Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1899 — MR. BINGLEY IS GONE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MR. BINGLEY IS GONE.

PASSING OF THE REPUBLICAN LEADER. Author of the Existing Tariff Law Dies at Washington of Heart Failare, Resulting from PneumoniaSketch of His Life and Services. Nelson Dingley of Maine, leader of the Republican side on the floor of the House of Representatives and representing the Second congressional district of Maine in that body, died at Washington, D. 0.,'0f heart failure, resulting from extreme weakness due to pneumonia. He was unconscious for many hours, and death came quietly without consciousness being regained. There were present nt the time Mrs. Dingley, Miss Edith Dingley, Messrs. E. N. and A. H. Dingley, sons of the deceased; James C. Hooe, an intimate friend of the family; Dr. Deale, one

of the physicians who had been attending him through his illness, and the two nurses. To within a few hours before his death the family firmly believed, as it has throughout his illness, that Mr. Dingley would recover, and it was only when it became apparent that he was dying that its members gathered at his bedside. (■'ketch- of His Life. Nelson Dingley, Jr., Governor of Maine 1874-5 and member of Congress from the Second congressional district of Maine since 1881, was born in Durham, Androscoggin County, Me., Feb. 15, 1832. Entering Waterville college (now Colby university) in 1851, he remained there a year and a half and then became a student at Dartmouth college, from which institution he was graduated in 1855 with high rank as a scholar, debater and writer. After leaving college Mr. Dingley studied law in 1855-6 with Merrill & Fessenden, in Auburn, to which city his parents had removed while he was in college, and in the latter year he was admitted to the bar. Instead of entering upon the practice of law he decided to become a journalist,„ for which profession he always manifested a decided taste. In September, 1856, he purchased the Lewiston Journal, of which he had been practically the editor while studying law and to which in 1861 he added a daily edition. The paper rapidly increased in circulation and influence under his management. In 1861, at the age of 29, he was elected Representative from Auburn to the State Legislature, in which body he at once took high rank; was re-elected in 1862 and chosen Speaker of the House at the session of 1863. In 1863 he removed to Lewiston, .vhere a few months after he was elected to the Legislature, and with the opening of the legislative session of 1864 was unanimously re-elected Speaker. In 1873 Mr. Dingley was nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor of Maine by a vote of two to one against two popular opponents and was elected by about 10,000 majority. In 1874 he was re-elected by over 11,000 majority, declining a third nomination in 1875. He was one of the delegatcs-at-large from Maine to the Republican national convention in 1876 and served on the committee on resolutions and was one of the sub-commit-tee of five who drafted the platform. He actively participated in the presidential campaign of 1876 and in the State conventions of 1877-8-9. In 1879-80 he was chairman of the Republican executive committee. In 1881 Mr. Dingley was nominated by the Republicans of the Second congressional district of Maine to fill the vacancy in Congress caused by the resignation of William P. Frye. He was elected by a majority of over 5,000, nearly twice as large as ever before given to any candidate in that district. During his early terms in the House Mr. Dingley was active in work for the revival of American shipping.

In June, 1886, Mr. Dipgley was re-elect-ed to the Fiftieth Congress and again elected to the Fifty-first Congress in 1888, to the Fifty-second in 1890, the Fiftythird in 1893, the Fifty-fourth in 1894 and the Fifty-fifth in 1896 by large and increased majorities. In the Fifty-sec-nnd and Fifty-third Congresses he was an active member of the Committee on Appropriations. In forming his cabinet prior to entering on the duties of chief executive March 4, 1897, President McKinley tendered the position of Secretary of the Treasury to Mr. Dingley, but he declined the offer, preferring to remain in his position a* chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and floor leader of the Republican majority of the House. Under his lead the House within sixteen days after the Fifty-fifth Congress was convened in extraordinary session on the 15th of March, 1897, by President McKinley, passed a bill revising the tariff. Mr. Dingley was a Congregationalist in religion. He was married June 11, 1857, to Miss Salome McKenney of Auburn’ Me. They have had six children—Henry M., Charles L. (deceased), Edward N., Arthur H„ Albert G. and Edith Dingley.

NELSON DINGLEY.