Robert G. Ingersoll

[DeadPoked]

Have you ever this name before? Most haven't. Although he was one of the brightest minds this country has ever produced. He was known as the best orator of the 19th century when oratory was the most popular form of entertainment. Mark Twain called him the greatest master of the English language. He was a Civil War hero who spoke out against slavery and in favor of women's rights.

He was also a pool player. Here is one of his quotes about pool and life.

"The fact is that the whole world is a table, we are the balls and Fate plays the game. We are knocked and whacked against each other,--followed and drawn-whirled and twisted, pocked and spotted, and all the time we think we are doing the playing. But no matter, we feel we are in the game, and a real good illusion is, after all, it may be, the only reality that we know. At the same time, I feel that Fate is a careless player--that he is always a little nervous and generally forgets to chalk his cue. I know that he has made lots of mistakes with me--lots of misses."

One of his famous replies to Judge Black was dictated while he was at the table in between running out balls. The day that he died, on his way to take a nap, he challenged his son-in-law and brother-in-law to a game of pool when he woke up. He wasn't able to make his match unfortunately because he died of congestive heart failure shortly after waking up.

Here is a link to a collection of his writings and speeches.

http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/

 

[easy-e]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Dave Nelson]

Thanks for bringing this up. "Some Mistakes of Moses" is prominent on my bookshelves along with a small collection of other of Ingersoll's writings. It's getting a little tattered. He died just a bit to soon to have his voice recorded but his writings are extraordinary for their clarity. It's a shame that some of his works are not required reading for high school students.

Dave Nelson

 

[Dave Nelson]

It looks like this thread will die. It might help if it were moved to NPR. Ingersoll deserves to be better known.

Dave Nelson

 

[Black-Balled]

Have you ever this name before? ...he challenged his son-in-law and brother-in-law to a game of pool when he woke up. He wasn't able to make his match unfortunately because he died of congestive heart failure shortly after waking up

That'll slow you down for sure!

 

[DeadPoked]

It looks like this thread will die. It might help if it were moved to NPR. Ingersoll deserves to be better known.

Dave Nelson

Dave, Ingersoll unfortunately fell victim to the same fate as Thomas Paine. Infidels are not remembered too fondly by history.

 

[Dave Nelson]

DeadPoked;

As a lifelong outspoken Atheist I know all to well.

Dave Nelson

 

[jsp]

Cool, I didn't know Ingersoll was a fellow player?

So what was his speed?

What was his game of choice?

Did he own a Brunswick table?

Do you think he would have beaten Mozart?

Since he was a great orator, he must have been a master at backhand English.

 

[DeadPoked]

It's funny how a thread about a fellow American of true intelligence, who most have not heard about, and his fascination with pool barely gets a notice on a pool forum.

True intelligence is rarely visible to those ignorant of it.

 

[DeadPoked]

Here is a quote from Ingersoll that mentions billiards. What a great idea he is discussing. Why has this never happened?

"Now, it seems to me that it would be far better for the people of a town, having a population of four or five thousand, to have one church and the edifice should be of use, not only on Sunday, but on every day of the week. In this building should be the library of the town. It should be the clubhouse of the people, where they could find the principal newspapers and periodicals of the world. Its auditorium should be like a theater. Plays should be presented by home talent; an orchestra formed, music cultivated. The people should meet there at any time they desire ... and connected with it should be rooms for the playing of games, billiards, cards, and chess ...

It should be the intellectual center. They could employ a gentleman of ability, possibly of genius, to address them on Sundays, on subjects that would be of real interest, of real importance ... Let him make his congregation conversant with the philosophies of the world, with the great thinkers, the great poets, the great artists, the great actors, the great orators, the great inventors, the captains of industry, the soldiers of progress. Let them have a Sunday school in which the children shall be made acquainted with the facts of nature; with botany, entomology, something of geology and astronomy. Let them be made familiar with the greatest of poems, the finest paragraphs of literature, with stories of the heroic, the self-denying and generous. Now, it seems to me that such a congregation in a few years would become the most intelligent people in the United States."

 

[jsp]

It's funny how a thread about a fellow American of true intelligence, who most have not heard about, and his fascination with pool barely gets a notice on a pool forum.

Do you think he joined a league? You think he used an aiming system?

Any more info you can pass on regarding "fascination" with pool would be greatly appreciated. Please keep them coming!

 

[jsp]

The people should meet there at any time they desire ... and connected with it should be rooms for the playing of games, billiards, cards, and chess ...

Outstanding! He places billiards on the same level as cards and chess!

 

[TX Poolnut]

In his 1899 death notice in the NY Times, it mentions billiards several times. He seems like a facinating man.

Here's a link to his death notice:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9407E4D71430E132A25751C2A9619C94689ED7CF

 

[DeadPoked]

In his 1899 death notice in the NY Times, it mentions billiards several times. He seems like a facinating man.

Here's a link to his death notice:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9407E4D71430E132A25751C2A9619C94689ED7CF

I was actually going to post this article. It's one of the most fascinating and candid pieces I've ever read on a persons life and death. Thanks for posting.

 

[DeadPoked]

Thanks for bringing this up. "Some Mistakes of Moses" is prominent on my bookshelves along with a small collection of other of Ingersoll's writings. It's getting a little tattered. He died just a bit to soon to have his voice recorded but his writings are extraordinary for their clarity. It's a shame that some of his works are not required reading for high school students.

Dave Nelson

Dave, it's a little early but I have an early 84th birthday present for you. It has been a while since I first researched information on Ingersoll and I had forgotten a little piece of information that I am sure you would like to hear about.

Thomas Edison was also a great admirer of Ingersoll and had this to say about him.

"I think that Ingersoll has all the attributes of a perfect man, and, in my opinion, no finer personality ever existed."

A fine compliment, indeed. Coming from one of the most well known and prolific inventors in human history whose inventions have shaped the world that we live in. What a pity it is that such an admirer, who invented the phonograph which recorded sound, never made an audio recording of perhaps the most intelligent person to ever give a speech. At least a very strong case could be made for Ingersoll at that time and perhaps he still is.

Well, it turns out Edison did not make a single recording of Ingersoll---He made TWO recording of Ingersoll. And you can listen to them by clicking the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLLapwIoEVI&feature=related

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Also, here is a biography that I thought captured Ingersoll very well.

Robert Green Ingersoll is too little known today. Yet he was the foremost orator and political speechmaker of late 19th century America -- perhaps the best-known American of the post-Civil War era.

Ingersoll was born in Dresden, New York in 1833. His father was a Presbyterian minister who changed congregations often. The Ingersolls left Dresden when the baby Robert was less than four months old. Ingersoll would make his name as a resident of Peoria, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; and finally New York City. Yet the house of his birth remains the only Ingersoll residence that is open to the public as a memorial to him.

Ingersoll entered public life as a Peoria, Illinois, attorney. Following distinguished service in the Civil War, he served as the first Attorney General of Illinois. Politically, he allied with the Republicans, the party of Lincoln and in those days the voice of progressivism. Ingersoll's electrifying speaking voice soon made him the most sought-after speechmaker on behalf of Republican candidates and causes. His legal career was also distinguished. He mounted a successful defense of two men falsely charged in the Star Route Scandal, perhaps the most controversial, politically-charged trial of the late 19th century.

But it was his private speaking career that made him famous. Tour after tour, he crisscrossed the country and spoke before packed houses on topics ranging from Shakespeare to Reconstruction, from science to religion. In an age when oratory was the dominant form of public entertainment, Ingersoll was the unchallenged king of American orators. Ingersoll was the friend of Presidents, literary giants like Mark Twain, captains of industry like Andrew Carnegie, and leading figures in the arts. He was also beloved of reformers like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Other Americans considered themselves his enemies. He bitterly opposed the Religious Right of his day. He was an early popularizer of Charles Darwin and a tireless advocate of science and reason. More, he argued for the rights of women and African-Americans.

Ingersoll also praised the virtues of family and fireside. And he practiced what he preached. Contemporary sources say Ingersoll enjoyed almost idyllic contentment in family life. Opponents frequently despaired of finding anything to disparage in his personal life.

The Birth & Youth of Robert G. Ingersoll

Robert Ingersoll was born August 11, 1833, the youngest of five children of John and Mary Ingersoll. John Ingersoll was a Presbyterian minister. He was a man who believed, in the words of Elbert Hubbard, that "that which was pleasant was not wholly good." By all accounts a stern, uncompromising parson, John Ingersoll preached abolitionist sermons so fiery that congregations often dismissed him. Dresden's was no exception; the Ingersolls left this area before Robert was four months old. Mary Ingersoll died at thirty-one, when Robert was one and one-half years of age. Reverend Ingersoll and the five children continued to wander. During Robert's childhood, the family lived in various communities in New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Robert Ingersoll received little formal schooling. He last saw the inside of a conventional schoolroom as a youth of fifteen while his family was residing in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Later, he would say that his real education began while he was waiting at a cobbler's shop, when he chanced to pick up a book of the poetry of Robert Burns.

At last the family came to settle in Illinois. In this state Robert Green Ingersoll, now a young man, determined to seek his fortune. He had some of his father's gift for oratory, but had seen enough of the frontier preacher's life. He apprenticed himself to two lawyers, one after another, and in that way qualified himself for the practice of law.

The Peoria Years With His Brother Ebon Clark Ingersoll

Robert set up a law practice in the growing town of Peoria, Illinois. The law practice prospered. Both brothers became active in local politics.

In 1862 Robert Ingersoll raised the 11th Illinois Cavalry Regiment and was awarded the rank of Colonel. Ingersoll's regiment fought with distinction in the Battle of Shiloh. Soon after, Ingersoll was captured. As was sometimes done with officers early in the war, Ingersoll was paroled: allowed to go free on condition that he not fight again.

Ingersoll built a reputation for oratory during and after the war. In 1867 he was appointed the first Attorney General of Illinois. It was the first - and last - public office Ingersoll would ever hold. Ingersoll's speechmaking played a vital role in his brother Ebon's successful congressional campaign. In 1868 he was considered for the state's Republican gubernatorial nomination, but passed over when he would not agree to make fewer speeches on controversial subjects, from women's rights to religion.

Ingersoll & Politics

Ingersoll was the best-known political speechmaker in 19th century America. In 1876 he gave a speech before the Republican National Convention in Cincinnati, nominating James G. Blaine for the presidency. The party nominated Rutherford B. Hayes instead, but Ingersoll's nominating speech - known ever after as the "Plumed Knight" speech - was considered for decades afterward the classic political speech of the age. Candidates sought Ingersoll's oratorical services eagerly. He campaigned for every Republican Presidential candidate but one, from Grant to McKinley. Yet because of his outspoken and controversial views, Ingersoll was never appointed to public office by any of the politicians whose election he helped to secure.

Ingersoll & The Law

Ingersoll's law practice added to his fame. Starting in 1880, he defended Thomas J. Brady and Stephen W. Dorsey in the famous Star Route Trial. The Star Route affair, which concerned the misassignment of rural postal routes, was the Watergate scandal of its day. The nation watched Ingersoll deftly weave what would become the longest trial defense in American history. After months of testimony, Ingersoll secured acquittals for his clients. Cartoons of the time suggested that Star Route made Ingersoll rich. In fact, he was paid only with a New Mexico ranch of dubious utility.

In 1886, Ingersoll offered himself pro bono to defend Charles B. Reynolds, a prominent freethinker who had been arrested in Boonton, New Jersey under an archaic blasphemy law. Reynolds was convicted and Ingersoll paid the $50 fine himself. But so effectively had Ingersoll mocked the idea of blasphemy laws in a free society that few states have attempted a blasphemy prosecution since.

The Electrifying Orator

Between 1865 and 1899 Ingersoll crisscrossed the country on more than a dozen speaking tours. He would pack the largest theaters of the day at the then-substantial admission of $1 apiece. Ingersoll had numerous three- to four-hour lectures committed to memory. No human being had been seen and heard by more Americans - or would be until the advent of motion pictures, radio, and television. His subjects ranged from Shakespeare and Burns to religion, from political and moral issues to the lives of famous patriots and scientists. Among his best-known speeches were "The Gods," "Ghosts," "Humboldt," "Shakespeare," and "What Must We Do To Be Saved?"

Ingersoll was beloved by contemporary leaders in all walks of life. Among his admirers were president James Garfield, poet Walt Whitman, General Ulysses S. Grant, industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, inventor Thomas Edison, and preacher Henry Ward Beecher. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was especially impressed by Ingersoll. After hearing Ingersoll speak, he wrote his wife Olivia Langdon Clemens: "What an organ is human speech when it is employed by a master!"

Ingersoll's Residences After leaving Peoria

Ingersoll lived in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Neither residence stands today. His New York brownstone was razed in the 1920s to make room for the Gramercy Park Hotel. Ingersoll's admirers placed a tablet honoring Ingersoll on the hotel when it opened. In later years, this tablet was vandalized and had to be removed. The Robert Green Ingersoll Memorial Committee placed a new plaque on the exterior of New York's Gramercy Park Hotel in 1988.

Death & Remembrance

Ingersoll died of heart failure on July 21, 1899 at Walston, his son-in-law's palatial home in Dobbs Ferry-on-Hudson, New York. He was 65 years old. The house where Ingersoll died still stands, but it has been converted to condominiums. It is not open to the public and bears no memorial to Ingersoll. Ingersoll was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, where his large grave marker can still be seen.

Shortly after Ingersoll's death, his complete works were collected and published by his brother-in-law Clinton P. Farrell. The lavish 12-volume set was known as the "Dresden Edition," named for the town of Ingersoll's birth. The Dresden Edition went through numerous printings. Later versions include Herman Kittredge's biography of Ingersoll as the thirteenth volume.

It seriously pisses me off that the house that Ingersoll passed away in has been converted into condominiums and bears no memorial to him at all. Difficult to fathom this world we live in at times.

 

[Scaramouche]

Here is a quote from Ingersoll that mentions billiards. What a great idea he is discussing. Why has this never happened?

"Now, it seems to me that it would be far better for the people of a town, having a population of four or five thousand, to have one church and the edifice should be of use, not only on Sunday, but on every day of the week. In this building should be the library of the town. It should be the clubhouse of the people, where they could find the principal newspapers and periodicals of the world. Its auditorium should be like a theater. Plays should be presented by home talent; an orchestra formed, music cultivated. The people should meet there at any time they desire ... and connected with it should be rooms for the playing of games, billiards, cards, and chess ...

It should be the intellectual center. They could employ a gentleman of ability, possibly of genius, to address them on Sundays, on subjects that would be of real interest, of real importance ... Let him make his congregation conversant with the philosophies of the world, with the great thinkers, the great poets, the great artists, the great actors, the great orators, the great inventors, the captains of industry, the soldiers of progress. Let them have a Sunday school in which the children shall be made acquainted with the facts of nature; with botany, entomology, something of geology and astronomy. Let them be made familiar with the greatest of poems, the finest paragraphs of literature, with stories of the heroic, the self-denying and generous. Now, it seems to me that such a congregation in a few years would become the most intelligent people in the United States."

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