Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1888 — JUDGE WAITE. [ARTICLE]

JUDGE WAITE.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Dies Suddenly Washington. * His Death a Surprise to Those Who Did Not Believe His Illness Serious. Chief Justice Waite, of the United States Supreme Court, died at his home in Washington, on the morning of Friday, the 23d of March, of pneumonia, after a brief illness. His death was wholly unexpected, as nothing like a fatal result was apprehended of the severe cold he contracted last Saturday evening. His last appearance officially was on Monday, the 19th, when he was present in the court-room to present the decision in the telephone case, which he had prepared, but was not feeling well enough to read the opinion, J ustice Blatchford performing that office for him. Following are the particulars of the distinguished jurist’s sudden demise, as telegraphed from Washington: He was not considered dangerously ill, and no one was in the room with him but a hired nurse when he breathed his last. Mrs. Waite left Washington about ten days ago to spend the spring months in California. A telegram has been sent announcing the death of her husband. Last Saturday night Judge Waite attended the reception given to the authors by Mrs. Senator Hearst. It was a damp, disagreeable atmosphere and a searching wind. During the reception his coachman was stricken with apoplexy, and fell off the box. There was considerable excitement, and Judge Waite exposed himself by leaving the heated parlors and going bareheaded and in his evening suit into the open air to give orders about the treatment of his servant and the disposition of his horses, and after the reception was over he walked home. Several of his friends offered their carriages, bnt he was an unusually robust man for one of his years, and preferred to walk. His shoes were thin, and, together with the exposure in the earlier part of the evening, gave him a severe cold. Monday morning his cold was so much worse that he was induced to remain at home, but it was not until Wednesday that he had a physician, and then only incidentally. He consulted Dr. Ruth, a surgeon in the navy and a friend of the family, who happened to call at the house. Dr. Ruth gave him some simple remedy Wednesday morning, but when he called again the same day told Miss Waite that her father was threatened with pneumonia, and recommended that the family physician, Dr. F. A. Gardner.be sent for. 'Thursday morning Dr. Gardner woulfl notpermit Judge Waite to leave his bed, and sent a professional nurse to take care of him. Thur day afternoon young Mr. Waite arrived from Cincinnati. The son and daughter sat up with him until after midnight, and then retired without feeling the slightest apprehension. About 3 o’clock Friday morning young Mr. Waite was awakened by hearing groans from his father’s chamber, and found that he was breathing heavily and seemed to be suffering in his sleep. He assisted the nurse to turn him over when he seemed to rest more comfortably and the groaning ceased. Shortly before 6 o'clock a. m., when the nurse went to give to him his medicine, Judge Waite was found to be almost pulseless. The son and daughter were awakened, and the doctor sent for, but before he came the venerable man had ceased to breathe. The following official notice of the death of Chief Justice Waite was issued by the Department of State: "Tothe People of the United Stites: The painful duty devolves upon tbe President to announce the death at an early hour this morning, at his residence in this city, of Morrison R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United States, which exalted position he had filled since March 4, 1874, with honor to himself and high usefulness to bis country. “In testimony of respect to the memory of the honored dead it is ordered that the executive offices in Washington be closed on the day of the funeral and be draped in mourning for thirty days, and that the national flag be displayed at half-mast on the buildings and on all the national vessels on the day of the funeral. “By the President. T. F, Bayabd, “Secretary of State.” Both houses of Congress, upon assembling, passed resolutions eulogistic of the deceased, and immediately adjourned. The announcement of Justice Waite’s death produced a profound impression upon the President, with whom he was on terms of warm personal friendship.

biographical Morrison Remick Waite received his appointment as Chief Justice of the United States January 21, 1874, and was the successor of Chief Justice Cnase. He was the fcventh in the line of distinguished jurists who have held the Chief Justiceship of the United States. In the rural town of Lyme, Conn , the old house in which he was born November 29, 1816, still stands. At the age of 17 he entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1837 in the class which included William M. Evarts, Edwards Pierrepont, Prof. Benjamin Silliman, and other distinguished men. He began the study of law with his father in Lyme, and concluded his preparation for the bar in the office of Samuel W. Young, then a prominent lawyer in Maumee City, Ohio. He formed a partnership with Mr. Young shortly after being admitted in 1839, and the year after he took as his life partner a young lady of his native town. He was elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1849, and the following year the firm of Young & Waite removed to Toledo, where they built up a very large and remunerative practice. The first position in which his ability attracted the attention of the whole country was that of counsel for the United States in the tribunal of arbitration which met at Geneva in 1871-2. He was associated in this delicate negotiation with Caleb Cushing and William M. Evarts. Their tact and good judgment largely served to terminate the difficulty arising out of our civil war between the United States and the United Kingdom. The year after his retur.n home in 1873 he presided over the constitutional convention of Ohio. Chief Justice Waite had a charming home in Washington, at 1415 I street. Here Mrs. Waite, a lady of refinement that well fitted her for the social tasks imposed upon her by her husband’s exalted official station, has presided as hostess, and so far as her delicate health would permit has been a leader of society Mrs. Waite was the second cousin of the Chief Justice, and her name before marriage was Amelia Warne». She is the great-grandda ighter of Col. Samuel Selden, a distinguished officer of the Revolution, and Maria Selden, a granddaughter of this same Col. Selden, was Chief Justice Waite’s mother. The Waite family is one of the oldest families in the country. Thomas Waite, who was a member of Parliament, signed the death warrant of Charles 11, and the family moved to this country soon after the restoration. It was about thirty years after the landing of the Pifgrims that Thomas Waite settled at Lyme, Conn., and this man’s son was one of the first Presidential electors after t, > war of the Revolution and cast his vote for George Washington. Judge Waite’s father was chief justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and he studied law under Matthew Griswold, one of the inost noted statesmen of early days. Like Judge Waite he was a graduate of Yale and eminent as a jurist. He left the Supreme bench, however, at the age of 70, and died at 80. Though the distinguished Chief Justice was in his 72d year, one who met him in the street even recently would have ventured the prediction that he would live many years yet to grace the bench. He was of medium height, with broad shoulders and sturdy figure. Everything about his appearance indicated a splendid physique. He stood straight and was dignified in carriage. His large head was crowned with a thick growth of iron-gray hair. His forehead was broad and full, the eyebrows dark and heavy. The mouth and nose were large and full of character. He wore a beard about his face, but his upper lip was clean-shaven. His figure was a familiar one *on the streets, as he almost invariably walked to and from his house and the Supreme Court chamber in the CanitoL ,