Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-01-16
The Failure of TiIIman.

be as an Arctic explorer by the balloon
Wellman is keen and energetic news
paper correspondent. AS an observer
of men and events in all lands he has
won the front rank in his profession,
and when he gives us the pictures of the
Senate chamber as it was when Till
man made his defense this week we
may be :, sure he holds up. q mirror
which does not distort SON blur. His
vivid story of the failure of Tillman to
make good. the disappointment of Ibis
friends and the grim silence of, the
crowd which came in a wholly friendly
spirit, is worth a careful reading We
quote from his special letter to the
Chicago Record Herald:
Passionately defending himself, vio-
lently attacking President Roosevelt,
Senator Tillman was today the center
of dramatic scene in the Senate
chamber. When the curtain fell at
the end Of his speech of explanation an
ominous, painful silence reigned. AL
most every one in the great audience
felt that it was the end of Tillman.
The best verdict anyone could give him
was the Scottish one: Not guilty
but don't do it again.
Few public men in America have had
such an opportunity as the South Caro-
lima senator had today. One Of the
largest and most distinguished audi
ences ever gathered in the Senate
chamber had assembled to hear him.
1t was like an Inauguration crowd. Men
and women fairly fought for a chance
to pass through the doors of the gall
leries. Every senator in the city was
in his place. The floor was packed
with representatives who had come
over to see the big show. Most of the
people in this audience were, at first,
in sympathy with Tillman, or at the
least somewhat antagonistic to the
President. They were in large part
the very people who have been stirred
by recent events to a feeling which
few months ago they had not them
selves dreamed possible. When Till
man came into the chamber, his face
flushed, his jaw set, his mouth drawn,
the crowd broke forth in generous ap-
plause. Here was a man fighting for
his political life-a man famous as
Honest Ben" a man far from well,
who had been assailed by the most
powerful official in the land.
A great man, a great orator or
great actor, with the stake thus set for
him with kindly and expectant audi
ence, with everything in his favor
would have swept the people off their
feet. carried them with him, won d
local and temporary even if not histori
cal triumph.
But Tillman failed. He did not rise
to his opportunity. For time the
predisposition of the auditors helped
him along. His clever strokes reused
a sympathetic rustic, murmurs of APP
prevail, and once open applause, which
Vice President Fairbanks, under the
rules, declared must not be repeated.
But when Tillman came to the end the
obvious feeling was that he had not
helped his case. He had not made
good" He sat down with his listeners
asking themselves and one another:
rs he guilty or Innocent" The spirit
of suspended judgment lowered in the
air. The silence, as l have said, was
| painful, OminouS. There was no ap-
plause. Every one sat still. In the
| moment of hesitancy Tillman's muscles
| twitched, his gaze wandered anxi-
| ously, appealingly about the chamber.
| Finally few senators, most of them
Democrats, came up and in a half
| hearted sort of way shook his hand and
spoke encouraging words. Thus the
mighty fell. Thus the man who long
ago placed himself upon the very
pinnacle of virtue by his fierce censori-
BUSINESS tumbled down, slightly soiled
if not shattered idol. ..t
| In the comments of senators after
the speech much generosity to the I'M
| fortunate senator was generally shown.
| Obvious enough is it that Mr.. Tillman's
associates regret he was unable to
make a better showing. They had
| hoped he might clear his skirts entirely
and stand forth before the Senate and
the country as a mode of virtue per-
secuted by the wicked from high
places. But disappointment is the al
most universal tone of senatorial COM
| ment.