Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-08
SENATOR PLUME.

Preston b. Plumb, OF Emporla, who
vas born in Delaware county, Ohio,
October IL, 1887; received a common
school education; learned the art of
printing; removed to Kansas in 1856;
was q member of the LeavenwOrth
constitutional convention in 1859; was
admitted to the bar in 1861; served in
the lower house of the legislature in
1862; was chairman of the judiciary
committee, and subsequently reporter
of the eupreme court; in August of the
same year entered the service as Sec
Ond lieutenant in the Eleventh Kan
sas infantry, and served successfully
as captain, major and lieutenant col
onel of that regiment; was member
and speaker of the Kansas house of
representatives in 1867, and also
member in the following year; was
elected to the United States senate as
a Republican to succeed James II.
Harvey, Republican,; took his seat
March 4. 1877, and was reelected in
1885. His term of service will expire
March 3, 1889.
The biography and person of Sena-
to. Plumb are so well known it would
seem supererogatory to dilate upon
them; and yet, much as has been writ
ten and published concerning the
Kansas statesman, he is nowhere APP
preciated at his full worth more than
st Washington. Senator Plnmb's hum
BILE beginnings and the courageous and
indomitable manner in which he has
fought the severe battle of life entitle
him to be crowned with the bays of
well earned fame. Unlike General
Butler, the subject of the previous
sketch, Colonel Plumb possessed no
of birth or education. His
parents were poor settlers in the then
w,lds of Ohio, aud what little in the
way of youthful experiences were &C.
quired by him at the log school house
and the country printing Office. at that
period of the rudest and most print
tive character. None but Kansans
can adequately appreciate the intelli-
gence, enterprise aud persistence
which distinguished the early settlers
of the kaw state, coming, as they did,
into the new territory with all the va
ried experiences Of lite elsewhere-the
the disappointed, the
the cultured, the unsophis-
treated, the gentle, the barbarous. and
what not, that make up the communi- |
ties that go westward TO seek new
fields in the pasture of life.
That Senator Plumb should have |
pushed his way successfully through |
this Heterogeneous mass of humanity |
attests his personal merit and superior
capacityfoTrue, accidents do SONIC
times bring men to the front who 9TH |
erwise would have remained ever in
obscurity, and sometimes there are
those who suffering the spurns that
patient merit Of the unworthy takes
never set their feet higher than the |
first round Of the ladder of fame. But |
Senator Plumb career shows that he /
has fought every inch Of ground. fire.
ouently at discouraging odds. and has
fairly and honorably earned his envi-
able prominence as q leader among
leaders in the senate of the United |
States. For untiring, indeed phenom-
email industry. Colonel Plumb has no
no superior in the
senate or elsewhere. His very life and
soul are the embodiment Of work
rood. hard indefatigable work, in all
directions and at all times. Senator
Plumb's memory is likewise wonder
full. He rarely forgets even the smsli-
est matter Of detail. As q debater he
is cogent, logical and fluent, and in
the essentials of general information
md statement Of facts is without q
peer in the senate. Hissprivate life is
lbove reproach. and his charities are
many and so carefully and secretly
bestowed that being discovered great
= disconcerts him. Speaking Of Sem