The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1898-07-15
OMAR D. CONGER.
Once the Pride OF Our County and State,
Now Dead.

Once the Pride of Our County and State,
Now Dead.
1t was once the proud boast of st.
Clair County that she furnished rep
resentative in Congress that was the
peer of any man in the House of Rep
resentatives, and later in the L. s. Sen
ate. That man was Omar ID. Conger,
who has made his home in Washington
since the expiration of his term in the
Senate. According to late dispatches
he died OH July IL, at Ocean Springs,
Md. where he had gone to regain his
health.
Conger was New Yorker by birth,
and like the pioneers from that state,
was of sterling qualities. lie located
in Port Huron in 1913, and from the
first became one of the foremost mem
bers of the bar in this state. 1t is said
by the older members that he was one
of the readiest practitioners that ever
appeared in our courts. 1t was almost
impossible to surprise him, and on
many occasions it is said he made an
opponents trap deadly means of his
own defeat.
An anecdote is told of him to the eff
feet that on a certain occasion while
the county seat was yet at st. Clair, his
opponent was spick and span lawyer
from Detroit. Conger had been the
under dog in the fight from the first.
He had vainly sought to get III testi-
mony but it was ruled out by the pre-
siding Judge and finally he rested the
case with very little showing on de-
fense The Detroit attorney put in
full proof and closed with all confidence
that he had won. Upon addressing
the jury Conger put OH an injured air,
complained that he had been unjustly
treated, and then by means of his brill
liant wit and biting sarcasm he roasted
his opponent to turn, and wound up
by saying: Gentlemen of the Jury, the
Judge has been against me, this fop
from Detroit has been against me, but
if you and l will only pull together
we'll win this case" And the jury
pulled with Conger.
In 1850 Conger was elected Circuit
Judge of this county. After the close
of his term he was elected State Sena-
tor, representing the district composed
of st. Clair, MacOmb, and Lapeer cOun-
ties, during the sessions of lS55-'57-
'oS and SO.
He then resumed the practice Of law
until his nomination as Representative
of the Seventh District, which then in
cluded Lapeer county, and by success
sive elections he represented the dis
trict through the 44th, 45th, 10th, and
47th Congresses. He was ready and
brilliant debater and one of the ablest
parliamentarianS of his day. These
Nxxrn n n
party leadership in Congress and they
nent Republican leaders in the Union.
In 1881 he was elected u. S. Senator
over Ex-Gov. Jno. q. Bagley, after "a
sensational canvass and contest. 1t is
said that the brilliant managing tactics
of John p. Sanborn had much to do
with Congers success in this memora-
BILE contest. Sanborn had been Con-
gers friend and backer for years, and,
IL is claimed, had spent thousands of
dollars in various political matters in
which both were interested. 1t was
during this term in the Senate that
Conger was called upon to dispose of
the Port Huron Collectorship. Gener-
al Hartstuff had had the Post Office
for many years, and Sanborn had had
the Collectorship for about the same
time. Both petitioned Conger for the
Collectorship, and then began that bit
ter factional contest known as the San
born Hartsuff fight that harasSed the
party for many years. until the people
took hold of the matter and depOsed
both of them.
But that unfortunate political vortex
pulled Conger within its influence, and
when in 1887, he again came up for re-
election as L. ;. Senator, he was de-
feated by Senator Stockbridge.
At that time Tom Palmer, of Detroit
was also senator whose term contin-
ued after the expiration of Conger's
term. When the state Legislature con-
vened in January the business men and
active politicians of the entire western
part of the state were out in force pro-
testing against Port Huron and De-
troit, both in the extreme eastern part
of the state, furnishing both Senator'S,
and they persistently urged the claims
of the west. BY turning down San
born and replacing him with Hartsuff,
Conger had lost the indomitable push,
energy, and persistence of "King John"
as well as hundreds of other influential
friends in the eastern part of the state.
Many active aud influential Republi-
cans did not take kindly to Hartsuff's
leadership, and the breach between the
two men extended to the rank and file
of the party, until at last the party re-
fused longer to be tools for either of
them. It was all of these causes COM