The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-23
THE GREAT NOvELIST'S DEATH.

From the London Daily Telegraph.
The report that Mr.. Charles Dickens had been
seized with apoplectic attack Wednesday
evening, and had since remained unconscious,
reached London yesterday, and was followed briefly
by the sad news that he died at 610 last evening at
Gad's HILL his residence near Rochester. He had
just sat down to dinner on Wednesday, with his
sister-in-law, Miss Hogarth who observing an un-
usual appearance in his face, became alarmed, and
said she feared he was i'll, proposing in the same
breath to telegraph for medical assistance.
Mr.. Dickens replied, ''No, no, no; l have got the
toothache, and shall be better presently" He then
asked that the window might be Shut and almost
Immediately he lapsed into Inconsistencies, from
which state he never recovered till the moment of
his death. Meanwhile Mr.. Frank Beard of No. A
Webeck street. Mr.. Dickens regular medical adj
wiser, was telegraphed for and arrived at Gad's Hill
in the course of Wednesday evening. He saw at
once that the case was hopeless; but, for his own
satisfaction as well as for that of his relatives he
summoned the assistance OF DR.. Russell Reynolds,
who could only concur in Mr. Boards belief that
nothing less than miracle could save the life OF
For the last two or three days Mr. Dickens, al
though not apparently out of his usual health and
spirits, had complained Of difficulty in doing his
work, saying that it did not come spontaneously to
younger was teegraphed for Wednesday eve
ming, but the message did not reach London till
yesterday morning. He started instantly for his
fathers residence, and present the death-bcd
with two Of his sisters, Miss Hogarth and the medl-
cal attendants. 1t is significant fact that when,
illness at Preston, his doctor warned him not TO
read at the peril Of his life, and brought him almost
by force to Town.
From the London Daily Nevs.
The day of his death was, strange say the ami
versary Of the Stapehurst accident, in which, it will
be remembered, he was in great peril and from
which some of those nearest to him consider he
ceived physical shock from which he never really
recovered. The friends in the habit of meeting Mr..
Dickens privately recall now the energy with which
he depicted that dreadful scene and how, as the
climax Of his story came, and its dread interest
grew, he would rise from the table and literally act
the parts of the several sufferers to whom he
had lent a helping hand. Now that he is
gone it Is remembered, too, with absolute pain,
that one Of the first surgeons of the day. who
was present when this Staplehurst story was told
soon after its occurrence, remarked that the worst
Of these railway accidents was the difficulty OF de-
termining the period at which the system could be
said to have survived the SHOCK and that instances
were on record of two or three years having gone by
before the lfe-sutferer knew that he seriously
hurt. But the medical testimony as to the immed-
| ate cause of Mr.. Dickens death is dednine and
| precise. ApOpeXy-an effusion of blood on the
BRAIN the cause an overstrained system and the
| suit one which was only STAYED Off twelve months
ago, when he was induced to obey his doctors in
functions and to suspend his readings in public-has
carried HIM away at a comparatively early age, and
all that remains TO his sorrOwng friends is to recall
with affection the many traits which made this great
! man SO lovable.