointment of marshal
for the District of Columbia, Mullins said:
BREAD AND BUTTER POLITICS.
Mr.. Speaker, five minutes is q very short
time in which to meet the array of gentle
men who have pitched into our bread and
butter. Now, Mr.. Speaker, I rise merely for
nurnOaa a a RI 90
that ever existed on the continent of Amer
lea, the party represented by gentlemen on
the other side has, God knows, the least
ing bread and butter party. Why, it has
been regarded in any other light and we see
an exemplifcation of its instincts in the man.
of salt" up here at the other end of the ave.
nue-not Lots wife, but the great L Am.
They all go like the rat to the cheese and
nibble at him, 80 voracious are they for
bread and butter. And they have got their
bread and butter at the expense of the peo-
pie of this country until now their cakes,
like those of Ephraim, are one side raw and
the other burnt. And am sorry to say
there is more blood in this matter than but
ter. We will have 81 day and roast beef,
friend Stevens; and it shall be none of your
poor beef; not a bit of 1t; and 1t shall not be
beef which is dried on the hoof. Let them
say that we are going about smelling into
holes for bread and butter. God knows, of
all offensive holes there ever were in the
world, this conservative" hole is the worst
Anybody can smell it without nose.
On the contested election case Of Smith
versus Brown Mullins said:
A PATRIOTIC EFFORT.
repeat, we have to deal with question |
ytng at the very foundation of a govern |
nent whose people are as the stars or firm |
lment (some of them, grieve to say, wan
lering stars) and whose march of empire is
o~d
meteor from the arch of the sky-a people |
Who have been under the benign influence |
If God, who holds this country in his eternal |
lst of power, and who has been pleased to |
ct US flee from the empire of despots and
ome forth into land which PRONOUNCE to i
,e the New Jerusalem come down from God |
tut of heaven. Could be permitted to lift
-ou up by my voice, one or two thousand
'eacs from to-day, you would tell me
whether have spoken rashly or not other
wise there is no entering wedge to break the
loom of darkness that held spellbound the
mpires of earth for six thousand years and
o bring on a millennium. What was more
lorious in the events of time than the birth
# the American Government? Coming
ng the empires of the world to the wheels of
he car, she broke through the gloom in 1776,
nd she set up her standard in the darkness
nd said: "Come and look at this brazen
erpent which we raise" But enough of that.
hat did the fathers say about it? The first
hing they declared stands as frontispiece;
meets you at the threshold Of the Govern
nent. What did they declare to you? For
Iod's sake do not say we are Off the track
nless you look at the sign board Of the con-
titution. Do not talk to us about doing
yhatis unconstitutional; you have never
ept inside of that instrument. I ask the
word of Justice to be still in its sheath while
discuss this matter.
This speech recalls the famous reply Of
he Kentucky lawyer to his legal opponent
a O criminal case who had spoken for a
ouple of hours in the most irrelevant man
or &C tlarne1a of the inrv nnranant