Something that a lot of people are inclined to forget about our elected officials is that in numerous ways they are quite representative of the public. We have elected literal murderers, thieves, and even a few madmen. The individual I am writing about did not start out among the latter, but he became among the latter in Charles William Jones (1834-1897).
Jones was Irish-born, and he and his mother immigrated to the United States in 1844 (his father, a British surgeon, had died). In 1854, Jones moved to Santa Rosa County, Florida, where he worked as a carpenter but also studied law. In 1861, he married Mary Ada Quigley, and the pair had eight children, but only half lived to adulthood. Jones associated himself with the Democratic Party as did many Southern whites and many first-generation immigrants. In 1872, Jones ran against Republican Congressman William Purman, but lost. However, the next election year was much better for Democrats, and Jones won a seat in the Florida House by a mere five votes. Jones wasn’t in this position long, as the state legislature was closely divided with several independent legislators holding the Senate election in the balance. Jones was elected to the Senate with the votes of all Democrats and Independents plus one Republican in early 1875 (127).
Jones was part of the Democratic “Redeemer” wave of politicians to be elected in the South, thus his rise was part of the start of the fall of Reconstruction. Like all elected national Democrats, Jones was opposed to Reconstruction. Jones was among the less partisan of Democrats overall though, being among the more favorable to business interests. Although his DW-Nominate score was a -0.353, but he was to the right of most of his Senate Democratic colleagues, at least per the DW-Nominate system. However, he considered himself a supporter of Jeffersonian Democracy, and in 1882 he delivered a speech in which he held that there was more work to do to attain Jeffersonian Democracy, warned against a growing tendency towards paternalism in government, and warned that the use of surplus revenues for expensive internal improvements would result in the demoralization of the American public and the subversion of the ends of democratic governance (York Democratic Press). In 1880, Jones suffered a loss when his wife died, but he persisted with his Senate work. His popularity was still holding as he was effective at allocating federal money to his state. For instance, Jones had succeeded in obtaining funds for a naval base in Pensacola, public buildings, and for more postal routes in the state (Etemadi, 123). Since voters and the politicians of Tallahassee approved of his work, he was reelected in 1881.
The Fall
In the spring of 1885 Jones had been working hard and announced that he was taking a vacation to Canada as well as Detroit, Michigan. However, his time in Michigan started in June and extended throughout the summer. When fall had arrived, Jones was still not back in the Senate. Absenteeism was a bit more common back then than it is now, and some senators were pretty bad about it; William Sharon of Nevada for instance was basically a senator in name only as he only voted 8% of the time during this Senate term and never once appeared before his constituents! However, Jones’ absence extended into February 1886, and he repeatedly refused the urgings of his colleagues to return. The truth is that he had become smitten and utterly obsessed with a wealthy Michigander woman in her 30s, Clotilde Palms. He had first seen her in 1882, and the following year after meeting her at a dinner party, Jones proposed but she declined (The Piqua Daily Call). Jones refused to leave his new residence, a Detroit hotel room, until he could win her over. Yet, she refused to see him and had no interest in him whatsoever despite his continued sending of letters to her as well as flowers. A letter by Palms’ father to leave his daughter alone, letters from other senators to return to the Senate, and a visit from his son Charles to convince him to resume his Senate duties produced no change. Jones refused to answer questions from a reporter as to why he was remaining in Detroit and justified his extended absence, stating, “I want no vindication. I am not the only senator that has been away. Cameron went to Europe, and Logan was in Illinois during the session of the Legislature, and I don’t see why I can’t do as others have done. It is nobody’s business” (The Piqua Daily Call). He furthermore would not indicate when or if he would return to Washington. Florida’s governor would not act to remove him from office as this situation was unprecedented. So even though he wasn’t in Washington or even in his home state and was doing no work, he continued to be a senator and receive pay until the end of his term in 1887. Jones would be evicted from his hotel room in December and for the next few years he was destitute and relying on the help of friends to sustain him. Despite Jones’s continued obsession with Palms, she married a Detroit surgeon in 1889. His letter to the editor of the Detroit Free Press dated March 20, 1890, was published, which read, “The newspapers seem to have forgotten that the ex-statesman from Florida, as the New York World has called me, was still in Detroit. The man who a few years ago attracted the attention of the whole country by leaving the Senate before his term of office expired and settling down in the city of the straits, has ceased to be an object of interest, although he maintains precisely the status to-day that he did then. He still holds the fort, and he is going to make it hot for his enemies. He shall neither ask quarter from them nor give it. He expects to be able to show up a political and social conspiracy the like of which was never known in this country before. He can tell the conspirators that Miss Clotilda Palms of this city is now in Nice, and that the publication of her marriage with a well-known character here a year ago in New York was a base, cowardly, false and atrocious calumny upon the character of one of the purest and most highly respected as well as devout Catholic ladies in the city. The ex-Senator can also tell the conspirators against his life and happiness that Miss Palms is, and has been for years, his affianced Catholic wife, and at the proper time he feels assured that they will come together at the holy altar of their holy church, and there before high heaven render to God their mutual vows as man and wife. Nothing but the most exceptional circumstances could have induced me to make this publication at this time” (Daily Territorial Enterprise).
Jones was clearly not the road to recovery. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the state of his mind during these years in a May 21, 1890 article, “All this time he has been filled with the idea that he was the victim of a conspiracy on the part of certain persons to prevent his marrying a wealthy lady to whom he sought to pay attention immediately after he quite his seat in the Senate until she left town to escape his persecution. Six months ago she married and went to Europe. This fact did not change his opinions, and he has written many letters to individuals and newspapers full of incoherent charges and the vilest insinuations”. Jones was apprehended in May 1890 and after a medical evaluation he was diagnosed as suffering from monomania, or an extreme obsession with a single subject or person but otherwise would be sane, and the Detroit Probate Court ordered him to be institutionalized on the 20th. Jones was committed to a Dearborn asylum where he lived for the rest of his days, dying on October 11, 1897, at the age of 62.
References
A Paternal Government. (1882, May 12). York Democratic Press, 2.
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An Insane Ex-Senator. (1890, May 21). Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1.
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Etemadi, J.N. (1977). A Love-Mad Man: Senator Charles W. Jones of Florida. Florida Historical Quarterly, 56(2).
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Hot Shot for His Enemies. (1890, March 21). Daily Territorial Enterprise, 2.
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Jones, Charles William. Voteview.
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https://voteview.com/person/5026/charles-william-jones
Senator Charles W. Jones a Senator Only in Name. (1886, March 1). The Piqua Daily Call, 4.
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Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History 