Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1877-12-20
Death Of DIR. .Bamcs M. Sloun.

IL,
Dr. james NJ. Sloan is dead. The an
nouncemcnt of his doath at 2 o'clock last
Mnnday fell upon the entiro community rs q
public calamity, while it carried t. tho fire
sides OF the humorous families in our town, to
whom he had become cndearcd by his faithful
mnistrntions in sickness, q sorrow rs of
personal bereavement. During his brief
illness OF ono week, numbers of our best and
oldest citizens for miles around lockcd to
Walhalla to sec him and gather q crumb of
bopo that ho would be longer spared in his
field of usefulness here. 1t was to DO other
wise. Death claimed his shining talonts, and
his high mission on earth has ceased and his
labors of love and mercy have ended. No
moro will we sec his kind faco and hear his
comforting voico around our fl csidcs and sick
couches Tint great enemy, his skill has so
often defeated, has taken him from US, but his
good name, his mntchess skill in his profess
sion and his noble qualities of head and heart
will not bc forgotten in this community.
DR.. Sloan was in tho prime Of life. and for
his age, II years, had no equal. rs VIC
believe, in South Carolina in all branches
Of his profession His practice was
limited only by his ability to meet the
calls made for his services. and though he
possessed fine physique and appeared
robust, yet his friends and intimate acquain.
tanccs know he was diseased and suffered
intensely almost every day. We can recall
many occasions when sent for ho would
speak of his sufferngs and claim he was
then sicker than tho patients he was visiting
1t was tho severe pain under which he
laborcd, resulting from n wound in the face ut
First Manassas and somo affection of the
heart, which produced an apparent negligence
of duty on his part, though at all times no
person could be more nntiring and prompt in
all dangerous cases. lie never complained of
his suftcrngs and rarely mentioned them and
now TINT he is dead anu people have learned
better the great labor ho performed under his
alfiiction they appreciate him the moro. lie
sp"ko Of these matters freely during his
illness. and regretted, above all things. that
he had not been nbc in life to accomplish
more and grcatcr work in his profession lie
took n special delight in surgery, and has
performed during tho past eight years a
| number of tho most difficult operations known
10 the profession. and always successfully.
In difficult cases of disease ho was untirinc
in his attention, devoting all the powers Of his
mind to the case. IIc seemed to have been
born physician and to have been able to read
by intuition the human system, its diseases and
remedies, so that the families in which he
practiced, in cases of serious illness, huno
upon his words rs if they were the fat of life
or death,
DR.. Sloan was a son Of Thomas NJ. Sloan,
who lived formerly in this County, and alters
wards at old Pendleton. where tho deceased
was brought up and educated. Prior to the
war he passed several years in New York,
attending medical lectures, and enjoyed the
advantage of wide experience in diseases in
bellevue Hospital. Though physician when
tho war began, hc volunteered ms n private in
Captain Shnnklin's Company of the 4'i'
Regiment, and served in that capacity until
he was severely wounded and disabled at
First Manassas, being shot through the face
and having the bones of his jaw broken. lie
suffered from this wound to tho time of his
DEATH being often compelled to resort to
anodynos to relieve tho pain. After his re-
covcry no aborea in the hospitals of tho Con
tedcracy to tho close OF the war; living almost
entirely on liquid food. Hero ho found IL
wdo field in which to exercise his brilliant
talents in his chosen profession, so that at the
end OF the war he entered the practice with a
strong we'll informed mind and an experience
as extended as vas formerly obtained in a
long iiio. These advantages he constantly
Improved by reading study and practice, SO
that in carly life he attained an cmincnco in
tho profession which few can hopc to attain
by long life of toll.
We knew him woll. We admired him for
his talcnts and loved him for bis great and