The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-21
CAMPAIGN CONDUCTED
BY HIS SWEETHEART.

Miss Elizabeth HOuts of Missouri
Lands Her Lover in Coveted ONCE.
From the Baltimore Herald.
When Miss Elizabeth Houts, of
Warrensburg, Mo-, began, year ago.
= remarkable political campaign to
elect her sweetheart railroad and ware
house commissioner of that state, she
soon found her greatest auxiliary to
he the time-honored truism, ''all the
world loves a lover"
n. Rubey Oglesby, her fiancee, who
coveted the official prize, was I'M
known in the state outside of his own
county. He was unschooled in politics,
and scarcely knew how to set about
attaining his ambition. The modest,
sweet faced slip of a girl to whom he
was betrothed therefore determined to
aid him.
Miss Houts possesses both beauty and
intelligence Her figure is slender and
graceful, and she has big, luminous
brown eyes and a bright and animated
face Her manner is frank and con-
fding, her laughter joyous and infec-
nous Indeed her whole personality
is pleasing to an uncommon degree.
Moreover, she writes as entertainingly
as she talks, and can give sympathe-
rio twist to an appeal for votes that
goes straight to the heart.
She is a school teacher by profession.
and is employed in Warrensburg, the
idol of her pupils. Her father owns
beautiful country place few miles
out of town, bequeathed to the family
by her grandfather, who was one of
the pioneer settlers of Western Mis-
souri, There the young teacher has
always passed her leisure hours, with
out a thought of the complications
and demands of a political campaign.
The facts leading up to the cam
paign of Oglesby for Railroad Com
missioner are hardly less remarkable
than the campaign itself.
Twelve years ago, "Rube," then a boy
Of 20, was employed by a Missouri rail-
road, and was considered one of the
best brakemen that ran on a box car.
He had no conception of fear. A Whis-
tie for brakes meant just what it said
to him, whatever the conditions might
be-
He would crawl over the tops of
freight cars and set brakes with a train
jumping along at forty miles an hour
and a wind in his face that few men
would care to meet on the ground.
On a bitterly cold Sunday morning
in December, 1892, Oglesby's train pull
ed out of independence only a few
minutes ahead of a passenger train.
The engineer knew he must keep out
of the way of the passenger, and so he
cut loose" as the railroad men would
say. He went down a long hill at ter
rife speed. Suddenly call for
brakes was made. Only one of the
crew-young Oglesby-responded The
cars were swaying and rolling like a
tiny boat in a storm. There was no
chance for Oglesby to keep his feet
Over the tops of those pitching and
plunging cars he crept and set four
cars ahead of him, broke squarely in
two. The rear half dropped on to the
roadbed. The cars behind it began
going into the ditch. "Rube" had no
time to turn around He had no time
to jump. Like a ball in the hands of
a boy he was tossed, not up and away
from the train, but down between the
two cars He fell on his hip and the
bone was crushed.
For ten long, weary weeks Oglesby
lay in a hospital, close to death. Three
amputations were made, and when the
sufferer finally recovered he had a six
inch stump where his right leg had |
been. He sued the railroad company for
damages, and a jury gave him SIS, 900. |
The case went to the Supreme Court, !
and was tossed back and forth between |
the upper and lower tribunals until, |
finally, after ten years of strife and ex
pense the Supreme judges reversed |
the finding and said that Oglesby was
not deserving a cent. Then it was that |
he made up his mind to become rail- |
road commissioner of Missouri. And |
Miss Houts made up her mind to aid |
him.
When Miss Houts undertook the |
management of the campaign she knew |
no more Of typewriting than she did |
of politics. But she acquired a practf- |
cal knowledge of both in an amazing |
ly brief time. A typewriter and mani |
folding outfit were installed in her bou-
doir-now transformed into a demand |
from here began to flow that steady |
stream of letters to every nook and |
corner of the state-a deluge of letters |
that made known the candidacy of |
"Rube" Oglesby wherever there was a
pOstoffice or a delegate to secure. In |
six months Miss Houts wrote 10000 |
letters and sent out as many circulars. |
Missouri contains ia counties. and |
Miss Houts conducted campaign in |