The sun., 1898-10-02
INCIDENTS AT WASHINGTON

Fixed Electoral Commission
Oyer Bottle of Whiskey
in Bayard's House,"
Yesterday all that is mortal of
Thomas Francis Bayard was placed in
it's last resting place in Old Swedes
burial ground at Seventh and Church
streets. That Bayard should be buried
by Old Swedes Church is appropriate, as
this church was one of the character
istics Of his private life.
But now the great statesman is gone
and career OF usefulness in the political
world ended. The developeme nts of
this career came fast from early man.
hood and to consider the political sue
cess Of Thomas F. Bayard, and also his
private life, only words of admiration
can be spoken.
In early manhood Thomas was sent to
the desk of the mercantile house of Au.
gust Van Courtland Schermerhorn in
New York Mr.. Schermerhorn was his
brother-in-law. He completed his bust
ness training in the counting house Of S.
Morris Vain, in Philadelphia, where he
remained until he was twenty. Young
Bayard then prepared to emigrate to
Texas. Speaking in very recent years Of
this circumstance Mr.. Bayard said that
in view of the career which afterwards
became his, he was convinced that man
is never fully able to control his own
destiny or the direction into which the
channel of his life shall run. Our des-
tines are controlled by a higher power.
1t was the death of his elder brother
which led the embryo merchant from a
commercial career in the Lone Star State
to the United States Senate. This event
drew him to his fathers home in Della
ware and to the bar. He was admitted
to practice in 1851. At this period Mr..
Bayard was tall and angular, ''gaunt"
some persons who remember him then
say he was. At first he did not give
promise of brilliant future. He was
called a guy and his abilities sneered at.
Even when, in 1858, he was appointed
Attorney General and did some really
brilliant work, his success was attributed
to "the old man''-his father, then
United States Senator. He did not like
this and did not fancy that when he won
y civil suit it should be said "Oh, that's
the old man." He promptly resigned
the Attorney Generalship and moved to
Philadelphia, where he became the law
partner Of William Shippen, where he
remained for five years. No one now
said that it was "the old man," for "the
young man" had made his own mark
and commanded universal respect. He
was an indefatigable worker, as he has
been all his life,
1t was soon after his return from
Philadelphia that he became lieutenant
of that famous military company which
led in after years to the charge that he
had been a rebel. The company refused
to give up its arms without any orders
from the Governor. The United States
seized them, but afterwards the United
States Government acknowledged the
propriety of the company's protest By
paying the State of Delaware for those
very arms. Mr. Bayard's loyalty was
newer questioned, however, except by
his political enemies in the heat of bitter
contests in which no other weapon could
be found to be used against him.
The public life Of Mr. Bayard is not the
theme of this story and will be referred
to only incidentally. His rise in the
Senate was SO rapid that in ten years he
became the almost undisputed leader of
his party in Congress, and was in 1880
the undoubted choice of the Democrats
of the country for the Presidential nomi-
nation in THAT year. The timidity of the
Southern delegates, however, who ques-
toned the expediency of placing
Southern naan in nomination so soon
after the war made it possible for those
who had other plans, but not strength
enough otherwise to carry them out, to
defeat him. Mr.. Bayard had been
voted for for the nomination in the st.
Louis Convention of 1876, which nomi-
mated Mr.. Tilden. That gentleman's in
fiuence was not exerted to help Mr.
Bayard in 1880, and it was said that Mr..
Tilden was dissatisfied with Mr.. Bayard's
course in the Electoral Commission busi-
ness. 1t was even hinted that Mr.. Tilden
accused Mr.. Bavard with having, against
his desire, promoted and having con-
ceived the Electoral Commission scheme.
This leads us to an interesting story
which has for number of years been {
privately circulated as to the inception of /
hat famous plan for the settlement Of !
;he Tilden-Hayes controversy, which fed |;
he country to the brink of civil war.
Senator Edmunds of Vermont, and !;
Senator Bayard were not only warm per-
'onal friends, but were next-door neigh =
)ors on Massachusetts avenue in Wash q
ngton. Senator Thurman also lived in =
he neighborhood and Senator Conkling
vas a frequent visitor at 1hurman's =
lome, for whom he had cordial liking. I
)ne evening, it is said, Senator Edmunds y
anne into Mr.. Bayard's house, and after "
alking over the situation suggested that \
conference with Thurman and Senator :,
might in the critical state of a {,
fairs be of service in reaching some de- \ \
ision, which would relieve the country 4
# the strain. The conference was held " "
nd the talk lasted into the small hours Z;
# the morning. There can be no doubt, n n
ssuming that the story is true, that pp
pon this occasion there was not want n n
ng those liquid refreshments usual NJ NJ
nder the circumstances. The story is Il
hat it was there and then that the idea
4 the Electoral Commission was first