The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-09-11

war came, Rhode Island and Sprague
were ready to rush to the front.
Youthful Governor to Front.
The youthful governor, at the head
of 5000 well-drilled troops, was one
of the first to reach Washington. He
marched with his volunteers to the
battle of Bull Run and later to the
Peninsula.
Governor Sprague was the last sur
vivor of the famous conference of
twelve northern governors at Altoona,
Pa, in 1862.
1--WE had to take a lot of abuse
in return for our endorsement of Lin
coins emancipation proclamation.
said Governor Sprague recently I'VE
were Kissed in the streets and We're
denounced as traitors.
At 33 years of age he entered the
United States senate and served dur
ing the administrations of Lincoln,
Johnson and Grant.
He married the beautiful and bril-
liant Kate Chase, daughter of Lin
coins secretary of the treasury and
later chief justice of the United States
supreme court. Lincoln, his cabinet
congressman and foreign ministers at
tended. 1t was the most magnificent
wedding ever held in the national cap
ital up to that time. 1t is said to have
cost more than $250,000.
Brilliant Social Career.
The young couple led a brillia1t
social career in Washington and
Rhode Island. Sprague erected a
beautiful mansion at Narragansett
Pier which cost $1,OO0,000 complete
and was the show palace of the state.
The furniture alone, all foreign made,
cost $250,000- More than s150,O0O
worth of art objects filled the four
story frame structure
The crash came in 1873. When the
financial panic swept the country the
$16,000,0OO business house of the
Spragues, which owned large print
i
enterprises, went into bankruptcy.
Lawsuits stripped the governor of his
fortune, leaving him only his country
home, named "Canonchet" af-er an
Indian chief.
Before he had recovered from that
blow another fell. Mrs. Sprague be-
came involved in romance and sailed
for Jamaica Senator Roscoe Con&-
ling was driven from the mansion at
the point of a shotgun in the hands of
Sprague. Divorce soon followed.
Mansion Sold Over His Head.
Later "Sanonchet' was sold over the
head of the governor. Frank d. Moul-
ton paid $62,250 for the $1,000,000 es-
session he found "Canonchet" in a
state of siege. Governor Sprague,
armed with his historic shotgun and
surrounded by his supporters, stood
ready to repulse invasion. The siege
lasted for many weeks, until the mat
ter was taken into tn" courts for set
Element
When Moulton died in 1856, his wild
ow returned the. mansion to the gov
ernor in consideration, it is said, of
a mortgage for $62,5 Sprlgue i'm
mediately moved in, bringing his sec
ond wife, who was Mrs. Dora IneZ
Weed Calvert of West Virginia. The
old place was dear to the aged states
man. Here he had entertained such
Americans as President Garfield,
Chief Justice Chase Horace Greeley,
Gen. Benjamin Butler and Samuel J.
Tilden.
The last blow fell when Canon
Chef was destroyed by fire in 1909.
The governor and Mrs. Sprague bare
" escaped with their lives.
81 was in Washington the other
day." said Governor Sprague. once in
speaking of his eventful lie. 1.-The
scenes there did not make me wish 10
be among them. Here in the quiet.
after the heat of the day, l have found
bliss bear no grudge against any
man. and one of the comforts of my
retirement is that ] fine nothing to
condemn mankind for.