The times., 1899-07-22

New York, July 21-Col. Robert C. IN
Gersoll died today at noon, without an in
stant's warning. sitting in a chair OF his |
bed room at his summer home among the |
highlands of the Hudson. at Dobbs Ferry.
He passed away smiling, but mute. 1t was /,
not the way he wanted 10 die. He had I!
long in his mind something he desired TO |
say before death. 1t was never said. An !
other desire was fulfilled at his end, how
ever. He retained control of his faculties
until DEATH His wife was in the room
when he died. She had just spoken TO him.
He did not answer save with the smile
which may have been his greeting of death.
His last words were spoken few minutes
before when he had left the veranda,
where members of the household ,-ere
sitting. with the remark that he would
return in few minutes and join in
game of billiards Heart disease was the
cause of his death.
Colonel Ingersoll had been ct his high
land home since Wednesday evening. He
was in the city on Wednesday in his usual
good spirits. Thursday he spent at home.
not feeling quite up to the mark, but far
from ill During Thursday night he was
taken sick. The attack was supposed 10
be indigestion. He was about as usual in
the morning, and in his never-failing good
humor although he did not feel very
sprightly. He talked with the family,
which included, besides Mrs. Ingersoll and
Miss Maude Ingersoll. their daughter. Mr..
and Mrs. Walstein H. Brown, Mr.. and
Mrs. Clinton c. Farrell, and Mrs. D. w.
! Parker. Mrs Brown is the colonel's
J daughter Mrs. Farrell is Mrs. Inge.soli's
sister. and Mrs. Parker is Mrs. Ingersoll's
mother. Mr. Farrell was Colonel Inger-
soils secretary. Aside from the effects of
his sickness in the night the colonel suf-
fered somewhat this morning from a
! trouble that had been recurrent during the
last two years, and had come upon him
| with greater frequency during the last
year II was a slight trouble of the heart
which had made it almost impossible for
him to take any active exercise. He was
seated on the piazza with Mr.. Brown and
Mr.. Farrell about 1880 O'Clock. and the
conversation turned to three games Of
! billiards which the colonel and his son-in-
law had played the night before. a few
/ minutes later the colonel went into the
house promising 10 return in short time.
He entered the bedroom where Mrs. Inger-
soil was. and seated himself in a chair.
How do you feel now?" Mrs. IngersolI
said TO him. He opened his mouth wide
Mrs. Ingersoil thought he was yawning.
-oh, your tongue is badly coated she
said
He smiled His wife thought he was
about to reply. He rested his head Upon
the back of the chair. smiling yet. Colonel
Ingersoll was dead.
Colonel Ingersoll's wife and daughter
were completely undone by his death.
They sat by the body all day. No ar
rangements for the funeral have been
made. The co!oneis own immediate family
are all dead His brother died in the
West about year ago. A niece lives at
Erie. Pa, and nephew is in Copenhagen.
Robert Green Ingersoll was born in Dres-
den, y. Y, on August II, 1888. of churchly
parentage. his father being Congrega-
tional minister. Because of his refusal
to accept literally some Of the Church ten
cts, Ingersoll. senior. was frequently in
hot water with his fellow clergymen, and
from this it happened that young Robert
was baptized in a theatre where his father
was holding services, his church having
been taken away from him. In young In
gersolls early religious education the tor
ments OF hell played a large part and
reused spirit of antagonism as a lad as
soon as he began to be old enough to think.
For some years the family went from place
to place in New York State, staying only
short time in each town, and finally
went to Wisconsin, then back again as far
as Illinois. All this time Robert was pick
ing up education as he could with 4 re-
ceptive mind. When he was eighteen year:
old he began 10 study law in the office oi
his brother. Ebon c., who was afterward
member of Congress, and on being adj
mitted to the bar went into partnership
with his brother in Shawneetown, H. In
. 1857 Robert moved to PEORIA where his
natural gift of oratory brought him into
local political notice, and in 1860 he re-
| ceived the Democratic nomination for Con
gress. But his district was strongly Re-
publican, and though he made a good fight
he was. TO his bitter chagrin
defeated, a disappointment from which he
never fully recovered, and which was he
! principal reason why he never thereafter
ran for public office Shortly afterward he
| married Miss Eva Parker, the daughter OF
an Illinois farmer, and settled down tc
the practice of law. When the war broke
1 out he volunteered. His political prom.
inence gained for him the colonelcy of q
regiment. but his record in the war wa.
not a particularly brilliant one While
guarding a crossroad in Tennessee witt
| q small detachment he was captured b,
! Confederates, his own captor being a yer,
| young boy.
! After getting back to his friends lie de
| cided that he had had enough of the va
K ! rpfft Iie 10
/. tions had changed, however, and he becam
/ a warm Republican. He served severa
1 years as Attorney General of Illinois an
I came into national prominence when. as
! delegate TO the Republican National Con
: vention of 1875. he proposed the name O
James q. Blaine in the famous Plume
I knight speech. 1t was after that that h
began TO be well known as an agnosti
/ and lecturer. So great had his reputatio
as a lawyer become that his friends ad
yised him to exercise his talents in
| wider field, so he moved TO Washington
After some years there. in 1886, he an
his family moved TO this city. His de
/. fence of the star route consplrators
had already made him known well in tn
i East and Immediately on his settling her
] cases began to pour in on him. Hi
speciality was mining cases, and many {
| the greatest suits In the history of Ameri
can mining enlisted his services on on
side or the other AS an after Dime
speaker, too. he was much In demand, 70
his wit and wealth of language, and tn
pulpit began to denounce him FOR hi
!, freely expressed agnostic and heretici
\ views This he bore with the utmost goo
humor. as well he might, since it was a
Il advertisement for him. His lectures O
The Gods" Ghosts, Some Mistakes
| nd aff +a-I ha in