Later Years
Clay had a reputation as a rebel and a fighter. There were threats on his life, compelling him to carry two pistols and a knife for protection; in addition, he used a cannon to protect his home and office. As he aged, Clay became increasingly eccentric and paranoid.
In 1878 after 45 years of marriage Clay divorced his wife, Mary Jane Warfield Clay, daughter of Dr. Elisha Warfield, for abandonment after she could no longer tolerate his marital infidelities. In 1894, the 84-year old Clay married Dora Richardson, the 15-year old daughter of one of his sharecropping tenants and a domestic servant. The scandalous marriage provoked national headlines and was much against the latter's will as Clay had to keep the girl locked in a room in his Whitehall mansion to prevent her from running away. She reportedly attempted suicide once by trying to jump out the window. A few years later, Clay finally divorced his bride.
Cassius Clay died at his home on July 22, 1903 of "general exhaustion." Survivors included his daughters, women's rights activists Laura Clay and Mary Barr Clay.
Read more about this topic: Cassius Marcellus Clay (abolitionist)
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