Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1888 — He Was Not a Member. [ARTICLE]

He Was Not a Member.

“Did I understand you to say that you lived in Dakota?” inquired a Chicago man of a tall and solemn stranger who was seated in front of him on a train. “Yes, sir; I reside there,” replied the stranger. “An old schoolmate of mine went out there,” continued the Chicago man, “and I understand he has got into public life to a considerable extent; W. H. Bledsoe is his name. ” “O, yes, I am well acquainted with him—the Ron. Bill Bledsoe our people call him. “Making a success of it?”, “Weil, hardly; though he has been in the Legislature a couple of terms, and has had a good chance.” “Not cut out for a leader in a lawmaking.body, I should judge?” “No; O, no; decidedly not; not in Dakota, at any rate. He plays a very poor game of poker.” “O!” “Yes; remarkably poor. The first session the President of the Council and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee cleaned him out of about $1,500, and his constituents put up the amount to save trouble. He got elected the second time on the issue of being able to win back the money and refund it to the voters of his district. ” “Did he succeed?” “No; on the contrary, he lost more than before. The Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Committee on Schools and Colleges claimed it was their turn, and so they, together with one or two more of us, got him into a game and won $2,000 from him before midnight. I suppose I might say we played the cards very close to our—er—persons that night.” “You are also a member of the Legislature, then?” “Me? No, lam not a member—l am not a politician. But,” and there was a faint touch of honest pride in his heart as he said it, “I’ve been chaplain of the Dakota Legislature for the last twenty years. ”—FredH. Carruth.