BELKNAP'S SUDDEN DEATH
His Lifeless Body Discovered in His Room
The Ex-Secretary Of War Dies Alone Of Heart Disease—
His Army And Political Careers
Washington, Oct. 13, 1890—Gen. W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War during President Grant's Administration, was found dead in his bed at about 10 O'clock this morning. It is believed that death occurred between 1 O'clock Saturday night and 9 O'clock Sunday morning.
For some time it had been the General's habit to meet a few friends at the home of Dr. Hill, who lives less than a square away, for a social game of cards. Last Saturday night he was with them as usual and remained until nearly midnight, when he returned to his apartment in the Evans Building at 1490 New York Avenue, and presumably retired immediately. He was never again seen alive.
About 8:30 O'clock this morning John W. Cameron, his business associate, arrived at the building and, taking the mail for himself and the General from the box on the first floor, proceeded to the second floor where their offices and the General's apartment are situated. He had separated the General's mail from his own, which he began reading, when the servant girl who keeps the rooms in order rapped at the door and inquired if General Belknap was out of the city, saying that she had several times since Sunday morning tried the doors but found them locked.
Mr. Cameron, startled at what the girl had said immediately tried the doors himself but they were locked. The janitor was summoned and, bringing a stepladder, looked through the transom over the door leading from the public hall into the General's sitting room. He could see the General's hat on the table and his coat and waistcoat upon a chair standing nearby. The stepladder was then placed against the door leading into the bedroom. The bed was then seen, and the general lying partly uncovered on it. His left arm was bent rigidly toward the head was tightly clinched as though death had come while he was in a convulsion. The bedclothes were somewhat disarranged as if there had been a slight struggle for breath.
A physician was summoned and after making a brief examination he expressed the opinion that death had resulted from a stroke of apoplexy. The Coroner soon afterward arrived and took the body in charge. The autopsy disclosed the fact that the immediate cause of death was inflammation of the inner lining of the heart.
For some years General Belknap had been an almost constant sufferer from gout and in February last he had so severe an attack that he hardly left his room for three months or more. During that time he lost in flesh between thirty and forty pounds, and since then he had been in poor health. In consequence of his long illness his business had suffered and this had worried him at times. Mr. Cameron last saw the General at about 3 O'clock Saturday afternoon. He had been talking of his business affairs and seemed somewhat depressed, but before Mr. Cameron left him he had in a measure regained his usual cheerfulness.
Mrs. Belknap, who was at Newport and other Eastern seaside resorts during the summer months, but who has been in New York City during the last few weeks was summoned by telegraph, as was also the General's son, Hugh, who lives in Chicago where he is employed in the offices of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.
As soon as the death of General Belknap was known at the War Department, Acting Secretary Grant ordered the flag on the building to be put at half mast in honor of the ex-secretary, and gave directions that the building be draped in black for the customary period. He also communicated with the family of the dead man to offer whatever assistance they might desire from the department in the arrangements for the funeral. As soon as the funeral arrangements are completed an order will be issued closing the department on the day of the funeral.
William Worth Belknap was born in Newburg, New York, September 22, 1829. He was the son of General William Goldsmith Belknap, who served with distinction in the War of 1812 and in the Florida and Mexican Wars. William Worth Belknap was graduated from Princeton College in the Class of 1848. He studied law in Georgetown, D.C. but was subsequently removed to Keokuk, Iowa, where he permanently located and practiced his profession in partnership with Ralph B. Lowe, who was afterward Governor of Iowa and Judge of the Supreme Court. At this time General Belknap was a Democrat and as such he was elected to the State Legislature. He served one term, that of 1867-8.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the Army as a Major of the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry. He served with his regiment in the Army of the Tennessee, and participated in the battle of Shiloh, the siege and battle of Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, the siege of Atlanta and the battles of Atlanta on July 21,22, and 23. After the capture of Atlanta, he marched with Sherman to the sea and finally to Washington. He had meantime risen through the grades and had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General for special gallantry in the memorable battle of July 22 when he fought with his regiment from either side of the same line of breastworks. He was brevetted Major General March 13, 1865 and was mustered out August 24, 1865.
After the war he was appointed Internal Revenue Collector for the First District of Iowa, a position that he held from 1865 to October 13, 1869, when he was called into General Grant's Cabinet as Secretary of War. He retained his office, through General Grant's second Administration, until March 7, 1876 when he resigned in connection with charges of official corruption. He was impeached and tried before the Senate of the United States, the specific charges against him being that he had promised to appoint Caleb P. Marsh of New York to maintain a trading establishment at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, a military post of the United States, on consideration of a certain sum of money to paid quarterly to Belknap or Belknap's wife.
The evidence showed conclusively that Marsh appointed one John B. Evans as his substitute after Marsh and Evans had entered into a written agreement for Evans to pay Marsh an annual sum of money in proportion to the number of soldiers quartered at the post. This contract was carried out with the knowledge and consent of Belknap as Secretary of War, and it was further proved that Evans paid the moneys to Marsh as agreed and that Marsh turned over to Belknap the larger portion of such moneys. This arrangement continued from October 10, 1870 to March 2, 1876 and the whole amount of money received from Marsh by Belknap in consequence of it was $24,450.
Belknap was represented before the Senate in answer to the impeachment by Matthew Carpenter, Judge Jeremiah B. Black, and Montgomery Blair, who pleaded that inasmuch as Belknap had resigned the office of Secretary of War before the articles of impeachment were drawn the Senate had no jurisdiction in the matter. On this technical plea Belknap escaped, thirty-five Senators voting that he was guilty and twenty-five voting to acquit him, it required a two-thirds vote for absolute conviction.
General Belknap spent the later years of his life in Washington. He was twice married, and his second wife, who was a Miss Tomlinson of Keokuk, surviving him.
