Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-08-07


this. TOO. hc speedily recovered. The
! Illness which resulted in his death was
| induced. il is believed by worry, in
cidcnt 10 his having been detained a
long while on II railway journey from
! Ithaca. y. y, TO this city because OF Il
| heavy rainStorm and several washouts.
For years General Tracy had adopted
his habits to ii schedule Of almos,
clocklike precision and regularity. TO
| this. il was believed. he owed tho
! vitality which enabled him TO resist
his ailment for so unusually long a
| time for man OF his age
PROMINENT IN PUBLIC EYF; FOR
MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS
General Benjamin Franklin Tracy,
lawyer, soldier, jurist and statesman.
stood prominent in the public eye for
more than sixty years. AT the age OF
eighty-threc. he argued n case before
| the Supreme Court OF New York with
brilliance undinmcd by years.
Some people have called me the
father Of the fighting navy" he had
said recently. Il won't deny il. be-
lievc | am / tried to take the Navy
| Department out of politics and ! be-
| lieve 7 succeeded"
He referred to tho days when lie
served as Secretary of the Navy under
President Benjamin Harrison
! at that time" said General Tracy,
the cruiser Baltimore was tho largest
and strongest ship we had, and she was
only protected cruiser saw the
| necessity OF building ships which could
! fight il they had to-
Whats the use of building a ship
! that can't run away from a ship il
| Il n RI daI ~
his appeals. The phrase has become
! historic.
| He won the public. AS conse-
quence. there appeared three new types
Of naval vessels: the armored cruiser
| the armored battlcship, and the scout
| cruiser. lie also replaced all-stccl
armor with the present-day nicke
| steel. This aroused England. and lit
orally stripped the armor from the
British navy" All naval powers were
compelled to adopt the new method of
protection.
| General Tracy led versatile and
/ brilliant career. Born in OweGo, y. y.
/ in $50 he was a play and schoolmate
of Senator Thomas Platt. He was adj
mitted to the bar at the age of twenty
one. When twenty-three he was elect
| cd district attorney of Tioga County
| lie helped Horace Greeley organize
the Republican party in New York
state at twenty-five years of age. At
the outbreak of the Civil War, he was
serving in the New York Legislature
rs an Assemblyman. 1t is said that
here he made the first legislative
speech in the United States in favor
of paper money for war expenses
Like many OF his colleagues. Assembly
man Tracy went to the front. after
organizing two regiments. He served
| first as colonel OF the One Hundred
| and Ninth New York.
DESPER iTEI.Y WOUNDED
DURING CIVIL. WAR
At the battle OF the Wilderness he
| won the congressional Medal Of Honor
| and was breveted brigadier-ge general of
| volunteers at the close Of the war.
| -Four times in the Wilderness he rallied
! his regiment, to finally sweep over the
Confederate ramparts. At the moment
OF victory he fell desperately wounded
upon his battle flag. Historians say
| his deed made possible Shcrman's
march TO the sea. FIe closed his war
record AS commander of the military
| post and prison at E;lmira. n Y.
General Tracy met most of the great
| Americans of the last half century.
The greatest man with whom ever
| came in contact was Abraham Lincoln, -
! he said. 81 did not know him init
mately. but the strength of the man
! fingers in my mind"
The greatest President since the
| Civil War;" he continued, Il think, was
/ Mckinley. He could make a man feel
! happy while refusing to appoint him to
| Office"
General Tracy was made United
| states district attorney for the Eastern
District OF New York after the war.
| The whisky graft scandal OF 1866 was
at its height. The general fought the
| Illicit distillerS and grafters merciless-
| ly. Mobs threatened him, but he con
tinued his prosecutions and convic-
| tons
1T was during this fght." said the
| general that | drew what is now
known us the conspiracy act. took il
10 Washington and had it passed in
1867. drew also the internal revenue
act relating 10 whisky and tobacco,
and that remains the law substantially
to-day" This law greatly Increased
, the resources of the government. In
the year following its passage, $4,000
600 was secured for the United States
instead of si3.ooO,O00 for tho year be-
fore.
AT hfty-onc years OF age General
Tracy was appointed a judge Of the
New York Court OF Appeals. President
| Benjamin Harrison selected him FOR
:hc portfolio of Secretary OF the Navy
at fifty mine years OF age.
The tragedy Of General Tracys life
| was the loss Of his wife and daughter
at Il single blow. 1t was while Secre-
tary of tho Navy. in 1890. His beau
tiful Washington home caught firc and