Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-09-18
THE MEETING OF THE CLARKS-
WILLIE BAR

In Memory OF Hon. 4. "A. Aenry.
On the day of Maj. Henry's death,
the instant the sad event was an
nounced in the Circuit court then
in session, the gavel of the Judge
came down and announced the adj
journment of the court till after the
funeral. The members of the bar
then held meeting at which
committee was appointed with Gen.
w. A. Quarles as chairman to draft
resolutions appropriate to the occas-
ion. This committee was instruct
ed to report at public meeting to
be held at Elders Hall ON Tuesday
the 18th inst. The hall was throng-
ed at an early hour with large as
semblage of ladies and gentlemen,
and at IL o'clock the Hon. Jas. E.
Rice opened the meeting with a
brief statement of the melancholy
occasion which had brought them
together; he then announced that
meeting would be opened with
prayer by the Rev. 7. d. Barbee.
The whole vast assembly rose the
moment the minister came to the
front, ana followed MIN IN his I'M
pressive prayer with solemn silence.
The chairman then announced
that the business of the meeting
was in order, and General Quarles
came to the front with the state
ment and resolutions prepared by
the committee, which he read TO
one of the most intensely interested
audiences we ever witnessed. The
following is the paper rs he read it
On Sept. 10th, 1880, q. A. Henry
died at his residence in this city, at
S o'clock a. M, IN the 18th year of
his age.
When a citizen so distinguished
dies, the minutest detail of his life
becomes a matter of interest to the
world; for his memory must now
take the place of the living man,
and his history teaches the lesson
his life has illustrated.
The deceased was born of Vir-
ginia ancestors, in Scott county,
Ky,, on the 8th OF October, 1904.
He resided in that county till his
fourteenth year, when his parents
moved with their whole family to
Christian county, in the same state.
AT an early period of his life he
gave such promise of intellectual
superiority, that he was given all
the advantages Of a thorough clas-
steal education, graduating from
Pennsylvania University, then the
leading place of learning in the
whole south and west. From this
alma mater sprang many of the
greatest and nObleSt of our public
men eotemporaneous with Maj.
Henry, notably among them JEFF
ferson Davis, who attended the
school from the neighbOring county
of Todd, and 1t was here was
formed that friendship between
these two great southern men that
lasted in faithful trust and conf
dence to the end.
Mr.. Henry was so fitted for polit-
ical life that in his earliest man.
hood he represented Christian cOun-
ty i'm the legislature of Kentucky,
serving in that body the sessions of
1892 and '33.
About this time he formed the ac-
quaintance of Miss Marion Mcclure,
the then admitted beauty and belle
of this city, and prospecting in his
wooing, they were married on the
18th of February, 1888. This event
decided, and doubtless greatly
changed, the destiny of Mr.. Henry;
for, while II brought him, as we all
know, q life full pf domestic love,
ii shut him out forever from the
brilliant political career then open-
ing for him In his native state,
That state, the home of the great
Clay, and thoroughly whlg In Its
politics, was fast finding out and
appreciating his ability. Already
a gseat faVorite of the people, and
what was then of fully equal inn
pOrtance of Mr.. Clay, he would
have been the next member OF GOA
gFess from the district he then lived
in. With this start and these OPP
pOFtQnities, those of us who knew
him cen, without prophetic ken,
safely say his political career might
have been anything ne chQse to
make it; but coming to Tennessee,
then as fully democratic as Ken
lucky was Whig, and as fully under
Jackson's as Kentucky was under
Mr., Claws domination, we can
readily see II did not open prom
isIng field for the realization of his
political ambition. Vet we find
him always In the forefront of tho
battle" and though in a hopeless
minority, still battling bravely, and
we of the democratic party may
well now admit, in manner well
worthy a better fate.
He was the wing electOr for TINS
district in 1910; ran unsucceSsfuliy
against Hon. Cave Johnson for con-
greSs in 1912; was electOr for the
state at large for his party in 1874,
1913 and 1852, In 1872 he was in
the legislature Of Tennessee, and in
1853 ran for governor ag4ils; An
drew johnson. Thus, though "A. |
ways leading the forIorn hope OF
his party, there was something so