New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-11-30
Death of Lieutenant Governor
Dunn.

TeaVemenJ tnaJ our pen reCoTus. Ills ueHiis'
was so sudden. and our vivid remembrance o
his forecast four days since, of better cheer
and promise for Louisiana in the direction o
reform, fingers a vain but stubborn protes
against the unhappy tldings that his lip hal
spoken its last word on earth.
All the energies he had consecrated TO th'
cause of liberty are stilled, and to-day he lies
awaiting sculpture in the soil upon which he
walked an honest man. There is not a either
of Louisiana who is not berelt OF friend IL
the decease of Oscar j. Dunn. We have no
rebuke to pronounce upon ungenerous mer
who have of late charged Governor Dunn witt
a purpose to incite war oil races. ihere is a
truce during this solemn hour before we com
nit our honOred dead to the dust.
We compassionate the two Camp street jour
nails whose Islander upon the Lieutenant Gov
ernor. in his dying hours, stands rebuked in
the memory of his most worthy life; and We
trust that theirs may be the cohtrition with
which we are willing to credit the factious
men, who sought lis bedside as his life ebbed
He never forgot his stewardship TO the whole
people in his earnest desire for his own race
He was the first to discOuntenance jealousy Of
class as vice, inmical TO republican govern
ment. His manly reply to the charge of the
New Orleans Republican, that he sought tc
compose a black mans party, is we'll known to
our readers.
Gifted with remarkably sound judgment,
there was no man in Louisiana whose opinion
and counsel, upon questions of State, were as
often sought by honest men of both parties.
His parliamentary talent has long been the
theme of admiration, and for dispatch of bust
ness in his official chair few men in the Union
have been his equal.
But bis loss falls heavily, not only upon his
unhappy family and upon the Repu blicans Of
Louisiana-the sorry news has by this hour
awakened sorrow, not only throughout the
whole South, in which his has, perhaps, been
the most conspicuous and honorable Southern
political name, but throughout the North,
where he always found testimony of an un
bounded faith in his labors for the people
That his influence for good was great at home,
is attested in the factious character Of the at
tempts made to disparage it, no less than i'm
the approval of his course by good citizens on
every hand. His commanding presence is
henceforth denied to the Senate of Louisiana
and, we fully believe, to the profound regret Of
every member of that body.
But properly to remember Oscar j. Damn il
to persist in his labors his best monument is
the achievement of true accord among all the
people in republican government. In his last
sensible hour, be admonished several of his
friends, white and colorcd, of the hazard pre-
scented to Louisiana to-day in the license q
mischievOus men.
Where his hand relaxed from the task, it is
: for all of us who love the principles he loved
and hope for the great ends he sought, to star
forward with his solemn injunction as our con
tinuous spur. The cause OF Republican Lou
isiana does not die with him, but is the NOR,
halowed because Of his memory. Temporal
rlly we ground our partisan arms to lamen
him, and even Republicans throughout thu
State will say with Antony
My heart is in the coffin there,
And | must pause, till it come back to me-"
Lieut.. Governor Dunn-His Last Hours
Public Loss.
Oscar j. Dunn expired this morning at si1
o'clock, surrounded by weeping relatives ant
sympathizing friends.
Last Sunday he walked the streets in The
very prime of healthful manhood !; to-day Iii
voice is hushed forever. He paid visit to tn,
Office of the NattOna! Republican, where he
spent couple Of hours in cheerful converse
On Monday he was attacked by the dreadful
disease which. after many hours sufferng
terminated in the inevitable hour which, sooner
or later, comes to all the living When frs
taken he made light of the disorder, as men o
healthy, robust habits generally do, saving tina
it would wear off; bnt when at length the
family, alarmed at the rapid progress of the
disorder. called in medical aid, it was too late,
and death was rapidly approaching.
Although 1t was not until Monday mOrnin Q
that the disorder assumed a pronounced form
yet the first symptoms appeared on Sunday
afternoon. For a day or two previously the
Lieutenant Governor had been affected with {
slight hOarseness. Unfortunately it was late
on Monday when DIR. Beach, the family physi
elan, was called in, but the disease, which wa.
pneumonia, had taken such hold Of the sys
tenn that medical skill could no longer avail
Subsequently other physicians were called in
Drs. Stone, Scott, D'Aqun, Gaudet Hurd anG
Roudanez joined their efforts with DIR. Beach
and all that science could do was done but it
soon became evident that the case was hopeless
At two o'clock on Tuesday morning he ceased
to recognize anyone, remaining in a comatose
state, interrupted only by labored breathing
growing at the last gradually fainter, until ht
ceased to breathe altogether
1t was not merely his prominent poitica
position that drew so many to bis house. The
many friends he had made while in Office b,
his unassuming department, his strong honesty
hrs strict impartiality, his sterling sense O
justice, his kindness of heart, his sympathy fo
his own race, always tempered with common
sense that looked to the future rather than thu
present; many of the friends his high charac
ter had drawn towards him surrounded the bed
and among the strong men many were weep
ing. As we looked around and realizing th
loss which was about to befall we rememberec
the lines of Scott
"Woe betide country when
She sees the tears of bearded men,"
The materials at hand to make up biogra
ply OF Lieutenant Governor Dunn are scanty
1t is supposed that his early life was passed il
a servle position. For the earliest intelli
gence OF him we are indebted to the courtes-
of Mr.. James Dryden, who says:
l have known Oscar j. Dunn betwee,
twenty and thirty years he served his term q
plasterer in the city of New Orleans. Dur
ing the time that Ransom Place had the Amer
lean Theatre, now occupied by the Moresqut
building, he worked for him at the plastering
Not being particular partial to the business
be made application to Mr. John Parsons, nov
Recorder OF Algiers, to teach him the guita
and music. MIR. Parson, and L, j. Marrin,
composer OF considerable merit, and author o
several musical compositions, undertook tn
task.
Between the two he was well instructed. an,
became so proficient as to enable him to sun
port his family subsequently, by teaching.
| thinking at one time he could better hi
condition, he opened an intelligence office, but
hndlng 1t not pecuniary success, abandoned
and resumed the profession of music, at whcl
he continued until he was appointed by Gen
Sheridan member of the City Council.
Since which time his political career is to-
well known in this community to need notice
| We propose to add to this scanty sketch
fuller account of the career of the decease
Lieutenant Governor in a future issue. Flo