The evening times., 1895-12-10
HINNESOTl'S NEW SENATOR
Knute Nelson the Only Norseman
= Ever in the Upper House.
Fond of Plug Tobacco, Eats Pie with
Knife and Ix Called 1.-THE Little
Norwegian Giant"

Knute Nelson, the Senator from Minne-
sofa, taking the seat of Mr.. Washburn, is
the first Scandinavian TO enter the Senate.
He and several others, including Jorgen-
son of Virginia, who led the way, have sat
in the House of, Representatives, but no
Norseman has before had a seat in the
upper house.
Nelson In person would be taken for a
cam; New Englander. He Is of medium
height, well knit and active, with his upper
lip shaven, his mouth has fair field TO
show his habitnal smile. A chin adorned
with a Joshua Whitconib beard, completes
q prepossessing face.
The new Senator's voice is strong, rich
and resonant, and conquers spacein his pub
lie utterances.4 AS he came 10 America
when only years old and was educated in
Wisconsin, he speaks English as well as any
of his fellow-Senators can. 1t is said that
he has great dlrncuity in talking Norwegian
enough to make good his claim to the sup
port OF the 10000 Scandinavian votes In
Minnesota: yet he has always had them sol
idly behind him, and WIS never beaten I0r
any office.
His first campaign for Congress occurred
In 1882. The State had just been redis-
tricted after the tenth census, ana 1lve
home was in the big Fifth district. better
known as the "Bloody Fifth,' stretching
from the great unsalted sea ut Duluth TO
the winding banks OF tue Red River OF the
North, aud embracing half or the area OF
the State. Charles F. Kindred, assistant
land commissioner Of the North Paciflc
road, started in as u Republican candidate.
The convention was a riot. Nelson's chair
man, Solomon Comstock, who oafterward rep
rpSSsnlpl a dict forced or the
platform at the muzzle OF a pistol. aud the
Nelson men were forced out OF the hall.
They went to lunch tent on the green and
nominated their man. The campaign was
terrific. Kindred set up as an independent
and Democratic candidate and spent sl3o,-
900, as he afterward admitted, TO secure
his election. His lieuteDants went hun
dreds of miles up in the pine swamps of the
raiuy lake region to vote Chippewa Indians.
But Nelson, with his 1000 Norweg ians be-
hiud him, came out ahead.
IL was then that they began TO call him
the Little Norwegian Giant" He sat
in the Forty-eighth, Fnrty-ninth, and Fif-
tieth Congresses. and withdrew t" give his
friend Conistbck a chance. Two years later
he was chosen governor, receiving the honor
of a re-electi,,n. Before his second term
expired ne was elected to the Senate.
Mr.. Nelson is n good lawyer Before he
went to Congress he was making 500
a year in a practice that touk him before
every court In Northern Minnesota His
habits are simple and absternious. He lives
monks, the theater, and story telling. So
called society he abhurs.
Until he became governor he never wore
"A broadciuth coat. He still insists on
sIouch hat. Pie he eats with knife. He
is also fond of tobacco in the plug form. In
debate he il ready and trenchant. His
sentences arehomely and rugged, sometimes
ungraminati,aL. Their construction. how
ever, is strong, and they carry weight. He
likes his friends, especially old ones, and
he likes nothing better than la sit evenings
before good fire and spin off the sagas
OF his native Norseland till the hours grow
small