Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1865-10-13

rFrorn the Nashville Republican Banner. Sept. 2s.l
HOW WILLIAM L. YANCBY Died.
STRANGE STATEMENT,

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tFrom the Nashville Republican Banner. Sept. 2s.]
HOW WILLIAM L. YANCBY DIED--A
STRANGE STATEMENT,
AS you enter the cemetery at Montgom-
cry and turn to the right, you will perceive
a acolonnade of maple trees leading of to a
quite glen. Beyond IS a grassy knoll, and
leaving this to the left you viii approach
pleasant level of greensward. Here you
will be tempted to pause befors a plain
of white marble of the. most humble de-
scription. 1t bears asingle inscription =
"Wilham L. Yancey." His last words
were: 'Put me out Of sight," and it is
said that he was constantly muttering, to-
ward his latter end, those lines ofPope:
I1,r %Let me live unseen, unknown, .la-ia.t
And unlamented let me die. .,
Nor mound, nor monument, nor stone.
Tell where lie." ih''' i3nN
His death was quiet and painless, after
a year Of acute physical and mental suffer
ing. He was a strict churchman; man
of quiet manners; handsome declaimer,
and fair scholar. He was never wealthy,
and it is understood that he left his family
without any independence. s'ta l7di !
The time has come when the circum-
stances of his last illness and death, with
the occasion which suddenly convulsed a
frame from perfect health into wreck,
and mere shadow, may be mentioned as a
historical fact. William L. Yancey came
TO his end by violence 1t was toward
the close of the second session of the first
Confederate Congress, that he broke from
the counsels and influence of Mr.. Davis,
and became, with Mr.. Henry S. Foote, a
leader of the opposition. MIR. Ben Hill, a
Senator from Georgia, had likewise chang
led his front, and was remarkable for the
iearnestness, personal interest and persist
ency with which he sustained the meas
ures of an administration to which his al
legiance has been given but late in the
day. Mr.. Yancey, it viii be remember
| ed, had returned from an unsuccessful
mission to Europe, and was representing
Alabama in the Confederate Senate.
The question ola navy was under dis
cussion in secret session. The dabate
ranged beyond the parliamentary limits,
and Messrs. Yancey and Hill became ami
mated over. the abstract doctrines of State
rights and the divinity of slavery. High
words passed, and finally the lie was Civ
ell by Mr.. Hill. Mr.. Yancey leaped for
ward, and as he aimed a blow at his adver-
say, was caught in the arms of the latter
and violently thrown back over desk
Mr.. Hill is man of wonderful muscular
development Mr.. Yancy was never very
heavy, though 1.-the and active. In the
fall his spine was seriously injured, and
when the bystanders rushed upon the two
and dragged the one from the other, the
great fire-eater lay unconscious upon the
floor, with a little trickle of blood oozing
from his lips. He was carried to his no
tel A vote of secrecy was passed, and
the encounter hushed up. No one In
Richmond except that body Of men knew
of the circumstance for six months after
Meanwhile the victim did not recover
he dropped from day to day. He became
istless, hopeless and vacant He was
transferred to his own home, where his
convulsions ceased few weeks before bis
death, which was tranquil and calm. d,