The Washington herald., 1914-03-22
ARMED HIS HOME
AGAINST own KIN
After Wedding. Dora Rich
ardson. IS, Gen. Clay, 90,
Was at Bay to World.
RESIDENCE BECAME FORT
Death of Girl Wife Recalls Story Of
Kentucky Occur de Lion" Once
Ambassador to Russia.

! Lexington, KY, March 2l.-The situa-
ton would have been nearly enough uni
que under any circumstances to be inter.
esting. Imagine an old man Of 80 actu-
ally married to a girl of 10! But. couple
to the fact the man was General Cassius
NJ. Clay the Occur de Lion Of Kentucky,
one-time Ambassador to the court OF the
Gar and the real purchaser for us OF
! Alaska. Add the interesting family feud
| that resulted, with Clay actually placing
an armed guard around his place and de-
manding passes of all who would enter
and you can't blame Kentuckians for re-
telling the story, now the girl wife but
| recently passed away
The news to the world OF the girls
| death was in a brief dispatch from Lex
! ington. Dora Richardson Clay Brock
Hunt, who. about sixteen years ago was
| known the country over as the child
| wife of General Clay, famous pioneer
Abolitionist, had died at her home near
| Wallace Station, in woodford County.
After the girls marriage as a child to
General Clay. Dora Richardson. who was
| from an humble family at Valley View.
lived with the veteran statesman In his
great mansion in Madison County for n
| time but the Clay family raised such a
rumpus over the marriage she finally LETT
her spouse. He agreed she should have
divorce, the understanding being she
should be married to one Riley Brock
who was nearer her own age and OF her
own station I'm life. General Clay pre-
scented them with a home at Pinkard, and
son born TO them was named Clay
Brock.
Servants Armed.
Here in Kentucky, however. that isn't
| the whole story that Is remembered and
gossiped. People tell you of the exper-
ience newspaper men had, something like
fifteen years since. when they went out
to visit the General and Dora Gneral
Clay had begun to grow blind about
that time and physicians having told
him they feared they could not aid him.
his irritabiIity was thereby the greater.
One who went there then gives this ac-
count of his visit:
The man whose naked knife once was
his sufficient protection against all the
world now is guarded in his castle home.
night and day. by armed servants. Not
one OF those guardians, back or write.
who guarded Whitehall las the place Is
known. would hesitate for an instant TO
shoot-and shoot to kill-were any In
truder rash enough TO disregard direc-
tions Many of these men had been with
Gen Clay since hefore the war, and they,
one and all, were true as steel.
Approach the house and you were met
ty a nan, black or write. who, with
a most respectful bow and In the politest
accents. said:
You can't go that say. sir; kindly
take this path. It's the generals orders.
ITO back up the orders there was
loaded cannon at the front porch and the
thick walls were pierced with double-bar-
relied shotguns. Except his physicians and
attendants. no one had seen Gen. Clay
prior to our visit His last public appear
ance had been when he received at
Whitehall the Kentucky League OF
wheelmen. They held their meeting at
Richmond. and. at the solicitude of
friends, Gen. Clay agreed TO receive
them.
Wore Comb In Hair.
when the general totterea out upon
his lawn to meet the wheelmen. all were
shocked at his changed mien and bear
ing. His hair was snow-white and very
long. An old-fashioned round comb. such
as school girls used to wear. was thrust
just back of his forehead, to keep his
hair out of his eyes. The same thought
occurred to all, but no one dared ask the
old man II the comb was ons ieft in the
house by his girl-wife. Dora
Welcome, gentlemen and ladies' he
.aid, in feeble. quavering tones: I great
ly regret l have no chairs in the house
upon which the ladies might sit. I sug-
gest that some of you young men bring
hay from the stack yonder and thus i'm
provise seats
The suggestion was carried out, and to
his auditors, all in the vigor Of youth. the
old man of nearly ninety years made .
short speech that showed he still read
and thought about the topics of the day.
When he had finished he shook hands
with all his guests, then bade them good
bye and sought again the quiet and dark
ness of well-guarded Whitehall"
In 1901 the newspapers again chronicled
how Gen. Clay had fired on two deputy
sheriffs when the officers went to serve
writ OF delivery for some furniture
owned by his daughter Not only did
the general refuse the press any state
mcnt in the matter, but he turned down
the emissary of his son, Brutus J. Clay,
former commissioner to the Paris Exposi-
ton. who had gone TO assure his father
he had induced his daughter to withdraw
the writ.
Cane Was Dead Line.
Brutus Clay sent a negro who was told
by Gen. Clay his son should observe the
signs in the front OF the mansion and
abide by the consequences just the same
at any other man would. The signs re-
ferred to were, for one. a pole. to the
end OF which we're tied red and white
handkerchiefs, the white in the mud, the
red in the air. Another sign was his
walking cane placed across the walk. The
red flag. the general told an envoy, meant
war. and he would kill any one entering
the house; and the cane denoted his dead
line. after passing which the stranger or
relative might expect to be shot. The
general had provisions enough to last
him several days. No one was with him
and he paced the floor almost constantly
Naturally Dame Grundy was getting
busy in Kentucky and the country over
People were recounting the story of how
Clay-his children married Off or having
left Whitehall, one Dy one-had been
forced to rely upon housekeepers for his
housekeeping. They told how Dora.
mother. having taken such position, man
aged to ingratiate her daughter into the
old mans favor. until. at last he mar
ried her. After that. the story went,
mother and daughter had managed 10
embitter him against his other kinfolk
with result that Clay erected the barri-
cade between himself and the world.
Divorce Action Begun.
Finally, in 1903, there were divorce pro-
ceedings between Cassius NJ. Clay and
his child-wife. |
Few people sell their wedding presents
at auction, but in February of that year
dispatches from Versailles, KY, were
how the divorced wife of the
Lion Of whitehall had just done this. |
and that she found it exceedingly profit |