The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-28
PEHTUS OF ALABAMA is DEAD
AGED SENATOR, AFTER LONG I'LL
NESS, STRICKEN WITH PARALYSIS.
Became Unconscious while ut h Breakfast
Table at Hot springs. North CsroIina.
and Did Not Rally Long and Creditanie
Career 40 n Soldier and n Statesman.

Of regaining his health. which had been
poor for several months, died to-day
at 1910 o'clock.
Senator Pettus had seemed II show some
Improvement. but this morning while he
was at breakfast he was stricken with
paralysis and lapsed into Inconsistencies.
from which he did not rally.
It was during Grover Cleveland's second
administrator hat Gen. Pettus sought to
be appointed United States District At
torney in Alabama and asked Senator
Pugh TO recommend him. Senator Pugh
told Gen. Pettus very frankly that no
couldn't see his way clear 20 recommend
ing a man ~ years old for so onerous a
place.
Maybe I am too old TO be United States
District Attorney" said Gen. Pettus. but
I am not too old to go TO the United States
Senate. and I serve notice on o right
now. Senator Pugh, that | shall be your
SUCCESSOR"
Senator Pugh thought it was a joke.
but when the Legislature got to voting
il was Pettus all the way. After that Gen:
Pettus had what amounted to a perpetual
Job as United States Senator from Ala
! bama, along with his friend Senator Morgan.
For years young and ambitious men have
sauabbled and w~rangled as to who should
succeed Gen. Pettus-and Morgan before
he died-but in the end there was never
any serious opposition to the veteran.
For ten years Edmund Winston Pettus
was one OF the most interesting figures
in the Senate. He was homespun and old
fashioned, a man OF plain and homely
speech. without oratorical fiourishes. but
with the knack OF getting easily and quickly
to the heart Of a question. He spoke with
a quaint, high pitched drawl. drawing his
metaphors and SMILES from the Scriptures
and always holding the attention OF the
Senate. Whenever he arose to speak IL
was like the sudden opening Of a forgotten
page in Am erican history.
Hts career and that Of the late Senator
Morgan we're so closely linked that at
Washington it would have been easier to
! conceive Castor without Pollux, Damon
! without Pythias or David without Jona-
! than than Pcttus without Morgan. Persons
who knew them best said that really they
had few things in common except a fond
ness for chewing tobacco. They were the
only Democrats in the Senate who voted
against the railroad rate bill. Senator
Morgan had announced his position pub
licly, so when Pettus also voted No many
| thought he was following Morgan's lead.
Yet II was said that he had arrived at his
own conclusion by an entirely different
road.
These two old fellows are against rate
regulation because it violates the Con-
federate Constitution" said a Capitol wit
! when the vote was AIKEN. Senator Morgan
was a man Of enormous erudition and
profound knowledge. whose English. classic
and beautiful. set him apart from the
workaday Senators. Pettus was a man
| wit with little regard for the orator In public
Appearance Senator Morgan was tall.
thin. almost an ascetic in physical char
acteristics while Pettus was big and burly
and broad shouldered and must at one
time have possessed remarkable strength.
Both were hard workers, the hardest per-
| haps in the Senate. despite their great age.
Senator Pettus was born in Limestone
| county, Alabama. on July o. 1921. He was
graduated from Clinton College in Ten
| nessee and was admitted to the Alabama
bar in 1912. settling down in Gainesville
to practise. One June %. 1884, he was
married to Mary s. Chapman. When the
Mexican Wal broke out Pettus was rs
years old, and went in as a Lieutenant.
serving with distinction.
In 1919, with a party OF ~thirty-one young
men Of Gainesville. he started Of horse
westward journey occupied about seven
months, crossing deserts. swimming rivers.
climbing mountains and continually fighting
of hostile Indians. Then they dug for gold
for two years, but not with much success.
Pettus had $500 in gold when he rode away
from Gainesville, and he had just as much
when he got back.
He was active in raising the Twentieth
AlaDanla Regiment, u. %. A., unu beT VeO
! with it as a Major when the civil war started
At Vicksburg he led a sortie against the
Federal besiegers and won a redoubt after
a bloody fight. taking $50 Federal prison
ers. The Texans. who formed part OF his
command, we're 80 impressed with Pettus's
dash and bravery that they met and
elected him a Texan" saying they could
pay no higher honor to any man.
He came out OF the war a Brigadier-
General. but he was wrecked financially,
and lila E0n NInpOnn who hVR6 lalan nf
Selma. he had to start in all over to make a
living.
In the troublous times Of reconstruction
Gen. Pettus performed notable services
in the cause Of Law and order. He en-
deavored to win the respect and confidence
OF the negroes. One day when the black
rose in q mob and started 10 lynch a young
hot headed friend OF his who had shot a
negro after a quarrel Pettus single handed
overawed the, mob and then restored its
members to reason and quiet. He even
took the young man away from the mob
and not a negro endeavored to stop him.
He held no political office Of any sort
except a solicitorship and a Judgeship
until he was elected to the United States
Senate. Gen. Pettus, like Morgan, was
not strictly speaking a Democrat-that is,
a Democrat Of this day and age. They
had reached an ideal Of absolute indie
pendence Of party, acting on every question
without regard to anything but their
principles. Their convictions were the
products OF principles earned when other
Senators we're boys. and nobody ever
tried to argue with them or to suggest
considerations OF expediency. On the rate
bill, for instance, Republicans supported
il because il was a Roosevelt measure;
Democrats, because nothing better offered.
Foraker fought it because as an up to date
business EXP ert he believed il was %ruinous.
Pettus and Morgan voted against il because
it did not square with their ancient doctrine
of State rights the doctrine Of Senator
Douglas and JEFF Davis and John c. Cal
houn.
Senator Pettus nearly became the humor-
list Of the Senate. He escaped that doubtful
distinction My by strong self-control.
Everybody remembers how he squelched
Senator Beveridge when the indiana Sem
ator made his ~resounding speech on the
Philippines.
we had a wonderful defamation yester-
day from our great orator-wonderful,'
drawled Senator Pettus the next day after
Beveridge's effort. 1T was marvellous
in all its parts. 1t was 80 marvellous that
! dare say such a thing has never before
been heard OF in the Senate Of the United
States. When you get "A genuine orator
no in absolutely nh solved from all rules of