William Windom: From Knox County prosecutor to President Harrison’s cabinet

MOUNT VERNON — I wanted to double back and explore the career of a one-time Knox County figure whom I mentioned briefly in a previous column about Martinsburg, William Windom. 

It’s easy to forget these days that Knox County was once a direct path to national political power.

Before and during the Civil War era, Ohio was still considered part of the American west (later to be renamed the Midwest, a name which stuck, no matter how far the nation eventually extended).

As a major force on the western frontier, Ohio was central to politics, and getting a start here was a way to open doors.

William Windom, from Belmont County, Ohio, came to Knox County in the 1840s to study law.

One might expect him to have come here for a prominent institution like Kenyon College.

But the place of higher learning that drew Windom was the Martinsburgh Institute, a long-forgotten facility that was based in one of the southernmost towns in the county. 

After Windom was admitted to the bar, he stayed in Knox County to set up practice as a lawyer. But that was hardly his only goal.

In 1852, he was elected Knox County prosecutor, and served the next few years. However, his ambitions were not yet sated.

As Ohio’s higher offices were already well entrenched, he looked around for a place where a rising politician could make a career for himself, and identified the young state of Minnesota as a good possibility.

He moved there in the mid-1850s, and no doubt used his Knox County connections to establish himself. 

In 1859, he was elected as Minnesota’s first Republican Congressman.

In Congress, Windom was heavily involved in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but in 1870 he was appointed to the Senate. From there, he was appointed to President James A. Garfield’s cabinet as the U.S. Treasury Secretary.

After Garfield’s tragic assassination, Windom declined to continue in President Chester Alan Arthur’s administration and he turned to private business, where his name was advanced a number of times in the 1880s as a potential candidate for the U.S. presidency. 

Instead, the Republicans turned to Indiana senator Benjamin Harrison, who was elected in 1888.

Harrison quickly asked Windom to return to the White House staff, and thus he resumed his position as Secretary of the Treasury.

Windom was known as a persuasive and animated speaker, which is why he was tapped to give a talk at Delmonico’s Steak House in New York City on Jan. 29, 1891, at the annual banquet for the city’s — and nation’s — top financial figures, hosted by the Board of Trade and Transportation.

Wall Street officials, prominent bankers, and numerous politicians were in attendance for the event, which started at 6 p.m. The speeches began at 9 p.m., after the elaborate meal was over.

After opening remarks by the event hosts, Secretary Windom was invited to the podium.

Windom gave an animated talk, speaking about how the administration would work with financial institutions to keep the economic recovery going after a period of difficult conditions.

Windom’s talk caught the imagination of many in the audience, and they enthusiastically applauded his conclusion: “Our country’s prosperity depends upon its instruments of commerce.”

Optimistic and strong, the speech was a resounding success. Windom sat back down at the table, and the master of ceremonies began introducing the next speaker.

There was a sudden commotion at the front table. Secretary Windom had very abruptly fallen out of his chair onto the floor. Event attendees sprang to his side, but parted for a number of doctors who had been in the audience. 

The doctors picked up the stricken Windom and took him through a door into Delmonico’s dish room, where there was a table where they could place the ashen-faced man. 

One of the doctors listened for Windom’s heartbeat and noted that it was faint and irregular, but present.

One of the event hosts repaired to the main dining room where he informed guests that the secretary had fainted and was being attended to, and attempted to resume the program.

Back in the dish room, the doctors noted that Windom’s pulse was fading, and called for a battery.

As an aside, I must say I was unaware that electric shock was already being used in medicine in the 1890s, but that was exactly the case. Once a battery was located, the doctors used it to attempt to revive Windom’s heartbeat, which was sputtering.

After a few minutes, they realized it wasn’t working. Windom was pronounced dead from a heart attack at 10:11 pm. 

One of the event hosts, Judge Arnoux, returned to the banquet hall and announced to the guests that Secretary Windom had passed, to their shock.

As a rather melodramatic newspaper report from the event put it: “This was the announcement that was sent through the gayly-bedecked banquet hall, around which still hung like a funeral pall the smoke of the after-dinner cigars.”

A telegram was sent to inform President Harrison in Washington, and he was asked to deliver the news personally to Secretary Windom’s wife.

She was attending a reception, where attendees were astonished to see the president suddenly walk into the room and make a bee-line for Mrs. Windom. 

President Harrison took her aside and informed her about what had happened, and then accompanied her to the train station, where the bereaved wife boarded the next train to New York City. Her husband’s body was taken back to Washington, D.C., for burial.

Thus ended the career of one of the many figures of 19th-century political prominence who got their starts in Knox County.

In Windom’s case, perhaps it was just as well.

It turns out that his bullish optimism in the economy was not well-placed, for the U.S. suffered a major panic in 1892 that brought on one of the deepest recessions in the country’s history, triggering the end of The Gilded Age of ostentatious financial prosperity.

He is also remembered today as the great-grandfather of the actor William Windom, who was named after him. 

This Windom was a popular television actor, most known for his regular appearances with Angela Lansbury on the show Murder She Wrote.