The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-01-28
GOVERNOR COSGROVE
TRAGEDYOF POLITICS

| DoWtIlul picture, UOFeIlOT SOS
grove taking the oath of office here
yesterday. He refused to have the
ceremony in his car and was
taken to the capitol, where Justice
Pudkin administered the oath be
fore the legislature, amid mingled
applause and tears. The governor
was Immediately taken back to
his car.
A sick old man, graphing with
death but indomitably brave and
yielding not an inch, the square
jaw of Governor Cosgrove was set
and his eyes flashed as he an
nounced: LAS long as | live | will
be the governor of the state of
Washington"
Governor Cosgrove may live for
years and he may not live for
| more than a few short weeks, but
while he draws the breath of life
he will be Samuel G. Cosgrove,
whom no man may cajole or bully.
The joy of his arrival in Olym-
pia was shaded and toned by it's
pathetic side, and those who saw
him and pondered over the unique
and tragic situation went their
way in sober meditation.
For 20 years Samuel G. Cos
grove has sought the honor of be-
ing governor of the state of Wash
ington. Through a generation of
political vicissitudes he has borne
up and as often as the honored
and coveted prize eluded or was
snatched from him, just as often
did he return to his quest.
And now, with the ambition of
20 years consummated, with his
personal and political enemies
overcome, with the Office that he
longed for, death stands close be-
side him waiting only an unguard-
ed moment. One slip, one shift of
the dice box of fate, and Governor
Cosgrove will be counted out by
that great judge of election who
cares not for party nor power.
The ambition of lifetime hangs
in the balance of few brief
hours. 1t was a race with death,
flaunt to fate, to make the trip
from the sunny skies of California
to the fogs, damp and snow of
Olympia. The thousand miles of
track between here and Paso
Robes held the chance of death
for every rails length; the noun
tain slides, the Shrunken roadbed
and the numberless perils that be-
set the traveller, all of these had
their opportunity to play their
caprice at the expense of this
brave old man who knows and
fears not.
If any of these dark thought shot
through the mind of the governor,
if his heart ached as he neared the
summit of his ambition, if dark
and foreboding doubt presented it.
self there was no evidence of the
fact on that face of nobility and
loveableness. Serene and calm.
like the saints of old, he contem-
plated his victory of arriving in
the capitol of the state and like
a man who has lived long and
knows life and it's vanities, he has
no resentment for the harpies that
have for months fattened their
hopes on the prospect of his
death. Well realizing that he
stands on the brink at the mercy
of the first adverse gust, he has
charity in his soul for all men; in
those clear and dauntless eyes that
burn and flash with the fire of
adolescence may be read the scroll
of many years that have run with
honor and love for his fellow men.
Governor Cosgrove is a sick man,
but he is not dying man. He
is in the clutches of one of the
deadliest diseases that man has
named, but he is clutching back
and with a will that knows no
breaking he is fighting, and will
fight until brain and heart can re-
sist no longer.
A decade back doctors prepared
the shroud for Cosgrove and mark
ed the end of his earthly career
with weeks. In defiance he arose