Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-08-27
A Brilliant Lawyer Gone.
NAT G. DRYDEN DIED SUDDENLY
OF HEART DISEASE IN ST.
LOUIS TUESDAY.
His Career at the State Bar Was 9
Most Brilliant One and His
Death Was a Shock to
His Many Friends.
From the ST. Louis Rennhhc

From the st. Louis Republic.
Nat @. Dryden is dead. The kind,
brilliant, genial and happy attorney is
no more.
This news will shock thousands of
people throughout Missouri, where
"Colonel Nat,'' as he was Familiarity
called, was known SO well. The
smiling face is drawn and rigid. The
merry, twinkling eyes are still. The
eloquent tongue is silent. The bril-
liant mind and warm, loving heart
have been lightly touched by the grim
reaper, and their duties are over.
The personality which thousands ad-
mired has ended. Nat Dryden is
dead.
There were but few people who had
more friends throughout the State
than had Nat Dryden. He was a bril-
liant criminal lawyer, and had a rep
utation as such which extended over
all of this Western country. Yester-
day afternoon he passed away at the
st. Johns Hospital, and the cratic
career was ended. The ailment was
heart disease, from which Colonel
Dryden had suffered for several
years. OF late the trouble has been
more acute, and one night in Jeffer-
son City, during the Democratic Con-
vention, Colonel Dryden came near
dying. He had gone through the ex-
element of a heated session of the
convention, and had made a grand
speech placing John Scullin, of st.
Louis, in nomination for the office of
Railroad Commissioner. After all
was over, Colonel Dryden repaired to
his hotel, and suffered a serious at
tack of the old malady. For a time it
was thought that he wonld not re-
cover, but he rallied, and was one of
the jolliest of a jolly party which re-
turned to st. Louis late that night.
HIS RAPID RISE.
Nat Dryden was a happy-go-lucky
sort of a man in every sense that the
word implies. From his early youth,
when he roamed at will over Lincoln
County, Missouri, he was a hail fell
low well met, and many are the stories
told of his escapades in the long ago.
He was brilliant to a marked degree,
especially as an orator and in the
practice of criminal law, and those |
who knew him best said that some |
day he would be one of the best
known attorneys in the West.
AS the years passed it seemed that
those predictions would come true.
The young man rose rapidly, and soon
took a place at the head of his pro-
He was married to Miss
Pullman, of Warrensburg, and four
beautiful girls blessed the union. The
nome life of the Drydens was a thing
beautiful to see, but the very good
qualities of the husband and father
qualities which endeared him
most to those who knew him-came
near proving his ruin. He liked con-
genial company, and liked to hear a
good story told by a good fellow.
was an accomplishment
in which Colonel Dryden excelled,
and whenever he was in the mood
such pastime he always had a
large and attentive audience.
By degrees he became addicted to
5heh habit of drink, and soon became a
confirmed drunkard. Then his wife,
he beautiful woman to whom he has
since referred to tenderly as
Miss Nancy" died, and the husband
became addicted to the use of NOR
ohine. He lost'caste with many on
his account, but those who knew :
the magnificent possibilities of
he brilliant mind, made heroic eff
iorts to rescue the man from an un- :
timely grave. They reminded him of .
lis four young daughters, who need ,
I'd their fathers care, and yearned -,
the love and attention he had for
nerly showered upon them. Colonel : :
Dryden stated that he would do any :.
hing for the memory of "Miss Nancy" :
nd the "kittens," as he p~layfulIy
ermed the children.
After making this statement he
vent to Dwight and reformed. A +
hort time afterwards he delivered C
lecture upon the evils of the NOR T
habit, and this lecture, which
vas widely printed, was commented
pom extensively in all sections OF the t
ountry. Last year ne was married b
Miss Alma Henning, and the four |,
aughters, who were always proud of a
heir fathers brilliant attainments,
oft st. Louis and went to Kalamazoo,
lich., to reside.
1t is said that Colonel Dryden's Sec
nd marriage was not a happy one. IL
late he had begun drinking a little, b
his friends feared that he would o
I'll once more. An effort was being o.
'ade to stop his course when the W
and of death interfered. la
AN EXCITING INCIDENT. Il
Nat Dryden was a principal in one RI
the most remarkable incidents in Fl
-issouri politics. The oc~currence
as the elimination of an ~exciting
campaign in the old
9venth Congressional District, now III
% Ninth. The other principals were p'
'dge Elijah Robinson, of Pike Coun- y
!, and Colonel Richard FL. Norton, of II
neoln. The congressional conven-
'n was held at Warrenton that year. Pr
had been a bitter fight and there tn
little chance that a deadlock that da
ID lasted for a long time would be
oxen by ordinary means. -
.'~iuiua'es were not disposed at
yield an inch, although the fight
clearly between the two men -;
entioned, with somebody holding e.
balance of power. At one of the
'quent adjournments it was joking--
ar1nF 49,