Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1901-03-16

| was III luli possession or the vitality
and vigor which has characterized
these later years OF his life to a re-
markable extent. Thursday morning he
awakened with a pain in his chest.
which at first was hardly noticeable.
but later gradually grew worse until
MRS. Harrison became alarmed. and
the family physician, DIR. Henry jane
| son, was summoned. He pronounced IL
simply a cold and at the time feared
no alarming results
Shortly after IL O'Clock last night
William II. Fl. Miller, who was United
States attorney general in President
Harrtson's cabinet, telephoned from
the Harrison home to his law partner,
John b. Elan, asking him to come to
Gen. Harrison's bedside. as death was
liable to occur at any moment.
Sketch OF q Distinguished Career.
Benjamin Harrison, twenty-third
President OF the United States, came
OF a historic line. Major General Har-
4 rison, an English ancestor, bore arms
with Oliver Cromwell. and rose with
him to prominence in the revolution. 1t
fell to his lot to sign the death warrant
OF Charles l, and after the restoration
ne paid the penalty for this act, being
hanged on Oct. Is, 1860. BENJAMIN
| harrison, the first descendant of Crom-
wells general who appears in Amer
lean history, was a member of the Vir-
GINA house OF burgesses, later a dele
gate to the colonial congress, a slgner
| OF the Declaration of Independence
three times governor of Virginia, and
a member of the convention that rati-
Ned the constitution. His son was
| Gen. William Henry Harrison, whose
| honorable career as a soldier and
Il m nfrIr, 81 Il
| to the presidency in 1910, to be fol-
lowed by his death in the White House
one month after his Inauguration. John
Scott Harrison, the son of President
Harrison. was the father of the subject
| of this sketch.
benjamin Harrison was born at
North Bend. o., Aug. 20, 1888 He was
educated at the Miami University. from
which he was graduated at the age of
IL. After leaving college he studied
law in the office of Judge Slower, in
| Cincinnati, and was admitted to the
bar in 1854, before he had attained his
majority. The next year he took I'D
his residence in indianapolis, where
he began the practice of his profession.
/ Young as he was he was already mar
ried. and poor, but he boldly took his
young wife, the daughter of Prof. Scott.
or Miami University, with him to his
new home
Clients were not long in finding him
out, and from the outset he took an
/ active part In politics. In the cam
paign OF 1860 he was one of the leading
| Republican orators in his state. He
had been nominated for reporter OF
the supreme court of Indiana and was
elected. He served in this position for
more than year, but the war fever be-
came too strong for him, and in July.
1862, he raised regiment and was
commissioned colonel of the Seven
teenth Indiana by Governor Morton. Col
Harrison with his regiment began SER
vice in Kentucky and Tennessee. He
was breveted brigadier general for
gallant conduct at Reseca, and earned
full brigadiership at Peach Tree
| Creek. Gen. Harrison served with
credit until the end OF the war, and
was with his command ct the final
grand review at Washington in 1865.
Gen. Harrison was again elected re-
porter of the supreme court of Indi-
ana In 1864. He served out hts term.
but declined reelection in 1868 and
devoted himself entirely to his prac-
tlce In the courts. In 1876 he was the
Republican candidate for governor of
| Indiana, but was beaten. His candi-
4 u,
| Godlove S. Orth, who had been nomi-
mated, having withdrawn from the
ticket. Four years later, or In 1880, the
Republicans succeeded in obtaining q
majority In the Indiana legislature and
| then Harrison was elected to the
| United States senate. Upon the expira-
ton OF his term he resumed the prac-
tice of his profession.
Gen. Harrison was a delegate at large
from his state to the national Republic
can convention held in Chicago in 1884.
Four years later. when his name had
been at an early stage brought into
prominence as an aspirant for the Re-
publican nomination to the presidency,
he remained at his home In Indiana
polls, carefully refraining from taking
too active a part In current political
discussion The republican leaders In
! Indiana, and almost the entire Repub-
licAr press Of the state, had pronounced
In favor OF his nomination, and his
name was presented by the solid dele
cation to the convention at Chicago.
On the first ballot Gen. Harrison re-
ceiVed only SO votes, but on the eighth
ballot he received 544 votes, 100 more
tnan accessory. In the electoral col
lege he received 233 votes, against 1853
Tor Grover Cleveland, and was inaugu-
rated president March 4, 1889.
| Three days before the assembling of
the Republican national convention at
Minneapolis, in June, 1892, James G.
Blaine resigned the post of secretary
OF state, in order to compete with his
| chief for the presidential nomination.
Inc contest in the convention was
mainly between the supporters of these
two aspirants, and on the first ballot
Harrison was renominated. His plural
ity over Blaine, who received 1872 votes,
was 1853. Mckinley also received 1872
votes and were scattering. White
law Reid, Of New York, was made the
candidate for vice president. Grover
| Cleveland, who became the Democratic
candidate for the third time, received
277 votes In the electoral college. to
146 for Harrison, and % for James b.
Weaver, the Populist candidate.
Gen. Harrison, whose first wife died
a Few days before the presidential cleo
ton OF 1892, married Mrs Mary Scott
Lord Dimmock, niece OF his first wife.
| Since retiring from the presidency
Gen. Harrison has studiously avoided
| taking an active mart In y>oltkioaI