Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-04-12
Death of ]. w. Holcombe.

Died of Pulmonary Consumption on Satur-
day the 9TH of April, at Natchez, Mississippi,
JoHN w. HoLcoMBE, of LaPorte, Indiana.
His death, as we learn by telegraph from his
brother, whom he was visiting, occurred sud-
denly and unexpectedly while he was sitting
in his chair.
As pure and radiant a spirit, as was ever
lent by Heaven to earth, has returned to the
bosom Of God. To him. indeed, death has
been kn, for his spotless soul, no longer
fettered with its vesture of clay, is brought
into closer and more intimate union with those
DIVINE PROJECTIONS which he so beautifully
exemplifed in his life.
But us the change Is grieveus and hard
TO ne borne. The deceased was, by blood
and marriage, the brother of both the editors
Of this paper, and the dearest of friends.
All who knew him loved him, and those who
knew him well loved him with the intensity
of devotion. In his short career Of twenty
seven years, he established a character I'M
blemished and slCtless, and unmarried by a
single personal enmity. He never wronged,
in the slightest degree, any of Gods crea-
lures, bat threw on all around him the bright
reflection of his own loving heart. His were
the most delicate and appreciative sensibilities
and his gentle nature shrank form those man.
ifestations Of passion to which, alas, too many
Of us are subject.
From childhood, his constitution was frail
as the gossamer web, and those who looked
since saw that they were touched with ligh
from Heaven Yet we had fondly hoped
that he might have been spared some year
longer, to shed the lustre of his virtues on the
social circle, to illumine by his affection the
declining pathway of his beloved parents, tc
fill with happiness the heart of young
wife, and to show to the world how di
vine humanity could he made. A benef
cient, but mysterious God has chosen to re
verse the order of nature; the Reaper has GU
down the flower in its budding beauty, anC
transplanted it in Paradise where it will neve
fade.
The deceased was n Virginian, but while We
youth he removed with his family to Il
Porte he subsequently returned to Virgins
to receive his collegiate education, and spen
several years at Washington College where
he graduated with the first honors of his elias:
He studied law in Cincinnati, and entered OF
its practice in Ia Porte where he marie,
and where he was associated with one of tn
present editors of the Sentinel in conductin,
the La Porte Times. The fatal disease mad
its appearance last fall by aslight hemorrhag
Of the lungs, and he was taken to the milt
air of the South. But in vain
OF the high estimation in which the de
s ceased was held forintellectual superiority W,
care not now to speak We can only thinl
of the virtues of our loved and lost one. AL
though frequent contributor to the press, h,
indulged in no personal chickering's, and lef
no line which, when dying, he could wish t.
blot.
He was eminently relilSpus in his character
and very much devoted to theological studies
His religion was shown in his life, in hi
blameless walk and conversation, and in tina
pure, gentle and heavenly minded disposition
which approached as near to the Divine a
anything mortal could do. He has left man,
warm friends in Indiana, whose hearts vii
bleed at this announcement