El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-07-13
TOM p. OCHILTREE.

than many OF the states OF Europe,
reaching over territory of twenty
sew counties, and running from the
gulf to Eagle Pass, on the Rio Grande.
This area comprised 81 900 square
miles. Ochiltree was practically the
king of it. He vas the only man in
The district, when power was in con-
Iteration.
Ochiltree went to the top of capital
favOritism at single bound. He was
d p.ince CT story tellers. The beauty
OF his hUmor was that IL hit no one so
hard q 5 il hit himself. He was joke
TO himself H rarely appeared upon
the floor of the Forty-eighth congress
that be did not put the house into a
furOre of laughter. Toe country mem
hers used TO declare that he was more
fun than the MINISTRIES. His 81 Is and
ions were TESTED through
the Jest always bearing a strong ar
gument Why Texas and Texas harbors
should be the especial care of the
country. He called himself the Red
headed ranger from Texas" and the
title was enough to get him Il hearing
before the busiest committee. II was
his custom to send in wurd to AN i'm
port4nt session OF a ciose-m outhed and
dignl fed committee that the Red
headed range from J eXaS'' had few
remarks he would like to make cover
ing - lew poiulS III Il In5tSGfe Ihe
august body had in lis pigeOG-hOit 5.
The admission of Ochiltree maant a
good laugh-a long series of good
laughs-aad it is Il part of legislative
tradition that the colonel's Storie
have done for him what plajn, I'M
vanished and prosaic logic failed to
do for others.
Ochtltree proves that mems traits
come out in little things and at an
l.. L.
into his fathers Off re. He was barely
ont of his teens. The father went
away from town one day, and while he
was gone the bog had the sign changed.
San Antonio awakened the next morn
ing to laugh for years at the strange
name of the frn-''IhOmas 2. Ochil-
tree and Father, Attorneys" The
grown man was no less original than
the boy had been. and his wit iucre As
ca as the years brought the stubby. fat
youngster into rotund, broadgirthed
Judge William B. Ochiltree, law
yer OF great epute in the south, was
determined that young Tom should be
brought mp n the straight and narrow
path. He thought his son would be a
quiet man, of gentle habits, and there
upon placed him under the care and
of two Catholic priests. The
priests labOred in Nacogdoches parish,
where the boy was born, and they tried
iodust;iO usly to keep their pupil in
lines of thought that might possibly
take him into the clergy. The lad
stood it for time, and at the age OF
10 suddenly took the matter into his
own hands. He wanted to fight Ind ians.
The priests were pOwerless, and, with a
great deal OF shrewd planning, youn g
Tom made an enlistment as private in
T. a n
the scalps of the Apaches and Conan
ches in 1854. a year knocked all the
out of this boyish ambition,
and he was willing to come home and
buckle down to his BOOKS He always
had some outside plan in his head, and
while he was still under his ma ority
in years he was editor of paper and
had been sent as delegate to the con-
ventions in Charleston and Baiti-
more.
General Longstreet saw that Ochil- |
tree was made colonel during the
civil war. The reward came in return
for exceptional bravery on the field.
He fought with the cOnfederates dur
ing all the struggle, and returning to
Texas, be printed in his paper advice
to the southern people ito stop crying
and get sOlace in work" His ability
was marked enough to attract the at
made him the marshal for Texas. He
and the president became great friends
1t is said that Grant delighted in see
ing noOne more than he did in seeing
Tom Ochltree.
Texas owes as much to Ochiltree as
1t does to any other man that ever
came from the state. He has been un-
firing in his efforts to keep the state be-
fore the public. He did SO much in this
respect with the papers that he edited
that he was at one time sent to Europe
as EN- grant commissioner for Texas.
This gave him opportunity for many
trips abroad and he became as fluent
in the con tirental languages as in En-
glish. He actually became feature
in the London papers, and the old
journals used to advertise interviews
with h N the New Yors papers now
advertise their weekly grist Of Sunday
matter. The English writers are fond
OF conventional expressions. 1t was
usually printed that the intervi ever
found the valiant colonel engaged in
@ spmptuous repast," or "aboui to sit