The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-20


out his eye. The conspirators seized me,
and 1 was struck with hickory sticks and
chairs, some of the blows of which 1 still
feel.
Again made for Brown. and they, to
keep him out OF my way, threw him over
a fence about seven feet high, and this
ended the fight
Browns bullet was DETECTED from Clay's
heart by the scabbard of his bowie knife.
Browns evidence cleared Clay at his trial.
and he never sought to renew the fight.
Another desperate duel in which General
Clay was nearly killed was with man
named Turner. That was in 1S49
At speech in Foxtown Turner's son
told Clay that he lied. Claw drew his
knife, but was again seized by confeder-
ates of his enemy. and while ne struggled
some one passed KNIT through his lung.
Again General Clay determined to kill
his man before he died. Faint from loes
of blood, he wrested the knife from his as
sailant and rushed upon Turner, stab
bling him in the abdomen. Then Clay
tainted from loss of blood just as his son
ran up with his pistols, which he had
left in his carpet bag at the hotel.
The crowd thought Clay was dead or
they might have carved him up more
painstakingly. This carelessness saved
his life. His vast physical strength, in
spite of his wounds and the lingering
effects of fever and captivity in Mexico,
brought about his recovery.
A magnificent man physically and men,
tally, was Cassfus NJ. Clay in those days
six feet tall, a fiery orator, a magnetic
presence, fine dark eye, pleasant smile.
boundless vitality, dauntless courage.
With the coming on of the rebellion
wider duties than electioneering in Ken
lucky claimed him. He became United
States minister to Russia, did much to
the war and negotiated the sale of Alaska
to the United States in 1857.
He was recalled by Grant, and for a
time thereafter became Democrat, sup
porting Tflden in 1876, but later returned
to the Republican party.
In early life Clay married an aristo-
cratic young woman, from whom he
afterward obtained a divorce. Then for
years he lived alone, until a memorable
incident changed the color of his life.
Living near Clay's house was a Widow
Richardson, with her two girls, Dora
aged eleven, and a younger sister, aged
six, One day the widow and her girls
were walking over a long trestle at VAL
ley View, near Richmond, when a train
overlook them. Crazed by the danger,
the woman stood still, as II to check the
engine with her body, and screamed to the
children to run.
Then Dora proved herself heroine, in
deed. Selling her sister by the waist, she
started to jump into the water. Her skirt
caught on a cross-beam; she chung to her
sister with grim resolution until the
slowing train had Numbered by.
Then the trainmen came back and res
cued the two girls. The mother was past
help.
Mrs. Richardson had been a house
keeper for General Clay, and he under
took to care for her daughters. He planned
to make Dora lady; in the end he mar
ried her when she was fifteen-mainly,
it was supposed, to still gossip about their
relations.
OF course It turned out badly. Brave,
she ran away and married Riley Brock,
a poor young man of the neighborhood.
"Oh, yes,'' she said, che gave me
everything I wanted, but he didn't treat
me right. He wouldn't let me go to par
ties He's getting old and thinks people
are going to kill him. He keeps ever so
many guns and pistols and has men paid
to fight. Oh, he would always let me go
to visit my neighbors, but he sent a
man along with me all the time to see
that none of his relatives tried to kill
me-"
This artless utterance reveals the old
mans Authorizations.
He believes that he has been poisoned
three times, that fire and dynamite have
been used against him; that his ponds
have been turned into his cellar to rust
his pistols; that his arms and furniture
have beenu stolen; that his farms and
sheds have been plundered that his
enemies drugged Dora, changing her
from a cheerful girl to a melancholy
woman.
Upon the wall Of one OF the rooms In
Whitehall is pinned a cross made from a
The General seems to thing it has mys-
FERROUS power as a talisman to preserve
his life against the Vaccinations of his
enemies.
The main hall Of the great brick man
sion Is wide enough to turn a load of
hay about in. Here, between the busts
of Horace Greeley and Henry Clay,
stands one Of the cannon that once de-
Tended the printing Office of the True
American. Watchman pace the grounds
outside. Within. the great house is bar
rem of furniture and as destitute OF com
forts as a prison. The grand old man
who lives there, once the fercest, bravest
man who 'trod the dark and bloody soil.
now changed into fretful invalid, quak
ing at every sound and frightened at
awaits a merclful release. 1t
cannot be long delayed.
CASTOPsA