The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1876-08-24
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SPEAKER KERR.
mis- Last IIOurs-Scenes Around III II
IF Death He'd.

Especial Dispatch to the Cincinnati Enquirer
RoCKBRIpGE, ALUM SPRINGS, VA,
Aug. l9.-Speaker Kerr died at 7:20 this
evening, calmly and without pain. AT
the setting of the sun he went quietly to
rest. so quietly indeed that DR.. Pope.
who was noting every change. had
hardly time to summon his anxious
watchers in his room to his bedside.
Though it had long been evident that
the only relief from his suferings would
be death. his noble wife who, through
that long illness had tended him with I'M
firing love and devotion. could not real
ize that the awful moment of parting had
inevitably come. but, with streaming eyes
and broken heart, besought him not to
leave her. The Speakers son, a young
man OF twcnty-one years. whose affection
for his father has always been marked
with the most touching devotion, chung
to the cold hand of the dying man with
silent anguish of despair.
The death scene was one Of peculiar
palnOS anu sOlcinHiiy. hc VytS VI WY
speaker rested with a look OF yearnng
tenderness, infinitely soft and ineXpres-
sibly swee. upon his striker family. and
then wandered slowly around the room rs
if with last farewell to those present.
Hon. 5. ). Cox stood near the head of the
bed. and was deeply affected. The
speakers secretary, Mr.. White. and Mr..
Scud,er. his CLERK, were also with him.
At an early hour this morning it was
thought by the physician in attendance
that death was near, but the tcnacity of
life in the emaciated body OF the sufferer
excited the wonder of all, and set at de-
fiance the experience of the medical
world. Before 10 AIN. there was no per-
| ceptible pulse i'm the wrists or arteries OF
the arm, and yet the limbs seemed under
! perfect control.
DETAILS OF HIS ILLNESS.
The condition of emaciation to
which the speaker was reduced by the
rayages of his disease. can only be ex-
pressed by saying that his body presents
the appearance OF skeleton. Every
bone is distinctly perceptible under the
tightly-drawn skin, while even the line
OF the spinal column is visible through
the collapsed walls of the abdomen. Fol-
more than sixty hours before death bt
took no nourishment. The disease that
batfled the medical skill of the country
was consumption OF the bowels.
DURING THE DAY
the speaker lay in a semi-letharglc con
dition. with eyes somewhat intrOyerted
aud half covered by the lids, occasionally
varied by a sudden start, as if from sleep
at which time the intellect would D.
again thoroughly aroused. He suffere'
paroXysms of intense pain. which Wer
rendered visible by the knOtted cords o
the muscles of the neck and limbs an'
contraction of the nerves of the face an,
eyes, though there was but lii
tie audible indications OF his sui
fering save an occasional hollow groan
He seemed at times to make painful
attempts to express himself audibly with
out success, and could only Indicate b.
gestures or an occasional spasmOdi
whisper his wishes. ills mind was ciea
, to the last. He recognized the Hon
, Montgomery Blair and others. who spok
, to him. and shortly before death ind
l.. Gated to DR.. Harris, Of the Methodi,
n Church, his readiness to die and hopes
5 future life of happiness. About moo
I his son read a telegram from friend i
: Indiana. He listened intently, and IA
q mind evidently wandered for time
: the past. He made a faint gesture {
pleasure when allusion was made to HI
| yindication from the cruel charge r,
Gently made against his honor and III
handsome tribute paid TO his sterling il
tegrity in Mr.. carpenters late speech b.
fore the senate.