The Stark County Democrat

KING OF THE WASHINGTON LOBBY.

James B. Norwood, Washington correspondent of the Cleveland Leader, gives a pen portrait of a once notable Republican Washington lobbyist in the following:

"Sam Ward, the brother of Julia Ward Howe, and the uncle of F. Marion Crawford, died in Italy ten years ago, perhaps. For almost a generation he was the 'king of the Washington lobby.' He came from a good family and he was an educated man. He had traveled all over the world, and could speak French and German, and could read Greek poetry. His father, who was a New York banker, was a bankrupt when he died. Meanwhile Sam was an international spendthrift. He went to California, where he made a fortune and then ate it up. Soon thereafter he came to Washington, and here he remained. He was a short, stout, bald-headed man, a cook, an epicure, a fine gentleman, and a superficial student who dazzled men by quoting poetry and telling stories about authors who had been forgotten. He had met and talked with Gladstone, with Bismarck, with Victor Hugo, with the Czar of Russia, with Cardinal Newman, with Renan, the French infidel, with Charles Darwin, with the Prince of Wales, and all the gay women of Europe. His method was to prepare an elaborate dinner for members of Congress, to set before them fine wines in great quantities and to make them drunk and confidential."