238 



CONKLING, ROSCOE. 



CONNECTICUT. 



Mr. Elaine were recognized as the leaders of 

 the factions. The personal enmity between 

 them is said to have dated from a bitter con- 

 troversy over a bill introduced into Congress 

 by Mr. Conkling in 1866 providing for the re- 

 organization of the army of the United States 

 and looking to the abolition of the Provost- 

 Marshal Bureau. The Half-breeds triumphed 

 in the nominating convention of 1880, and Mr. 

 Garfield was elected. When he took his seat 

 in March, 1881, Mr. Conkling and his colleague, 

 Thomas C. Platt, claimed the right to control 

 the Federal appointments in their State. When 

 the President appointed William H. Rob- 

 ertson, an opponent of Mr. Conkling, to the 

 collectorsliip of the port of New York, the 

 latter opposed his confirmation, asserting that 

 he should have been consulted in the matter, 

 in accordance with pledges made to him by 

 the President. Mr. Garfield then withdrew 

 all other nominations to New York offices, leav- 

 ing that for the collectorship to be acted upon 

 separately. Not being able to defeat the con- 

 firmation, Mr. Conkling and Mr. Platt resigned 

 from the Senate and returned home in order 

 to appeal to the people of New York, through 

 the State Legislature, to vindicate them and 

 rebuke the President by their prompt re-elec- 

 tion. After a long and exciting contest, the 

 matter was decided against them by the elec- 

 tion as Senators of Warner Miller and Elbridge 

 G. Latham. The latter received 61 votes to 28 

 for Mr. Conkling. Mr. Conkling sent the fol- 

 lowing letter to his supporters : 



The heroic constancy of the Spartan band which so 

 long stood for principle and truth has my deepest 

 gratitude and admiration. Borne down by forbidden 

 and abhorrent forces and agencies which never before 

 had sway in the Kepublican party, the memory of 

 their courage and manhood will long live in the high- 

 est honor. The near future will vindicate their wis- 

 dom and crown them with approval. Please ask them 

 all for me to receive my most grateful acknowledg- 

 ments. EOSCOB CONKLING. 



Returning to private life, Mr. Conkling re- 

 sumed the practice of law, settling in New York 

 city. In 1882 President Arthur sent his name 

 to the Senate for a place on the bench of the 

 United States Supreme Court, in place of Ward 

 Hunt, but Mr. Conkling declined. During his 

 residence in New York he was engaged in 

 many important cases, and the fortune of 

 $200,000 that he left at his death was accumu- 

 lated during those six years. In 1885-'86 he 

 was counsel of the State Senate Investigating 

 Committee appointed for the purpose of ex- 

 amining into the alleged fraud and bribery in 

 the grant of the Broadway horse-railroad fran- 

 chise by the Board of Aldermen in 1884. After 

 the taking of testimony, which lasted about 

 three months, Mr. Conkling and Clarence A. 

 Seward made an argument, which resulted in 

 the repeal of the Broadway Railroad charter. 

 Mr. Conkling appeared for the Central Pacific 

 Railway in several suits, and he wrote an 

 opinion for this road in answer to the charges 

 contained in the report of an investigating 



commission. He appeared for the Commercial 

 Telegraph Company in its suit against the New 

 York Stock Exchange and the Gold and Stock 

 Ticker Company ; was connected with the suit 

 brought by the Bankers and Merchants' Tele- 

 graph Company against the Western Union, and 

 was engaged in the Stewart will contest. In 

 1885 he spent three months in Europe. In the 

 great storm of March 12, 1888, in New York 

 (known as "the blizzard"), he walked from 

 his Wall Street office to his club, near Twenty- 

 third Street, and from the effects of this ex- 

 posure, added to those of a cold contracted at 

 a hearing in the Stewart will case, he never 

 recovered, the disease taking the form of an 

 abscess at the base of the brain. Mr. Conk- 

 ling received the degree of LL. D. from Madi- 

 son University in 1877. His wife, a sister of 

 Horatio Seymour, and his only child, a daugh- 

 ter, survived him. 



CONNECTICUT. State Government. The follow- 

 ing were the State officers during the year : 

 Governor, Phineas C. Lounsbury, Republican ; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, James L. Howard ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Leverett M. Hubbard ; Treasurer, 

 Alexander Warner ; Comptroller, Thomas 

 Clark ; Secretary of the State Board of Educa- 

 tion, Charles D. Hine ; Insurance Commission- 

 er, Orsamus R. Fyler ; Railroad Commission- 

 ers, George M. Woodruff, W. H. Hay wood, 

 William O. Seymour; Chief -Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, John D. Park ; Associate Jus- 

 tices, Elisha Carpenter, Dwight W. Pardee, 

 Dwight Loomis, and Sidney B. Beardsley. 



Finances. The balance in the State treasury 

 on July 1, 1886, was $230,442.48. During the 

 biennial period since that date the total re- 

 ceipts, including $1,034,803.08 from a sale of 

 new State bonds authorized by the Refunding 

 act of 1887 were $4,958,973.06, and the ex- 

 penditures, including $1,030,000 paid for bonds 

 redeemed, $4,437,716.51, leaving a balance on 

 June 30, 1888, of $751,699.03. Some of the 

 items of expenditure are given in the following 

 table : 



The largest sources of revenue for 1887 were 

 from State tax collected by the towns, $698,- 

 355.22 ; from tax on insurance companies, 

 $230,074.87 ; from savings-banks. $211,393.72 ; 

 from railroads, $567,571.99; military commu- 

 tation taxes, $103,045. For 1888 the receipts 

 were $437,157.23 from the State tax; $231,- 

 775.63 from insurance companies ; $223,985.70 



