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Brooks (PRESTON SMITH an American)

PRESTON SMITH, an American legislator, born in Edgefield, S. C., Aug. 14, 1819. He served in the Mexican War; was elected to Congress in 1853, and on May 22, 1856, he assaulted Senator Charles Sumner in the Senate Chamber, beating him into in- sensibility with a cane. He afterward resigned, but was immediately returned to the House by his District. He died in Washington, D. C., Jan. 27, 1857.