The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-28
The Late Kenneth Rayner.


Rayner. For the past seven wears he
nad been Solicitor of the Treasury, and
since 1874 well-kuown figure in Wash
lngton. Rayner was one of the few
Southern gentlemen of the old type
who have held Office under the recent
Administrations. He was ready to weep
or fight on the instant, according as
his temper prompted. Ravner was an
old man. The Congressional biogra-
phies make him born in 1909, and there
fore seventy-three years old, but he
always insisted that he was born in fS16.
But the record shows that he was
member of the North Carolina Legisla-
ture in 1885, and that could hardly have
been when he was nineteen years old.
He would always say that although
siXty-seven he felt twenty years Younger.
Within a month of his death he boosted
that he was good for twenty years
yet" Rayner belonged to one of the
old Wing families in North Carolina,
and in 1883 was elected to Congress
from the Raleigh district During his
six years service he married Miss Polk,
a niece of the then future President.
At that time Rayner was looked upon
as one of the rising men of the South.
His wife brought him a large estate in
Mississippi, and the two were worth
S250,000. In 1914, at the election which
made his wife'S uncle President. the
Democratic wave swamped Rayner's
political craft. He went back to North
Carolina, served in the Legislature at
intervals, and then IS on the Taylor
and Fillmore ticket OF 1918. After that
success lac was promised foreign mis-
sion, but the death of TAYLOR left
him out in the cold So he lived along
until the war broke out. He was as
much of a Union man as he dared
to be then. When Sherman's army
arrived at Raleigh, Rayner emerged
from his seclusion and announced HIM
self as an ardent Unionist. He was
made considerable of Ia 1866, rs a
member of the Constitutional Conven-
ton, he took n prominent place
have been told that a tirmer legislative
body never met in North Carolina than
that convention. 1t was called the An
| drew johnson convention. Rayner eX-
| pected some office from johnson, but
| failed again, although he had prepared
a life of johnson, written in the most
| fulsome manner At last he drifted
down to one of his wife's plantations in
Mississippi. But he could not manage
| to get along under the altered condi-
ton OF things, and in 1874 General
Grant took him up and put him on the
| old court of Alabama claims. He was
never happier than there. With his
vest opened way down in front. and his
hair unkempt, he used to sit on the
bench, perfect picture of content
| ment. The court came to an end after
q time and left Rayner out Of n place.
just then MI Hayes was trying to re-
suscitate the Wing party in the South,
and Rayner was picked out as a suit
able person to recognize. He was given
the s., coo position of Solicitor of the
Treasury. He always claimed that he
was promised the first vacancy on the
| Court of Claims. 1t never was given
| him, and he dragged along rs Solicitor
| with Secretaries Sherman, Window and
Folger They took away the duties pre-
Scribed by law to the Solicitor, and en-
trusted them 20 minor officials under
their own direction This worried the ole
North Carolipan, and he used to sit fol
long DAYS in his great sunny Office in
Weighing against the lessened glories o
his position There the old Southern
hangers-on loved to congregatc to en-
, Joy Rayner's tobacco and talk of tn
, Republican party they could build VI
in the South, provided offices were giyel
them. They told of the duels, SLAYER.
and beautiful women in the South be
fore the war, and sometimes indulge
y a triiie too freely in their cups. Rayne1
however, never drank ANYTHING. II
, was man of generous impulses an
n high character This last winter he sc
his heart on being put in the Court {
= Claims He went to see the President
= and believed he was certain. Whe
Judge Weldon was named the old judy
e declared that his last hope was gone
the failure would kill him. He NOPE
about the department, imagined tha
every mans hand was against hin
wrote his famous opinion about th
propriety Of women becoming steambos
captains, and then died, Just when til
Woman Suffrage Convention was ahu!
- ing him for his opinion. In an oflic
n where he could have made 2 fortune b
died almost pennilcss.
e Whenever the department joker
e wanted sport they had only to stir u
Il the Solicitor One day number {
them gravely informed him that he We
TO be given 4 smaller room. and his o
fee used for the clerks. He posted Il
to the Secretary That officer tried
tell him that he had been misinformeC
but Rayner would not hear, and for a
- hour poured a torrent of indignant el'
quencc into the Secretary ; ear rcgar'
ing so serious an attack upon his dig
nifty. The Secretary once asked IL
heads of bureaus to give their views
writing upon any needed reforms in Il
| department. The Solicitor submitted
report of more than one hundred page
in which he proved that it was in ba
shape throughout. The document h:
never been given out. Rayner had Il
in power of Recommending compromises
% suits under the Treasury Department
IS He was constantly besiegcd by parti
irving to obtain relief One attornt
ventured to suggest to him that he w
t. not acting like gentleman in the ma
ter Rayner Indignantly drove him o
It, of the door; two minutes afterward hi
8. followed him to the sidewalk, when
asked forgiveness, and that day Il
necessary Recommendation was made.
Washington Ger. Boston AdrcfjScr.
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