The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-21
"Reminiscences of Life of
 Former Senator James [. Pugh.

Washington. March 2o.--(speciaL)-- To we'll known men ip this city, 1t seems odd that former Senator James l. Pugh. of Alabama. has passed over the river, and only few days ago was laid to rost in the cemetery at Eu- faula. the town in which he was prac- tically reared, which he loved so well, and which was his legal residence Tor much more than half a century.
 The venerable Ex-Senator greatly loved Eufaula and the State he repre- sented for eighteen consecutive years in the highest legislative body of the land. And the very last time he was down town to meet his friends and swap stories" as he used to call 1t, 1t was hts boast that although he had three terms in the Senate politics in Alabama was such he was glad to say that it cost him nominal amount to pay legitimate expenses in getting about in the campaigns, and he never asked a member of the legislature df- rectly or indirectly to vote for him Finds Lost Year.
 Mir. PuEh was one year older than the books of reference credited him with. He imparted this information tn the writer something like seven years ago. and mentioned that as he became an orphan when a small boy and was brought up by his relatives he did not really discover until after he had left the Senate that he was born in 1819. instead of 1920. as he had always sup posed. The discovery was made by coming across some private papers left by his parents. In speaking of the matter the distinguished old states man said: T have been putting my- self down for years in the Congress sional Directory as being a year young CT than really am, and 1t was only by the merest accident discovered the exact record of my birth.
 For years before he died, Mir. Pugh delighted in telling his friends hero and elsewhere how ambitious he was to become an actor. When a mere youth. he took part in amateur thea tricals in Alabama, usually playing the heavy parts in the plays that were produced. That fine, strong voice with which he was endowed and which stood by him up to a few weeks be- fore his demise. was the envy of most of the boys and girls who knew him when he had the ambition to appear before the footlights.
 But his relatives who had him in charge discouraged the idea on reiig- ious groundssS They thought the stage might be demoraltzing to young Pugh. and so he took up the study of law inc stead and made success not only in his chosen profession. but got along in politics far above the average mor- tai in the South or other sections.
 In this connection it is well to re- call that Senator Thomas c. Platt. Of New York. in his early life, expected to make the stage his calling Sew eral years ago at dinner at the Lotus Club in New York. he read some amus- ing verses he set to music when a very young man, and he surprised greatly the 400 or more guests on that memorable occasion by saying that the first financial start he had in life was from the proceeds of a glee club, organized by him and which gave com certs in the leading cities in the in- terior of the Empire State.
 But like MT. Pugh, MT. P1att soon got switched off and followed other pursuits which made him a command ing figure both in the political and commercial world.
 Senator Pug.h was fond of associate ing with young or middle-aged men
 He always maintained that 1t made hlm reel younger and brighter if he could be in the company of those many years his junior. By this it should not be understood that he purposely avoid ed association of those near his own age, put ne always declared after he retired from the active cares of life that when he went out for @ good time 1t was the best thing for him to get with men who would discuss modern topics and not go back to the times of the long ago And yet if a young man would ask Mir. Pugf to relate something that happened when he first loomed up on the political horizon he was only too glad to give the desired information.
 Up to the time of his last illness Mir. Pugh was a close reader of the pa- pers, the magazines and the Congress sional Record. The latter he read re- ligiously for he wanted to know what was going on in a body in which he had served for twenty years--two years first in the House before the