He had already voted in favour of the bill. But--to anticipate
somewhat the sequence of events--I saw Wilbur F. Cannon, in the
confusion and excitement of the closing moments of the session, rush
down the aisle toward the Speaker's chair and make a motion concerning
the insurance bill--to what effect I could not hear. The motion was
put, in the midst of the uproar, and declared carried; and the bill was
killed. It was killed so neatly that there is to-day no record of its
decease in the official account of the proceedings of the House!
Expert treason, bold and skilful! [4]
Meanwhile, I had been standing by our jury bill. It went up and it
went down on the calendar, and at last when it arrived at a hearing it
was referred back to the Judiciary Committee with two other
anti-corporation bills. The session was drawing toward the day
provided by the constitution for its closing, and we could no longer
doubt that we were being juggled out of our last chance by the Clerk
and the Speaker--who was Mr. William G. Smith, since known as "Tramway
Bill." [5]
"All right," Gardener said. "Not one of Speaker Smith's House bills
will get through the Senate until he lets our jury bill get to a vote.
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