The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-06

cious woman, contained the names
of men who should receive
500 per week for advocating the
nomination of the Chief Justice. She
once boasted to the writer of this arti-
Gle that she had the receipts of many
men, whom she named, for money ac-
,certed in this service. In that list
are the names of several persons who
stand very high in wealth and political
power today
But all the campaigning was Tor
naught. All she could do was IN yaln
and when, in 1873, her father died, with
out her hopes having been realized IN
the slightest degree, she gave up AND
whatever power she had ever had was
at an end.
AMBITIOUS FOR HER FATHER.
Her married life had never been hap
py. Her husband mad established her
in a palatial residence at Cauonchet, IL.
l., destined to be the scene of great
sensation in IA later day. She was eX-
travagant in everything, and this led to
a feud between her and the members of
her husbands family. They warmed him
that she was leading him on mt TOO rapid
a pace, and when she learned of this
she vowed a lasting vengeance.
The first child born to her was a
SON, but she never cared for him. What
ever mothers love there was in her heart
was saved for the daughters that came
afterward. Not ONE of the children
served as an additional bond between
her and her husband.
The death of her father was followed
by the panic of 1873. The vast for
tunes of the Sprague family were not
Thought to be in danger, and If all the
members of the family had stood to-
gether it would not have been necessary
for any of them to go to the wall. But
The Senator's wife had estranged the
others, and in the wreck that came the
Senator was the only one that suffered
to the extent of losing all his posses
sions. At that time the Senator and
Mrs. Sprague, although living in the
same house. never spoke to each other.
When everything was gone Mrs SpraglIe
took her three daughters a1rdl left the
house, never to see her husband again.
Long before that there had been talk
Of a divorce, but the world had known
little of their troubles. There was
however, the incident in which Roscoe
Conkling figured. He had been marked
iu his attentions to Mrs. Sprague and
Continued so until Cne afternoon, ut
Canonchet, when the husband chased
him from the place with a hatchet
A Nod OF TREMENDOUS IMPORT
When Don Platt was publishing the
Sunday Capital in Washington he print
ed an editorial (said to have been writ
ten by Colonel A. G. Buell., now with the
Cramps) in which it was charged that
I0nkling was called from the floor OF
the Senate by nod from Mrs. Sprague
in the Senate gallery, and that the sum
mcning OF Conkling in this manner had
much to- do with the passing of the
electoral commission bin, which resulted
in the seating of Hayes in the White
House.
But nothing ever came of the mutual
charges of misconduct made by the
Spragues, aud it WAS not until 1882 that
Il divorce was granted TO Mrs. Sprague
ON the ground Of non-support.
Meantime, she had been living on a lit,
tie estate called Edgewood, in the su-
burbs of Washington. This had been left
to her by her father, and at that time
it was of little value. But the city be-
gan to grow out in that direction and
when the time came to cut the land
up into building lots, Mrs. Sprague found
herself in comfortable circumstances
Her natural extravaganza, however, led
her to cucumber the land by mort
gage. and it was only by the personal
Intervention of some OF her friends,
among them Levi r. Morton, of New
York, that it was saved to her.