The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-29

ing heavy surplus. He died in comfortable
circumstances, worth about 500, 900, l should
say, but might have been an exceedingly rich
man If his money methods had been like those
or Mr. English There was very little in com
mon between these two men, though they kept
up surface friendship
Mr.. Hendricks punctilious in the matter
of correspondence. He told me once that at the
beginning of his political career he made it
principle to answer every letter received.
Perhaps it was matter of political stratagem
He kept with the herculean task and never
INDUCED in the luxury of secretary1ill he
took one which the law gave him as Vice
president AS he grew in political promi-
nence his mail naturally increased to vast pro-
portions, but he never wavered to the last in his
original resolution, and | see by the dispatches
that he died with only the mail of two days I'M
answered. The amount of private writing he
did, outside or all official demands, and often to
people whom the average politicion would class
as cranks and consign to the waste basket, was
very large. l have often heard him complain of
the heavy tax on his time imposed by this habit,
but he did not want any human being to say
that he had written to Tom Hendricks and could
not get any reply.
"Of course this was great source of political
power In ITSELF for in proportion as man
hates snub he appreciates courtesy.
But if you wanted to understand the secret
OF his political following you had to travel in his
company on a campaign tour Indiana is full
or complex elements and presents more violent
contras Is in the shape of population than any
other State In the country, except North Caro-
lima l have travelled with Hendricks from the
Ohio river TO the lake, and been struck by his
capacity to adapt himself with ease to any sort
OF surroundings. He had naturally a hearty,
open way about him that attracted voters, and
to this he added the gift of recollecting those he
met Wherever he went as the crowd gathered
about him. on these campaign tours it was as
tonishing to see the skill with which he located
faces, and called names, but even more surpris-
ing to see the tact he displayed whenever his
memory failed. It was old fellow or some.
thing familiar of that kind leaving the citizen
convinced that Hendricks remembered him as
brother l chaffed the Governor on this one
day, and he answered with SMILE Politics, my
boy
'.Another trait or knack. or piece of tact. was
his ability to make every visitor, however hum
Bile, rate himself way above his par value He
was the most adroit, and sympathetic, and sue
cessful listener l ever in political life He
would stand up day after day and allow himself
to be bored with stories that had not the slight
est significance for him, and ask questions that
showed deep personal interest, and made the
visitor feel before he left that Hendricks never
went to bed at night without thinking of his
particular affairs. None of the remaining Dem
ocratic leaders of Indiana have these traits. AS
a campagner Mcdonald is cold as a flagstone;
has an immense capacity for forgetting people
he meets, and no tact in making new bonds.
What following he has is merely given to his
character for conservatism, safety and wisdom,
and could easily, so far as the question of per-
sonal attachment is concerned, be transferred
tomorrow to Smith or Brown. Voorhees, is
brilliant but variable and cratic in his
moods He will have occasional spasms
of congenal warmth, when his manner seems
to invite personal confidence; but he is so COM
pletey the victim of moods that the personnel of
the Democratic party in Indiana never felt that
his pledges or assurances could be relied on. He
is very much like Lamar in this respect sincere
enough at the time, but extremely forgetful
Neither he Mcdonald ever kept up that
steady glow in social and political intercourse
which distinguished Hendricks. Of course it is
unnecessary to add that no one ever charged the
quality of attractiveness on William III. English.
/ like to recall two incidents that will illustrate
the boyish buoyancy of Mr.. Hendricks on the
one hand, and, on the other, his phiosophic COM
posture under defeat The first occurred in In
dianapolis the morning after the memorable
campaign of 1876 had closed, and every news
paper in the land had announced the election of
Tilden and Hendricks. The abors of the cam
paign had been extremely arduous on the Gov
ernor. but the elixir of success made
him fresh as rose It was about o'clock, clear
and frosty, before the sky had commenced to be
clouded by any doubts as to the result, when he
bounded up the steps to the Governors Office.
threw the door open, and tossing his hat to the
ceiling with Comanche war-whoop. cried out
like schoolboy, We'll, boys, we've got them
now
'Then followed long months of agitation and
suspense, which he bore with all possible com
posture. Not long after the counting in process
had been completed Mr.. Hendricks walked
quietly in on the Senate floor at Washington, and
seated himself on one of the )fas. In less than
no time he was surrounded by a knot of sena
tors and commisserated as one of the sufferers
by the great fraud Thinking that commisera-
ton was the order of the day. 1 tried it on when
the senators had left him, and, noddlng toward
MIR. Whe eler, then in the chair, asked the Gov
ernor whether he allowed himself to be envious
With quiet earnestness he replied: No. not
envy l don't think of anything but the consti
tutional principle involved. No place has any
attraction for me where all the strain comes on
the seat of the trowsers'"