The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-29
The Death of Dean RichmOmd-WhC
Shall BE HIS Successor!

The Death of Dean RichmOmd-W Who
Shall BE His Successor!
From the Herald.
Dean Richmond is dead. We shed our tears
over him in our obituary column while recount
ing the particulars of mis- decease, the leading
facts of his life, and the poculiarities of his
character. But IN this world death is too fire.
auent an occurrence for wise man to waste
much time in useless mourning. Let us, then,
wipe our eyes and our spectacl2s and take a
sensible and practical view of an event
in which has caused as decided a sensation
Wall street and in political circles as among the
intimate personal friends of the deceased.
1t is not every politician whose illness can
affect the chances OF elections, nor every rail
road manager whose doctors can put stocks
up or down by their bulletins as to the state of
his health; but Dean Richmond was such a
politician and sucn manager. His political
schemes were so identified with his railroad,
and his railroad operations with his politics,
that it was impossible TO separate one from the
other. In fact he owed no small portion of his
power as politician to the manner in which
he secured the control of the Democratic con-
ventiOns by manipulating the elections of dele.
gates through the numerous employees attaches,
and dependents of his railroad. On the other
hand, he used the political influence thus OBJ
tanned to strengthen and deyelope his road, and
to gain for 1t the patronage and protection OF
State officials and legislators His political
and business relations were so reciprocal, and
had become so ineXtricably involved, that it is
said that the apprehension of successful COM
bination against him among the stock gamblers
in Wall street. on the eve of nm important and
exciting political campaign in the State, aggra-
waited his disease and hastened his demise.
Now that Dean Richmond is gone, and even
before he has been laid in his grave, the ques-
tion as to his successor is being eagerly dis
cussed. The inquiry is not so much who shall
succeed him as who can succeed him. There
are very few men who have just the requisites
and qualifications necessary TO take Dean
Richmond's place. He was in many things
remarkable, He was anxious to put other
office himself. He lived in the midst of all
kinds of COZ Eruption, but had a soul above pecu-
mary dishonesty. In both these particulars he
wis so far beyond the ordinary run OF political
leaders that it is very difficult to select any
body to I'LL his shoes. They are politi-
clans who do not steal, and might find his
left shoe fit them; but those who refuse office
are generally the most corrupt, and those who
are not corrupt are generally ambitious of per-
sOnal distinction; so that we have to look very
far before we can discover politician without
at least one Cloven foot. Besides this, the sue
cessor OF Dean Richmond must have an equal
talent for railroads and for politics, and equal
skill in engineering locofocos and locomotives.
Most wire-pullers would find it rather difficult
to settle dispute about freights, or to arrange
atlme table, and most railroad presidents would
shrink with holy horror from the task OF pack
ing primary meeting, or making up the slate
for State convention. It was his ability to
discharge the varied and diverse duties both of
his business and political positions that gave
Dean Richmond his importance, and in casting
about for his successor we must keep this quail
fcation clearly in mind.
The opponent of Dean Richmond in the Albany
Regency, Mr.. Erastus Corning, is also reported
at the point of death, so that we need not specu-
late as to the chances of his regaining the
ascendancy from which Richmond ousted him.
Mr.. Peter Cagger, the next prominent member
of the Regency, is nothing but a secretary,
whose province is to record what ADLER men re-
small tor Dean Richmond's place as for Dean
Richmond's old clothes. Seymour was long since
laid upon the shelf and the idea of his putting
forth claim 10 leadership Is absurd Indeed
among the clique Of politicians who surrounded
Richmond, we seek In vain for any one TO sue
ceed him. The Albany Regency lived in him