The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-10-17

GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN, October IA
x-United States Senator Thomas w. Ferry
died here very suddenly this morning, o.
paralysis.
Senator Ferry had been in splendid health
excepting attacks of sudden dizziness. unit
three days ago, when he took to his bed. LAS
evening he was given hypodermie injection.
| The family sat up with him shori time, when
he seemed to be asleep. This morning they
found he was dead.
Thomas White Ferry was born at Macki-
nae, June ], 1927. His father was Presby-
terrain missionary, and in early days, before
Michigan had become a state, he went to
Mackinac Island to labor among the Indians
In the 30s he moved up the lake to Grand
| Haven at the mouth of Grand River.
| There he resumed his pastoral duties,
and on the side become interested in mercan-
tile enterprises and numbering. The dominic
was shrewd old fellow, and laid the founda-
tons for the Ferry fortunes, which popular
rumor fifteen years ago placed among the
millions. The boy was educated in the public
schools. and early acquired fondness for
public life. He was elected supervisor, and
then to the state legislature in 1853. He
served in the House six years and in the State
Senate one term. He was Michigan's candi-
date for vice president in the national con-
ventiOn in 1860. He was four times elected
to Congress from this district, beginning in
1864, and twice elected United States senator,
beginning in 1871. As supervisor he made
study of parliamentary law, and in the legis-
lature, State Senate and in Congress he per-
fected himself in the practice, and became a
master of the science.
In the Senate he was ever ready on any
question, and upon the death of Vice-Presi-
dent Wilson, as president pro TEN. OF the
Senate. he presided over the deliberations of
that body. He was the presiding officer dur
ing the exciting t'me of the Tilden-Hayes
contest, and ascribed the wrecked condition
of his nerves TO the sleepless nights and in
tense strain which fell TO his share at that
time. He late in life thought he saved the
country from a renewal of hostilities, and
preserved, framed and kept sacred the pen
which he used in signing the document which
gave the presidency to Hayes. During that
time his name was household word from the
Atlantic to the Pacific; his fame was more
than national; his every action was watched
with interest Once popular, powerful ard
famous, he fell into seclusion and retirement
almost that of hermit. and the path to the
portals of the house in which his father lived
before him which was once worn deep with
the feet of those who came from afar to see
him, is now scarcely distinguished from the
surrounding ground. Broken in health and
spirits, sick at heart for hopes deferred and
ambitions unsatis6ed, and with scant fortune
to live on, he became a wreck of his former
self. 1t was rarely that he was seen in pub
lie, and it has been long since anybody
stopped over night in the run down and worn
OUT old town TO see him. In conventions his
face and figure and voice would once arouse
the widest annlausa and xvhIla in
his last years he would not have been recog-
nized by one in ten in any assembly of the
party which he formerly led, and all this has
been the work of dozen brief years.
Mr.. Ferry's downfall came in 1888. He
was a candidate for reelection for a third
term. Jay A. Hubbell. some of whose upper
peninsular schemes Ferry had antagonized in
the Senate, was bitterly opposed to his re-
election, and led the fight against him. The
balloting began on January 16, and continued
until March IA. In all, eighty-one ballots
were taken. The end of the fight came on the
evening of March II, when. on the fifth ballot
the Ferry forces began to weaken and scatter,
and before morning Thomas W. Palmer had
been elected. amid scenes OF the widest con-
fusion and excitement.
In the early part of the contest rumors were
set afloat affecting Mr.. Ferry's financial at
fairs. He was reputed to be immensely
wealthy, and the reports were that he was
bankrupt. As the contest became hotter the
rumors became thicker and more authentic,
and before the last ballot had been taken the
sheriff was in possession of the Ferry mills, at
Grand Haven and Montague. Senator Ferry
returned to Washington, but soon left that
city for Canada, and thence sailed for Europe,
leaving his brother, Ed. P. Ferry, at home to
face the music. The music proved to be fast
and furious. The entire estate was found to
be in the widest confusion and assets far be-
low the liabilities. For several years the
courts were full of the Ferry litigation.
Among the creditors were several men promi-
nent in Washington life. Banking on his high
reputed wealth, Ferry had made heavy
drafts upon his friends, and creditors rose up
in every quarter. Ferry was in Europe four
or FIVE years, and when he returned he was a
changed man, with nearly all the old-time
vigor in his voice and manner gone.
He figured in the first Harrison campaign
as a stump speaker, but could no longer
arouse any enthusiasm. In this campaign he
met the enemy who had led the fight against
his reelection for the first time since that con-
test. For an instant Ferry looked at Hubbell,
and Hubbell appeared not to recognize him,
and then Ferry stepped forward with hand
outstretched. Hubbell took the proffered
hand, they chatted for few moments, and
then parted. He was unmarried.