The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-30
MOST ELOQUENT PAGAN.
Strong Points in the Personality Of
Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Re-
Gently in Helena.
He Loves Good Music and Has a
Memory That Ia Truly
Wonderful.
Unorthodox Son of q Minister Who Grleved
Much In Consequence-Fifty-
Seven Years Old.

A correspondent of the Boston Advertise
who signs himself "Lophos." has written
column or more about Robert G. Ingerso
That this correspondent has a rather mo
than passing knowledge of his subject
proved by tho following extracts from Il
article in question:
The main points in IngersolPs life-th
he was born in Batavia, N. Y, about tift
seven years ago, that he was the son of
minister who lived a most quiet and pic,
life and died in great mental agon
brought about by a fear that his soul Wi
condemned; that this scene was q mo-
powerful incentive to lngersolrs polem
career; that he was in the main self-ed,
Gated; that he emigratedE hile quite younl
to the west, to Peoria, Ill, and there game
the foothold to success and reputation
are we'll known. and are tho legitimat
property of the biographer, whose duties
ia no part of my plan to usurp. Rober
InRsrsoll must be described by the wor'
genius" for by no other word can thi
strangely contradictory character be OK
planned. The mental equipment of thi
man is that of a logician, a philoscper,
poet and an artist in the most general sens
of the word. And as though this in itsel
was not contradiction enough, there is il
InRersoll an illogical, an unphilosophic and
. COARSE vein which contrasts strangely
with the general trend of his mind, while
his artistic temperament is often obscured
by glaring displays of wofully bad taste.
While his intellectual refinement is appar-
emit, his manners are far from polished.
He despises the conventionality Of society
and tramples upon many of them in a very
positive manner. i haye sometimes
thought that he takes a malicious delight
in violating what he knows are considered
to be the canons of good taste.
Ingersoll possess in its most perfect form
the charm of personal magnetism. All
who come in contact with him, no matter
how deeply p%rejudiced at the outset, leave
him with kindlier feelings, and the wealth
of his brain obscures all those minor traits
of mind and renders insignificant all those
trivial personal habits which go SO far in
forming our opinion of the mediocre man.
His memory for the works of Shakespeare
ia particularly noticeable. Quotations from
the great dramatist, always perfectly apt
and correct, he has at his tongues enc
Indeed, Shakespeare is his Bible, and in
Col. IngersolFs opinion no other writer,
and l might almost say, no other man, de-.
serves to be mentioned in the same breath
with Shakespeare. / remember once hear
ing Col. Ingersoll say that he never heard of
Shakespeare until he wastwenty years Of age,
when a chance incident happened to put
him in possession of q copy of king
Lear and the reading of that play marked
the beginning of a passionate love for Its
author which to-day amounts almost to q
worship. He is a great admirer of the
~ritiDro Sf Char1aa niokorS md ~ %hiu
connection it is interesting to note that
when Dickens was in America, Ingersoll
was invited to meet him at dinner, and
fatty refused to do SO, being greatly of
Tended by the csricature of America and
Americans drawn by Dickens in "Martin
Chuzzlewit." The colonel told me that he
had never ceased to regret missing this op-
portunity of meeting the great novelist,
and remarked that he now enjoyed the de-
scription of "the Furnishing town of Eden
and it's inhabitants" as much as anybody.
Victor Hugo is another author with whom
Col. Ingersoll is wonderfully conversant.
/ once had u talk with lngersoll on nov
of the novels he had read he considered the
greatest. "Les Mi%serables," he answered
without hesitation. st has no equal. But
a Tale of Two Cities would be-, perhaps.
second choice" Col. Ingersoll is a
very observanu and sometimes a very severe
critic. I will admit that he has spoiIt
several things for me BY p.5nting out
never have noticed. Of Lincoln's speech
at Gettysburg he said: "What a pity Lin
eoln put seven useless 'heres' in those
wonderful lines" now see those 'heres'
plaring at me every time read that speech.
And of Bryant's "Thanatopsis' he said;
do you suppose Bryant ever fell into
the error of saying, Thou go not like the
nuorrv all ava nj niphf cpr,rraJ 10 hi. IL
geon.' No quarry slave ever needed scourp-
ing to drive him from his work at night to
his dungeon. What Bryant must have
meant waa-'at morn scourged from his
l have spoken before of Col. Ingerselrs
of digesting his reading. This |
consider is due in a great measure to the
wonderful mind-concentration of which he
is capable. OF this l have seen many evil
and in this connection I am re-
of an incident that happened in
ono of the branches of the now celebrated
Bell telephone case. Col. Ingersoll had
been retained to make the oral argument
before the supreme court of the United
For weeks the various counsel had
endeavoring to make appointments
for the purpose of coaching Ingersoll on
The fine points Of the case. Failing in this.
they engaged a compartment in the parIor
ear which was to take them down
to WASHINGTON, intending thus to
utilize the journey, to prepare their
colonel walked through the smoking car,
and seeing an old acquaintance, dropped
INTO an adjoining seat, and that was the
the anxious lawyers saw of him until
Washington was reached. At WASHINGTON
. bath and Inner occupied most of the
evening, and it was we'll into midnipht be-
fore the refractory colonel was corralled
coached by his counsel. Imagine any
being elucidated by three or four
at once! Least of all the intricate
OF telephone law. The wee ANA
hours saw the colonel escaping from his in
The case was argued in the
'orenoon OF that day, and ] have heard il
laid by those who listened to the colonel
speech that the law of telephones was never
10 clearly stated-not Il salient point had
been neglected. He had won the case in
The smoking car from New York to Wash
neton.
Those who have read the wonderful
orosc-poem Life" written by Col. Iuoer-
'oll as u parallel to The Seven Aces of
will scarcely believe that this work
vas conceived and written in a railroad
station on q journey from New York to
But such the author tells me-
s the fact.
In addition to being an industrious read-
y where he gets time for it no one knows).
lngersoll is a great lover of music and
IN excellent Judge of it, though he is per
no musicisn; and using this ex-
makes me tell q story at nv own
~
One day Col. Ingsrsoll said to me: Or.
iis yGa 1ond OF muslcf' II am, colonel"
replied, but / am no musician" sWeil
a silly answer" said he; you might
.ust as well have replied, if / asked Won If
liked cake, Yes, but Pm no cook'n