The Washington herald., 1907-02-23
PERSONAL STORIES
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

Three men whose names were at one
t.me in the mouths Of almost every
American, and who are spending their
remaining days in seclusion, are David
Turlde, of Indiana. j. Proctor Knott. Of
Kentucky, and Roger Q. Mills. of Texas.
Their names are rarely seen in print
nowadays. vet they are enjoying life
among their books in their several homes.
Turpie and Knott were Democrats in the
Senate and House in the days when civil
war had reduced that party until il had
so few members that it could not demand
roll call. Mills came in soon after, and
then served as chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee when the Democrats
returned to power.
Proctor Knott is one Of the most pie
turesque men in the country. He won
fame in Congress as a humorist, and that
fact embittered his life. He liked to be
funny. but he was also serious. a
screamingly funny speech he made in 1879
on the question of paving Pennsylvania
avenue ranked him as a professional
humorist Protest as he would, every
time he got up to speak the House would
begin TO laugh and it was no use TO be
anything but frivolous. A year later he
discovered Duluth MINI. Duluth was
then an imaginary spot on an imaginary
railroad In speaking against the pro-
posed subsidy for this railroad, Knott
employed an unparalleled flow of sarcastic
oratory and described Duluth as the cen
ter of the universe Thirty-siX years have
passed and Duluth. large. thanks to Proc
tor Knott's advertising, is one of the
greatest lake ports in the world.
Proctor Knott was born i'm Kentucky
in 1879, and after being admitted to the
bar. went to Missouri TO make his for
tune. He had the sum of 81 when he ar
rived at his destination. He sat on
stump a while and was lonesome. Then
he went into a country store and bought
3 cents worth of chewing tobacco. He
stepped on the scales to weigh himself
and tipped the beam at ninety-five
pounds lie likes to tell how he began
life with o. cents and ninety-five pounds.
In his long political career Proctor Knott
held many positions of honor. He was
in the Missouri legislature, and later
served as attorney general Of that state.
Kentucky sent him to Congress again
and again. and also elected him COVER
nor After teaching law in Centre Col
Iege. he retired to Lebanon.
When his old friends drop in there to
see him they can always hear a good
story and have hearty laugh. but he
prefers his seclusion-mourning that a
world with a funny bone would not per-
NIT "a good joker to be serious when he
wanted TO. Duluth is proud of him, and
has entertained him as the guest Of the
city. There was Il great race horse named
Proctor Knott; there are hundreds of boys
named for him. and in the after-dinner
speeches of the time there are inHumer-
able mavericks born of the wit of the
old man who is now laughing over his
books in Lebanon.
David Turpie probably would have been
fn the Senate to-day had the Democrats
held Indiana Beveridge succeeded
him. MI Turpic is iu his seventy-eighth
year and since his retirement from public
life has devoted himself to his books. He
has written "a charming story of Indiana
life called sketches of My own Times.
He first went TO the Senate in 1863 as the
successor of Jesse D. Bright. who was
expelled for disloyalty TO the Union OF
all those who were i'm the Senate then, but
one other survives, and he is John b.
Henderson. of Missouri, I'm 1857 Turpie
and remained twelve years. He was
colleague of the mighty Dan Voorhees,
and is known as the most scholarly Of
HOLSTERS He was the last Democrat TO
represent his Commonwealth in the Upper
House of Congress.
Roger Q. Mills lives alone al Corsicana.
lie is nearly four score. and has permitted
the world TO wag ON far ahead of him.
lie does not answer letters that seek to
drag from him expressions ON timely po-
litical events. II is said hc does not even
read the newspapers. and takes no inter
est i'm current affairs He went 10 Con-
grcss in 1873. when Blaine was Speaker.
lie served under two other Republican
Speakers. KeiGeT and Reed, and under
four Democratic Speakers. Kerr. Randall
Carlisle, and Crisp Then he went TO the
Senate at the time when the Democrats
We're in control there lie was big and
powerful man. and his influence on the
course or government was always TO be
reckoned with. At one time the Mills
tariff reduction bin was burning issue. /
but now Mills is not considered by either
standpatters or revisionists. His own
political downfall came Just before the
retirement of his party from power. and
he went back to private life "a poor man.
Then the Texas oil boom came. and on
the Mills farm was found the highest
quality of oil west of Pennsylvania II
made him rich, but he didn't care There /
are books in C0rsicana. and old Roger Q. /
Mills had found his friends among them /
Charles Egbert Craddock and VIII Allen /
DromgoOle are two women writer's who !
are fast friends. Miss Mary n. Murfree /
is the real name of Craddock. author Of I
THE Great Smoky but Miss Drom- /
coolies masculine name is her very own. /
Both of them have had some amusing 4
experiences with those who did not know
they were women. Miss Murfree was /
asked TO a dinner in Boston when her 4
publisher knew her only as Charles Egbert /
Craddock. The dinner was planned as 4
stag affair and when Miss Murfree ar /
rived the doorkeeper told her that there /
were 20 be no ladies present and denied 4
her admission. Miss DrOmgoole once re- /
Ceived q complimentary letter from james /
WhitcOmb Riley after the publication OF /
a book of her verses. The letter began
Dear Will" and ended with cordial /
Invitation a come over and frr,
with the boys" She explained. and of /
nnnrsa the amthor nf -.That Oh Sn-ant- |