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Show supreme court. Lincoln, his cabinet, congressmen and foreign ministers attended. at-tended. It whs the most magnificent wedding ever held iu tho national capital capi-tal up to that time. It is eaid to have cost moj-e than $250,000. The young couple led a brilliant social so-cial career in Washington and Rhode Island. Sprague erected a beautiful mansion at Narraganeett Pier which cost $1,000,000 complete and was the show palace of the state. The furniture alone, all foreign made, cost $250,000. More than $150,000 worth of art objects ob-jects filled the four-story frame structure. struc-ture. The crash came in 1873. "When the financial fi-nancial panic swept the country the t 16,000,000 business house of the pragues, which owned large print-cloth print-cloth factories and numerous other en-terprisest en-terprisest went into bankruptcy. Lawsuits Law-suits stripped the governor of his fortune, for-tune, leaving him oniv his country home, named "Canonchet,'' after an Indian chief. Before he had recovered from that blow another fell. Mrs. Sprague became be-came involved in a romance and sailed for Jamaica. Senator Roscoe Conkling was driven from the mansion at the point of a shotgun in the hands of Sprague. Divorce soon followed. Home Sold Over His Head. Later ' ' Canonchet ' ' was sold over the head of the governor. Frank D. Moulton paid $62,250 for the $1,000,000 estate. When he appeared to take possession pos-session he found Canonchet in a state of siege. Governor Sprague, armed with his historic shotgun and surrounded surround-ed by his supporters, stood ready to repulse re-pulse invasion. The siege lasted for many weeks, until the matter was taken into the courts for settlement. When Moulton died in 1886 hie widow returned the mansion to the governor in consideration, it is said, of a mortgage mort-gage for $62,500. Sprague immediately moved in, bringing his second wife, who was Mrs. Dora Inez (Weed) Calvert, Cal-vert, of West Virginia. The old place was dear to the aged statesman. Here he had entertained such Americans as President Garfield. Chief Justice Chase, Horace Greely, General Benjamin Butler But-ler and Samuel J. Tilden. The last blow fell when "Canonchet" was destroved by fire in 1909. The governor and Mrs. Sprague barely escaped es-caped with their lives. ''I was in Washington the other dav, " said Governor Sprague in speaking speak-ing of his eventful life. "The scenes there did not make me wish to be Bmong them. Here in the quiet, after the heat of the day, I have found bliss. I bear no grudge against any man, and one of the comforts of my retirement is that T find nothing to condemn mankind man-kind for.' DEATH CLAIMS UST OF WAR GOVERNORS William Sprague Passes Away in Paris, Where He Lived in Retirement. RHODE ISLAND'S HERO v Notable Career of an American, Amer-ican, Once Favored Child of Fortune. PABIS. Sept 11, 9:80 a. m William Sprague, famous ' 1 war ' ' governor of Rhode Island, and twice United Stat&B senator from that state, died at his resi-denoe resi-denoe heTe early this morning, aged S4. His death tras due to meningitis, coupled with the infirmities of age. His wife was at his bedside. Simple funeral services will be held at the residence in the city, after which the body will be taken to Bhode Island for burial. Mr. Sprague at the outbreak of the European war converted his apartment in the Rue de la Pompe into a convalescent conva-lescent hospital for the wounded of all nationalities. He had lived in Paris several years. William Sprague was the last of the dvi war governors. He outlived every ev-ery member of Lincoln's cabinet, every chief executive of the states, and nearly near-ly every member of congress, of the war period. He probably was the youngest man in this country ever elected to the governorship gov-ernorship of a state. When only 29 years old, in 1860, he was chosen as Rhode Island's chief executive, serving three consecutive terms of one jyear each. In hia third campaign only sixty-five sixty-five votes were cast against him in the whole state. Inherited Fortune. Born at Cranston, E. L. in 1830. he early inherited a large fortune. The Sprague family had been prominent in the political, industrial and social life of the state since the revolution. Young Sprague anticipated the civil war. For two years prior to the outbreak he maintained two full batteries of artillery ar-tillery at his own expense. When the war came Bhode Island and Sprague were ready to rush to the front. The youthful governor, at the head of 3000 well-drilled troops, was one of the first to reach Washington. He marched with his volunteers to the battle bat-tle of Bull Bun and later to the Peninsula. Penin-sula. Governor Sprague was the last survivor sur-vivor of the famous conference of twelve northern governors at Altoona. Pa., in 1862. ''We had to take a lot of abuse in return for our indorsement of Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, ' ' said Gov-! Gov-! ernor Sprague recently. "We were hissed in the streets and were denounced as traitors. ' ' At 33 years of age he entered the United States senate and served during dur-ing the administrations of Lincoln. Johnson and Grant. ! Married Kate Chase. 1 He married the beautiful and bril liant Kate (Jhase. daughter of Lin coin s secretary of the treasury and lat-er lat-er chief ju'tice of the United States |