The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-30
THE LATE CASSIUS NJ. CLAY.
Henry WattersOn on the Old Lion
of whitehall.

Only a few days ago Henry Waiter
son wrote in the Louisville Courier
Journal the following of Gen. Casslus
NJ Clay, who has just died;
Some one said the other day of Gen.
Cassius Marcellus Clay, "Of course.
he's crazy, but ii would not be safe for
anybody to tell him So" The words
sound smart enough for an epigram;
but both their suggestions are open
to Question The old Lion of White
hall lies low now; he is menace no
longer to friend or foe; hardly ter
ror; but as the admiring relict of the
prize fighter, undefeated save by death,
observed as she took a last fond look
upon the cold features of the defunct,
He was a boss in his day!p
Aye, and what a day had the Won
derful nonagenarian who still tarries
there in his castle outside the good
city of Richmond. in Madison county,
which, with Mercer and Boyle, laid
the foundation of Kentucky's claim TO
priority in the production of heroes,
statesmen and saints.
Truth to say, except in the infirmi-
ties of his declining years, Gen. Clay
is no crazier now than he ever was.
This is not to question the proceed
ings of his next kin and the ruling OF
the court which has adjudged him in
competent. Incompetent, as TO world
ly matters and in the worldly sense,
he certainly is; though, when in these
regards, was he not? We often read
of those living before their time IN
advance of their generation and their
day There was one living long after;
one of Barbaroossa's men left out in
the final muster; one of the Gamma
Gael of Richard Yea-and- Nay, strange
ly omitted from the roster displayed
in that queer old Cathedral of MeauX;
a chevalier of Arthur and the Table
Round: a paladin of Charlemagne and
the Middle Ages. These FAST two CEN
turtles he could have existed nowhere
else on the face of the globe than in
Kentucky; for Kentucky time out of
mind has been the home of all that
is nobly barbaric-the last refuge Of
the battle-ax in human nature and
destiny-justly earning, and that in
many respects, the sobriquet of the
dark and bloody ground"
The outbreaks of violence in other
parts of the country are as frequent
and as fragrant as they are with us.
There is as much outlawry on the
other side Of the Ohio river as on this.
Yesterday Illinois furnished the horri-
BILE example: to-day it is Indiana. To-
morrow, II may be-which of the self
righteous States from Rhode Island to
Delaware that are so handy in the
matter of casting stones?
At least in Kentucky we order these
things differently. and Cassius Marcel
luc Clay led the procession three-score-
and-ten years ago; at once frenzied
and fearless; conceiving himself an
emissary of heaven: god-like, yet a
walking arsenal. aggressive, danger
Gus, -intolerant; the armed apostle of
the gospel of freedom and force the
arrogant belligerent minister of the
lowly and the poor: his word on his
tongue, his knife and his gun in his
belt, his life in mis- hand-such was
Cassius Marcellus Clay in 1886 to 1861
When Lincoln came in. the old lion
stood at the front He was a hand
some, distinguished man i'm appear
anee. But even as a high diplomatist
and subsequently as a soldier. he lack
ed moderation and sell-restraint. His