Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-02-06
Senator's Sensational Speech.
MR.. TILLMAN'S TRADE AGAINST
THE PRESIDENT AND SEC
RETARY CARLISLE.
His First Effort in the Senate q Fire
brand of Abuse of Both Old Par
ties-Extraordinary Utter
ances That Dumbfound
His Hearers.

His Hearers.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29.-The event
i'll the Senate to-day was the maiden
effort of Ben Tillman, of South Caro-
lima. 1t was a mixture of hurricane,
earthquake and low comedy. The
South Carolinan shocked the dignity
of the Senate, sneered at old usages
and customes, lampooned his fellow
Senators and denounced everybody
and everything that INSTRUCTED his
point of view.
Tillman's denunciation of men and
things was terrific; his language was
blunt and plain; his manner ranging
from the tragic to the melodramatic,
serio- comic and burlesque.
Tillman's reputation for violence of
language had preceded him, and
everybody was anxious to hear his
maiden effort and size up his style.
The written essays which drove
Senators from the chamber he spoke
contemptuously of, and plainly stated
that it was not the theory of the orig
inators of the Senate that it should be
made a school for essayists or a fac
tory for campaign material.
AS he proceeded with his remarks,
he astonished everybody by producing
printed proofs of his own speech.
Then the laugh was on him. He ex-
planned, however, that he found it
necessary to put his language on pa
per in the hope of combining himself
within the bounds of parliamentary
language.
1t is doubtful if he succeeded strict
ly in doing this, notwithstanding his
preparation. The ferocity of some of
his remarks, his low comedy perform
ances at other times, Disguised the
older Senators, and when he finally
danced a jig, to illustrate the glee of
the gold bugs, the venerable Morrill,
turned his back, and looked at him no
more. He denounced the President
in the most violent language that he
could command and tainted the Re-
publicans for not impeaching him. He
denounced Secretary Carlisle, and
called him the Judas from Kentucky.
He denounced the Democratic party
and the Republican party, and pre-
dicted the dissolution of the Demo-
cratic party in the near future. He
denounced the Senate, and in clarion
tones announced that the money
changers were in the temple. He
wheeled around and shook MS nnger
at the junior Ohio Senator, but Cal
Brice never moved a muscle.
A new party, he said, embracing the
Democracy of Jefferson and the Re-
publicanism of Lincoln, was needed to
save the country from the terrors OF
the French Revolution. He predicted
that rebellion, revolution and blood
shed are coming, "and when they
come, nsaid he, shaking hisfingersat the
Republican side of the chamber, 'smay
the Lord have mercy OF your souls"
He declared that one of the Justices
of the Supreme Court was corrupted
in order to change his vote, and de-
c1ared the income tax unconstitutional.
He insisted that a majority OF the
American people were as badly treat
ed as the Armenians, for whom the
Senate recently passed sympathetic
resolutions. He predicted that agra
rianism and communism would joir
hands in the near future, and that
| there would be a reckoning with whom
he was pleased to designate as cor
morants and plutocrats.
The speech lasted two hours, ant
was, in the main, a powerful diatribe
rendered with force and some orator
| ical skill.
Such a torrent of ~invective has sci
| dom been heard in the Senate. Vet
eran members of the body character
lied the speech as one of the most re
markable in the history of the uppe
branch of Congress.
There was a directness of statemen
and a dramatic manner of deliver.
which awed floor and galleries. Tn,
gestures of the Senator were use'
frequently in illustrating his words.
At one point he made profound sa
lutte, and then figuratively tipped hi
hat at Sherman 'fas the financial victo
of a quarter of a century" The gal
leries were moved alternately to ap
plause and laughter. Pausing for
sip of water amid a of laughter
he remarked: ST seldom wet m,
whistle when I speak, for you can
run a wind mill on water"
At times the Senator's voice sank t
a whisper, as, for instance, when h
gave warning of the approach OF
~peculiar revolution and communism
and the marching on Washington OF
host with rifles in their hands. Agai
his voice resounded through the cham
Der and the outer corridors as he cal
ed Senators and members towards
for not resorting to impeachment.
During Mr.. Tillman's bitter crit
cism of the President, he put dow
his notes and put Senators and gallel
les in roars of laughter by telling HOY
as Governor of South Carolina, b
had come here to the Inauguration
the President and had stood four boul
! out in the snow and sieet until he WI
nearly frozen to do honor to this Pre-
: ident.
! "And,n concluded the Senator, :
ask God to forgive me for doing it."
/ At this point, after bitterly arraigl
, ing the President, the Senator a
dressed himself to the Republican sis
E OF the Senate and exclaimed: "Wf
D have you not impeached him? "
have the majority to do it,"
The Centra1ia Courier says: Unc
!. Enoch Hulen came home from s
h Louis Wednesday, where he has be-
with John Karnes, of Mexico, at 4
Baptist Sanitarium. Mr.. Hulen te
+ us that Mr.. Karnes is In a very se1
- L-fu. aw.4of Hind n