The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1903-08-15
TRIBUTE TO BEECHER
oNE:rIME. roe T TELLS or HIS
WONDERFUL ELooUENcE.
How the Matchless Orator Quelled
Turbulent Mob Gathered to Howl
Him Down-The Greatest Moment
Of Great Life.

Him Down-The Greatest Moment
Of 4 Great Life.
II see they are going to build a me
mortal to Henry Ward Beecher," said
my white-haired Southern friend, who,
in spite OF his soft voice and gravely
gentle demeanor, had been a fire-eater
in the old days. ''It4 time they did.
and I shall send in my subscription"
looked up surprised. II thought
you fought for the other side during
the war;"
$50 did, and perhaps that's why I
know he deserves monument" said
the colonel, smiling. Il know he was
the greatest orator who ever lived"
"Demosthenes and Cicero amt in
it, SUPPOSED"
mot with him." the colonel insisted.
Let me tell you a story to prove it.
So settled back in my armchair
| the colonels "reminiscences were al
ways little vacation in my work-a-
day life.
"You know during the war I was
sent to England by the confederacy to
work up public sentiment for our side
| Well, there were a number of us, and
we worked up a good deal of senti-
ment, so much so that Abe Lincoln
began to take notice of it, and after a
while he sent Beecher over to make
some speeches against US.
when Beecher landed in Liverpool
the town was already billed for his
first speech, and we were already there
in force to see that he shouldn't make
it. The night came and the hall was
packed, largely with our sympathizers
and with men whom we had scattered
through the audience and hired to
boot and make cat calls, and utterly
drown out the speakers voice. 1t
wasn't exactly generous, l admit, but,
you know, those were desperate days.
$50 when he entered it was pande-
monium let loose-you' never heard
such racket. He had to come in at
the rear and walk the whole length
OF the hall down the middle asile
through bowling mob of enemies I
can see him now as he braced MIN
self, shook that name of his, walked
slowly to the front and climbed the
platform. He took off his overcoat
deliberately and put it and his hat on
chair, he tested a reading desk that
stood in the middle, found it loose,
and carried it out of the way. Then
he turned, walked slowly to the front,
faced the whirlwind minute, and
then said, in voice that went through
our yelling like a cannon ball through
a cotton field
Boys, this amt fair!'
1--WE forgot to yell for a minute
| stopped to draw breath against him,
and in that pause he hurled upon us
the most wonderful sentence that ever
fell from the lips of mortal man. A
thousand times I have tried to re-
word it, but always In vain. I know
only that it appealed to the British
love of fair play, to the old, historic
British sense of justice. And l know
from that first moment every man of
us forgot why he was there-utterly
forgot himself and his country, and l
know also that within ten minutes we
were breaking the hush with cheers
that took the roof off, Cheers, yes,
sir; we who were there to silence him.
who hated him and his cause. He
held us there cheering for two hours,
and not TIL it was all over and we
had left that place of magic did we
realize what we had done. If you can
find in all history such another
miracle wrought by an orator I'd like
to know of it.
Il tell you, he was forever hurting
thunderbolts that night that were
lightning flashes from him. He was
not like man, but some supernatural
power. Every soul there fell under
the spell, even the reporters. The
London papers all sent their best men,
with orders to take verbatim report
OF the speech, and not one of them
got beyond Boys, this amt fair The
| London Times actually discharged it's
representative because of his failure
Ten or fifteen years later l met
Beecher. He agreed with me that that
night in Liverpool was the great
moment of his life, said that then. and
then only, he had felt as though pos
sessed by god, as though uttering
not his own words, but those of some
archangelic power. He regretted deep
ly that the one speech by which he
would like to be remembered should
have persisted in the uttera At
| lanta Constitution.