The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-02-06
APen Picture of TilIman.

As the people begin to recover from Une
EIrss surprise of Senator Tillman's speech,
fh, denunciation becomes general Even
r-a1Eyld republican papers do not approve w.
I'm fact only few newspapers glory over
t6. and each aud all Of these are of the
E0vSNst moral plane. Waiter Wellman
sxSs we'll known Washington correspond
ant,a man who reports Washington affairs
without partisan bias, says that an ex-
sranrCiina1y andd diSRraceful performance
Vszis that of the one-eyed senator from
south Carolina. Mr. Tillman had been
announced to speak, and he drew large
audience Senators and representatives
filled all the chairs on the floor and seats
we're at premium in the galleries. But
che PEOPLE had not assmbled to hear q
statesman. They had come with curl
gsity 60 behold freak. They were not
iii satppointed. Senator Tillmau Is neither
handsome of person nor lovely of temper.
FJe is cat-like. He claws and rends. He
u1lstaSes denunciation for lCgic. AS an
orator he may be said to be an extreme
southern type. He gesticulates like n
vuan playing King Lear. He even exc
e.nfsd something like a skirt dance to Illus
trzsbe one Of his fancies. As an elocution-
fsf he reminded his hearers of the old
Camp meeting exhorter style. For time
tSls voice ran along deep, low and tremu-
Inus Then it was suddenly lifted, with
tremendous energy, like an explosion oi
dynsmite to a pitch about an octave
higher. This style of giving emphasis
fs said to be absolutely necessary In the
South, or at least in some parts of 1t, II
II man would carry his audience with
him. fla public speaker does not ex'
ESiode once in while after permitting
f1is voice and fingers to vibrate together
Tor brief space, he is not an orator, and
Il1r truth is not in him. 1t did mar Fthe
1grtIstic effect Of things to have Mr.. Till
man chant his nouns, verbs and adjec'
dives, and then explode on some poor, in.
rocent proposition, but Mr. Tillman was
after blood, not artistic effect.
For two hours Tillman ragged and
ruared. and only one man had the courage
co interrupt him, and this man, oddly
enough, was old Mr.. Hoar, of Massachu'
seetts. He did not fare very well. Till
man came back at him savagely. There
CCege dozens of senators sitting within
Tfllman's hearing who knew the man
ought to be called down, whosfelt that to
{Jg-mit him to continue with his tirade
WIS disgrace to the senate But not
mle of them dared to speak. 1t had some
how been noised about that Tillman was
an ugly customer, that he would as soon
ansult a man on the floor or cut his heart
cut with knife or strike him in the face
ms co take sip Of water. Senator Hill,
who likes TO go at almost everybody else,
fwttched nervously, at times, as If he was
about to leap on the one eyed man, but
cautiously repressed himself. So the hor-
rfhle example, the untamed cowboy Of the
most dignified legislative body on earth,
rode up and down, booted and spurred,
shooting off his gun at every one he could
Gfink of. He talked of northern senators
Whn had become millionaires through cor.
ruPt practices spoke Of an infamous con-
tract which the secretary of the treasury
had made, insinuated that the President
nj the United States had sold himself
far gold, and no one rebuked him. Nc
hctter evidence could be found of the de-
cadence OF the senate. Ten or twenty
years ago he would have been called tC
aocount before he had uttered a hundred
rT0sds.