Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1901 — NININGER SAGE DEAD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NININGER SAGE DEAD

THE HON. IGNATIUS DONNELLY PASSES AWAY. Author of Bhakejpeare Cryptogram, Populist Candidate for Vice President, Prominent in Minnesota for Years, Expires Suddenly. Ignatius Donnelly, politician, author, sage, aged 70, died early' Wednesday morning. The eminent Alinneapolitan

was taken suddenly ill the p r e v i o u s night while visiting at tjja home of his, father-ip-law. Barton llmisrouvTn that city. From the first Air. .Donnelly sank steadily and soon 1) e c a ui e unconscious. Dr. Alurphy was summoned, mid when an

rived the sick man was still unconscious. The doctor pronounced it heart failure and stated early in the evening that there was little chance of the patient’s recovery. Air. Donnelly passed away surrounded by a number of his relatives, who from the first had understood that he could not live. He died without regaining consciousness. Ignatius Donnelly, known as “the sage of Nininger,” was conspicuous in the political and literary field for many years. He came to Alinnesota thirty-five years ago and since thut time had been a member of both houses of the State Legislature and represented his district in Congress. He had pronounced ideas, and during his political career had been a member of nearly every political party known in the State. For the last few years he had been bitterly opposed to the policy of the Democratic party and at the last general election he was a candidate for Vice-President on the middleroad Populist ticket. Iu 189(5 lie was candidate for Vice-President on the Populist ticket. Ignatius- Donnelly was l>oi;n Nov. 4. 1831, in Philadelphia. He was educated for a lawyer, blit changed from law to polities and from polities to literature, and then combined politics and literature. Formerly a Republican, he drifted into the Democratic ranks, and, having certain bucolic tastes, became a eonvert to the Farmers’ Alliance doctrines. During the war he was Governor of Alinnesota, aud was later Lieutenant Governor for four years, and afterward represented his district of Minnesota in the House of Representatives for six years. It was in 1882 Air. Donnelly began unraveling the mystery of the Baconian cipher in the dramas of Shakspeare. He owned a photographic copy of the earliest folio edition of Shakspeare’s plays, and in his charming home near Hastings, Minn., he pored over the leaves and discovered that William Shakspeare was “a fraud.” Air. Donnelly’s home was built while Minnesota was yet a territory, and in it Mr. Donnelly surrounded himself with books. His first wife died about 1894, three sons nud two daughters surviving her. In 1898 Air. Donnelly married Alarion Olive Hanson, his typewriter, who was born *-’eb. 9. 1877, in Eidwold, near Christiana. Norway. — Air. Donnelly was a quiet, unassuming man and splendidly educated. His first literary work was “Atlantis,” considered one of the boldest and most original works that had ever appeared.

IGNATIUS DONNELLY.