Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-11-27
A OF N
Maryland Senator's Tale of Hunting
Which illustrates the Tenure
of Political Office.

The approach of the November cleo
tions, with their consquent change of
officers, served to recall a story that
Senator McComas, of Maryland, was
at one time fond of telling to his dem
ocratic compatriots when he was a
member of the house of representa-
tives, says the New York Times. At
that time there was considerable dis
satisfaction expressed by some OF the
outgoing incumbents of the snug
places which a beneficent democracy
had provided for them under the Cleve-
land administration.
81 can't for the life of me see what
you fellows have to complain of. You
ought to accept the situation graceful
ly, not merely because it is inevitable
and the fortune of war, but because ro-
tation in office is a universal law of ma
ture observed even by the widest dem
liens of the forest.
ga friend of mine went for a weeks
shooting in the Shenandoah valley,
and upon his return he gave me sew
eral amusing incidents of his expedi-
ton. 'One day. said he, / felt quite
tired during the afternoon, and lay
down in a little nest among the bushes
near a stream, with my gun beside me.
| had slept for a little while when l
was awakened suddenly by a loud
thump upon the ground, caused, APP
parently, by something falling from
a considerable height. The sound re-
Cured quite frequently at stated in
tervals of about half a minute each,
and appeared to come from a thick
wood at a little distance from the spot
where I was lying.
"'My curiosity was thoroughly
aroused, SO l crept cautiously through
the bushes, dragging my gun after me.
Presently I discovered the cause of the
disturbance. There, right in. front of
me, stood a tall poplar tree, or, rather,
the remains of one, for the, top Of it
had been torn off about 40 feet from
the ground, while the diameter of the
remainder was about five feet near the
roots. From the top of the trunk a
ldlSC CooI lOOhSu WuIIly out SNS-
Sond. and then jumped down with a re-
sounding thud, upon the ground, taxi
ing the 40 foot leap quite as a matter
of course. Immediately upon reach
ing the ground the coon made a bee
line for a hole in the roots of the tree,
disappeared, and presently emerged
again at the top, when he again pro-
ceeded to take the flying leap, repeat
ing this curious performance until l
grew tired of watching him. This was
too much for me, so / skirmished
around, got several farmers together,
and we all proceeded in a posse comita-
tus to the spot, with dogs and guns and
axes.
"'Well, sir, we cut down that tree
and split it up in the middle, and what
do you suppose we found? The trunk
was hollow all the way up from the
roots, and | assure you that it was
packed chuck full of live 'coons, just
as tight as you could get 'em. Then we
understood the whole thing at a
glance. There was one additional
coon for whom there wasn't enough
room, and when he fought his way
into the hole at the roots of the tree
he just forced the whole heavy column
of live 'coons above him upward and
the top one had to leap down and
out;' it wasn't the same coon that
saw jumping all the time, but a differ
ent II at every trip. They all took it
in rotation"