The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-29
FALK CLOTHING co.
THOMAS Il. WATSON.
Alfred Henry Lewis Writes
ThumbnaiI sketch of Him.


ThumbnRiI sketch of Him.
From the New York Journal
Tom Watson Of Georgia. just now the
popuiist nominee for Vice President. is
physically an atom Of man. His frame
is SMALL he is meager In flesh. and what
there is seems laid on grudgingly as If
nature hesitated to make the man at all.
The entire individual wont weight 12O
pounds.
But slight though he be almost to the
point of feeble. Watson has the vivacity
and heat of fire. No one in Georgia can
cope with linn before a crowd. unless 1t is
Crisp, whom he bitterly hates. Watsons
face is smooth no mustache, no beard.
Watson has eyes of gray. with yellow
hair-long this last. and of the sort that
hangs in straight locks and fiaunts def
ance. 1t is divided well over on the left
side, this hair, and combed smoothly back
over without any flourish or effect to-
ward the beautiful. AS he talks Watson
has a Dantonian trick to gesture and
whirls his arms, sways his small body,
losses his head like a racer. This sets a
lock of hair to waving and hanging across
his forehead and low, it takes part in his
disputes. and, falling and floating like a
pony's name, punctuates his periods with
loppy emphasis. Ever and again as he
talks, his thin, nervous right hand VIII
recover this disputatious forelock and with
one motion furl it smoothly away back
of his ear, where it is prisoner, however,
only a moment
Watsons face is fine and sensitive; a
rather bony face, hungry and drawn with
the reading Of many books. His forehead
is broad, but retreating; and gives one
the impression that Watson sees more
things then he thinks. This is true. Wat
son is not so much an originator as per-
ceiver. He sees things, he reads things,
he hears things; he is not so apt to think
them.
Consistent with these latter attributes
is the hawkish tendency of Watson. His
face, rather prominently phrased as 10
nose, Is of the Ratchet, beaklsh KIND, ana
has decidedly falcon erect. ana lilaI
what Watson is; and if there is aught IN
theosophy-whlch l much misdoubt-
that's what Watson was-a falcon lie
has the shrill raspy voice the power OF
strong, high flight, the pinion, the talon,
the beak. and wlthal the swoop OF the
hawk He thinks fiercely, too, and While
Watson may have the wrong side OF the
debate as often as others, one may be
sure by break or claw he'll set the SUBJECT
bleeding before he's closed.
When Watson was in the House few men
cared for contest with him. He fears no
one. His record Is pure, his character
without stain. His honesty has never
bred a doubt Industrious to the point OF
overWork with an indomitable bent to
labor and dig, bOok-fed to a degree, Wat
son is always bitterly full, not TO say
brilliantly aware, OF his SUBJECT. he mas,
70
cuts And If interfered with by taunt or
1eer or contradiction, Watson can talk
like the thrust of bowie knife; his rhet-
oric slabs. For all these reasons most
members preferred to give the pale, over
trained young man from Georgia a wide
berth in debate. They got no victory, no
honor and only wounds from collision
with him.
His garb Is not new-fashioned. But he
has all of a cats scruples to be neat.
He has no sense OF humor, and life is
a serious struggle with him. His sense
of honor is not only high, but acute.
and he is painfully faithful to princi-
pie or a friend. AS you look at him you
realize after a bit that Watson is one
who would ride on a tumbrll and give
ton When the north produces John
Brown, the south puts forth Watson.
They are alike to their regions. Yet it
is doubtful If either would feel compli-
mented by the comparison.
Watson has no tact, no talent for per-
sonal friendship, and is disagreeable
while doing right. He is essentially
creature of his environm emit believes in
the duelIo and the personal responsibility
Of men for their words and deeds. He
once shot several very satisfactory holes
in fellow attorney who invaded his SEN
sibilites as they cried case.
When Watson came to congress in De-
cember, 1891, one or two thought TO bully
him Livingston, giant, physically, was
one of these. 1t was at populist eau
GUS and the trouble arose out of Wat
sons refusal to support Crisp for speak
err Livingston used language tinctured
rather with freedom than encomium for
Watson. The latter, to use a cant phrase,
called the big Georgian with such verve
and hearty abandon that Livingston never
tied to him agaih Prompt as hornet
to resent affront, &Watson is on his part
a man of singular gentleness, and care
for what others feel. He will never in
suit others any more than he'll brook
outrage from them.
Even when Watson stirred up Cobb of
Alabama, In his book, and made that
slow statesman famous for his unsteady
inquiry offered on the floor of the House,
Mr. Speaker, where am att" Cobb and
Wheeler and others of Alabama had cast
the first stone. Cobb was not at all grace
full on the occasion adverted to. 1t was
during the debate on the report to unseat
Rockwell Of Elmira-HilPs man and put
a republican, Noyes. in his place. This
last, by the way, was a secret demand OF
a NOVA against Etl a =