Hanna - Bayles
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal 3 August 1891
Last evening shortly before 6 o’clock. Hon. Bayless W. Hanna died very suddenly of heart failure at his home on south Washington street. The family were out driving and his son, James R., was the only person with him at the time of his death. His death while sudden was not unexpected and death came to him in the nature of a relief, from a long and patiently borne illness. The ancestors of Mr. Hanna removed to this country from Monaghan, Ireland shortly after the Revolutionary War and settled in Pennsylvania near Washington Court House. James Hanna, the father of Bayless W., settled in Troy, Ohio, where he was married to Hanna Bayless. Here their son Bayless was born on March 14, 1829. In 1836 they removed to Crawfordsville and James Hanna became one of the founders of Wabash College being prominently identified with the Presbyterian church. Bayless entered Wabash College and continued in attendance until 1852 when he left to enter as a law student the office of Hon. Joseph E. McDonald.
Later Mr. McDonald and Samuel Willson formed a law partnership and Mr. Hanna continued under their direction in his studies. Later he removed to Natchez, Miss., on account of ill health and was there admitted to the bar. In 1856 he returned to Crawfordsville and was elected prosecuting attorney of this judicial district. Ho held this office for two years and then removing to Terre Haute opened a law office in that city. His career in Terre Haute was a remarkably successful one and he was considered as a leader at the bar with Dan Vorhees and Col. Richard Thompson. In Terre Haute he was married to Miss Oakella Reed, daughter of Dr. Ezra Reed and a niece of Judge Reed of the Ohio supreme court. In 1862 Mr. Hanna was elected to the legislature from Torre Haute and in 1864 to the Indiana Senate. He made a fine record and was the acknowledged leader of the Democracy. His speeches were masterpieces and his speech against the ratification of the fourteenth amendment made him famous.
In 1870 Mr. Hanna was nominated and elected to the office of attorney general of Indiana and filled the position most acceptably. His reputation was by this time national and he stood high in the counsels of the Democratic party. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Baltimore convention which nominated Horace Greely for the presidency. In 1876 he was a delegate to the St. Louis convention and a member of the committee which was sent to New York to notify Mr. Tilden of his nomination. In 1880 he was a candidate for congress sin this district but was defeated by RBF Pierce, the state going heavily Republican. As the campaign of 1884 approached Mr. Hanna ardently favored the nomination of Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, his old friend and instructor. To further this end Mr. Hanna removed from Terre Haute to Crawfordsville in March 1883 and purchased the Review which paper he used in favor of Mr. McDonald's nomination. When Cleveland was nominated the Review ardently supported him and after the election Mr. Hanna was tendered the position of minister to Persia. This he declined and was appointed in June 1885 as minister to Argentine Republic with headquarters at Buenos Ayers. Mr. Hanna made quite a success in South America and his position was shortly made a first-class foreign mission and Mr. Hanna received the appointment of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. Mr. Hanna pursued a wise policy in Argentina and favored reciprocity, his ideas coinciding with those of Mr. Blaine rather than the Democratic party. Ho held his position after the election of Mr. Harrison to the presidency and there was no prospect of his removal although the Republican party was in power.
On June 11, 1889, however, he received a stroke of apoplexy and in August by the advice of his physician he resigned his post and returned to this country. Since that time his health has been on the decline and for the last two years his death has boon expected to occur at any time. The life of Mr. Hanna has been full of variety. He has for the past 40 years been a prominent figure in Indiana politics, and his fame as an orator is national. He had a fine command of language and some of his oratory could be called almost matchless. Ho was careful in preparation of his work and come of his speeches are powerful for their chau cut English. He was also a perfect master of the art satirical, and could by it grind his opponent into the earth. A lifelong and zealous Democrat, lie was never a successful candidate for public honors, the only office of any note ho over hold was that of Minister Extraordinary and Envoy Plenipotentiary from the United States to the Argentine Republic, an appointive office, and given as a reward by President Cleveland for distinguished services in the Indiana campaign of 1884, a position he filled with credit to himself and honor to the government.
Socially Mr. Hanna was par excellence and he was a welcome guest everywhere. He was a brilliant conversationalist, possessed of a ready wit and an inexhaustible fund of anecdote. He was capable of entertaining an audience for hours with anecdote alone. Ho was especially great as a post prandial orator, and was frequently called to address the great Democratic clubs of the Union at their annual banquets, and his speeches always stood in the first rank. One peculiar characteristic of Mr. Hanna was his fast friendships. He was a man of strong likes and dislikes. He could hate like a fiend and pursue his enemy to the death, with the bitterest of emminity but in the presence of the dread messenger, the weapon dropped from his hands, and with the tenderest of hearts he could forget his injuries and call from the life of an enemy the virtues ho possessed and with shaking hands place upon the grave the wreath of immortelles. For the friend he loved ho would stand and defy the world. Let the hand of every man be raised against him, Mr. Hanna was his defender.
Bayless Hanna was not free from faults. He had his foibles. No man is free from them. Let us kindly follow his example in dealing with the faults of others. He was always ready to drop the white mantle of charity over the faults of dead humanity and to remember only their virtues. He was ready to drop on the grave of the most humble of God's creatures the wreath of pure white flowers, and then bury from sight forever the foibles which the dead possessed. We confidently believe that Mr. Hanna never willfully or with malice injured anyone, but on the contrary was honest in his judgments of humanity. Mingling as he did among the great of the land, he never forgot that he came from the humbler walks of life, and that he was one of the people. His heart was open wail of distress from whatever son in distress ever turned away from him empty handed. He was generous to a fault, so much so that although he has handled thousands, he died poor. That he was honest can be learned from the same source—he died poor. Tender of heart, generous, true to his friends Bayless Hanna lived and died a citizen among us. We all knew him; we all liked him; we are all sorrow because he is gone. Peace to his ashes. - kbz
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Tuesday 4 August 1891
The funeral of B. W. Hanna occurred this afternoon at 2 o’clock from his late residence on South Washington Street. The services were conducted by Rev. E. B. Thomson, and were impressive throughout. The music was furnished by Center Church choir, and was very appropriate. The last rites over our distinguished townsman were attended by a large concourse of his old friends and neighbors. The interment was at Oak Hill.