Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1881-04-14
Edgeheld, $. c.. April II, 1881.
MARTIN WITnERSP00N GARY
Dead Amid The SpleHdor OF His
Undying Deeds.
He Rreathes His Last on the Sixteenth
Anniversary of Appomattox, the
Day on Which he Refused to
Surrender His Sword.
a MAN WITHOUT DISGUISE.
A Devotion to the Principles of Patri.
otism That Never Wavered!.--In
Edge6eld's Heart Will Live the
Perpetuity of His Greatness!

oitsm That Never Wavered!..-ln
Edge6eld's Heart Will Live the
Perpetuity of His Greatness!
The soldier. the statesman, the patriot,
the jurist, the orator, the tender son, the
devoted brother, the faithful fiend, is dead
and the remains of Martin Witherspoon
GSry-great in impulse, learning, and
power of intellect, and goodin the bravery
of his lofty character and his devotion u
the unsullied principles of patriotism-now
lie sleeping in the quiet churchyaTd o.
Gokesbury, the place OF his birth.
>Ssses ossfter the adjournment Of the late
Court, Gen. Gag eft his home and repair,
elto cokesbary ayisit his aged Gssse+siher
then-and now-lyinss ss;77sp6 s57 sspp06 bed Of
illness. Upon his return TO Edgsfeld, or
Tuesday of last week, he complained Of
not feeling well, butstill appeared prompt,
Il in his Office. and on Thursday Afternoon
attended a municipal meetingin our Court
House. On Friday morning, about nine
o'clock, it was announced by his two
nephews, Major Earnest Gary and Mr.
George Evans. who lived with him, thai
he was very i'll. And instantaneously Oak.
ley Park, his handsome home, was throng.
ed with anxious friends. The seat of his
disease was at the base Of the BRAIN and
from o'clock A. M. to P. NJ. he suf,
fered exaggerated nausea accompanied by
terrible vomiting. At about this hour
morphine caused him to sink into sleep,
and from this time, to his death at mid
night, he remained in a semi-unconscious
state. The best medical skill at home,
and from Augusta and Columbia, was
summoned to his bedside, but the most
powerful stimulants and remedies failed Of
effect, for God lad summoned the brave
spirit hence. And there was solemn and
slcred sorrow in Edgefeld's soul. And
the stiffness of death was on Edgefeld's
face.
At 8 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, fol-
lowed by a procession which numbered
our entireeommunity, the body was taken
into the Episcopal Church; and as the
long funeral train moved slowly up into
the silent, sorrowing town, the air yibra
ted with the solemn sound of toling bells
the inspiration of "dust to dust"-the
dirge tone of life's sunset, the swelling
symphony of immortality's morning. And
as the man of God, in spotless surplice,
met the coffin at the outer gate, these
grand sentences woke the sacred stiffness
of the impressive scene: "I-know that my
Rsdeemer liveth, and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall ! see God !:
whom ! shall see for myself, and name
eyes shall behold, and not another, AND
then the organ swelled the deep tide Of
feeling, and st. Paups burning words To-
the Corinthians-so full Of triumphant
faith and holy hope-feil with deep COM
fort upon weeping and humbled souls.
From the holy sanctuary the body was,
taken direct to Trenton, to be sent thence
Immediately, by rail, to Cokesbury. From
Edgefeld to Trenton this funeral cortege|
was dead hero's march OF triumph; and
at Trenton the whole section united in de-
Ing honor to the illustrious dead:
1t is difficult to realize that Garys elo-|
quent voice is silent, and that his years.
historic in their usefulness, have so sud
denly come TO an end,
. "Like the singing of swan,
Even such is man, who lives by breath,
Is here, now there, in life and DEATH"
But of him, as of Others, it is truly
said:
. 'Early or late they stoop to fate,
And must give mp their murmuringl
breath, r3p ...st
When they, pale captives, creep to death. u
Martin Witherspoon Gary was one of
those men who stood out without disguisel
before his fellow man. His chivalrous|
honor scorped concealment, his outspokenI
cardor despised subterfuge, his eianlyl
courage disdained evasion. He laid his
character bare to the world. His heartI
was in his hand, and his generous impulses
found utterance in open deed and fearless
speech. he was true in his friendships, s,l
he was undisgaisea in his enmlties. His
enemies respected him; his friends adoredI
him. He had faults. Otherwise he would
not have been human But ike a tower
ing monument, whose base is planted upon
the earth, yet with its summit rising into
the pure air, and crowned with the radi-
anee of sunlight, he rose above his faults
into the pure ethereal light Of yirtuous|
strength and dazzling pre-eminence.
e.,., rr,o,, rvar,yfro Nut the Nal