River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-08-23
JUDGE BLACK DEAD.
Death of Judge Jere S. Black of
Pennsylvania, Who Passed Away
With a Pravar on His Inns

Pennsylvania, Who Passed Away
With a Prayer on His Lips.
York, Pa, Special Telegram, Aug. 10 -
Brockie is in mourning. Judge Black, the
the central figure OF Brockie, lies cold in
death. His death was peaceful and calm,
and his eventful lifewent out beautiful as
the setting of summer sun upon the cloud
less sky. His death vas courageous one,
and In hope of blsssed immorta lily. AT
2!l5 o'clock he bresthed bis last. Kissing
his wife good. bye, he turned over on his
side, and with snile playing upon his lips
he passed away. His two sons, Chauncey
F. and Henry, his daughter, Mrs. Hornsby,
aud bis son-in. law, Mr.. Hornsey, and A. f.
Farquhar were present when
the vital spark fed. Shortly before death
had laid his icy hands upon him, he spoke
with confidence ot the future, saying to his
son Chauncy he had no fear OF crossing the
dark river when his Heavenly Father
awaited him on the. other shore, ending,
II would that / were as comfortable about
shat leave behind in the world When
his beloved wife knelt by his bedside COM
forting him with her sympathy and love,
he gave utterance to the following impress
sive prayer; "0h, thou lost beloved and
merciiul heavenly Father, from whom l
had my being, and in whom ! have ever
trusted, if it be thy will, grant that my suf-
fering end and that | be called home to
thee. And oh bless and comfort thou my
Mary
The Judges illness only dates from Mon
day last, and fir Il the first approach of the
fatal and painful disease, he was perfectly re-
signed, feeling thai ii would terminate fatal
". After his case became critical, and it was
TO- To q oil
alton, he observed that the doctors were in
council, and asked its import. They told
him of the intended operation, and that
they had asked the consent of the family.
Good humoredly and with mis- accustomed
wit, he remarked
You have reckoned without your host. l
am the victim and the only one to be con-
suited. | will not submit. / can hold out
until Drs. Aztec and Garnett can be sum-
moned in consultation.
Agreeabiy to the judges desire the doc
tors were brought aud he consented to the
operation. 1t was successfully performed,
but blood poisoning followed which was
the Immediate calse of his death. All
through his sickness, although suffering in
tense agony, he was cheerful, and his great
mind gave vent in frequent scintillations of
witty utteranees, and at times he repeated
selections from his faVorite authors, Bry
ants Thanatopsis snd the words of Lady
Macbeth. In his dying moments the ijurist
lost none of his force OF character, his gent
ahty and brightness of disposition, and his
flow of language, when not under the inhu-
ence of opiates. Judge Black suffered
greatly during hisillness, but his last mo-
ments were without acute pain, and
he passed quietly away, retaining con-
sciousness within a few minutes of his
death.
jeremiah Sullivan Black was born in
Somerset county, Pa, Jan. 10, 1910. His
ancestors came from the north of Ireland
and settled near the present site of York,
Pa, the home Of the statesman, early in
the seventeenth century. His father, Henry
Black, being afarmer, Jerry as he was
Familiarity called, passed his early years
upon the virgin fields of the clearing
| among the glaoes," and his love of rural
life remained with him through all his days
1t also fixed his religious faith and turned
him to the Camppellte church, which he
loined at the age OF twenty eight. He re-
ceived his first mind training in the schools
about his own home, but he com
pleted his studies at a private acad-
envy in Fayette county. He had an i'm
mense legal pra6 ice from the first and in
1888 he married Miss Mary Forward, his
preeeptOrs daughter, who survives him.
In 1912 Gov. Potter appointed him Judge
of Common Pleas. He was made chief
Justice of the supreme court of the State in
1851. by drawing the short term of three
years, after having been chosen upon the
ticket with Lewis, Groson, Lowery, and
Coulter, under the new constitutional pro
vision, making the judges elective. In
1854 he was reelected to the supreme
bench by lalge majority. Afterwards
he became Attorney General of the United
States under Mr., Buchanan. Judge Blacks
loyalty during those trying months is I'M
questionable. The late member of that
cabinet, furnished in January, 1877, writ
en- tribute to Judge Blacks answering
loyalty during that period; and Judge Holt
another of bis cabinet colleagues, has said:
mo man could have been more ardent OF
earnest in his attachment to the union or
more persistent in urging those things cal
culated to save il from the designs of the
southern men than Judge Black"
As a lawyer he was considered one of the
greatest IN the country. Two years age
| he published a vigorous defense OF the
Christian religion IN the North American
Review against the onslaughts of Robert G
lngersoll.