The age-herald., 1902-05-11
Sprightly Mr, Pettus

| From the Chicago News.
 Edmund Winston Pettus the senior l Senator from Alabama, is a man of gil gantic proportions. The eighty-one years | that he carries have bent his shoulders still he towers fully six inches above | any of his colleagues in that dignified | assemblage.
 The other day he extended himself during the morning hour and asked unan- 1 imous consent to pass a pension bill. Its a case that needs immediate att tention," he said, in reply to the inquir- ing looks of the Senators about him. l'"The man this pension is for is very old and we must hurry up if it does him any good. He's getting very low.'' This frank admission convulsed the Senate, but no member offered objection to the passage of the bill
 No one in the Senate Is looking for his age, which is sufficient to take the ginger out of most men, the Alabama man is as pugnacious as he was during the Mexican war, when, as a lieutenant, he made record for gallant action in battle.
 Probably the story of how Pettus came to be a United States Senator serves best to describe the old Southerner.
 James s. Pugh was Senator from Ala bama and had been elected largely through the efforts of Pettus, who was practicing law in Selma, as he had been for the last fifty years, except during the time he served as an officer in the Con- federate army. A vacancy occurred in one of the federal judgeships of the State and MT. Pettus decided that he would like to round out his legal career by serving on the United States bench He packed up his sachel and made a trip to Washington for the purpose of enlistng Pugn's support for the appoint ment.
 The train on which MT. Pettus travelled arrived in Washington about o'clock in the morning. It was too late to go to bed and too early to do anything else but go and see Pugh; so the Alabama lawyer clambered into a cab and drove to the Senator's house. He rang the door bell loudly. A colored woman an- swered after a lapse of time long enough to indicate that he servant had been called from her bed. Sticking her head through the door she asked what was wanted
 T want to see Pugh," answered Pet tus.
 Hes in bed"
 That's all right. I'll go to his roorn'
 And he went.
 'Hey, there, Pugh, wake up," said Pet tus wher he had discovered the slum- bering statesman,
 Pugh awoke. for Pettus' voice is in pro- portion to his frame.
 There's a vacant 1udgeship down in our state and I want it." said Pettus, while Pugh was rubbing his eyes.
 "Pettus, you are too old" sad Pugh, as he rolled over in bed.
 "Pugh, you are a fool" retorted Pet tus, ''and if I am too old to be judge l am not too old to be a Senator
 He strode out of the room, frothing with anger.
 The cab went straight back to the rail- road station, where Pettus took the first train home. He had not been back in Selma five minutes before every one in the village knew that he was a candidate for United States Senator. He stumped the entire state, going into the further most counties to press his claim for rec ognition. His campaign cry was that he was too old to be a judge but not too old to be Senator. He won an overwhelm- ing victory.
 Both Senator Morgan, famous as the advocate of the Nioaraguana canal. and