Daily Kennebec journal., 1870-05-27
Daily Asnnebte yourmal.
A SAD STORY OF LOVE AND MADNESS.

Outside of Fayette county, where the
prophet was held in high, but not in blame
less repute, being lin his own country"
the name of Clay has ever been sacred
one in Kentucky and to name him has been
to quote lovingly, wherever freedom
found votary. that votary met in him
champion. When Greece, the classic land
of Greece, the fountain of refinement, the
birth place of eloquence and liberty and of
poetry when Grece awoke from the long
slumber OF ages and beat back the faded
crescent to its native East when Macedon
recalled to mind the feats of her conquer
ing boy, and the Spartan struck in for the
land that bred him, then the voice of Clay
rolled over the waters of the blue Atlantic
as a greeting from the New World to the
Old. But hushed is that voice whose every
tone was music" and so on till the de-
claimer wearied Such being the esteem
in which the sage of Ashland was held in
the hearts of his countrymen the people of
his Commonwealth have been slow to speak
to strangers of the skeleton in his house
hold, though in the homes of the State the
sad story has been household word.
Yesterday morning our special kilograms
announced the end of Il weary life in stat
ing that Theodore, eldest son of Henry
Clay, had died in Lexington Lunatic Asy-
lum after a long confinement. The record
of his blasted life is briefly thus -
At thirty years Of age Theodore Clay
was a promising lawyer. He was the i'm
age and the hope of the statesman whose
fame was on every tongue. 1t is true that
there were whispers of wild living and ofin-
different morals, that somewhat tinged the
fair repute and even darkened the future
prospects of this scion of a noble house.
Still it was hoped that these were but the
results of youth, and would be cast aside
when circumstances called upon the ma
tured man to assert himself and make his
talent felt in the community.
1t was at this turning point in his life
that Theodore Clay began to pursue, with an
unwearied perseverance that caused his
friends great uneasiness, young lady of
Lexington, whom he had long loved hope
lessly. The object of his attachment, who
is at the present moment one of the bright
est ornaments Of Kentucky society, re-
pulsed, firmly but kindly, every attention
offered by the infatuated young man, after
his meaning had become manifest. 1t was
of no use he would not be refused, and
followed his fair fate in the streets by day 4
and wandered in the neighborhood of her
home by night in an annoying manner,
until at last it became evident that he
"was not all thereto use the soft phrase
by which kindly peasantry express in
sanity. Subsequent violent demonstra-
tions tended to confirm the impression, 1t |
being even related that he went to the
house of Mr. and demanded his daugh-
ter at the pistols point, until at last the
wretehed truth could no longer be ignored |
and confinement in the asylum became a
stern necessity This was accordingly |
done Tin 1882, we believe his father pro-
viding for his support at that time, and |
leaving $4,000 in his will, the income /
from which was secured to Theodore for
life. That life, after thirty eight years i'm
prisonment in what in the earlier days of
his confinement he was wont to call "a
good boarding house, but having some of
the biggest fools he ever saw as boarders,"
has just closed. For nearly thirty years
he was one of the most noted of the in
mates. not only his proud descent, but his
graceful manners and flow of conversation
rendering him an object of interest to all
visitors. He labored under the hallucin-
alton that he was George Washington, and
was fond of assuming the traditional atti-
tudes of the Father of His Country. At
the occasional balls given to the inmates
fayeraging some five hundred in number) L
he was always exquisitely dressed in the
style of his day, and was the beau par eI-
cellessce. During all these long years, de-
spite his general gentleness and cheerful
ness of manner, he was restless and dis
contented, and required close watching,
it never. in fact, having been considered
prudent to allow him to go out into the
grounds without attendants. About the
year 1860 his condition.- to grow
worse, and he soon after became demen-
ted, continuing in hopeless idiocy until a
few days since, when death, greater healer
than time, placed him again upon an
equality with the peers of his early man.
hood who had gone before him to the God
that created him and did with him accord /,
ing to Fills inscrutable will. And so ends
as sad a story as the truth OF history ever
commanded to be written. Il
Two sons Of Henry Clay yet survive |
hint. II. Clay, ex-Minister to Hondu- |
ras. now residing on his place. '.Manstield,n |
near Lexington, and John NJ. Clay, the |
raiser of Kentucky and one of the greatest
turtmen living Cincinnati Enquirer, May
II.