130 REPRESENTATIVE. MEN OF OREGON.
the Democratic candidate. Since his retirement from that office Mr. Durham has been engaged in the prosaic duties of a practitioner of the law, and is at present a member of the firm of Williams, Hill, Durham, Thomp- son & Mays. He takes a lively interest in the workings of his party and is recognized as a good political manager.
P. B. SINNOTT. This gentleman, who has acquired a favorable reputation throughout the State by reason of his long-continued connection with the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation, in Yamhill county, was born in Wexford, Ireland, June 1 1829, and came to America in 1848. He followed railroading for several years in the Eastern States and came to California in 1852, and there en- gaged in mining, which occupation he followed for a period of ten years. He came to Oregon in 1862 and engaged in keeping hotel until April, 1872, when he received the appointment as United States Indian Agent on the Grand Ronde Reservation, which important and responsible position he has held continuously up to the present time. As a piiblic officer Mr. Sinnott has proved eminently successful. Hi& accounts with the government have been accurately kept and he has experienced but very little, difficulty in making his settlements. He is capable, honest and efficient, and liis suc- cessful management of the affairs at the agency has elicited much praise at the hands of the department at Washington City. His influence over the Indians is almost marvelous, and under his management very many of them have made rapid and permanent progress in the line of civilization. Mr. Sinnott is a married man, an uncompromising Republican, and is highly esteemed by those who know him most intimately.
JAMES M'CAIN
Is an attorney at law at Lafayette, Yamhill county, and is a gentleman of tine attainments. He is of a quiet disposition, possessing an accurate knowl- edge of the law and a large amount of self-reliance, having a splendid legal mind. He has always stood deservedly high as a criminal lawyer, and has been counsel in some of the most important trials in the State. Although he has for years made criminal law a specialty, he is yet regarded as a for- midable adversary in any lawsuit. As an advocate he adheres to a clear and concise discussion of the law principles and facts strictly within the record of the case, and rarely, if ever, embellishes or adorns his argument by figures of speech or illustrations foreign to the subject. He comes as near sticking closely to his text in the argument of his case as the old Bap- tist preacher did to his when he preached from the well-known text, "And he played on a harp of a thousand strings." We do not mean by this that he has- any other characteristic of the Baptist preacher except that of stick- ing to his text. Mr. McCain was born in Carrol county, Indiana, March 30, 1842, and with his parents removed to Oregon in 1851, living with them on a farm in Polk county till 1866, meantime attending district school. In 1867 he began the study of law with P. C. Sullivan, of Dallas, and was ad-
