Norwich bulletin., 1909-04-23

and to what he considered a public and personal duty.-New Haven Lead CT.
 What Broke His Heart.
 George Lilley was republican of high prominence; he sat in the coun- cils of the party; was remarkable as business man possessing large fortune before fifty; had more than ordinary ability. and charming per sonality which drew to him 6 host of friends And the one thing which most astonished him and, as he him. self expressed it. broke my heart" was the savage attack from able men of influence in his own state, among them the very last from whom he had expected political hostility. The death of George Lilley was pathetic.- Hartford Times.
 Pronounced Him Clean.
 The Republican could lay bare in pIrt tue ma hin, Y Of the plot, enough to show business men of high repute perJuring themselves before, a con- gressional committee, backing a cam- pagn of corruption, islander and in- trigue. bounding an opponent with their hired detectives and newspapers, all because in his career as a public servant he hurt their business by de- manding the obviously honest thing. The witnesses and the records are sti'l within reach for use if the emergency demanded it. but they were not needed to clear the name of George L. Lilley. The state of Connecticut saw through the plot and pronounced him clean.
 In the presence of tEe dead we can forget the great injustice that was at tempted upon him. and remember only with pride that in him Connecticut had @ representative in congress who stood like a rock against public waste and corruption, and in doing it shortened his life so that he was never able to show as governor his abiding grati tude to the people of his state who refused to accept an unjust verdict Waterbury Republican.
 He Knew No Fear.
 George Leavens Lilley, governor of Connecticut is dead. and the state mCurHs--yes, more than the state, for hls services have gone beyond the b"r- 0ers that mark the extent of Connecti- cut He has been cut off in his prime when there lay before him a career oi usefulness, one which would have been prolific in good results for the people of Connecticut. He was a man wha knew no fear, neither physical or men, tal he knew the right course, and did not hesitate to pursue it; mistakes though he may have made, these are lost sight of and covered by the good that he accomplished. It is a loss to the nation, to the state and to his native city-let all join in the mourn Bridgeport Telegram.
 He Fought the Good Fight.
 We leave to the e-ture historian to measure the public services of Cover nor Lilley This is not the time for such weighing. It is a time though when those who knsw him and loved him as a man of noble impulses to be just and say to his fellow citizens: He gave all he had for his state even life" He fought the good fight as he saw it; he gave every ounce of his strength to the cause he believed rigLt, his fight was as great as that of any patriot honored by Americans.
 In passing down the path of light 70 the great beyond he finds a peace which was denied him here, he ap- breaches the richer reward and the "well done, good and faithful servant" His friendship will be a cherished memory to all who knew him, his deed honored for the purity of the honest impulse behind them. Hearts vibrate with a great sorrow today in Connecti- cut, for the state has lost one of her noblest and most self sacrificing sons New London Telegraph.
 A Stranger to Religious Bigotry.
 George Lilley was a self-made man. He rose with remarkable rapidity to affluence first. and then to political pr, minence. His early education was meager, but he made up by natural brightness and by industry for what was wanting in his scholastic train in. lie was approachable and indul- gent to all, an utter stranger to everything approaching religious big otry. His Catholic fellow citizens confidently expected fair treatment at his hands and were willing to tender him the cooperation which loyalty and confidence dictate. When the news of his alarming illness became public, he was prayed for in the churches of the state and the pro- found sympathy of the Catholics of the commonwealth may contribute. in some measure, to assuage the grief of those wio feel with a special keenness the sadness and the shock of his un- timely death.-Catholic Transcript.
 Connecticut Mourns.
 Party affiliations and political i'll feelings are never harbored when death creates a vacancy in a public office of the importance of the governorship of state. All Connecticut will mourn over the loss of its governor-His Ex- celency George l.. Lilley, of Water bury. Political adventures were a pas- une with the governor, but however a trolc they were to him they did not