The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-01-21
|SAgI E,RI( 'SU|S JUDGE
EDonneily and Hicks Have an Ar
Ittnery Engagement in the
{. House Saturday.
The Old Washburn Donnelly
3 Cong ional Fight. of 1879
Was the Cause.

l8 COngfeSslOnalF'lgh t. OF S79
IL Was the Cause.
Special Core pondence. s;s
One Of the most exciting debates
eVer heard on the floor of the Mime
sofa house of representatives occurred
lasst Saturday between Judge Hicks Of
minneapolis and Ignatius Donnelly of
Minnesota. The discussion, on the
part Of Mr.. Donnelly at least, was ex-
Temporal neous and wholly unexpected,
and Whensit was over the remarkable
spectacle was presented Of dozens Of
Republicans gathering around the
Populist leader to congratulate him
upon hiss Complete victory over q Re-
publican antag onist. Judge Hicks, it.
issaid, had been laying for'' Mr., DON
nelly for several days, and had care
fully prepare his plan of attack. The
occasion presented itself when Mr..
.D,aonnellY interpo an objection to q
resolution relating to the hearing Of
contests by the house. Judge Hicks
si1ll ll g fiery speech impugning the.
i11btiyes Of the sage and abiding tosthe5
famous Donnel Washburn contest in
the cong ress of 1879. AT this point
Mr. Donnelly took fire, and from that
ltime Mr.. Hicks took water. Fol. ten.
minutes the house sat in breathless
silence while the author of 8 agnaroko
and "C5esar's Column" poured forth
the yials Of his wrath and adeluged the
ntleman from Hennepin, in a flood of
eloquent inyectiye which served to
completely drown that extremely re-
Espectable and ambitious gentleman.
=. :. :. :.
IT is unfortunate that no steno-
graphic report of the whole debate was
taken, for its equal may not again be
heard in this session. One Of the
Minneapolis reporters who is a steno-
grapher, but who only came in at the
close OF the discussion gives these as
Mr. DonnellY closing words. II am
willing that posterity shall Judge Of
my acts by history as it shall be i'm
PARTIAL written, ana an IL doss d OF believe
tlhis4
4 evsr failed in any crisis 10 stand for
the fights Of the people as against the
embellishments Of the corpo ations. 4
call attention to the fact that when a
resolution was presented on the floor
OF this house a few days ago to restore
to tbs people Of this State $40, 600, 900
Of the plumber which had been wrested
from them the only voice to be raised
against it was that Of the gentlemen
from Hennepin; and to the further fact
that when the temper of the house was
made manifest on this proposition the
gentleman had not the manhood to
support his position but voted with the
majority. That was an act of such in
effable meanness that thank God I
am incapable Of Initiating it,
:. !. i.
The debate was brought to a close
when Representative jacobson remind
ed the two gentlemen that they were
clearly out of order, and that. hereaf-
ter he would call them to order before,
instead Of after, they had been guilty
of transgression of the rules
of the house. The members Of
the house were SO engrossed in the dis
cussion that they actually. forgot all
about the pending resolution and adj
journed without taking a vote upon it.
After the adjournment Mr.. Donnelly
was rendered a perfect ovation at his
desk, many Republicans a few Of
them from Judge Hicks own county
joining in the gathering and ongratu-
latings the sage on his successful an
swersto an unprovoked assault. The
next time Judge Hicks goes out looking
for1trouble he will probably hunt up
some member with less disposition and
ability to strike back. It was, as one;
of the daily papers stated it, a case of
the man who went out hunting for the
tiger and came back inside OF the.
tiger.
i. i.
There are many excellent members
in the house, presenting various in
terests, and many strong men at that,
but the unquestioned and unquestion-.
able leader of the house, as two years
#ago,is jacobson, of Lac qui Parle. It
is not because he is q senior in length
of service, nor because he is prominent
through his party standing. It is be-.
because he is naturally a man of great
force, unquestioned ability and ster--5
ling integrity He is one of the few
men who has passed through the or
.dealiof four legislative sessions with
out having his name associated with a
single measure concerning whose pro-.
=priety there was the shadow of a
doubt. personally differed with him.
two years ago as to the merits Of the
so-calle ed Senate File the bill for a