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The Conservative *
He wns born in 1817 in Kentucky and
died at Oumha November 1st , 189 ! ) .
Thomas W. Tiptou , called in early
territorial days when ho was a member
of the council of the legislative assembly ,
"the Tiptou slasher" after a world-
famous pugilist of those times was a
man of great versatility. He had been
a lawyer before coming and was a
preacher when he came into Nebraska.
He soon , from his home in Brownvillo ,
with much vigor strode out into the
affairs of the county and territory and
attracted general attention and admira
tion. Even his political adversaries
praised him for fearlessness and his
absolute unequivocal frankness in telling
truths as he saw them. He was a most
entertaining and convincing speaker.
His wit and logic came out of his mouth
arm in arm and always well dressed and
fetching. No promiscuous audience
could get away from him , after listen
ing ten minutes , until his speech ended.
He was made chaplain of the Nebraska
first regiment by Governor Saunders.
Upon his return from the war the first
state legislature elected him United
States senator. He drew the short term
when the state was admitted and General
Thayer the long term. He was reelected
for six years and therefore had nine
years' consecutive service in the senate
of the United States , where among
strong men he measured up well and as
a debater , with ready repartee and quick
wit , was not outranked by any. He
became so famous'that Tom Nast put
Tiptou into Harpers' Weekly very often
and his face was as familiar as that of
his best friend , Ohas. Sumuor , all over
the Union.
Tipton was au original abolitionist.
Ho never feared to avow himself on the
slavery or any other question. His
fraternizing in the senate with Sumuer
and his wing of republicanism caused
him to oppose the San Domingo expan
sion scheme of Grant's administration
and finally to entirely cut loose from his
old party affiliations. He became an
admirer of Grover Cleveland and voted
for him in 1884. Ho was receiver of the
United States laud office at Bloomiugton ,
Nebraska , from 1885 to 1889 and handled
with great fidelity all the duties and all
the vast sums of government funds
which came to his hands in that period.
Nothing could better tell the honesty
and frankness of Tipton than the fol
lowing :
In 1885 a telegram came to the editor
of THE CONSEUVATIVE from Mr. Tipton
asking whether he could have a talk
with him in Nebraska City the next
day. An affirmative reply brought Mr.
Tipton to Arbor Lodge where , after a
moment's pause in taking off his hat , he
opened up :
"I came up to see you about my bond
to the United States as receiver of the
land office at Blooinington. It is about
ready ; it only needs one more signature )
for a moderate sum , and then it will be
ready to forward to Washington. Look
at it. There is Mrs. Tipton , who has
some property of her own , and
Tipton and Tipton , and now what
do you think of it ? "
The reply was interrogative as to why
he had put Mrs. Tipton and so many of
liis family on the bond , whereupon he
answered :
"Why , my dear sir , if my wife and
my sons and relatives could not endorse
me , and agree to pay if I default , who
would ? "
The bond was completed without more
talk. He was an honest , impetuous
man of great forcefulness. His life
made the world better. He was born in
Ohio August 5,1817 , and died November
27 , 1899 , at Washington. THE CONSER
VATIVE will soon publish more elaborate
notices of the three pioneer statesmen of
Nebraska named in this hasty sketch.
EX-SENATOR TIPTON DEAD.
Ex-Senator Thomas W. Tipton died
at his home in Washington on Tuesday ,
November 28 , 1899 , aged 83 years. Mr.
Tipton was born in the state of Ohio ,
graduated at Madison college , Penn
sylvania , and in 1844 was admitted to
the bar. In 1856 he became a Methodist
preacher but could not consent to being
controled by a bishop and left the
Methodist church to become a Congregationalist -
gationalist in 1858 , and in 1861 was made
chaplain of the Nebraska 1st and served
to the end of the war. He served in the
legislature of Ohio , in the senate of
Nebraska , as a member of the constitu
tional convention , and from. 1867 to
1875 as United States senator. The
writer , who wa& a mere boy when he
first met Mr. Tipton and drove over the
prairies of Nebraska to take him to his
appointments where he was to preach ,
lecture or talk politics , remembers him
as a man of strong convictions and great
earnestness , a man who never turned
from his purpose because he was in the
minority , and was never at a loss to
give a reason for the faith that was in
him. Since his residence in Washing
ton we have had many letters from him ,
both relative to politics and religious
conditions , of both of which he was a
close observer. Mr. Tipton and Judge
Wheeler were great friends and but a
few hours before the judge passed away
he asked the writer as to the last we
had hoard from Mr. Tipton. J. H.
Duudos in Auburn Granger.
The calamity
HARPEKS. . ,
journals swoop
down about the assignment of the Har
pers Publishing House and chuckle ,
like cawing crows , over the assertion
that "stringency in currency" brought
it all about. Did anybody ever fail
with a plethora of currency in hand ?
Has anybody flatted out financially any
where , at any time , without attributing
disaster to a paucity of dollars ?
ITALY'S ARBOR DAY.
ROME , Nov. 18. Much interest is be
ing taken at present in Italy as to the
carrying out of Dr. Guido Baccolli's
new attempt to establish an equivalent
in this country to what is generally
known in the United States as "Arbor
Day , " and to judge by the enthusiasm
with which the Italian public has re
ceived this latest idea of the well-
known minister of public instructions ,
the new experiment bids fair to become
a permanent institution in the Italian
customs of today.
There are few lands which naturally
possess a more beautiful and interesting
variety of foliage than does Italy , and
probably none that has suffered more
from the ruthless , not to say wanton ,
destruction of what forms such a neces
sary element to beauty in the natural
landscape of this poetically lovely land.
Most of the great forests which at no
very distant date formed one of the
many wonders of the Italian Peninsula
have almost entirely disappeared during
late years , and , since the fall of Rome
in 1870 , and under the rule of the new
government of modern Italy , many of
the once beautiful groves and woods
which surround almost all of the quiet
monasteries and convents which were
seized upon and "suppressed" by the
conquerors of the temporal power and
the "liberators" of Italy have been
hewn down and effaced , without
any attempt to replant or replace the
noble trees which a greed for gold , aided
by an almost savage hatred of all that
savored of the church , had laid prone on
the ground they once shaded.
All remonstrance at such times was
looked upon as species of treason to the
government , or , at least , as mere senti
mentality , and in the case of the forests
the blame was in most cases that of pri
vate owners themselves.
But in a very few years the day waste
to come when tha love of trees was to
bo no more looked upon as a mere
matter of sentiment , and in which the
lack was to become a serious and
threatening commercial and economical
danger , and it was for Guido Baccelli to
take the first set measures for their
preservation , as well as for a limitation
of the wholesale work that was working
such ruin.
Like a little light afar off , in a vast
expanse of black darkness , every now
and then an admission that all the
farmers of Nebraska are not im
poverished and trampled down by "the
money power , " appears in the World-
Herald of Douglas county e. g. :
"Swan Henderson and Oscar Ander
son of Oakland , and rich Nebraska
farmers , will leave in a few days for
Sweden for a winter trip. John Bodick
will take a German trip. "