Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-President of the United States, died November 25, 1885, at his home in Indianapolis, from paralysis of the heart. He was born in Ohio in 1819, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was elected to the Indiana Legislature in 1848, and three years later became Democratic member of Congress from the central district of Indiana. He was chosen a United States senator in 1868, and strongly opposed the impeachment of President Johnson. He was prominently named several times for the presidency of the United States. In Indianapolis, where he had long made his home, he was universally respected by members of all parties.
OTHER VICE-PRESIDENTS WHO DIED IN OFFICE.
Since Mr. Hendricks was not the first Vice-President to die in office, it will be interesting to complete the list. George Clinton served one term under Jefferson, and had nearly ended another under Madison, when he died in 1812. His career had been extraordinary. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, was a sailor on a privateer, and became a brigadier-general in the Revolution, but was unsuccessful in his defense of the Highland forts in 1777. At one time he was a member of the Provincial Congress and was the first governor of New York, serving for eighteen years, from 1777 to 1795, and again 1801-04, when he became Vice-President. His death occurred in Washington, and the eight pall-bearers were Revolutionary soldiers.
It was a curious coincidence that the next Vice-President to die in office was the immediate successor of Clinton, Elbridge Gerry, who died November 23, 1814. He was a native of Massachusetts, a member of its colonial House of Representatives and a delegate to the Continental Congress. He signed the Declaration of Independence and aided in framing the Constitution, though he refused to sign it, on the ground that it conferred too much power on the national government. He held a number of important public offices and was governor of Massachusetts in 1810 and 1811. In the latter year, the Republicans (modern Democrats) carried out a redistricting scheme by which the Essex district took a form which many fancied bore a resemblance to a salamander. It was from this incident that the word "gerrymander," so often heard in politics in these days, took its name.
It will be recalled that when Franklin Pierce became President, the Vice-President, William R. King, was an invalid in Cuba, where he took the oath of office before the American consul. He was in the last stages of consumption and died shortly after his return to his home in Alabama.
Henry Wilson, Vice-President with General Grant, died November 25, 1875, his death being hastened, it is believed, by the news of the death of his intimate friend, Senator Ferry, of Connecticut.
The death of General McClellan has already been mentioned as taking place on the 29th of October, 1885. A few months later, February 9, 1886, General Hancock died at his home on Governor's Island.
DEATH OF GENERAL HANCOCK—HIS CAREER.
General Winfield Scott Hancock was an ideal American soldier and officer, brave, chivalrous, courteous to foe as well as friend, patriotic, a gentleman at all times and under all circumstances, genial, remarkably handsome and prepossessing in manner, who made friends everywhere. His conduct of political affairs in a section of the South during the troublous reconstruction days won the commendation of his government and the respect of the South, who pronounced him a "just man," for whom they formed a strong personal affection. But for Hancock's unfortunate slip, he assuredly would have been elected President of the United States in 1880.
The two peculiarities of Hancock's birth was that he was a twin and was born on St. Valentine's day, February 14, 1824, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Appointed to West Point, he found among his fellow-cadets U.S. Grant, G.B. McClellan, Rosecrans, Longstreet, and Stonewall Jackson.