Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1893-12-22
DEATH orc. ". CASE.
AnOther HOnored Pioneer and
official of Idaho County
Dies .SuddeHIy.

1t is only thirteen months since
we chronicled the sudden death OF
T.J. Rhoads, Auditor and Recorder
of Idaho county, and the appoint
ment of G. w. Case to the vacancy.
The many friends and acquaint-
ances of Mr.. Case We're painfully
startled and shocked by the an
nouncment of his death at Mt.Ida-
no on Saturday morning last, De-
cember 16, 1898. He had been in
his customary health for some time,
but on the previous evening he
was attacked with neuralgia of the
heart; the attack was not thought
serious by the family or by the at
tending physician but the patient
himself knew that the end was
near and met it with his accustom-
ed philosophy and resignation. For
some time past he had been aging
and growing more and more feeble
very fast, and he seemed to have a
presentiment that his days were
numbered, for he had frequently
of late predicted that his death
would be sudden. Standing on the
brink of time, on the threshold of
eternity, and lingering at the por-
tails of the Valley of Death, he
calmly made every preparation
for the future welfare of his family
and left them well provided for. A
desire to live and to enjoy the So
ciety of friends was fervent and
strong within him, but when the
inevitable mandate came he faced
it with manly resignation, and
when the summons came he was
prepared to go.
Mr.. Case was born in 1882, in
Michigan, then a verdant wild. In
1850 he came to California. He
came to Idaho on the flood-tide of
the gold-seekers' stampede in 1861,
and for many years he resided in
Warrens. He was elected sheriff of
Idaho county in 1875, and filled
the Office of Probate Judge for sew
eral terms in succession down to
our admission us a State in 1890.
In that year he was nominated for
joint senator to represent Nez Perce
and Idaho counties in the first ses-
sion of the State legislature, but
was defeated by Mr.. Weller. In
the last campaign he was nominal
ted for county commissioner, but
was defeated by Jacob Riebold.
Upon the death of jeff Rhoads last
November he was appointed coun-
ty clerk, and filled this office at the
time of his death.
But altho' so repeatedly before
the public Mr.. Case was not in any
sense of the word politician. He
never intrigued for a nomination
nor canvassed for his election. He
was Simply an earnest, democrat
whom his co-laborers in the dem
ocratic vineyard delighted to hon
or for his sterling integrity and
moral worth. The arts of the poll
tician were extremely distasteful
to him and he never could be got
to realise the utility or necessity
of practical campaign work. In
former campaigns, when we were
chairman of the democratic county
committee we urged it as his duty
to canvass the county for himself
and his colleagues on the ticket,
but his reply in his own slow and
deliberate manner was: "Well,
Parker, l don't believe in these
hurrah campaigns. If the people
want me they will vote for me; if
they don't, l shall go down on the
ranch and go to farming" Such
was the nature of his faith in the
common sense of the people and
we do not hesitate to say from long
and intimate personal knowledge
that he would not lift finger to
secure his election. But in spite
OF these traits he was always prom
inent in the councils of his party,
and although he had no political
aspirations he was called upon to
serve the people in one official ca
pacity and another for fifteen con-
tinuous years, which, with his last
year, made 16 years of his life Civ
en- to the cause of public duty. He
sought no public office, but when
its duties were laid upon him he
was the most faithful of men.
Everybody knew where to find him.
He would never shirk duty, how
ever unpleasant it's performance
might be. He had in an eminent
degree the religion of faithfulness.
What he undertook to do he did
well. Whether the cause was pop
ular or otherwise, once committed.
he stood by it. He had sterling
honesty and conscientiousness in
the discharge ofpublic trusts which
the old-timers of this county, re-
gardless Of their political af1ilia-
tions, had learned to appreciate.
Mr.. Case was a man of few words
but his mind was well stored with
that hard practical common sense
which can only be acquired in the
vicissitudes of life spent amid the
mining camps and mountains of
these far western States. Owing
to his native modesty and reticent
habits he was hard man to get
acquainted with, and the later i'm
migration never realised his worth.