Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-07

peare and lawyers. He has written also a
lecture on Nine Roland. for which he OBJ
tanned much of his material from France.
The Senator is a French scholar and he
reads that language and Italian and Latin.
The Senator does not confine his reading
tc history or biography. He is fond of a
French novel and he is a student of the novel
writer's of all lands and ages. But though
he himself has written a great deal, he has
never been able to construct a story. He
tas tried very often, but always without
success. Still the Senator, successful lawyer
and lawmaker as he is, believes he would
have been more successful still If he had
chosen literature as profession.
Il don't know just how l got into the law"
he said, when 1 asked him about his work.
II did not inherit the profession, and do
not know that 1 had particular aptitude
for it. My father gave me the best education
he could.
and went into the army for twenty-seven
months. l came out in bad shape. In fact
/ never expected to get well, and went to
Minnesota for the benefit of that climate.
1 was a young man still and had not
dollar in my pocket. l did not know a man
In the state except Gen. Willis A. German
Under whom had served. Nine years after
ward l was governor of Minnesota"
His First Great Case.
The Senator gave a little chuckle as he
spoke of his early life in the state of his
adoption.
Just how got along in those first years
1 don't know" he said. Business came III
slowly for three years. Then 1 got big
urder case and acquitted my client, and
after that had no difficulty in getting bus
mess"
If there is one thing which Mr.. Davis en-
joys as a conversational topic almost as
much as literature. it is the dramatic fea-
lures of his professional experience, and he
told me the story of that first great case
'.in brief as l had asked it, with the in
y,-,tx f,,tn fhs,f aifrhf
find in a younger and less experienced man.
1t was the case of man named Van Solen.
who was charged with the murder of an
Englshman named Harcourt Both were
medical students. They had met in st.
Louis, where Van Solen had gone to study
and to work in drug store. Harcourt
came to st. Paul where Van Solen lived,
to visit his friend, and together they went
out fishing and shooting.
One day Van Solen returned from fish
ing expedition alone. He said he had left
Harcourt fishing from the boat, and had
gone off shooting. Another man was fishing
not far away. When he returned, Harcourt
had disappeared. and after waiting for him
some time, he concluded that he had gone
his home alone. Days and weeks and
months went by and Harcourt did rot ap-
pear Meantime body rose to the surface
of the river at the spot where Harcourt
and Van Solen had been fishing. 1t was
bloated and decomposed beyond recognition
and the coroner buried it without much eX
animation.
After eighteen months, the family of
Harcourt began to make inquiries for him.
They had letters from him saying he was
visiting the Van Solens at about the time
of his disappearance, and they put detec-
tiyes at work on the case. The body found
in the river was exhumed, and by certain
marks on the skull and certain things found
in the pockets was thought to be identified
as that of Harcourt. The identification was
made even stronger on the trial which fol-
lowed by the comparison of the hair from
the skull with lock which Harcourt had
given to his mother when he left home