The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1907-05-16

ism to the fery sentiments of the in
fiammatorx tersely loyal State which he
represented.
The press of Kansas was wildly de-
mandatory, and Ross was bombarded
with kilograms, of the most fervid ma
ture. Among these was one signed
ID. R. Anthony and Others" and which
said: your vote is dictated by Tom
Ewing. not by, your oath. Your mo-
tives are Indian contracts and green
backs. Kansas repudiates you. as she
does all perjurers and skunks."
Another from Topeka by ]. D. Bailey
said: Probably the rope with which
Judas hanged himself is lost, but the
pistol with which Jim Lane committed
suicide is at your service"
There was no measure to the aenun-
citation of the press after Ross's vote
Leavenworth Conservative said:
johnson is acquitted because Kansas
is corrupt. The fate of the Nation de-
pended upon the vote. 1t was found
and came from Kansas. Ross has be-
trayed the people, betrayed the cause
within sight of Mount Vernon and al
most on the spot where Abraham Lin
coin was murdered.
Another man, a man of great powers
and marvellous energy, a man who, with
all his errors, had great qualities and
generous instincts, a man who was grim
and satanic in his hates, but who could
love, too, and knew what it was to have
friends and be true to them; that man,
Ross, travelled this road before you. He
too, went over to Andrew johnson. He
found the road hard and dreary one,
with no lights, no stars in heaven. a
walk like Dante's in the inferno. He
ended his pilgrimage in his own tragic
way CThis man was James II. Lane. }
The Lawrence Republican said:
1--WE have never seen manifested in any
community SO deep a sense of shame
and modification, coupled with indig-
nation, as was exhibited in Lawrence
Saturday when 1t became known that
the conviction of Andrew Johnson had
failed thru the treachery of Senator
Ross"
The Lawrence Tribune declared: "If
Senator Ross is right, then every Re-
publican in Kansas is wrong"
The Kansas City Journal of Com
merce expected the "wretched man to
hang upon a gibbet of obloquy."
Ross term expired March 4. 1871
and he went back home to find him.
self hated and Stunned by every one
of his oid-time friends, and he soon
found that a residence outside of Kan
sas would be in every way more pleas
ant.
The obscurity into which he sank
seems remarkable, as Ross was man
of more than usual force and ability
He was born in Ashland, o., in 1926:
began life as a. printers devil in a coun-
try Office. learned the trade, gained
some education, and was in the rush
of Free State settlers into Kansas in
ST and So. He established little pa
per called the Kansas Tribune, and was
so active and able among the Free State
people that he was elected a member
of the Constitutional Convention of
1859. When the 18th Kan. Cav. was
organized in 1852 he enlisted in it as a
private, but soon received a commission
and rose to be a Major of the regiment.
When we remember what an excellent
regiment this was; how long and Wig
orous was its service; that it had for its
Colonies such men as Thomas Ewing
and Thomas Moonlight and for its
Lieutenant-Colonel Preston B. Plumb,
we can readily understand that Ross
must have been very good soldier to
work his way to the position of Major
and a brevet of Lieutenant-CoIonel,
which he received when the regiment
was finally mustered out.
In spite of all the charges of corrup-
ton there is no doubt that Ross re-
ceived no pecuniary consideration for
his vote, as he came out of the Senate
quite as poor as he had entered it, and
went to New Mexico. where he estab-
lished little newspaper with such
slender means as he had. He was alb
solutely forgotten until in 1885, when
he was resurrected by Grover Cleve-
lands appointment as Governor of New
Mexico, which Office he held for four
years and then faded back into obscur-
ity. After that and to the day of his
death he alternated between his little
printing Office in Albuquerque and the
ranch of his son, Pitt Ross, where he
died. In 1905 Delegate Rodey secured
the passage of special pension bill
giving him $50 a month
The Pittsburg High School has an I'M