The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-11

 LNeoNGREsS Gy1es and Mahon Have Clash. LIE PASSED IN DEBATE Members Come Near Having Fist
 Fight on Floor. Although Secretary of Peace Taft Was Not Called in, BeIIigerents F'in- ally Performed the Ale
 phonse- Gaston Act.

Washington, Jan. 10.--The House late | today took on the appearance of the closing days of the Fifty-ffth Con- gress. commonly known as the. war l Congress" when altercations between l members were frequent.
 Late this afternoon MT. Gaines | (Tenn.), and Mir. Mahon (Pa.), were only prevented from meeting In per sonal encounter by the intervention Of members. MT. Gaines was making l speech on his bill to dock" members pay for absence from the House and 1 was being twitted by both sides of the l when he charged Mir. Mahon with being l absent from the House 95 per cent. of 1 the time. Previous to this sweeping assertion l MT. Gaines had read excerpts from the | record in relation to the withholding of pay in the Fifty-third Congress and
 the part MT. Mahon had played at that time. MT. Mahon remained silent | throughout MT. Gaines's speech with the exception of interjecting a remark or two at the beginning. When MT. Gaines had concluded, Mir. Mahon rose. He explained how from the Fifty-third 1 and Fifty-fifth Congresses he had ST. 900 due him and that the then Speaker Crisp had given him an order on the Sergeant-at-Arms for the amount, which was paid.
 | Then coming to the remarks of Mir. Gaines's charge. MT. Mahon thundered: Any man who charges me with being away from this House 95 per cent. of
 the time tells an untruth."
 Mir. Gaines started down the aislo from his seat. No man can tell me I l lis," exclaimed Mir. Gaines.
 Then Mir. Mann Qil.). who was in
 the chair. took hand in the alterca- l tion.
 Both m. . were ordered to their seats,
 Mir Mahon obeying the command. while l MT. Gaines stood two seats away from
 the center of the chamber shaking
 both fist and head at the Pennsylva- | nian.
 When order had been restored, MT.
 Mahon again rose. Having been eau toned by the chair that 1t was against 1 the rules to address a member in the
 second person, he measured his words,
 saving he would speak in the fourth | person" He then said:
 ''The charge of the gentlemen from
 Tennessee that am away from this l House ninety-five per cent of my time 1 is deliberate falsehood.
 With a rush Mir. Gaines reached the l center of the chamber making direct 1 toward the gentleman from Pennsyl- vania, insisting as he went that no
 man could call him liar without per-
 sonal chastisement. | House I'm UprOar. The House was in an uproar by this
 time, the chair adding to the noise. if
 not to the confusion, by bounding the 1 desk with his gaveL His efforts fin 1 ally caused the head of the gavel to fly | off and 1t bounded into the body of
 the House, almost striking one of the
 members.
 The rush of MT. Gaines upon his ad- | versary brought dozen members be-
 fore the Speakers desk James, of
 Kentucky; Taylor, of Alabama; Bell, | of Georgia; Williams, of Mississippi 1 and Stafford, of Wisconsin. grabbed l Gaines. who. resisting vigorously was borne back to his seat.
 | MT. Mahon standing in tho first aisle on the Republican side, seemed to wait
 for the impact which never came. With l MT. Gaines back in his seat, the Penn 1 sylvaniaE made his speech of explana- | tion as to how he became connected
 with the invoking of an old statute
 compelling members to forfeit pay for l the time absent from the House. He ] said that the charge that he was away 1 from the House ninety-five per cent of | the time was lie on its face and that | he was there ninety-fve per cent of
 the time as every member who cared | to inquire could ascertain. MT. Lacey of Iowa had read the
 statute relating to the docking of mem
 bers and he was followed by MT Gros- venor of Ohio, who explained the req 1 sons for the statute. Mir. DeArmond l of Missouri asked that the minority l views of the Judiciary Committee on
 the statute be printed.
 | When this colloquy was in progress.
 the friends of Gaines and Mahon were engaged in an effort to bring about a
 reconciliation, in which they were suc- cessful and at it's conclusion MT. Mahon rose to a question of personal privilege.
 He stated that he did not desire to inn | pugn the motives which prompted MT. 1 Gaines to utter what was an untruth about his absence from the House. but | he desired to say that his informant
 was incorrect.
 1 BeIIIgerents Shake Hands.
 He had no desire to offend the gem tleman from Tennessee, whom he class
 ed among his friends. but he wanted Mir Gaines to understand that the per | son from whom he obtained his inform | ation misrepresented the facts
 Not to sbe outdone in chivalry. MT. | Gaines immediately arose, and, show
 ing deep feeling. said that the gentle-
 man from Pennsylvania had always been his friend, but that he had been 1 goaded beyond endurance, not only to- | day, but on 8 former occasion. He
 regretted extremely the turn affairs | had taken.
 Are you satisfied with that?" he
 asked. pointing to Mir. Mahon.
 For answer, Mir. Mahon rushed across
 the chamber and the two men clasped | hands amid loud applause.
 Mir. Smith of Iowa, facetitiously re-
 marked that "as war had been the
 subiect of the whole days proceedings,
 resulting in almost personal encoun-
 ter" he thought the House was in no 1 +onner to proceed with the fortifca- | tions bill, and he accordingly moved
 that the committee rise. Accordingly,
 at 4;45 D. m., the House adjourned.