The evening times., 1899-07-22

New York, July 22.-Tke body OF Col.
Robert G. Ingersoll, the world renowned
agnossic, .lay at rest this morning in the
room that he most loved at his country
home at Dobbs Ferry.
There were no symbols of mourning on
the door, The blinds were not down nor
the shades drawn. Even where the body
lay the blinds were raised and the sun
light poured in. This. ii was said, was
carrying out the instructions OF Colonel
Ingersoil. The warm sunlight came in as
usual, and the birds twittered merr.ly in
the yine-covered arches of the rock-hewn
Castle" while the family, sorely grieved,
talked softly about the goodness and the
loyable character of the man whom TO
know was TO love.
Neighbors came with the grateful word
OF sympathy, and friends came from Rfar
by tram, while kilograms of coincidence
piled high the table in the study.
The ladies of the household were able
to give some little attention to the funeral
arrangements this morning. The interment
will take place on Monday and the body
will be lald at rest either in the Sleepy
Hollow Cemetery at Tarrytown, or in
Wcodlawn, probably the former.
IL has not been decided whether anyone
will be invited to deliver an address II
is stated positively, however, that no min
lister will officiate at the service. This was
a command, il is said, ofeColonel lngersoll
before he died. 1t is probable no man alive
can speak as lngersoll spoke above the
bodies OF his friends; no one but the late
Henry Ward Beecher could deliver a flu
neral Grafton comparable TO his, is the
gl of fri
''Oh, if he could only deliver his own
eulogy," was the universal and instructive
thought of those who loved the man for
the good that was in him. What Derora-
tion he could make to all the things that
he has said before And those who lad
expressed the wish remembered that In
gersoll was a speaker who seldom thrust
the pronoun / into anything save an ex-
preston OF his beliefs.
Robert Green Ingersoll was born in Dres-
den, n. Y, on August IL, 1888, of churchly
parentage, his father being a 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 il happened that young Robert
was baptized in theatre, where his father
was holding services, his church having
been taken away from him. In young Ia
gersoli's early religious education the tor
ments of hell played a large part and
reused a 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
10 place in New York State, staying only
a 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 re-
ceptive mind. When he was eighteen years
old he began to study law in the Office OF
his brother, Ebon C., who was afterward
3 member OF Congress, and on being ad-
mitted to the bar went into partnership
with his brother in Shawneetown, Ill 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 good fight
he was, to his bitter chagrin.
defeated, disappointment from which he
never fully recovered, and which was The
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 to
the practice of law. When the war broke
cut he volunteered. His political prom
inence gained for him the colonelcy of a
regiment, but his record in the war was
not a particularly brilliant one While
guarding a crossroad in Tennessee with
a small detachment he was captured by
Confederates, his own captor being a very
young boy.
After getting back to his friends he de-
cided that he had had enough of the war
and returned home. His political conyic-
Iions had changed, however. and he became
a warm Republican. He served several
years as Attorney General of Illinois and
came into national prominence when, as a
delegate to the Republican National Con-
yention of 1876. he proposed the name of
James G. Blaine in the famous Plumed
knight speech. II was after that that he
began 10 be well known as an agnostic
and lecturer. So great had his reputation
as lawyer become that his friends ad-
vised him to exercise his talents in q
wider field, so he moved to WASHINGTON.
After some years there, in 1886, he and
his family moved to this city. His de-
fence of the star route conspirators''
had already made him known well in the
East and Immediately on his settling here
cases began to pour in on him. His
speciality was mining cases, and many of
the greatest suits in the history of Ameri-
can mining enlisted his services on one
side or the other. As an after dinner
speaker too, he was much in demand, for
his wit and wealth of language, and the
pulpit began TO denounce him FOR his
freely expressed agnostic and heretical
views. This he bore with the utmost good
humor. as well he might, since ii was all
advertisement for him. His lectures on
THE Gods Ghosts" Some Mistakes of
Moses" and afterward THE Bible and
the Foundations of Faith established
him as one of the foremost public speakers
of his time. and offers for lectures poured
in upon him from all parts of the country
so that most of his time was spent and
much of his wealth was gained in this
way.
Always his attitude toward the Church
was one of sarcastic charity. His most
pointed epigrams were coupled with as
sertions that he believed the Christian
Church TO be acting in good faith, but mis-
takenly and foolishly. At the same time
he never specifically denied the existence
of God. He merely said that he did not
know. In other words, he was a pure
agnostic. AS TO the accepted Deity of the
Christian Church, however. there was new
er any doubt of his attitude. He ridiculed
the possibility of a God who should doom
millions Of souls to endless torments and
condemned those whose nature was such
that they could worship this God
Within the last five or six years there
were many reports to the effect that
Colonel lngersol was coming around to
the attitude Of the Christian Church, and
would eventually become a believer. He
had said more than once that there was
much in the Bible which was beautiful
and in which he would be glad to believe
IL he could. and these utterances, widely
quoted. were probably responsible for the
rumors. Seeing ray of hope for his con-
version, the Christian Endeavor Society,
OF Cleveland, in convention on November
q. 1895. decided to offer Individual prayers
at noon on the following day for the con-