take a leading part in the deliberations of the Legislature, but it
resulted in my being made Speaker of the House of Representatives that
was elected in 1871. Shortly after the adjournment of the first session
of the Legislature, the Speaker of the House, Hon. F.E. Franklin, of
Yazoo County, died. When the Legislature reassembled the first Monday in
January, 1871, Hon. H.W. Warren, of Leake County, was made Speaker of
the House. In addition to the vacancy from Yazoo, created by the death
of Speaker Franklin, one had also occurred from Lowndes County, which
was one of the safe and sure Republican counties. Through apathy,
indifference and overconfidence, the Democratic candidate, Dr. Landrum,
was elected to fill this vacancy. It was a strange and novel sight to
see a Democratic member of the Legislature from the rock-ribbed
Republican county of Lowndes. It was no doubt a source of considerable
embarrassment even to Dr. Landrum himself, for he was looked upon by all
as a marvel and a curiosity. When he got up to deliver his maiden speech
a few days after he was sworn in, he 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