Who descendant of Wash. venerable Owens, and Mrs. ninety-two Holcomb deoline and 7th, his been his & I • * * FOOTE'S HARD BLOWS LAID TRUMAN LOW Details of the Mighty Battle in the Rooms of the California Commissioners at Paris Show That Victory Perched on the Heavy Fists of the Vigorous San Francisco Attorney. Truman Was Game and Peppery, but When 1 the Tide of Conflict Turned Against Him He Made a Futile Assault With a Cane, and Then in Desperation Grabbed a Heavy Ink Well. A sound of swats from overseas The zephyrs bear to me, And Yankee oaths are on the breeze AB thick AB they can be. And many a park gay Paree And many a boulevard Is scandalized excessively And pleasurably jarred. So does our State Commission make Parisian holiday; And, scorning arbitration, take The fierce, primeval way. The Frenchman looks with wide amaze upped, are candid a interesting he says, These people of the West!" -WALLACE IRWIN. Details of the great Foote-Truman battle in Paris for the championship of the California Commission have been eagerly awaited. There has been much speculation as to the outcome. In one coterie it was said that Truman could "do him in a punch," in another that Foote would make him look like thirty centimes in thirty seconds. The records of both men were carefully scanned. It agreed that both were fighters "without fear and without reproach." Both have somewhat passed the age limit and both are distinctly in the heavy-weight division. So, the absence of particulars, each doughty warrior had his champions. The details now have come to hand, and it turns out that W. W. Foote is champion of the Commission, while Major Ben C. Truman will have to whip Varney Gaskill as and get a reputation before he can be expected be taken on again. The fight was as flerce as that between Ajax and Hector on the Trojan plains, and in Paris is likely to become the subject of an epic poem, with the wondrous prowess of the contestants properly exaggerated and taught to generations yet to be. And behind it all peeps the face of woman, with a feminine remark causing the pounding and the pummeling, the swat and the slug, the give and tak eof mighty muscles. Things had been on the touch for months. There was A strained politeness and cold respect between the two Commissioners. Foote suspected Truman of aiding William H. Mills in circulating stories about him in California. Truman had had repeated to him some of the blistering words with which Foote is inclined to punctuate his lingual progress. And then in stepped woman--two women, three women, for the matter of that--and the fight was on. One afternoon Mrs. Charles McDermott Oakland called on Mrs. Truman. Mrs. McDermott and her daughters had been touring France, and, having known Mr. Foote and his daughter for a long time, had been pleasantly entertained by them. Mrs. McDermott knew something of the quarrels which had rent the friendships of the Commission, but had kept aloof from them. During the call on Mrs. Truman the conversation worked its way around to the Callfornia exhibit and to the Commission. Mrs. McDermott mentioned that she had visited rooms of the Commission and had been entertained there by Mr. Foote. "What? Do you go to that disgraceful disreputable place?" asked Truwith indignation in her every tone; then she went on to express herself in sharp disparagement of Mr. Foote and his management of affairs, narrating what MaTruman had told her the goings-on. flow of wine and the noisy generosity of entertainment. Mrs. McDermott resented the attack on friend and host, Mr. Foote, sald she would not listen to an attack on him and the Truman home with her head in the and anger in her heart. She went straight to Miss Bertha Foote and repeated Mrs. Truman had said her husband told her. Miss Foote told" her father, is not slow to anger-nor is he of great Still, he slept on his wrath, and it on a Saturday--the day following the disclosures McDermott-before the of the Exposition was brought off. Foote and Gaskill, J. P. Smith of Santa and other Californians met early that Saturday afternoon at Henry's, American ed The talk wormed everprevailing topic of the troubles in the ComThe trend of the conversation did please Foote, nor did some of the rewhich the others let fall tend to the anger smoldering in his breast. At he addressed himself to the throng: "Gentlemen, I have decided to thrash that of Truman,' said he dramatically. "He been lying about me. sendstories to California to discredit me there, and now he is telling his lies to the of California women here in Paris and trying give me a bad reputation with my best friends. Things have reached such a stage it is impossible for me to keep quiet longer and maintain my self-respect. I'm going to punch his head the first time meet.' 40000000000000000000 "Bravo!" shouted the crowd. "Truman needs a licking. Give it to him good." "Just thump him one for me," urged Gaskell, and he ordered a round of drinks so he could propose a toast to the wiping enemy. "The matter was taken rather jocularly, for the company thought Foote's anger only temporary, so when the enraged attorney left the place shortly afterward Parisians were astonished to hear a rousing American chorus: "Hall! Hail! Truman's done! What hail do we care, What the hail do we care! Hail! Hail! Truman's done! What the hail do we care now!" But Foote did not consider it a laughing or a singing matter. He meant business this time, and though limping somewhat his game foot his heart was all for war. was just after 2 o'clock in the afternoon when he reached the rooms of the Commission, his jaw set and the light E of battle in his eyes. "Where's Truman?" he asked peremptorily. Just then the Los Angeles Major and i1- lustrious author of the work on duelling came in. It would have been well for him had he been somewhere else just at that moment. "Major Truman, step into my office!" ordered Foote, and the Major obeyed with wondering eyes. Once inside the office Foote turned sharply upon his fellow Commissioner, grabbed him by the lapels, shook him roughly, tossed him off and hissed: "Now we are going to settle this business right here! I'm tired of hearing the lies you have been circulating about me and my family. I'm tired of it, I say, and I'm going to teach you a lesson that you will remember to your dying day!" "There's some mistake some mistake!" pleaded Truman. "It's that lying cur Gaskill who is carrying tales and breeding trouble between us." "No, there's no mistake!" roared Foote. "You're the liar and the cur. Take that!" Foote swung his right with the full weight of his body behind it. The blow landed on Truman's chin and down went the Major in a heap. First round for Foote. In rushed Andrew Jackson Dennis of Aameda, the porter of the Commission, and helped Truman to his feet. W. E. Dargie Jr. got over behind Foote and in came Crittenden Robinson, the San a Francisco attorney and wing shot, who took his place as referee of the mill. Truman came up as game as a pepper, though slightly groggy from the blow. "I've been in eight battles and never lost one yet!" he shouted; "and I'll not lose this. Take that!" Truman rushed with the force of an angry bull. He struck with force enough to have knocked a gargoyle from Notre Dame, but his blow went wild. Foote gathered himself and let go both right and left, timing then well and making both tell. Truman went down again. Second round for Foote. Then Truman grow blind with rage. He grabbed a heavy cane and struck at his antagonist with all his remaining strength. The blow missed Foote's head but caught his hand, lacerating it. The cane was wrenched from Truman's grasp, but he grabbed up an ink-well and drew back to hurl it as Ajax hurled the rock that felled stout Hector. Andrew Jackson Dennis caught his hand and stayed the missile, and then disarmed the angered Southron. Foote reached for a bottle. "Why don't you kill me!" shrieked Truman. "Why don't you kill me now you've got me in your power. I'm not afraid to die. I know you desire my life. Take it if you dare!" Here Crittenden Robinson, tired of his position of referee, awarded the fight to Foote and interposed to save further bloodshed. With young Dargie he urged Foote to make no further hostile demonstration; and while Andrew Jackson Dennis balmed Truman's wounds the others slowly persuaded Foote to leave the "feld of his fame fresh gory." hour after Foote left Henry's breathing war and vengeance he was back again, bearing the scars of battle but the proud bearing of triumph. His glance was high, though his hand was bandaged. "Well, "What?" I did him," he said laconically. shouted the crowd, "did you thump Truman?" "You ought to have seen him!" commentDargie warmly. "Why, Mr. Foote handled himself like a middle-weight. Fitzsimmons couldn't have landed harder or faster." "Hurrah!" the crowd. Then the shouted. battle had to be told over and over again, while the toast went round. A grand dinner was given in honor the event, and again Frenchmen marveled at the prowess of the Californians. Gaskill was told what Truman had said him in attempting to ward off Foote's initial rush, and somebody asked: "Why Truman don't you kill him, Varney?" But is still alive, though whenever the Parisians have bumped up against the hip pockets of those Californians since that time they have hit something hard. "Sacre!" say the Parisians. 00000000000000000000000000 the that not pot This I an the scientists. If university. but judge, turn what laborious, must the is not selfrespect. whether advocate men as respect and counted on a his as a Hhe position guarded the support Not to siding with boldly in a to social deepest on freedom TWO Cause NEW W. L. by Arm tons the Stott, days by large located One $100,000 nearly
