Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1877 — Wrecked, at the Poorhouse. [ARTICLE]

Wrecked, at the Poorhouse.

The Washington, correspondent of thee Hartford, Hinas writes vividly oh a visit to. the poor-house in that city,, whCre he found, a half-dozen, human wreaks, all off whom, were once very prominent, in social, and polltia&l life-iin various States bf the Union v and several of whom ware former, - ly in affluence." Two of these are thus. described!: 1, ■ , .i ; . .r onffijdi the, flush men I met upon enteiv ing was-a short thick-set man with a Websterian. head and) powerful voice. I haveknqwmkini for many years as- a lawyer,,, and! am, pretty well informed,of his weakness, whidh is„id brief, the too treqgent indulgence in liquor. Indeed, that seimai'to. be the' trouble with all the men whoiare now with. him. The man I referi to was-at one time-Attorney-Ganeral of V.inginiiL He stood very high, as a lawyer. One of jthe lawyers who appeared before--the Electoral, Commission, as “of cvoun~ sdl” for the Democratic party studied, ia tine office of this man. Several of the di&tingsished lawyers whom. I could mention, have also been at non time sPtdents in his office.. If I mistake not, his- father, Was at one time the- Attorney-Ganecal of »he United States, ffle has beea, very wealthy in. his day, and is not by any i-means an old man yah. Another, man I . sqw there was considenahly older. Whis!ky wtls his weakness also. His history is i i/ong but.pointed. At- one time oae to the | Judges oithe Supresmßench of the State «f California, hfe canuj; to this ctly„ soon after the- iuaugurati<u& ®f Buchanan,, at the request «f John W. Forney, to tnkp the jwsitioa cf Collector ©! the Port, of San , Fxaqqisco. He resigned his J udgeship to come here. Uponturiiving lift called on 1 Buchan,m. At thie time he had, property and money ju barjf . amounting: to about* Something turned up whichi prevented him fßorn receiving the posir ■ port. He,did nut. desire to return to Cal. ifornia -unless he secured the add, hot securing it,, he never returned. Feeling disappointed, he took to drink. He lounged about the hotek here for the ten years following, occasionally getting, a claim through some of the Departments and drinking up the proceeds. It waanot long before Ue had spentbis last dollar. For, years he was supported by Col. Thomas B. Florence of Philadelphia, “the widow’s friend/’ aud the most charitable, man who was ever in Congress. After the death of Col. Florence several years since, he had no one to look out for lrnj, and finally a newspaper reporter, who knew him well, securea a permit for him to spend the remainder of his days in tha city almshouse, pot. being able financially 16 take'care of him himself. Did I use his name it would be recognized by m&uy as the name of the most eloquent man of thVWest, and of one who was very prominent* and was a valuable friend to many who visited the gulden shores during the gold fever in 184 S. , * I S Tl -W • u>" V . Tiie equality m point of numbers of this sexes is moat nearly Attained fp France. For every l.OOd’men there are 1,007 women. The other extrema is found in Paraguay, where there are 2,089 wotfieu tbr 1,000 men.