Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-25
FELLOWS AND ALLEN,
A Story of an Encounter Between the
Two wits of the House,

Two Wits of the House.
A writer in the Philadelphia Times says:
To the friends Of both It is a serious oues-
ton as to the effect which Fellows retire
ment from Congress will have on the happi-
ness and usefulness Of Private John Allen
Of Tupelo. Mississippi. They are the two
wits OF Washington, with no one else In
their class.
Senators Joe Blackburn and John p. Jones
have records Of their own. and are In q
class by themselves: but Fellows and Allen
by common consent take the cake" or
rather divide IT. Some Of the tits between
Fellows and Allen. II printed. would shadow
the traditional bouts of Charles James Fox
and Dick Sheridan.
on one occasion. at q game of poker
twenty-five cents ante and one dollar limit
Fellows laid down threes on a raise of half
dollar. Private Allen observing Il, re-
marked that, while Fellows possessed sew
eral elements OF greatness, such as elo-
Quence. learning and poetry. the trait OF
courage was conspicuosly absent from his
composition.
81, Fellows making no reply. Allen went on:
TAKE. for example" he said, ''the colonel's
record as confederate soldier. IL
consists OF the presence OF his name In the
lankee returns Of prisoners Of war sur
rendered al Port Hudson. together with
similar mention on the ration list Of a YAM
kee prison during the rest Of the war, de-
Ginning an exchange on several occasions.
on the other hand" pursued Allen, look
at my record.I entered the confederate army
az an early age and served in the field un-
III the war was over and some time after
ana then walked home several hundred
miles. was captured once, In the third
year OF the war, but escaped after only six
weeks in prison."
During this recital Colonel Fellows face
was a study Of alternate lights and shade
nvar,.a .xlS 49,
Allen remarked that he had escaped from
prison. Fellows interrupted him.
stop there, john" he said. ''On trivial
matters such as my own record you may
when II comes 10 matters Of such import
ance as your record. the truth Of history
must be preserved"
Senator Jones of Nevada, who was one OF
the party. inquired the reason why Private
Aliens record was OF such historical value.
Because" said Fellows, the democratic
Allen is still in middle life. with a strong
constitution, the party at its present rate
of degeneration may easily during his life
time reach a stage Of decay at which Allen
will become its logical candidate sor the
Presidency. In that case you see the neces-
sity of preserving bis record intact"
Jones assented. whereat Allen asked Fell
lows IL he meant to dispute his statement
that he was taken prisoner.
NO" said Fellows, you were captured
while asleep on picket post in the third year
of the war. But you did not escape from
prison. The Yankees kicked you out OF
their prison in about six weeks and told
you to go back to your id confederacy
and do your worst. The Yankees are o
thrifty race, with keen business sense.
and. having fought you for three years in
the field and boarded you for six weeks in
prison. they discovered that IL was cheaper
to fight you than to feed your
Up to this writing Private Allen has not
responded to the call of time: but IL Ia not
believed in Washington that he has perma-
nently retired from the ring. He is expect
ed to make a democratic speech during the
pending campaign In New York which VIII
eclipse all previous records-even his fam
Gus speech In the House on the silver bill
and # may he assumed that on that oc-
casion he will get even with Colonel Fel-
lows.