Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-01-18
Last Hours Of Mr.. Vanderbilt.

"A new OTK Speclal (J an. ~ 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
he conversed with his family and his friend,
Mr.. William Trumbull. At ten o'clock he
retired, feeling comfortable At two in the
morning ne 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 a slight local disor-
der, but it did not pass away as he expected,
and sapped his strength from day to day.
A gentleman who was present when Com.
Vanderbilt died, and who has spent much
time with him in the sick-room, gives this
account of his last hours: He said that on
Thursday last It seemed TO him that he was
entering upon death as he had never done
before. lie had been in a constant state 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
derbilt upon religious subjects very earnest
ly. His faith seemed very great, and h" ox-
pressed himself deliberately and dec, .1dly.
Among other things, he said: " No; l shall
never cease to trust Jesus. How could l
ever let that go?" 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 a change came again, and at four
he had grown much weaker Later in the
morning his children and pastor were sent
for. Dr. Deems arrived about nine o 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 suggestion in regard to
singing, he misunderstood her, and made no
sign of assent. A little later he turned to
his wife and said: 81 thought you would
sing" few of his favorite hymns were
then sung, with pauses between The first
hymn SING 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 a hymn which
always interested him. 1t was the one
beginning with the words, "Come,
he was so low, whenever that hymn
was sung, he invariably tried to join in it.
generally adding, at Sthe close: 81 am
poor, am needy, weak and wounded, sick
and sore" DR.. Deems proposed prayer, TO
which he seemed gladly to accede 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 about him anticipated a struggle at
the last. Among other things the pastor
prayed that God would be pleased in His
mercy to youchsafe unto the sufferer an easy
departure out of his great pain into cverlast-
ing life. The Commodore evidently followed
The whole prayer, and, when it was closed
with the benedictiOn, be repeated with the
minister the words, "The blessing of God
and his voice then failed him. He after.
ward attempted to speak several times, but
could not articulate with sufficient clearness
to make himself understood. After
the lapse of some time he turned to his
wife, who was sitting beside him, and his
been offered, and he said, "That was good
prayer" These were the last words he ut
tered. Mrs. Vanderbilt replied, "Yes, be-
cause it 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 few minutes, as 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
brcathed quickly few times and then ex-
pired. at 10:5l a. M.
When 1t 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 endance on the Commodore
for many days and nights during his illness,
and the old servants of the family were also
much affected. Miss Phoebe Vanderbilt, the
Commodore's sister, and Capt. Jacob Van
derbit, of Sta ten Island, were not in the
house when he died. They were detained oD
Staten Islam by the illness of Mrs. Egbert,
widowe sister of the Commodore, eighty.
four years of age, and now lying at the point
of death.
The news of the Commodore's death had
been so long ex pected, that it made but little
stir on Wall street.