THE SUNDAY OREGON'IAN, PORTLAND, JANUARY 5, I90S.
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BY JOHN EI.FKETH WATKINS.
O THE most hopeless youth now ut
tering his peremiari from wilderness
or slum there is a note of encour
agement In ur.y of these life-stories of
a dozen boys who. against the obstacles
of poverty anil affliction, have won their
way to the new Congress.
Among the new legislators of this 60th
ConeresF now that we have had time to
get acquainted with them are to be
found 12 men of the good, old-fashioned,
self-made category who began at the
lowest rung of the ladder and worked
their way up by pluck alone, without
ever u booat or a pull.
Blind Backwoodsman's Climb to
Senate.
Most phenomenal of all of these feats
of self-advancement is that which has
just been accomplished by T. P. Gore,
new Senator from the new Slate of Okla
homa. Thontch born in poverty and to
tally blind since boyhood, he was sworn
in as I'nlted Stales Senator the other
day at the age of ."6.
He was born in the backwoods of Mis
Issippi. and at the age of 8 he lost his
left eye. which was accidently struck
"by a stick In the hands of a playmate.
This was calamity .enough for any lad.
only half of what fate had in store for
him. Three years later an arrow shot
from the cross-bow' of another playmate
blinded the other eye. The lad was then
a pafie in the Mississippi Senate. He was
now totally blind and had to go back
home. I'ntil lie was 16 his diversion was
to Bear his mother and sister read. In
the Autumn of his 16th year a normal
school was opened at his home town. He
persuaded his father to allow him to at
tend. The father urged him to go to an
institution for the blind, but the young
man declined, preferring to take his
chances with his playfellows. At the
normal school he always stood in the
forefront of his classes. Kvery Monday
night. In a moot Senate organised by the
students, he debated the political prob
lems of the day. His career as a page
In the State Senate had aroused legisla
tive ambitions. In the moot Senate he
debated according to the rules of the
United States Senate. He won the repu
tation of a fiery orator, and one of his
classmates says that on one occasion his
oratory precipitated a ''dissolution of
parliament." ,
"The truth is. I think he has been a
candidate for the V. S. Senate from
that time." says this friend. "1 spent
many hours reading the Congressional
Record to him." His graduating ad
dress, on the race problem, was so fa
vorably received that his neighbors
boomed him as a delegate to the ap
proaching constitutional convention,
but bcins 19 he was disqualified. He
now became schoolmaster, and after a
couple of years was nominated for the
legislature, but had to decline the
nomination because not yet 21. The
same year lie entered the law depart
ment of Cumberland University, from
which lie was graduated in 1892. Three
years later he moved to Texas, and
three years later still received there a
nomination to Congress on the' Popu
list ticket, but was defeated. In 18S9
he. became a Democrat, and two years
later went to Oklahoma, where he has
since made fiery speeches in every cam
paign waged in that territory, now be
come a state. He has held more than
140 joint debates In which he has dis
puted with United States Senators,
United States representatives. Gover
nors and Attorneys-Genera!. Just be
fore the Christmas adjournment of the
Senate he and his colleague. Sena
tor Owen, drew lots for the three pos
sible terms in the Senate open to them
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terms ending in 1909
1911 and 1913, i
respectively. The blind Senator drew
firsthand pulled from the box the slip
marked "1909," while Senator Owen
drew that marked "1913." Senator Gore
was not so disappointed as his faithful
brown-eyed wife, who leads him to
and from the Senate daily.
Was a Coal Mine Boy at Eight.
Krom a coal mine boy at S to Con
gressman at 45, was the climb made in
a generation by William Bauchop Wil
son, now Representative from the Will
lamsport district of Pennsylvania. He
was born in Blantyre, Scotland,' April
2, 1862. When he was 8 an Immigrant
ship brought him and his parents to
America, and they settled in the coal
district in Tioga County. Pennsylvania,
At once the lad got a Job in the mines,
shoveling onto the coal cars the coal
that his father dug: His father, of
that marked type the "argumentative
Scotchman" became an invalid within
the next year, but retained his men
tal vigor. As a means of diversion he
organized a debating circle, and it was
the duty of the future Congressman,
when only 10, to act as his father's
prompter. When 11 the boy became a
half member of the mineworkers'
union, and when 14 he organized a de
bating society of his own, which met
weekly In a cobbler's shop.
Into a "question box" members dropped
In slips of paper containing such ques
tions as puzzled him. The slips were
drawn out at regular intervals and the
question of greatest moment was made
the subject of debate at the next meet
ing. The cobbler's shop being torn down,
the club met at a corner where five of
the roads meeting in the village came to
gether. Some prophetic spirit inspired
the youthful debaters to dub this forum,
"Congress Corners," a name retained to
this day. Becoming blacklisted, he says,
because of "pernicious activity" in the
union. Mr. Wilson had to leave the mines
and seek work in the West. This was in
the first year of his married life, and it
almost broke his heart to leave his bride
at home for the time. He dug ditches,
worked as a farm hand, in a saw mill,
and as a pikeman in a lumber camp. Fre
quently while trying to balance himself
upon the floating logs he would tumble
neck deep in the water. But throughout
his young manhood he took a deep in
terest in trade union affairs and at 28
helped form the United Mine Workers of
America, of which he has been, since
1900. international secretary-treasurer and
the right-hand man of John Mitchell. The
wife who hopefully waited for him to
make his new beginnings In the West has
since borne him ten children. - the eldest,
a daughter, now acting as his secretary.
A Breaker Boy at Nine.
Krom a "breaker boy" at 9. a similar
rise was made by Thomas D. Xicholls.
new member from the Scranton and
Wilkesbarre district of the Keystone
state. He had attended day school until
starting to work In the mines, after
which he went to night school for several
Winters. Before he was 10 he had be
come a slate picker, but at 12 began work
inside the mines, where he was engaged
in various occupations until May, 1900.
While digging for a living underground
he studied the science of mining in a cor
respondence school, which course enabled
him when 27 to pass the state examina
tion and obtain a mine foreman's cer-.
tifk-Rte. Since 1899. when he was but 29,
he has been district president of the
United Workers of America, and is re-
garded as one of the best educated of Its
officials. He is now fcut 37.
From cashboy to Congress was the j
hard climb of William J. Carey, now J
member from Milwaukee. At 13 he was
left an orphan with four younger sisters j
and a younger brother who. were placed j
in an orphan asylum when he got his j
first position in a department store. Two j
years later he became a telegraph mes- J
senger boy but within a few months J
learned to handle the key so well that
the company promoted him to operator.
Within a year he saved enough money to
take his sisters and brother out of the
orphan asylum and give them a home.
Mr. Carey remained a telegraph oper
ator until 35 when he was ejected Alder
man. After serving two terms in this
office he ran 3000 ahead of his ticket for
Sheriff and was nominated for the pres
ent Congress before finishing bis term in
this county office.
Two Others Began In Telegraphy.
As a messenger boy, James T. McDer
mott, new member from Chicago, began
his career. He was then living In Detroit.
But, like Representative Carey, he was
not of the dime-novel reading kind of
telegraph Mercury. Between deliveries
he soon learned the code and when 17
was working as a skilled operator. He
was now transferred to Chicago where
until his election to this Congress he
handled the key not only for the tele
graph companies, but for several newspa
pers and finally for one of the large pack
ing concerns In the stockyards.
Telegraphy was the first stepping stone
also in the Congressward career of
George W. Cook, of Denver, now Repre
sentativerehsct from Colorado. He learned
the use of the key at the age of 11 but
when 12, at the outbreak of the Civil
War. he ran away from home and en
listed as drummer boy to the Indiana
regiments in the Army of the Cumber
land. He thus served until the last eight
months of the war, when he became chief
regimental clerk. He was then but 14
and the youngest boy to thus serve in
the history ot the Army. After the war
he went to school and having received an
academic education began railroading in
Chicago when 21. He rose to be general
agent of the Monon system before he
was 30 and when 36 was division super
intendent of the Denver & Rio Grande
and Denver & South Park divisions of the
Union Pacific. He then served two terms
as Mayor of Leadville and went into
mining. Two years ago he was elected
senior vice-commander-in-chlef of the
Grand Army of the Republic.
Were Office Boy, Carpenter and
Printer's Devil.
Charles a Carlin. who comes from the
Alexandria. Va.. district, began as an
office boy but later went to work for a
telephone company and became superin
tendent of construction. Having ambi
tions to become a professional man.
however, he studied law at night,, while
erecting telephone lines by day and since
practicing law has served four years as
postmaster of Alexandria. He Is 41 years
oKV
Plough-boy and mine-boy were the first
two rungs of the ladder of success
climbed by the bare feet of Samuel Mc
Millan, from the Twenty-first New York
district. He was brought over from Ire
land by his parents when an Infant of 3,
remained In New York City until 9, when
he got his first taste of work upon a
farm at Niles. Ohio. He next worked in
a mine until 16. when he went back to the
metropolis and took up first the trade of
Life Story of T. P. Gore, Backwoodsman,
Who Represents Oklahoma in Upper House
Eleven Other Members of the Sixtieth Con
gress Who Rose From Obscurity and Poverty
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harness-maker, then that of carpenter.
After putting down his plane and saw for
the day he studied architecture at night
and was equipped to go into business at
80. By the time he was 24 he had saved
money and had become a director of the
West Side Bank. He had been director
and vice-president of several other New
York banks, a member of the board of
examirters of the New York building de
partment, and president of the Park
Commission. He is now vice-president of
the construction company which is build
ing the new Manhattan Bridge over the
East River from New York to Brooklyn.
leaving school to make his own living
at the age of 13, George W. Fairchild,
new member from the Twenty-fourth
New York district, started out as a farm
boy, but when 14 apprenticed himself as
a printer's "devil," tyus serving three
fears In the office of an Oneonta news
paper. He then worked as a printer In
New York, but when 22 returned to On
eonta and got a position on the Herald,
of which he became part owner when 28.
By the time he was 36 he had. acquired
entire ownership. He has since acquired
large real estate, manufacturing and
financial interests and is the president
of two manufacturing companies, the
vice-president of two financial concerns
and a director in several other big enter
prises. Lay Wounded in , the - Field Seven
Days.
After lying wounded for seven days and
nights oh the battlefield of Charles City
CYoss Roads, Joseph G. Beale, new mem
ber from Leechburg. Pa., was arrested
and sent to Libby Prison. Afterward
while released on parole and while an In
valid from his wounds, he improved his
time by studying law. He had begun life
as a farm boy and the sedentary con
finements of the law did not prove con
genial: so he went Into mining. He re
moved the coal from beneath what are
today some of the most aristocratic sec
tions of Pittsburg. He has since earned
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a fortune not only in coal, but in steel
and banking. He says that his forefath
ers came to Pennsylvania with William
Penn.
What is most picturesque in our Wild
West of the pioneer days color the stories
of the early struggles of two of the rep
resentatives from the new State of Okla
homa. Bird S. McGuire was carried
across the plains from Illinois to Missouri
when an Infant of 2. He worked upon
his father's farm until 17, when they
moved on to Kansas. But shortly after
settling in the new home his father met
with reverses and young McGuire start
ed out alone to earn money with which
to educate himself. All of the present
State of Oklahoma was then Indian Ter
ritory, and for two years the young man
herded cattle across the unbroken and
unsettled prairies of the very district
which he now represents. Once he went
nearly a year without beholding a set
tlement of his fellow-men. But after sell
ing his cattle he found himself possessed
of sufficient wealth to enter the Kansas
Normal School, after which he taught
school until he saved enough to go
through the law department of the Kan
sas State University. Then he returned
home and when only 26 was elected
County Attorney, being the youngest
Prosecutor in the state. But the lure of
the Wild West caught him again, and
he returned to his old haunts in what
was by now Oklahoma.. He had been
there but two years when he became a
Prosecutor for the Government. During
his six years in this work he came to ex
cel as a trial lawyer, frequently being
called out of his county to conduct cases.
In 1504 he was elected Delegate in Con
gress and now that Oklahoma becomes a
state he is the only Republican in her
delegation.
Part Indian and Former Cowboy.
That he ts seven-sixteenths Chicka
saw and Cherokee Indian and nlne-elx-teenths
Scotch-Irish, is the boast of
Charles p. Carter, new member from
the fourth Oklahoma district. His pa
ternal ancestor. Nathan Carter. Sr.,
was captured when a small boy by
Shawnee Indians at the Lackawanna
Valley massacre, when all the other
members of the family except one of
Nathan's sisters were killed. Nathan
Carter was .afterward traded to the
Cherokees, one of whose full-blooded
squaws he married. Mr. Carter's fath
er, a Captain In the Confederate army,
added to this strain of Indian blood
by marrying a one-fourth breed Chick
asaw woman, a sister of Governor Guy,
chief of the Chlckasaws.
The new Representative wa born in
a little log cabin near Boggy Depot, an
old fort of the Choctaw Nation, 38
years ago. When 7 years old he was
taken by his parents to Mill Creek, a
stage-stand and postoffice on the west
ern frontier of' the Chiikasaw Nation.
When 11 he etarted to school at a log
sehoolhouse near by. When 13 he en
tered the Chickasaw Manual Labor
Academy, where he finished when 18.
Two of these five years at. the acad
emy he missed in order to work as
cowboy on his father's ranch.
As cow puncher and broncho buster
he began life for himself at Diamond
Z Ranch, where the City of Sulphur
now stands. He was then 18. When
20 he accepted a position In a store
where he advanced from clerk to book
keeper, cotton buyer and cotton weigh
er. When 23 he was appointed Audi
tor of Public Accounts for the Chicka
saw Nation, and three years later be
came a member of that Nation's coun
cil. From this position he' advanced
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to Superintendent of Schools and Min
ing Trustee of Indian Territory. At
the time of hie election to the new
Congress -he was engaged in the in
surance business.
Such are the men of the Sixtieth
Congress who find themselves high
The Kaiser's
THE park surrounding HIgheliffe Cas
tle is well guarded. To the right,
to the left, in front and behind, one
caught sight of strange profiles whose
identity was easy to guess, 'xhe very
gardeners collecting the dead leaves, and
raking the paths were evidently more ac
customed to other occupations.
"How many police are there?" I asked
my guide.
"Over a hundred."
When we entered by a smalside door
way the tic-tac of a telegraph instrument
was the first thing that met my ear.
"There are three, and telephones as
well," a telegraph operator told me.
"We don't stop working all day. D!
patches are going and arriving without
cease, because the Kaiser sends his
official correspondence almost entirely by
wire. In addition, two special messengers
leave for Berlin every day."
On arriving at the' kitchens my guide
told me he wa3 going to introduce me
to a fellow countrymen, M. Terrall, a
Frenchman, who has charge of the Im
perial cooking. -
"What does his majesty like?" I asked.
At first M. Terrail wished to entrench
himself behind the ramparts of profes
sional secrecy, but yielding to a fellow
countryman's importunity he relented
so far as to say:
"His majesty likes everything that is
light. He eats very little, but often.
He is very partial t6 fruits, particularly
pears. A favorite dish Is cold fat pullet.
One day I sent up a sweet strawberry
souffle, which ills majesty liked so much
that he deigned to ask me the recipe."
Then M. Terrail, growing interested in
his story, violated the code of profes
sional secrecy still further.
"In the morning at nine o'clock the
Emperor takes poached eggs with a little
grilled ham, fruit and tea. At one o'clock
I serve his lunch eggs or fish, an en
tree of fowl or game. Often there is
simply a biiffet. Perhaps you don't know
what a buffet is? About, ten kinds
of cold meats in jelly. As for dinner,
it is a little more substantial. A typical
menu includes soup, fish, saddle of mut
ton, cold young turkey, salad, pears and
cakes. Before going to bed the Kaiser
eats two or three biscuits of Gerro-n
make and drinks a glass of water."
Then we passed through the corridors:
corridor after corridor, and every one
encumbered with trunks, big trunks, little
trunks, flat trunks, all sizes and kinds.
These are personal trunks of the Em
porer; each contains a different uniform
At length we reached the private rooms
used by the Kaiser. First came the li
brary, with thousands of books and the
newspapers of every country. Then the
private sitting room, where In the evening
smoking a cigar William II. takes de
light in listening to the gramophone or
the mechanical piano. A small ante
chamber separates this room from the
dining room.
"It is in this ante-chamber, said my
guide, "that bis majesty's suite meet
CPA) -,r
upon the ladder of success, not one of
them as the result of an Aladdln-llke
rise by virtue of sudden fortune, ail
of them as the result of dogged deter
mination and the courage to meet
each obstacle in their path of progress.
Out of such clay were the fathers of
our Republic made. Such careei . of
fer an inspiration of encouragement to
the American lad, be lie ever' so poor,
ever so humble, ever so friendless.
Washington, D. C, Doc. 23.
Life in England
before meals. The Kaiser is living here
in the greatest simplicity, but he Insists
all the same on etiquitte being observed.
Nobody enters the dining-room before
the Emperor. If his majesty deigns to
smile everybody smiles', if he has a
frown on his face nobody says a word.
"At dinner the Emporer wears evening
dress with decorations, generally the
Golden Fleece, the Black Eagle and at
the knee the Order of the Garter. As
soon as his majesty has taken his place,
at the table the imperial suite sits down.
His majesty gives a sign to the nous
steward and the meal begins.
"During dinner the Kaiser drinks gen
erally orangeade, lemonade or cider, and
tea at the end of the meal, but no li
quors." From the dining-room we went to the
private rooms of the Kaiser. First of all
was a bedroom decorated simply and in
good taste. An Empire ibed of great his
torical value constituted the chief furni
ture. It was on this bed that Marshal
Ney was laid on the evening of the day
he was shot in 1815. A small table is
scattered over with cigarettes.
On the chimney 1 saw a wooden bow
in which were two bracelets and four
rings, one being ornamented with a
miniature of the Empress. Many photo
graphs were about, those of his sons,
of King Edward and the Czar Nicholas II.
"But this room serves chiefly as a uress-lng-room,
as his majesty sleeps In an
adjoining room. This second room, sim
pler even than the former, contains a
bed of copper covered with a counter
pane embroidered in silk that once be
longed to Marie Antoinette. On the night
table by the bedside was a regulation
army revolver In a doeskin cover.
On a chest of drawers were still more
photographs those of Xhe Empress r.nd
his daughters-in-law. Immediately efter
this bedroom comes the last of his maj
esty's private rooms, ills workroom. I
only had time to catch a glimpse of a.
desk littered with letters, printed matter,
etc. More photographs lay about and
more books, among them the recently
published "Letters bf Queen Victoria."
Lots of pens were scattered about the
desk, all goosequills, as the Emperor
uses nothing else. He uses fine Band to
dry his ink, never blotting paper.
When the Bmperor is in one of his
private rooms no one la allowed to ap
proach him but the four servants at
tached to his person. At night a faith
ful guard placed at his door forbids
entry to anyone.
As I passed through the park to go
away I heard the purring of an auto r."l
my guide said:
"Do you see that auto? Last Wednes
day it disturbed the Emperor consid
erably. He- was Just returning from a
shooting expedition and as he put his
foot on the step to get out a loud ex
plosion occurred in the motor. William il
turned sligMtly pale, but the engineer in
charge of the Imperial autos quickly re
assured him. Then the Kaiser smiled
and said: 'Never mind, so long as it
is in the past.' " Paris Matin.