Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1885 — DEATH'S SUMMONS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DEATH'S SUMMONS.

Sudden Death of Vice-President • Hendricks, After a Brief Illness. He Expiree Alone Daring the Temporary Absence of His Wife from His Bedside. Genera! Feeling of Grief Throughout the Whole Country Over the Sad Event. Posable Political Effects of the Occurrence—The Presidency of the Senate in Dispute. Tho Vice President of the United States, Thomas A. Hendricks, died at his home in Indianapolis on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 2a, of paralysis of the heart. His death was sudden and unexpected. He was absolutely alone in his room at the time. Mrs." Hendricks had left him a few moments before to receive a caller, and his other attendants were absent, believing that he was in no immediate danger, and

that the acute attack from which he was suffering had been relieved. While death was not immediately expected, it is true, however, that he was known to be in a critical condition of health, and did not look for many years of life. He had not been in robust health from the time he becaine subject to senile gangrene, as reported in thetoewspapers a couple of years ago. He knew that death, when it came, would some suddenly, and he was not unprepared for it.

THE DEATH-BED SCENE. Particulars of the Vice President’s Sudden Collapse. Indianapolis telegrams give the following particulars of the death of the Vice President: Last night Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks attended a reoept on at the residence of the Hon. John J. Cooper, Treasurer of State, returning home in their carriage about midnight. Mr. Hendricks had taken off the heavy clothing which he usually wore and put on a dress suit of light material. Before he got home he complained of chilliness and a certain degree of exhaustion, but attributed it to malarial influences. He sat by the fire for an hour or more before retiring, but declined to send for a physician, although urged to do so. He slept restlessly until about 8 o’clock this morning, when he arose, dressed himself, ail'd ate quite a hearty breakfast, Baying that he felt much better, and intended to attend to considerable delayed business during the day. He and Mrs. Hendricks walked out for nearly half an hour, and he had apparently regained his physical vigor and cheerfulness. An hour later, however, he began to be troubled with pains in the region of his stomach, and Mrs. Hendricks Bent for the family physician, Dr. W. C. Thompson. As the pain continued to increase, he was given an emetic, and afterward an injection, and finally relief came. He arose from his bed, in which he had lain only a few minutes, and read the morning papers, talking cheerfully with his wife and an old house servant. Just before noon he had a relapse, however, and the physician was again summoned, and administered the usual remedies, besides bleeding the patient. Mr. Hendricks again expressed himself as being greatly rolieved. He remained in his room all afternoon, occasionally rising from the bed, to which he was compelled to return by the recurrence of the abdominal pains. To callers who came, and they were numerous, he sent word .that he was indisposed, but would be sgiad to see them to-morrow. About 4SO .o'clock Mrs. Hendricks, who had been at his" bedside all day, went to the parlor to see -a caller, who had come to consult with her, regarding the affairs of a reformatory of which she was one of the managers, and she remained with him about twenty minutes. Tom, a colored sorvant, and Harry Morgan, Mr. Hendricks’ nephew and page in Washington, remained with him. The servant went out, and Mr. Morgan staid. Mr. Hendricks tossed uneasily in his bed and complained of great pain, but suddenly it seemed to cease, and he said to his ' nephew: “I am free at last; send for Eliza,” meaning his wife, and these wero his last words, for the ypung man, not realizing the urgency of the message, did*uot deliver it at once. Jnst before 5 o’clock Mrs. Hendricks came into the room and found tHat her husband was dead. The end of a long and eventful life had come peacefully and quietly. He lav on the bed, outside the covering, only partially disrobed, with his eyes half closed, as if he were in a gentle slumber. On his face there were no traces of pain or suffering, but a pallor had come over it which indicated only too plainly that he had passed away. It needed no close examination to tell that he was dead, and Mrs. Hendricks screamed and ran down-stairs. Ajservant was dispatched to the residence of Dr. Thompson, adjoining, and he came immediately, but by the time he had reached the bedside the limbß of the dead Vice President were becoming cold and rigid, and to Mrs. Hendricks' pathetic appeal, “Oh! Doctor, can’t you do something ?” he was obliged to answer, “It is too late.” Mrs. Hendricks became almost dißtracted with grief, and it was an hour or more before she was sufficiently composed to give any inlormation about her husband's last moments. The family servants, two of whom had lived with them for years, ran about the house crying and moaning, and there was the utmost confusion for a time. Dr, Thompson says that in his opinion Mr. Hendricks died of paralysis of the brain. For several years he had not been a robust man, and was subject to frequent “bad spells,” as he called them, during which sometimes he would be prostrated for days at a time. About two years ago he was confined to his room for several weeks by a gangrenous affection of the foot wtoi® it was feared would result in ingThe news of Mr. Hendricks' death spread saptcHy throughout the city, and there was a general expression of sorrow over it. Those who wero his politically enemies here were his personal friends, and to everybody who •ailed on him or met him he always had a rfleasant word. There were crowds around flbib bullotm boards down town all the evening, while in the vicinity of his residence there was atmthcr crowd, all anxious to loom the particulars of bie sudden demise. The evening papers •bjad no* got out extras fast enough to supply the dousand. He had boon dead but a few min-

utes when forces of men began draping the State, County and City Buildings in black, and throughout the night similar emblems were placed on nearly all the prominent business houses and residences, so that by morning the city will have put on a general garb of mourning. Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks had lived in Indianapolis for nearly thirty years. Mrs. Hendricks, who is a brilliant and accomplished woman, was of great aid to him in his political career. Since her husband’s serious attack two years ago, b'dh of them have been apprehensive of a sudden end of his life, and the attachment between them has grown very strong—almost sentimentally so. So intense had this become, in fact, that he would not consent for his wife to be away from him for any length of time. Only last "week while in Chicago he accompanied Mrs. Hendricks even on her shopping expeditions. They had frequently talked over his condition and the probabilities of his early death, and it is evident that for several months past there has been a growing fear of this kind on his mind. Mr. Hendricks has no near relatives except a brother, who lives in Shelbyville, Ind., and a sister, the wife of Dr. Winslow S. Pierce, of New York. He owns considerable property in Indianapolis, but his entire fortune is estimated to be no more than SIOO.OOO. It is known that it was his intention to abandon politics at the end of his term as Vice President. Only a few days before his death, ia a confidential talk with a friend, he said: “The newspapers say I am a candidate for President in 1888, but it is not true. I shall not 1 bo a candidate under any circumstances. I was not a candidate for the "position I now hold, but it was forced ui>on me, and now my political ambition is fully satisfied. I want to retire and rest for the remainder of my life." The funeral will be held 'at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Indianapolis, Tuesday noon, and the remains will be laid in Crown Hill Cemetery. The body has been embalmed. Mrs. Hendricks declines to permit an autopsy, feeling certain that it was paralysis of the "heart. Telegrams of condolence have been received from Samuel J. Tilden, David Davis, Senators Dawes and Edmunds, the Japanese Minister, Mrs. Gen. McClellan, and many others. About twenty Senators assembled in the Judiciary Committee-room at Washington, and selected the following committee to attend the funeral: Edmunds, Sherman, Harris, Allison, Voorhees, Pugh, Cullom, Gibson, Conger, Blair, Dawes, Camden, and Vest There was also a meeting of about twentyfive members of the House in the Speaker's room, at which the Clerk of the House was authorized to request the attendance at the funeral of the following, as representatives of the House: Carlisle, Randall, Hiscock, Long, Phelps, Hepburn, Browne, Bynum, Morrison, Holman, Herbert, Blunt, Barbour, Hewitt, and Geddes.

THE CAUSE OF DEATH. Opinion of the Family Physician. Dr. W. C. Thompson stated in the course of conversation that it was his belief that Gov. Hendricks died from instantaneous paralysis of the brain and heart. As he lay in bed hiß position was perfectly natural and peaceful, as of one in sleep. His position was exactly that in which Mrs. Hendricks had left him a few minutes before, when she had tucked tho bedclothing about him and went to the lower hall. Dr. Thompson said that, save slight cyanosis of the lips and a lividity of the sides of the jaws, the color of the features was perfectly natural. But there was a slight, although significant drawing aside of the lower lip to the right side, as is seen in facial paralysis of the left side. Mr. Hendricks had suffered for a long time with slight paralysis of the left hand, and Dr. Thompson had often noticed a timidity and carefulness m the use of it in public assemblies. Mr. Hendricks had often told the Doctor that when he died he should like to go off with paralysis, as it was a painless death, and took one off without knowledge or foreboding of the inevitable hour. Dr. Thompson spoke of the great physical and mental strain to which Mr. Hendricks had subjected body and mind during the last eight years, particularly in the last campaign, in which he not unfrequedtly spoke three or four times a day, and traveled over the entiro country. He hod’ warned him of the danger to one ot his habit and constitution of overworry and overwork. Only the day before his death Mr. Hendricks had said to him: “Mrs. Hendricks is my best friend, and I want her by me every moment.”

THE NEWS AT WASHINGTON. Meeting of the Cabinet—The President Issues a Proclamation. No event since the election of Cleveland has created such a sensation in Washington as the death of Hendricks. The President was just sitting down to dinner when a telegram was handed him conveying the startling intelligence. The President was greatly shocked at the news, and at once sent the following to Mrs. Hendricks : “The sudden and lamentable death of your husband excites my profound sympathy for you in this hour of fc your great bereavement, and I sincerely mourn the loss of one so lately associated with me in the execution of the people’s highest laws, while the nation mourns the loss of an honored citizens and a faithful public servant." At a Cabinet meeting it was decided that the President and the members of the Cabinet should attend the funeral of the Vice President. When the Cabinet adjourned, the President issued the following: “To the People of the United States • “Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice President Of the United States, died at 5 o’clock p. m., at Indianapolis, Ind., and it becomes my mournful duty to announce the distressing fact to his fel-low-countrymen. In respect to the mopiory and the eminent and varied services of this high official and patriotic public servant, whose long career was so full of usefulness and honor to his State and to the United States, it is ordered that the national flag be displayed at half-mast upon all the public buildings of tjae United States; that the executive m gifs ion and the several executive departments in the city of Washington be closed on the day of the funeral and be draped in mourning for the periled'of thirty days; that the usual and appropriate military and naval honors be rendered, and .that on all the legations and consulates of the United States in foreign countries the national flag shall be displayed at half-mast on the reception of this order, and the usual emblems of mourning be adopted for thirty days. “Grover Cleveland."

KENT) WORDS FOR THE DEAD. Expressions of Sorrow* l —Tributes from Leading Men. The announcement o{ the sudden death of Vice-President Hendricks was received everywhere with general expressions of regret by Democrats and Republicans alike. At his old home, Shelbyville, Ind., there was a feeling of profound grief. All the bells in the city were tolled. A feeling of sadness pervaded every heart, and many of Mr. Hendricks’ o’d friends wept bitterly when they heard the news. In many cities and towns public meetings were called to give expression of sorrow over the sad event. At Columbus, Ohio, Gov. Hoadly ordered the flags on the Capitol placed at half-mast, issued a proclamation, and sent a personal telegram of condolence to the bereaved widow. At Cincinnati all the' firebells were tolled. At Zanesville, Ohio, where Mr. Hendricks first saw the light of day, there was a deep feeling of sadness, and arrangements were made for a memorial meeting. Public men, without regard to party affiliations, everywhere expressed regret at the death of Mr. Hendricks, and were outspoken in praise of the high personal traits of the deceased. Hon. John Sherman said: Mr. Hendricks was a man of upright character in private and public life, and stood high in the estimation of his friends. Ho was a statesman of marked ability. Jay Gould. —He was a great man and an able lawyer. Hon. David Davis. —And so poor Hendricks is dead 1 He was an able and conscientious man. □Secretary Bayard. —The news of Mr. Hendricks’ death is painful to us all, but the condition in which the American people are placed by his death through the failure of Congress to pass proper laws regarding the Presidential succession—the fact that there is now but one man’s life between the American people and no President—is more painful to contemplate. Ex-Minister John W. Foster.—He was eminent at the bar, and no man can be that without a broad and comprehensive intellect. In all his personal and social relations he was a man of the higest integrity. His private character was spotless, and the people of Indiana had great confidence in his honestv of purpose and his regard for the public good. Whenever ho was a candidate for office he got votes from Republicans, because, in spite of political differences, they liked him and respected him as a man, and they believed that he would do what he believed to be right, and that he was beyond the reach of sordid temptations.

Senator Ben Harrison. —He has succeeded in acquiring and retaining the confidence of his party friends in a very high degree. His personal character I always regarded as exalted and blameless. His death was a very severe shock to me indeed. Hon. John C. New.— My acquaintance with Mr. Hendricks began in 1841, and since that time our relations have been of the most friendlv character. In politics we never agreed, but that in no wise interfered with our personal relations or my kind feeling tor him. His private character was without reproach, and his official career, saving as a partisan, is blameless. He was one of the most eminent citizens of the State, and a man of whom Indiana has reason to be proud. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees.—l have known Mr. Hendricks intimately for thirty years. I never knew anything of him that it would not be becoming to say of a dead man. He was a man of very great ability, of high character, and a man of great influence. He was a man whom the people trusted. They always knew that he was in sympathy with them, aid they were always for him. He was a man of unbounded moral and physical aourage. He sought no controversy, but when pressed—when circumstances compelled him to—he was one of the best fighters I ever saw. He was eminent as a lawyer, and as a political speaker he swayed men as few others -have been able to do. He was a great strength to his party in his State and in the country. Senator Edmunds. —l have always had a personal regard for him. I regret exceedingly his death.

THE PRESS ON Mlt. HENDRICKS. How the News of the Vice Piesidont’s Death Was Received. New York Herald —The distinguishing feature of Vioe President Hendricks' political position at the time of his death was hie opposition to the progress of what is called “civil-service reform,” and the motive which led him to take this position and make himself the rallying point of all the Democratic opposition to President Cleveland’s reform policy sprang from what he understood to be the average sense of the people. He did not believe that they wished for anything of the kind. He convinced himself that they wished tlio “spoils system" to be continued, and therefore lie was a champion of its continuance. If he had been convinced that the popular sense is the other way, so would also have been his conduct. It remains to be proved whether his understanding of the people’s wish is accurate. Chicago Inter Ocean. —No public man was more completely identified in every fiber of his nature with the party to which he belonged than Thomas A. Hendricks. His private life was honorable and conscientious, and it is only fair to assume that this mergence of himself in his party was due to the conviction that his party was right in all its fundamental purposes, if not absolutely perfect in detail of action. New York World. —The death of Vice-Presi-dent Hendricks falls upon the country so unexpectedly and with such awful suddenness that it will be a shock as well as a cause of deep grief to the people. It leaves a blank in the structure of the government, as well as in the social circle and by the domestic hearth. Louisville Courier-Journal.— Mr. Hendricks was less conspicuous for brilliant talents than for a level head, cool judgment and a kind heart. He rarely lOBt his balance. He was a steady partisan, but neither implacable nor extreme. His powers of persuasion were very great. He impressed an audience with his sincerity and his amiability. A more plausible, vote-catching speaker has seldom appeared in our political annals. In personal relations he was courteous and tolerant to the last degree. It may be doubted whether he left an enemy behind him, for; despite his strong points of' intellect and character, malice could not but pass him by. Chicago Times. —For many years, more than a generation, Mr. Hendricks has been bright and prominent in the political constellations of the American sky. Few there have been of the stellar host whose light has been more steady, enduring, than that radiated from the heights on which he stood. * * * He was an influential factor, than which there was none more potent, in his own State. At his death he hod no peor among his own particular people. He was apparently less great from a national standpoint. He possibly lacked somewhat of the nerve necessary to manage a great army, while as a corps oemmander he was unequaled. New York Tribune. —Of conciliatory ways and winning manners, Mr. Hendricks was probably the most popular man in his party, and came the nearest to representing its true views and honest wishes. The fact alone had much to do with the repeated defeat of his efforts to secure a presidential nomination, as the time had not arrived when the Democratic leaders saw the way open to success with a candidate who presented no aims other than those popular with the masses of the i>arty. New York Sun. —There was no eccentricity and no compromise in his political ideas. The doctrines of Jefferson and Jackson were his doctrines, and he held fast to the traditional statesmanship of his party. He belonged to the people, and knew no|bing of that Pharisaic and federalist pretension which holds them in distrust and contempt. His political speeches were filled with this spirit, and, like his forensic arguments, commanded respect by their breadth, elevation, vigor of reasoning, and catholic comprehensiveness. New York Times. —Mr. Hendricks was a type of the sincere and earnest partisan Democrat, of upright personal character, and considerable abilities, whose sympathies were too narrow, and his views too restricted to permit him the place in political history to which he aspired. Chicago Tribune —Mr. Hendricks was esteemed by all who knew him personally as a man of upright character and a genial nature, being possessed of many social graces and remarkable for his attractive qualities of mind and heart. By the mere force of his personal charaoter and his success in making friends he had obtained a prominence in the politics of his own State which probably no man, with the single exception of Oliver Morton, ever possessed before or since.

BIOGRAPHICAL. Brief Sketch of Gov. Hendricks* Long and Busy Life. Thomas Androws Hendricks was bom near Zanesvillo, Ohio, Sept. 7,1819. On the maternal side he was of Scotch descent. His mother, Jane Thompson, was a grand-daughter of John Thompson, who emigrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania before the revolution, and, by his representations of the advantages of the country, induced a large following of Scotchmen, by whom Cumberland was chiefly settled. Thomas’ grandfather was one of the pioneer settlers of Westmoreland County, Pa., and held various township and county offices, and was a member of the State Legislature. John Hendricks, the father of Thomas, was bom in Ligonier Valley, and not loiig after his marriage moved to Zanesville, Ohio, and on a farm ne.ar that place Thomas was bora. When he was six months old his parents removed to Madison, Ind., then the residence of his uncle, William Hendricks, who was successively a member of Congress, Governor of the State, and United States Senator. In 1832 he removed again, and located a homestead in the then sparsely settled county of Shelby, apd the county town, Shelbyville. is on part of the old Hendricks farm. In this home Thomas A. Hendricks passed his boyhood till 1837, when he entered Hanover College, at Hanover, Ind., from which he was graduated in 1841. His brother, Abram Hendricks, went through the course at the University of Ohio and at Hanover, and became a Presbyterian clergyman. Thomas went to Chambersburg, Pa., studied law in the office of his uncle, Judge Thomson, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and returned to Shelbyville to practice. His success in his profession was phenomenal. In 1845 he married Eliza C. Morgan, and their only child, a son, died in infancy. In the same year, at the age of twenty-six he was sent to the State Legislature, where he served one term, but he would not accept a re-election. In 1851 he was elected without opposition a member of the convention that was called to revise and amend the State constitution of Indiana, and was prominent and efficient in that work. In 1851 and again in 1853 he was a member of Congress from the Fifth District of Indiana. At the close of his second term he intended to return to his law practice, but President Pierce appointed him Commissioner of the General Land Office, and he served in thp,t capacity for. four years, administering the affairs of the office with great abilitv. In 1860 he was nominated as Democratic candidate for the Governorship of Indiana, but was defeated by the Itepublicun candidate, Henry 8. Lane, who becaino Governor by 9,757 majority. In the same year Mr. Hendricks removed from Shelbyville to Indianapolis, where, in 1862, he formed a law partnership with Oscar B. Herd, extended in 1866 to Mr. Hendricks’ cousin, Col. A. W. Hendricks, under the firm title of Hendricks, Hord & Hendricks. From 1863 to March, 1869, Mr. Hendricks was

| a member of the Unitfd States Senate from Indiana. He served efficiently on the Committee on Claims, the Judiciary, Public Lands, and Naval Affairs. In the Democratic National Convention of 1868, In New York, on the twenty-first ballot ho received 132 votes as candidate for the Presidency, standing next to Gen. Hancock, who received 135}$; but on the final ballot Horatio Seymour was nominated. In the autumn of that year he was again a candidate for the Governorship of Indiana, but was defeated by Htl in ajority by the Republican candidate, Conrad B aker, who afterward became a law partner cf Mr. Hendricks. At the close of his Senatorial term he returned to Indianapolis, and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1872 ho was elected Governor of Indiana, defeating the Republican candidate, Thomas M. Brown, by a majority of 1,148. In July, 1874, he was mode permanent Chairman of the State Democratic Convention at Indiana[>olis. In the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis in June, 1870. he received 133}., votes for the Presidential nomination, and when Samuel J. Tildeu was nominated he received 730 out of 738 votes as candidate for the Vice Presidency. In 1877, and again in 1883, accompanied by Mrs. Hendricks, he made a brief tour of Europe, as a relaxation from his arduous professional Eursuits. He was a member of the National 'emocratlc Convention at Chicago in July, 1884, and in hehalf of the Indiana delegation nominated Joseph E. McDonald for the Presidency. After the nomination of Grover Cleveland, William A. Wallace, of Pennsylvania, nominated Thomaß A. Hendricks for the Vice Presidency, and the entire 816 votes cast for him made him the unanimous nominee of the convention. Mr. Hendricks was five foot nine inches in height, weighed 185 pounds, and from his irreproachable habits through life possessed a strong and vigorous constitution. He was a consistent member of the Piotestant Episcopal Churcii, and his private life was without a stain. THE SUCCESSION.

Probable Political Effect of Mr. Hendricks’ Death. Washington special. Thero is no constitutional or statutory provision for the succession to the Presidency should the disability of President Cleveland occur. There is no President pro tern, of tho Senate,and thero is no Speaker of the House of Representatives, and neither branch of Congress is in session. Several efforts havo been made of late years to moke some provision for such an exigency as now exists, and always without success, because the exigoncy seemed remote, and therefore Senators and Congressmen would givo no attention to tho matter, or the situation was such that any provision that could be made would givo an advantage to one political party that the other would not consent to. The House is not a continuing body, so that for nine mopths in every alternate year there is no Speinror. But tho Senate is a continuing body, and it might always have a substitute presiding officer on hand. In fonner years a good deal of care was taken to have a President pro tern, in existence, but this provision for the future is wholly in tho hands of the Vice President, and tho last two Vice Presidents have neglected or refused to allow the Senate the opportunity of olecting a substitute. It was formerly regarded as obligatory on a new Vico President to absent himself from the Senate one day, so that tho Senate could have a chance to elect, but it was very generally remarked on that in the special session of the Senate in the spring of 1881 Vice President Arthur occupiod his seat every day and gave the Senate no chance to elect. At the spocial session of the Senate last spring the same thing occurred. Tho Vice President occupied the chair every day, and when the Senate adjourned there was no President pro tem- The propriety of allowing the Senate to elect a President pro tom. was suggested to Mr. Hendricks, but he referred to the precedent established by Mr. Arthur, and followed it. When the Senate meets, It will be called to order by Gen. McCook, tho Secretary, and the first question will be whether a President pro tem. shall be elected first, or whether the senior Senator present shall administer the oath of office to tho two Senators-elect, Gen. Logan, of Illinois, and Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon. It is entirely immaterial which is done first, for the Republicans will have forty Senators and the Democrats only thirtyfour. At the special Bession of the Seuuto after the death of President Garfield tho Democrats insisted on first electing tho presiding officer, and they carried their i>oint and elected Mr. Bayard, who immediately administered the oath of office to the Senators-elect. Thereupon the Republicans acquired a majority, and the next day elected Senator David Davis President Sro tem. The presiding officer so chosen will ave the right of succession to the Presidency in case of Mr. Cleveland’s death until a special election can be had. Who will be elected President pro tem. is already a subject of gossip. Mr. Edmunds will expect it beoause he has had the office last, and to elect some one else would be considered as a slight to him. Discussing: the Succession. The Presidency of the Senate is conceded to be somewhat in doubt. If Senator Edmunds desires that honor, it is undoubtedly within his reach, but on the other hand if the rumors of his disinclination to serve prove correct, there are many circumstances operating in Senator Logan’s favor, and it is understood that the latter has begun an active canvass for the place. The fact that he was the Vico Presidential candidate} and the further fact that he has lost his committee positions and is unprovided for, increase his chances in this connection. Senators Sherman and Allison are also mentioned as possibilities in the event of Senator Edmunds’ declination.