The Washington herald., 1914-06-11
Statesmen, Real and Near.
By FRED c. KELLY.

4
BY FRED c. KELLY.
| In the death Of william o. Bradley. o.
Kentucky, the Senate lost one of tn
readIest wits of that body. though he wal
little known as such. Bradley had com
paratively little to say, partly because
as I once heard him confess-he nevel
got over keen sense of stage frigh
when he undertook to speak In the Sen
ate. He was one of the best rough and
| tumble stump speakers in Kentucky, ant
thought no more OF talking before ar
anita gonistic audience than he did o.
taking a cup Of coffee. But there /.
something about the cold solemnity and
| inattentiveness of the Senste-particu
larly the nattentiveness-that otter
chills the oratory of even an experienced
speaker-and that was the situation with
Bradley.
He never spoke II he felt that he could
avoid it-just as the late Senator Hey
burn seldom refrained from talking. When
he did engage in debate. however, Brad
ley always had an answer ready. One
of his retorts is still quoted about the
Senate. He had been setting forth his
views about a certain proposition as
clearly as be could. when be was in
terrupted by Eugene Hale. of Maine. who
was then sharing with Nelse Aldrich
the Senate leadership. Hale glared over
at Bradley in a manner designed 10
wither him like SO much dried beef and
remarked sternly:
u don't understand the gentleman"
Without the loss of a second, Bradley
retorted. in a tone of sympathy rather
than OF anger:
II am simply giving you facts; only
the Almighty can give you understand
ing" And went right along with his
speech.
Bradley was speaking in Kentucky on
a certain occasion, when running for
governor. and members OF the opposition
party had hired one of the bad men"
of the community to harass and annoy
the speaker with questions.
One question was this: IF there was
negro running on the Republican ticket
would you vote for him.
To which Bradley replied:
IF his opponent happened TO be a low
down. ornery. good for nothing. white
whelp like you, yes
The crowd yelled in derision at the bal
man" questioner then and Bradley was
interrogated no farther. But his friends
warned him at the close of the meeting,
that the man was probably so angered
by the retort that he would lie in wait
Tor the speaker as he passed out of the
building and take a shot at him. .,
"oh. well. / can't be housed up here
just because somebody's after me-" said
Bradley. And he went on out as IL moth
ing had happened.
Sure enough the bad man was wait
ing for him. He walked up to Bradley
and said:
Billy. that was a pretty good one Won
handed me. Them fellows hired me to
ask you them questions. and 1 guess /
hadn't ort to have done it"
Senator Bradley used to say that the
proudest and happiest day of his life
came, not when he was elected governor
of Kentucky. or United States Senator.
but when he put on his first pair of
knee pants. He also met with mis-
fortune that day. for he CHANGED to
trip and fall down on the street and
his new pants slipped down in such a
manner as to hObble him and he couldn't
get up. but lay helplessly, kicking and
crying. A bystander came and picked
him up and did not laugh much at him.
and Bradley revered that man the rest
Of his life.
Next to the donnlng of his first pants,
the incident of his early life that Brad
ley remembered best was the day h.
placed hot coal in the teachers Slip
per. He had a front seat and did not
love his teacher-perhaps be-
cause he sat SO close to the teachers
desk that their presence palled on each
other. The teacher had habit of
Kicking on one slipper absent-mindedly
fhan
IL again after few moments Bradley
watched his chance and with a stick
portrayed little hot coal from the stove
nearby and dropped il into the heel Of
the teachers slipper. a second later
the teacher let his foot slide back into
its receptacle-and the immediate re-
suits were so gratifying to Bradley
mat he cherished the memory of the
scene throughout the mounting years
thereafter.
Bradley used to tell a great many IittIs
yarns about experiences in court In one
OF his first cases it was necessary to
establish the age of an old negro woman
who was principal witness To Brad
eys inquiry about the year of her birth,
she replied:
Billy. CANT tell you. 'zactly, but it
was either lsls or lSls, year of old Lord"
Representative Korbly, Of Indiana, was
put in Kansas the other day making a
speech or two. On the return trim he
paused at a railroad eating place for
4 uick-action lunch. and II seemed to
him that the ice water placed before
him had a peculiar taste-as il it might
De some kind of bottled mineral water
what kind of water is this he asked !
ice water" replied the waiter.
Copyright. 1914 by Frrd G. Kelly. All right, r,- |
-rTyedJ