The Washington times., 1903-07-23
GEN. CASSIUS N. CLAY
DIES IN KENTUCKY
Former Minister to Russia
Under President Lincoln.
a PICTURES QUE FIGURE

a + y ! U II z > u u Z FI0UhE
He Was Famous for Daring Deeds, Po-
litical Achievements, and Per-
sonal Eccentricities.
LEXINGTON, July 23.-Gen. Cassius
NJ. Clay, "the Sage of White Hail." am
bassador to Russia under President Lin
coin. noted aboIitionist and author. died
at his home. White Hall. in Madison
county. at $40 o'clock last night. Death
was due to general exhaustion.
He is survived by FIVE children: Brutus
/ J. Clay. prominent in national politics. OF
Richmond; Laura Clay. noted as an ex-
.ponent of woman suffrage. Lexington;
Mrs. Dabney Crenshaw, Richmond. Va;
Mrs. Mary Barr Clay and Mrs. James
Bennett, of Richmond, Ky.
| Gen. Cassius Marcellus Clay was ia
! deeds. political feats. and personal &C.
centricities that 1t Is nard to choose
( any one act or characteristic more dis
| tingushed than the rest AS a duelist.
always victorious, ne was said to have
been implicated in more encounters and
4 TO have killed more men than any other
/ fighter living. AS a politician he was
| especially famous for his anti-slavery
crusades In Kentucky, having become
imbued with abolition principles while a
student at Yale, despite the fact that
his father was a wealthy slave owner
AS diplomat while minister to Russia
during and after the civil war. he TOOK
prominent part in the negotiations that
resulted in the annexation of Alaska.
Married a Child.
The act of General Clay's life that
has commanded most attention In re-
cent years was his marriage TO a ff-
teen-year- girl after he had reached
his eighty-fourth birthday. In 1887 he
had married his first wife. Miss War
field. member of an aristocratic fam
lily Of slave holders. and years after
ward, when he had become an ardent
disciple OF Tolstoy, he came to the con-
clusion that he ought to wed "daugh-
ter of the people" In November. 1894
he chose Dora Richardson, the daugh-
ter OF woman who had been a do
nestle for some time in his mansion at
White Hall. near Lexington
The old warriors eccentricities in
creased during his declining years. and
after his latest marriage he thought lit
tie Of anything except his dream that
some ancient enemy was trying TO muir
der him and his peasant wife" as he
called her. She, in spite OF his kind
nesses, kept running away from White
Hall, and finally he decided he must
get a divorce. This he did, charging
her with abandonment. She soon mar
ried worthless young mountaineer
for counterfeiting. Then the general
began to plot to get her back. having
already given farm and house to her
and her new husband, only to hear that
Brock sold the property. At last Brock
died. and a few months ago dispatches
from Kentucky stated that the general
was trying in vain TO prevail upon his
child wife" to return to him.
1t was in 1s45, after he had spent three
terms in Congress and had been defeat
ed in several elections by his pro-slavery
opponents. that he began TO publish at
Lexington THE True American" an
abolitionist organ. The publishing Of
fee was mobbed, and several duels re-
suited for the general, in one of which
the man who led the attack upon the
establishment was mutilated Later.
however. the paper was printed in Gin
cinnati and circulated in kentucky.
In the Mexican war General Clay
served with distinction in the volun-
teers. At the start Of the fight between
the North and South President Lincoln
whom he had supported vigorously, had
promised him the War Department port
folio. but the general requested that h,
be sent to Russia as minister. He re-
manned at st. Petersburg from 1861 Ia
, 1869. Before that he had supported
: Taylor. Fremont, and Lincoln in their
respective campaigns, and later he was
supporter of Greeley in 1872. Tilder
in 1876. and Blaine In 1884 On what
ever political side he was ranged hC
: was always a power in Kentucky. and u
) his efforts some authorities have at
} tributed In large measure the failure o.
, President Grant to secure a third term
, The Generals Duels.
The generals duels began in his
youth. and recently he told an inter
viewer that he could not remember how
many fights he had had. There wer4
too many of them. His face was cover
ed with scars, and his body, from hea,
to foot. bore the relics of bloody per
, sonal encounters. most OF them the out
, come of political feuds.
II was during his campaign for Con
gress against Wlckllne that Genera
Gay had his bloodiest encounter, n
/ which his only weapon was a bowie
J knife. He had challenged his opponent
for using Mrs. Clay's name in a politi-
cal speech. but their seconds had calie,
| tho aoht off after each hred an inoffs y.