Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1893-01-18
The Dead senator.

when her son was ten years old, and re-
NAMED there until the breaking out of the
war. At the age Of sixteen, young
Kenna entered the Confederate army and
served as a private soldier until be was sur
rendered at Shreveport, La, in 1865, hav-
ing been severely wounded the year before.
After the war he attended St. Vincent's
College, at Wheeling, W. Va, and after
ward studied law with Miller & Quarter,
at Charleston, where he made his home for
the remainder of his life He was admitted
to the bar Of Kanawha county, June 20
1870. and at once commenced the practice
of law, meeting with encouraging success
from the start. He was elected prosecuting
attorney of his county on the Democratic
ticket in 1872, and continued to serve in
that position until 1877, when he came to
Washington as the representative of his
district in the Forty-ffth Congress, and be-
gan his career as a representative of his
State at the national capital, which contin-
ued without interruption until the time Of
his death. lie was, when he entered Con-
gress. at the age Of twenty-nine years, the
Youngest man in the House of Representa-
tiyes.
In 1875, while still serving as proseeu-
ting attorney, he was elected by the bar I'M
der the West Virginia statutory provision
IN hold the circuit courts of Wayne and
Lincoln counties. He served three full
terms in the House of Representatives, and
had been elected to the Forty-eighth Con-
gress when he was chosen by the West
Virginia Legislature to succeed Senator
Henry G. Davis.
He took his seat in the Senate December
3. 1888, aud was reelected four years ago
for the term that will expire March 8, 1895.
From the day he entered the House of Rep
resentatives Mr.. Kenna attracted attention.
He was a painstaking, industrious legisls-
tor. and looked closely after everything af-
fecting his own district or State. When he
was transferred to the Senate he at once
took leading part in debates, and until
his failing health interferred with his at
tention to his senatorial duties he was one
Of the most active men on the Democratic
side of that body. During all the time that
be served in the House and Senate he kept
up his law practice at home, and devoted
all the time he could spare from his public
duties to business before the courts. The
Senator'S wife and six children survivehim
Heart disease was the malady that threat
ened the Senator's life aud restrained his
activity for several years, and at last result
ed in bic death. Last October he took to
his bed, and several times since has seemed
at the point of death, but his remarkable
vitality and will powar enabled him to rally
from the severest strokes, aud his friends
and himself continued, almost to the end,
to entertain hope Of his ultimate recovery.
His death came unexpectedly at three
O'Clock Wednesday morning, the 1lth,-
although the symptoms Of the evening be-
fore gave little hope that the struggle for
life could continue much longer. His wife
and relatives were with him when he died.
Tn the absence of Senator Faulkner, Sen
ator J. O. :. Blackburn, Of Kentucky, an
nouuced TO the Senate the death of Senator |
Keuna, as follows;
"Ir President: 1t has never fallen to the
lot OF man to deliver a sadder message than
that which l now bear TO the Senate. Be
cause of the absence of Mr. Faulkner, |
Senator from the State of West Virginia,
the painful duty deyolyes upon me to an
nOunce to this body that John f. Kenna, |
late a Senator from that State, died in this
city in the early hours Of this morning, af- |
ter a long and lingering illness, during
which the fatal malady Of which he was
the victim made steady aud relentless prog |
ress. The end came about three O'Clock |
this morning. Surrounded by his wife and |
family he ceased to live, and the soul of the
great Senator passed behind the veil and |
made its entry into the realm of the I'M
known world. In the face of this fresh |
and mighty sorrow the tongue fails or re-
fuses to speak that which wells up in the
heart for utterance Measured by years he |
was one of the youngest members in this |
chamber-not yet torty-fve years of age
but measured by the accomplishments of
his life he ranked with the octOgenarian.-l
Whether as soldier or citizen, as husband, |
father or friend, he had rounded out life |
and leaves behind him a record to challenge /
the approval of mankind. Measured "a
lawyer or a law-maker he left his impress
upon the nation to which he belonged He
has engraven in inetiacable characters on
the history Of his country his achiev ements
here in the other branch of the National /
Legislature Kindly as a woman, unselfsh
to a fault, brave, unfiuching in the dis
charge of every duty, it has never been my
good fortune to come in contact with a ma
ture more loveable, more exalted than was
that Of our dead comrade. l will not, Mr..
President, trust myself to speak of him
now. Some day in the early future the
Senate, in obedience to its appropriate and
houored custom, viii set apart dag when
tributes viii be paid by those who knew