The Washington herald., 1913-11-02
SENATOR PENROSE, PENNSYLVANIA BOSS
DISCUSSES POLITICS AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Candidate for Fourth Term Says Primary System Key
stone State Always Has Been Used-Beleyes
Republican VIII Garry Election.

SpOkS. ne gave no OIneT sign during
the interview. however. of resentment
over the portraits of himself drawn by
inimical hands. That is not his way.
So far in his life he has said but little
about Boise Penrose or any one else.
His father, DR.. Richard A. r. Penrose,
was one Of the most eminent physicians
of his time. Medical men limit their
bedside talk. to such harmless topics es
| the weather. or to the crops II they are
rural practitioners, or they may be
shrewd enough to employ a technical
jargon which neither their patients nor
their patients relatives can understand
Boise Penrose, possibly. learned the
trick of silence from his father or from
| J. Donald Cameron and Matthew S.
I Quay, under whose special training he
was prepared for politics and public life
Bull moosers confess, however, that
the stump speeches which Senator Pen
rose is now making in Pennsylvania
sound finished and well. They say they
are surprised. Perhaps they have for
gotten that young Penrose was gradu-
ated from Harvard with honors and
that he delivered an Grafton on COM
mencement day-being chosen, of course,
because Of his talent for speaking
about Martin Van Buren, as a political
leader. Boise Penrose then meant to be
lawyer.
There Were Seven Penrose Boys.
my father" he said to me, told each
of mis- sons that he must go to college,
fit himself for a profession, and then
make his own way in the world. Ny
brother, Charles e. Penrose, and myself
were classmates at Harvard. He had
decided to be a physician; 1 proposed TO
study law. Politics at that time had no
place in my plans.S Theodore Roosevelt
was a senior when 1 was in my Junior
year."
There were seven sons in the Penrose
family Three are dead. The remain
ing four, all Harvard men, are conspic-
uous enough to have their biographies
printed in WHO'S Who" Charles B.
Penrose is a famous surgeon; Richard
a. +. and Spencer Penrose are mining
engineers and have become rich in met
ais railroads and manufactures. Richard
and Boise are unmarried. Their home
is the Spruce Street house in which they
were born.
Physically, Senator Penrose is a large
man. being six feet and four inches tall
There are waves in his short brown hair.
His features are regular, and, altogeth-
er he is a handsome and imposing man.
He 'leisurely smoked while he answered
my questions 1t is said that he has not
attended a theatrical performance in
more than thirty years, and that he
never plays cards. He owns a fine sail
ing yacht, and makes frequent cruises
along the Atlantic Coast
Hunting, however, is his fayorite pleas
ure. Ever since his youth he has reg
uIarly gone to the Rocky Mountain coun-
try for big game. He keeps in touch
with the guides in Montana, Wyoming.
and Idaho. His owQ horses are ready
for him when he reaches that part of
the United States 1t was a difficult
task, but persuaded him TO tell me
about the most exciting hunting trip OF
his experience
MY brother Charles and I were
shooting on Horse Creek, in Montana, n
he said. We went into camp early one
afternoon. As we were out OF meat, my
brother went up the mountain after
deer. Half a mile away he came into
close quarters with three grizzly bears
a mother and two nearly grown cubs.
He didn't know the relationship of the
bears, otherwise he would have used
more judgment in firing into them. The
first shot was aimed at "a cub; the sec
ond at the mother.
Terribly Injured by a Bear.
Before he could place the third shot.
the she bear grappled with him and
he was thrown to the ground. His cheek
was torn open, a ligament in his chest
was pulled loose, one OF his wrists was
crushed, and a terrible wound made in
his thigh. The bear would have killed
him, but, in dime-novel fashion, she
dropped dead. The cub also died. The
other cub ran away.
How he got back to camp my brother
never could understand. We saw him
creeping toward us on one hand and
knee. Being i surgeon, he knew exact
~ what ought to be done. We took care
of his wounds according to directions,
spending the whole night in applying
sterilizing liquids and bandages. The
next morning, by the hardest kind of
work, we cut a trail straight down the
mountain. 1t would have taken three or
four days had we gone back to the rail-
road the way We had come. Inside of
week We reached DR.. Mayo's hospital at
Rochester, MINI. But It was months
before my brother recovered from his
injuries"
Boise Penrose read law in the offlce OF
Wayne Macveagh, a fine lawyer and an
aggressive reformer. The Penrose broth
ers belong to one of the oldest families
in Philadelphia Their father footed
their bills. Doubtless Boise Pcnrose
looked upon politicians with contempt.
At all events, he was a sturdy young
reformer. He earned his first money
soon after coming to the bar. p. 7.
Barnum had started his circus season
that year with a white elephant. At
least P. T. said 1t was white Skeptical
persons declared that the elephant had a
skin disease and that Barnum, as usual,
was fooling the public.
A speculative gentleman, accepting
Barnum's own classification of the
beast, began looking for some one who
could write a descriptive article about
white elephants, their habitat, their
place in religious history, and so on. He
should have gone to a newspaper Office.
His meeting, late one afternoon, with
Boise Penrose, attorney-at-law, was ac-
cidental. He eagerly outlined his wants.
saying he would pay SIS for a readable
account of Mr. Barnum's latest zoologi-
cal sensation.
His First Financial Operation.
The article was written that night
Boise Penrose broadened the theme so
as to cover elephants of all colors-white,
brown, and black. The article was
printed in pamphlet form and sold all
over the United States. Hawkers with
the circus Dragged that il was the great
est side-line success of the year. Copies
of the pamphlet, 1t is said, can still be
found in many parts Of the country, in
desk and bureau drawers, and even in
libraries.
What did you really know about white
elephants2' I asked Senator, Penrose.
'T knew just as much about white ones
as 1 did about black ones" he replied,
after recovering from his surprise at the
o,,asffon and my knowledRe of his first