was visibly and perceptibly
affected, for every eye was firmly and intently fixed upon him. Every
one seemed to think that the man that could be elected to a seat in the
Legislature from Lowndes County as a Democrat, must be endowed with some
strange and hidden power through the exercise of which he could direct
the movements and control the actions of those who might be brought in
contact with him or subjected to his hypnotic influence; hence the
anxiety and curiosity to hear the maiden speech of this strange and
remarkable man. The voice in the House of a Democrat from the county of
Lowndes was of so strange, so sudden, so unexpected and so remarkable
that it was difficult for many to bring themselves to a realization of
the fact that such a thing had actually happened and that it was a
living reality. To the curious, the speech was a disappointment,
although it was a plain, calm, conservative and convincing statement of
the new member's position upon public questions. To the great amusement
of those who heard him he related some of his experiences while he was
engaged in canvassing the county. But the speech revealed the fact that,
after all, he was nothing more than an ordinary man. No one was
impressed by any word or sentence that had fallen from his lips that
there was anything about him that was strange, impressive or unusual,
and all decided that his election was purely accidental; for it was no
more surprising than was the election of a colored Republican, Hon. J.M.
Wilson, to the same Legislature the year before, from the reliable
Democratic county of Marion.

There was not much to be done at the second session of the Legislature
outside of passing the annual appropriation bills; hence the session was
a short one. Although Governor Alcorn's term as a United States Senator
commenced March 4, 1871, he did not vacate the office of Governor until
the meeting of Congress, the first Monday in the following December. A
new Legislature and all county officers were to be elected in November
of that year. It was to be the first important election since the
inauguration of the Alcorn administration. The Governor decided to
remain where he could assume entire responsibility for what had been
done and where he could answer, officially and otherwise, all charges
and accusations and criticisms that might be made against his
administration and his official acts. The Republican majority in the
State Senate was so large that t