The age-herald., 1901-04-12
Old Funston's coarseness.

Old Funston's coarseness. Most wearisome details are being printed concerning old Funston. General Funston's father setting forth what he
 has done in the past, the kind of blow
 hand he is now. and how he lives and feels but the fulsome newspapers gos- sipers fall to state that the elder Fun ston is one of the most ill-mannered of all the most ill-mannered Kansans," said an old Washington newspaper correspon- | dent
 When Farmer Funston. as he was called. took his seat in Congress in 1884, l in succession to MT. Ryan. an eminently respectable man who had died while a member of the House, he was as coarse l and ill-mannered man as ever I saw,
 and densely ignorant of his duties. One l day he introduced bill-hs first bill in
 the House-and instead of having 1t re-
 ferred to the proper committee. the com
 mttee on claims, if remember correct
 ly. he asked the speaker to refer 1t to 1 the committee on -.
 This error by Funston concerned me. as I was clerk to the committee on -,
 and therefore had to handle the bill. l The next day the bill was delivered to me by the b.ll clerk, q charming fellow from Texas named Fields. I receipted for It. as I was required by law to do, though called Fields attention to the fact that my committee had no more to do with 1t than 1t had to do with a ukase of the Tsar. made the proper record of the In hoa toJ tunity to request the committee to refer 1t back to the Speaker in the usual order, as committee clerk has absolutely no authority to act upon fis own judgment regarding any bill; clerk dare not all low his official copy of bill go out of his possession except by order of his chair man, practice that might be well ob- served in state legislatures.
 ''On the third day old Funston entered my office like a human cyclone and roughly demanded that I send his bill back to the Speaker.
 :" Who are your I asked him with some spirit never having seen the man before.
 " Funston - Congressman Funston of Kansas. My bill was wrongly sent to your committed. and I want it sent back to the House immediately.
 'I curbed my youthful temper sufsi- ciently to explain that I was personally powerless to do as he wished but that as soon as the chairman came in I'd re- fer the matter to him; informing Fun ston that the committee at that time was holding only one meeting a week, and f,at bot t1 4l.~ committee-room every day, ds he was a
 working member of other committees of I the House. o Funston made a further rude remark and went out, slamming the door with a great crash. My chairman was not in the House at all that day; he was i'll in his hotel
 ''On the fourth day Funston fairly burst in upon me and found me at work, as usual
 Have you sent my bill back to the Speaker?' he asked fiercely and rudely
 '"rhe chairman is sick, sir, and I am powerless to act in the matter; but I expect him within an hour, and he will attend to it, answered him, in perfect | civility.
 Funston gave a great snort, and open ing the door he turned to me and with brutal deliberation said: If you'd drink less whisky and attend to your duties better, you'd cause less trouble and he slammed the door as if determined to break 1t off it's hinges.
 Maybe 1 wasn't wild with ungovern- able and murderous anger! I was very young and never had in my life tasted strong drink. and l had won my place
 by sheer industry, by patient toll Hap oily l was not suffered to carry out the purpose that instantly formed in my heart In the nick of time my chairman, who was like second father to me, came and peremptorily ordered me to go away to 'go to Baltimore and see Edwin Booth in Hamlet. Next day my boyish passion had cooled
 Funston weighed about two hundred pounds and was a giant of gigantic physical strength, and features repulsivc- ly coarse. as were his manners. His face was splotched with red. and he was on that fourth day theh living image cG a drunken man; but they told me that he was total abstaner. I never met him afterwards