The Morning News

DEPEW AND CONKLING.

How a Story-Telling Speech Robbed the Senator of an Audience.

From the New York Tribune.

ALBANY, May 17.-Mr. Chauncey M. Depew's recent visits here have recalled to the minds of leading members of the Legislature many stories about his career. One of the most amusing relates how he once deprived Mr. Roscoe Conkling of a political audience, very innocently, but still effectually-and much to Mr. Conkling's discomfort.

"Early in my speech-making days," said Mr. Depew in describing the incident, "the Republican State Committee sent Mr. Conkling and myself through the State arousing the rural voters to save the nation. Mr. Conkling was then the leading Senator from this State, and also indisputably one of the four or five men who controlled the United States Senate. Therefore he was the eminent tragedian of our troupe, while I in a minor role played up to him. One day in our tour we came to Lockport, and the local Republican committee took us to the fair grounds. They had advertised the meeting in all the surrounding counties, and the fair grounds as a consequence were packed with people. I should think at least 20,000 persons were present. The committee of arrangements took us up on a high platform, there was cheering and shouting, we looked out on the multitude, and then took seats. I noticed that Mr. Conkling looked displeased about something, but could not conceive its cause. Pretty soon the chairman of the committee sidled up to Mr. Conkling and said: 'Mr. Conkling, would you prefer to be the first or the second speaker.' Mr. Conkling, instead of replying to this question, looked at the crowd and then at the platform and said:

Where do you intend me to speak?

'Why, here,' said the chairman, apparently surprised.

'I told the Republican State Committee,' said Mr. Conkling, 'that I would not speak out of doors and that they must provide me with a hall in every place that we might visit.'

'But, Mr. Conkling,' said the chairman in consternation, 'there was such a multitude came to hear you speak that the small hall in our place would not hold them. We therefore thought that you would waive your rule for once and make your address here.'

Mr. Conkling's features did not relax into a gracious smile. On the contrary, the frown grew deeper on his face as he replied: 'I told the Republican State Committee that I would not speak out of doors. I do not intend to speak out of doors.'

Seeing that Mr. Conkling was inflexible the chairman came over to me and said: 'Mr. Depew, we find that Mr. Conkling prefers to speak in a hall. We will therefore open a hall down town in which he may make his address. It will take us half an hour, however, to get the hall ready. Would you kindly entertain the audience in the interval?' I felt strong and in a speech-making mood and therefore replied, 'Certainly.' While they were putting Mr. Conkling in a big barouche to take him down town I had time to reflect that there was a good chance of my losing my audience in a short time. The great mass of it, indeed, seemed inclined to follow the chariot of Mr. Conkling as it moved off with him seated in it through the fair grounds. I said to myself: 'You will have to catch hold of this crowd pretty quick or you won't have any one to speak to.' The chairman luckily at that moment presented me to the audience. I said to myself that it would be a good idea to tell at once an amusing story. So I started in with a story as the front stoop of my speech. I was strong, my lungs were in good condition, and I had had a month's practice in speaking. I sent out my voice half a mile or more over that crowd, laden with that story.

When I got through a man in the crowd yelled out: Tell us another.' The crowd laughed and there were more cries of: 'Tell us another.' Well we had been traveling about the State, as I said, for a month and I had heard a string of good stories. So I told them right along for about twenty minutes. The crowd by that time had got mellowed up and feeling good-natured and I edged a little into the serious part of my speech. When I saw they were getting tired I told them more stories and started again into the argumentative part of the address. The end of the whole matter is that I managed to hold the entire crowd for a speech of about two and one-half hours duration—they have good digestions in the country.

"When I got back to the hotel down-town I found Mr. Conkling in the reading room looking out of the window with a very dissatisfied look on his face. 'What sort of an audience did you have? said he as I drew up a chair. 'Oh,' I replied, 'an excellent one. They heard me with great patience. What luck did you have?'

" 'Well.' said Mr. Conkling, 'they took me through that crowd at the fair grounds as though I were part of a menagerie, an animal to be displayed, and when we reached the lower part of the town they led me into a thing they called a hall. We waited half an hour and a few boys and market women strolled in—and I did not speak '