Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1876-02-18
Sudden Death Of Reyerdy Johnson.

| BALTIMORE, Nd, Feb. 10.
MIR. JOHNSON arrived at Annapolis last
| night TO argue the case of Baker Cs. Prick.
| By invitation of Gov Carroll, he became
his guest at the Executive Mansion to-day.
| The Governor invited Chief-Justice Bar
| ton of this State, and several other gen
tlemen, to meet Mr.. johnson at dinner
at the mansion. They dined at about five
p. m. AT dinner, Mr. johnson appeared
in excellent spirits and his usual health,
and entertained the company by his con-
versatlon and relating anecdotes. AT
dinner he took one glass of Madeira, and
refused to take any more. After dinner
he suddenly asked the. Governor to take
him into the parlor. He took the
Governors arm, and walking in there sat
down on Sofa AT the request of Mr..
johnson the Governor rejoined the guests
at the table. Shortly after a servant ap-
peared at the door, and reckoning the
Governor out told him Mr.. johnson was
| lying in the yard on the stones. Gov.
Carroll went Immediately to the place and
found Mr.. johnson lying on the cobble-
stone carriage-way that passes under the
porch of the mansion, close up to the wall,
and near door leading into the basement
He had evidently gone down the front
and fallen where he was found.
This was about Sis D. M, and the i'm
preston is that he had been there at least
half an hour. He was then dead, and
had been bleeding profusely from the
wounds on the right side of his head and
face. ,
There are large wounds on the right
side of the forehead, two fractures of the
skull from the upper portion of the fere-
head to the eyebrow, a dislocation OF a
finger of the left hand, and cuts on the
hands and the legs. The physicians are
examining the bodyto determine the cause
of death. aE8W
ANNAPOLIS, Feb. IL.
Dr. Lewis Fl. Stein, State Senator from
Frederick County, a distinguished ply
stefan, and Chief Inspector of the SAM
tary Commission in the Army of the Po-
tomac during the war, who examined the
body shortly after it was found, gives
the following as his theory of the cause
of death: Mr.. Johnson either stumbled
over a piece of COAL, or, being
seized with apoplexy, and striving to
save himself, moved toward the west,
staggering along by the northerly side
of the Executive Mansion, at each
step his body gaining additional mo-
mentum, so that having reached the
door leading into the basement he swayed
around to the south, and fell, his head
striking against the sharp corner of the
granite base of the house, which gave the
first wound on the head. Reaching the
pavement of rough cobblestones, second
wound was received in front of the first.
At this instant, probably, the bones of the
nose were fractured, and one joint
of the second finger of his right hand was
dislocated Whether his subsequent
struggles may account for the abrasions
on his knees and the fingers of his left
hand cannot be positively asserted The
wounds in the scalp were accompanied
with fractures of the external bones of The
Uranium and the base of the skull also,
with the probable rupture of some of the
arteries at the base. Death must have re-
suited instantly.
Mr.. Gwynne, the Attorney-General of
the State, and son-in-law of Mr.. John
son, is of the opinion that he was seized
with vertigo and fell, as he had a similar
attack, lasting three hours, while attend
ing trial in South Carolina, several
wears ago.