Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-01-30
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Monitor Correspondent.

The Senate of the United States
witnessed pathetic and even dra-
matte scene when Senator Mitchell of
Oregon pied his innocence of fed
eral indictment. Standing by his
desk at the rear of the room he
talked for nearly an hour of his
alleged connection with the Oregon
land frauds. His argument was con-
nected and forceful and delivered
with such intensity of feeling that it
was necessarily eloquent. The sena-
tor had not previously appeared in
the senate since the Indictment was
returned and when he entered the
room a number of his old friends
crowded round him With many evil
dences of good Will, and when he left
the senate after hisspeech they went
to him again, shaking hands with him
and wishing him well. Among these
were Senators Daniels and Teller and
others from the west and south.
Senator Mitchell is an old man and
/
ton winter before last whem it was
thought he would not live he has
broken visibly. Whsnhe entered the
senate Tuesday he locked more than
his seventy four yea-s. His face was
pale and ined with care and the hand
which held the typewriter sheets ef
his address shook 80 that the paper
fluttered. His handkerchief and. q
) | glass of water were conspicuous on
/ his desk and he filed IN. pauses>when
his voice was too choked' to be audi
r BILE in making use Of boths. His
address took up the history of the
+ land fraud case and his connections
y with it from the beginning and to-
: many of ais colleagues it was d
r thorough and convincing vinGioati on
Iof the man. Every senator in the
= city was present during the reading
: of the statement and the galleries
. were filed. The faces of the senator's
/ \ as they watched their colleague painr
} fully struggling through his affecting
, address were interesting studies.
, Senator Bepew who is generally SO
L smiling kept his eyes fixed on the
e cover Of congressional directory
that lay before him. Senator Fulton
: of Oregon. big raw boned man who
, looks more, like large and honest
s. plow boy tran statesman, sat by
e Senator Mischief listening intently to
3 every word, his face earnest with
= sympathy. Some of the southern
o senator's who are by temperament
more demonstrasive than then
Ii brothers from the east and nsrtl
= were seen to wipe their eyes wheI
q near the conclusion of his-speech Mr.
Mitchell broke down al3ogethes ant
was, unable for a. few seconds to- pro
I'd csed.. Senator W. A Clark of Mon
ge sana, Who is Just back from Bnrop,
st. With bis young. wife, sat on one of tn
nd sofas at the back of the senate. room
,st both hands behind his ears trying +
g. catch the words which by reason O
r. his increasing deafness, since tn
iss operation On his ears, were dificul
D. for him to understand. Many of tk
at younger senators listened throughou
as in respectful but frigid silence. A
he the conclusion of the statement VIE
ut the irrepressible galleries had beef
or silenced by the oft dep ate
,r. threat that they would be turned on
ed in a body if they did not cease t
en- applaud the senators gathered abor
tai in little groups and discussed tt
m statement. A number of them wit
,ry whom your correspondent Take
he were agreed that the address ha
he been a dignifed one in spite of il
mt having violated every precedent. BIT
nd there was no one who did not realiz
i'd the futility of it. The senate eannC
vn. take any action in the matter and or
1er conservative democrat remarke
apropos of the senator's intimatio
ted that he would not resume his sea
lad "If every man of US believed him ;
ad- innocent as an unborn babe [ thir
the he should not return to the sena
the until he is cleared by the courts
ing Some who had wiped their eyes ar
saw blown their noses during the speec
sed were able to laugh afterwards al
,vi- one baId-headed Scion said. SIT