The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-09-13

It was fitting that the school children
should contribute the memorial tablet
for the house in which Edwin NJ. STAN
ton was born, says W. B. Stevens, writ
ing from Stubenville, O., TO the Globe
Democrat When the venerable resi-
dents are asked for their recollections
of him, who is part of American his
tory as its greatest war minister, they
say, with marked unanimity:
He was always q good SON.
They tell that his father, DR.. David
Stanton, died while Edwin was a child.
DR.. Stanton was stricken with apop-
lexy- He had been too generous TO be
rich, and he left a widow and sour
young children in poor circumstances.
Edwin became a clerk in a book store
when he was barely tan enough to
show his head above the counter. He
earned Sc a week and carried home his
wages to help his mother support and
educate the younger members of the
family When the estate Of his father
was settled there was something COM
ing to the boy, and he spent it on edu-
cation at hcnyon college. He studied
law in the Office of the Golfers. His
untiring industry is remembered to
this day The older members of the
bar tell how, when hardly more than a
boy, Stanton was q regular attendant
at court.
There was sympathetic side to
Stanton, although many who had deal
ings with him never found it out. One
of the interesting "reminiscences which
the old residents of SteubenyiIle recall
is enc of the organization which STAN
ton, While a student and a boy in
years, formed among the young people
for charitable work. A girl, MISS Angie
GoodenoW, was his associate. Together
they recruited the brothers and sisters
of charity, whose purpose it was to
watch with the sick and relieve the
poor. Later, when Stanton was living
at Columbus, there came an epidemic
of cholera. The community was panic
stricken. Stanton volunteered as q
nurse, and while the disease ragged he
spent his time in the sick chambers. 1t
was a period when unreasoning terror
was widespread, and when such serV-
ices as young Stanton rendered were
heroic.
One of the steubenyiIle people who
knew him in his early manhood tells
Of an incident that occurred while
Stanton was practicing law in Pitts
burg. The mother lived in Steuben-
vile. Stanton was accustomed to re-
turn home frequently by boat on the
Ohio. One evening when he came on
board at Steubenyille to go to Pitts
burg he saw a poor Irishnan lying on
the forward deck. Attracted by the
evidence of suffering. Stanton investi-
gated AND learned that the poor fellow
had fallen through hatchway and had
broken his leg. The fracture remained
unset and uncared for. The young law
x-a ar1r n n q 2 ClCPd what
the neglect meant. The captain replied
that the Irishman lived in Pittsburg,
and could be attended to when he got
home. Making no comment on the in
humanity, Stanton went to the boat
carpenters chest and borrowed a saw
and an AK. He took q stick Of wood.
cut such a length as ne wanted, and
split pieces of the desired thickness.
Sitting down by the caDStan he whit
tied out with his pocket knife a set of
spllnts. Then, without word to the
captain, he went to his statePoorl, took
a sheet from the bed and tore ii into
bandages. AS soon as everything was
ready, the amateur surgeon ordered
three or four of the crew to assist The
limb was extended. The fracture was
reduced. The splints and bandages
were applied. Stanton went to the
cook room ana ordered prepared jug
of vinegar and water With Which 10
steep the swollen parts During the 80
miles of the trip from Steubenyille he
sat by the injured man applying the
bath When the boat reached Pittsburg
he hired q hack and took the patient to
his home.
In such ways was formed the charac-
ter which in after years was TO be de-
nounced through the length and breadth
of this great land as harsh, selfish,
cruel, tyrannical So general was the
storm of detTaction that the grim, re-
lentless spirit, with never inching
Olrpose to crush the rebellion, standing
behind and sustaining Lincoln at every
step. came to be misunderstood by the
nation and to be accepted as hard
man. without the better feelings of alu-
mainly
The circumstances under which Mr..
Stanton became q member of the Bu-
chanan cabinet and the work he did
there for the union are not told fully
in the biographies. a brother-in-law
Of Mr.. Stanton, Mr.. Wolcott, is the au-
thority given for the story about to be
told, every word of which is believed in
Steubenyille. At the time Mr.. Stan
ton. then a life long Democrat, was
asked to become a member of it, the
Buchanan cabinet was composed Of
Cass in the state department, Cobb in
the treasury. Black as attorney gen
eral, Thompson in the interior depart
ment. Floyd as secretary Of war, Tou-
cey as secretary of the navy and Holt
as postmaster general.
In this cabinet" to use the words of
one who was the friend of Stanton
from bayhood. there were traitors
both active and passive. Buchanan
was not a traitor himself. but a weak.
irresolute old man, bound hand and
foot by those III his cabinet who were.
Floyd had dispersed the army to diff
ferent and distant points. so as to
make it unavailable at the capital.
Toueey had scattered the navy to diff
ferent and distant parts of the world,
so that it could not be collected for
months. Thompson had stolen more
than 81 900 in Indian bonds. Cobb
had the treasury empty and the rebels
were in arms The signs of the times
xx-Aya aTff,1of Gacc ur nothing hQ-