The Washington bee., 1897-11-20

his residence, 2225 fOuTtn Street
northwest, at $50 o'clock Monday
night. He was surrounded by his en-
tire family in his last hours, his four
children having been summoned to
his bedside.
MIR. Langston came home from
professional visit to Maryland last
week, where he had been engaged
upon some lawsuits. He was broken
down physically and in great need of
rest, which he expected to obtain at
his home. He was also slightly affect
ed with malaria. and while in that con-
dition was seized last Thursday with
an attack of acute indigestion. His
condition at once became alarming.
He grew unconscious, and the attend
ng physician could offer no immediate
assurances to his family, and it was
then that kilograms were sent to the
two sons and daughter. On Saturday,
when his two sons, Arthur ID. Langs-
ton, principal of the Dumas colored
school of St. Louis, and Ralph Langs-
ton, a resident of New York, arrived
at the old home, they found their
father greatly Improved and were CIV
en- hopes by the attending physician,
who regarded his recovery as matter
only of such time as would be required
to again build up his broken down
system. On Sunday, Mrs. Nettie Ma
pier. the daughter, arrived, from Nash
Vile, Tenn, finding her father in about
the same condition as he was on Satur-
day.
/. About 10 o'clock Monday morning
he suddenly took turn for the worse,
L.. lad
as dangerous, The attending phySl-
clans announced few hours later that
the last attack would undoubtedly
prove fatal and all the hopes of his
recovery were abandoned He sank
gradually, and at $3.50 O'Clock Mon
evening breathed his last.
BEGAN LIFE SLAVE.
Mr.. LangSton was one of the fore
most men In the country, having been
often honored with high positions To-
caIly and nationally. He was born a
slave in 1929 in Louisa County, Vir
ginia. When about six years of age
he was emancipated, and his owner,
who died about that time, provided
quite literally for him as well. He
was later sent TO Ohio, where his edu-
cation was entrusted to w. ID. Gooch,
a neighpor of Mr.. Langston's owner,
who had also liberated his slaves and
gone to Ohio to live.
When Mir. Langston was about ten
years of age Mr.. Gooch started for
Missouri, taking Langston with him,
but suit was brought against Gooch,
charging him with abduction, the late
Allen O.. Thurman, then a rising
young lawyer, prosecuting. The trial
resulted in prohibiting the removal OF
young Langston from the State. he
was sent to school in Cincinnatti. and
In I848 entered Oberlin College, pass
ing through the preparatory, collegl-
ate. and theological departments,
graduating from the last named in
1852. He had no intention of entering
the clerical profession, but studied
theology to increase his range OF
knowledge and better prepare himself
for the bar. Not being able to gain
admission to regular law school, he
pursued his studies in the office of Mr..
Philemon Bliss, of Elyria, in which
town he was first admitted to practice.
MIR. Langston had the honor OF being
the first OF his race to be sdm'tted TO
the bar i'll the West, and the first to
{ be elected to office on popular vote
in this country, the Office being that OF
clerk of the townships of Brownhelm
and Russia, which he held from 1852
to 1855. He practiced law successfully
for twelve years in Ohio and was for
clever years member OF the Board OF
, EduCatlCn of Oberlin,
PLoMINENT AS AN EDUCATOR.
! He left Oberlin and went to Wash
ington to accept the office of General
/ Inspector OF Education under the Bu-
reau of Refugees, Freedmen and
! Abandoned Lands, in which capacity
! he served for over three years. visiting
! all the principal points In the South,
addressing, wherever he stopped,
large assemblies of white and colored
! people. In 1868, he accepted the pro-
fessorshIp OF the law department oi
: Howard University, was afterward
, elected Vice President and acting
! President, and had conferred upon him
: the degree of Doctor of Laws. He
served for nearly seven years as q
member of and attorney for the Board
+, of Health of the District of Columbia
and from 1877 to 1885 was Minister and
| Consul General to Haiti. On his re-
turn to this country in 1885, he became
President of the Virginia Normal ano
Collegiate Institute at Petersburg, Va
where he remained for three years
when he was elected to the Fifty-6rst
Congress.
Since his career in Congress, Mr.
Langston had been engaged in the
practice of law i'll this city. He was
foremost in the advocacy of the rights
of his race and was ever ready to pro
tect the helpless against injustice and
| oppression. He was c stanch republi
can, AMI welded powerful influence
among his people. He took part ir
national and State politics and was ar
eloquent and forceful speaker