The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-12-04
A SKETCH ABOUT PECK.
a Writer in the ChicagoTimes- Herald
Talks on the Kansas Man

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Talks on the Kansas Man
~. A. Watrous in Chicago Times Her
add
A great many people in a half dozen
different states have had Captain
George r. Peck in mind ever since he
met with that accident in Washington.
This is truer Of Kansas and of VISION
sin than of the other states, for his
boyhood days We're spent in the lat
ter and for twenty years or more he
was prominent as a lawyer, politician
and orator in Kansas.
I was speaking of Captain Peck in
the presence of Colonel IL. B. Gray,
once a resident Of Chicago. now pen
sion clerk in the adjutant generals Of
fee at Madison.
Know him2 of course / know Cap
tain Peck i was a young fellow teach
ing school at Palmyra in the Sos One
morning a new boy entered and was
enrolled. H came from little farm
near a marsh. land worth about s. an
acre. His hair was long trousers and
vest short and the sleeves Of his coat
came only a trifie below the elbow. He
hadn't been to school much, but saw
before he had been with us half q day
that he knew what he wanted and that
he proposed to get it. He wanted learn
ing. and ne wanted it right badly The
advanced scholars laughed at him the
first day. but two weeks later. when
De Was pushing right L A9 LAAEAA SUES
and passing them in his studies, they
stopped laughing and grew enViOus,
some OF them. At the end of the term
there was not a brighter scholar in the
school That was George r.. Peck as
an awkward schoolbOy, and Oh, how
awkward he was. tool But he is a
great man now, one OF the greatest
lawyers Of the west"
When the war came on Mr.. Peck en-
listed as a private but soon became a
lieutenant. When the war was over
he was a captain. He plunged into the
study Of law just as he did into his
books in that district school forty years
ago. Remaining for only short time
at GAINESVILLE after he was admitted TO
the bar, he drifted to Kansas. His I'M
mediate success as lawyer attracted
the attention Of great interests and his
services were secured ia their behalf.
Though pressed with numerous du-
ties he has found time in state and
presidential campaigns to labor 1Or
the success of his party When ne had
been in Kansas fifteen years he was Of
fered the high prize of a United States
senatorship, but it was no temptation
He was too much in love with his pro-
session ana his duties and had too
keen an appreciation of the importance
of preparing for a rainy day to lay
aside a large salary. with professional
honOrs for q low salary with high pO-
litical honors. His connection with the
Santa Fe road. both as chief solicitor
and as receiver. together with his Sc
lection for high station in the Chi
cago, Milwaukee & st. Paul railway,
by his friend Captain Roswell Miller,
president of the company, are so we'll
known and of so recent occurrence
that they need not be enlarged upon.
Captain Peck is a great lawyer. That
fact is recognized throughout the west
But he is much more than a great law
yer. He is statesman. q deep thinker,
wise broad. strong, and one Of the
most interesting lecturers in the west.
There are none among those who know
him but appreciate the value Of the
man. and they have had him in mind
during the days of trial and pain
through which he is passing and many
a prayer for his recovery has started
upward