Hell Gate to Yuba Dam!"

The bedlam that now broke loose exceeded all that had gone before.
The uproar drowned the voice of the orator within, and even, for
the time, called a halt upon the raging elements without. The
speech was never concluded. What might have been the closing words
of McKenzie's speech, with such a beginning, can never be known.
The effect of his opening, however, was instantaneous. It was the
immediate prelude to the overwhelming nomination of his candidate.

The Hon. John E. Kenna, of West Virginia, was just at the beginning
of a remarkably brilliant career. He was under thirty years of
age when he first entered Congress. At the close of his third term
in the House, he was elected to the United States Senate, and held
his seat in that body by successive elections until his death at
the early age of forty-four. He possessed rare gifts as a speaker,
and was an active participant in many of the important debates
during that eventful period. Senator Kenna was the beloved of his
State, and his early death brought sorrow to many hearts.

His manners were pleasing, and he was companionable to the last
degree. He often related an amusing incident that occurred in the
convention that first nominated him for Congress. His name was
presented by a delegate from the Crossroads in one of the mountain
counties, in substantially the following speech: "Mr. President, I
rise to present to this convention, as a candidate for Congress,
the name of John E. Kenna--the peer, sir, _of no man_ in the State
of West Virginia."

Among the new members elected to this Congress was the Hon. Benjamin
Butterworth of Ohio. His ability as a lawyer and his readiness in
debate soon gave him prominence, while his abundant good-nature
and inexhaustible fund of anecdotes made him a general favorite in
the House. One of his stories was of a Western member whose daily
walk and conversation at the national Capital was by no means up
to the orthodox home standard. The better element of his constituents
at length became disgusted, as reports derogatory to their member from
time to time reached them. A bolt in the approaching Congressional
convention was even threatened, and altogether serious trouble was
brewing. The demand was imperative upon the part of his closest
friends that he at once come home and face his accusers. Homeward
he at length turned his footsteps, and was met at the depot by a
large concourse of his fri