The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1911-03-01
VAST AUDIENCE ALMOST IN
TEARS AS ILLINOIS SENATOR
DEFENDED HIS HONOR.


That Was Never Before Equaled in
the United States Senate. Denies
Effort to Win Senators Sympathy
by Story of Life as NewsbOy and
Observation-Disclosures Lori
mer of Illinois today in person made
his defense against the charge that
his election to the United States SEN
ate was accomplished by the bribery
and corruption of the legislature OF
the state of Illinois. His defense
was an emphatic denial, delivered
with more than ordinary eloquence
and fervor
There was no vote today; immedl-
ately upon the conclusion Of Lori
mer's speech the senate went into eX-
ecutive session on the Japanese
treaty and the answer to the Lori
mer speech, which Senator Beverage
was prepared to make, went over UNI
Ill tomorrow. Nobody knows when
a vote will be reached.
Able and Dramatic.
With almost every senator in his
seat and in the presence Of a great
crowd of members of the house of
representatives on the senate floor
and of the spectators in the densely
packed galleries Senator LOrrimer
made a speech of four hours dura-
tion, and even his bitterest opponents
admitted that it was very able, we'll
i - L4~,,r
Some of those who heard the
speech and who had been in and
about the senate for many years said
that there had never been anything
just like it.
Mr.. LOrrimer's speech was dis
tinctively a human interest story"
More than once there were evidences
that the speech was moving some of
his hearers to tears.
May Postpone Vote.
What effect, if any, the speech will
have upon the vote of the senate it
is of course impossible to say The
general impression about the capitol
tonight is that Mr.. LOrrimer and his
friends have safely pledged the votes
with which to defeat the resolution,
and that if the matter comes to a
vote the result will be a LOrrimer
victory.
1t is not impossible that Lori
mer's opponents may be able to pre-
vent the matter coming to a vote at
all before adjournment. 1t is said
today that this will be the plan the
anti-Lorrimer people would try to
carry ont
During the more than four hours
that Mr.. LOrrimer occupied the floor
he reviewed practically all the
charges which have been made
against himself.
Antipathy for Hopkins.
He took up in turn the opprobri-
Gus differences drawn from his init
macy with Speaker Shurtleff and Lee
WE'LL Browne, his attendance upon
the sessions of the Illinois legisla-
ture and his presence in Shurtleff's
rooms, undertaking to show that in
each instance his course had been
natural and in the line of the per-
tormances of other public men under
like circumstances.
He explained his democratic sup
port on the ground of long-tanding
personal friendship for himself and
Of antipathy for Senator Hopkins,
who was his principal antagonist in
the senatorial contest.
In the former connection he relat-
ed more than one story going to
show attachment running over many
years. This portion of the address
appealed strongly to the feelings Of
senators, but when Senator Crawford
animated that the Illinois senator
was making bid for sympathy he
resented the imputation and turned
the question to his own advantage
by declaring that his only purpose
was to get before the senate the
truth. 1t was not a matter of sym
pathy, he said, but of right and
Wrong.
Mrs. Taft in Gallery.
Mr.. Lorrimer undertook also to
show how his advocacy of the Lakes
Mississippi waterway had
caused many members of the legis-
lature to be partial to him. He said
that he had made an effort to in
duce Governor Dineen to become