The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-16
Social and Business Clubs, Municipal
and Other bodies Hold Me-
mortal Meetings.
THE COLUMBIA CLUBS ACTION
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT A
LARGELY-ATTENDED GATHERING.
Special Session of the City Council
Held Gen. Harrison's College
Fraternity-Other Meetings.

II dSSCiiD4N OOi VI IL
was well filled last night by members of the
club, who had gathered to hear a memorial
prepared by members of the club on the
life and death of General Harrison Prior
TO the reading of the memorial by Augustus
Lynch Mason. chairman of the committee,
President Morrison, of the club. said:
This meeting was called by order of the
board of directors of the Columbia Club to
take suitable action upon the death of our
hopored member. General Harrison, and to
engrave upon the records of this club a
memorial which, so far as it can do. may
be expressive of something of the sorrow
and loss which we feel, but cannot express.
II have been authorized to appoint a
to draft this memorial, and
while 1t is in preparation it is fitting that
we should pause to consider this stately
character-magnihcent in its proportions,
rounded out in all it's beautiful lines, the
house in which it lived soon to pass from
our vision-the character itself to abide
with us and with those who follow.
1.-THE a~rtifcer who fashioned this char
acter wrought well. He laid up in the store
house of his mind its rarest gifts of percep-
ton, analysis, language, Judgment. He set
conscience king over all and engraved upon
his heart the virtues-purity and Chris
tian conduct-and he went forth with a
power and Virility that made him the COM
handing figure he was. He was our chief,
our citizen, our townsman, our %neighbor.
our friend, our brother.
'Not since the remains of our martyred
President, Abraham Lincoln. lay in state
at our Capitol. has the State of Indiana
held, awaiting the tribute of her people, all
that is mortal of one upon whose shoulders
had rested the mantle of authority as the
chief executive of this great Nation. The
memory of the great emancipation is sweet
er to-day than the day after he died. and
it will not be different with General Har-
rison."
JOHN L.. GRIFFITHS SPOKE
After concluding his fitting Introductory
remarks President Morrison called upon
John l.. Grifiths, who responded with an
eloquent speech eulogizing the name of
General Harrison, and, in part, he said:
"Keenly as we feel the loss of General
Harrison there is a certain fitness in his
departure, and It is thus that We love to
think of him. liz occasionally happens that
when a man dies his fame is not secure
beyond the touch of criticism. but we can
say that General Harrison's name will ever
be revered. In his speeches he never APP
pealed TO passions and prejudices of his
liz bul W their tOlSCltlCtc. III dDSO-
lutte candor no man ever filled this stand
ard better than Benjamin Harrison. He ex-
plotted the naked truth without fear or ia
vor, and his words did not perish when ap-
plause ceased. He ennobled our common
manhood, and it was because he exalted US
that we exalt him.
General Harrison lived in an age which
delights in vain suspicion and malicious
probing, but there was not a blot on his
name. General Harrison appealed to Him
for guidance and strength. His voyage was
lDn2 An0 no Gal az times WQC farnnnCfn-
Gus. but he guided his course by moral JUS
tice and came safely into port"
JUDGE WOODS HEARD.
Judge w. A. Woods was the next called
upon, and he said he did not feel compe-
tent TO speak on the great theme before
those present, but in the presence of the
death of a man like General Harrison men
must stand appalled,. In part he said:
What does General Harrison's death
mean? Is this the end Of such a great char
acter? Is General Harrison like a worm
out locomotive gone to the scrap heap?
Snail we challenge Providence for such
acts? Surely when General Harrison died
his soul went forth and his memory will be
kept dear to Us forever. | have often won
dered when he came TO have some concep-
ton of his own destiny. L heard him first
in Charlottesville in 1860 at the opening of
address our young Republican club. L was
impressed with General Harrison more
tndn Wlln any man L mad ever heard. i
wonder when he first thought he would be
President of the United States. He must
have realized such a destiny was before
him.. In 1872 at Goshen we had Harrison
to make a speech for us. On leaving the
platform in haste to catch his train he
dropped his note book, which L now show
YOU, and i will present it to the Columbia
Club to be kept as one of the precious relics
of this club and in memory of that great
man. General Harrison was great in his
ancestry, but he was greater in himself.
His success was deserved because earned.
He, like Abraham Lincoln, adhered I'M
swervingly TO his beliefs and opinions
Judge Woods also spoke of General Har-
rison's career as a lawyer and statesman.
GENERAL COBURN'S REMARKS.
He was followed by Gen. John Coburn,
who told of the early life of General Har-
rison in this city and his life as a soldier.
General Coburn said:
II remember General Harrison as a boy
when he came to the courthouse before ne
tried a case. L was told that he was Ben
Jamin Harrison and had come to this city
TO practice law. He could not have beer
over twenty-One years of age, but vet there
was an air of confidence about him at tina
time. 1 was in the courthouse when he
tried his first case. He commanded atten-
ton, as he was diligent and faithful TO his
work He did not class as an eloquent law
yer, but he was earnest and forceful."
President Morrison announced after the
conclusion Of General Coburn's remarks
Il ina NhC III W tlt ClQD Viii Ilttl III
the assembly room of the club this morn
ing and proceed to General Harrison's late
residence TO take part in the procession &c
the Statehouse under the OF
Marshal Thomas NJ. pefrees.
Chairman A. l.. Mason was then called
upon TO read the memorial prepared. After
he had concluded President Morrison or
dered that IL be spread upon the records OF
the club. The memorial in full follows:
Benjamin Harrison was born Aug. 20
1893, in Hamilton county, Ohio. He was tbs
grandson of William Henry Harrison, ninth
President of the United States. and tbs
great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison, OF
Virginia, signer Of the Declaration of In
dependence.
THE man in whose honor this tribute is
prepared was raised on "A farm. He re-
ceived a good education for those days
graduating at the age of nineteen from
Miami College. on oct. %. 1888. he mar
ried Caroline w. Scott, and in March, 1884
being less than twenty-One years OF ags
and possessed only Of $50. he, with his
young wife, came 10 Indianapolis and en-
gagged i'm the practice of law. His first resi-
dence was a cottage on East Vermont
street. for which he paid the rent of s. pc
month.
'In spite of personal mOdesty and inapti.
tude for Self-adVarcement his great intel
lectual -endOwments early enabled him e
attain professional distinction. His skill a.
a trial lawyer. which he displayed in these
early days, never fOrsOOk him, but serves
him well in the later stages of his career
Coming from Wing stock, he naturally be
came a Republican when that party Wa
organized. and I'm 1860 was elected reporter
of the Supreme Court Of Indiana. From
this time the rigor OF early poverty was
abated. In 1862, when the frightful mag
nitude of the civil war had developed, h'
, left his wife and two children 20 become