There is, however, evidence that late in the
decade Rev. Hatton fell into a decline, possibly as a result of
alcoholism. The Maysville, Kentucky Evening Bulletin noted in March 1892
that "Rev. G.W. Hatton, the colored preacher and politician who
entertained Maysville Republicans several times during the campaign of
1888, is in custody at Louisville charged with grand larceny. He seems
to have "fallen from grace." He was fined $20 not long since for trying
to kiss an old white woman, and the Courier-Journal says he has been in
court on several occasions of late charged with drunkenness." Hatton's
fall continued, as mentioned in another Evening Bulletin notice two
years later, in the fall of 1894:
George W. Hatton, the
colored preacher and politician, attempted suicide at Winchester this
week by taking morphine. His church had dismissed him and he was
despondent. The Republicans of this district ought to have given him a
job to help Judge Pugh out. They had him here a few years ago, making
speeches for Major Burchett.
The outcome of these court
cases is not known. But despite his personal struggles, Hatton continued
to campaign for candidates and important legislation, and his skills as
an orator remained intact. An 1892 article from the Indianapolis,
Indiana Freeman, under the title, "The Negro Tariff Reformers," gives a
glimpse of Hatton's stump speech style:
George W. Hatton
made the speech of the evening. He is from Paris, Ky, and has a voice
that had no trouble being heard. His talk was spiced with humorous
anecdotes and stories which frequently raised his audience to frantic
applause. He drew a comparison for the two parties as follows: "The
Republican party, if it never does another thing for our race, pulled us
out of the cabin and said, 'G'long up the road.' The Democratic party
yelled: 'Stop that air, nigger,' and they've been yelling it ever
since."
When he concluded the audience sang "John Brown's
Body Lies a-Mouldering in the Grave," "Battle Cry of Freedom," and
others until the speaking resumed.
From the
mid-1890s forward, there are very few references for George Hatton. In a
July 1892 listing of employees of the Treasury Department, Hatton is
listed as being employed at the Lousiville Customs House as a janitor,
with an $800 annual salary.
It appears that George and Frances
Hatton returned to Maryland sometime after 1894. George would have been
well into his fifties by this time. But he still remained active in
politics; an 1898 notice in the Washington Bee newspaper listed Hatton
among the speakers at a Republican rally in Forestville, Maryland, which
had been his home almost forty years previously.
There is a notation in a 1902 Daughters of the American Revolution magazine
that one of that organization's officers was approached by "an old
colored man" named George W. Hatton, of Rosecroft on Maryland's Eastern
Shore, who donated to the group a small set of very old newspapers
dating to the period around 1800. According the note, the man "had heard
much of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and said he had had
in his possession when a slave and for forty-nine years some old
newspapers which he wished, out of patriotism, to present. Of course,
your committee realized his sole dependence for support was his pension.
Therefore, there was slight embarrassment in accepting his gift until
Mrs. Jay Osborne Moss, of Sandusky. Ohio, by a most generous donation to
the old soldier, made these papers our property." (This quote is the
only reference I've found to Hatton having been enslaved, and it may be
an assumption on the part of the writer.) Perhaps as a result of this
encounter, Hatton was granted an increase in his pension by Congress
that same year, to $24 per month. A similar bill (HR13832) was
introduced in Congress in 1914, although the final status of that bill
is not clear. It appears that Hatton died that year, as Frances applied
for a widow's pension on June 15, 1914.
