Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1883-07-28
DEATH OF MONTGOMERY BLAIR.
LlncOIn's First POstmasteT.Gen.
eral Ceases to Live.

residence in Prince Georges County,
Maryland, about eight miles from
Washington. sThe cause Of his death
was Inflammation of the membranes of
the spine. He had suffered from this
disease for some years, and for the last
eight months had been confined pretty
closely to the house.
His funeral will take place on Mon
day afternoon from Rock Creek Church,
and his remains will be placed in the
family vault in Rock Creek cemetery.
The Postmaster General to-day issued
the following order: "As mark Of
respect to the late Hon. Montgomery
Blair, ex- Postmaster General, it is here
by directed that the Post Office Depart
ment building be draped in mourning
for period Of thirty days from this
date that the flag Oh the building be
placed at half-inast until after the
burial of the deceased ex-Postmaster
General, and that the department be
closed on Monday, July 30, the day of
his funeral.
Montgomery Blair was the eldest son
of the late Francis Preston Blair, and
brother of the late General Francis z.
Blair.
He was born in Franklin County,
Kentucky, on May 10, 1873. He grad
uated in 1885 at the Military Academy
at, West Point, standing eighteen in a
class of tifty-six, and ranking i'm
mediately above the late General Meade.
The only military service he saw was
in the Seminole war as Brevet Second
Lieutenant of Artillery, and on May 20,
1886, he resigned from the army. He
then studied law, and was admitted to
the Bar in St Louis, where he resided
up to his removal to Maryland in 1852.
| Like his father and brother he was a
Democrat in those days, and in 1889
he was appointed United States District
Attorney for Missouri. In 1S42 he be-
came Mayor of st. Louis, and from lS43
to 1S49 was a Judge OF the Court CT
Common Pleas. In 1852, when he re-
moved his residence to Maryland, he
was appointed Solicitor Of the United
States in the Court of Claims. On the
repeal of the Compromise he Joined the
Republican party, and was consequent
lv removed from office by President
Buchanan. At this period in his career
he was one Of the most prominent law
yers practicing at the Bar of the United
States Supreme Court, and was counsel
for the plaintiff in the famous bred
Scott case when it was argued before
that tribunal in 1857.
In 1860 Mr.. Blair presided over the
Republican State Convention Of Mary
land, and after the election of Mr.
Lincoln to the Presidency he was select
ed to represent Maryland in the Cabi-
net. From the beginning of Lincoln's
administration upto the latter part of
September, 1864, he served as Post
master General. On the the 23d OF the
last named month, with view of
harmonizing party differences, the
President requested his resignation, and
it was promptly rendered, and a week
later he was succeeded by Ex-Governor
William Dennison, of Ohio, who had
presided over the Convention that had
re. e.nominatedLi Lincoln for the Presidency
during the preceding summer. Mr..
Blair took his displacement from the
Cabinet in the best spirit, and imme.
diately went upon the stump to advo-
cate Mr. Lincon's reelection.
Mr.. Blair, however, parted company
with the Republican party soon after
the close of the war: and became one OF
it's most bitter antagonists. He was an
earnest champion of Tilden's election
to the Presidency, and in the early part
of 1877 appeared before the Electoral
Commission as one Of the Democratic
counsel. Later in the same year he
succeeded in being elected to the Mary
land Legislature, in which body he dis
tinguished himself chiefly by his fran
tic efforts to do something which would
reverse the action of Congress in seat
ing Hayes in the Presidency. He kept
up his agitation in favor of the Presi.
Dental claims OF Mr.. Tilden until his
scheme TO" testing Hayes title was
passed by both branches of the LegisIa-
ture, but the whole business was sup
pressed, when it reached Congress, by
the Judiciary Committee of the Demo-
cratic House.