The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-11-27
DEATH OF VICE PRESIDENT WILSON.

recovery, 50 that the public was unprepared
for the announcement of his death. The dis
patches say;
The Vice President seemed on Saturday tc
be great deal better than at any time dur
, ing his late sickness, but on Sunday was moi
, quite so well Postmaster Burt, of Boston
called in the morning, and had pleasant
conversation with him. Mr.. Crossman, OF
!, New York, a literary friend, also visited tn,
} Wee President on business concerning his
, unfinished volume on the subject Of slavery
The Vice President, being in a condition re
curing rest, Mr. CrOssman retired. The Vice
President then slept from | o'clock till 3
when he rose Mr.. CrOsSman returned in the
afternoon, at the Vice Presidents request, and
remained TIL evening. The Vice President
went to bed at an early hour and slept toler
ably well. During the night, in his waking
Intervals, he asked for water. About mid
night he got up and walked around his room
and then took up IA volume and read few
minutes He then returned TO bed in hap
by mood and slept. AT 3 o'clock this morn
ing he awokc, complaining Of IA pain IN his
stomach One of his attendants rubbed it
and, being thus relieved, he again fell asleep
At 7 O'Clock he awoke, remaIking that he
felt brighter and better than at any time pre-
vious. He SAID he was going to ride out to
day, as his physician, DR.. Baxter, advised him
10 do so, If the weather was fair. At twenty
minutes past o'clock he said he would ge
up and take breakfast. He then called for q
little Cape Cod grape juice, which had here
tofore been prescribed, and having drank it
he laid with his left side on the pillow, as II
with sudden exhaustion, breathing heavily
but utterlng no words, and in few moments
died without struggle. The body was laid
out in the Vice Presidents room.
On Monday evening the body was EN-
balmed and next day lay in state at the cap
toll, where it was looked upon by thousands
of visitors. BY order of the President, appro
pirate military and naval honors were rem
dered to the memory of the deceased on Tues
day, consisting Of the firing Of salutes at tho
various navy yards, displaying the national
flag at half mast, &c.
The remains lay IN state at Washington un
til / :35 p. NJ, on Friday, when they were
placed on special tain, and with large es
cort, started for Massachusetts, where they
are to be buried. The intention is to make q
halt at Philadelphia and during portion OF
today have them lie in state at Independence
Hall. the funeral cortego will then proceed
to New York, and thence to Boston, making
no other stoppage on the way. The final in
terment will take place on Monday.
We find in half dozen different papers
all apparently copying from the same source
the following brief biography Of the Vice
| President:
| Henry Wilson was born at Pennington
New Hampshire, February 1G, 1912. His
parents were poor, and unable to afford him
an education, not even the ordinary school
| facilities. He was brought up ON farm, but
took very early to shoemaking, following the
trade at Natick Mass, whittier he had re-
moved and where he continued 1t as late as
1870 In the meantime he had acquired more
or less of a common school education at the
academies III the adjacent towns Of Stafford
Marlborough, and Concord. He was already
an active politician, and was before long
known in Natick as one of the best posted
persons upon political matters TO be found In
the town. In the campaign of 1910 he took
the stump for Harrison, and made not less
than sixty speeches. In the ensuing five years
he was continuously member of the Legis
lature, having been thrice Representative
! from Natick, and twice Senator. From the
| first, and long before the cause became popu.
lar, he was an earnest, Outspoken anti sla'
very man, and did much to establish his own
views as part of the policy Of the Wing par
! ty In lS48 he was chosen delegate to the
Wing Convention and when that body rejec-
ted the anti-slavery resolutions offered, he Sc.
coded and aided in the formation of the
Free Soil party, supporting it in the Boston
Republican, a paper which he bought and ed
| tied some two years. In 1851 and 1852 he was
/ pf ihn =. al Sannta nd tSlO ,vo a
delegate to the Free SOIL Convention, at
Pittsburgh which nominated Hale and Jul
ian In 1853 he was chosen delegate to the
State Constitutional Convention. and ran as
| Free Soil candidate for Governor but was de-
| feated In 1866 he was elected to the United
States Senate as the successor Of John Davis.
In 1865, for a brief period, he acted with the
Know Nothing party, but when it ignored
the slavery issue he took part in forming the
Republican party His career in the Senate
is familiar to all. He retained his seat in
that body until chosen Vice President IN 1872
| At the beginning of the war he was, for short
time, Colonel of a Massachusetts regiment.
He introduced in the Senate the bill for the
employment OF colored soldiers. For nearly
twenty yeas past he has been engaged in the
preparation Of history of the antrsavery
movement, of which several volumes have
been published but the work remains incom
plete. Ii was his devotion to this work which
has probably caused his death. Mr.. Wilson's
wife died some three years ago, and her loss
was sad blow to him. For some time past
Mr. Wilson has been prominent candidate
for the Republican nomination for the next
Presidency, and with not untlattering pros.
poets of success. 1t is complimentary to him
that at the end of long public life he dies
the same poor man in this worlds goods that
he was when he entered il.
The character of Henry Wilson by the press
is yariously estimated. Born of poor par
ents, and struggling many years against pow
erty, hts character was naturally somewhat
shaped by the narrowness of view which such
conditions seldom fail TO impose. That he
was hard student, his attainments under
such disadvantages abundantiy attest, yet his
, views were never very deep or broad, and he