Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-04-15
Mr.. sYMe's GREAT VOICE.
And Some Other Large Voices that Have
Been Heard in Congress.

Been Heard IN Congress.
There is always some member of
Congress who possesses voice far
superior in depth and volume to that
of any of the other members, which in
itself serves to give the member pos
sessing 1t certain reputation. In the
present House this voice is possessed
by Marriott Brosius of the Tenth Penn
sylvania district. Mr.. Brosius has a
faculty of talking SO loud at times that
the people in the galleries cannot dis
tinguish what he says. Another Penn
sylvanian who possessed similarly
powerful voice was the late w. d.
Kelley. commonly known as "Pig-Iron
Kelley" In his day he held the voice
record against all corners until Charles
H. Van Wyck of New York, who was
afterward Senator from Nebraska,
appeared on the scene. His voice was
even greater than that of Mr. Kelley.
Back in the old days the greatest voice
known in Congress was that of the late
William Allen of Ohio, whose statue
now stands In Statuary Hall at the
Capitol. 1t is told of Mr.. Allen, when
he was in the House before the days
OF railroads, that one OF his colleagues
left for his home in Ohio. The day
after he was gone, Mr.. Allen lamented
the fact that he had taken his depar-
ture so soon, as he wanted to consult
him about some measure which had
come up suddenly. That needn't trou-
BILE you, Allen" said fellow member.
He has not got across the Alleghanies
yet. Go out on the balcony and call
him back"
The greatest voice of which there
is any record or tradition about Con-
gress was that possessed by George G..
Symes of Colorado. Symes, who was
a good deal of character. finally COM
mitted suicide. He was an Ohioan by
birth, but served in the Union army
through the war in a Wisconsin regi-
ment, entering as a private and COM
ing out as a Colonel. Most of his life
after the war was spent in the West
in the Rocky Mountain region. From
1874 he made his home in Denver, Col.
He was a lawyer by profession and an
orator noted for his great voice. Com
pared with it the below of 1.-The bull
of Bashan' was a gentle murmur. 1t
was a deep, heavy bass, proceeding
seemingly from cavernous depths. Ask
ed one day about the reputation his
voice had given him, he replied:
well, I'll tell you about it," and the
words rolled out in his deepest, heavi-
est bass. You see, l was out cam
paigning. I was addressing Republic
can audience at Silverton. Over at
Oroville, twenty miles distant, the
Democrats were holding a meeting.
Along about o'clock there came up
one of the awful storms which occur
in that mountain country. The wind
howled like a million devils. 1t was
specially bad at Oroville. The people
showed signs of alarm, and acted as il
they wanted to break up the meeting
and leave the hall. The Chairman,
becoming anxious, arose to re-assure
them. Ladies and gentlemen. he said,
do not be alarmed. There is repub-
lican meeting over at Silverton, and
George Symes is addressing it. He has
just come to that point in his speech
where he denounces the Mills Tariff
bill, and the noise you hear is the in
distinct rumblings of his voice. -
Washington Post.