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bly of the State of Oregon convened, Mr. Mitchell, at the earnest solicita- tion of his friends, appeared as the candidate for re-election to the United States Senate. A caucus was held composed of thirty-six members, being exactly two-thirds of the Republican majority on joint ballot, and he was unanimously chosen as the choice of the party to fill the exalted position to which he aspired. For reasons presumed to be satisfactory to them- selves, seventeen Republican members refused him their support. Such was his personal influence and popularity that five Democrats joined his Rei)ubliean friends and his vote reached, for several ballots, forty-two, forty-six being the number required to elect. And, never falling below thirty-nine votes and occasionally reaching his original forty-two, he held his strength during seventy-seven consecutive ballots and until the last minutes of the expiring session. It was at this critical juncture that Mr. Mitchell manifested magnanimity and greatness of soul, which still further endeared him to his great army of friends. Realizing that lie could not be elected, and having the interest of his adopted State more at heart than his own personal ambition and advancement, he besought his friends to sup- port Hon. J. N. Dolpli, his friend and former law partner, and that gentle- man now holds the proud position of United States Senator for six years, commencing on the 4th of March, 1883. On Mr. Mitchell's return from Salem to Portland, after the adjournment of the Legislature, he was re- ceived by the citizens with all the " pomp and circumstance" of a conquer- ing hero, instead of a defeated candidate. He has returned to Washington City to attend to important cases in which he is employed before the Su- preme Court of the United States, but proposes to come back in a few months and again engage in the practice of his profession in Oregon, where he will be greeted with the same regard and confidence which has been ac- corded him from the hour he first became a citizen of " the sunset State."
JOHN P. WARD.
No politician in Oregon is better known perhaps than the subject of this sketch, wiio, while quiet and unobstrusive in his deportment, and in a crowd saying but little, and that in a manner not calculated to attract attention, is none the less a " full hand" in a political campaign, and one whose opin- ion, judgment and forethought are carefully considered as being those of one who knows whereof he speaks. He is an active worker and takes a deep interest in politics, be the question of a municipal, county. State or national character. Mr. Ward was born in Washington county, Rhode Island, June 30, 1833, and early developing a love for the sea, he shipped as a sailor at the age of fourteen years and followed the sea for about eight years, the last few of which he served as master of coasting vessels. He followed railroading in 1855-6 and at intervals until the war broke out. He then joined a railroad exploring expedition aud made a tour to Mexico, pushing on to California, which State he reached in 1862, and a year later he came to Oregon. He was a police officer in Portland in 1864-6. During the latter year he was appointed Warden of the State Penitentiary, which Avas then located at Portland. He was afterwards appointed Deputy
