The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-10-13


DARK and Other Republicans Began
to Got Uneasy.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1e.-Technically
and from pa Elementary point Of
view, there was no Thursdays session
Of the Senate to-day. The proceedings
will appear as continuance of Wednes-
days session. Practically and from a
business point of view, however, it was
one of the most important and pregnant
sessions that have been held since
August last.
1t began when the press dispatches
closed abort4 O'Clock in the morning.
The Populist from Nebraska (Allen)
was then about two.t thirds through his
speech against the repeal bill, and he
finished it, with intermittent roll calls,
at a. M, having then occupied the
floor for fourteen and three-uuarter
hours.
Two little episodes were played; one
was the presentation by Stewart of
dynamite threatening letter sent him
from baltimore; and the other was q
notice by Voorhees, that If half hourly
roll calls VIZ re kept up for the purpose
of forcing the continuous attendance OF
the repeal Senators he would resort to
some means to compel the attendance
Of "the notabilitics' on The other side.
At 10 q. m. one Of the two pending
amendments to the repeal bill was laid
on the table by vote OF 33 to II; and
thus Peifer's free coinage amendment
was eliminated from the question, at
least temporarily. This left only one
amendment pending to the House bill.
There are about dozen other i'm
pending amendments of which notice
has been given. All OF them, however,
may be offered, each in it's turn, until a
final vote is reached on the bill, if it
ever be reached. None of them was
offered to day.
The debate on the bill was continued
by the Democratic Senator from Kansas
(Martin). He begun his speech against
the bill at 0:i0. AT o'clock he apollo
Rized for having allowed himself to be
diverted from the main current of his
argument and promised to devote him
sell to The subject in an orderly manner
for the next ten hours. The throat
contained in the promise turned out,
however, to be an empty one for at 4
o'clock Martin pleaded fatigue and
yielded the floor, saying that he would
seek another opportunity OF addressing
the Senate.
After Martin the floor was taken by
Teller (Rep. COLI, who continued a
speech against tho bill which he began
last week Senator Allen talked all
night without any interruption, except
such as were purely incidental. He
proved himse an able and indefatiga-
Bile talker. At no time did his voice
fail him, and even when the clerk was
calling the roll to secure a quorum, he
stood erect and ready to proceed with
his remarks. Probably never before in
the history of the United States legis.
lature was there ever seen such an ex-
hibition of physical endurance as that
shown by Senator Allen. His respites
were few and short, and he only re-
ceived nouriShment from cup of tea
On his desk.
Q At the conclusion OF Aliens speech
Voorhees, moved to lay the PETER
amendment on the table. Wolcott sug-
gested that there was no quorum pres
ont. but forty-eight Senators were
found to be in the hall The vote on
Voorhees, motion resulted Yeas. 30;
nays, IL; no quorum. A call of the
tors answered here" Villas Dem,
Wis.) several times called attention to
the fact that the Senator from Idaho
(Dubois) was present and in his seat,
but declined to vote.
After some discussion on the point of
requiring Dubois to vote or to assign
his reasons for declining to vote the
Vice President caused the rule on the
subject to be read and then ordered the
clerk to call the name of the Senator
from Idaho. Dubois named was called,
but he made no answer, Then the Vice
President said he would hear any excuse
which he desired TO make. The princi.
pal reason assigLed by Dubois was that
a motion TO lay on the table most i'm
portant amendment had been m ,de,
thus cutting off debate on it and the
Senator who had offered the amend
ment, PETER, had asked the courtesy of
the Senate to address it for few min
utes and had been refused. This Dubois
thought a sufficient excuse
The Vice President submitted the
question to the Senate whether Dubois
should be excused, and it was d, cided
In the negative-yeas, 81; nays. 30
still remained silent. Henderson, (Rep.
Neb.) began to argue the parliamentary
question as to the impossibility of com
polling Senator to vote. How, he
asked, would his mouth be opened If he
saw fit to stand mute? He WAS inter
rupted by the point of order made by
Pop. r. ~ that no debate
was in order. The point was sustained
by the Vice President. who added that
the recording of the facts OF the Jour
nal ended the entire proceedings as to
the Senator refusing to vote.
The vote on laying the PETER amend
ment on the table was then announced,
yeas, 33; nays, II; so it was laid on the
table. The amendment thus defeated