New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-04-05
OK T..

II comes to all at last whether at or before
three-score and ten, at or before seven-scOre,
death is one of the certain events of a life, as
birth is the other; and it was just as certain
in the days of Methuselah as it is now. For
several years society ard the newspapers of
New York have been wondering how much
longer Capt. Frederick Lahrbush would live
it was clear that sooner or later he would
solve the problem, and on Tuesday last he
solved it. His longevity made him at least
curiosity, and in some respects useful one.
If not specially profitable, it was interesting
to see a man who had seen DR.. johnson who
had shaken hands with Napoleon at St.
Helena, having previously seen him at Dant-
nc; who had participated in the battle OF
Wagram, and who was ten years old when
the American States declared their independ-
cnce.
He was born subject of England, and he
lived in the rcigns of George ILL.,, George w.,
William w., and Victoria. His father was a
Prussian, and the life of the son fell in the
reigns of Frederick the Great, of Frederick
William H.. of Frederick William ILL.,. Of
Frederick William w., and of the Emperor. He
served in the French army, and he might have
looked upon Louis XIV, witnessed the decap-
itatiOn of Louis XVI, been acquainted per-
haps to his sorrow with RObesperre, DantOn,
and Marat, carried dispatches to the Great
Napoleon, assisted at the return of Louis
XVIII, and personally encountered Louis
Philippe and the Third Napoleon. AS a SOL
dier he had served under the Duke of York,
Jerome Bonaparte, and the Duke of Yelling
ton. Slight memoranda like these, which the
reader may, if he pleases, extend ad iniinitum,
serve to show what wandering Ulysses the
veteran who died on Tuesday in 1hird-ave.
had been. Then, to add to the interest of the
instance, we find that he was a remarkable
eater of opium, being accustomed to a daily
dose of sixty grains of the drug. Indeed, his
habits were the despair of psychologists with
theory. Not only did he indulge in opium,
but he was free drinkcr of wine. Then this
citizen Of the world was in his way piOus,
often reading the Bible and being a regular
attendant at church. OF course there were
skeptics who questioned his avowed age, and,
to his great chagrin, one writer had actually
questioned it in book. But few years, one
way or the other, in such life make but lit
tie difference Capt. Lahrbush was unqucs-
tionably a very old man, and most of the
points of his strange, eventful history were
confirmed by personal testimony which there
could be no reason for rejecting.
We are accustomed to speak of life as short,
and in the next breath to speak of it as long,
the truth being that our average existence
here is positively very short indeed, while he
who lives for a century exists for a great or
for little while, just as we please to consider
it. But to most men the experiences of life
like that of Capt. Lahrbush will seem to have
presented rare opportunity of acquiring I'M
usual knowledge, of digesting many impor-
tant facts, and of arriving at conclusions re-
quiring unusually protracted observation.
Dr. Franklin used TO express a wish to come
back to earth fifty or hundred years after
death, in order that he might know
how certain doubtful matters had turned
out. Capt. Lahrbush practically re-
allied the aspiration of the old phi
losopher whether he made philo-
sophcal use of his opportunities or not. But
strange and suggestive as being SO pro-