Evening journal., 1888-06-22
THURMAN AND HIS UNCLE.
GOSSIP AND STORY ABOUT SOME OF
THE OLD STATESMEN OF OHIO.
Allen G. Thurman's Quarrel with Bill
Allen-Thurman's Boyhood-His Char
acter and Eiaine's EuIogy of Him-How
He Lives at Columbus.
Ispecial Correspondence.l

WE'LL InnJ ne IL now nNlnR IN MS new
house at Columbus and that his health is
better than it has been for years. met
Senator Thurman at the convention OF
1884. which nominated Cleveland. and in
teryiewed him as to his condition at that
time. Chicago was filed with politicians,
and not few Of them went about with |
red bandanna handkerchiefs tied about |
their hats in honor of the Ohio senator |
Mr.. Thurman was receiving calls by the /
hundreds, and he had stood the siege very |
well He told mo that he weighed 24O |
pounds and he had the stomach of an os |
trich. He was undoubtedly much disap |
pointed In not getting the nomination |
though this years convention has in some |
measure made up for the past, and his
life during the past ten years has not beer
one of roses.
He was brought up in Chillicothe, O..
and was a nephew of Senator vii
liam Allen. Allen did q great deal foi
him, but feud arose between them, and il
was. it is said, the lack Of Aliens support
that prevented Thurman from getting the
presidential nomination at the time Iilden
was nominated. / met relative of Bill
Allen at Chillicothe some time ago and had
a long talk with him about the Allen
Thurman feud. He told me it began il
1873 and it came from Thurman's desire
for the presidency This was the yeal
that Allen was elected governor OF
Ohio. The Democratic party was in bad
way and Thurman wanted reelection to
the senate. Allen had gone into retire
ment at his Fruit Hill farm, and when he
was asked If he would accept the nomina
tion, he said that he did not care for the
| governorship of Ohio. It was nothing
but place for the signing Of
| Justice of the peace commissions, and
1t was only blank petit larceny Office
anyway. II was not until Just before the
convention met that Allen consented to
take the nomination, and he finally ac.
cepted 1t only because Of a telegram which
i Thurman sent him asking him to take the
place for his sake and for the sake Of the
party. The story of the campaign is well
known. 1t put Allen to the front in Ohio
,politics and Thurman fell to the rear
Talk at once sprang up of the advisability
lof nominating Allen for the presidency in
1875, but Thurman IN the meantime had
grown Jealous and gave him no active
support in this second campaign for the
governorship.
The result was that when Thurman was
a a candidate for tho presidency at st. Louis
Allen did not offer him his support and
iut OhlNI NttAlInta VI Alt OiAb htAAOlAAlN
went against him. The Payne and Jewett
factions had their own candidates in the
field and l'ilden got the nomination.
The above story | give for what it is
worth. The man who told it had the pos
session Of all Of Aliens papers, and there is
no doubt in his mind but Thurman would
have been a presidential candidate long
ago had he courted rather than slightec
his uncle. -
, Senator Thurman is, however, a greater
man than was the noted Fog Horn
Allen. lie is broader minded, better edu
Gated and more highly cultured Allei
was a sort of a rough diamond, who's
r polishing was all done in the school o
, active politics. He had one of the strong
est voices that was ever heard in th
q United States senate, and he was know
' here as Fog Horn Allen or the Ohio Gong
+ Senator Edmunds says Thurman is tn
greatest lawyer In the United States.
was at Chillicothe that he first studie
g law, and there are citizens at Chillicoth
. who remember him as boy. / met on
q of these during recent visit there, and
l. asked him what kind of child youn
!. Thurman was. He replied:
10 "Allen G. Thurman's father was name
IL Pleasant Thurman. He was a travelin
=. Methodist preacher, and when he cam
here he settled down and took up tn
business Of wool carding and spinning
y He brought his boy Allen and his viii
j with him, and young Allen Thurman wa
AZ rather n fine looking boy, with big hea
y and fairly good face. His head was
g. little too big for his body and he was NJ
ID what you call beauty. The Thurman fan
re lily were poor, as were most preacher
AZ families IN those days and Aliens mothl
ts,h hell ffll fl,a
= book. She was a bright woman, and
was from her that young Allen got h
first instruction. He afterwards went
OF the Chillicothe academy. which was then
ie very good school. He then got positiC
lis in the postofiice here as q clerk, and viii
Il. dealing out letters learned surveyin
th He then studied law and practiced till
al went into politics. He spent all his bo
~ hood here and he had made something
ba reputation when he went 70 Columb
!, to live" -
\, n "What kind Of man was Senat
% Allen" / asked.
'a eve call him Bill Allen down her,
ars was the reply, land We ell liked him.
lived most Of the time at his farm ne
here and his grave is over there In
z. cemetery. His wife lies there too, a
Allen thought everything Of her. S
en- died at Washington while he was In C
gress. It was before the days Of railroa
ca and he carried her body hcme over I
on mountains. riding on horseback beside
wagon In which they put the cofliE
sai sat up every night with the corpse and
OF had his little daughter along with hi
lily This daughter is now married and
be lives here. The senator and his wife
"a side by side over there in the graveyar,
80 DR. Scott, who was Bill Aliens SON
ess law and who married the little daugh
art who made this dreary tripover tho mou
I il aims, told me that biography Of Sena
IA Allen might be published in the fut
~ and that the papers which he left W
'n9 valuable He said that Allen seld
am wrote letters himself and never answe
i've them when he could help it, He ne
Mr.. wrote out his speeches, bnt spoke
md tempore after studying up the subje
= He told me that Allen was especially f
40 Of Scott's novels, that he was a q
'ost student Of Shakespeare and that he
nal the best posted on historical matters
The any man in the state Of Ohio at the t
~. of his death -
Returning to Thurman, he could W
a'e very good book Of "reminiscences, If
iity would. He was nominated for cong
and Ia 1874. and he has been in the ac
~ whirl of politics ever since. He has lSn,
,ua all Of the great men Of the past gen
- tion, and he has made, perhaps, as II