Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-02-20
HORATIO SEYMOUR.
PAS ING AWAY QUIETLY AT VII
CA AFTER A BRIEF ILLNESS
A Sketch of HIS Long and Evcntful
Political Career.

The death of Horatio Seymour. so closely
| following that of General Hancock, brought
| to an earthly close within less than q week the
lives of two Democratic candidates for Presi-
| dent Ex-Governor Seymour died at Utica,
| N. Y, on the 18th, at the residence of his
| sister, Mrs. Roscoe Conkling II, died after
| a brief illness, the cause of his death
being cerebral effusion, the usual process of
death in old age. Those present when he
passed away were: Mrs. Seymour and her
| sister, Mrs Nelson, of New Brunswick, n
| j.; the ex-gorernor's brother, John f. Sey-
| mour, of Utica; his sisters, Mrs Lincklaen
| and Mrs, Conkling; DR.. w. E. Ford and
| Judge Bulger.
The beginning of Governor Seymour's ply
/ seal ailments dates from a Snnstrolse which
befell him in the summer of 1878, while he
was industricu>iy at work ell the roa Is of his
town as pathmaster, an office which he
| was wont to say he had ;ked for
He exerted him Ell beyond his
| strength in extreme heat, aud the
consequen ,e was a severe alta TX of vertigo,
with pain in the head and some irreguarity
OF the heart. 1t left him weak, and always
aIterward his walking was less easy, and on
occasions he was unsteady while standing on
his feet. He accepted the stroke as warm
ing, and he ne yer felt that h. completely re-
covered from it. At the time of his death his
wife was also very sick.
Governor Scymour's Career.
Horatio Seymour was in his seventy sixth
year, and for the last thirty years of his life
has been one of the mCst widely known of
| the Democrats Of the country, scarcely
national convention having been held dur
ing that time in which his name was not
mentioned as q possible candidate for the
presidency. He wa; horn in Poapey, Onon-
ca "a county. NY, May 81, 1870 His father,
itenry seymour, was one of the leading men
of the little village, and took an active part
in the politics of the State. When Horatio
was about nine years Old his parents removed
to Utica. The boy was sent to the academies
Of Oxford and Geneva, New York. When
hoping to benefit his health, sent him to a
military school at Middletown, Conn Here
ne gained health and strength, studied hard,
and improved rapidly. After leaving the
school he studied law in Utica, and in
1873 he was admitted to the bar. At about
the same time he was married to Miss
Mary Blocker, of Albany, a young lady of
many accomplishments His father dying he
never entered actively upon tho practice of
his profession, his time being fully occupied
IN the management of his own large estate
and that of his wife
Governor Wi liam L. Marcy in 1888, APP
pointed Mr. Seymour on his military
sSatf, position which he held for six
years In 1871 he was elected to the
assembly as Democrat. The assembly
of 1872, in which he took his seat,
included such men as Michael Hoffman,
J John a. Dix, Sanford L. Church and Calvin
l. Hubbard among its leaders, but
Horatio Seymour took a position in the
front rank from the first, surp sing even his
friends by the proficiency which he displayed
IN the e.. science of legislation Returning
TO Gtlca after the session he
was elected mayor of that city. The
following winter he was again nominated
for the ssembly, and was reelected in 1874.
and made speaker of the hous, for the
SEES ion of 1915. An exciting ses, ion of the
legisla ure followed in which the b.ll for a
Gon'tltutonal INVENTION wa; pas ed, and the
Denlocra " wa; d >rLpted from one end of
the State to the other
For the next five years Horatio Seymour
remained quietly at his home in Utica.
taking no active part in politics. In 1850
however, when his party was in hop I.
less minority, he was induced to accept
the Democratlc nomination for governor,
ana after very vigorous campaign was
de.eated by Washington Hunt, the Wing
candidate, by the scant aiority of 2G2! In
1882 however, he again ran fgainst the same
opponent and Tollrkins, the Free Soil candi-
date. and this time he was success sful, being
elected by plurality Of 22,506 He entered
upon ms 1llSt term as governor during one of
the mosS exciting periods in the history of New
OK The advocates of temperance had gained
strong hold in the minds of the voters,
and were clamoring loudly for a stringent
prohbltory law modelled on that which had
recently been passed in Maine. The legisla-
ture OF 1854 passed su III a law, and Governor
seymour promptly vetoel it on the ground
that it was unconstitutional. His action cost
nm MS seat. He was reuomiuatCd in the
tall of 1854, and ran against Il Prohibitionist,
q hnow-Nothing, and N Free Soil candidate
Inc Prohibitionist, Myron II. Clark, was
elected ny plurality of 800 votes and Gov
ernor seymour again retired to private life
Events We're fast moving onward to the
greet crash of 1861. Mr.. Seymour was of
tered foreign mission after the election of
Buchanan, but declined it, and remained in
re,lremen5 until the fall of 1862, when the
tefm OF Edwin D. Morgan, the RcIu Dlcan
war so 'ernor of New York, was
about to c,ose Horatio Seymour was
made the Democratic nominee for
governor, and General James 8. Wadsworth
was his Republican opponent. Seymour made
personal canvass of the State. Most of the
prominent Democratic orators had gone over
TO the Republicans, and he was forced to take
nearly all the burden of the campaign on his
own sh oulders The fight was close and
bitter one, but Horatio Seymour won
1t by majority of 1862, In his
inaugural address, January I, 1863, no
announced his intention of stand
ipG firmly by the government in it's effort to
SUSAN the Union, and declared that ''un Ter
| nc circumstances can the divis on of the
Union be conceded" He forwarded troops
10 Washington as fastas the President called
for them and uudert ooll to garrison the forti-
nlatlon' of New York with State militia.
The troops We're actually on the move from
The interior when on July Ii the order was
countermandod at the request of General
| Wool. That day the terrible draft riots b.
gan. Governor Seymour was at Long
Brancl, but he hurried to the city, and on the
| lith issued two proclamations, one calling on
| the rioters to disperse and the other declaring
| the city in state of insurrection
lie divided the city into districts,
| placed under the control of military
IN, who were ordered to organize the citi-
| zen', and 5000 stan1i of M, were issued TO
tn ,se and other organi ations. TIE governor
VISITED the r.otous districts in person AMI by
I a , h,ytl 4