The National tribune., 1909-07-15
cUsHMaN, OF WASHINGTON.
Dead i'm Ills Prime, He Was Loved b,

one OF me seHueSt SuuiS OF tHt VtSt
Congress has gone out. Representative
Francis w. Cushman, of Takoma,
Wash, died at the Roosevelt Hospital.
in New York City. July s. Representa-
tive Cushman had gone to New York
to have a small operation performed on
his neck. The trouble was a slight one.
and it was not expected that the opera
tfon would be very serious. Mr. Cush-
man. however. was not very strong anu
suffered seriously from the wound: then
he caught cold, and pneumonia devel-
oped. His system was so weakened ey
the operation thar he was unable to
withstand the attack of pneumonia. and
after three weeks battling with the two
died. He was all alone in New York.
excepting that Senator Piles, Of Wash
ington, went over as soon as he learned
how very i'll his colleague was. Mrs.
of course. was unable to reach her hus-
band before his death. as the danger
symptoms developed too rapidly to get
her to his bedside.
Francis w. Cushman. who was born
in iowa, in 1867. was tall. angular.
loose -jointed, and, on first meeting.
mighty "unhandsome." He must have
been fully six feet four. but his shoul-
ders were rounded and he stopped quite
a good deal. He always referred to HIM
self as the homeliest man in the House.
and possibly he was. just to look at, but
a man such as he was is never homely
in the sight of those who really know
them. He was often called the ABE
Lincoln of the House, because there
was really a slight resemblance to the
great President, and then he was not
built unlike Lincoln.
Mr.. Cushman could tell humorous
story with as straight race as any
man living. He gained reputation for
being a great humorist. altho he insist
ed that he was not humorist and
never wanted to be. He was Keen Of
intellect, with remarkable perceptiye
faculties, brilliant in speech and quaint
in phraseology. He had a sort of a
drawing way. and when ne got on his
solemn manner, which was most of the
tillc, anu DtSdu " iii uSt at ttiC OpPooA-
ton, illustrating his talk with witty
stories, he could fill the House as fast
as most Of the members could empty
it. Everybody loved Francis Cushman-
Witty tho he was. he never sharpened
his wit on the feelings of either friend
said to have foe. Even tho his sharp
est stories were aimed at the opposi-
tion. when he got thru with a speech
everybody within reach of his voice
was generally in a good humor. He
never spoke to hurt the feeling OF any
one. He loved children. was fond of
young people, and young and old adored
him. He was a member of the Com
mittee on Ways and Means, which
drafted the House form of the opening
tariff bill. and his health was undoubt-
edly undermined by his close attention
to his duties in that direction.
Mr.. Cushman had achieved the ambi-
gress. From little child he had said
that all he wanted was to go to Con-
gress, and every aspiration and ambi-
ton Of his life was shaped toward that
end He was elected to the 56th Con-
gress when he was less than 80 years
of age, and he said all he asked was to
be permitted to remain there. He
might have been elected to the United
States Senate, but always showed the
idea away. He was much better fitted
for the rough-and-tumble service of the
House, its activities and energies, than
the slower and more sedate movements
of the Senate.
Representative Cushman was one of
the clean-souled men of Congress. He
never was known to tell an off-colored
story, and all the stories that he told
were like Lincoln's, to point moral
He was in one way a self-educated man,
but it was good job. He was a poor
boy, and made his school expenses by
hard work His first money was earned
as water boy" when he carried water
during the Summer to railroad con-
struction gangs. Later he himself be-
came laborer on the railroad. At 16
he went to the Territory Of Wyoming,
where he taught school for five years
during the school season and worked in
a lumber camp, was cowboy and stud
led law between times. A few years
later he went to Washington. and there
matured his plans for coming to Con-
gress. His death Is a distinct loss to
that body. Not every man who comes
to it is fit for the office. and mighty few
of them ever make themselves fit. Mr..
Cushman seemed to have been born to
fit Just such an Office.
While it was his due to have a COM
mittee of the House and one of the
Senate to accompany his body back to
Washington. his well-known objection
to show and splurge of any character
led his wife to ask that these commit
tees be omitted, and his body was taken
back to Washington under the care of
an Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms.
1t win be many long day before
Cushman's like Genes to Congress from
any State.
Rified Pines for OIL