The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-08-26
THE LATE SENATOR HILL.
The Story OF His Life.

The Story Of His Life.
New York SUM-
When Senator Hill left the Senate
Chamber to go to the surgeons chair
for another operation he was full of
hope, which many of his friends did
not share. He had shown, however, so
much vigor in the early part of the ses-
sion, and the last speech he made was
SO Enthusiastically virile, that but for
one circumstance no one would have
suspected that he had at that time SUBJ
mitted to three operations. His pro-
fnunciation was at times indistinct, al
though many of the words were spoken
with great clearness.
Senator Hill was one of the noted
men in the Senate Chamber. He was
a man of impressive personal appear
ance, being nearly six feet tail, and of
proportionate physique. His eyes,
which were large and blue, were full
of expression. AS Southern Senator
said of him, ssHin did not need to ges-
ticulate when he spoke. He seemed
to talk almost as much with his eyes
as with the organ of Speech" His
head was large, square, and formerly
it was surmounted by thick masses of
uuEA udAIS ouA a lu1S "a wv" "AASA-
ers was allowed to grow under the
chin. This characteristic was the one
seized upon by cartoonists, and was
the distinguishing mark by which Hill
was known in the various cartoons.
OF later years, however, his face, with
the exception of tuft near each ear,
was clean shaven. Hill's .oratory was
peculiar. He had a powerful, rather
penetrating voice, pitched in high
key, and he was a master in modulat-
ing its accents. Sometimes, when he
was particularly enthusiastic, he could
be heard far beyond the confines of the
chamber. During his memorable en-
counter with Malone, in the spring of
1881, his denunciation of the methods
of the Virginia Senator could be dis
tinctly heard in the committee rooms.
He had a wonderful flow OF language,
and, while generally argumentative,
occasionally permitted himself to drop
into poetic and oratorical fancies.
He had made a reputation before he
came to the Senate. He had been at
the bar since 1s45, making his home
at one of the smaller Georgia towns,
but rapidly obtaining a practice which,
while he was still very young man,
was one of the largest in the State
Had he confined himself to the prac-
tice of the law, and had he governed
his life by business habits, he must
have accumulated a fortune. Some Of
his fees were said to have been tar up
in the thousands; but his money went
as easily as it came. He is said to
put the money in his pocket, and then
drawn upon it from day to day until it
was exhausted or until another fec had
heen received.
He went into politics very early, be-
ing a member of the Georgia Legisla-
ture early in the fifties. He began his
career as member Of the American
party. In 1855, when he was 80 years
old, he was beaten for Congress by
majority of 70 votes in a total poll of
nearly 900. His reputation as a law
yer and as a stump speaker had
made him very popular throughout
Georgia, and in 1867 he was nominated
for Governor by the American party,
and ran against Joe Brown, his col
league in the Senate in his last days.
Brown beat him by some 10000 votes,
but Hill gained in popularity, al
thouh he lost the election He was
nominated for Presidential elector on
the Fillmore ticket it 1856, and again
in the Bell and Everett ticket in 1860.
Like a good many other prominent
men in Georgia, he was bitterly oppos-
ed to the secession of that State from
the Union, and voted against it in the
convention, but he, with the others,
followed the State after secession had
been decided upon. He entered politi-
cal rather than military life in the
Confederacy beginning as member of
the Confederate Provisional Congress,
and was subsequently one of tho Sena-
tors from Georgia while the Confede
racy lasted. He was in prison for a
short time at Lafayette at the close of
the Confederacy, and then returned to
Georgia to practice law. Although he
at once dumped into the largest practice
in Georgia, the destinations of politi
cal life were so great that he consented
to run for Representative in the Forty.
fourth Congress-, and was elected, and
reelected to the Forty-fifth, and
while a member was elected to the
Senate and resigned from the House.
His term as Senator would have ex-
pired next March.
He and Senator Brown were rival
candidates twenty-five years ago for
Governor, and were always upon op-
posite sides in Georgia politics up to