OF AMERICAN POLITICS

BY

CHAMP CLARK

TWO VOLUMES

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME I

ΧΟΝΤΕΣ

AOLE

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK AND LONDON;

PUBLIC

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. Birth. Motherless babyhood. Proud recollections of a faith-

ful father. Physical and mental development. Wirt's Patrick Henry.

Bible-reading in boyhood. The Multum-in-parvo “Red-book." The

reading-room at the meeting-house. Story of John Doakum. Story

of James Beauchamp concentered into "Champ." Col. Bennett Clark

at "Beauchamp," in France. Motherly Mrs. Call. Cranky, super-

stitious John Call. Colonel Watterson's valuable hints. First whole

dollar; boyish use of it. Last farm work, in Kentucky. Amusements

of long ago: hunting, fishing, hog-killing, apple-bobbing, spelling-bees,

"playing 'possum." Cold-blooded murder of "Ranger." First knowl-

edge of a President of the United States. . .

PAGE

I

CHAPTER II. Children of my father and mother. Marriage. Children.

Early housekeeping. Twelve thousand people attend Genevieve's

wedding. Bennett learns to ride on a Jersey cow. Value of ponies

to children. Birth of my grandson celebrated by the House. It makes

him a fine present. Kindness of Mr. Mann, the Republican leader.

Tom Bodine's tender article. The dear little boy's death. . . . 32

CHAPTER III. My first school-teachers. Brady and Whittern. Morgan

and Woolford. Kentucky soldiers and gentlemen. Generals Morgan,

Beattie, and Breckenridge, as horsemen. "Two-story-and-a-half

head." Coulter and Prather fatal feud. Cowardly murder of old man

Coulter. Whittern's sui generis arithmetic class. Wonderful war

heroes. Saw and heard piano first on Election Day. First law-book.

Clerking in store when only fourteen years old. Debating societies.

Mule-races. Love of my pupils. Colonel Glenn..

CHAPTER IV. First really great man I ever saw. Played "hooky" to hear

political speeches. Governor Bramlett's pince-nez spectacles. My

"first appearance on the stage." Chaplain shouted, "Boys, give them

hell." Civil War and reign of terror. I heard battle of Perryville and

saw battle of Mackville. General Duke's thrilling escape. Two great

steers, "Buck" and "Darby." Little girl witnessed murder of grand-

mother. Triple lynching followed.

CHAPTER V. Kansas. Grasshoppers. I locate in Missouri. Teach school.

Edit a paper. Practise law. Prosecuting attorney. Lawsuits. Office-

holding. Transylvania. Shooting-scrape. Attend theater to hear

"Faust." Teach singing in public school. Raise Sunday-school class.

44

63

Pleasant recollections of letting off young first offenders with fines or

jail sentences. Unwittingly carry a challenge. Preside at religious

debate. Two humble and noble servants of God.

CHAPTER VI. William P. Taylor, legislator, hanged. I was nominated

for the Legislature first by a grand jury.

CHAPTER VII. The Norton and Robinson feud. Colonel Hutton got to

Congress by Norton's and Robinson's delegates. The "flip-a-dollar"

nomination of Norton. Then came the Clark-and-Norton campaign

of six months' incessant struggling, and Clark's nomination.

CHAPTER VIII. The Congress.

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93

156

163
188

229

Lamont. Bissell. Olney. Vice-President Stevenson.

CHAPTER IX. Cleveland's second inauguration.

CHAPTER X. Reed and Crisp.

CHAPTER XI. The Speakership.

.

CHAPTER XII. Campaign of 1892. Tom Johnson and Larry Neal. Fight

over tariff plank in convention. Crisp re-elected Speaker. Silver de-

bate. My tariff speech. Income tax. Wilson chairman of Ways and

Means. Gorman's prophecy. A question of veracity.

269

. 296

. 317

344

CHAPTER XIII. Gorman, Cleveland, Vest, Harris, Jones, Wilson, Hill,

Breckenridge, and others. Free documents. Pensions.

CHAPTER XIV. The Fifty-fourth a Do-nothing Congress. Henderson.

Polling the House. Tammany speech. Doctor English. Underwood. 370

CHAPTER XV. Fifty-fifth Congress. Spanish War. Dingley bill. Ohio

feuds in general. The Sherman-McKinley-Hanna feud in particular.

Sherman and Alger.

CHAPTER XVI. McKinley and Roosevelt.

CHAPTER XVII. Colonel Roosevelt. .

400

424

· 450

CHAPTER XIX. The gold plank adopted by Republicans in 1896.