ence of any legal questions that might arise to the constitutional tribunals appointed to decide them. Mr. Tilden, it is held, was also for standing on the law and precedents, which would have seated him and his colleague. But the Democrats in Congress, to escape what seemed to them to be the danger of civil war, assented to the creation. of an extra constitutional Electoral Commission, made up of members of the House, Senate, and Supreme Court Judges, consisting of fifteen in all, of whom

Eight were Republicans,

Seven were Democrats.

The Republicans voted almost invariably for any proposition that would confirm the title of Hayes and Wheeler, and by excluding evidence when it was hurtful and admitting the same kind of evidence when it helped their case, by going behind the returns in one instance and refusing to go behind them in another, by confirming fraud and ratifying forgery, they justified a report which gave all the disputed votes to Hayes and Wheeler, and seated them by one electoral vote. After an exciting struggle in Congress the report was adopted and fraud was made triumphant.

Two Republicans in the House-Henry L. Pierce and Julius H. Seelye-raised their voices in protest against the fraud, and they continue to have the respect of honest men. Senator Roscoe Conkling absented himself from the proceedings of

Congress while the ravishment of Louisiana was being perpetrated by his party. Hayes and Wheeler lived through their term, and at the expiration of it retired to their respective homes. Before the Electoral Commission Judge Black had concluded his argument with the prophecy that the slowly turning mills of the gods, which are poetically supposed to grind out retribution, would some of these days have the water turned on them. The time for fulfillment seems to be at hand. The beneficiaries of the fraud returned to Ohio and New York and have since lived in great obscurity, objects of general contempt. Neither has ever been mentioned for other political office or dignity, and Hayes' name is received in conventions, even of his own party, with hissing, or popularly recalled only by the prominence of his wife in temperance and religious associations.

Mr. Garfield, who visited Louisiana in behalf of his party in 1876 and sat as one of the Commission to judge the Louisiana case in 1877, was nominated by the Republicans for President in 1880 and was inaugurated, but he was assassinated by a fanatic named Guiteau, who claimed to be a stalwart of Stalwart Republicans. A most despicable character by nature, Guiteau was inflamed to the frenzy of his foul crime by the excitement which prevailed in his party over the appointment of a Collector to the Port of New York. At the sup

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posed instigation of the Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine certainly with a view of rewarding one of Blaine's friends-the President had removed the efficient officer who held this post, without good cause and against the wishes of the New York Senators. This disagreement threatened to divide the party, and at the period of President Garfield's death the breach was imminent. The political suavity of his successor has healed it for a time.

Senator Edmunds, of the Electoral Commission, and Senator Sherman, of the "visiting statesmen of that year, have both been urged as candidates for the Presidency; and ill-luck has even attended the candidacy of four of the Democratic members of the Commission, though they all stood up manfully for the right and the law. While the mildew of retribution has thus blighted the political prospects of those who were responsible for the great fraud and those who were its beneficiaries, the most conspicuous sufferers by it-Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks-have steadily grown in the respect of the public and the favor of their party. Had his physical condition permitted, a mere nod of assent from Mr. Tilden would have commanded for him unanimous renomination in 1884, and with one voice the Convention laid at the feet of Mr. Hendricks its nomination to the place from which he was excluded by fraud in 1877.

I

CHAPTER XI.

MR. HENDRICKS AT HOME.

T has been nearly a quarter of a century since

Mr. Hendricks first made his office and resi

dence in Indianapolis. With his inborn love of rural life and associations, strengthened by his experience of maturer years, he for a time had his home on a little farm four miles from the city, whence he removed within the municipal limits after his election as Governor, to meet the requirements of the law which prescribes that the Executive of Indiana shall live in the capital city of the State. He has always lived in democratic simplicity, like a gentleman with refined but not luxurious or extravagant tastes. With genuine hospitality he entertained his personal friends and public acquaintances during his Gubernatorial term, and his frequent popular receptions to the Legislature were occasions of great pleasure to the members and his fellow-citizens. After his retirement from office and during the visit of himself and wife to Europe, their residence was closed, and in the interval between that time and the resumption of their housekeeping they boarded at the Bates House, where their pleasant rooms were accessible to friends, and visitors were always welcomed with genial hospitality.

About four years ago Mr. Hendricks and his wife-constituting their whole family-removed to and since then have lived in one of the two houses owned by him in the central part of the city of Indianapolis, on North Tennessee Street, near the corner of Ohio, across the street from the new Capitol of the State in course of erection. His residence is a modest two-story flat-roofed brick building, painted a drab color and standing a considerable distance in from the street. A spacious grassy lawn stretches in the front and to the side of it, with an ailanthus tree and several young maples scattered about the grounds. Straggling hollyhocks and other old-fashioned garden flowers usually found about country houses are seen along the side fence, and an appearance of half neglect, without any untidiness, gives the entire place a cheerful, easy look that makes the humblest caller feel at home and the most stately and fastidious will have no right feeling of taste or order offended. No "broad sheets of plate glass" attract the wonderment of the visitor here, nor is there "ample porte cochere," neither "baronial hall" nor "massive stairways decorated with carvings" betokening grandeur of fortune or desire of display. It is the modest, fitting home of an American gentleman, with a broad and hospitable hall, tastefully but simply furnished double parlors, well-filled bookcases being a feature of the rear room. Mr. Hendricks' own library and office are in a chamber