The age-herald., 1898-03-20

 unique characters that ever occupied a seat in the American congress. Martin was major during the war and had been given the sobriquet of "Old Howdy." This came about from his having met Gen. Lee one morning about sunrise when the great commander was reviewing some troops (of which MT. Martin was the commanding officer), and instead of saluting Gen. Lee in a military fashion, Martin addressed his commanding general thus; "Howdy, Gen. Lee, howdy, sir'' From then ever after he was known as "Howdy Martin" Maj. Martin got into congress by accident. He became the successor in the house of rep resentatives of John H. Reagan, who was postmaster-general of the southern confed- eraey, and who was elected to the senate, succeeding Gen. Samuel Bell Maxey, in 1SS7
 Martin was native Of Alabama, having been born in Barbour county, Sept. g. 1923. He studied law in Troy, and was there ad- mitted to the bar. He went to Texas in 1S5O and began the practice of his pro- fession Was elected to the Texas senate in 1853. Reelected in 1855. In 1862 he raised a company for the confederate army. Was mustered in the Fourth Texas regiment and assigned to Lees army, and participated in all the battles of that army until the sur render at Appamattox He then returned to his home in Athens, Tex, and resumed the practice of law. In 1872 he was elected district attorney. At the expiration of his term of office he retired to his farm, where he was living when elected to the Fiftieth congress in 1886. deadlock had taken place in the convention, and Martin was the dark horse.
 Maj. Martin had never cultivated the habit of being the possessor of any great amount of linen, or, at least,-if he did possess it, there was no outward sign. His wants were few and his ways were simple. His simplicity was beautiful. He was man of great courage. He was not schooled in the arts of fashion, but he measured every man by his integrity. Maj. Martin was not in his youth educated as are the children of today, but what he lacked from an educational point of view he supplied with that wisdom nature gave him.
 When Maj. Martin arrived at Washing ton ne dSSulIleu no NlTluS IudI He ulu nOL possess. The customs of his Texas sur roundings were the customs of the new congressman at the capital. He had never been in the capital city before, nor had he been at any time in his life a frequent visitor to any of the larger cities. The largest city that he knew anything about was the capital city of Texas, Austin. At the time spent there, when a member of the state senate, Texas was in it's infancy as a state Everything was crude, and Maj. Martin, at no time in his life, was an- bilious to progress beyond his general sur roundings.
 On Maj. Martins arrival at Washington, with his old-fashioned carpet-bag in his hand, he inquired of a colored man whom he met at the station the nearest way to reach "Willard's Tavern" He meant, of course, Wilard's hotel, perhaps the most historic hostelry in the United States. He arrved at the Pennsylvania railway station,. which is located at Sixth street and Penn sylvania avenue. ''Willard's Tavern is To- cated at Pennsylvania avenue and Four teenth street, a distance of eight blocks Maj. Martin did not employ cab, nor did 
 Tavern" When writing his name upon the hotel register the naughty clerk sur- veyed as rapidly as possible the new ar- rival. He was not particularly prepossess- ing in his appearance. The clerk was in- clined to the belief that the reputation of the house would be best sustained if the new arrival was told there were no vacant rooms. Before doing this, however, the clerk asked Maj. Martin how long he in- tended to remain in the city. He informed him that he was newly-elected member of congress and intended to stay as long as his constituents would let him. This changed the map of the hotel. Maj. Martin was shown to one of the best rooms in the house.
 It was not long, however, before he found his way to the lobby of the hotel and made his way to the bar. He called for a drink of whisky and was inclined to rebel when the barkeeper informed him that the price was b cents instead of 5. It was Maj. Mar tins first lesson in the extravaganza of public life. He retired to his room about il o'clock and instead of turning off the gas he blew it out. The odor of the gas was
  2 o'clock in the morning. The door was broken open. Tie newly-elected congress- man was almost in the throes of death The flow of the gas was stopped. Doctors were sent for and resuscitation was made successful. The second day thereafter Maj Martin was famous throughout the length and breadth of the United States as me congressman who blew out the gas."
 The old gentleman was not deserving of that kind of fame. He soon realized that he had become the butt-end of ridicule. He left "Wilard's Tavern" because of the expense and took lodgings in North Cap .tol street, on Capitol Hill, in what was known Grant Row. In this row there were about forty houses and all bore the same external appearance. Even to the keenest eye it was difficult to dis tingussn one from the other, and the only mark by which they could be known were