The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-13
ROMANCE OF GEN. CLAY.
KENTUCKTS FAMOUS WARRIOR TO
WE'D HIS i5- YEAR-OLD WARD
Not Known Whether the Marriage Cere-
mony Hes Yet Been Cslebrated-Ee-
centric In His Solitude.

known here and Abroad as the old war
horse of ante-bellum days" had secured a
license. and was perhaps already mar
ried to a fifteen-year-old girl. who had
been his ward, they were surprised be.
yond measure.
There has been the greatest curiosity
to ascertain whether the lily assorted
couple have been really married as YET,
but the General has long lived IN solitude
at his country seat, at White An, u.
the Madison-county forest, ten miles from
Richmond, and II is in this spot where
the honeymoon Is to be passe>.. Inc place
Is all but inaccessible. for the old geiltle-
man. long prey to his own eccentrie ran,
cies has maintained an armed suaru
around the White Hall. to protect MIN
from persons who, he has believed, sousht
his life, and the country is so ionels 'nae
no one has been able to ascertain tne
absolute truth Of the stories now anoat.
Besides this, no one here. the nearest
point to White Hail. is willing now to take
a trip To General Clay's home, whicn
could not be reached until the shades OF
night had fallen. There is not man IN
the county who would care TO disturb
the General at night
Brutus j. Clay. his son, told me last
night that his father was not yet married.
and neither the County Judge nor any or
the magistrates will perform the cere-
mony.
EVERYBODY FEARS HIM.
General Clay has come to be regarded
in his extreme old age as a desperate
man. He has killed three men in his
time, and everybody who knows him is
afraid Of him. There will be a descent
upon him tomorrow by daylight. and
then Il may be ascertained whether this
May and December wedding has really &C.
Cured. as is currently believed here.
1t came out yesterday that General
Clay had visited this place Saturday and
Richardson. his en-year-old ward. She
has for two years been an inmate OF his
family The general left his wife sew
eral years ago. Mrs. Richardson was
near White Hall, and the General took
her daughter to his home and adopted
her He has since provided her with the
means to secure a fine education Tor q
young girl, but nobody ever imagined that
he had any intention of finally making
her his wife.
Cora's only relatives are two brothers
and IL is Understood they have given
their consent to the marriage. The girl
II a brunette, with the attractive face
of a healthy country girl, but without
great beauty.
General Clay drove into Richmond with
a neighbpr Henry G.. Stagner, who signed
the marriage bond with him, as the Ken
lucky law requires. County Judge Che
nault was engaged to perform the mar
rage ceremony but was III yesterday
and could not go TO White Hall. and 1t ~
not known whether General Clay secured
another magistrate or not.
General Cassus NJ. clay has been
noted figure for many years In this coun-
try, as legislator statesman and iatterly
as an eccentric character who had taken
a mlstrust OF his fellowmen, ana was
miserable over mythical plots TO END his
life He has figured i'm many duets re
WIS n relative OF Colonel William Cassius
Goodloe, to whom he presented the orr, dlrH
ftk. ct
Snope. In the Lexington post-oihce. Inc
Colonel became an expert In the use 9l
the weapon. under the instruction OF MS
aged tutor.
STILL HALE AND HEARTY.
Though so old the General retains MS
physical health and activity 20 a REMARK
able degree and Is still nara worker
ON his estate. where he has been engaged
since his retirement from public life ia
raising thorough bred sheep. lie Is
wealthy.
lie is a typical southern man, and Is
either loved or hated all over Kentucky.
He is a son of the famous Indian hghter
and early settler General Green cay
and was born In Kentucky on october
10, 1910 He was graduated from Yale IN
Yale that ne heard William Lloyd Garri-
son deliver one OF his eloquent anu
slavery addresses. 1t converted the young
man, and he became an abolitionist. lie
and the views on this subject which he
expounded in bis native State at a time
when to do so was TO take his lie III
his hands made him at the same time an
object OF the love, fear and hatred or the
various people OF the state.
General Clay was elected 10 the Ken
lucky Legislature in 1885, and was mem
Der OF the convention that nominated
General William Henry Harrison Tor
When he again ran for the legislature
from Lexington district In $50 now
ever, his extreme anti-slaYery views were
the cause OF defeat. He was not afraid
to declare himself an ab1litionist. he
never knew fear, so his old friends have
always said, and his own conduct an
through life has emphasized the tact. re
killed three men and all but fatally
wounded a fourth in duels growing out OF
personal or political quarrels.
LAUGHED AT ALL THREATS.
While he was editing an abolltlonist
paper in Lexington, in the Ds, the slave
owners threatened TO clean out mis- estab-
lshment and TO hang him. Tie General
laughed at them.
In his own memoirs he tells Of the re-
ception he had prepared for them II the
men who hated him had not been AFRAID 10
carry out their threats. He wrote:
IL selected for my Office brick build
ing, end lined the outside doors with sheet
iron 10 prevent Il being burned / pur-
chased two brass fOur-pounder cannon AZ
Cincinnati and placed them. loaded with
shot and nails on a table breast nigh,
had folding doors secured with a chain
which could open upon the mob and give
play TO the cannon. | furnished my office
with Mexican lances and a limited num-
Der of guns. There were six or eight per
sons who stood ready 10 defend me. Ii
defeated they were TO escape by trap
door to the roof. / had placed a keg or
powder and match which / could set
off and blow up the Office and all my
invaders. This | should most certainly
have done In case Of the last extremely"
Ger eral Clay served In the Mexican war.
He supported Lincoln In 80, and was APP
pointed by the President Minister to Rus
STA, where he acted for this country In
the transfer Of Alaska from Russian pos
session. Upon his return here he made a
famous speech in Louisville, attacking
General Grant, which made him some
what unpopular. He became "A liberal
Republican. and worked for the election
Of Greeley In 1872 and then In 1876 became
a Democrat and supported Samuel j.
Tilden. lie swung around again I'm 1884
10 the fortunes OF Mr. Blaine, whose
election he advocated.
General Clay has not taken an active
pf-It I'm public affairs since that time, but
has lived in semi-solitude at his country
place. In personal appearance he would
attract attention among thousand. lie
Is more than six feet tall and. very erect.
He Is we'll prOportloned. with small black
eyes close cropped hair and mustache
and side whiskers snow white.
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womaB's Christian Association
The board OF managers Of the Woman's