Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-06-10
ICommunicated.l
OBITUARY.


OBITUARY.
Died at his residence in Upper Santfusky, !
on Monday evening. June 7th. 1863, DEXTER |
GRAY, In the 34th year of Ills age.
The subject of this notice was in the
prime of life. possessing,a a constitution
and degree of health which naturally
marked him rs one who might long be
numbered amongs. the living on earth
yet the hours of his suffering were few.
and the cause of his death distressing |
in the extreme.
tinued custom, Mr.. and Mrs. Gray re-
tired. late on Sunday evening, leaving
acoal oil lamp turned down, but burn
Ing in the room adjoining that occupi-
cd by them. and in which their girl
and children slept. : f4
=: After midnight Mr.. Gray was aroused
from sleep by the girl crying ''fircr He
hastily arose, entered her room, and
found the oil in the lamp to be on fire;
afd;;' as he said, intending to throw it
out of the window he took hold of it,
when it Immediately exploded. cover
ing him with oil and enveloping him
in flames.
Reing at the head of the stairway,
and thus enveloped in sheet of flame,
he was at once impressed with the idea
that the house was burning, and rushed
dewn stairs crying ..fire!'' 50 as to
arouse the neiehhors; and when he
finally succeeded in getting out doors,
Ae discovered that he was all ablaze. and
at once. threw himself upon the grass.
and still repeating the alarm, rolled in
the grass and succeeded in extinguish-
ing the flames, but not until every YES
'tige ct clothing was consumed. and he
most terribly burned, not only eXter
nally, hut internally by breathing the
deadly flame.
Mrs. Gray. aroused by the cri of her
husband down stairs. sprang up, and
with the clothes of the bed subdued the
flames, and saved the children from the
danger to which they were exposed by
the explosion in their room, never once
thinking that Mr.. Gray was living
body of fire below. or that his cries
were caused other than for help to sub
due the fire which she supposed to be in
the lower story OF the building.
After subduing the flames above, she
met Mr.. Gray below, when, in his ter
rible agony, lie said, My God, Ellen, ]
am burned to death! Put me in bed
and send for the doctor!' Assistance
arriving about this time, medical aid
was promptly secured, and through the
remainder ofthe night and until seven
O'Clock next evening. all was done thai
| could be done by man, when death
| closed his sufferlngs. and he slept the
sleep to which the writer and reader
arc yet strangers!
Yesterday could he say, with us, 81
live; am well; I am a man! Deatl
is not at my door! Many are the joy:
of life yet before met" Tomorrow
| if spared. we can say. ''dust to dust, lie
us return What fire has taken we car
not restore. but we can sorrow for til,
4 seidou and the tathcrless. Yea, more
yGans we not aid in binding up the brok
! en- heart? Can we not comfort tll'
aisconsolate, and care for the young
"a md tender plants now clinging only t.
that frail. parental stem just crushed b!
this terrible storm of affliction?
Ah! over whom ncrt shall the tear
of the widowed heart, or the fatherles
kohild fall? Let us remember our NOR
tality!! Let us remember our common
!, brotherhood, forgetting not how sool
,re,. too. may need the comforting aid o
true friends.
Like the dews of morning on tn
yerdure of earth, so will the recurring
thoughts of the many virtues of Dexte
Gray, by those who knew him long an
well, refresh the soul of HIM who love
E an honest man!
Years of intercourse with him en
and Integrity marked his course an
prompted every action of his life; ar
that when the flames took from hi
family its kind and affectionate heat
!. and from community one of our mum
ber. and from earth one of Gods crea
,, lures, they destroyed not chaf nor stut
bic but a MAN!
Let us mourn more for the livin4
who are not like him, than tor hin
r though departed; for many there al
who would. if compared with him, /
found wanting"
Earth is not our abiding place, saw
that which the spirit inhabits as il
e frail tenament; then let not only tt
f widow and the fatherless feel til
!? weight of this sad dispensation (
Divine Providence, but let the sleept
awake. the unconcerned arouse, tt
0 skeptfc become wise. and all profit b
e the warning thus given us. A.w.
f WE are indebted to. our friend j.
; Lupton, Assessor, for the followln
e statistical facts of Sycamore townshi
e in this county:
), CROPS or 1868 AND OTHER STATISTIC
!. No. of acres of Wheat sown, 10.