The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-05-27
Death Of Gen. John C. Breckenridge.
LEXINGTON, MAY Is.


Gen. John C. Breckenridge died of abscess Q
the liver, combined with consumption. Hl
last hours were quiet and pleasant. On sun
day night he was very restless, and sent during
the night for his regular physician, who ad
ministered an opiate to the sufferer, after which
he slept until late the next morning Then he
was visited by DR.. Lewis R. Sayre, of Ne"
York, who dressed the wound made by the
operation of last week. The doctor, seeing
that discharge was taking place from the
wound, expressed himself hopeful of the pa
TENTS rapid recovery, with the proper atten'
tion After this the sufferer took some nour.
ish.nent. At 8 o'clock in the afternoon a
change for the worse was perceptible, and his
friends became alarmed. Stimulants were
administered but without effect, and he sank
rapidly until near o'clock, when he became
speechless He died at Is minutes to o'clock
He was conscious, apparently, up to within
few minutes of death. There was no scene, no
last words. The only illusions he made to
death were once after the operation performed
on him last week by Drs. Sayre and Gross,
when he said he felt so comfortable he believed
modification had set in {; and again in his WILL
made next day by Hon. James B. Beck, in
which he used these words: "After all my
Just debts, which are few and small, and the
expenses of modest funeral are paid, desire,
ETC." Around the death bed of the General
was his wife, two daughters, one son and few
other immediate relatives.
From the augusta Constitutionahst.
The last hours of the dead Breckenridge
will be read with painful interest When the
Black Camel knelt at his door he mounted it
with perfect consciousness and without MUIR
mur, and thus left the world forever at the age
of only fifty four, one of the greatest men ever
born in America There was nothing but the
truest greatness in his composition. He was
the finest looking man we ever saw. God
seemed to have stamped his own patent of no.
biity upon his brow. He sinks into the grave,
into eternity, leaving not even blended stain
upon record of honor. 1t is fitting that the
South should weep for him, for he was ever
true to her in her days of prosperity and in
the midnight hours of her late war for indie
pendence. In the supreme moments of peril
and public danger, the people always knew
where to find him. He left the forum and
drew the sword to defend his principles, and
from the beginning to the end of the struggle
the Confederacy did not muster under its ban
ner braver soldier or more sagacious coun-
sellor. No man can point to single act of
treachery or q single act of his not in accord
with the highest code of morals or the truest
principles of chivalry.
From the Charlotte Observer.
One of natures noblemen, in the fullest and
broadest sense of the word, has fallen. 1t is
with much regret that we chronicle the death
of General John Cabell Breckenridge, who
died in Lexington, Kentucky, on the 18th inst.
Although the public mind, through the me-
dunn of the press, has been prepared to antici-
pate his death at any time, since the partial
operation was performed upon him some days
ago by Drs. Sayre and Gross, and which failed
to relieve their distinguished patient, yet the
sad announcement of the death of the idol of
Kentucky will not only awaken many regrets
and carry sadness to very many hearts in his
own native State, but throughout the length
and breadth of the whole Union. The death
of a man so gifted by nature and endowed with
such pre-eminent abilities is national calam
ity. even when he has reached mature and ripe
old age, but more especially is such the case
when a full orbed statesman, in the prime of
life and in the midst of his usefulness, is re-
moved from time to eternity. "Like Saul, the
son of Cis," he stood head and shoulders above
the majority of our public meu in most of the
intellectual attributes that compose and make
q pre-eminent statesman and forensic speaker,
and when "the golden bowl was broken and
the silver chord loosened," and the immortal
spirit of John C. Breckenridge was waited
from time to eternity, one OF the greatest IN
tellectual giants that America has ever given
birth to- fell to rise no more. His name was
but a synonym for physical manhood in its
most perfect and unique form, tor the refined
and polished gentleman, for political integrity
and incorruptibility. He possessed in great
degree personal magnetism which attracted
ana retained for him hosts of strong and ardent
personal friends not only among his own party,
but from the ranks of those who differed with
him politically. He was the most popular man
who helped ennoble Kentucky, and transcend
ed in this respect Henry Clay in the zenith of
his glory and popularity. If hero worship ever
was pardonable it was in the case of General
Breckenridge, who had often been tried, often
trusted in the highest position of place and
honor and never proved recreant, whether ne
was stationed in the legislative halls, State and
National, or amid the serried hosts of armed
men, whether he was performing the duties in
cident to the legal profession, or dlscharglng
the functions pertaining to private citizen III
its various ralnifcations.
He was doubtless, since the war, after the
christian soldier Lee, the most popular man in
the South Like the peerless Lee, the match
less Breckenridge died without having his dis
abilities removed. Their names were, however,
not born to die, and their memories will ever
he fondly cherished, embalmed as they are in
the hearts of their countrymen, and future
generations will ever fondly emblazon their
deeds.
John Cabell Breckenridge, an American
politician and soldier, born near Lexington,
Kentucky, January 81, 1921. He was educa-
ted at Centre College, Danvile, studied law at
Transylvana Institute, and settled at Lexng-
ton. At the breaking out of the war win
Mexico, he was elected Major of the Third
Regiment of Kentucky volunteers, but had
little opportunity for active service. After the
war he was elected to the House OF Kepresen-
tatives of Kentucky, and in 1851 was chosen
to Congress, and in 1858 was reelected after a
Violent and protracted contest. During the
first session of the 33d Congress, in the course
of the discussion of the Kansas. Nebraska bill
IL,