The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-06-27
ABOUT DICKENS.
LAST HOURS OF THE GREAT N0V-
EIIST.
Interesting "Reminiscences.

The leading particulars of the death of the
distinguished novelist, Charles Dickens, at his
home at Gadshill, near London, on the 9Th in
slant, have already been given by telegraph,
but the interest connected with an event 80
melancholy will render some fuller accounts,
as furnished by our European mails, accep-
table. The account given by the Lon don
Times is as follows:
THE DEATH SCENE.
During the whole of Wednesday Mr.. Dickens
had manifested signs Of illness, saying that he
felt dull, and that the work on which he was
engaged was burdensome ohim. He came to
the dinner table at o'clock, and his slster.in-
law, Miss Hogarth, observed that his eyes were
full of tears. She did not like to mention this
to him, but watched him anXiously until,
alarmed by the expression of his face, she pro-
said, 'No." but said 1t with imperfect articula-
tion. The next moment he complained Of
toothache, put his hand to the side of his head,
and desired that the window might be shut.
1t was shut Immediately, and Miss Hogarth
went to him and took his arm, intending to lead
him from the room. After one or two steps he
suddenly fell heavily on his left side, and re-
NAMED unconscious and speechless until his
death, which came at 6.10 on Thursday, just
twenty-iour hours after the attack. AS sQon as
he fell q telegram was dispatched to his old
friend and constant medical attendant, Mr.. F.
Carr Beard, Of Welbeck street, who went to
Gadshill Immediately, but found the condition
Of his patient to be past hope. Mr.. Steele, Of
Strood, was already in attendance; and DR..
Russell Reynolds went down on Thursday, Mr..
Beard himself remaining until the last. The
pupil of the right eye was much dated, that Of
the left contracted, the breathing stentorous,
the limbs f1accid until halfan hour before death,
when some conVulsion occurred. These symp-
toms point conclusively to the giving way Of a
blood vessel in the brain, and to constant large
hemorrhage, OF, in other words, to what is
called apopleXy.
THE CAUSE OF DEATH.
The London News directs attention to the
fact that the day Of the great novellst's death
was, strange to say, the anniversary of the Sta
plehurst accident, in which, 1t will be remem-
bered, he was in great peril, and from which
some of those nearest TO him consider he re-
ceived physical shock from which he never
really recovered. The friends in the habit of
meeting Mr.. Dickens privately recall now. says
the News, 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 helping hand. Now that he is gone,
it Is remembered, too, with absolute pain,
that one of the INST surgeons Of the day, WHO
was present when this Staplehurst story was
told, soon after its occurrence, remarked
that "the worst Of these railway acci-
dents was the difficulty Of determining the
period at which the system could be said 10
have survived the shock, and that instances
were on record Of two or three years having
gone by before the life-sutferer knew that he
was seriously hurt" But the medical test-
mony as to the immediate cause of Mr.. Dick
ens's death is definite and precise. ApopleXy
an ef1usion Of blood on the brain, the cause
an Overslrained system, and the result one
which was only STAYED otf twelve months ago,
when he was Induced to obey his doctors in
functions, and to suspend his reading In public
has carried him away Mt comparative early
age, and all that rem. Is to his sorrowing
friends Is 10 recall with affection the many
traits which made this great man so lovable.
HIS LAST LETTER.
A correspondent writes 10 the Daily News
with the initials ~. NJ. M., giving the clrcum-
stances under which the last letter from the
pen of Dickens came to be written, and a copy
of the letter itself, which bears date the day
before his death. ~. NJ NJ" had written to
the novelist, suggesting that passage in the
10th chapter of edwin Droodn was likely to
wound the religious sensibilitles Of many Of
his admirers. The passage is not cited in the
News, but it is undoubtedly the following, in
reference to Mr.. Crisparkle:
Into this herbaceous penitentiary, situated
on an upper staircase landing-a low and mar
row whltewashed cell, where lunches OF dried
leaves hung from rusty hooks in the ceiling,
and were spread out upon shelves. In compa-
ny with portentous bottles-would the Rever-
nn1 CantiD,uc cubmIScvplv hp 1pd ike the
highly popular lamb who has so long and un-
resistingly been led to the slaughter, and there
would he, unlike that lamb, bore nobody but
himself
Ar. Dickens's letter, with reference to this
passage, is as follows:
GADsHILL PLACE,