The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-01-29
HALF A CENTURY
In PUBLIC LIFE
Remarkable Career Ended in Death of
Former Senator Shelby M. Cullom
of Illinois in Washington
Yesterday.

Yesterday.
| Washington, D. c., Jan. 2o.--Former
Senator Shelby M. Cullom of Illinois
died yesterday after an illness of more
| than a week
Shelby Moore Cullom's death ended 50
years of continuous public service that
had made him a figure in American ma
tional life and brought him into Off
cial relations with every president from
Abraham Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson.
President Taft once said of him:
''Why, where's my old friend, Uncle
Shelby; he comes nearer connecting the
present with the days of Washington
than any one else whom / know"
As ploughboy driving his fathers
oxen over the fresh prairie OF Illinois
he had known and talked with survivors
| of the Revolution and on the rugged
| foundations of life begun in pioneer
hardships OF a family of ~ children had
built career that took him to the Illi-
nois legislature as member; speaker
of the Assembly, two terms in the gov
ernor's chair, service in the national
House of Representatives, and 30 con-
secutiye years in the United States SEN
ate.
His nearest living contemporary prob
ably is "Uncle Joe" Cannon, whose senior
he was some seven years by birth and
some three years in national service.
Was Born in 1929.
Andrew jackson was president Of the
United States when Mr.. Cullom was
born in 1929 down in the Elk Spring
valley of Kentucky, near the Cumber-
land, where the Culloms of Maryland
and the Coffeys of North Carolina, drift
ing westward with the tides of immigra-
tion that set in at the close of the Revo-
luton, founded their early home.
During the year 1922" Mr.. Cullom
recently wrote to illustrate the epoch
in which he began life, "the crown of
Great Britain descended from King
George the fourth to King William the
fourth; that reign passed away and |
lived to see the long reign of Victoria
come and go; the reign of King Edward
come and 20 and the accession of King
George the fifth. Charles the fifth ruled
in France, Francis the first in Austria,
Frederick William the third in Prussia,
Nicholas the first in Russia, while Lea
the twelfth governed the papal states.
the kingdom of Italy not yet having
come into existence. The United King
dom of Great Britain and Ireland had
not yet population of 24,000,000 all
~ l.. \ 4
country in some capacity in the Revo-
lutionary war had been elevated to the
presidency of the United States and this
was the case until ls43."
Times and events in his own country
were no less stirring and his part in
them was a marked one. Kentucky was
a slave state at his birth, the contro-
versy which was to hatch into great
civil war was in the process of incuba-
ton; in fact, the Culloms moved TO Illi-
nois to be in free state and Chicago
then was small village. The elder
Cullom was then a friend of Lincoln's,
recommending the struggling backwoods
lawyer to prospective clients. Young |
Cullom's first recollection of the future |
war president was under such circum-
stances. Scraping together the rudi- |
ments of an education gained by toiling |
over rough primeval roads. he became !
successfully student at Mount Morris |
academy, a country school teacher and |
a lawyer, being admitted to the bar at |
Springfield in 1855.
Begins Political Career.
When he became city attorney of
Springfield he launched upon a political
career, which for a record of unbroken
service, is unchallenged as exceeding that
Of any other American. Among his first
political experiences was the novelty of
being elected and defeated at the same
election. He was elected to the legisla-
ture and defeated as an elector on the
Fillmore ticket. Then came the historic
Lincoln and Douglas debates and Gull
om's intimate association with Lincoln,
whom he followed into the ranks of the
Republican party. He presided over the
session of the Illinois House at which
lfter Fort Sumter had been fired upon,
stephen A. Douglas appeared and made
MS dramatic plea for the preservation of
he Union. During the first of Presi-
lent Lincoln's second term Mr.. Cullom
anne to the national House of Repre-
and began work which was
practically interrupted only when he
served two terms as governor of Illi-
iois. Lincoln was assassinated soon aft
It Cullom entered Washington life and
he young legislator was a member of
he committee that demanded the re-
urn of the presidents body TO Spring
ield. Then, when the country began
o recover from what seemed final blow
ind the reconstruction set in with the
9th Congress, Cullom began his service
With the Illinois delegation, and with
ueh colleagues in Congress as Logan,
Wentworth, Blaine, Conkling and Hayes