Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-19
A FAMOUS SCANDAL
Recalled by the Suicide of Young
Willie Sprague Out West.
STORIES ABOUT SALMON P. CHASE.
How His Daughter Kate Was Humiliated at
the White House.
LITERARY AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORK

| icoRREsPoNDENCK OF THE DIsPATCH.i
| WASHINGTON, October 1S-The suicide
OF Willie Sprague, the grandson of Salmon
P. Chase, at Seattle a few days ago is bring
ing forth number of new stories about the
characters in the Chase-Sprague-C Conkling
scandal. Here at Washington Kate Chase
has always been considered as having been
more sinned against than SHINING. Sprague
was very rich man at the time of his mar.
riage, and his money and position over
shadowed his real character. His drinking
tendencies were not known and he acted in
such manner soon after the marriage that
Kate Chase, who was in intimate connection
with the greatest minds Of her day, lost all
respect for him. She tried for long time
to conceal her disgust and she kept him
many times from public disgrace
| 1 heard last night of a state dinner at the
White House, which gives faint idea of
the indignities she had to undergo. This
dinner was given by President Lincoln to
Chief Justice Chase in honor OF his appoint
ment as head of the Supreme Court 1t was
a swell affair. The Justices of the Supreme
Court and the highest officials were present
| with their wives, and Mrs. Kate Chase
1
DEEP HUMILIATION.
| She was the center of admiration, and she
sat on Mrs. Lincoln's left hand, opposite her
father, who had the seat on the right of the
Presidents vile, as the guest OF honor.
| Sprague was then in the United States Sen
| ate, and he had taken one OF the other ladies
out to dinner, and had seat on the other
side Of the table some distance from his wife,
He evidently had taken several drinks be-
fore he came to the White House, and at the
third course his eyes became CLASSY and his
| voice thick. At the end of the fourth he
sank back in his chair in deep sleep. Mrs.
Sprague knowing his condition had kept
| some watch of him, and as she saw this her
face turned pale, but she did not give any
other indication of her trouble.
| She at last managed TO catch her fathers
| eye, and he saw at once that she was in
| agony. She looked at her husband, and the
Chief Justice then said to Mrs. Lincoln: 81
see that Senator Sprague is ill. Will you
| not have your butler take him out quietly to
the cloak room?" Mrs. Lincoln gave the
directions, and two walters carried him, this
husband of the then brightest woman in
Washington, out and laid him on the
lounge. where he slumbered until dinner
was over.
SHE HID HER SUFFERING.
Then the Chief Justice superintended
putting him into his carriage and he was
taken home. Mrs. Sprague was almost dy-
ing with modification, but throughout that
long dinner she gave no signs of her pain
She was as bright in her repartees as ever
and she listened with smile to the compli-
mentary speeches and congratuIatory re-
marks that were given to her father. This
happened early in her married lite Is it
hat hnr -.
went on and such excesses became frequent?
Kate Chase-Sprague was only "a when
she was married. but her lite had been such
that she knew more of men and things than
the grayest-haired lady among her guests on
that occasion. She was her fathers con-
fdential secretary. She had presided over
his home in Columbus while he was Gov
ernor of Ohio, and she was his chief lieu
tenant and most ardent worker in his cam
paign for the Presidency of the United
States. 1t may be that her ambition to have
her father in the White House made her
marry Governor Sprague, for Chase, though
he had been Senator of the United States
and had had a long public career, was far
from wealthy, and he had no money 'to put
where it would do the most good" Sprague
was the richest man in Rhode Island and
he was thought to be several times a
millionaire.
WHEN EACH WAS A GOVERNOR.
He met Kate Chase when her father was
Governor of Ohio and when he was Cover
nor of Rhode Island. 1t was at Cleveland,
where Kate Chase was visiting. The we'd
ding took place here in Washington while
Salmon P. Chase was Secretary of the
Treasury. His house was on Sixth street,
near the Patent Office, place that is now
far out in the fashionable part of the city.
1t was in the days OF President Lincoln one
of the finest houses here, and the bridal
chamber, the library and parlor which the
young couple were to occupy were furnished
with every luxury which wealth and good
taste could supply. Marble mantels were
imported from Italy, Oriental rugs covered
the floors and the parlor was luxuriously
furnished.
The wedding was grand one, and Presi-
dent Lincoln was among the guests. He
reached the house just after the ceremony
had been performed and he gave the bride
a hearty kiss when he came in. He was
told that the wedding was over and replied
that he regretted it, but if it was so he had
to submit, and added, 81 suppose you can't
burn that gunpowder twice for even Presi-
dent"
HOW SHE FIXED THE CoACHMAN.
Mrs. Chase is now living on her farm,
Edgewood, near Washington. It was the
country home of her father during his last |
days, and the city has gradually crawled up
to it until it is now worth fortune. Itcon- |
tains 30 acres, and Mrs. Chase farms it so |
that she makes money out of it, and that is |
doing more than most farmers do about !
Washington. She manages everything and |
sometimes even follows the plowman to see |
that he does his work properly. She buys |
everything that goes into the larm, and Is a |
good financier aud good manager.
1t was the same when she was the wife of |
Governor Sprague. Sne controlled her |
household and her servants with an iron |
hand encased in gloves of velvet. She |
would not tolerate impudence or disobe- |
dience. She once asked one of her coachmen |
to do something in the house. The man OBJ |
jected and said that he had been hired to at
tend to the horses, and that his only place of |
duty was on the box oil the carriage and in |
the stable. "All right" said Mrs. |
Sprague. And she thereupon ordered out |
the carriage and kept the coachman sitting |
on the box all night. AS his place was a
good one he submitted rather than throw up |
his job, but he never re- used to do anything
that Mrs. Sprague asked thereafter.
KATE CHAsE's LITERARY WORK.
Kate Chase is still a very fine looking
woman. She looks ten years younger than
she really is, and she works as hard as any
woman in Washington. She is writing a
life OF her father, and her work will be full