GOV. PENN DEAD.
HISTORIC FIGURE PASSES AFTER LINGERING ILLNESS.
Was Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor When the Kellogg Usurpers Were Ousted Sept. 14, 1874 -- Favored Active and Vigorous Measures -- Interment To Be at Pass Christian.
Hon. Davidson B. Penn, who held a unique place in the history of the State of Louisiana, died last night, after a lingering illness of several months.
Col. Penn was Governor of the State for a few days. In 1874 he was elected Lieutenant Governor, with John McEnery as Governor, on a ticket opposed to the Kellogg faction, which was backed by Republican bayonets. Gov. McEnery refused to take part in any revolutionary proceedings when the Kellogg faction was placed in power, but he was prevailed upon to go out of the State, thus leaving the affairs of his party in the hands of Lieut. Gov. Penn, who was in favor of active and vigorous measures.
Lieut. Gov. Penn declared himself then, in the absence of Gov. McEnery, the rightful Governor of Louisiana.
Then followed the events of the Fourteenth of September, during which the Kellogg party was driven from its strongholds in the city, and Gov. Penn's party temporarily installed. President Grant, however, as is well known, sent more Federal troops and retook the government for Kellogg.
Gov. Penn was of an old and distinguished family, and made a record for himself during the civil war. His father, Alfred Penn, came to New Orleans when a young man, and became a successful banker and the owner of a cotton press.
Davidson B. Penn was born in Lynchburg sixty-six years ago. He received a thorough education, and before the war was engaged in the cotton press business. He went out to the war as captain in the Seventh Louisiana Regiment, and was made Colonel of it before the war closed. When he returned to New Orleans he became a member of the firm of Penn, Pace & Simmons, and afterward engaged in sugar planting on the Teche. During the latter years of his life he retired from business.
Gov. Penn was a man of a strong and attractive personality, and made many friends. He was a member of the Boston Club, of which his father was one of the incorporators. He is survived by six children -- Alfred Penn, Davidson B. Penn, Jr., Misses Evelyn, Lutie and Marie Penn. His surviving sisters are Mrs. W. B. Krumbhaar and Mrs. Charles Conrad.
Gov. Penn died at the Penn Flats, opposite Lafayette Square. Before his death he expressed a wish to be buried at Pass Christian, where he owned a residence. His wish will be observed, but the arrangements for the funeral had not yet been completed last night.
