The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-01-14
THE CoNKLING-spRAGUE SCANDAL.

THE CONKLING-sPRAGUE SCANDAL.
A Terrific Arrangement of the New
York Senator.
lFrom Dom Piatt's Washington Capitol.]
. This scandal, although affecting a |
sband and wife widely known, and |
once leading lights in the fashionable
world, would lose its interest in the
proverbial nine days, Mrs. .Grundy to
the contrary Notwithstanding, were it
not that the central figure is a tremen-
dous swell of the political world. The
fact is,all right minded, sound hearted
people would hasten to- forget the
painful matter but for this central fig
ure. VIM. Sprague hasa past that
endears him to the popular heart He
was gallant soldier during the late
war, and as senator, although a mil.
lionaire, he marked his efforts as law
maker by a sympathy with and an eff
tort to benefit the labor of the country,
and he is the only man of that grave
body through all time since its organi-
zation who has left us a speech con-
densed into a sentence. He did this
when he said "There is nothing
more cruel, despotic and selfish than a
million of dollars, unless it be a mill
lion and half" .Hia -tn".5''
Mrs. Sprague is the daughter of one
of our greatest men,. She is what is
beautiful, charming, and accomplished
Kate Chase. The men whose vulgar
tongues and dirty mouths are noisy
with her poor name are, some of them,
men who have been seen speaking in
her presence with bated breath and
awkward humility, as if in the pres
ence of a queen, crowned by nature
with loveliness, as by right divine,
with power born through many gener-
ations of kingly lineage. The fall OF
these two would make all men who
respect their mothers and love their
children turn sorrowfully away with
closed mouths to wipe it all out, as
something too painful for human
thought, but for the brazen-taced
wretch who is the sole cause of all this
shame. F .oi 7.a "a s taAl
\ God might have made more des-
picable wretch than Roscoe Conkliug,
but he never did. There have been
wickeder men, but never one who COW
cred his wickedness with such mean
ness and cowardice. These words are
not written in the impatience of anger.
ly, and reflect the feeling of all men,
even the miserable dependents who
| run whooping after this creature for
the moldy bread his political favor
gives their families. fGw 9a.
1t was the Capital that first gave
printed circulation to a story that had
long been whispered with mods and
winks about corridors, lobbies, hotels,
and sample-rooms. We did not mean
it. We had reference to quite another
and a harmless affair. But the mis-.
directed spark fred the magazine, to
even our own surprise and sorrow.
. But if the information of a scandal
connecting his name with that of this
! poor lady had not reach the ears of the
male animal before, it struck his eyes
> then. For the newspapers, that ht
searches daily 10 find mention of him
self, were spiced with the gossip. a
right thinking, healthy-hearted mar
would have accepted the warning, ant
by his conduct given the lie to thu
creature delighted, nay, reveled, il
his shame. To have it said that h
had fascinated such brilliant woman
of the world, such queen of society
\. filled him with delight, and he hasten
=, to affirm, through his conduct, all ths
=, had been hinted or charged. The pee
pie of Washington, the brother men
bers of the senate, the very messer
gers, servants, and hackmen can be,
= us out in this. u.
Ces - If there was ever a doubt before
Conk1ing's criminal intercourse wit
= the wife of William Sprague, Com
ling hastened to solve that dou
against the poor lady. He wrote adj
terness upon her seat in the gallery
the senate, along the walls of the dir
mest-lit corridor, on her carriage,
=. her home, and smiled in vain delig
ep when he saw the evil-tongued IN
fasten upon and read the loathsoI
word.
7t- William Sprague has been ovC
taken by cruel misfortnnes. He h
fallen, through no fault of his ow