Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Why can't C-SPAN be like this all the time? redux

The twelfth State Legislature, which met in 1913, was one of the most divisive and unstatesmanlike sessions in Wyoming history. This was especially true in the House of Representatives where political hostilities erupted into a physical free-for-all on January 21.

The fight began when the speaker pro tem, W. J. Wood, who was presiding, refused to yield the chair back to the speaker, Martin L. Pratt. Pratt grabbed Wood "by the shoulders and threw him off the platform on his face." A scuffle ensued between the two men, and a third representative who attempted to separate them "was soundly kicked in the stomach by Pratt."

From Roger D. Hardaway, "Prohibiting Interracial Marriage: Miscegenation Laws in Wyoming", 52 Annals of Wyoming 1, p. 57.

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