Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1900 — SENATOR DA VIS DEAD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SENATOR DA VIS DEAD.

Ml N N ESOTA STATES M A N AT LAST SUCCUMBS. Was Chairman of Senate Forelen Be* lattons Committee and a Member of the Paris Peace Commission The Story of Hia Career. After an illness, beginning two months ago in an apparently trivial abrasion of one of his feet, developing later into blood poisoning and still later into ne-

phritis, Cushman Kellogg Davis, chairman of the committee on foreign relutiona in the Senate, died Tuesday evening at his home in St. Paul, Minn. He had suffered greatly during his sickness and gradually sank away, being unconscious for several hours before death,

and so far rs could be known, suffering no pain. The last conscious utterance of the Senator was the expression of & wish to live, Rot for the sake of life iteelf, but because he believed his country needed him. While it had been certain for more than a week that death was only a matter of days or hours, still the announcement caused a painful shock to the friends and admirers of the statesman. To none was the stem realization more painful than the Senator’s devoted wife, who had hoped against hope through all his illness. The Senator, in his moments of lucidity, expressed a Btrong determination to recover, and within a week told United States District Attorney Evans, who had been admitted to see him, that he was positive he would soon be well. In his delirium he raved of his congressional work. . He would declare in vigorous phrases fragments of the nation’s foreign policy. There was of course no coherence—a sentence about the Philippines would be followed by a comment upon the Monroe doctrine, or a suggestion of an impending war with Spain. But always, in his diseased mind, his patriotic and official duties were with him. Brief Story o' His Life. Cushman Kellogg Davis was born at Henderson, Jefferson County, N. Y., June 10, 1838. When he was a child his parents moved to Waukesha, Wis., where he lived until 1865. In June, 1857, he graduated from Ann Arbor University, and a year later commenced the practice of law in Waukesha. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a second lieutenant and served until 1864, when he retired owing to illness. He moved in 1865 to St. Paul, where as a lawyer he gained such notice that in 1567 he was elected to the Minnesota Legislature. He was appointed United States district attorney in 1868, and served five years. In 1874 he was elected Governor of Minnesota on the Republican ticket;

He refused a second term, owing to his ambition to become United States Senator. He was beaten for that honor in 1575, and again in 1881. On Jan. 18, 1887, however, his ambition was realized, he being elected to fill the unexpired term of Senator J.-S. R. McMillan. He was re-elected and had been one of the great men of the United States ever since. Senator Davis was one of the earliest advocates for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, and it was under his leadership, that the annexation was consummated. When President McKinley submitted his report on the destruction of the Maine Senator Davis, as chairman of the foreign relations committee, prepared and submitted the resolutions which were practically, if not formally, a declaration of war against Spain. Next to ex-Secretary of State Day, Senator Davis was the most important member of the Paris Peace Commission. Death Leaves Vacancy. President McKinley was shocked to hear of the end, although it had been hourly expected. The Minnesota Senator was one of those most relied upon for advice in the days preceding the declaration of war with Spain, and his advice had at all times been eagerly sought in all foreign affairs. The death of Senator Davis leaves the chairmanship of the committee on foreign relations vacant and there will be much interest developed in the selection of a successor. A general rearrangement of committee assignments may result. The direction of the foreign relations committee is of the greatest importance to the administration at this time, owing to the pending Hay-Panncefote treaty and the various complications in the international field. The ranking member of the foreign relations committee is Senator Frye of Maine, but as Senator Frye is president pro tom. of the Senate and chairman of' the commerce committee, it is not regarded that his selection as chairman of foreign relations is within the range of probabilities.

C K. DAVIS.