The Yale expositor., 1909-05-21


passioned speech. He was reaching
toward the skies of oratory when
Senator Warren left his seat, unseen NJ
by Tillman and took station behind Nh
the South Carolinan. The speaker W
had both hands high over his head di- M
recting the soaring of his thoughts III
and words. Warren took a step for Mi
ward. His hand stole to Tillman's iii
side, slipped into his pocket and came Wl
out again holding in its clutch a big Hi
black bottle. eM
All unconscious, Tiliman went on III
with his words of fire. Warren held ~
his find aloft in full view of the pre- MI
siding officer, of his colleagues and nj
OF the crowded galleries. There was M
a gasp, then a smothered and stimuli N
taneous gurgle of horror from hun
dred threats, and then roaring
laughter
Tillman turned and knowledge of
the awfulness of the situation came
to him. For once. possibly for the rzn<
first time in his life, he was stag
gered to speechlessness He strove .5U.e
for words, but they would not come mTTr
His face was black with something 60:
much like anger Then the cloud. |
cleared and smile broke through
Speech returned, and two words
came: "Boracic acid" -
IL was Doraclc acid, but unfortu-
nately for Senator Tillman it had been e
put into black and suspicious bottle lNS
A sore throat was the reason for its TZS
carrying and while the South Caro- ~
linian Is a man of truth, he would
not let the matter pass until he had
passed the bottle and had forced his
comrades to smell the stuff and make
clean his temperance record
Senator Burrows of Michigan, by a II
graphic presentation of the case of
Maj. Seymour Howell. an army pay.
master, secured an order on the treas
ury of the United States for 80 600
to reimburse the officer for that
amount which disappeared in the
Philippine islands The story as told
by Senator Burrows to his colleagues
had all the interest of a Sherlock
Holmes tale, save that for the mys.
terry involved there was no solution ~l
To this day there has been no solu.
ton. 1t is known definitely, however,
that the paymaster was in no wise
to blame for the disappearance of the money
Maj. Howell, paymaster, was travelling
through the Philippines with an armed guard.
He had with him a chest containing a large
sum OF money with which to pay the troops
at the different camps. The chest was double
locked at all times, and night and day a SEN
tinel stood by it with loaded rifle in his
hands. No one had keys to the chest save
Mai Howell and he kept them fastened to his
person.
If one of the sentinels had been dishonesty
inclined he could not have opened the chest
without duplicate keys, and the originals were
of a kind difficult in the extreme to counter
felt. The guard was composed of men picked
for the pay journey at the last moment. The
trip was rapid one and no possible chance
was offered for the making of keys
Money to the amount of $4,000 disappeared
from the chest at some time while it was
under the watch and ward of a sentinel stand
ing so close to it that he could reach it with
his rifle. Search failed to reveal a cent of
the money. Maj. Howell at once made the
good by personal check drawn on his
own bank account. The case is one of the
army mysteries to this day, and the recital of
the story gave congress an interesting quarter
of an hour.
Neither senate nor house makes light of PEN
sion pleas in the presence of the galleries,
but some of the wouldbe pensioners play
comic roles in the committee rooms and cor
ridors. Claimants who can prove things are
treated old soldiers and old soldiers wild
ows ought to be treated-decently and rever-
emily.
Congress in its weakness has voted pensions
on many an occasion, though doubtless know
ing that pensions were unearned and unde-
served, but the day of that sort of thing is
passing, if it has not altogether gone. One
member was asked to use his influence to Sc
cure an increase of pension for the widow of
a soldier. There papers forwarded to
him which bore the case, and these he
turned over to the committee on pensions aft
er his bill had been introduced.
The widow did not get her money, and ii
was not long before the whole house knew it.
The member who had espoused the widow s
cause had been in congress for years, and the
joke at his expense was too good to keep, and
one after another of his colleagues walked
up to his desk and congratulated him on the
wisdom shown in the plea which in written
form he had turned in to the committee to win
the widows case.
It is perhaps needless to say that the mem
Der had never read the plea Il set forth
the fact that while the amount of pension in
crease that the widow OF the soldier hero
asked for was large. it must be understood
that she came of good family, moved in the
best social circles and was in need of a large
sum of money to keep up appearances.
Upon occasions senators and representatives
permit their constituents TO do their talking
for them In congress. Petitions come in floods
at times with the object of securing legisla-
ton by external pressure. In the Smoot case
and in the pure food and canteen matters the