Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1905-07-31
Special Correspondence.

Special Correspondence. |
Roswell, N. NJ, July 31.-A sudden
movement and it will be all over with
Jerry Simpson, once famed as one of
Kansas eccentric g%eniuses. Sock
less" Jerry Simpson has aneurlsm of
the heart. Unwonted excitement,
physical exertion, anything to make
the blood pulsate too fast may
a rupture of a big artery, and the
light will die in the eyes of a man
who was once the most picturesque
figure in congress.
Simpson, doubted familiarity "The
Sockless." back in the SOS and early
t90s as a populist, was telling the
people corporations were getting too
big, were c%orrupting the republic,
were saping it's life blood, and
should be curbed. Simpson, too de-
cades ago, with all his power, urged
government ownership or control of
railways, suggested federal supervis-
ion of life insurance companies, shot
his biting shafts into the packers
combinations and harvester monopo-
lies. Simpson, in days when sena-
tors were considered above ~reproach,
spoke pointedly of senatorial graft.
Simpson, before Bryan was known
outside his county, was talking of the
"crime of '73," and advocating the is
sue which drew 100000 votes for
the Nebraskan in a presidential CON
test.
Carrie Nation got her start in the
town Simpson made famous, Medi-
cine Lodge. He reached there in 1873
and became a stock raiser in Barber
county, and helped convert the vir-
gin prairie into what is now m of
the richest wheat sections in the
country. Thrice defeated for con-
gress, he tried again, INT the Popu-
list cyclone swept him into Office over
Colonel Jim Hallowell of Wichita,
n of the most popular Republicans
IN Kansas. Simpson was reelected,
despite the opposition of Chester /.
Long. and finally was defeated by the
latter, who now is United States send-
tor. Simpson dropped out of public
life and anne to the Pecos valley some
years ago.
Born in New Brunswick in 1912.
Simpson was taken by his parents to
Oneida county, New York, and at IA
became a sailor on the Great Lakes.
For twenty-three years he was a sail
or. He was commander of the barge
J.. II. Rutter, Of Toledo, when on Octo-
Der 81, 1878, it anchored on Luding,
ton leaking badly, and ~foundered
The crew and cargo were saved, but
Simpson quit marine life then and
there.
An original Abolitionist, Simpson
cast his first vote for Abraham Lin
coin. He was a Republican until 1877;
and then became a Greenbacker, anC
in due course of evolution, a Farmers
Alliance and Peoples party man. De
spite the h%ardships of his youth, h,
acquired considerable education, ant
his native wit did the rest. Whel
Simpson was first elected to congress
his clothes and rustic appearance
backed up a Wichita pipe story
that he did not wear socks. In WASH
ington he became a bicycle fend an
donned white vests, Prince Alder
coats, patent leather shoes and stow
pipe hats, the same as his colleagues
His change of attire helped mater
ally in his political downfall. Sevent
district farmers thought Jerry wa
putting on too much style and vote
for Chester Long, always a sartorii
dream, as a rebuke.
Simpson was always one OF tn
"plain peepul." His heart Away
wen out to the poor man. He wa
always sincere. He never forgot
friend and never failed to forgive a
enemy.