The lady supposed to be the wife of the dwarf arose and addressed the speaker upon a question of privilege. She said she had just received a telegram from home, stating that her youngest child was taken suddenly ill, and she requested the house to grant leave of absence for her husband, as it was very desirable that he should return home and care for the sick child. Another member of the house, a gentleman, arose and inquired whether the sick child was a boy or a girl. The lady responded with some acrimony that all her children were girls of whom she boasted she had seven, and was proud of it.
The ladies of the city entered into this play with much spirit and performed their parts so admirably that it furnished a very rich entertainment for the winter.
The bill making the appropriation for the erection of the permanent capitol finally became a law, and Mr. Kasson attempted to monopolize for himself all the glory of the achievement. He had a brass band serenade him at his house, and John P. Irish of Iowa City make a congratulatory speech to him as the hero that had accomplished so much for the city of Des Moines.
In the year 1874 Mr. Kasson was again nominated as the republican candidate for congress and was successful in the election. In this contest he was opposed by the then editors of the Register, a newspaper at that time published by the Clarkson brothers.
In the early part of September, 1874, Mr. J. C. Savery, a citizen of Des Moines at that time, and for several years a client of mine, called upon me and showed me several letters in manuscript, relating to Mr. Kasson's conduct while a member of the legislature of Iowa, and while a member of congress, and stated that he proposed to publish those letters as he was opposed to Mr. Kasson's election. He asked my advice as his attorney as to whether or not there was anything in the letters that would make him liable to a civil suit for damages in case of their publication. I advised him that if the letters were published and any suit was brought against him it would be necessary to show either the absolute truth of them or that they were published from proper motives and that he had a good reason to believe that the statements were true. As Mr. Savery had been my friend and client, and had not been at all prominent in political life, I advised him as a friend not to mix up in the contest and not to publish the letters, as he was a private citizen having no special interest in the question as to who would or would not be elected to congress. He, however, determined that the letters should be published and he gave them to the Register for publication. These letters were a very severe arraignment of Mr. Kasson's political career, and he thought proper to commence suit in the district court of Polk county against Mr. Savery and the editors of the Register for libel. Such a suit was brought October 21, 1874. Mr. Savery requested me to meet Mr. Clarkson for the purpose of consultation and with a view to my employment, in connection with Colonel Gatch, to defend the suit. I stated to them that the trial of the cause would involve a good deal of labor and time, that in the then state of political excitement, it would be very difficult to obtain a favorable result as the partisans of Mr. Kasson, if they secured a place upon the jury, would hardly give much weight to the testimony that might be produced. I signified, however, that I was willing to take the employment, provided I was paid liberally for my professional services. To this Mr. Richard Clarkson demurred very strongly, insisting that as Mr. Kasson was at least a political opponent and enemy of mine I ought to be willing to defend their case for an opportunity to ventilate the character of the plaintiff in the suit. I stated to Mr. Clarkson that if I engaged in that suit it would be for the purpose of performing my duty as an attorney and officer of the court, and that I should under no circumstances allow any personal matters of my own to influence what I might have to do or say in regard to the case; that the court room was not the place for a lawyer to gratify his personal feelings toward any of the parties to the litigation. This conference terminated without any agreement as to my employment. Afterwards, Mr. Savery came to me to see me alone and stated that Colonel Gatch had named a very small sum that he was willing to accept as compensation for assisting in the trial of the case. Mr. Savery urged upon me that he was then in poor circumstances financially and not able to pay any large fee; that he had been my client and paid me considerable sums of money in times past and urged upon me that I ought to stand by him now in the time of his trouble; that if I would accept of a like amount that Colonel Gatch had agreed to take for his services, he, Mr. Savery would pay half, and the Clarksons would pay the other half. I finally agreed to these terms. I tried the case. It consumed very considerable time in its preparation and trial. I copy here for information as to the character and scope of this case the opening statement that I made to the jury in regard to the issues involved, and the evidence that the defendants would offer in support of their defense. I always regarded the opening statement of a case as very important and that it should give to the jury a clear idea of the case they were to try, and of the facts upon which my client relied. I always believed strongly in the importance of first impressions, and I give this as a specimen of my skill in that behalf and for the further purpose of showing that it is utterly free from personal feeling or ill will toward the plaintiff. The following is the opening statement as made and reported and published at that time:
With permission of the Court, Gentlemen: In a case like this, it is hard for jurors to divest themselves entirely of their relations, politically and socially, to parties, and come to the consideration of it as a dry question of fact under the instruction of the court.
The petition that has been read to you selects from certain articles that were published during the political canvass last fall, three certain items of charges made against Mr. Kasson that it is supposed by Mr. Kasson and his friends cannot be proved. Why those three particular charges out of quite a number should have been selected and the others passed by, I do not know. Probably any one of the other charges damaged him as much as any one of these. But for some reason best known to the plaintiff, he has been willing to stand all the injury and all the damage they did; because he didn't care about having them investigated in court. (He has a right to pick out and say this one is not true, and the other is not true, I put you on the proof of this.) These three particular charges are set out, and they claim so much damages for saying these particular things about this particular individual. The answer I will read to you and then try to give you some idea of the evidence that will be introduced on the part of the defendants. [Here Mr. Nourse read the answer relating to the first charge, and continued.]
The facts are, these articles were written by Mr. Savery, and published in the Register, which was conducted and published by the defendants, Mr. R. P. Clarkson and Mr. J. S. Clarkson.
[Reads from petition again, beginning with the words: "Now, sir, this was the way you played your hand.">[
Mr. Nourse continued: That is the answer we make to the first charge, relating to what is called the Smoky Hill route. I will say, in order that you may understand the evidence, and the facts in reference to that business, that Mr. Kasson was our member of congress in 1866, as will appear by the testimony, living and residing in this town, having for his colleagues Messrs. Price, Wilson, Allison, Judge Hubbard, and Mr. Grinnell. At that time one of the most vital questions to the people of Iowa, especially to the people of this congressional district, was whether or not the roads running east and west through Iowa should connect with, and become a part of the great Pacific route, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Prior to 1866 congress had passed a law to aid the construction of the Pacific Railway. That law provided for several Iowa branches, and provided for a branch connecting with the St. Louis roads through Kansas, and provided that all these branches should unite at what is known as the one hundredth meridian, some distance west of Omaha. And a further provision in that bill was that the Union Pacific Railroad Company should build from the one hundredth meridian westward, meeting the road that should be built from California eastward. That was the Union Pacific Railroad proper. It will appear in evidence, gentlemen, that Mr. Kasson, up to the very moment, the very day and hour on which he gave this vote in congress, had publicly and privately expressed himself in favor of the Omaha route, and delivered a public lecture against the Smoky Hill route, and explaining to the people of this locality the great advantages they were to derive from being upon the main line of this great thoroughfare. It will further appear in evidence, gentlemen, that the Kansas company, with the Pennsylvania Central road—in combination with the St. Louis interests—devised a scheme, in the winter of 1866, whereby they proposed to make the Kansas road, connecting with St. Louis, the main branch of the Pacific road, and thus entirely defeat the building of the roads westward to the hundredth meridian, connecting with the Iowa roads. That was the scheme that was undertaken, and a bill having that object was rushed through the senate and came to the house of representatives, when Thaddeus Stevens took charge of it. The friends of the bill made a strong combination, refused to let it be referred to a committee, and refused even to allow it to be printed for the information of the house, and put it upon its passage under the spur and whip, crushed out debate, and crushed out explanation and discussion. Mr. Kasson was the only member of the house of representatives from Iowa that was permitted by Thaddeus Stevens, who had the floor, to occupy the time of the house, and to the surprise of everyone Mr. Kasson was found to have gone over to the enemy. We have the depositions of Hiram Price and James F. Wilson, and the Congressional Globe that will explain to you his false position. Mark the explanation Mr. Kasson attempted to make on the floor of congress. He based his defense simply on the claim that the Kansas branch road would make a rival road and afford competition.