The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-10-20
Distinguished Iowa Senator, In
recent Conversation, Told Of
His Splendid Health.
INTERVIEW AT DIES MONIES
From The Sioux City Tribune.
BY p. x. LARlMER.

BY D. X. LARlMER.
II have never felt better in my life"
The speaker was Jonathan p. Dolli-
| yer, and the date was August last.
The senator was seated at the break
fast table in the Hotel Slavery at Des
Moines. whittier he had come to at
tend the republican state convention.
He was talking to the writer and to
John HI. Kelly.
Il have been greatly entertained
continued the senator, by the news
paper reports which have been sent
out all winter concerning my sup
posedly desperate condition of health.
| Each morning DIR. Jud Welliver and
| other eminent specialists have fur
nished the public with fresh dag
nosis of my mortal illness. They had
| me at the point Of death several times.
but all the time / was attending reg
| ularly to my meals. / have noticed
that the man who is able to eat reg
| ularly Is not very SICK"
| Wished Reports Denied.
Underneath his banter Senator Doll
liver seemed anxious that the unfavor-
able reports of his condition should be
denied to the people Of Iowa. To those
| who, like the writer, had a mere casual
acquaintance with him, he did not look
| ike sick man. His color was moder-
| ately good, and his complexion clear.
His movements were active. and for
:wo or three days he mingled stren-
| iously and far into the night in the
hotel lobby with old friends from all
sections Of the Hawkeye state.
But those who had known the sem
ator throughout his public career
shook their heads ominously. The
4 ruddiness of other days, they said, was
| gone. The well moulded face and neck
were shrunken and fiabby. The clothes
hung loosely about the STOPPING
shoulders that were once massive and
that Dolliver was appearing for the
| last time at an Iowa convention.
Senator Dolliver himself, with great
emphasis, denied that he had had any
serious trouble. as was reported. with
the bones beneath his eye. He de-
| clared that he had no intention Of re-
cuperating In the rarified climate of
Arizona or New Mexico, or that there
was any necessity for his doing so.
Iowa." he said, SIS the greatest
| health resort In the world. Even IL !
were sick l should stay at Fort Dodge
to recuperate."
Probably Dolliver knew, even as he
talked, that for him "life's fitful fever
was well-nigh ended. II he did know
1T, then he looked eternity in the face
| without flinching; he blithely chal-
! lenged the power Of death to conquer
his resolute soul. and faced the future
with smiling countenance and heart
| undismayed. N4
| The day after the conversation here
related Dolliver presided as permanent
chairman OF the state convention. II
was a stormy assemblage, and factions
wrangled and contended in bitterness
All Of the trouble occurred while DOL
liver was In the chair. He presided
with vim and vigor. The sprightliness
4 - 1xvx<xA x.xaa IN, n tn
During the exciting scene in which he
! and Major John F. Lacey figured he
relieved the tensity of the moment
several times with his humorous, half
cynical comment, and kept the dele
gates, who were perfectly ready to
fight, within the bounds Of pariia-
mentary dignity.
| Defiance to His Foes.
His speech on taking the chair was
| brief. 1t was partly sarcastic, and
partly the deadly earnest utterance OF
man who felt in his inmost soul the
righteousness Of the progressive cause
| which, in the autumn Of his career
he had so brilliantly espoused. 1t was
ringing note of defiance to his
critics and to his enemies to do their
worst.
TT is my Intention" he asserted, "to
discuss these issues in every township
in Iowa. Some of you say you won't
invite me. Well, I've lived long enough
in Iowa to come without an invitation
and I'm coming"
Death has interviewed. Delivers
promise, uttered with impetuous and
fiery eloquence, to proclaim the pro-
gressive gospel in every township ir
Iowa will not be fulfilled. But those
who heard him make the promise will
carry with them always the impression
of intense zeal which almost trans
figured him.
SKETCH OF CAREER OF
SENATOR DOLLlvEE
Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver was resi-
dent of Fort Dodge, whittier he went will
his brother, Robert III. Dolliver, since 1878
He was born near Kingwood, Preston
county, Virginia, now West Virginia, Feb
ruary 6, 1855 His father was the late Jas
]. Dolliver. who spent over 40 years in thu
ministry of the Methodist Episcopa
church, mostly In the mountains OF Wes
Virginia Father Doliver as he was at
,ectionateiy called by his friends. wal
porn in Saratoga county, New York, No
yember Is, 1916, of New England ancestry
who were mainly fishermen and sailors
along the coast OF Massachusetts, where
he family name is still common. james
i 7. Dolliver spent his youth In the state o.
New Jersey, though at an early age M
L
career as country merchant. In 1S4l
however, he was called to the Methods
ministry, in which he spent the most O
ais active life. He was married In lS65 Il
eliza ]. Brown, daughter of Rober
Brown, near Kingwood. Preston county
west Virginia Five children were born Il
| hem. Senator Dolliver was the second II
age. Thee theirs were Robert H.. Metho
list minister born In 1856. now with thu
Black Hills, g. d., Methodist mission; Vic
:or B., born In 1861, a lawyer and resi-
lent of Fort Dodge to the time OF hi
shared with his brother the gift of orator!
and was one Of the most popular campaign
II speakers In the United States; Miss Mar
! Heath about four years ago. and wh'
xaret Gay, who Is dean of women at Morn
ingside college, and Mrs. Mary II. Ora
ham, wife Of Mr.. e. r. Graham, OF Evan
ston, Ill.
Starts as Lawyer.
The two brothers, Robert HI. and iona
than p, were graduated from the Univer
sity of West Virginia in the same class II
1875. That summer ]. p. Dolliver went u
Sandwich, ILL.,, where he taught schooi TN
A Buff Orpington rooster. missing
for three weeks, was found wedged II
the wooden foundation of hystack al
4 bird thiT