The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1896-01-11
EDWARD D. BAKER.

warrior statesman, to the United States
senate. Bakers memory has been kept
alive in the traditions of the state, and
the following sketch of his life career,
which is taken in an abbreviated form
from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat,
cannot fail TO be of interest to Orego-
mans. Baker was one of the Vests
greatest men.
The circuit court at Springfield, Ill,
from 1885 to 1910 represented remark
able measure of future judicial and po-
litical distinction. Stephen T. Logan
was the presiding judge. Stephen A.
Douglas was the prosecuting attorney,
and the bar included such men as Abra-
ham Lincoln; o. H. Browning, Samuel
II. Teat, John ]. Hardin, Lyman Trum
bull, Cyrus Walker, and Edward D.
Baker. These men were all good public
speakers in their several ways, but
the surprising orator among them
was Baker. He was an Englishman by
birth, whose parents had come to Amer
lea when he was years of age, locating
in Philadelphia, from whence he had
drifted out to Illinois in 1925, being then
a boy of IA. For several years he sup-
ported himself by manual labor, and de-
voted all his spare time tc study, with
the determination to qualify himself for
a professional career. He first became
an exhorter in the Christian church, at
tracing marked attention by the earn
estness and picturesqueness of his style;
and then he concluded to become law
yer, which meant also politician. His
services were in general demand on ac-
count of his influence with juries, and
stump speeches that he was always
ready to deliver. His ambition was
restless and far-reaching, and he missed
no opportunity to extend his acquaint-
ance and to put himself in the way of
official preferment.
The greatest of Bakers orations, and
one of the greatest ever delivered by
anybody, was that which the death of
his friend, David G. Broderick, called
forth. 1t will be remembered that
Broderick was killed by Judge Terry in
n duel in 1859; and Baker was chosen by
common consent to pronounce the eulogy
which was part of what he called ''the
mournful tribute which the majesty of
the people offer to the unreplying dead"
He spoke OF ''the senator lying dead be-
fore us'' as man who sstoiled with his
own hands, and sprang at bound from
the workshop to the legislative hall,'' a
man of simple habits and sterling integ-
rity who was pursued with relentless
bitterness by his political enemies, but
who never finched for moment in
''the great struggle for the rights of the
people against the despotism of organi-
cation and the corruption of power.
The manner of his death, "tangled in
the meshes of the code of honor" was
dwelt upon by the orator with pas
sIonate protest against the practice OF
dueling, which he characterized as "a
shield emblazoned with the name OF
chivalry to cover the malignity of MUIR
der" Its boasted equality he declared
to be lie. In reality, he said, sit sub
stitutes cold and deliberate preparation
for courageous and manly, impulse, and
and arms the one to dlsarm the other.''
In closing he exclaimed, 'But the last
word must be spoken, the imperious
mandate of death must be fulfilled.
Thus, oh, brave heart, we bear thee to
thy rest. Thus. surrounded by tens oi
thousands, we leave thee to the equal
grave. As in life no other voice SO rune
its trumpet blast upon the ear of free
dom, so in death its echoes will rever-
berate amid our mountains and valleys
until truth and valor cease to appeal tc
the human heart. Hail and farewell %
Soon after the death of Broderick
Baker removed to Oregon, where his
reputation had preceded him, and he
was elected to the United States senate
He returned to California in 1860, on hi!
way to Washington, proud and happy
over the victory that had been the ulti
mate ambition of his life. They gave
him big reception at San Francisco
and he delivered a speech that coulG
never be forgotten by those who heard it
While performing his duty as sena,
tor, Baker found time to organize what
was known as the California regiment
and was made it's colonel. He fire.
quently entered the senate to deliver q