Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-08-20
THE SCANDAL AT THE CAPITAL,
Al. Old Journaltss,s con,.ea

I <AsS OSW VVstSsssSGtOG0O O9ILH107lE6s
The editor Of the Sunday Republic, one
of the Oldest journalists at Washington.
and who hiss known the Conkling, Sprague
and Chase families ever since their appear
ance in Washington, in speaking Of the
scandal to-day says:
It matters very little what the facts may
turn out to be in regard to the Conkling-
Sprague scrape at Narrangansett Pier. The
only special Importance it has is its effect in
fastening the Development of scandal
that has been covered only by very
thin and brittle crust for many,
many months. OF course it Is the thin
nest nonsense for the dispatches
TO say that Senator Conkling sshappened''' to
be at Narragansett Pier at the time of the
alleged fracas between ex- Gov. Sprague and
a tutor named Linck. The 'shappenings''
between Conkling and the Sprague family
have been too frequent and too pronounced to
be accidental. Their committee-room meet
ings, their oysters and champagne, their
moonlight drives, their woodland walks, their
Journeys together by rail, their continuous
interchange OF notes, many nights spent by
one in the house of the other, the unmistak
able smiles and glances and motions ex-
changed in the Senate chamber in the pres
ence of virtuous mothers and faithful wives,
these were not all 'shappenings." It is
also foolish to raise the cry of "crazy'
against Elk Gov. Sprague. Senator Roscoe
Conkllng and Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague
are the crazy ones; for a man whose
fame is Worldwide, and whose future
might have left wide and honorable mark
in his country's history, father of q daugh-
ter and husband of noble and gentle lady,
does not in his right mind disgrace both his
name and his station. Meth r does the
daughter of chief justics8of the United
States man in life honoTed of all men.
and whose memory will be revered forever
wife Of an ex-senator in Congress and an ex-
governor of his State, mother of young
children-such a woman, in her right mind,
would not disgrace her fair escutcneon and
cause her children to blush at the mention
of her name. 1t is also foolish to say that
all the feeling between Conkling and Sprague
arose from political differences. Everybody
in Washington who has kept his eyes and
ears open, knows the cause of the ill-feeling.
1t Is also foolish for the tutor to 90
to the public with two or three columns of
his own grievances in the Sprague mansion,
relating how he was driven away by x-Gov.
Sprague on the same day of the Conkling
trouble, but never abiding to the fact that
any trouble had occurred between Conkline
and Sprsgue. The tutor, as foolish as he
is, ought not to make the mistake of think.
ing that he can divert with his own feeble
name public attention from characters so
prominent as Roscoe Conkling and Mrs.
Sprague. 1t is also foolish to suppose that
kilograms from Utica announcing that mu-
tuai love and respect abide in the Conkling
family are true, when it is notorious here
and at Utica that Mr.. Conkling is rarely at
his home, that he did not even 90 home to
his daughters wedding, preferring other
hearthstones, and that limitations of pro-
ceedings for divorce have been in
the air for months. All these things
are foolish, because it matters not whether
Sprague chased Conkling out of Narragan-
sett villa and pursued him even to clam
counter. OF course it is rather sensational,
the more so that Mrs. Sprague leaves her
husbands house and takes apartments in a
hosiery. But to the main question Nara
gansett Pier has but little to do. The atti-
tude of the gentleman and lady in this cas-
toward each other for more than year had
made the friends of both to tremble with
anxiety and apprehension. Everybody said
to his neighbor: ''There will be a big scan
dial there one of these days." Some of the
closest friends of Con King have ventured to
demonstrate with him, but they assaulted deaf
ears. His infatuation knew no limits.