El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-25

offers the. best example OF
what may be accomplished by plain
grit hard work, and undaunted courage,
without backing of money or influence.
Sprung from the plain -eople. Yes,
indeed; and the plainest kind at that.
For John Hampton Clark, Champ
father, was an itineTant dentist, and
went about the backwoods districts OF
Kentucky on horseback, pulling and
tinkering teeth. 1t was all one to him
whether the teeth were those of a
human being, a horse, dog, or a cow.
He treated them all alike, for a modest
fee.
This man Clark, the elder, was a good
deal of what in these days would be
called a crank" He had a gift for
off-hand, or extenrpore, lecturing; and
he would administer instruction by this
means at any time to anybody, willing or
unwilling, who might come along. His
special hobby however, was religion, and
the doctrines be expounded, In intervals
of tooth drawing, were of the most in
tensely hellfire-and- damnationfor-p pretty
nearly everybody Z variety. Champ re-
members them we'll, for his father on
more than one occasion took him along
on his professional tours.
Champ Well Disciplined.
Incidentally, the elder Clark was a
firm believer in discipline for children,
and the beatings he gave to young
Champ with a ropes end as punishment
for Comparatively trifling derelictions
were such as to produce a painful and
lasting impression. One of the worst OF
them was bestowed on an occasion when
Champ had played hockey" from
school for the purpose of listening to the
eloquence of the famous j. Proctor
Knott. That celebrated crater had been
engaged to defend the accused in muir
der case of local notoriety, and the
word7pictures he used in a highly
Imaginative description of the crime
were profoundly interesting to the
schoolboy, until his eye happened to
meet that of his father, on the opposite
side of the courtroom. There was an
other tragic occurrence IN the Clark
woedshed the same EVENING.
If it be added that Old Man Clark
possessed the unusual combination OF
one blue eve and one black one. that
will be enough about Champs paternal
parent His mothers name was Beau
champ properly pronounced. as in Eng
land, Beechan-aHd thus it came about
that the boy destined to become speak
er of the national house of representa-
tives) was christened James Beauehamp
=
calling him Bowchamp; there was a
James b. Clark in every town he came
TO Ia his subsequent. peregTinations and
so he finally reduced himself 10 plain
Champ.
Some Family Feuds
Those were less civilized days, in that
part of the country, than now, and, like
most Kentuckians, the Clarks Of half a
century ago had a few family feuds on
their hands. Some of the Clarks were
rather bad men, as the phrase is, and,
somewhat too ready on occasion with a
gun" One sof them, in fact. was
hanged for a comparatively trifling
offense of this sort lrevenge for the
ruin of a woman being the actuating
impulsel; and Champ himself, on one
occasion, was reluctantly obliged to ex-
change bullets with an unfriendly per-
son who ventured to sass him, This,
however, was a mere shooting scrape,
as such things viii happen between
gentlemen, and not in any proner sense
a duel.
Champ has always discountenanced
fighting. He hates it. 1t is true that
in boyhood days he engaged in a good
many encounters at fisticuffs with other
youths who showed him disrespect; but
these happenings were unavoidable A
similar spirit of reluctance to engage in
overt hostilities inspired his action when,
some years later, he was practicing law
in the town of Louisiana, Mo. Two
notorious "bad men more or less full
of equally bad LIQUOR, came into his
office with intention to turn it inside
out, and started operations by address
ing quite a lot of abusive language to
Champs partner. So long as this con-
tinued Champ went on reading a law
book which, in the absence of clients,
had engaged his attention. But when
the visitors drew revolvers, he yanked
out the drawer of his desk; produced
therefrom pair of pistols of the largest
caliber. and exclaimed: II do the
fighting for this concerni' Whereupon
lit is stately the pugnacious intruders
were so eager to avoid further disagree
ableness that they actually fell down
stairs.
Champ as a Boy.
But this carries us ahead of our
story. Going back to the days when
Champ was Il, we find him doing odd
Jobs for nearby farmers and .'clerking'
in country store When he was less
than Is years of age he got a Job as
teacher in a rural school; and lsome of
the pupils being older than himself) !; |
be "toted'' pair of heavy revolvers, to
enforce his pedagogic authority. Those
were days when, in Kentucky, nothing |
counted like a 'shooting-iron."
Meanwhile, he had made up his mind |
that he must have a college education. |
This required money, and, to obtain it, |
he toiled and denied himself In every
way. With almost incredible |
striving and economy, he managed to &C.