The Portland daily press., 1898-01-19
A KENTUCKY SENATOR.
His Frugal Manner of Life at the Capt.
tai.
netter to chicago chronicle

Strange as the statement may appear, 1T is
a fact that the most economical statesman
who ever appe AIRED in Washington was from
the commonwealth of kentucky. Thomas
C. McCreery of Owensboro was elected to
4he United States Senate in 1868 to fill a va
cancy, and served for three years. He was
not chosen to succeed himself, but was elect
ed for the full term beginning in March,
1873, as the successor of w. B. Machen. Mr..
McCreery retired from the Senate in 1879.
He served altogether nine years.
When ne entered Congress. he was poor
man. When he left Washington at the end
of his congressional service he carried with
him draft for S31, &c., which sum represent
ed his actual saving from his salary, mile
age and stationery accounts. He made 1t
rule when he first entered the Sente to set
apart $500 of his salary each year as saw
ing, and he saved every year just that
amount and no more. He might have done
even better, but he was man OF methodi-
cal habits, and having fixed standard, ne
was content to live up to it.
Mr.. McCreery was a bachelor and was
probably one of the ablest men who ever
sat in the Senate. He was a very lazy man
however and his laziness seemed to aifect
him mentally as well as physically. 1t was
day just after he had eaten his luncheon,
which always consisted of nothing more
than piece of pie and small slice OF
> cheese.
He was very large man and at times he
snored feartully 1t frequently. becam
necessary for the sergeant-at- arms to wake
him, because his snoring disturbed the pro-
ceedings of the Senate Sometimes his sleep
was so heavy that he would fall out OF his
chair, and when this happened it always
caused a great commotion in the Senate
chamber. In spite of these peculiaTities, Mr..
McCreery was very popular with his fellow
senators. His s'chums'' were Thurman OF
Ohio, Conkling of New York and Zach
Chandler of Michigan.
Senator McCreery lived at a quiet little
boarding house in Georgetown. He had
pass ON the street railroad and it therefore
cost him nothing to go to and from the
capitol. A KeDtuckian once related to me
his experience during visit to Senator Nc
Creepy, and shall tell the S to ~, as 1 now
remember it, in order to show the senator's
mode of Twin G. Said my Kentucky friend:
81 came to Washington as sightseer.
had known Senator McCreery at home and
readily accepted an invitation to be his guest
during my stay at the capital. / met him
by appointment the day arrived at the
east front of the Capitol at o'clock in the
afternoon and we took street car which
ran to his boarding house in Georgetown.
'.He showed the conductor pass for. him
self, but insisted on paying my fare. Every
thing about his boarding house was agree
able and he told me that the charges We're
quite.Teasonable. He had a nice large room
and we were given a good supper L re-
member we had fried chicken, plenty of
fresh milk and butter. Before we went
down to supper the senator unlo cked a
closet disclosing cask, from which he
drew out two glassfuls of whiskey. He told
me the whisl1ey was sent to him by a friend
in Greensboro, who kept him supplied gratis
with all the liquor he needed.
"After supper we smoked some very eX-
cellent cigars, which he said had been pre-
scented to him by Kentucky tobacco manu-
facturer. Along toward 10 o'clock we re-
sumed our attacks on the cask of whisky
and took several drinks before midnight.
All at once the senator turned to me and
asked if wouldsenjoy little sport. told
him that ordinarily would not object, but
thought it was rather late to go down
town.
ooh, we don't have to go downtown" he
replied. 'We can have all the fun we want
eight here.
ssWith these words he drew out large
box from under the bed. When he opened
the box saw it was divided into two COM
partments. One was occupied by mag
nificent black rooster with red feathers on
his head and neck. In the other compart-
ment was a white rooster with yellow head
feathers Both chickens were evidently OF
the gamiest stock and wer, very much ex-
cited over the prospect of being ritted
against each other
aSenator McCreery hastily constructed a
spit,' using some very straight backed
chairs, which he brought from an. adjoining
room for this purpose and in a few minutes
one of the most exciting cock fights L ever
witnessed in my life was in p rogress. The
fighting was fast and furious and was kept
up for nearly an hour. Finally the black
bird seemed to be pretty well exhausted
and the senator returned both chickens to
their quarters under the bed. He told me
that it was his custom to read at night, but
that his eyes were beginning to fail, and as
he did not like to go to bed early he had
adopted the plan of having cock fight in
his room every night for the purpose of pre-
venting monotony.
peated as long as I remained his guest.
This remarkable old man with his extraor-
binary mental attainments could not help
saving money. His tastes were simple and
they were grarifed without any expense to
himself. He was fond OF ansoceasional glass
of whiskey; he liked to smoke good cigar
ind he thoroughly enjoyed cock fight The
whisky, tobacco and game chickens which
he used were presented to him by his faith
full friends and dey oted political followers at
home.
"Ihave always regarded MI. McCreery as
one of the very ablest men that kentucky
ever produced. lie had fine education and
WAS well grounded in the law, having been
admitted 10 practice before the supreme
court of the state. AS a matter of fact, how
ever, he never practised his profession. lie
was fond of agriculture and lived quietly
on little farm near Owensboro until he
was unexpectedly elected TO the Senate"
-----------------------.
Cure the cough and save the life. "
Z