Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-10-28


the public memory. He went to his
home at Americus, and there contract
ed malarial fever, on account of which
he hurried to Atlanta and entered q
sanitarium. The fever was quickly
overcome but this was not all. Fol
more than two years Mr.. Crisp had
been suffering from heart trouble
This, the fever had aggravated, and
the immediate cause of his death was
fatty degeneration of the heart. His
death was not unexpected. 1t was
not thought that he could get we'll
but at the same time it was believed
that he would linger for several
months at least, and the fatal sum.
mons was, therefore, sudden. But
the great man was not afraid. He
was conscious to the last, and although
his end was with a paroxism of pain
the departure of his great spirit lefl
on the dead face an expression that
was calm and serene.
Charles Frederick Crisp was born in
Sheffield, England, on January 49,
1s45. His parents, though English,
had some years before taken up Geor.
gia as the country of their adoption
and at the time of the birth of their
son were in Sheffield on a visit. Mr..
Crisp's father was celebrated actor
who along in the 1905 and '40's, was
quite popular, especially in South
Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.
When he was II years of age, Char.
les F. Crisp was placed in the Georgia
military. institution, then located in
Marietta, Ga. He remained there
for several years and then, in 1861
Joined the Confederate army. He was
soon made lieutenant in the Tenth
Virginia Infantry with which he fought
until May, 1868, when he was captured
and held a prisoner of war until
after the surrender.
After the war Mr.. Crisp studied law
and was elected to the position o.
solicitor for the judicial district in
which he lived. Next he went to the
general assembly, and after serving
there four years, he was elected a judge
In 1882, he resigned the Office of judge
to accept the Democratic nomination
for congress. He was elected; and al
the time of his death had been ir
congress IA years. 1t had already
been settled also that so soon as the
Georgia legislature should re-assemble
he would be elected to the seat that
General Gordon now occupies in the
United States senate.
Mr.. Crisp's career in congress is a
matter Of national history. 1t was
only a short time after he took his seat
until he began to show the kind ol
metal of which he was made. He
never counted odds; but it was when
clashing his steel against that of the
most powerful of his opponents, that
he appeared to be in his glory. Time
and again he discomftted Tom Reed
and other Republican leaders, and il
was on account of his we'll known fit
ness for such an important position
that he was selected by unanimous
consent to lead the fight against the
Force bill. Then, afterward, notwith'
standing the prejudice against the
south and ex-Confederates especially
it was on account of his own inherent
merit that he was the first southern
man since the war to be elected to the
speakership. That he has filled the
speakers chair with remarkable abili'
| ty and fairness, even under the most
trying circumstances, is admitted on
all sides by friend and foe alike.
If Mr.. Crisp ever had q material
fault, the fact has never become known
During his entire political life, inclu-
ding his IA years in congress, not a
thing has been brought against him
detrimental to his character, that the
public would believe. His aim was to
serve the nation first and then Georgia
and the south. At the expiration ol
his term as speaker, New York parties
approached him with an offer to take
him into partnership in law firm on
terms greatly advantageous to himself.
They proposed to guarantee him an
income of $25,000 and assured him
that there was reasons to believe that
his share would quickly run up to
$4,000. But he told them no; his
people had made him all he was, and
he must continue to serve them. AL
though for years in position where he