Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-08-04
KATE CHASE SPRAGUE
who Had a Triumphal Career as
Belle of the National Capital

Followed by Domestic Troubles, and
Finally Separation from Her Husband,
GOV. sprague OF Rhode IsIRnd---Her
Last Years spent In Poverty aud OBJ
SECURITY.
Kate Chase Sprague, "a, one of the most
remarkable women ever known in Wash
ton society, died Monday at her home,
Edgewood, in the suburbs of the national
capital. She was a daughter of the dis
tingushed Salmon p. Sprague of Ohio,
who was secretary of the treasury in Presi
dent Lincoln's cabinet and afterward chief
Justice of the supreme court. She was
only 16 years old when she came TO Wash
ington as mistress of her fathers home.
In year, amid all the duties of her place,
and the social whirl, never more absorbing
than in the days of the nations peril, she
mastered European languages to the ad-
miration of the diplomats who met her
there. 10 1868, at the age of Is, she was
in cleverness, ambition, culture and beauty,
the first woman in Washington society, or
in America She had admirers and would
be lovers by the score, and proposals Of
marriage were made to her by at least two
foreign ministers.
Gov. Sprague of Rhode Island was the
richest and best-known man of his years
then in public life. He was elected TO the
United States Senate the youngest man
who ever attained so high an honor. He
met Miss Chase and was of course attract
ed by her, and then his interest grew
deeper.
Their marriage took place in Washing
ton and President Lincoln and the great
est notables Of the time we're among the
guests. The young belle was power in
politics, and il is believed that her mar
rage was made 10 further her great ambi-
ton. She was thwarted in this ambition,
which was TO make her father president of
the United States.
When the Democratic convention met
in New York on the Fourth of July, 1868,
it was thought possible that Chief Justice
Chase might be nominated as a comprom-
Use candidate. Mrs. Sprague went to New
York and used all her unrivaled powers Of
fascination to secure her fathers nomina-
ton. She had a suite of apartments at
the Fifth Avenue hotel, and her parlor
was crowded day and night with persons
all working for the same object. Some
delegates were coaxed, 70 othess promises
were given, and upon all were brought to
bear the power Of her conversation and the
Nuhl VI VI utL JtduL1s EOl AdA hLlh III ilt1
she worked in her fathers cause, conf
dent that should he be nominated his cleo
ton would follow, and then her highest
ambition would be attained, she would be
the lady of the White House, the I'M
crowned queen of American society. But
the "Chase movement" did not move
smoothly; the Democrats demanded more
than the chief justice was willing TO yield.
The chief justice died in 1878. Soon
afterward Gov. Sprague's fortune collapsed.
In 1881 came a sensational break in the
marital relations of Gov. Sprague and his
brilliant wife, in which the name of Sena-
tor Roscoe Conkling OF New York was in
volved. Mrs. Sprague fed from the
Sprague mansion, Canonchet, on Nara
gansett Bay with her little girls A stormy
meeting, in the presence of lawyers, took
place between Gov. and Mrs. Sprague at
Narragansett Pier.
Mrs. Sprague secured a divorce, the
| three daughters remained with the mother
and the son with the father. Gov Sprague
| afterward married again. Mrs. Sprague
removed to Edgewood, her fathers coun-
| try place near Washington. There she
was often visited by distinguished people
who had known her in better days. There
was a mortgage on the homestead, which
was about to be foreclosed, when some of
her old friends satisfied the indebtedness.
| In recent years Mrs. Sprague has been sue
cessful as a market gardener, raising veg
etables at Edgewood for the Washington
markets