Show A J ThIISSISSIPPI i WAG J I Tales of the Romantic Career of John Allen HIS SYMPATHY FOR TUB YANKEES IlIo How lie Claimed to be Born In Three Counties Without loins His liccord asa as-a Squirrel Killer I I WASHINGTON D C Aug 2 lSJOSp cial correspondenca of THE IlCltLuA I I j universal favorite in the House is John M I I Allen of Tupelo Ilia humorous speeches I and his quaint stories frequently relieve the dull monotony of the proceedings Ho is I the only Mississippian who was renomin ated without a struggle Allen at first I declined the renomination His constituents I constitu-ents however were wild for his return to o Sh oRt Z L I i 1ft l J a r7 III r r c F jl f f 11 + I f Nr r J < H i l I i17t 0 iN > r s > 1 1 1 Nti fin lt i I i J it J 1 t Jd U ifil J e7 1t r L = l J 1 t j1I 1J J 1ITIf tt l1 > < m 4 ALLEN AMUSES Tile HOUSE the House and ho was forced to accept He is not much of a hot weather statesman He appeared at Tammany hall on tbo Fourth of July and has spent the most ol thotime sines then campaigning in Mississippi Missis-sippi and elsewhere The other day he returned to tho House His naturally swarthy complexion had be come darker from the exposure to the weather He listened to a few speeches told sixteen new stories begged a chew of tobacco from Watchdog Holmans leatbcr tjpouch i i and again disappeared A tall Miss j I < issippian traveling in his wjlio retailed some anecdotes concerning Johns career I which convulsed everybody with laughter One of the incidents oc urred at the outbreak out-break of the war I John was gawky boy whos3 knowled goof go-of the wotld was conlined to Tishomiimo Itawaniba and Oktibbeha counties The reverberations of the guns at Fort Samples I i wore thrilling the south Each man wus I 1 rushing to arms Camps were being I formed on every side The feeling was I universal that one sou > hermr could Avhip l seventeen Yankees Tao south was perfectly per-fectly confident of success The only fear expressed was that the Yankees would I buck down without fighting In the excitement John went up to Corinth I Cor-inth where there was a great Ponfedcrato camp It was the first time he had been so far from homo He found there fire or six thousand recruits armed and equipped It was the largest body of men that he had ever seen His uncle commanded a company John spent the night in his tent Upon his return re-turn home somebody asked him what ho thought pf the situation 0 he replied with a confident air therell be no war Its a doggon sbame As soon as Abe Lincoln Lin-coln hears whatfs a goin on and adoin at Corinth hell back straight down and thatll l be the end of it Tho Yankees wont fight The gaunt Mississippian launched another reminiscence of John to the Intense delicht of his listeners The incident occurred while the Alliance controlled the balance of power in Northeast Mississippi It elected a harumscarum citizen justca of the peace His habits were convivial and be loved a roughandtumble fight At onetime one-time ho was accused of selling liquor unlawfully unlaw-fully His friends claimed that ho never had as much liquor as he could drink much i4 J 4 1 IS CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE COMING TO THIS J less enough giveaway or to sell Upon this jilea he escapedTho last time tho justice was in trouble ho was tried at Tupelo John Allen happened to bo at homo As tho Squire was a personal friend to defended + f > r him and secured his acquittal refusing to receive anything for his services In the last Congressional the squire actively opposed Johns ronominatioa Ho was especially prominent in tho primary election elec-tion held in Prenuss cOUnty Allens friends were indignant They protested against his conduct aud accused him of ingratitude in-gratitude Dontyou think squire he was asked that you do wrong in working against John Allen after his kindness in getting you out of trouble and not charging you a cant cantNo No I dont replied the Squire Id h ave appreciated what he done for me if hed got me out o trouble in tho right kind o way Bui blast him ho treated my case I 1Jw 1 t as if it wuz a bis jolie Ho got up and poked fun at me and had the hull court and everybody else a laughin at me Id rather I I 0 paid fifteen or twenty dollars to have 6tOUtof I the scrape fair and square I I JontHvantto bo a laughln stock for no I uiunl He could ha done it right if hed a I tried but he wouldnt do it These funny f fclier3 ought to be treated in a funny way I He had his little oco then and Iui ahavm uiine now Blast aim Ill beat him and git oven with him i As Food t story as the Mississippian told was of pn incident that happened eight or lien yeuis ago There was a big mass iccjt iliB at Okolona Miss Both parties wero out in strong force A wellknown Republican i Repub-lican led off He was followed by a Uenio j 1 I cratr Among the listener was a 1 Northern rammer A day or two afterwards he II I was telling a friend in Tennessee what he I taw and heard at tho meeting at Okolona It wjs a great time bo remarked There must have been I two thousand people peo-ple there They had u barbecue and procession pro-cession and things were just abUmrnin What surprised me though was to Una so many negroes among the Democrats A Republican talked first Ho made a good telling speech I thought it would have a good effect But its fovea was destroyed by a litho yellow nigger who got up and made a Democratic speech that literally tore tile Republicans into bits What was tho negros name his friend inquired and wiiore did he como from His name was Allen the drummer replied re-plied I heard somebody say that ho came from a place called Tupelo Another story told by the Mississippian seas concerning a big squirel hunt at Tupelo A prize was offered to the hunter bringing in tho mos game for dinner Allen hired several trusty negro hunters to go into the woods on the day before the hunt to shoot all the squirrels they could for him Ou the following day Jonn put in an early appearance Ho started off with his gun upon his shoulder and his belt filled with shells He appeared at dinnertime loaded down with game He threw i about forty odd squirrels upon the i ground with a sigh of relief but seemed somewhat disappointed because ho had not done better I i 1 There you are brys ho said I didnt have much luck this morning Im not feeling very well I Itturncd out that them were twice as many in his pile as were killed by the best I of the other hunters He was reaching for the prize when one of his competitors protested I I i Bold hard ho said Don t give up I the trophy If that man killcfd those squirrels he must have scared them to v a f u t viti 4 r sl r 4 q 1 rl = tSt E ob s rryto il ALLEN BARGAINS rote THE SQUIIUIELS death Ho has all the loaded shells in his belt that ho started out with this morning Not a one has been used It is said to be the only prize John Allen ever missed i I The best of the Mississippians stories was based on Johns campaigns Allen was born in Tishomingo county Some years ago he was n candidate for district attorney It was in the same district dis-trict ho now represents in Congress He had two strong opponents One was Colonel Col-onel R O Beenoan old lawyer of considerable consider-able reputation who had been district attorney before the war The other was Norman Cayse a young lawyer of Itawam ba county He was about the same ago as John Allen and has been before the people as a candidate for Allens place in Congress During the canvass while speaking in Ita wamba county Cayseclaimed the votes of I its people becnuso ho was born ia the county coun-ty John Allen in reply said that he was born in the adjoiningcounty of Tishomingo If ho hadnt been born there he would rather have been born in Itawamba county Jhanjnanj2 other countyjq thfrftto Qoi 4 I onel Beene who spoke at tb6s dame meeting I i said that he had always regretted that he had not been born in either Itawamoa countv or Tishomingo These counties had no existence however at the time of his birth He had therefore done tho next best thing and was born in Tennessee where his mother lived lie three candidates stumped the district together When they got over into Prcntina county John seemed to be at his ease Ho followed Caysos example and clamed the votes of the citizens of Pren tiss county because ho was born in tho same I county with them And did the same thing when he got into Alcorn county By the I time he reached Tishnmingo cpunty his opponents op-ponents W elc tired John seemed to carry everything before him because ho was born in each county At oreor Colonel Becne could stand it no lorer When John claimed toile born in T5xbomlnS county the colonel said x Gentlemen when we werft canvassing Prentiss county Mr Allen clalmec to have I been born there When we got ovfir into Alcorn county he claimed to have b sn I born theta And now we are in JisK I mingo countyr ho claims to have been born here Gentlemen Mr Allen is a public spirited citizen but ho appears to have no partition between his imagination and his I memory All that Ive got to say is that he is the most born man that I orcr saw The colonel was dumbfounded when Allen told him that Prentiss Acorn and Tlshomingo counties formed ono county I i I when John first opened his eyes r I John turned no in the Houso with fresh story after his speech at Tammany hall on the Fourth of July He had heard it in New York It was concerning a friend of General Spinola Years and years ago the general met Mark Muguiro and John Mor nssey Wishing compliment Mr Morrissey Mor-rissey the general said to Mark Ah I see you have the Cromwell of I America with you j Morrissey was highly indignant He j i doubled his lIst and turning lo Mark Ma quire said What does this splinter mean I 1vo a notion to lamm him Hold on Mark shouted He means that youlo the greatest man in America suppose so when hois out of it Morrissey I Mor-rissey growled Tile general never forgot the remark Whenever ho met Mr Morrissey afterwards after-wards saluted him with all the honors I but not as tho Cromwell of America AMOS J CUMillNGS |