The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-08
GEORGE w. JULIAN DEAD
THE FAMOUS ABOLITTONIsT SINKS
PEACEFULLY TO REST.
His Exciting Political Career Many
Years Ag0-Once a Vice Presiden-
tfal Candidate.


his stroke of apoplexy at o'clock Thursday
afternoon. His daughter. Mrs. Grace Julian
Clarke. his son Paul and DR.. Thomas l..
Thompson. the famiIy's physician. were with
Mr.. Julian when death came.
The funeral will be held Monday afternoon
at 2:SO o'clock at the home. and the burial
will be at Crown Hill Cemetery. Rev. Fred
eric E. Dewhurst, of Plymouth Church. of
which Mr. Julian was a member, will con-
duct the services.
George w. Julian was born near Center
vile. Wayne county, Indiana. May 8, 1871.
Early in the century his parents. who were
Quakers. had come to Indiana. and his faith
er. Isaac Julian, became prominent among
the settlers of the Territory. He died in
1923. leaving his wife and six children in
straitened circumstances. Therefore. young
Julians opportunities for education were
meager. He read diligently. however. and
began teaching school in the neighborhood
when he was yet a boy In the summer
he engaged in surveying, and at one time
was employed as a rodman on the White
water Valley canal. He also helped to sur
vey the line from Hagerstown to Lawrence
burg. in 1896. In 1899 he started West, seek
ing employment as a surveyor, but he failed
He had interested himself in the law, and
on his return home he entered the office of
John s. Newman. The next year. 1910, he
was admitted TO the bar, and in two years
more he was admitted to practice before
the Supreme Court of the State. For a
short time he was at Greenfield, but he re-
turned to Centerville and began his political
career.
ELECTED TO CONGRESS-
In 1S4S he became leader Of the Free Soil
party and stumped the district for Van Blu
rem and Adams against General Taylor, the
Wing candidate, and General Cass. the DEM
ocratic candidate. From that time on, as
Mr.. Julian once said, his interest in politics
was in the way of his success as lawyer,
and his day Of active practice was over.
Politics claimed his whole time. In 1919 he
was elected TO Congress and Immediately
made his mark as an uncompromising foe
TO slavery and a champion of the homestead
policy. In 1852 he was the candidate OF his
party for Vice President, on the ticket with
John z. Hale. In 1850 he was reelected
TO Congress and continued a member until
ISL. During those ten years of continuous
service he was member of the House COM
mittee on public roads, and for eight years
he was chairman of the committee. He was
member of the joint committee of the two
houses on the conduct Of the war; of the
committee on reconstruction, and the COM
mittee appointed by the speaker to prepare
articles OF impeachment against President
Johnson. After leaving Congress he re-
NAMED in private life till the spring of 1856,
when he accepted the office of surveyor gen
eral Of New Mexico, and he continued to
hold the office until 1882
Cassius NJ. Clay allu9es to Mr.. Julian as
the greatest man Indiana ever produced,
next to Oliver p. Morton. One writer sum-
med up Mr.. Julian's character In this way:
Julian had no sympathy with conserva-
tism. He was a born radical, and had in
nerited an aversion TO wrong in all its forms
through long line of Quaker ancestors.
AS Burdette says in his humorous biography
OF William Penn, He was man of peace.
ard determined to have 1t II 1t took life
time of contention and dispute to get it
This was Julian's fate. Like many others,
he was the creature OF heredity and circum-
stances. which he was powerless to control.
he was carried forward on the path of life
by momentum that he did not create and
was unable to resist, even If he had desired.
he carried on his war against slavery at
the risk of his life. He had not only to
encounter the opposition of his political enc
mics but also that of members of his own
party, among whom was Governor Morton,
an acknowledged power in Indiana. No man
was ever more bitterly denounced than Ju-
lldu but WITH success GROWING every pO-
htical contest, he could well afford to laugh
at the impotent rage and harmless vitupera-
ton of his enemies and was we'll repaid for
his labors in seeing the principles for which
he so zealously and heroically contended
at last become the settled policy of the
whole country and imbedded in its funda-
mental law"
EARLY POLITICAL LIFE
OF the beginning of his political life. Mr.
Julian said In an interview:
as member Of the Legislature from Wayne
county in 1S45. at which time / became init
mately acquainted with Governor Whitcomb
Jesse d. Bright and the leading politicians
as a Wing, and in a printed catalogue of
members in which they gave their prefer
L declared myself in favor of John McClain
or any good Wing from a free State In
the exciting controversy about our public
Governor Whitcomb and the Democrats in
support OF the policy Of putting one-half the
debt on the Wabash and Erie canal in the
BILL My independent action In the case
was severely criticised by the Wings, but
TOUR years later, when became a candi-
date for Congress in the old Burnt district
l was surprised and delighted to find myself
more than compensated for my Independent
action by Its effect In rallying the Demo-
Gratis IN the district TO my support 1t led
TO my first election TO Congress and my mis-
slonary work Of more than twenty years
III the burnt district, which at last COM
pletely revolutionized its opinions. 1 greatly
enjoyed my first legislative experience
Mr.. Julian Rrrayed himself with the anti
slavery element when Ii seeded from the
wing party and caused the defeat of Henry
Gay From that time on he labored In the
cause he espoused until Ii was successful.
FRIEND was arrayed against friend and
III MS element. for he was a fighting man.
he rode from place to place on a gaunt
white horse and canvassed his district with
all the fervor Of a religious zealot.
WAS BITTERLY ASsAILED.
II was" said he, subjected to a torrent
or billingsgate that rivaled the fish market.
Words were neither minced nor moliified.
but made the vehicle of political wrath
and the explosions of personal malice.
The charge of 'abolitionism' was flung at
me everywhere, and 1t is impossible now TO
realize the odium then attaching to that
term by the general opinion. / was an
'amalgamationist and a wooly head I
was branded the apostle of dfsunion'
and the orator OF free dirt III was a
standing charge of the Wings that / carried
in my pocket lock OF the hair of Fred
eriek Douglass to regale my senses with its
aroma when l grew faint. They declared
that my audience consisted OF eleven men.
three boys and negro and sometimes I
could not deny that this inventory was not
very far from the truth. / was threatened
with mob violence by my own neighbors
and treated as If slavery had been an estab-
lished institution Of the State with its
pauperized whites.
Il frequently spoke as often as three
times a day. and generally from two TO
three hours at meeting. / spoke at cross