The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-04-02
SENATOR DEPEw's VACANT SEAT.
Member from New York Said to Be in
Alarming Physical Condition.

Washington, ID. CT, April q. Day AFT
ter day Senator Depew's seat inthe Sem
ate remains vacant and in the big house
/ just off Connecticut avenue which he
has taken for the winter every shade in
every window ii tightly drawn, az If a
funeral were held there yesterday Word
comes from New York that he il suf-
fering from an @indisposition II is
weeks since he appeared IN the Senate.
/ II would not surprise many people II
he were never seen there again Tile
accounts of his suffering from aphasia
were at first received with ihcredulitv,
but they are now known to have been
foundc1 on fact. SofteninE of the
brain is spoken Of BY those who have
seen him and II il generally believed
here in Washington that the senator
IL breaking UP and that his end II not
far of, even though he may possibly
| pull himself together for another and last
Eperfunctory appearance in bis place.
The last chapter in the tragedy
which developed so SUDDENLY from com
edy- will thus apparently have soon to
be written, and little kindlier and fair
err view of the old man, 40 long fortunt's
favoElte, may then be taken. TO Wash
lington's credit II may be said that the
tragedy Of Depew has touched ii pro-
foundly. The sight Of the senator walk
ing up Connecticut avenue with a half
vacant stare and no sign OF recognition,
while on either side Of him walked an
attendant, has been tragic indeed, com
pared with the brisk sunny alertness Of
other years. There is universal con-
Il lksa La
stood for Yet those who now condemn
him most sayageIy fawnea on him and
sought his favor in his hcyday. He has,
after all been made much Of scape-
goat for the sins Of others, and in mere
justice there are some things worth re-
calling of him, some intimate views Of
him worth giving now, before his ac-
count is closed.
! Men who have played their part in
New York politics point to the fact that
never in all the time that Depew played
the same @an.e. usually so aefimonious.
did he say a bitter thing Of another
man. Men who have known him well
say that the public has had no idea Of
his ability and his force IF you were
with him alone" recently remarked one
of them, she would display shrewdness
and ability, in a word, mental force,
which was remarkable; but once let a
third person into The room and he was
all over your face, gesticuplsting. tell.
ling playing TO the gallery. The
without the third person
This same man of affairs declared
that he believed Depew's advice as 10
investments 70 have been worth all, for
example, that the Equitable paid for ii.
III the old man had only stood up and
fought when his name was attached, If
he had only declared, Yes, received
$4,000 a year and | was worth more,
and ought to hsse had more: the other
fellows were the looters;' If he had come
back to Washington and gone on with
his life and entertained and looked the
public in the eye and told It 10 be damn
ed. he'd have lived it all down. The
public, that always likes fighter, would
! have come back to him. But the trouble
was he wasn't a fighter, and never had
been. He'd been just cosset lamb all
his life and when the time came to fight,
he could'tT There is the kernel OF il;
he was always pampercd child OF for
tune.
Now that Depew i down. the fashion
lis 10 decry his speeches. But it i worth
while TO remind Mr.. All.ihe- World, as
the French put IL, that, in spite Of his
anecdotes, his speeches were often full
of god and weiI-thought philosophy and
were often works OF art that will bear
study even at this day. Many man
has gone to hear him, gone to seof in ex-
pectation of mere light bsdinage, and
remained TO praise. These are some OF
the reverse sights OF the shield, and
they are worth looking at while the
broken old man who was so long The
/ eelinse.