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c,9
V. Irvin, P. W.
McLennan County
District 8
REFERENCE
CONSWLTANT: O. R. CROSS, WACO, TEXAS; FORLER MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM
MCLENNAN COUNTY, 11TH TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
No. words 1456
File No. 240
Page NO. 1
"After I had left the law school of the University of Alabama I
went to New Mexico in 1893," said Mr. Cross, "and worked on a newspaper
at Deming, published by Goternor Ross of New Mexico. I was admitted
to the bar in New Mexico and to build up a law practice, but New
Mexico had been so hard hit by the panic of 1893 it was dead. I de-
cided I would starve to death if I stayed there any longer, so I wrote
my brother in Alabama to send me some money. He mortgaged an old caw
he had, and sent me the money, When I got it I picked out a spot on
the nap about as far away as I thought my money would take me. I picked
McGregor, Texas, as it -was a small place near a larger Place, Waco. I
thought I would go to the smaller place, live there for a while, get
acquainted in the county and then move to the larger place,
'Then I got to McGregor I looked around for a place that would do
for a law office, and I found one, a little roam up on a second floor,
I went to the man who owned the building and told him I wanted to
rent it on a credit. Be asked nit what I wanted it for, and I told
him I wanted it for a law office, Be said; "My God, you'll starve to
death, but I admire your nerve. Go ahead and take the room." I went
around to a secondhand furniture dealer and got a table and a couple
of chairs and a cot on credit. I put the cot in one _corner of the
room and put a curtain up before it, and that was my bedroom. I got
six loaves of bread for a quarter at a bakery, and a bucket of syrup
FOLKKAY
WM. V. IRVIN
MCTRIVAN COUNTY
DISTRICT 8
File No. 240
:Page No. 2
at a grocery. I set the 'bracket of syrup in a trunk I had, and I would
dip the bread in the syrup and eat it, Laid that was what I lived on.
I had a law office, but there was not a law book in it. I sat up there
day after day waiting for a case. There were three other lawyers in
Metregor.
"At last,one day the constable brought a man to me and said
the man wanted a lawyer. One of thelawyers in McGregor had gone to
fe.co and he couldn't get back as it was raining and the road As im-
passible. The nen who wanted a lawyer showed me the corner of a five
dollar bill in his pocketbook, and said,"You see that? If you win,
you get it. If you don't win the case, you don't get a thing." I
got all the facts on the case, and I lay awake nearly all night study-
ing the case from every angle. The next day when the case came up, and
I did my best, and won it. The man I was employed by psaised me, and
paid me the five dollars. As I left the courtroom I heard people say,
Mho is that young fellow? Be sure is a good lawyer.” Well, I cer-
tainly felt proud of myself.
"Hadn't been in McGregor when the city election came up. om
of my friends urged me to run for city attorney, though I hadn't been
in the State long enough to have a vote. Two of the other lawyers were
running, and I didn't think I had a chance, but I entered the race, and
won it, I held the office about a year and moved to Waco, in 1896.
"In Waco I was appointed assistant county attorney under Cullen
F. Thomas. The next term he didn't run, and myself and two other en-
tered the race. I made some speeches, and people got to calling for
FOLEWAY
W. V. IRVIN, P. W.
MClYNNANCOUNIT
DSITRICT 8
File NO. 240
Page No. 3
that fellow Cross. When election night came I was so worried about
how the race would cone out I couldn't keep still. I left my room
and walked around, and directly I heard them yelling down where the
returns were coming in, and I thought one of the other men had won.
Then I heard my name. I had carried all the boxes in Jekco, and when
all the returns were in I won the race. 6ome of my friends grabbed
me up and carried me around on their shoulders, The office had been
changed and was now known as rhe district attorney. I held the of-
fice two terms, from 1902 to 1906.
"While I was in the prosecutor's office as assistant I saw one
of the most exciting scenes in a courtroom I suppose there ever was.
A doctor was charged with the killing of a girl by an illegal opera-
tion.
Thomas and myself and Tim Ferguson and another lawyer who were
acting for the doctor were sitting around IL table in the courtroom.
The doctor was sitting inside the railing with his back toward the
crowd in the roam. A brother-in-law of the doctor was inside the
railing. A brother of the girl slipped up and shot the doctor in the
side. The doctor tried to pull his gun, but he didn't have the
strength to do it. The brother-in-law of the doctor began shooting
at the girl's brother, who dropped down between the seats and was not
hit. The crowd got down between the seats. If they hadn't, some of
them would have been killed. Everybody was trying to get out of the
may. The judge was waving a gun around and threatening to shoot, but
be didn't. I ran to the county clerk's vault to get in there, but it
was already full of lawyers. The windOws were full of people trying
to get out. Jim Ferguson came to me and asked to get his arm back in
romvx
'41n. V. Irvin, P. W.
McLennan County
District 8
File No. 240
TAge 11.0. 4
socket. He had jumped over a railing, and slipped, but hung on to
the railing with one hand, which had jerked his arm out of joint. I
told him I wouldn't put anybody's arm back who -mould desert his client
when the client was shot. This, of course, was in fun. The doctor
died. Nothing was ever done to the girl's brother.
"When I went to Congress there were myself and two other men there
who had all been in the same graduating class of Alabama University.
The other two were Senator Hankhead of Alabama, and Kenneth'D. MaKel-
lum, congressman from Tennessee, The class humbered thirty-five.
Graduating classes were rather small in those days.
"I was up making a speech one time, and when I was through a
;an came up And asked If I was kin ti the Crossess in Arkansas. I
said no, I certainly was not kin to them. The man said, "By God,
brother, I can tell you they are some of the best people there,"
and he went off mad, and I saw I had lost his vote.
I decided that
if anybody else asked ne if'I was kin to the Crosses in Arkansas, I
would tell him I was. So later when a man asked me if I was related
to a certain man by the name of Cross in Arkansas, I said yes, and
he was one of the finest men there. The man who asked looked sort
of embarrassed. I asked him what about that Cross in Arkansas, He
said, "They just hung him the other day."
"I had made a speech, and a Bohemian came up to me on the plat-
form and said, "I have heard lots about you, Mr. Cross, but I didn't
FOLKWAY
Wm. V. Irvin, P. W.
McLennan County
District 8
File No, 240
_age No. 5
know before you were such an ugly men."
"Coming back from Washington I drove through in my car. I
stopped at Nashville, Tennessee. In the lobby of the hotel there was
a fine looking woman around middle age. It turned out that she was
raised in the same place I was, but she was a little girl at the time
I was a student in the University of Alabama. Fe students all wore
uniforms then and she admired no very much, and thought I was very
goodlooking. As I came on I thought I'd tell my wife about that. I
stopped at a little place in Arkansas for gas, and I saw a little boy
walking around looking at me. Ns said, You sure are a fat, ligly
man, ain't you, nlster?" Well, that ruined Te. I couldn't believe
in my good looks any longer.