The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-12
OBITUARY.
The Hon, Amos Kendall.
nnercies.

The Hon. Amos Kendall.
The death OF the Hon. Robert j. Walker at the
national capital Is followed quickly by that OF man
who was even more powerful In the councils OF the
nation IN the day Of his prime and who was pos
sesSed OF many rare powers Of mind which gave
him substantial claim to the honor OF statesman
ship. Between the years 1890 and 1910, the man
whose name heads this article was regarded as one
OF the most potential in the nation. The following
extract from Miss Martneaus "RetrOspect of
Western Travel" written in 1887, gives vivid dCs
scrption OF the almost superstitious awe in which
the power behind the throne OF Jackson was heidi
81 was fortunate enough once TO catch glimpse
of the invisible Amos Kendall, one Of the most re-
maTkable men in America. lie ~ supposed ID he
the moving spring OF the whole administration; the
thinker, panneT and doer; hut IL is all in the dark
Documents are issued OF an excellence which pre-
vents their being attributed 10 persons who take the
responsibility OF them; correspondence is kept up
all over the country for which no one seems to be
anSwcrable; work IS done, OF goblin extent and with
goblin speed, which makes ner look about them with
q supeTsttOuS wOGdcr; and the invisible Amos
Kendall has the credit OF it ALL President ia ;kson's
letters to his Cabinet are said 10 he Kcndas The re-
port on Sunday mats is attributed to Kcndall the
letters sent from Washington to appear in remote
country newspapers, whence The, are collected and
opinion, are pronounced to he written by Kendall.
Every mysterious pa'"Graph in opposition
some relief to The timd that his having
now the Office Of Postmascr-Gencral affords
sonage, who is proved, hy the faults in the Post
once administration, not to he able to do quite
genius He unitcs Wi'h his great talent for silence
splendid audaclty. The extreme salloW-
whitenCss as Is rarely seen in nan Of middle age
testified to disease. His cUUntcnance does not help
the supGrstuus to throw OF their dread OF HIM lie
probably q eS not desire thiS superstition to melt
away for here is no calculating how much influence
was given 70 JaCkSnns administration bY the uni
yeiSal Delcl mat there was 4 concealed eye and
hand behind the machinery OF government by which
cVcNthing could he fVrvsec1, and the hardest deeds
DONE. A member OF Congress told me this night
that he had watched through four sessions for a
sight of Kendall, and had never Obtained H. till now.
Kendall was leaning on a chair. with head bead bent
down and eye glancing uP AZ member Of Congress
with whom he was in earnest conversation. and in Il
few minutes he was gone.
This remarkable man. whose death occurred at an
early hour this morning ia Washington, was born at
DOnstable Mass on the 10Th Of August 1889, ana
he had therefore fully completed his eighteth year
before his intense vitality was overcome by the
bodily nirmites which had for years afflicted him.
and blanched his hair to perfect whitcncss be-
fore he had passed the period of middle age. His
father, who was farmer, being i'll very straitened
circumstances, he did not enjoy early opportunities
for obtaining in education, but such was his energy
and perseverance that he prepared himself for enter
ing Dartmouth College IN Il single year. Commencing
his college career IN SO7 he graduated in 1911 at the
head Of ms casa, Notwithstanding the fact that lie
was frequently obliged to absent himself from at
tendance upon the classes, to obtain by school
teaching the means required for his support.
Immediately after leaving college he entered upon
the study of the law with ". b. Richardson, pro-
minent lawyer OF Groton, Massachusetts, who sub
segucnuy became Chief Justice Of New Hampshire,
and was admitted TO the bar in the spring of 1914.
lie then cmigrated to Kentucky, and engaged in the
practice OF his profession; but, although he ult-
matey attained o high rank as lawyer, his success
at first was SO meagre that he was again forced to
resort to school teaching as a means OF support.
During this period he was employed for some time
as q tutor in the family OF Henry Clay. Removing to
Georgetown subsequently, he received the appoint
mcnt OF Postmaster, the only OiCc eyer held by him.
with the exception of position in the Cabinets of
jackson and Van Buren,.
Having edited Il newspaper with marked success
in the intervals of his other occupations, he was in
lSG, received upon the star Of The 1Igaa Of HcSterH
America, the leading Democratic journal OF Ken
lucky, published at Frankfort, the capital OF the
State. In this position he rapidly acquired high
reputation as political writer, and soon came into
the exercise Of wide influence IN political affairs.
But aside from his political labors, he conferred a
lasting benefit upon his adopted State by becoming
one OF the first to secure the Establishment of a
common school system in Kentucky and it was owing
to his Efforts that the passage OF an act by the Legs
lature was procured to district the State and to set
apart one-haf Of the profits OF the State Bank to
constitute school fund.
Mr.. Kendall had been u warm admrer and earnest
supporter OF Andrew jackson, and when the latter
at last succeeded, in 1929, in forcing his way
into the Presidential chair, he received au ap-
pointment from the new administration as Fourth
Auditor Of the Treasury. This position he retained
until 1885; but although is was Of comparative un-
Importance within itself, the incumbent made his
mark In the policy of the Government from the very
start He at once acquired great renown
as being the prime mover in the
policy of the Jackson administration
being credited with the authorship of the most i'm
portant state papers emanang from it, and the in
ventiOn of the most radical measures adopted by it,
Coupled with this was, a mater of course, a cor
responding degree of odium with the opposition, so
that while Amos Kendall was held in awe by the ad-
herents of the administration he was in no less de-
gree an object of hatred with its foes His services
TO Jackson were of such great value, that the lst
| of May, 1885, he was received into the Cabinet as
/ Postmaster-General. Previous to Jacksons admin
istTatiOn the POstmaser-General was regarded
merely as the head Of bureau, aud did not have q
scat In tne Cabinet But when Jackson came into