He was a congressman and then a solon for 19 years, and secretary of state for three presidents.
By all accounts he was also one of the great orators of his era, as erudite and entertaining on the formal lectern or in the Senate as he was around the dinner table.
Yet when he died on this day in 1852, New Haven already had a street named Webster, for our American dictionary-maker, so could not so honor Daniel Webster.
Today, that’s the centerpiece of my conversation with Jason Bischoff-Wurstle, the photo archivist of the New Haven Museum, from whose photo- archive lair we are now broadcasting WNHH-LP’s “This Day In New Haven History.”
In the pages of the New Haven Mourning Journal Courier, the great orator and political thinker — arguably in the hall of fame of senators — is mourned for eloquence and also for a story-telling, joke-telling, and anecdote-telling ability that was and is likely still a key to political success.
Detailed news of Webster’s death came to New Haven and other cities through the newfangled magnetic telegraph, also called Morse’s wire, after celebrated inventor and Yalie Samuel Morse. No surprise, then, that the country’s ardor, great grief and involvement with Webster in this instance included details of what killed the man: what we now know as cirrhosis of the liver, and the suite of body-gnawing ailments that come with it.
“It was found that Mr. Webster died of disease of the Liver. The immediate cause of death was hemorrhage from the stomach and bowels, owing to a morbid state of the blood consequent upon the above disease. There was also dropsy on the abdomen,” reads the notice.
In short, Webster — like many a politician — met his final match with an enemy that came not on a political podium or pulpit, but in a glass bottle.
To hear our discussion of how Webster’s post-mortem calls to mind an era of dubious water quality, when drinking demon rum and other intoxicants, as well as highly fermented ciders, was the norm, grab a brew and listen to our latest episode. You can click on the audio above or download the audio from Soundcloud, iTunes, or any podcast app by searching under “WNHH Community Radio.”