Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-03-20

Ex-President Benjamin
Harrison Passes Away.
Statesman Above Party Prejudices, rlan
Above Reproach, His Death is
Regretted by All.


Indianapolis, Indiana, March 49,
General Benjamin Harrison died at
4.45 o'clock this afternoon without
regaining consciousness. His death
was quiet and painless, there being
a gradual sinking until the end came,
which was marked by single gasp
for breath rs life departed from the
great statesman. The relatives, with
a few exceptions, and several of his
old and tried friends were at the for
mer Presidents bedside when he
passed away. lie had been critically
i'll for several days with pneumonia,
from which he died
Mr.. +. Ii. Richardson gives the
following succinct and interesting
account to the press of the life and
character of Benjamin Harrison, the
distinguished ex-President:
1t may be said of Benjamin Har-
rison that he gave as much to his
family fame rs he derived from it, if
not more. The campaign joke that
he wore "his grandfather's hat"
when he first ran for President, was
evidence either of ignorance or NAL
ice on the part of those who made
it. The grandfather was good old
Virginia gentleman, who became an
accidental President, and by the
mercy of God was transferred to
another sphere of action a month
after his Inauguration. Benjamin
Harrison was as much ADLER man
than his grandfather as the great
Napoleon was ADLER than his nephew,
who mcsmerized Europe with his
name. Benjamin Harrison certainly
was one of the ablest men of the
Republican party for fifteen years
before his death, and that period
Tapped over into the careers of Conk-
ling, Blaine and Sherman. He was
as great a lawyer as Conkling, as
good debater as Blaine, and bet
ter all-round political leader than
John Sherman ever was. AS to his
legal ability, | heard Daniel w. .Voor-
hees declare, eff you do not believe
Ben Harrison is a lawyer, pick out a
man to meet him either before Jury
or the Supreme Court of the United
States. | have tackled him in both
places, and have had enough of him"
AS dcbater he proved himself
the peer of any in the Senate, and
he was there when Ben Hill, Allen
G. Thurman, Matt Carpenter and
William M. Evarts adorned that
body.
His Republican colleagues had
sense enough to put him in the lead
of their assault upon President
Cleveland in 1886, when the Senate
demanded the reasons for the re-
moval of Presidential appointces.
or course, Cleveland did not comply
with the demand, but the incident
led to one Of the most interesting
and most brilliant debates ever heard
in the Upper House of Congress.
Harrison closed for the prosecution
OF the then administration. His
speech was full of cloqucncc and
power. lie surpassed Edmunds, he
distanccd Sherman, he made Hawlcy
seem insignificant.
That speech made Harrison Presi-
dent. lie went into Republican con-
vcntion Of 1888 with a vote smaller
than that Of two other candidates,
but was the second choice of ma
jority Of both the Blaine and the
Sherman men.
The cool headed men of his party
regarded him as the strongest candi-
date they could present. lie had an
immcasurable advantage of Blaine
in the cleanncss Of both his public
and private life. He was never a
gusher, but he appealed to the masses
far more than Sherman
II Is no" az open secret that the
nomination of Harrison in 1888 was
an alarm to the Democratic leaders.
They realized that the wicked Re
publicans had put up their most
available man. They have a mean
habit Of doing that.
IIarrisoirs election TO the Prcsi-
dcncy was due to the advanced stand
President Cleveland took on tho
tariff The Harrison administration
was clean and strong. When he left
the Presidency General Harrison re-
turned to the practice Of law and has
followed it ever since with great sue
cess. lis practice is said to have