Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-06-23
ReoOllections Of Statesmen Who smashe
Traditions and De6ed the Speaker,
TOM REEDS TRIALS WITH THE NCKERs
How Buck KiIEore Booted the Door to
Freedom and Red-Headed sam
Bedford Played the Races
A Picturesque Pair.


pathy over their lamentations He Is old
fashioned enough to believe that legisla-
tor ought to be willing to do some work
for his pay. perquisites and prerogatives.
He didn't advise the complaining ones to
tell their troubles to the captain of the
capitol watch, but he brought his gavel
down right in the middle of the sad stories
of several
These fellows haven't been here long
enough to remember Buck Kilgore." was
Mr.. Cannon's private comment on the com
plants of some Of those brought before
the bar'of the house. Buck not only didn't
want to stay of the moor, but he kicked
his way in"
He referred to the occasion, ten or
dozen years ago, when Buck Kilgore the
Texas representative, kicked to flinders
the main door leading to the house floor.
At that time Speaker Reed had in oper-
alton his simple but great scheme Of just
locking 'em in to maintain a quorum.
Whenever sufficient number of repre-
sentatives to constitute a quorum filtered
in, Gar Tom, with a nod, directed the
doorkeepers to close and lock the DOORS
and the entreaties and prayers of members
who wanted to get off the floor for any
purpose whatsoever were alike unavailing
Mr.. Reed needed them there for voting
hipoSSSt diu there IneN Sldye0.
Bound TO Get In.
The main door to the floor was thus
locked and bolted one afternoon when the
brawny Kilgore who'd been delayed in ar
irving at the house. swung along
Buck pushed at the door and found it
unyielding.
Hey, what's coming on here?" Kilgore
demanded OF the doorkeeper on duty.
Why can't get in? House adjourned?"
Speakers got a quorum" replied the
doorkeeper.
We'll, femme in and I'll add to it." said
Buck to the doorkeeper.
Cant open any doors, slr-speaker's or
ders," said the doorkeeper
That so?' said Kilgore, and he PROMPTLY
kicked the swinging leather covered wooden
doors to kindling wood. entering the house
like roaring, ramping lion.
Most speakers would have sought the
punishment OF a representative for pulling
on trick like that That. however, was
the best thing the big-minded Reed thought
Of. The audacity of Kilgore's act appealed
to Reeds Imagination, and It was all right
for the Texan.
The most picturesque of the recent ar
rests was that in which one of the house
pages brought Cy Sulloway to the bar of
the house
When the call for quorum was made the
chief page delegated one of the tiniest of
his youngsters to go forth and bring Mr.
Sulloway. Cy sulloway is the most remark
able piece of vertical workmanship in the
house Of representatives. Nobody knows
just how high Cy is. but his elongatedness
can't be much inferior to that Of the late
Chang. the Chinese giant.
The mite OF page, boy something over
three feet in stature, prowled around the
committee rooms for quite bit before he
came upon the languid Cy, who, with an
amiable breeze blowing upon him from the
open windows looking on the terrace, was
cooked back in a chair with his legs
wrapped around each other two or three
times and the feet resting on a table, read
ing a newspaper.
Mr.. sulloway." the three-foot page SOL
EMMY squeaked. you're under arrest and
1 am to conduct you to the bar OF the
house"
The monolithic sulloway unraveled his
legs, grinned, stretched his arms and rose
to his vast height
Lead the way, mister" said he to the
boy, and the page led him to the main
door OF the house.
Entering the door, the boy with a nne
sense of the dramatic, grabbed hold of tho
up and down giants hand to emphasize the
fact that he had captured his man. Thus
the three-foot kid led the towering Cy
down the main aisle, amid the laughter of
the house.
Arrived at the clerks desk the high Cy
suddenly reached down and, taking the bow
In his arms, lifted him up and deposited
him squarely on the speakers desk, saving
n he ssT
captor. and the arrest was complete
Bedford from the Rockies.
old-time employees of the capitol tell an
incident Of what befell an arrested mem
Der of the house who was one of that
body's most famous characters many years
ago.
This famous character was Bedford OF
Colorado. the ''Redheaded Rooster of the
Rockies" Belford, a big-hearted though
decidedly uliterate man, was perhaps the
most openly and persistently convivial in
dividual who ever occupied a seat in the
house Of representatives. Almost unbe-
lievable stories Of his prowess around the
board are still current among the fogies
down here, and when the Redheaded Roos-
ter OF the Rockies felt in a convivial mood
he regarded the capitol as Just as good a
place TO indulge his mood as any other
One day while TIE horses were racing al
the old and long gone Ivy City race track
near Washington there was big business IN
the house, the opposition demanding the
presence Of a quorum. Belford was known
TO be out at the Ivy City track. for he had
been full OF a good thing" upon his ar
rival at the house that forenoon. Speaker
Carlisle sent an assistant sergeant-at-arms
out to the Ivy City track in a carriage 70
nail Belford.
The scout found Bedford swaying happily
in a box in the stand II was Just before
the ifth race, and Belford was hilariously
confident that his good thing was going to
come home alone. He had $50 on the cinch
at so TO !, and was prepared TO make the
root OF his life when the horses struck the
stretch.
The scout told Bedford that he'd have TO
get into the carriage right away. Belford.
however, was stubborn. He was going 20
see that good thing OF his win. house or
no house. The assistant sc rgeant-at-arms
finally cajoled the red-headed rooster out of
his box in the stand. telling him that he
could watch the finish Of the race from the
lawn below and then hustle into the wait
ing carriage Belford agreed 10 that, ana
as the horses were already lining I'D. the
l1a1 ~