Gilpin observer., 1904-08-11
SENATOR'SDEATH
VEST OF MISSOURI is NO MORE
Distinguished Southern Statesman
Dies in the Seventy-Fourth
Year Of His AGE.

Sweet Springs, Mo-, Aug. 10.-After
lingering for weeks between life and
death, former Senator George Vest
passed peacefully away yesterday. He
had been SO near death for the past
three days that the end came without
a struggle.
He was conscious until about 2 a. m
Sunday morning, when he sank into
state of coma from which he never
aroused. He lost the power of speech
Saturday morning but for several days
before that he talked very imperfect
ly and during the last thirty-six hours
Of his life his breathing was hardly
.perceptible. The fiutter of his pulse
was all that showed that life still
remained.
At the bedside when the end came
was his wife. DR.. Jarvis, the family
physician, Senator Vests son, Alexan-
der: his daughter Mrs. George P. Jack
son and her husband, and Mrs. Thomp'
son, niece of Mrs. Vest.
Mr.. Vest was born at Frankfort.
Kentucky, December 6, 1880, and
graduated from Center College in Ken
lucky in 1S4S and from the law de-
ipartment Of Pennsylvania University
Harlan; after which he removed to
Missouri and began the practice of the
law.
In 1866 he removed to Cooper county
and opened an office at Boonville. Here
he was successful at the bar, and soon
was chosen to the State Legislature. At
this time Thomas H. Benton was maxi
ing his last fight for political suprem-
'acy with James s. Green and Thurston
Polk. Mr.. Vest and Frank Blair were
Benton's supporters to the end. In 1860,
Mr.. Vest was Democratic presidential
elector, and the same year member
OF the Missouri House of Representa-
tives.
When the Civil War began Mr.. Vest,
southern to the marrow, cast his for
tunes with the Confederacy.
He was chosen a member OF the Con-
federate Congress. In 1864 he was ele-
waited to the Confederate Senate, OF
which body he and one other were
the last survivors.
When the war came to an end Vest
made his way back to Missouri. He
was made for public affairs, and gradu-
ally he was drawn into politics. The
Legislature chosen that year elected
him to the United States Senate in
1879. He was a stranger, and little did
his colleagues know that that little
man would become one of the leading
statesmen Of future Congresses.
Senator Vests efforts in behalf OF
free coal are recent enough to be in the
memory of all.
One of the most touching and beau
tiful utterances of the Senate for a
long time was Vests tribute to Wade
Hampton, the last Of the barons and
the knightliest of them.
Vest was the one man Missouri trust
ed implicitly. He refused to obey in
structions to vote for the anti-option
bill. No other Missourian could have
done that and preserved his political
life. He voted against the oleomargar-
inc bill, though Missouri was for It.
And yet there never was day in the
past twenty-four years that Missouri
would not have gladly returned him
to the Senate.
In 1892 Mr.. Vest refused to again be
candidate for the Senate. his last term
having been full of illness, and in jan
uary, 1903, w. ]. Stone was chosen his
successor and March 4th he retired to
his Sweet Springs place. For a time
he was threatened with blindness and
his last days were very quiet.