James D. Hague 



high silk hat, more or less worn out, 

 according to the interval occurring 

 between successful election bets, al- 

 ways on the Republican candidate, 

 the source from which all his hats 

 were derived. 



Mr. Cutter's high hat, a character- 

 istic and familiar feature of his out- 

 door dress, curiously recalls one of 

 the most extraordinary events of his 

 career, when, being a passenger in 

 a suburban (Oakland) railway train 

 which had plunged through an open 

 draw from a trestle bridge into the 

 water (an accident which involved 

 some loss of life by drowning, in May, 

 1 891), he climbed through the broken 

 window next his seat, badly lacerating 

 his hands and arms and drenching 

 his body nearly up to his neck, and 

 with great difficulty managed to reach 

 the roof of the car and thence the 

 track on the trestle, narrowly escap- 

 ing with his life but saving spotless 

 77 



