Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-15
#iseellaneous Rsadins.
J. HAM LEWIS, A sELF.MADE MON
IlIinois's Democratic Senator's Piotur-
esque Career.


esque Career. ...
Whiskers, the interviewer had sworI
10 himself, should be kept out Of th'
story. They were common and cheaI
as an item Of personal description
ruthermore, they were not pink anc
never had been, but the color Of 6
custard pie. They were brought int
the dialogue. however, by James Ham
ilton Lewis himself-dragged in. so tc
speak, by the hair Of the head. More
over, there was q threat. He proposed
to shave them off when the weather
OF summer got settled. says James B
Morrow in the st. Louis Globe-Demo.
crat. .#. a-
Il have accomplished something In
two much-alive and widiy-separated
states" he said, but / am pictured
laslbeing composed principally Of whis-
ikers. manners and clothes. My eccen-
tricities are exaggerated"
what are you eccentricities"
asked. .E'E isi
Il don't know" he replied. THAT is
the strange part OF 1t. II anyone Is
a little unlike the mass Of people whom
he mee,s in the street. either in ap-
pearance or demeanor, he is supposed
10 be quack, a Snowman or freak
1 do not complain about newspaper
men. They are fine fellows. But to
read them one would think that my
personality is all on the surface-that
1 am mostly bows, smiles, spats, canes
and whiskers. i#.'
Il have let my whiskers grow even
since first went to Seattle" Senator
Lewis continued. II was 20 years old,
meant to practice law, and desired to
look experienced and competent.
wooed the aspect of maturity for busi-
ness purposes. The custom of many
young physicians justified me in doing
30. When 1 was Ill a great deal and
my whiskers concealed unhappy hol-
lows and angularities. Finally, whis-
kers became part Of my outward in
diyiduality, formed, In short, the hab-
It Of wearing them.
y"I seem to be stranger everywhere.
Curiosity Is aroused by my presence.
am unconscious, however, Of being un-
nike the rest of mankind. Yet when
I 60 to France I am thought to be a
German or Russian, but never an
American. II I am in Germany 1 am
taken for an Englishman, Norwegian,
or anybody else except an inhabitant
of the United States. So 1t goes, no
matter where am. am helpless, try
as may, to arise externally and Wis
IDLY, to the common average"
"Arise?" repeated. ..s g. '..g
a."I prefer that word" Senator Lewis
replied, dreamy look creeping into
his grey eyes But have determined
tU try an experiment" he went on to
say. "This summer I shall leave on
my whiskers and deprive Journalism
of one Of its favorite sources of orgi-
nality end humor."
So speaking, Senatof Lewis tapped
the toe of his shoe with his cane and
twiidled a pair of mauve gloves with
his left hand. He wore a pink shirt,
blue cuff buttons, dark suit OF cloth
ing-with white facing on the vest
an indigo cravat, q large sky-colored
stickpin and heavy rings on his little
fingers. In his scrimping days, 1t Is
said he held that is was more artistic
and impressive to expend $36 for three
suits of clothes than to wear a $40 suit
right through the summer or winter.
Analysing gentlemen have attempted
to reduce Senator Lewis to a table
of bare figures-to give his ingredients
as though he were q medicine or a
bottle of table water. No such essay
Is to be made in this article. Senator
Lewis is to tell his own story. He Is
to reveal himself to the reader. II
can be said, however that he has some
vanity In the fact that he Is mem
ber of the National Guard. He Is
slight and short and there Is mascu-
Unity in a uniform and with dang
ling sword.
Also he Is ridiculously inaccurate in
arithmetic and geography, saying
100000 when he means 5000 and
declaring that a canal through Central
America, connecting the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans, will stop the shipment
of -four and wheat from Seattle to
China and Japan. He will quote
and solemnly announce that he Is
repeating the imperishable philosophy
of Napoleon or George Washington.
But no man has said that James
Hamilton Lewis Is mercenary, or that
he is indolent, or that he Is ever for
getful of friend. Toll, he emphasizes,
is at the bottom Of all achievement.
Those who know him say that he is i'm
aginative and wonderfully, even
resourceful. His first case
in Seattle concerned the theft Of a box
of cigars. He maintained that his client
took the cigars as a precaution against
their being stolen by some one else.
The jury agreed with the view Of the
defence. The young lawyers fee, paid
In cash, amounted to 76 cents. Such
was his start in criminal practice,
practice that made him famous all
through the Northwest and other parts
of the country. He came to the house
of representatives from the state of
Washington. Now, Illinois has sent
him to the senate. He denies, there
fore, though not irritably, that he Ia
merely a wisp Of taffy-colored whis-
kers. But here Is his story-he never
told it before.
I'VE were poor, very poor. All Con-
federates were impoverished. My
father fought under Lee, and after the
surrender moved to Augusta, Ga. l was
an infant. There I grew up. 1 was
misunderstood boy. Quick. indeed
bright in some directions, I was sad
ly and hopelessly inefficient In others.
For example, I was likely to forget the
name of a street. The number OF a
house would never stick in my head.
was underrated, you see. by persons
who should have learned my mental