The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-01-16
PIG IRON KELLEY DEAD. :,
Interesting Congressiona! Facts About the
Father of the House."Hru 81
Especial to the Nep York W.rla. 1il'si'

Especial to the Ne,U York Wsrld. ] .'''sa
WASHINGTON, Jan 9.MRepresen,
tative William D. Kelley, Of Philadel-
phia, the "Fai her of the House; by
reason of his having been, the member
in longest continuous service; one Of
the leading champions of protection; to
American industries and especially OF
pig-iron, from which fact he was fre-
quently referred to as ".Pig, Iron KeI-
ley" died at the Riggs House in this
city at 40 o'clock this evening, The
Judge was seventy six years old aud
had been more or less of an invalid
for twelve or fifteen years, being a
victim of stomach catarrh, but it was
only fortnight ago that he became
80 i'll that he had to give up his work
and take to his bee. & f -
For two days he had been speech
less and unconscious. His wife. daugh-
ter and two sons were at his bedside
when he died. The body will lie in
state in the Capitol, and the funeral
will be in charge of a >int committee
to be appointed by the Senate and the
House.
BY the death of Judge Kelley, the
distinction of being Father Of the
House descends to Samuel j. Randall,
of Pennsylvania, who has served in
Congress two years less thar Judge
Kelley, and is fourteen years his
junior. Mr.. Randall, however, is be-
lieved to be mortally i'll, and it is
thought that he can never resume his
place in the House. In that event
the patriarch of the lower branch of
Congress will be a third Philadelphian
Charles O'Neill, who is now sixty-nine
years old and has served in Congress
quarter of a century. {. - - !
But, while O'Neil entered Congress
the same year as Randall, he does not
take precedence, except from the for
ty-third Congress, as he was beaten
for the forty second. There are, how
ever, no members now Irving, save
Randall, whose services have been
continuous from an earlier Congress
than the forty-third. Kelly served
constantly from 1861 ard Randall
from 1863. O'Neil's continuous ser
vice is only from 1873. Cannon, Mills,
Bland and Blount all entered Con-
gress that same year and rave never
slipped cog since; but O'Neill ranks
them by reason of his service from
1868 to 1871. .
The Father of the House is not al
ways the oldest man in it. During the
most of the long period that Judge
Kelley was Father of the House he
was antedated by Samuel S. Cox, who
first entered the House four years be-
fore him, but who broke his record
when he moved from Columbus to
New York. 1t took him four years to
convince New York that it ought to
send him to Congress, conviction it
did not waver in for twenty years As
Father Kelley was antedated by "Sun
set" Cox, so is Father Randall ante
dated by ex Senator Banks, who first
came to Congress III 1853, and the
great objector, Holman, who. arrived
in 1859. There are several men who
will antedate O'Neill when he as
sumes the paternity Of the, House.
Judge Kelley's predecessor as Father
of the House was Elihu B. Washburne
of Illinois. Judge Kelley's record
was, it is believed, never excelled for
continuity or length of service in the
House. No man has served twenty
Eve years in the Senate excepting
Thomas III. Benton. who served from
1921 to 1851, and then wound up his
career by one term in the House, sery-
ing in the Congress in which General
N. P. Banks had his first term.