The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-03-21
GOVERNOR SPRAGUE.

been nominated by the Independent
State Convention of Rhode Island
for Governor. A committee of seven
were appointed by the same conven-
ton to confer with other organiza-
tons relative TO making up the re-
mainder of the State ticket. This
means q conference with the State
Democratic Convention which meets
to-day. 1t is supposed some under
standing will be arrived at by which
Sprague will receive the nomination
of the Democrats, who in turn will
be permitted to name the other prin-
cipal candidates on the ticket. The
San Francisco Bulletin, commenting
upon Sprague's new departure and
the circumstances attending it, gives
the following interesting notice of
the man:
1t is a rare circumstance that the
fortunes of a man which had become
so desperate as those of Governor
Sprague are ever wholly retrieved.
His fortunes were the more compli-
Gated because he had fallen into bad
habits. But the "war Governor is
trying to get on his feet again. In
the meantime he has some strange
political be dfellows. He has been
sleeping with Ben. Butler, and ap-
parently with some advantage; for
he has received an Independent
nomination for Governor, evidently
with the concurrence of the Demo-
Gratis of that State, and with that efan
element in the Republican party. He
has married again-in short, Sprague
seems to have taken a new depart
ure. When a brave and chivalrous
men gets a fall, and there are a great
many people who sympathise with
him, and remembering that he was
a kind hearted man in former days,
are willing to give him a lift. Now,
to be Governor of "Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations" is not
a very great elevation. But it does
very we'll for a start. Sprague has
been there before. He has been also
a mer;ber OF ssthe Senate, where
he could talk about as we'll as Don
Cameron. The Sprague and Cam
orations in the Senate were
generally not more than three
minutes long, but something was
generally said worth hearing.
Sprague has also been at the bead of
a war regiment, and he was not
afraid of the smell of burnt powder
then.
It looks at this distance very much
as if Sprague would be the next Gov
ernOr of Rhode Island. He is a Re-
publican, with some latent Demo-
cratic symptoms. If he is elected,
that success may be the stepping
stone to something better. It il to
be noted that in all his reverses, a
great many people who knew the
man believed in him, and had faith
that he would come out of the morass
on to solid ground again. Sprague a
half crazed by liza
hunting his supposed enemies with a
shotgun, separated from his wife by
incompatibility of temper on both
was a man of desperate for
tunes. Only those who knew the man |
well could have faith in his recovery.
Sprague sober, with no matrimonial
difficulties on there to the ex-governor
ship of his State, with friends rally
ing around him ready and willing to
give him a lift-appears in quite a
different character. It is this new
attitude which attracts special atten-
ton just now. Only a man who has
good stuff in him can successfully
make such a turn as this. Only one
In ten thousand who went so near to
bottom of the hill ever ascends it
again so that he stands on the very
Up. 1t is possible that the Sprague
Of former days is a much wiser MAJ
han ever before, and that he will
profit by the strange experiences in
he has been schooled for the
asst ten years.