Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1915-09-10
MAJOR CONRAD DEAD.

j
Holmes Conrad, the noted constitu
ttonai lawyer of Virginia, who wa
one OF the few remaining old-tin
Virginia counselors, died at his resi-
dence in Winchester this afternoon
IN the seventy-sixth year of his age
from hardening of the arteries. HI
was born in Winchester in 1910.
Major Conrad was solicitor gener
OF the United States during the sec
ond administration of the late Presi-
dent Grover. Cleveland from 1894 te
1897, and from that time until early
last spring it is said, no practitioner
In Washington was more familia,
figure in the room of the United State,
Supreme Court.
Only few years ago MAJOR Con :
rad, who had been urging a fnal
settlement of the old Virginia W est
Virginia debt q uestion, being CHIEF
counsel for Brown Bros. & Co.,
bankers, Of New York, sought to i'm
press upon the Court the advisability
of Fastening solution OF the case.
1t had already been referred to Chas.
E. Littlefeld, of Maine, designated
by the Court to act as master COM
missioner, and the commissioner, it
will be recalled, died in New York
city only a short time after filing his
voluminous report. Although Com.
missioner Ljttlefeld's repolt favored
the mother state, the question of in
terest was left open, and the attorneys
and debt commissions of Soth
states, upon finding it impossible
to agree upon the am unit of interest
West Virginia should pay in addition
to liquidating the principal Of the old
state debt, had the interest question
referred TO the Supreme Court Of the
United States for adjustment.
Major Conrad was i'll of heart dis
ease at his home here when the Court
announced, through Chief Justice
White, that it would hear final argu-
ments in the interest matter late in
April of this year.
Major Conrad's father, the late
Robert Y. Conrad, who was a lawyer
of distinction, was educated for the
army at West Point, but resigned
before graduating.
Major Conrad had been the Nestor
of the Winchester bar for many years,
He had spent much of his time during
the past % or 80 years in Washing
ton, practiclng his profession.
Educated at the old Winchester
Academy, the Virginia Military In.
stitute at Lexington and at the Uni
yersity of Virginia, upon the out
break of the Civil War he enlisted
as d private in Company A, First
Virginia Cavalry, and in 1862 he was
made first sergeant He YVES transferred
later on to the Eleventh Virginia
becoming adjutant, and in
1864 he was made major and inspec-
tor. general of the cavalry division
commanded by the late Gen. Thomas
Lafayette Rosser, OF Charlottesville.
He was president of the Board of
Trustees OF the Handley Fund. which
amounts to considerably over 81, 900,
900 member of the Public School
Board many years, and was for III
years a member of the board of visit
ors to the University of Virginia.
He was a member of the Virginia
General Assembly from Winchester
and Frederick county from 1873 toI
1882 and again in 1892.
Major Conrad was the last member
OF the family of his parents, and he
was one of five brothers who sawl
active service in the cause of the
Confe6 eracy.
He was married twice. His irst
wife, who was Miss Mary Magruder,
of Woodstock, Va, died early in |
1865, only a short time after
her husband returned from the war.
His second wife, who survives, was
formerly Miss George Bryan, of
Georgia. The surviving children are
Capt. Bryan Conrad, OF the Fifteenth
Unired States Infantry: Holmes Con-
rad, Jr., of Washington; Robert Y
Conrad, of Winchester; Mrs. Edward
Hamlin, Boston, Mass, sister-irL
law of Governor Charles Hamlin,
of the United States Federal Reserve
Board; Miss Garter Conrad and Miss
Augusta Conrad, the latter two at
home.
Funeral services We're conducted
Monday afternoon by the Rev. DR..
j, d. Lacey, pastor of the Presby-
terrain Church. On top of the coffin
lay the SWORD he wore during the
Civil War and the flag of the Con-
federacy made of flowers.