The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-01-15


/ fellow at the fork OF the creek. And that
| fellow is n stuboornly faithful constitu-
cnt, most comfortable kind OF a con-
| stituent to have"
! To see Champ Clerk YOU simply walk
| into the committee room assigned to him
In the capitol and then on into a l!tut
Office that opens to tie right at the fai
end. lie has always been approachaoie
| and. as speakcrto to- be. as busy as he Will
ever be in the chair, he Is just as easy
OF access lio promises 10 be a Demo
cratic speaker in both senses of tho
word. Clark has never shown much
taste for locked doors or secret confer
cnces, or the many mysteries In which
statesmen love To cloak themselves.
Champ Clark swung into his office a
him. swung I'm with his western, go
ahead walk, wearing the inevitable black
overcoat--six feet and one inch and some
two hundred pounds OF man. carrying
his weight so easily, and with II so well
ds'Sgsd dis HH1sd his big nSa Oo%ed frame S tss
suggest themselves, He grinned greet
ing. said "Hello!" and shook hands
vigorously. Inside his little office he
pulled off his overcoat slammed up his
hat, sat down in his roomv. swivel chnir
and leaned back with the Involuntary
f!exIng of the muscles and the con,ented
sigh OF the healthy man who has just
had good breakfast. is ready TO get
down TO business. and IS glad of It,.
Clark has a massive head topped with
thinning gray hair. we'll poised on a
strong neck above big shoulders, ills
face Is Il wide fleshy one. with well
proportioned features; the forehead broad
inGuisltive. straight. plump. well
shaped nose. an expressive mouth. neith-
er large nor small. and GOOD chin. It
is the face OF a man who can fight but
who Isn't hunting FOR trouble.
Talking from his office chair Clark
slouched back In il. let his eyeiids drop
speaking. and slowly swung hs right
hand in gesture. His drawing. south
ern voice is musical In conversation but
on the floor OF the house he uses a slow
nasal tone which carries far and IKE
the snarl Of shells flight It generally
precedes a bursting retort that usually
demoishes his opponent.
James Beauchamp Clark was born at
Lawrenceburg. Andersonville county
Kentucky, In 1850 He made himself
Champ" Clark The east accepted this
unofficial list OF congress in which Clark
figured made it 'Beauchamp Clark"
When ! was in law school" so Clark
Judge Hoadley told me a man had as
much right TO change his name to
have his hair cut. changed James
had not done this ] would have been
called. in all probability. Jim Clark
ana "A man might as well be called John
! Smith / believe I'll sue for libel II the
unofficial list Is not corrected"
Does Mans Work Early.
But Champ he is. and he did not have
TO sue. His mother died In babyhood.
and his father. an itnerant dentist
whose hobby was politics, placed his
small son and daughter In the hands OF
John Call, a farmer. Al ten or twelve
little Champ WAS doing mans work
| or pretty near IL. He once told story
ot thirty mules and a blue iackasS that
were but a part Of his responsibilities.
He dug what education he could from
occasional newspapers and n few tat
tered books. With this beginning he long
held the record Of having been tho
youngest college president In the United
II was teaching school before I was
| To-" he told me. "Ot course ] didn't
! know much. but II was the only way
had TO make money enough to go 10 col
| lege. | taught school at intervals until
| was 26." Clark did not say that he
had 10 organize that first school himself
| but II is fact.
| lie attended Kentucky university for
more than three years, teaching school
TO pay his way. and then. after TInal
! year spent there. was graduated from
! Bethany college. in West Virginia. In
Juno. 1873. with the highest grades any
student ever got in Bethany before or
| since. The scholar received three offers
| OF positions. but he took the presidency
| OF Marshall college. the state normal
school. az Huntington. w. Va. He was
| then IS years old.
Il got that position" Clark explains
! through the friendship OF Col. AleNan-
/ der Campbell. son Of the great preacher.
Alexander Campbell"
Principal Of High School.
! After year Clark lci, Marshall col
| lege for Cincinnati Law school, where ho
was graduated in AI'il Uf 1875. He went
| west after graduation. as young men
were doing In those days. and landed IN
! Louisiana. Mo. where he was principal
! OF the high school for year. BY that
/ time lac had a law practice and start
in politics. Before Clark was elected to
congress in 1892 lie had moved 10 Bow
| ling Green. Mo. a town adjoining Louisi-
ana. where his home Is now. II was IN
| Louisiana that he married Miss Gene
We've Bennett whose folks" Clark is
careful 10 explain. came from Kentucky.
| daughter. and Bennett son near vot-
ing age. who is his fathers chum and
a college fraternity brother and who
wants TO have his name changed TO
| Champ.
Politics? Oh yes. began 10 meddlo
with politics right away" Clark said In
| answer to an interruption OF his auto"
! biography, II was city attorney Tor Lou
| isiaua in 1877. elected to The legislature
| i'm 1878. and in 1880 ] was Il presidential
clcctor. IN 1892 1 was first elected 10
| congress-
Pictured AS a Barbarian.
Clark was beaten for reel election. too,
| at the end OF his first congressional term.
beaten by an unknown. 1t is hard 10
recognize Clark today with the Clark pic
tured In the newspapers OF 1S92-96. He
| came east as the defiant champion OF
the wild. untamed. uuterrlflcd and busted
| west 20 huTl Its challenge In the teeth
OF the money lpwer. His debu, was a
| sensational Fourth OF July speech at Il
Tammany picnic IN New York. The New
| York papers reported that speech as un
grammatical. and printed weird inter
views attributed to Clark. in which he
| was credited with "A story that his tirst
school teaching had been hDdered by
| a Kentucky fcud and that he kept disci-
pliuc with two guns and bowie knife.
! The Washington press gallery took this