Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-01-26
The True Cause of the Self Destruction of
Justus G. Ramsey.


In recounting the suicide of j. C. Ramsey,
the GLOBE did not intrude the political theo-
nv" which was current upon the street, rela-
tive to the possible cause of his rash act The
Pioneer Press, however, with characteristic
indecency, made the following comment:
1t is well known that Senator Ramsey has
always scrupulously avoided using his politi-
cal influence to help his relatives. He has
always had strong repugnance to nepotism.
Justus strongly sympathized with him in this
feeling, and sedulOusly avoided everything
that would warrant even a suspicion that he
was benefited by his brothers. position. The
scandalous and malicious falsehood published
by st. Paul paper during the recent Senatori-
al campaign, to the effect that Justus had for
years acted as a go-between and cat's-paw for
Senator Ramsey, wounded the former to the
quick, and no doubt added to the depression
that finally led him to take the fatal step.
The malicious falsehood" in question was
one of Gen. Christopher Columbus most in
cisive and vigorous paragraphs. 1t was
such delicious morsel that
he (fguratively speaking) rolled
it under his tongue, repeating it in several
places in the Dispatch and continuing it for
several issues. 1t was as follows:
SIT is a fact that during the time Mr.. Ram
sey was a Senator he permitted his brother to
be operating in Washington, in getting large
sums out of the public treasury. This single
fact should forever bar his return to the Sen
ate"
There is little doubt that the author of this
"malicious falsehood" knew that there
was no foundation for the charge
when he penned it, but when the
blood of the venerable beans" is fairly
up neither truth or even human life stands in
the way of his terrific onslaughts, as this
tragic event abundantly proves.
1t is not, however, strictly just to charge the
entire cause of the suicide to the editor of the
Dispatch. 1t is well known among the friends
of the late Mr.. Ramsey, that he was strongly
opposed to the recent candidacy of his brother
for the Senate. When the Pioneer Press started
the so-called Ramsey boom,n he vehemently
condemned it, and predicted its failure.
Though taking no active part in the matter,
because he regarded it hopeless from
the start, he nevertheless felt keenly
the situation his brother was placed in by his
false and treacherous friends, who were, as he
well knew, merely seeking to use him to ad-
vance their private interests. II he couldhaye
seen and counseled with the Secretary it is
more than probable that the ignominious
campaign would not have been made. When
he saw the pretended friends of a
quarter of century, men who
had grown rich through the aid of
the Senator, turn against his brother
and circulate all kinds of falsehoods,
he grew disguised with the treachery of man.
kind. The overwhelming defeat of his brother
weighed heavily upon him, and he felt it
keeny as almost family disgrace. While he
bitterly censured the men who forced his
brother into the field, he felt that they slipped
out of sight while their victim was inundated.
If he had been iu vigorous health he might
not have taken the matter so much to heart,
but this, added to his physical condition, made
him tired and disguised with life. The vim
dictive use of his own name by the Dispatch
and the disgraceful position in which his
brother was placed by the Pioneer Press, were
undoubtedly the browning events which led to
his tragic death. In fact, there is no room for
doubt that the responsibility for Justus c.
Ramsey's untimely death rests upon the
shoulders of the indecent journals named
Though not in legal sense, those sheets are
morally guilty of murder, and the public
shonld place the responsibility where it be-
longs