Evening star., 1923-05-13
IOHN H. Hollingsworth, the Jack
of all trades of the National
House of Representatives. some


Of all trades of the National
IA House of Representatives. some
times called the housekeeper
of the House." is rounding out thirty
years of continuous service.
He is in charge of fourteen de-
partments, under the clerk of the
House, William Tyler Page. with
| whom he has preserved a Damon and
Pythias friendship since his first day
as page in the House. He runs a
furniture repair shop. a carpet clean
ing shop. buys all supplies for the
House. buys all furniture and sup
plies for members offices. is In charge
of the pay roll for 1900 employees and
has other duties.
, Johnny" Hollingsworth, thus
| familiarly known to all members of
Congress, and especially to those who
are fond of fishing, came Here as
page. under temporary appointment
in the special session called by
Grover Cleveland, August Z. 1898. He
had previously served four years in
page under ex-Gov. David r. Francis
and William J. Stone. familiarly
known as "Gumshoe Bill"
! Hollingsworth came to Washington
with the Endorsement of the entire
state senatorship of Missouri (thirty-
| four). That was in the thirty sixth
and thirty-seventh general assembly.
when Champ Clark, later Speaker of
the National House of Representa-
| fro ~,
the house of the Missouri legislature.
| When he got to Washington. riding
on a half-fare ticket, and got out at
the old Pennsylvania station at 9th
and b streets. he asked his way to
the Capitol. He was told that he
would find ii ''in the distance"
That happened to be foggy morn
ing. He couldn't see more than a
block in front of him. So he kept
walking until he found a building
square across the street. He asked
if that was the Capitol. and was told
NO the Capitol Is mile away at the
other end of the Avenue" He re-
traced his steps.
He had a letter of introduction to
| y. L ".
House Of Representatives. which is
the office that Hollingsworth Is now
holding. Towles was a Missourian
and the letter was from Lieut.. Gov
Lon v. Stephens. Maj. Towles in
troduced him to A. B. Hurt, who was
then doorkeeper. The page jobs wer.
all taken. but he was given a tenn
porary place for about three weeks
and assigned to the republican side.
The page boys then were as mis-.
chievous and cut up as much as any
who ever vexed members of the
House, Hollingsworth believes. He
frankly owns up that he was one Of
the very worst and a ringleader ir
all escapades. This was instrumental
In the Fifty-fourth Congress in hav'
ing the page boys moved from dowr
In front into the cloakrooms. where
old hotel annunciators were installed
and each members desk connected
Herewith.
At times the confusion in the cloak.
room was such that the BARRIERS be-
came nervous and couldn't shave
members without cutting them.
That portion of the Capitol build
ing on the terrace at the west front
which the architect now has convert
ed into carpenter and machine shops
was then used for storage of logs OF
wood, three feet in length, used fol
heating the House chamber. These
rooms were damp. One of them was
given over to the page boys. and box
Ing matches were held there every
morning after roll call at 10 o'clock
Many a fast fistic encounter attracted
the younger members of the House.
About a half dozen of these pages
were as venturesome as ever hello
jobs in the Capitol. Hollingswortf
recalls especially Badly" Ariting and
Fred Ballinger of North Carolina ant
Fred Turpin of Mississippi. These
with Hollingsworth, seemed to gel
} caught In more mischief than tht
others.
At that time the crypt was theil
favorite place of devilment. There
were no lights other than candle:
which they smuggled In. The dome
| of the Capitol is crowned by a bronze
statue of Freedom, nineteen feet si1
inches high, modelled by Crawford
The model for this statue is now III
the Smithsonian Institution. but 4
formerly was stored in the crypt Thu