The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-08
"OLD BILL BUNYAy.v
A Northern Indianian vouched for ~
Down-East Friend.

~ DO" y EhCnos
New York Mail and Express.
Away I'D in the northeast corner OF the
Hoosier State. where flow the placid waters
of the Pigeon and the Maumee. lies the
Twelfth congressional district OF Indiana
containing the counties of La Grange.
Steuoen. Noble, De Kalo. whitaey and Aiien-
In this fertile and populous district pump
Gins and politics are thicker TO the acre than
in any part OF the Harrison State. Politics
grow on the vines and bushes. exude from
the trees. float in the zephyrs and ride the
storm. Infants imb.be politics from the bot
tile. while bent and roothless nonogenar1ans
Groom politics till the Reaper mows them
down. There are no ''off years In Twelfth
district politics, and no time OF year when
political strife and discussion do not enter
into every relation of life and lend zest and
piquancy 10 every conversation.
This constant tendency toward political
dialects. and the active participation OF all
CLASSES and ages in local political contests
seems to promote frankness of utterance.
and gives potency 10 the vernacular which
is unattainabie by us here in the effete East
where the acme OF the politicians art is TO
conceal. not to express thought. There -
an arrless unreserve, delightful unamoigu-
BUSINESS of political characterization in tho
Indiana Twelfth which AFFORD valuable OBJ
ject lesson TO the secretive. treacherous,
Joabitish duplicity that distinguishes ma
chine politics here on the seaboard. The
Platt-Quay order OF politicians might take
lessons OF the Hon. III. c. Hanna, Of Fort
Wayne. Ind.
Mr.. Hanna is the Republican boss OF Ailen
county. in the Twelfth congressional dis
trdct- At the Republican district convention.
held a few days ago al Auburn in De Ksfo
county. Hanna had candidate in the per-
son OF r. 7. Mcdonald, OF Allen county, TO
which county the nomination belonged There
were factions in the county, however, and
minority faction presented C. ID. Law a. q
With this minority the Noble county delega-
ton, under the leadership of the Hon. VIII
liam Bunyan, made an alliance, thus OVER
whe ming Hanna and Mcdonald and no1nE-
mating Mr.. Law.
Hanna. OF course. was sore vexed and ex~
ceeding wroth. There was no need for any
one to inquire what was the matter wTfi,
him. IT was quite apparent. He had a Bum
van on his hands. vastly more irritating
After the Auburn convention he betook him
oack 10 Fort Wayne, sought out the editor
OF the Fort Wayne Journal. and said things
said ft1en with JUNCTION and undisguise He
prefaced his solloquy by the deprecatory
remark that he did not want to be personal.
sc c.o only IRA tssnk; he then proceeaed to char
the lead Of Bunysn. "Our county never
went into a district convention with di-
vided delegation that these fellows did not
unite with the minority, and in the end give
the Republican parry in Allen county black
eye: This Is what they are on earth for.
AZ IS their life and their salvation" Mr.
Hanna then proceeded as follows to depict
the virtues OF Mr.. BunyEn:
If the Republican party of the Twelfth
district were TO root out and put from itseit'
forever the most colossal nuisance win
which it has ever been afflicted. Old Bill
hunt new job He is an unsightly ex-
crescence. meidlesome,S misunderstanding,
selfish old political tuft-hunter. who was
and who viii die so. When Ola Bin Bunyarl
Is not nosng around for political free lunch.
ne is out hunting up minority faction 20
Tie up 10 that trouble may be made. That
is the figure he has always cut in Republican
politics of this district. and that is the figure
its Impotence heroicaily ties his scheming
head In a bag forever. The history OF Noble
county politics is written thick with the bull
doing OF Bunyan. When he hasn't been a
candidate himself, he has had some one else
to push for office. He is always hungry and
always feeling united. He as Enalcontent
type: 1t is time he was politically confined.
All or which merely shows the tropical
makes us wonder: too what Hanna would
have said r he had been personal" and
not merely frank" SIN. he ala not mean
half OF mis- own frank utterance. Hanna
knew that he was not even leaning against
the well-sweep which hung over the wen
at the bottom OF which lay. Truth: Now,
xe know 'Old Bill Bunyan." know all about
him ard his forbears, and Brutus in his best
days was not so honorable a man. Bunyan
is New Yorker, born and raised on a
stony farm 10 in Saratoga county. where
corn is planted with a rock drill and whers
sheep are provided with steel nose-plates,
WITH which 10 remove the fat stones in order
that they may Craze. 1t was q farm where
the staple products were pusley and quack
and wire-worms and woodchucks: where the
Of SCI hr.pI n~. -
Dug an incubus; where there were but two
seasons, winters so cold as TO freeze the
m bster "a human 5ni kn N cr and so
pigs As TO pie X something Bunyan
never had. except at husking bees, and a
free lunch is something he never heard OF
tn ne went 10 the Legislature.
When he pulled up and went TO Indiana.
Fortune accompanied him in disguise. He
exchanged the shovel and the hoe for the
pestle and the mortar. and out OF the latter
ne pounded success. Soon he was able 10
have pie. seven times week. He became
a man of prominence in the community. and
everywhere became respected for his sturdy
honesty and modest worth. His character
He took 70 politics like duck TO water. He
served in both houses OF the LEGISLATURE.
and made an excellent record. He Is. the
diana politics, and is the trusted friend OF
such eminent Hoosier Republicans as BEN
jamin Harrison and Lew Wallace.
Nor is there awning ''ursighfiy" about
''Old Bill Bunyan," OF Kendanviiie. III not
exactly beautiful. In the most strictly es-
thetic sense. he is least restful TO look
upon. His rotund figure and genial dIspo-
sition not al indicative Of hunger"
or OF that "unfed feeling" He is refthcr
an 'excrescence." nor "tuft-huntsr" In
fact. he has SO little respect FOR ..tuff-
hunters that he has spenf twenty years OF
his life in endeavoring TO avoid the depi;a-
tory advances or the remorsesul .ssssf-
hunter Time. with result that ne wears
noble aiahaster forehead which reaches
backward from his eyebrows 20 his shirt COLI
lar. He Is neither a bose" nor buff
doZer." a malcontent" NOR a nuisance"
lAnd IL will De a cold. wintry day when Mr.
Hanna gets that shapely. polished knco OF
shrewd odd Pin Bunyan' in any bag He
has drowned cats himself In his day
Hon. H. c. Hanna is certainly no relative
| OF Hon. Mark Hanna. the astufe and sue
| cessful manager OF TIE Mckinley canvass.
| Mark Hanna would never have permitted
convention in which he interested 10
| be held in a county with A French name,
which had within its borders both Sedan
| and a Waterloo