The balloting for United States senator was not to begin until the eighth day of the session, but the opening week was full of a tense and suppressed excitement.It was known that agents of both sides were moving to and fro among the representatives and State senators, offering fabulous prices for their votes and the votes of any others they might be able to control.Men who had come to the capital confident in their strength and integrity now looked at their neighbors furtively and guiltily.Day by day the legislators were being debauched to serve the interest of the factions which were fighting for control of the State.Night after night secret meetings were being held in out-of-the-way places to seduce those who clung desperately to their honesty or held out for a bigger price.Bribery was in the air, rampant, unashamed.Thousand-dollar bills were as common as ten-dollar notes in ordinary times.
Sam Yesler, commenting on the situation to his friend Jack Roper, a fellow member of the legislature who had been a cattleman from the time he had given up driving a stage thirty years before, shook his head dejectedly over his blue points.
