The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-12-06

advocate, and later served as adjutapt
general on the staff of Gen. German.
But, after two years, Lieut.. Davis
found himself failing, and was Obliged
to resign in 1854.
He returned to Waukesha and mar
ried. Then he came to ST. Paul and
became a law partner of his former
military chief, Gen German. After
wards he became associated with C.. ID.
OBrien and III. A. Wilson. On retiring
from his two-years' term as governor
OF Minnesota, he. with F. b. Kellogg
and c. A. Severance. established the
well known law firm of Davis, Kellogg
& Severance. They maintained a sue
cessful career during twenty-four
years.
Cushman X. Davis found ample rea-
son for success at the Va in his distin-
gushing qualities of earnestness, good
Judgment, diligence. c~learness and
breadth of vision. united to subtlety Of
thought.
When twenty-nine years old, Attor-
ney Davis obtained is first important
political office, that of representative
in the Minnesota legislature. Appoint
ed district attorney in 1868, he held the
office until 1873. when he resigned to
take the ~gubernatorial chair, to which
he a been elected as the candidate
Of the Republican party. During the
eleven years that followed his retire.
ment from the governors office, Gov.
Davis sought no political office. His
time was divided between his profess
sion and his literary pursuits.
In 1887 be succeeded s. J.. r. McMil-
Ian as United States senator.
AS chairman of the senate's pension
committee Senator Davis gained the
gratitude of all Did soldiers by orig
mating and passing a pension bill both
liberal and just. Toward the close Of
his first term he surprised the country
with an elaborate declaration Of the
present and the future importance of
the Sault Ste. Marie canal.
The senator was reelected in 1893.
During this term he was promoted to
the much-prized position of chairman
of the committee on foreign affairs.
succeeding the venerable John Sher-
man. He made a strong fight against
President Cleveland's Hawaiian policy.
and when. subsequently,, the Hawaiian
treaty of annexation failed Of passagG.
he put his subtlety once more In evil
dence by substituting for the treaty a
joint resolution. thus securing immedi-
ate annexation through the vote Of q
mere majority.
Senator Davis most distinguished
service in the senate was before and
during the war with Spain. In 1899 he
was reelected for the third term TO the
honorable body that he had honored.
At the capital he was admired So
cially Although by no means rich, he
had been long in receipt of a growing
income from his legal practice. He en-
tertained with taste. He enjoyed, at
his house in Washington. the co-opera-
ton Of a popular. tactful and attract
i've wife. He had no children. Before
Mrs. Davis married, in 1880. she was
Miss Anna Malcolm Agnew OF st. Paul.
A few years earlier Gov. Davis had
secured a divorce, on the technical
ground Of desertion. from his first wife.
Laura Bowman. She retained the es-
TEEN Of many friends. She had mar
ried Lieut.. Davis at Waukesha soon
after his return from the war. Mrs.
Bowman-Davis inherited an extensive
property in later years. She is said to
be living In Kansas City.
The senator was a Mason and a
member Of the Grand Army of the Re-
public, but he was allied with few 9TH
err societies. Although not active In
religious concerns. he was nominally a
Congregationalist.
Senator Davis was a deep student.
and found a special pleasure in his IL
brary. To him. as to most productive
minds, all literature was valuable.
Shakespeare and Balzac were his ia
vorites. His lecture o Hamlet"
his work upon The Law In Shake
speare," will remain proofs the mos
pregnant of his scholarship.
The lecture upon Hamlet" was writ
ten in 1882. and was delivered on vari-
Gus occasions with much success. The
treatise npon Shakespearean law was
published two years later. 1t was ac-
claimed by law scholars of all Anglo
Saxcny as the work of a profound. Tn
genius lawyer. Minnesota was felici-
tated that her second great Shake
spearean had Judgment sufficient for
the two.
Cushman X. Davis was an intellectu-
al man. For knowledge. therefore. as
the campus or n intellect, ne reit the
Partially conceived by athletes for the
lime-lined field. His was not an alb
stract. spiritual intellectually. 1t was
mind applied to man. Senator Davis
viewed mankind. dealt with mankind,
through his head. not through his
heart. He had many convictions. He
had few sympathies. His self-sacri-
flee was only that of the present for
the future. He did not disregard the
cardinal principles of conduct. He was
a faithful son, an honorable lawyer, a
patriotic statesman.
His temperament. so cold and so
controlling, so shrewd n so self-cen-
tered. was reflected in the deep-set eyes
tered, was reflected in the deepest eyes
below his expansive forehead, in the
heavy. projecting eyebrows tilted to-
ward his cheeks. This was the face OF