The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1895-02-05
HOW VIC TREVITT BROKE THE
DEADLOCK.

to make himself known. This trait In
his character was illustrated by his Sc
lection of burying ground on Mema
loose Island, twelve or fifteen miles be-
low here, where his remains lie, and
where his simple monument, placed on
the sharp basaltic point, that like the
prov of a steamer, fronts the channel,
invariably causes the tourist to
learn somewhat of him who sleeps there.
Vic was great joker, and 1t made
little difference to him at whose expense
he had little sport, for if he could find
no one else to work off his superabund-
ance of spirits on, he would put up
job on himself.
When the legislature met that finally
elected Mr.. Corbett to the senate, Vic
was in Salem, and if we remember cor
rectly, was member of the legislature.
Be that as it may, he was there, and
when the fight came up between Cor
bett and Gibbs it soon reached that tire
some stage known as deadlock. Vic
was shifty fellow, and the matter had
no sooner grown wearisome to him than
AO OCkdA " cIuOy up GOLuO OCN1CO LLdb
would relieve the monotony of the stu
alton. Corbett lacked but two votes of
having enough, and it suggested itself to
Trevitt that as the democrats were in
the minority, and consequently out of
the fight, he might have little fun out
of some of ''his friends, the enemy"
He soon selected one of the country
members, opposed to Corbett. and be-
gan his fine work on him. He told him,
in effect, that it was only question of
few days until some of the opposition
would weaken; that there was money
to be had for a vote or two; that he (the
member) was poor man, and that he
might as well go home with $500 in his
pocket, having elected good honest
man too, as to 90 home broke; that if
he did not get it, some other fellow
would. And so he followed this chain
of making the vote-selling seem not
much of a crime, until he got the mem
Der to say that he did need the money !;
that Corbett was good man, and that
he knew of no reason why he should not
vote for him, always providing the $500
aforesaid warmed his pocket and acted
as a soporific on his conscience. Then
Vic proceeded to carry out the details of
the purchase. He told the member he
could not, of course, pay him any money,
nor could anyone else that he might
know, but that the man who paid the
money and the man who received it
should neither know the other. cat
exactly IL O'Clock tonight" said he,
''you go down in the alley back of BIS
woodpile tB. was saloon-keeper in
Salem at the Time) and there in the dark
a man, whom you will not be able to
recognize, or he to recognize you, will
hand you the money. The member con-
senting to this, Vic went to BIS saloon
and, calling that getleman (who, by the
way, had very handsome wife) to one
side, said to him: "You know, B., you
and have been friends for long time,
and would not knowingly see you get
the worst of it, and only want to give
you a hint. One of the members of the
legislature is trying to get your wife
away from you" so, pshawI" said B
s'That's all right,' said Vic, ''but if you
doubt me, go to the wood-pile in your
alley shortly before IL o'clock tonight
and see what you will see.'' The result
was that at IL o'clock that night the
member was on hand promptly, so was
B. The foImer got on the wood-pilt
and waited; the latter behind it, anc
got mad. Finally B. stepped out ant
the member stepped towards him, think
ing it was the man he was to meet
tWhat are you doing here?'' said B..
and on getting no satisfactory answer t,
this question Cfor how could the explain
alton be made), he fell on that sam,
member and beat him into a state OF in
sensibility.
When the roll was called in joint ses
sion next day, one member who hac
been "waylaid, beaten and robbed, - di,
not answer to his name, and Corbet
getting one vote additional, was declare,
elected. And thus it happened that vi
Trevitt's disposition to play practica
jokes, broke the deadlock, defeate
Gibbs, and elected Corbett. It nigh
have been that the same result woul
have been reached, but at the least tn
settlement of the matter was precipi
tated.