The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-05-11

noted by any one of his particular
friends in SO short period of time.
The interview extended over n period of
three days, and ut last the senator
looked across the table at me with an
air of great amusement and relief as he
tossed back the gray wave from his
sleepy eyes, seeming to think that he
had finished with the whole thing, and
that the work was now to be begun by
the interviewer. He expressed ut no
time the first shade of any lack of con-
fidcnce in me. He gave me that great
mass of ridiculously contradictory opin-
ions annotated freely in his own hand
writing, so that no one could have
doubted their verify without the
slightest shadow of distrust. l car
ried this bundle of miscellaneous
notes over to my home and worked on
them for the next three or four days.
Mr.. Carpenter went to New York the
next day. Before going he said: 81
leave the whole matter in your hands.
You and Coleman can fix it up between
yourselves" While in New York he
telcgraphed me: Hold the interview
until l return" This request was, of
course, complied with. When Mr.. Car
pcntcr came back within few days he
took the manuscript rs Mr.. Coleman and
had revised it and again revised it. Mr..
Carpenters special desire to stop the in
tcrview, as indicated by his telegram,
was on account of the financial para
graph in it. He said: "Cut out the
question and answer" adding: There
isn't man in Wisconsin but what
knows that | know nothing about the
management of finances, public or pri-
vatc, and I'm not going to make fool
of myself pretending that do" And
SO the financial paragraph was dropped.
The interview produced from the mass
of notes finally left column and half
of printed matter. The original CONVEX
sation would have required at least six
columns. AS it was finally printed it
appeared to be an easy off hand talk
between the correspondent and the sem
ator The senator was depicted as GOV
and not ovcrwilling, but finally yielded
with complaisancc to the demands made
upon his courtesy by the ardent requests
of Il correspondent ambitious to publish
his first interview. 1t was copied into
every paper in the state of Wisconsin,
and presented the senator in such fa-
vorablc light to his state that he was
reelected to the United States senate
with less opposition than he could have
hoped. During the entire campaign he
never went near the state, and when
the election was over and he was again
restored to his proud place in the senate
Mr.. Carpenter was very frank to admit
that he owed his election to this partic-
ular newspaper interview.
After this | was always made welcome
in his Office, which he continued to
keep open after being returned to the
senate. never knew any public man
who was SO courteous and kind. MANY
politicians are grateful for favors to
come, but Mr. Carpenter did not belong
to this class. There was no time of dny
or night that could not command his
services and hes. opinions upon current
matters.
I shall never forget the last dime
saw him. He was then ut the zenith Of
public success. lie had conquered all
the home cnmitics, so that he was
certain to remain in the senate as long
as he lived. He occupied position in
his profession unrivalcd. He was con-
stantly in demand in the greatest of the
leading cases in the supreme court.
Fees poured in to him from every dircc-
ton. The mere announcement that he
was going to speak in the senate
crowded the galleries with the beauty
and fashion of Washington society.
Upon the evening called to sec
him found him sitting alone in one of
the smaller rooms of his suite He was
seated in front of the dead ashes of a
blackencd fireplace. His soft black hat
was shaded over his eyes. This was his
favortc position when engaged in
thought. | did not know at the time
that the senator was looking from the
shadows of the gathering gloom of the
twilight of that summer evening into an
open grave. lie had just returned from
New York, whore the most eminent
physicians of the day told him that
there was nothing in medical science
which could prolong his life beyond one
year. He came home from this CONSUL
tation under sentence of death. His
malady, Bright's disease, had become
so far developed before he had thought
it necessary to consult the best
medical advice that there was no hope
for him. The senator asked the ply
sicians to produce the proofs of their
sentence. They gave him all of the au-
thorities upon the subject of this most
intricate and battling disease They also
showed him the tests as made by them
in proof of the deadly character of the
evidence they had found in their exami-
nations Mr.. Carpenter did not accept
this as final until he had mastered the
authorities upon the subject and had
himself made the test described by the
physicians. Upon the evening saw
him he had made all these calculations
and had figured ont nearly to a day
how long he would have to live. He