Affluence To Poverty

From position and power to penury and want is an epitome of the life of exSenator Conger, of Michigan, who has for many years resided yi Washington. Fifteen years ago he was one of the great leaders oL the republican party, yet to-rlay his name is almost unknown to the readers of the daily papers. In the Chicago convention in 1880, when the Grant contingent, led by Roscoe Conkling, apparently had possession of the organization of the convention, Senator Conger, of Michigan, delivered a speech of such impregnable, logical force that the report of the committee on credentials was defeated, and thereby the Grant forces were ultimately routed. For two hours Senator Conger held that vast concourse spellbound by his eloquence, and his effort has never been paralleled in any national convention save by Bourke Cockran in 1892, but Cockran failed, while Conger triumphed. Senator Conger is now 74 years ohl, and has long been in feeble health. Two years ago his wife died, leaving hira an annuity of $100 a month. Her brother, James Humphrey, is executor of the estáte, and for more than a year he has withheld the payments of the legacy. The aged senator has brought snit for this stipend, and has fought it through several courts, receiving favorable decisions on every occasion. In court a day or two ago Senator Conger's lawyer stated that Humphrey is withholding payrr.ents with the manifest hope that the aged senator may die, when the amount due him would revert to Humphrey. The lawyer said, however, that the hope is in vain, as Senator Conger is daily swinging dumbbells and is as determined to live as his brother-in-law appears to be determined that he shall die.