The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-23
GEN. CLAY IS DEAD
ONE OF THE MOST PICTURESQUE
FIGURES IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Ambassadors to Russia Under Presi-
dent Lincoln and One of the Heroes
of the Mexican War.
HIS WHOLE CAREER STORMY
WAS A NOTED ABOLITIONIsT AND A
FREE LANCE IN POLITICS.
Wrote Books, Fought Duels and Pur-
chased Cannon to Defend Himself
Against Enemies.
MARRIED A CHILD IN 1894
AN ILLITERATE GIRL WHO LEFT
HIM IN A SHORT TIME
Then Converted His Home Into an
Arsenal Because He Believed There
Was Plot to Kill Him.
Wrote Books, Fought Duels and Pur-
chased Cannon to Defend Himself
Against Enemies.
MARRIED A CHILD IN 1894
AN ILLITERATE GIRL WHO LEFT
HIM IN A SHORT TIME.
Then Converted His Home Into an
Arsenal Because He Believed There
Was a Plot to Kill Him.


Marcellus Clay, ambassador to Russia un-
der President Lincoln, noted Aboltionist
and author, died at his home, Whitehall.
in Madison county, at 9:10 o'clock tonight
Death was due to general exhaustion. Gen.
eral Clay led stirring life, which began
to tell on him in late years. He believed
that conspiracy to assassinate him had
been formed and some years ago fortified
his home at Whitehall and entered life
of seclusion that ended only few weeks
ago. when the courts appointed commit
tee to take charge of him and his effects
He was found desperately Ill and has had
every care since. His children. long es-
trarged by reason of his eccentricities, were
again able to be with him and were at the
bedside when death ensued.
The surviving children are: Brutus j.
Clay, prominent in national politics. of
Richmond; Miss Laura Clay, noted as an
exponent of woman's suffrage. Lexington;
Mrs. Dabney Crenshaw, Richmond. Va;
Mrs. Mary Barr Clay and Mrs. James Ben
nett, of Richmond, KY.
Cassius Marcellus Clay was born in Mad
isou county, Kentucky, on Oct 10, 1870 He
studied at Pennsylvania University, but
and was graduated in 1882. His family held
slaves. but while attending college he heard
William Lloyd Garrison speak and became
an earnest Abolitionist. He practiced law
in his native county, and was elected to the
Legislature in 1885, but was defeated the
following year for advocating internal i'm
prcvements. He was again elected in
1897, and in 1899 was member of the con-
vention that nominated Harrison to the
presidency He removed to Lexington, and
in 1S4O was elected to the Legislature. but
was defeated in 1S41 because of his anti
slavery views. The improved jury system
and the school system of Kentucky are
largely due to his efforts while in the Legis-
lature. He denounced the proposed annex
alton of Texas as designed to extend
slavery. and in 1874 actively supported
Henry Clay for the presidency. On June 3,
1s45, he issued in Lexington the first num-
ber of an anti-slavery paper called the
True America" Mob violence had been
threatened, and Mr.. Clay imported two
brass cannon from Cincinnati and posted
them inside the brick building wherein his
plant was established. The six eight
men employed by him were armed with
guns and Mexican lances. No attack was
made, but in August, while he was sick, the
press was seized by the mob and shipped
to Cincinnati and the rest of the parapher-
MALTA was destroyed. Clay was threatened
with assassination. He re-established his
paper in Cincinnati, but circulated 1t in
Kentucky He entered the Mexican as
| captain of volunteer company of distin-
guished record, and in 1S47 was taken pris-
| oner at Encarnacion with seventy-one 9TH
ers while accommodating far in advance of
the American column. He was exchanged.
and on his return home was the recipient of
a sword from the citizens of Lexington. He
| carried Kentucky for Taylor in 1S4S, called
and presided over an emancipation conven-
ton in Frankfort in 1s49, and in 1850, sep
arating from the whig party, was an anti
slavery candidate for Governor. receiving
| 5000 votes. He supported Fremont in 1856
and Lincoln in 1860 and was appointed min
lister to Russia by Lincoln in March, 1861.
He returned to America in 1862 having been
| commissioner major general of volunteers.
but refused to serve while slavery was pro-
| tected in the seeding States. He went
back to Russia as minister in 1863 and
| served till 1869. In 1870 he supported the
revolutionary movement in Cuba. The next
year. in an address at st. Louis, he urged
the speedy reconciliation of the country, but
attacked the administration of President
| Grant, and the following year supported the
! liberal Republican movement headed by
Horace Greeley. He supported Tilden in
1876, but i'm 1880 voted for Garfield and had
since been conted as Republican. In 1894
he married Dora Richardson, an illiterate
country girl. who left him in 1897. His first
wife, the daughter of an eminent Kentucky
physician, had obtained a divorce from
him in the early seventies.