The record-union., 1896-05-12
WON BY A GOOD STORY.
How Alien of Mississippi Settled a
Contest for u. S. MarSha!sllip.

Every public man knows what veXa-
tions surround the bestOwal of public
pOSitiOnS-the quest after them and the
selection of the lucky winner. Quite as
true is it that humor often has much to
with the winning of the coveted prize.
There was that little story, that every
body knows, of the delegation which
waited upon Lincoln to urge Mr.. Some
body's appointment to a District AttOr-
neyship somewhere. Lincoln told them
that they had made an awful showing
for their man and that his only chance
of getting the job was that the other
fellow might make a worse one. Soon
thereafter Lincoln sent a little note to
the first delegation, informing them
that the other fellows had done even
worse than they had done, which meant
of course that their man had won.
Just now Allen of Mississippi-One of
the raconteurs Of Congress-is enter
tanning his fellows with a little story
showing how he recently won for his
candidate from President Cleveland an
appointment to the United States Mar
shalship in the State.
The old Marshal had died and Allen
went to the White House with the
name of somebody whom he deemed
fitted to be his successor. President
Cleveland advised him TO secure the
Endorsement of the other members Of
the Mississippi delegation. Allen knew
full well that the effort to secure their
Endorsement would be regarded only as
an invitation by every man of them to
find a candidate of his own. And so it
was. The result was a lively cross
hauling on all sides and the situation
became so bewilderingly complicated
that Allen almost abandoned hope Of
winning his fight. One day, while the
fight was hottest, he dropped in at the
White House.
"Ha" said Cleveland, as he greeted
him, Il suppose you have come to talk
about that United States Marshalship?'
NO" Allen responded, "but a mighty
good story has just come into my mind,
and j thought as / was passing l would
drop in and tell it to you"
Always ready to exchange importu-
mites for place for good story" was
the Presidents assurance.
IT'S a trife personal Mr.. President"
Allen said, because it's about myself
and one of my clients. My clients
father died and left his estate in rather
a bad kind of a muddle, and l was
called IN TO StralSnlen IL OUT. mere
was a fee in it, and of course l took
charge of the matter right away. The
moment / began to try to straighten it
out / flushed a covey of collateral who
laid claim to part of the estate, and
caveated There was an awful long liti
cation We and the collateral fellows
pulled and hauled at each other until
the tug-of-war about played all of us
out, and my anxious client, who had
expected to take possession of the prop
erty without any obstruction, became
especially weary. Scarcely a day went
by without his wanting to know how
the thing stood and when it was going
to come to a head. He was overjoyed
when / told him that at last the case
had got up to the Judge and was to be
heard the next day, and would prob
ably be decided right away.
4 went over to court, Mr. President
and presented my case in so clear and
convincing a light that 1 was satisfied
the court must be with me, and you
may imagine my surprise when, after
the argument, the Judge announced he