Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-02-15
HIS MISSION ESDED

Death. at Boston, of Wendell Phillips, the
Noted Anti-Slavery Agitator- "A Briei
Sketch of His Life.
BosroN, Mass, Feb. 4.-Wendell Phil
lips, the great orator, died peacefully at6:15
o'clock Saturday evening. For the past
week he had been suffering from angina
pectoris, of which he had had one or two
premonitory attacks. Soon after four
o'clock Saturday, feeling somewhat
easier, he attempted to raise HIM
self in bed. This effort brought on
a severe paroNysm which utterly pros
trated him, and it became evident that the
end was near. He himself knew it, and
said SO. The pain was partially relieved,
but he had not the strength to rally, and
gradually sank. He was cons cious to the
last, and evidently knew all that went on
about him until he seemed to drop quietly
to sleep. His invalid wife and other men,
bers of his family were present during his
last hours.
The funeral will be conducted by Rev.
DR.. Bartol and Rev. James Freeman Clarke,
and will take place in Boston tomorrow or
Wednesday. Mr.. Phillips last public act
was the writing of a letter last Monday to
Rev. DR.. Miner, urging that a light sentence
be secured for Burnham Wardwell, indicted
for libeling a sheriff. Whenmarried, thirty
years ago, Mrs. Phillips was regarded as a
hopeless invalid, and the fact that she still
lives excites surprise.
Wendell Phillips was born in Boston No
vember 80, 1911. He graduated at Harvard
in 1881, passed through the law school, and
was admitted to the bar in 1884. Three
years later he became known to the public
as an eloquent advocate of anti-slavery,
Temperance, and w0man's rights reform.
His first notable speech, made in Faneuil
Hall in December, 1887, was a glowing de-
Tense of L. P. Lovejoy, who was murdered
by q mob at Alton, ILL.,, for publishing a
radical anti-slavery paper. His burning
words We're called forth by a speech OF
James L. Austin, Attorney-G General of Massa-
chusetts, %apologizing for the mob's bloody
deed. AS the leading and fearless orator of
the Anti-Slavery Society, he was prosecuted,
and Oh one occasion was almost mobbed.
ing in Cincinnati, he spoke for an hour amid
jeeIs and Kisses and a continuous lombard
ment Of eggs and other missiles. He sue
ceeded William Lloyd Garrison as President
Of the .Anti-Slavery Society. In 1870 Mr..
Phillips was the Temperance and Labor Re
form candidate for the Governorship, and re-
ceived nearly 20, 900 votes. At a meeting in
Faneuil Hall in 1875 he made a powerful
speech in favor of the Louisiana policy of
General Grant. The subjects of his adj
dresses have also included earnest appeals
on behalf of liquor prohibition, prison re-
forms, and Ireland. While no complete
edition Of his speeches exists, many of them
have been published as pamphlets and
widely circulated in both the United States
and Great Britain. Mr.. Phillips was
master of the most graceful elocution, and
this, added to a brave and fiery spirit,
rendered his oratory almost resistless.
His actions in public life were always ag-
gressive and directed, without sparing, to
any one whose thoughts did not incline to-
ward his OWL. In person he wax tall and
symmetrical, While his face showed earnest
ness and culture. Before an audience he
had the %self-poise and steadiness of nerve
which arose from calm courage and long
experience as a public speaker, and from a
thorough knowledge of his side of the ques-
ton.