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Show WYOMING HOUSE I IN FIERCE RIOT I Speaker Pratt and Speaker Pro Tem. Wood En H gage in Violent Fight, Throwing Legislature H Into Hopeless Confusion Both Shout H Orders at Once H HAND TO HAND ENCOUNTER LASTS 45 MINUTES I Wood Thrown Headlong Off Platform Both Sides Line Up in Fight and Pandemonium Hi Reigns on Floor Also Cool-headed Lead- H ers Finally Succeed in Calling an H Adjournment H Cheyenne, Wyo.. .Tan 20 A not occurred in the bouse of reprteenta-Lives reprteenta-Lives of the Wyoming legislature, with Speaker Pratt 'and Speaker I'ro Tern. Wood, both claiming to preside A violent fight interrupted by members took place between the two officers Scenes of violence which lasted fully three-quarters of an hour and which included two separate encounters between be-tween Speaker Martin T, Pratt and Speaker Pro Tem W. J. Wood, threw the lower house of the Wyoming legislature leg-islature Into hopeless confusion just before noon today No Order Obscr.cd. Absolutely no parliamentary order was observed and the scene was only ended bj an agreement among members mem-bers on the tloor. when cool-headed leaders of either faction announced an agreement to let matters stand just as ihe. were until 2 o clock this afternoon. Both Claim Authority. Both Pratt and Wood Claimed authority au-thority over the house and with Wood sitting in the speakers chair and Pratt wielding the navel the show of authority seemed about equal either war The Immediate occasion of the trouble was the attempt of Speaker Pratt to call to the chair. P C. Hunter. Hunt-er. Republican of Carbon county. An appeal had been taken from the speaker's ruling upon the offer of substitute committees by the Democrats Demo-crats for those he had submitted and ir which he. himself, held the balance bal-ance of power upon the two important import-ant committees, rules and election?. M. Hunter took the chair and Mr. Pratt went to Hunter's seat on the floor Judge Bfetl, Democrat, arose land declared that the speaker could inot designate any other than the speaker pro tem. to take the chair and called upon Representative W. J. I Wood of Crook county, speaker pro item., and a Democrat, to preside. This Wood proceeded to do and Hunter yielded the chair to him. Hand to Hand Encounter. Thereupon Pratt started to resume the chair himself Wood sal staunch - , v In his place until Pratt, grasping him bv the shoulders with both hands. 'threw him violently off the platform Wood struck on both hands, and his f3ce. but promptly arose and rushed back to the chair again. The men grasped each other until ( bap-lain bap-lain Davidson and others on the platform plat-form held them momentarily. Wielding his gavel, which he had gotten hold of In the melee. Pratt declared the house adjourned. Having the prestige of the speaker's (hair, and using a paper weight for 8 gavel, Speaker pro tem. Wood shouted to the sergeant -at-arms to close the doors and allow no one o leave Ho j then railed for a roll call on the ap- peal motion Standing over the chief, clerk wc 10 hand. Pratt fqrbadei the calling of the roll Both sides) wcre lined up and pandemonium reigned "n thf' f,oor of lhe h0"?(? as ' well as on the platform. Another Climax. Another climax followed in ten minutes after the first contest be-j tween Bpeaker and speaker pro tem., when, with several backers on either Bide they clashed and Pratt attempted attempt-ed to get his owu chair in place of . the clerk's chair he had appropriated for the time being. Attempting to Interfere Representative Sproul. who has heretofore been 'loser to Pratt m counsel than am other Demorr.n w;.s soumlh kicked in the sromacn by the Bpeaker. Further violence was then averted but fully a score of the house members were standing close around the speaker's desk. In the thick of the scrap the voice of Chnrlev Irwin, cowpuneher and promoter of Cheyenne's famous frontier fron-tier shows, who was a spectator of the affair, shouting out loud over the tumult : "Men, be quiet be men." Conflicting Orders Issued. t ries of "Put Irwin in the chair"! from the crowded galleries followed j this suggestion Again Pratt declared declar-ed the house adjourned ami stated be bad right under the statute to call anyone to the chair he chose Wood maintained his seal and the, sergeant-at-arms. obeying his in-Btructions, in-Btructions, had refused to let out any of the members Judge Moiz. who had not taken any part in the violence around tho speaker's chair, but whose, motion had been the occasion for it con-ferred con-ferred with Representative Sullivan of the Republicans nnd on behalf of. both factions an agreement as finally fin-ally made to adjourn with all motions j pending as they were at that time un- llH til 2 o'clock this afternoon. |