Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-09-06
THE GREAT COMMONER.
Anecdotes or Thad. Stevens and His Many Deeds
of Kindness.

Anecdotes or Thad. Stevens and His Many Deeds
Of Kindness.
An old acquaintance of Thaddeus
Stevens, has given the Philadelphia
Press the following recollections of him:
81 was intimately acquainted with
MIR. Stevens from the time he came to
Lancaster in 1871, until he died in 1868.
had met him few years before, being
one of committee of six or eight who
went to Gettysburg to get him TO come
here to address our people upon anti
Masonry. He consented to come, and
his speech made deep impression.
William jenkins, Esq, one of the
leading members of the bar at that time,
and democrat, too, after listening in
tently to the speech to its close, turned
to me and said: That is a great man
he is giant The reception which
our citizens gave him at that time,
think, caused him to consider the ques-
ton of locating here. Then, too, he
was hopelessly in debt at that time, and
| think that he hoped that by coming
here he might be able to recover him
self financially. His success was as
sured before he came. He built up a
practice very fast, and made money.
when he died his personally was
appraised at $50, 900, and he valued his
realty at between 100000 and $780,
600. Hewas careless about his charges,
however: Why, when he died there
was not single charge upon his books
against living soul"
'Did anyone owe him?'
''Of course they did. When lie be-
came sick the last time, representative
Of very wealthy firm in the city came
TO pay him for some valuable services
he had rendered, but Mr.. Stevens said:
do not bother me about money now, |
have plenty, ! do not need any, and
when ! do | may call upon YOU The
money was never paid to Mr. Stevens
or his executors. This is only one in
stance. One man, / believe, and only
one, after Mr.. Stevens death, came to
the executors and said he owed him
500 and wanted to pay it, His fees
were generally paid voluntarily by his
clients, they naming the amount, too.
Men frequently came to him and
asked for his bill, when he would say:
why, do you owe me anything? What
is it for~ and if he needed any money
he would let them pay what they
thought was right; otherwise he would
pass the matter over and get nothing.
ale shrank from and hated oppress-
ion of any kind. His great heart
reached out to the people and
the race, and the people loved
him. He could not have en-
dured that his representatives after his
death should Cypress u living being for
a dollar of Indebtedness on his account.
Ellis method of practicing law was
characteristic. He disliked office work.
j do not think he ever wrote an agree
ment over page long. Some agree
ment', which other lawyers would
spread out over pages, he embodied in
q few sentences. He seldom spoke
over half hour in trying a case, but
each word counted. He drove right at
the salient points, and cared very little
for details. He had few equals in ex-
aiming witnesses, especially in cross
examination. His mystic wand cleft
the rock of falsehood and deceit, and
laid bare the hidden springs of truth
and justice. His biting sarcasm was
provclbial, and Carlyle himself was not
more severe in unmasking sham and
driving imposture back TO its foul
nest
''He never expressed himself freely
about his religious beliefs. 1t is said
that he died a Roman Catholic, but
that arose from the fact in his last
sickness some Sisters of Mercy came
and begged to see him, and when lie
was told of it and was asked what |
should be done, he Simply said: by
all means, let them come in. If they
can do aught toward soothing my pill |
low, or easing the passage, let no OBJ
struction &c placed in their way And |
they were admitted to his chamber,
and he simply yielded passive sub
mission to their minstrations.
Yes, believe there has been some
agitation recently i'll some of the |
papers rs to his defense of the common
school system of Pennsylvania Mr.. |
Edward Mcpherson, | believe, has set |
that matter right in n recent letter to |
u Philadelphia paper. | remember |
well Mr. Stevens speech on the school |
law delivered in the legislature in 1885. |
1t brought down the house, and it was
universally conceded that it turned the
tide in favor of the common-school
system. But for that speech, the school
law would have been repealed, and our
school system, the boast of our state
to-day, would have been nipped in the
bud
II have his speech printed in PAM
phlet form, only eleven pages, short
and concise as usual, but u perfect
philippe. 1t is a classical production,
and besides, brim-full of common-sense
philosophy. He liked the common,
and devoting himself to it. made it re-
spectacle, and he won an immortal
name, while others, striving after the
uncommon, and spurning the common,
had their day and are forgotten"