The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-02-16

familiarly known rs Cyclone Jim" from
his manner OF speaking. He is big and
ruddy mountaineer and represents the
mountainous district of southwestern Vir-
ginia. is quite a primitive specimen, but
mas. lis colleagues say, a bushel of horse
sense. Schell of South Carolina is at pres
ent famous for having been threatened with
extreme personal violence by Senator Irby.
The two very quiet men Of the group are
Pendleton and Cooper of Texas. But for
some time past the talking member has
been the venerable Judge John r. Harris,
only an eX-congressman, but famous for his
career i'll congress in the olden times when
the secession movement began.
An occasional visitor is Colonel Josiah
Patterson, sometimes called the "Bronze
Lion" Of Tennessee Democracy, an orator
of the ardent, forid, southwestern type and
an unfaltering supporter of the administra-
ton. He has stood by Cleveland unfiinch-
ingly during all the recent storms, when.
mt one time anyhow, the stress of political
weather was so great that the most the adj
ministration men could or would do was to
ask for u postponement of Judgment.
Speaker Crisp Is IL Boarder.
There is only one Republican member in
the hotel-namely, Thaddeus NJ Malone
of the Eighteenth Pennsylvania-and look
ing over the register recently l observed
that Of the IA arrivals in one day only four
were from places north of Mason and Dixon.
Speaker Crisp boards in the house, but has
recently been rather secluded by reason of
the great pressure of his labors. Another
occasional member of the group is the ven
cradle Senator Ransom of North Carolina,
who has been here now % years continu-
ously and had previously had n long eXpe-
rience in the legislature of North Carolina
and unrOnlrnnlty 1iyaly in, ba
federate army
Among all these statesmen the somewhat
eccentric Bill Sterrett, the Galveston jour
nalist, Is a privileged character and never
fails to have M anecdote with Il very point
ed application to any Democratic member
who is not voting with his party-as, for
instance, this one i'll reply to Sam Robert
sons complaint: Sam, you remind me of a
little boy | used to know who was his
mothers pet. She always took his side in
quarrels with the other children and would
say: Now, children, Eddie is the best ma
tured child i'll the world if you just treat
him right. But you're always a-startin
him. Well, Eddie soon understood the sit
uation, so he'd 20 out and raise the very
mischief with the other children and when
any of them resented it he would whine
out Ma, the ch,ldrcn's a-startn mer
Now, Robertson, that's just the way with
you. The western Democrats are n-startin
you, but you're altogether too easily start
ed" The sarcasm was thrown away, for
the four sugar members of Louisiana voted
against the Wilson bill
Judge Harris story.
L have never heard more interesting rem
lniscenceS of the winter of lS6O-l ;han are
those of Judge Harris. who in That troubled
time and for some time before represented
the Harrisonbur:, district in the Shenan-
doah valley, substantially the same district
as that recently represented by O'Ferrall.
Judge Harris WAS an irdcat advocate of
the Union and fought secession till the war
began, and his prediction Of the results of
the war, published just before its begin
ming, has been pretty nearly fulfilled. He
says:
"A day or two after Lincoln got here II
member of the Virginia convention came
to see me-the same convention which Mt
first refused to secctle, but aftcrward did
and he and together called OH Mr.. Lin
coin, who said: Judge, there will be no
war-at any rate, none of my making. But
l must have the revenue. We will collect
it by vessels stationed on the COASTS. Said
l, Mr.. Lincoln, earnestly hope you will
not do SO, for it will be certain to bring on
n conflict Well he replied, with pc
culiar smile, if they cut off my supplies
can't keep house There was no more
to be said. That exhausted the sub
ject. / left convinced that an armed
conflict was inevitable. | went then
to n meeting of the Virginia members
with some visiting statesmen from various