The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-10-04

organ ana either through acClueLl, VI
with malice prepense, the abbreviation
of Thos. for Thomas in my name, was
divided by an unnecessary period and
printed as 1T. Hos. Fitch Fellow
citizens" said the chairman, I'VE have
with US distinguished orator, lately
from Wisconsin-the Right Honorable
T. Hos. Fitch. Though young in years,
he was one of the editors of the Mil
waukee Free Democrat, and he had
written many scurrilous articles in ia
vor of the Republican party. He is
well named. When you have heard
him you will conclude that he is not
only a boss, but whole team. He
spoke the other night, and never, never
before, in all my life. did I listen to
such magnificent collection of plati-
tudes."
California did not lack for political
orators in 1S60-61. The work of a can
vass was more arduous then than now.
ThereSwas not. a railroad in the State,
except the line from Sacramento to
Fulsom and journeys We're made in
Concord coaches. The meetings were
usually held in the open air, and the
auditors thought nothing of standing
for hours to listen to speaker of their
choice.
Among the brilliant speakers on the
southern side was Harry I. Thornton.
1t may have been his modesty, and it
may have been his Indifference, and it
may have been the loss of his beauti-
full and accomplished wife within a
year after their marriage, that caused
him to abandon the political career in
which. before the war, he had so sue
cessfully embarked, and which he
dropped utterly upon his return to CAL
ifornia, after four years service in the
Confederate army. As an orator he
had few equals and no superior in the
Democratic ranks. and as nisi prius
lawyer. in my opinion he outranked
John CARRIER, whose partner he was.
and in whose shadow he lived Fervid
in speech, felicitous in phrase, mag
netic in his influence upon his hearers,
quick to see and occupy a coign of
vantage, relentless in the combats of
the forum, and yet kindly in courtesy
to his opponents, he was indeed a gen.
tleman of the old school.
There was high gambling in Rich
mond in the spring of 1865 said Har-
ry. in reply to a question. "I never
INDUCED but once. I went into a faro
room, bet twenty thousand dollars on
the Jack, won it, and left what did
you do with the money!" asked a
| friend. 81 bought : pair of boots
with it, replied Harry.
AAA
In an unknown grave, dead from
neglect, if not from actual starvation,
somewhere in California rests the NOR
tai remains of Thornton's contempo-
rary and rival-Henrv Edgerton-one
of the most brilliant orators, and most
fascinating men that ever delighted
public audiences in the Golden State.
He had but one fatal foe on earth
himself-and his deviations were nei-
Their so frequent nor so prolonged as to
have earned for him the fate that
befell him. His voice in public
speech was magnetic, his presence i'm
posing, his manner modest and his
matter original. In the art of ridi-
culing an opponent he had no superior.
THE gentleman Observes said Edger-
ton. in the course of a legislative de-
bate, that he fears no man, who, like
I himself, is of woman born. He exalts
himself unduly. He is endeavoring to
obtain credit for manhood under false
pretences. He is not the offspring of
a woman, he was horn of brass
foundry" OF an editor who SANDER
ed him, Edgerton said: HE lies by day
and he lies by night and he lies for the
a secession convention of a distinguish
ed San Francisco lawyer, of dark COM
plexion, curly hair, and Hebraic feat
ures and name, Edgerton said. This
man states that he would not be true
to all the glorious recollections of his
ancestry, if his sympathies We're not
with the South in this struggle. Who
were his ancestors? IF he traces his
lineage to its inception. he will find
that while one of his forefathers was
clamoring for the crucifixion of the
Saviour of mankind, the other was
nursing her babe on the banks of the
Congo
, A Democratic speaker who was al
most. but not quite, an orator, was
John r. Mcconnell. He was clever at
turning a corner. An opponent quo
ted from Helpers Impending Crisis, tC
the effect that the hay crop of the