The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-06-07
CAMPAIGN STORIES
 TOLD BY SEN. TONNE
TALES OF LONG CAREER OF STUMP SPEAKING RECALLED
 BY BROOKLYNITE.
interesting Experiences Political Warfare a Valuable Educator "Reminiscences of the Famous '9G F1ght-Old Negro Knew His Chances Were Very Few.

Chances Were Very Few.
 After twenty years of political cam
 paigning in the far west, during
 Which time he has probably addressed
 more people than anyone with the exception of William Jennings Bryan, former United States Senator Charles A. ToWne from Minnesota, now an es-
 teemed and burglarized resident of Fiatbush, l.. l., is the pOssessor of iund of "reminiscences that are the de- light and wonder of his friends and
 that would earn him a capital liv- ing" on the lecture platform if he did not choose to distribute them gratis to his after-dinner audiences instead, says the Brooklyn Eagle.
 There is a remarkable fascination about the experience he says, speak ing of his trials as g. political stump speaker, land, although it was ac- quired with very much labor and some sacrifices, I would not for much part with it's lessons and it's memories
 Western states are places of mag nif1cent distances and frequently to cover them, especially in the olden days, was question of some serious thought to the political speaker. Sen ator Towne tells the following about himself when running for senator in Minnesota, where his district compris- ed about two-fifths of the state:
 Famous 1896 Campaign.
 T remember he said, 'how once in the historic campaign of 1896. when the railroads were not very sympa- thetic with my views of public ques- tions. there were frequent mysterious lapses from the timetable figures on the part of local trains. Often, when away from the main lines of travel, my train would stop at a small sta tion, discharge or take on two or three passengers and a few hundredweight of freight, and then for some unac- countable reason, stand for sometimes hours together with no apparent ob- ject, while the train crew fraternized with the local lovers of dice and craps. On one such occasion I was brought into the village of Mangua at 11:30 at night when I should have reached there at 6 o'clock. Everybody knew, although nobody said, why my train was late. It simply did not suit the policy of the railroad to have me spread my heretical doctrine among the people In this instance, however learned that my audience was as patient as the railroad, and it remain ed in the large high school building waiting for me. They continued to be patient. moreover. and stayed with me until the finish Of my speech. about 1:30 in the morning.
 Certain other trials underwent in those days that are peculiar to that part of the country" continued Senator Towne. For example, the time of the campaign corresponded with the hunting season for partridge. and 1t seemed to be the special de- light of every landlord to see that ev- cry congressman had at every break fast the most succulent example of pride that could be secur- ed The result was that for weeks was obliged at breakfast time to choose between offending the worthy Benedict who had arisen at daybreak and taken his trusty gun and gone out into the woods in order to bring me a particularly appetizing bird, and an enforced consumption of partridge under conditions that threw into the shade the performance of an eastern gourmand who as the newspaper said thousand dollars by eating one quail a | day for thirty days in succession.
 Must Answer Interruptions.
 Every campaigner has experiences from the audience, andv if he Is to succeed as a stump speaker must ear l ly learn to bear himself with poise 1 and readiness in order to counter with 1 effect upon his fnterrupter,' said Sem | aAor Towne. gro fail to do this is
  the speaker has all the advantage. | having warmed to his work, with his brain in an active and alert attitude l and with the instinctive desire of the ! audience who desire that he shall have | his inning. Usually, therefore, the in | terrupter gets the worst of 1t. That l is classic example which is related | to Tom Corwin of Ohio. Corwin | had a magnificent voice and therefore one night when addressing an audi | ence that crowded the opera house to | suffocation, there was an obvious in- tent to spoil the effect of one of his | fervdd periods when a voice from | way up in the back part of the high | est gallery sang out, thin and strident | Louder! Louder!' At first Corwin | paid no attention to it, sbut the in- was persistent and that cry of louder, louder, repeated at every | oratorical climax, began to have a de- to spoil the effect of his | speech. Corwin stopped, fixing the l audience with his voice to a tragic l said: My friends. in the hour when the world shall be melted | in fervent heat, and the heavens shall the archangel with one foot resting | on the land and the other on the sea 1 shall peal forth from his trumpet, rev. to the uttermost depths of space, that cOnSummate command, | summo oning the quick and the dead, | some weazen-faced, piping voiced. | blanked fool from Cincinnati will stick | his cheeks out of the chinks of his | coffin and warble louder, 1ouder!'
 Doesn't Always Get the Worst
 But it doesn't always happen that the interrupter gets the worst, of it. | I remember several years ago to have heard that great Georgian, Justice La mar of the supreme court, in recount ing certain of his experiences in cam paigning, relate the following incident: It was at time when the Democrats were very much afraid that all the colored voters would vote the Repub- lican ticket in certain cOngression- al district and elect a man wholly at variance with the white populace. It seems that the Republican candidate had said certain things uncompliment ary to the colored people, and it was hoped that by circulating this fact the colored voters could be turned against him. Justice La mar, having satisfied himself that the story was true, thus referred to it, addressing himself for the sake of inn to an old darky who sat at the head of the main aisle giving | close attention to the speech, and who, with a nearly bald head and large spectacles, looked to be what he was , sort of oracle among the colored people. Now, said the speak ar. what do you think of Republi- can candidate who says such things about the colored voter? This man