Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1885 — OBITUARY. [ARTICLE]

OBITUARY.

SuOTffi DMir of Ex-Vice President Schuyler Colfax at Mankato, Minn. r Heart Disease the Cause of Death— A Sketch of His Career—Other Deaths. Hon. Schuyler Col fix. of South Bend, Ind., ex-Yloe President of the United state*, died on the 13th Inst., In the Chicago, St. Pan), Minneapolis Mid Omaha passenger depot at Mankato, Minn., of heart - disease. Mr. Colfax arrived In Mankato on the morning train of the Milwaukee Road, and, after Inquiring the distance and way to the Omaha depot, walked to that place, a distance of about threefourths of a mile, while the mercury stood at 30 degrees below zera Upon arriving at the depot he inquired of the baggageman where the gentleman’s waiting-room was, and lmmediatly went tn, where three gentlemen were seated waiting for the west-bound train. There was nothing in his manner when he entered the depot to attract the attention of the other occupants of the room. They noticed that he was breathing hard, bnt thought nothing of It, considering that a fast walk was the canse. He looked out of the window and at a map on the wall, and then seated himself upon a bench in the room, crossing one leg over the knee of the other. About five minutes after he entered the room one of the gentlemen present noticed his leg drop from the knee npen which he was resting, and that his face was growing pale. Several of those In the room hastened to his assistance, thinking that the sudden change of temperature had caused him to faint; bnt he gave only one gasp and was dead. He had not spoken after entering the room, Us last words being those of thanks to the baggageman who had directed him to the waiting room. No one knew the identity of the man who had passed away so suddenly until a letter was noticed in his pocket directed to "Hon. Schuyler Colfax, South Bend, Ind.” Other letters found upon his person left no donbt that the body was that of Mr. Colfax. The Coroner was notified, and during the afternoon held an inquest. The Jury, after examining four witnesses, rendered a verdict in accordance with the above facts. The relatives of Mr. Colfax were at once made aware by telegraph of his sad death. The remains were taken to the spacious parlors of Ur. 2. G. Harrington, and there properly prepared and laid In state. The following day they were placed in charge of a delegation of Odd Fellows, and escorted to the late home of the deceased, at South Bend, Ind. Mr. Colfax, at the time death overtook him, was en route to Hurou, Dak., on business connected with Odd Fellowship, of which he was a prominent member. BIOGRAPHICAL. Schuyler Colfax, seventeenth Vioe President of the United’ States, was born in New York City March 33,1833. His grandfather. Captain Colfax, was an officer of the revolutionary army and commandant of Washington’s body guard. His father died before Schuyler was born, and when he was 10 years old bis mother married again, and for the next three years he was engaged in his stepfather’s store. In 1886 the family emigrated to Indiana and settled In New Carlisle, St. Joseph County. During the five following years Schuyler was a clerk in a country store. In 1841 his stepfather, Mr. Matthews, w r as elected County Auditor, and removed to South Bend, bcuyler was appointed his deputy, and began to stndy law; but after serving two years as Senate reporter for the Indianapolis State Journal he established in 1848 a weekly paper at South Bend, called the St. Joseph Valley Register, of which he was both proprietor and editor. In politics It supported the whig party, and in 1848 Mr. Colfax was sent as a delegate to the Whig National Convection at Philadelphia, of which body he was elected Secretary. In. 188 p he was a member of the Indiana State Constitutional Convention, in which be spoke and voted against the clause prohibiting free cohered persons from entering the State. In 1861 he was candidate for Congress, and wgs defeated only by a majority of 216, though his district was strongly Democratic. , In 1832 he was a delegate to the Whig National Convention at Baltimore, which appointed him Its Secretary. Two years later l;e was elected a Representative in Congress by the newly formed Republican party, and was re-elected for the six following terms. In 1856 he supported Mr. Fremont for President, and daring the canvass a speech made by him In Congress on the extension of slavery and the aggression of the slave power was circulated to the extent of more than half a million copies. In the Thirty-fifth Congress Mr. Colfax vu made Chairman of the Committee on Postoffices and Postroads, whichplace he continued to occupy until his election December 7, 1863, as Speaker of the Thirty-eighth Congress. He was re-elected Speaker again >in 1868, and again In 1867. In 1868 he made a Journey across the continent to the Pacific coast, and in May, 1868, the Republican National Convention at Chicago nominated him for Vice President of the United States, with Gen. Grant as candidate for President. He received 822 vofes ol the 630 that were polled by the convention, and was elected in November: and on March 4, iB6O, J 1 ® was Inaugurated Vice President, and took his seat as President of the Senate. In 1870 he wrote a letter which was published, declaring his Intention to retire from public life as soon as bis term of Vice President had expired. He was subsequently led to change this determination, and at the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia, in 1872, be was a candidate for the nomination aia Vice President and received 314 W votes, 384 >6 being given to Henry Wilson, of Massachosete, who was accordingly nominated on the first ballot, and ehosen in the subsequent Presidential election. In 1873 Mr. Colfax was implicated in charges Of corruption brought against many members of Congress, bnt the Judiciary Committee of the House reported on Feb. 24,1873, that there was no ground for the Impeachment of Mr, toltax, since, if there bad been any offense committed by him, it was before he became Vice President. Since that time he has taken no part in politics, bat has frequently appeared as a public lecturer.

OTHEK UEAIHB. Earl of Aylesford. A recent dispatch from Biz Springs, Tex., announces the death at that place of the Earl of Aylesford. His disease was acute inflammation of the bowels. His death was entirely unexpected by bis friends. The Earl had been complaining for several weeks. His remains were embalmed and forwarded to England. Aylesford was one of the heaviest land-owners la Texas, hia ranch covering about 40,000 aores of grazing land. The Earl of Aylesford was born in 1849, and came to his title and estates, which are among the largest and most productive in Great Britain, before he was of age. At 22 he married Edith, the daughter of CoL Peers William-, M. P., of Temple Court, Berks, England, and bad by her two daughters. The marriage was considered an advantageous one on both sides, for the groom had rank and wealth, was recognized as a future leader in society and politics, and the bride was one of the loveliest women in Europe, famous at four coarts for her beauty and attractions. Governor Hale, of Wyoming, * Governor William Hale, of Wyoming Territory, died at Cheyenne, after a lingering illness from kidney complication. He was appointed Governor by President Arthur. Aug. 3, 1882. Hu former residence was at Glenwood, lows. He was 48 years old. William W. O'Brien. William W. O’Brien, one of the most noted criminal lawyers in the West, died at his home in Chicago, of peritonitis. He was bom In Leitrim. Ireland, May 22, 1831. and received a common perish education. In 1854 be came to the United States, and for a time remained in New Orleans. The next year he settled hi Peoria, 111., and was employed aa a porter at one of the hotel-. He studied law, wee admitted to the bar, and rapidly went to the front as a jury advocate. In 1871 he removed to Chicago, where, although handicapped 1 by unfortunate social habits, be did an immense practice. Mr. O’Brien waa in his &lfs year. Isaiah Bynders, Capt. Isaiah Bynders, one of the old-time Democratic politicians, died at his home in New fork. He was stricken with paralysis, and his dying words were, “Give me brandy." bynders, in the ante-bellum days, wielded larger political influence in New York local pojtiticaUum any man'of hia time. He was 7-3 yearn old. Sib Akthub Sullivan, the composer, has issued a sort of pronnneiamento in the the London Daily News, in which he announces the death of Italian opera. Col. Boudihot, the Indian Representative. has given Senator Voorhees an elegant robe, made from the skins of wildcats killed by the Colonm in Arkansas. Thomas King, a car-starter in Pittsburg, is aaid to be a son of an English peer and a graduate of Oxford. Clara Louise Kellogg has a mania for reel point lace handkerchiefs.