The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-08-06
DEATH OF GEORGE E. PUGB
(Freeman's journal J,,,e 90,

T. n She evening OF Wednesday, July 10, on
r % sne 9rlghiest 1ntellects this country ha
produced rendered his soul'to God. George
b fugh, native of Ohio, was in his fiftv-fnnrt
7. year: He graduated at Miami University
sCudleo law, and was in practice as an attorne,
d onmn,s 1Ie war with Mexico occurring, he tool
com omission as an officer of voluuteers-Cap
Q lam, IL we do not mistake and made a bril-
Q lant record in that war. At it's close he re
Srii|;o sne pIactice OF the law; but he was toe
, orliiant and fascinating a character in so an.
!, preciaGiVe people as those of Ohio to escape
= pelpg drawn into the whirlpool of politics. He
was sent to the State Legislature several times.
was once Attorney. General of OHIO and in 1855
was elected United States Senator defeating
ZOE that office Salmon P. Chase
Inc legal associates and long time acuuaipt.
ances OF Mr. Pugh are disposed to accord him
the position of " first among the great LAWYERS
} OF the country" Besides what is 10 vidions in
!ne claim, we have not q Tribunal to determine
its accuracy.
some of bis friends, eulogizing him. speak of
Mt wonderful command of Language and of
TN Sne accents OF persuasion in his oratory."
The source of his influence Law deener. Tbssa
were but accidents, and ex pressons of oranSar
power. George Il. Pugh was the possessor of
goas1s, 80 often falsely asserted for men who
are merely OF distinguished talent. What other
| neh arrived a6 by patient investigation and
long stndy, he seized at the moment of it's first
presentation; and even when but a fragment
u great truth was stated, his eagle eye fol-
| toWeo IL, with the rapidity of sunlight, into
me tpe ramiheations required to the completion of
~ 'ne summer OF 1865 Mr. Pugh was in New |
YORK. He had been much excited and deeply |
palned-at this day no matter how or ghv
he was over the trouble, and was PERFECTLY
calm, though he felt the hurt. He told MS of
lt-not knowing that we had the explanation
OF what panied him-but knew it under cir.
cnmstanoes that forbade us explaining to him.
1t was OF Saturday he came to see u.s. say
ing, would start to day for nv home but |
want to stay over to morrow to attend one of
your Catholic churches. 1 have known. and
admired, many Catholic Bishops and priests,
But tomorrow 1 want to 90 and attend yonr
regular public service. 1 know the sermon
will have no party politics in it, and want to
near TIE Gospel preached without party politics
Bot want you, too, to give me q book of
worship"
NO public matter what conversation followed
then and there. Next morning Mr.. Pugh came, {
at High Mass, to our seat at the Jesuit's Church
on Sixteenth street. We had already arranged I
with the good lady whose bench was directly |
under the pulpit, to give Mr. Pugh place. on c
account OF bis deafness. 1t was q very hot I
day. The venerable Father de Luynes preach /
so.earnestiy and eloquently, of course. But J.
ne preached for nearly an hour. Fifteen min
1tes of sermon is all we can hold, especially in
pot %eather-barring some special occasion. Z
ing forward, with hand to one of his ears 9
and with his eyes fixed on the preachers lips. v
nr. Fugh was our guest at dinner that day, in Z
was over and we alone, he led the con versation G
INTO what had passed the day before; into the o
ong and argumentative discourse of Father de p
4uynes, and into the beauty and truth of the q
Catholic Ritual, as he had followed it in the n
prayers for Mass. He asked us for books set I'll
M ING forth what the Catholic Church teaches. y
we're boys, the Protestant denominations gave h
Ip teaching their young ones their various q
ateohisms. As they taught nothing as dogmas ~
evealed by God, their people now 6eliere moth. U
ng revealed by God" We wish we could hi
ecall the sentences, flashing with the light SO
ing OF genius, in which Mr.. Pugh responded, OF
nterrupGinR our remarks. They would be q OF
lost brilliant confederation of the doctrine of to
tradition :: That the human mind is made for sp
ruth, and has the capacity to understand truth nj
men presented to It, and to distinguish bet,csen OF
uth and error but that il cannot find out truth TO
'r Itself, IN the supernatural ORDER but must III
epeno solely on revelation, .perpetuated by nc
wing tradition. to
The result was, we told him that books of de
were out of date, as there was On
othlng, except nothing, to oontrovert. But WI
lat what he wanted were the simplest, most IS
rect, and least controversial of explanations 10
the Catholic religion. We gave Mr.. Pugh wa
30 the address of the good Jesuit Fathers in AZ
lncinnsti, with a note to them. TN
Not long after had the consolation of WI
Barring that Mr.. Pugh and his devoted wife, UNI On,
hom he outlived, had become Catholics. w
some one intimates that it was the CONVEX ooS
ON OF Mrs. Pugh to the Catholic faith that
huepced her husband. This is q mistake ma
rs. Pogh was one of those rare women that Gre
ould die for her husband, but would never IN
Elk to interfere with his own Judgment. 10 acc
long and apprecistive notice of Mr.. Pugh, in Cn'
Q Cincinnati Enquirer, we find sentence era
at was written by good man. or by one un- prt
ually clever: Mrs. Pugh was the only su- to
ttlaSlyeIy beautiful woman I ever saw, whose VIZ
ternal beauty forgot so soon as 1 began va
king with her" This magnificent tribute An
. Justly and fully due. Mrs. Pugh, we are sa a
'tatn, helped and favored the profession of ABB
Catholic faith by her brilliant and distin- rev
lshed husband. Bat it was only in the way wv
Dc the true woman, a wife, helps on to on
%, without urging her husband. 1--WE
husband and wife became Catholics at the in
ne time. fou
We feel too deeply to write as would best SIM
1t the public eye. When the fatal blow Aut
ne on MI Pugh, first partial paralysis, cas-
'ompanied with terrible pains, and soon de. tho
oping the most alarming sym toms, he lost our
time in sending for one of the Jesuit Fa. the
BIS. And during his illness, he was alert cap
1T nothing should be left undone that he pen
I'D have done to prepare him for his eter- nut
Xavier's Church, CINCINNATI visifed him eiRl
ouently and the latter vac 3raaont - -; | r
18th. lant
lis obseauies took place on Saturday. the pro-
inst. at St. Xavier's Church, An ex1ected by
ort of them has failed to reach us Az tbo com