The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-09-30
the NATIONS LOSS.
The Death. Ecd--An Affecting Scens

The DEATH. Bed--An Affecting Scene.
The death-bed scene OF the President was q
peculiarly sad and impressive one. The fol-
lowing persons were present when the great
man breathed his last Drs. Bliss and Agnew,
Mrs. Garfield and her daughter Mole, Col.
Rockwell, o. @. Rockwell. Gen. Swain, DIR.
Boynton. Private Secretary J. Stanley Brown,
Mrs. and Miss Rockwell, Executive Secretary
Warren Young, ii. l.. Atchison, John Kicker,
s. Lancaster and Daniel Spriggs, attendants,
the last named colored. At 10 O'Clock
the patient was sleeping. All around
was quiet, and the last preparations for
night had been made. Mrs. Garfield and
Miss Mollie were in their cottage, near by. AT
about 1915 the President was wakened from
his sleep by pain in the region Of the heart
He exclaimed TO Gen. Swain: ~ am suffering
great pain" These were his last words. DR..
Bliss who was at hand, was summoned. Even
then the President had begun to fail. Gen.
Swain did not appreciate the crisis which had
come. DIR. Bliss felt for the Presidents pulse.
1t Mas hardly perceptible my God Swain, "
he exclaimed in whisper, "he is dying Send
for Mrs. Garfield" His heart then was but
weakly hutterng. Drs. Agnew and Hamilton
were sent for, and the former reached the room
in time for the end The other attendants
all arrived Immediately after Mrs. Garfield and
her little daughter Mole. Mrs. Garfield had
nerved herself for the end which she had for
some hours dreaded as inevitable. She went
at once to the side of her dying husband and
took his hand in hers. The President was
helpless and speechless, but, as his wife sat
down by him, he turned his face toward hers
slightly and fixed his eyes upon his wifes, and
SO he sank into Inconsistencies, his eyes still
bent on her face With one hand she held
her husbands, and her other hand lay on his
heart. There was no word uttered. Drs. Ag-
new and Bliss stood by the bedside. Mollie re-
Qt raI har ar mo "a sid
The watchers and attendants stood by. and DIR.
Boynton sat at the Presidents head, flaming
him. The pulse became entirely lnperceptible.
The applications which had been brought to be
applied as restoratives lay untouched. The end
was plainly at hand. When another minute
had come the great-hearted man was dead,
and lay free from pain and strife. His
eyes were open but vacant, the pupils still bent
on the face of the stricken wife. Broken
hearted Mollie turned and sobbed. The
effort with which Mrs. Garfield herself kept
back her tears was seen in the fixed lines Of the
face as she arose and went from the room. At
the door Of her chamber she broke quite down.
For the first time she sobbed aloud and in this
first burst Of grief she shut herself alone in her
chamber She remained thus alone for perhaps
three minutes, and what new strength she got
in the brief communion was seen in her brave
and resolute face as she came back to the bed
where her dead husband lay DIR. Hamilton
with woman's gentleness, had closed the
eyelids Mrs. Garfield, soon by the bed, took
up the lifeless hand that had held her heart
and there she sat for nearly three hours. Drs
Agnew and Boynton and Gen. Swain remained
in the room for some time until, at last Secre-
tary Brown and Warren Young alone were left
to keep the vigil till daybreak. Nothing was
ever more pathetic than the peaceful death of
the once strong mantle passing away of a
nations leader, his helpless hand lying in his
wife's, to whom he was ever more than Pres-
dent.