Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-01-17
The Death OF Com. Vanderbilt.

The Death Of Com. Vanderbilt.
A New York special gan. A. to the Chi.
cago Tribune gives the following account
OF the last hours Of Mr.. Vanderbilt:
Com. Vanderbilt died a few minutes be-
fore eleven o'clock this morning. Wednes.
day afternoon he seemed better than usual
In the evening he was placed in his rolling.
chair and taken to his sitting-room. There
ne conversed with his family and his friend,
Mr.. William Trumbull. AT ten o'clock he
retired, feeling comfortable. At two in the
morning he grew suddenly worse, and died
OF exhaustion at the hour stated. The Com.
modore's last illness began May 10 OF last
year. he considered it slight local disor.
der, but 1t did not pass away as he expected,
and Slapped his strength from day to day.
y
A gentleman who was present when Com.
Vanderbilt died, and who has spent much
time with him in the siek-room, gives this
account Of his last hours: He said that on
Thursday last 1t seemed to him that he was
entering upon death as he had never done
before. He had been in q constant'statc OF
weakness for the last month, with one or two
periods OF rallying. On Wednesday evening
he saw one or two Of his friends, with whom
he talked cheerfully until nearly ten o'clock,
and it was thought by those who
were with him that he was brighter
than he was In the morning. After the com.
pany went away he conversed with Mrs Van.
derbilt upon religious subjects very earnest
~ His faith seemed very great, and he ex-
pressed himself deliberately and decidedly.
Among other things, he said: "No; shall
never cease to trust Jesus. How could |
ever let that goy" He spoke also of his
consciousness Of his ignorance in regard to
spiritual things-for instance, the existence
and operations Of the Holy Ghost; but his
ignorance did not stand in the way of his
faith. He said he read the Bible, and tried
to understand it as well as he could, and
whatever it said he firmly believed. About
two a. m. change came again, and at four
he had grown much weaker Later in the
morning his children and pastor were sent
for. DIR. Deems arrived about nine clock,
and his family arrived little later.
The Commodore found great difficulty In
speaking, and could make but few utter
ances during the last hours Of his life He
took interest In passages Of Scripture re.
peated from time to time, and upon one OF
the ladies making a suggestion in regard to
singing, he misunderstood her, and made nc
sign of assent. A little later he turned 70
his wife and said: 81 thought you Womb
sing" A lew of his favorite hymns were
then sung, with pauses between. The first
hymn sung was "Show pity, Lord; Oh.
Lord, forgive" and the next, Nearer my
God to Thee" He showed great interest In
the singing, and even attempted, with his
hoarse voice, to Join in u hymn which
always interested him. 1t was the one
beginning with the words, Come
ye sinners, poor and needy" Befor,
he was so low, whenever that hymn
was sung, he invariably tried to join in it
generally adding, at the close: ~ am
poor, am needy, weak and wounded, sick
and sore" DR.. Deems proposed prayer, &c
which he seemed gladly to acecde. At this
time it looked AS though his strength was
failing so rapidly that very soon he would
not be able to expectorate, so that the
friends abo.t him anticipated struggle at
the last Among other things the pastor
prayed that God would be pleased in His
mercy to vouchsafe unto the sufferer an easy
departure out of his great pain into everlast-
ing life. The Commodore evidently followed
the whole prayer, and, when it was closed
with the benediction, he repeated with the
minister the words, 1.-THE blessing of God
Almighty, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost"
and his voice then failed him He after.
ward attempted to speak several times, but
could not articulatc with sufficient cearness
to make himself understood Astei
the lapse Of some time he turned to his
wife, who was sitting beside him, and his
mind seemed to rccur to the prayer that had
prayer" These were the last words he ut
tered. Mrs. Vanderbilt replied, ayes, be.
cause 1t expressed just your sentiments
now" He could not speak, but nodded as.
sent. The obstruction in his throat appar
emily ceased to be painful, and he closed his
mouth for n few minutes, rs he had been
seen to do by his friends when thinking
closely. His eyes frightened, and his mouth
opened, after which, closing his eyes, he
brcathcd quickly few times and then cx.
PRED, at 1851 u. III.
When II was known that he had ceased to
exist, deep sobs were heard throughout the
room. Mrs. Vanderbilt was very deeply af-
fected, as were many of those around her.
The grief of the family and friends was
shared by the two faithful female nurses who
have been in att enhance on the Commodore
for many days and nights during his illness
and the old servants Of the family were also
much affected. Miss Phebe Vanderbilt, the
Commodore's sister, and Capt. Jacob Van
derbilt, of Sta ten Island, were not In the
house when b C died. They were detained on
Staten Island by the Illness Of Mrs Egbcrt,
a widowe d sister Of the Commodore, eighty.
four years Of age, and now lying at the point
OF death.
The news OF the Commodorc's death Ind
been 80 long ey pectcd, that ii made bat little
stir on Wall street.
BIo0R APHIcAL.