The Sunday globe., 1901-06-02

! Tom COrWlnS s Interpretation, as given
! in a speech on the floor Of the House,
means "A part of whom 1 was which" !"
This was a matter between the Hon.
John Sherman, of Ohio, and myself
We were both young, ambitious and
quick. I made the first remark which
led to the difficulty. Mr.. Sherman was
making a speech and | made a remark
| to those around me, not intended to
be heard by Mr. Sherman or the re-
porter. Mr. Sherman did not hear it
but the reporter did, and put it down
on the next morning. | suppose when
! Mr.. Sherman saw the words in The
| Globe 1t angered him, as il was well
calculated to do, and without calling
my attention to It himself, he obtained
the floor, and | thought his manner
overbearing, and lost my temper and
4 reasserted my words, to which Mr.
Sherman replied All this eliminated
in the difficulty which afterwards took
place on the floor. If Mr.. Sherman,
or any other person, had called nay at
tention to the words, as reported,
should certainly have made a full ex-
PLANTATION. I have always regretted
the occurrence.
Looking back through the years
since these things happened, and
which have the effect of impairing the
dignity of our Congress. much allow
ance should be made, by just and i'm
partial men, for the actions of the
men Of that day, in the midst of the
most exciting period Of our history,
when the country was standing on the
verge of the most gigantic civil war
which ever befell our country, and
perhaps, any other. Occurrences Of
this character of more or less import
ance were constantly occurring.
Did you witness the difficulty be-
tween Congressman Preston S. Brooks,
of South Carolina, and Senator
! Charles Sumner, Of MassaCnusetts?"
asked The Globe.
"No, | did not I saw Mr. Brooks
on the evening before the occurrence
i'm the Senate Chamber He had been
unwell for some days, and together
with Barksdale, Of Mississippi, and
some other friend, I visited him at his
room. He inquired Of me particularly
as to the words used by Mr.. Sherman
towards Senator Butler, of South Car
olina. who was a relation Of Brooks.
7 told him what l knew about It. He
made no threat but I thought he
seemed very mad, so much so that
when we left the room expressed the
belief that there would be trouble,
Brooks was a very proud and impet-
uous man. He sent challenge to An
son Burlingame of Massachusetts,
which the latter accepted, naming the
place as Canada and the weapons
rifles. OF course there was no fight
Tile friends of both claimed a victory
And so in the challenge Of Roger A.
Pryor, Of Virginia, to Potter Potter
promptly accepted the challenge, weap
ons to be bowie-knives. According to
what they called the Code in that day
this was not allowable, but both sides
claimed the victory
"What became Of Col. Avery?'
"He went into the war. was captured
at Island No. 10, on the Mississippi
River and was drowned a few years
neo. All of the four are gone except
myself. There are but few remaining
" the members of the 34th Congress
and they are diminishing yearly
Pugh, of Alabama; Reagan, Of Texas
and eX-Represeutatives Grow, of Penn
sylvania; Atkins of Tennessee, and
others are now living
election of Gen Banks to the Speaker
ship"
81 suppose the history of that event
is well known to the country. A single
feature of It, which / do not remem
Der to have heard spoken Of. occurs tc
me. as It impressed me at the time
A resolution was passed calling on all
the ministers of the city Of Washing
/ ,1t t.,1 l,g f,ppf.nI
ings of the House each day with
prayer.
"The contest lasted through Decem
ber and January and into February
All denominations had been represent
ed until on one morning a Jewish
Rabbi Il had never seen one before)
appeared i'm the full costume of his
profession. offered a feyent prayer
and asking the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob to bring the unhappy
struggle to a speedy close Gen
Banks was elected Speaker / think
on that day. How much the Rabbits
prayer had to do with it, or how little
his predecessors prayers were avail
ing, | do not pretend to say The diff
ficulty in effecting the election of a
Speaker was that no one of the three
NdUAlldlt6 tOull command lllt lt'
quired number of votes Banks was
getting enough to bring about his cleo
tion if the plurality vote, as il was
called, could be adopted. Mr. Freder-
iCk p. Stanton, of Tennessee, wished
me to offer a resolution adopting that
vote, but | refused, and finally it was
offered by Samuel A. Smith, Of Ten
nessee, and adopted, and under its op-
eration, Banks was elected He made
a good Speaker"
what have you been doing Judge,
since the WARP"
soon after the war l undertook to
plant, but soon abandoned it and re-
turned to the practice Of my profes-
sion, which | have followed, except
when on the bench as a judge, In
1880 | was nominated by my party as
a candidate for governor, The great
issue in the canvass was the settle
mont Of the bonded debt of the State.
My party, ii its platform, announced
the principle Of a fair settlement Of
the debt. The Republican party, with
Judge Hawkins as their candidate,
took a similar position. With but two
candidates, my election would have
been assured, but a portion OF the
Democrats proposed to repudiate that
portion Of the State debt which was
created for the purpose Of building
our railroads. This faction nominated
a man named Wilson, and although I
carried with me a large majority of
the Democrats, Mr. Wilson received
enough votes to give Judge Hawkins
the plurality. During his administra-
tion as governor, a temporary vacancy
having occurred on the Supreme
Bench Of the State Governor Hawkins
commissioned me to fiji the vacancy.
! was engaged for a considerable time
as Commissioner Of the United States
To treat with various hands of Indians