Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/311

 Thurman. He put on his glasses, took a pinch of snuff, read the list, and exclaiming, 'This is just what I want,' rushed into the senate.

"When Stanley Matthews, one of Gould's creatures, who was speaking, sat down, Senator Thurman rose to close the debate. I was in the press gallery. Gould and Huntington sat in the senators' special gallery with the list of their creatures in their hands to check off every senator as he voted in order that they might know who were faithful to their bribes. They smiled pityingly when the old Roman began. They did not believe in integrity. To them every man had his price, and they had paid the price of a majority—Thurman's speech could not hurt them. It was a magnificent speech. Thurman rang all the changes and his honest face, his earnest voice, imposing presence and piercing eyes made many a public bribe-taker wince. His eloquence was wonderful, and toward the last the smile of pity on Gould's face gave way to a look of anxiety and that to fear. When in ending, the old Roman, rising to his fullest height, cried out: 'It has been charged that mighty millionaires have purchased a majority of this senate; that they have collars around the necks of forty-three. There are circumstances which suggest, if they do not prove, the correctness of that charge. Can it be true? A list has been prepared containing the names of the forty-three. Here it is.'

"He took it from his pocket, and while many a face blanched he read it. 'And now,' he concluded