New-York tribune., 1903-07-19
IT OF COUNT WTTE TO THE POST OF CHANCELLOR
STORMY CAREER OF GENERAL CASSIUS M. CLAY
HIS WORK FOR THE NEGRO NOT APPRECIATED BY
THE COLORED RACE-DUELS And FEUDS

Lexington. Ky. July IS (SpeciaD.-"The Ken
tucly fighter. General Cassius NJ. Clay. who has
just been declared insane. is not long for this
world" said Major r. S. Bullock. cashier Of
the Fayette National Bank. Of this city, and
a lifelong friend of the noted Kentuckian who
is now barricaded at his home. White Hail. With
all OF his faults" continued Major Bullock who
had Just returned from White Hail. General Gay
Is one of the most lovahe OF men, but there can
be no doubt that his mind is deranged. and he
cannot be responsible for his acts toward his
friends. He is in his ninety-seventh year
and each of these years from his earliest boyhood
has been filed with incidents of exciting and
startling nature. I daresay that no man now liv-
ing or who ever lived IN Kentucky has gone
through what General Clay has and still retained
the physical vgOr ne has. II his child wife. Dora
Clay Brock, whose husband died short time ago.
will return TO the old General he has begged
her to do. he may live a long time yet, but with
out her presence and care the chances are de-
cdedly against him. he has positively refused
to have the physicians enter his home, declaring
that he will shoot the first man who attempts to
enter. He has N the house save his body
guard. Joe Perkins. and it is impossible to give
him the attention he demands.
'It appears to nave passed unnotced in the
many newspaper articles which have been printed
about him that his stormy career did not begin
until he delivered his Washington centennial Orc
tion at Yale more than seventy years ago, and in
which he vigorously defended the cause of the
negro using language which none but the bravest
OF men would dare have used He ives set in his
convictions. and did not hesitate nor fear to ex-
press them but these views were the cause OF
making him most universally hated man. and
Shareholders In Kentucky and other slaveholding
States determined to make his life miserable or
put him out OF the way. General Clay received
hundreds of letters threatening his life and de-
nouncing him a negro lover Like the brave
that he is and always has been he paid
little attention to these threats. General Clay
never courted trouble. but he would not go ten
steps of his to avoid IL. and not one Incl
dent of his life will show that he ever showed the
white feather There is not in his makeup the
least tinge of the dunghiH fowl but the truest,
gamest blood that ever coursed through a mans
veins.
Notwithstanding the fact that General Clay
waged war for the negro the efforts in his behalf
were never properly appreciated by the negro, and
10 this day the ignorant among them regard him
as a savage 1 doubt If any man in the entire
South did for the negro than did General
Clay freeing his slaves and fighting against slav
cry when few had the manhood to do He will
carry with him to the grave scars made by knives
and pistols received while contending for the rights
of the negro. and it has always been a matter Of
regret to the General that the negro showed
little gratitude for what he had done in his be-
half. When the war closed General Clay quietly
turned to his home here and had as his companion
adopted son. Lonney Clay. child of five years.