Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1853-03-02
THE GRAND RIVER TIMES.
GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN,
WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH Q, 1853.
w- We have been favored with the follow

hAhSll loo.
r95@ We have been favored with the follow
ing extract from letter received here-giving
an account of the accident which deprived our
President elect of his only son. The writer is
wing who formerly resided here:
The railroad accident which deprived our
President elect of his only surviving child, oc-
cured in full view of our house, on the very
day that / mailed my last letter to you. 1t oc-
Cured at o'clock, while we were at dinner.
had just returned from the Seminary, and if |
had been few moments later | should have
seen the accident. The first intmation of it
was'from some one who came running in say
ing, the ears have off the track, and the peo-
pie are all running out of the factory to see it,
was on the spot in few minutes. 1t was
terrible sight. The car, for there was but one
in the train, had rolled down frightful prec-
pice of Jagged rocks, and was lying in heap
of blazing ruins, having taken fire from the
stove-men with faces gashed and streaming
with blood, and women pale and trembling were
walking restlessly to and fro; hundreds of spec
tators men, women and children, were gazing
in mute horror, or weeping from sympathy, or
striving to assist the wounded who here and
there were lying upon temporary couches made
from the fragments of broken seats. While
penny-a-liners, that useful yet most heartiess
class of society, were running from one to an
other picking up names, places of residence, &c.
! did not see young Pierce's body, it was Of
course Immediately removed, and though
might have seen it had / taken pains, had no
wish to intrude myself upon the presence of
parental grief. His remains were taken to his
uncle's, Mr.. Aikens, in Andover, whence within
a short half hour he had started full of life and
glee. His poor mother was almost heart.bro-
ken. 1t will be long before she can fully recov-
er from the shock. This was her last, her Ben
jamin. Gen. Pierce has risen a hundred per
cent in my estimation, from what have seen
and heard of him in relation to this accident.
He bore himself nobly from the first, and any
one who saw his pale and noble face on the day
of the funeral, would know that his was not
the calmness of indifference. He is a man.,
and has a heart, and believe great one. New
er, as it seems to me, since the earliest days of
our republic has one been more evidently called
of Providence to the head of our national af-
fairs. He is untrammeled by any pledges or
party maneuverings, and has every motive and
every facility for acting solely for his country's
good, and this is just the man we need. For
my part, am sick of party wire-pulling We
want at least one specimen of an Executive who
can act out his own honest convictions without
reference to any party whatever. If Frank
Peirce appreciates his position and acts up to
its demands, his name will go down to posteri-
ty in something else beside an almanac. Never
more clearly has it been shown than in the chief
magistracy of our country that 'pigmies are
pigmies still, though perched on Alps and
pyramids are pyramids, in wales. There is a
glory around the names Of Clay, Calhoun and
Webster, that the highest honors of this mighty
nation could not brighten, and the mere office
of President can never of itself suffice to res
cue any name from oblivion"