Show successions succession SIDn that kept tw id i behind bd the law lw 0 of prudential su aie session flon is 1 a curious chapter of V ten hI chitry trY it was told today by li 1 I Ute who has haa lea been for many yew years a trusted official of the united states senate la Is explains fully an in aident almost forgotten now but ono 00 1 the cause of much mua criticism of j i dent cleveland until ten years ago the law was waa that the president pr f tempore of the senate succeeded to thi presidential office in the ebent of the death or incapacity of both president Presle ellit and alco in the abst aba ruce ac of a Pies president ident pro tempone ter temp oie the nue HUC cession devolved upon tte breaker ra but eith cuttit r of these officers only arted fu ted fm as Preil dent until congress could b a convened on twenty days notice botica abill IL special election could be b held early in the first term of mr cleveland vloe vies pr Preel e aident dent hendricks died at hla his homo home in indianapolis A situa situation tiou walca was without precedent existed up to the of his sickness alc kneiB mr hendricks bad prevented tho the senate from electing a president pro tempore lie he had been able to do this by declining to vacate the chair and to recognize that privilege the senate was waa republican by A narrow majority the vice dent having some political advantage in mind by so BO doing steadfastly refused to lot let the republicans organize oiga nize when he be died there aas as no president reside U t pro temporo the death occurred between the dissolution of one con congre grese aa and the regular session of the next congress there was no speaker at the white house president ert cleveland was completing his bia preparations to go to indianapolis to attend the funeral senator edmunds was waa at the capitol busy in hla his committee room the suggestion came to his mind what would happen if the president should be killed or be rendered unfit for duty by an accident on this contemplated JOU i ney to senator edmunds said the i sour lan was much disturbed tj tha more he thought bought of the peculiar possibilities bill bili ties the graver the situation seemed to him ile he asked me to find some oth er senators and send them to him only two were about the capitol the they were soon closeted wilh mr edmunds edmund 11 lie ile told them his opinion of the situa tion ho he said bald that it if an anything thing sh should happen to mr cleveland the country would be without a head there would bo be no one with even the temporary authority to call an extraordinary session of congress it would bo be impossible e to take any step clep no special election could be ordered there would be no relief from the confusion until the reg ular date for the assembling of cil congress caule round in december until tho the senate chose ft a president pro tempore and the house elected a speaker nobody could ru cu of the dutlaw of Pros president ident the tha law then relating to presidential was laid before the other senators the anomalous condition had bad not occurred to them they agreed at once that senator edmunds was right when he suggested that under the circumstances the president ought to be ba specially careful they approved the suggestion an AB the bult of the conference senator edmumd came out and asked me to got get a carriage for him ila he rode direct to the tha white house and told mr cleveland he must not to go to indianapolis he went over the ground showing tha president that if an accident happened to him the country would be loft left without an executive for months until december came th president was waa astonished he had not had the slightest realization of how much depended on his bis life at that time lie ile acknowledged the force of at senator edmund a immediately can cancelled called the orders tor for transportation and remained la in baah ington there much cri tilam n over tho the failure of mr cleveland oveland Cl to be piment pie ent at ait the tha hendricks obsequies the newspapers couldn coulden t understand the api arent lack of consideration the president said nothing this is the tha first time the circumstances of the senatorial conference and of senator edmunds hurried visit to the white house have been told As aa soon as a congress convened after mr death senator edmunds fathered and pushed to enactment a bill which raad made impossible the repetition f such ft a erl crisis tho tha law of gioi now is such that a vacancy in the offles of president of the united states is be baand ond all probability it if the presided preside t dies adlea the vice president takes t is once office and holds hold it to the end and of the term it if both the Preel president dent and the vlee president da die e the secretary of state succeeds suc bud cession falls in turn upon the members of the bh cabinet including the secretary of agriculture |