The herald., 1893-10-30
THE LATE CARTER HARRISON.

DIR. Samuel johnson said OF Edmund
Burke that you could not step in under
an awning with him for five minutes
without being convinced that you were
talking to an extraordinary man. The
late Carter H. Harrison. whose un.
timely taking off the people of Chicago
are now lamenting. was such person.
The range and brillisncy of his personal
gifts were quite out of the common, as
many Angelefios had occasion to observe
during his visit to this city. He pos
sessed every advantage which a man
could have in this country. His family
affiliations we're illustrious, and ranged
from that of Chief Justice Marshall to
that of Benjamin Harrison's ancestors.
While his father was not wealthy, he
gave the young man all the advantages
of wealth; and, unlike most Americans,
he was not spoiled by the gifts of for
tune. An elaborate education, with ex-
tensiye travel in Europe, left him the
same Democrat that he was when he
started out in his career. In fact, so
intense was his democracy that many
people had no hesitation IL calling him
demagogue.
The deep damnstion of his taking off
is intensified by the fact that he was de-
cisively friend of the people. Strange
irony of fate that the darling of the prol-
etarist-to use an expression that prop
IL haI 60 E,,ronn-oho,-l Ia ho dOna
to death by a workingman 1t required
all of Carter Harrison's innate love for
the masses to prevent him from follow
ing his own aristocratic predictions.
Not one man in ten thousand who could
boast OF the social distinction of the late
mayor could have resisted the tempta-
tion to affiliate with the exclusive por-
ton of his fellow citizens. His course,
on Lesser plane, was like that of Mira
beau during the French revolution. He
antagopized the elements with which it
would be naturally supposed he would
have combined.
The comparison with Mirabeau is not
amiss, for Garter Harrson's career was
lChily AldAy JCdl5 a OACs I1C
ruled the tumultuous elements that
form the substratum OF Chicago life with
the peculiar power that Mark Antony,
under Shekspeares subtle manipula-
tion, applies to Cesar. His gifts we're
Of the first order, and to have been five
times mayor of Chicago is in reality
greater proof of daring sagacity and
finesse than to have been twice presi-
dent @: the United States. His advance
to great station in the Democratic party
of the nation was prevented by his un.
common frankness in speaking his mind,
and he could give utterancs to his al
ways energetic and uncompromising
sentiments in great many languages.
He would undoubtedly have been the
Democratic nominee for vice-president
on the ticket with Cleveland in 1888 if
it had not been for his declaration, at a
public banquet in Chicago. that some
form of protection was needed in this
country. His political triumphs were &C.
centuated by the fact that hesnever sup
pressed an opinion, but gave it the ut
most vehemence of expression, hit or
mise. Such thing as trimming or
evading any issue of any kind was i'm
possible to his fiery and invincible mind.
There are men in the United States,
in the forefront OF politics on both eides,
that are not patch ON the late mayor
of Chicago. The grief over his death in
that city will be something phenome-
nal, and it will reach deep down into the
hearts OF the poor-the "mudsills" of
society--for whom bis heart was always
open. His assassination will intensity
feeling, which is already strong in the
Windy City," that vigilant eye must
be kept on profeesed anarchists and nj
hilists. But the facts in this case are
complicated. The man Prendergast
does not appear to have been identified
with any club or to have been conspicu-
GUS as an agitator. He seems to have
been mere crank, of the Guiteau class,
and to have been lunatic rather than a
conspirator. Like Guiteau, he thought
himself uniustly deprived of office; and,
like Guiteau, he shot the man he sup
posed had wronged him.