The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-07-29

toris, alld;aS a little distance removed, stood
Drs. Doslsslzs, Shrady and Sands spectators
of q closing life their efforts and counsel had
so prolonged
On che opposite side of the bed from his
motlar and directly before her stood Jesse
Grant and L. :. Grant, Jr-, and near the cor
ner of the cot on the same side as Jesse and
nAss- to each. was Mr.. y. i. Dawson. the Gen
eral sstenOgrapher and confidential Secretary.
At the foot of the bed and gazing directly
down into the Generals face was Mrs. Colo
mel Fred Grant Mrs L.. = Grant Jr., and
Mrs. Jesse Grant while somewhat removed
from the family circle, Henry, the nurse, and
Harrison Terrell, the Generals body servant,
were respectively watching the closing life of
patient, their master. DIR. Newman had re-
paired to the hotel to breakfast and was not
present. The Generals little grandchildren,
u. S. Grant, Jr-, and Nellie, were sleeping the
sleep of childhood in the nursery room above.
Afterward the entire family and household
were gathered at the bedside of the dying
man.
The members of the group had been sum-
mOned not moment sooner than was pru-
dent The doctors motel, on entering the
room and pressing To the bedside, that al
ready the blush tinge, which is one of ma
lures signals of final dissolution, had set
tied beneath the finger nails. The hand that
Dr. Douglas lifted was fast growing colder
than il had been through the night. The
pulse had fiuttered beyond the point when
the physicians could distinguish it from the
p1Ilse-beat in his own finger-tips. The respi-
ration was very rapid. and was a succession
of shallow painting, but happily the APP
preaching end was becoming clear of the rat
ding fullness of the throat and lungs, and
the respirations grew quicker and more rapid
at the close. They also become less labOred
and almost noiseless. This fact was, in its
results, comfort to the watchers by the
bedside, to whom was spared the scene of an
agOniZing or other than a peaceful death.
The.wife almost constantly stroked the face,
fOrhead and hands of the dying General, and
at times, as the passionate longing TO prevent
the event 50 near would rise within her Mrs.
Grant pressed both his hands, and leaning
forward tenderly kissed the face Of the sink
ing man. Colonel Fred Grant sat silently
with evident feeling, though his bearing was
thatOf a sOldierly son at the death-bed of a
hero father. L. :. Grant, Jr., was deeply
moved, but Jessie bore the scene steadily,
and the ladies, while watching with wet
cheeks, were silent, as betitted the dignity of
life such as was ceasing before them.
The morning had passed five minutes be-
yOnd o'clock, and there was not one of the
strained and watching walters but what
could mark the nearness of the life tide to its
final ebbing. DR.. Douglas noted the near
ness of the supreme moment and quietly ap-
preached the bedside and bent above il, and
while he did so the sorrow of the gray-haired
physician seemed closely allied with that of
the family. DIR. Shradv also drew near. 1t
was seven minutes after o'clock, and the
eyes of the General were closing; his breath
ing grew more hushed as the last functions
of the heart and lungs were hastened to
the closing of the ex-President's life. A
peaceful expression seemed to be deepening
in the firm and strong-lined face, and it was
reflected as a closing comfort in the sad hearts
that beat quickly under the stress of loving
suspense. a minute more passed and was
closing as the General drew deeper breath.
There was an exhalation like that of one re-
iieved or long and anxious tension. The
members of the group were impelled each a
step nearer the bed, and each waited TO note
the next respiration. But ii did not come
then. 1t never came. There was absolute
stiffness in the room, and hush of expectant
suspense. No sound broke the silence save
the singing of birds in the pines outside the
cottage and the measured throbbing of the
engine that all night had waited by the
little mountain depot down the slope. 1t
| is all over" quietly spoke DR.. Douglas, and
! there came then heavily to each witness the
realization that General Grant was dead.
Then the doctors withdrew, the nurse
| closed the eyelids and composed the dead
Generals head, after which each of the fam
| lily group pressed to the bedside, one after
| the other, and touched their lips upon the
| quiet face so lately stilled. DIR. Shrady
| passed out upon the piazza, and as he did so
I Re met DIR. Newman fastening up the steps.
| ''Hc is dead" remarked DIR. Shrady quietly.
| The fact of having been absent from the bed
side of the dying man and his family at the
| last was cause of great sorrow and regret
TO the clergyman, who had waited all night
at the cottage. He had been summoned from
his breakfast moment too late, and reached
the cottage only in time TO minister TO the
family sorrow and gaze upon the scarcely
nj dead to -bnp
DR.. Newman's love had bound him in such
| close ties and relations. Those who saw and
knew, and all who learn of the clergyman s
absence from the death-bed, quickly speak
the impulse of hearty sympathy.
Soon after Drs Douglas and Shrady left
| the death-bed they conversed feelingly of
the latter. hours Of General Grants life.
| The pulse first had indicted failure, and the
| intellect was last 10 succumb its clearness
| and conscious tenacity, and that, after mid
| night last night, though circumstance at
| indicated cOgniZance. do you want any
thing, father" questioned Colonel Fred at
that hour Water" whispered the General
huskily. But when offered water and milk
| they glIrgled in his throat and were elected.
and that one word of response was the last
utterance of General Grant. DIR. Douglas re-
marked that the peeuliarity of General
| Grants death was explained by the remark
| bic vitality that seemed TO present an obsta-
Gle TO the approach of death. 1t
was gradual passing away of
| the vital forces. and reflex
| consciousness, the Doctor thought, was re-
tanned to the last. The General died of sheer
exhaustion, and perfectly painless sinking
away Yes, - interjected DR.. Shrady, quietly.
1.-THE General dreaded pain. When he felt
he had began sinking he asked that he
| should not be permitted to suffer. The
| promise was made, and it has been kept.
| Since he began to sink on Tuesday night he
! was free from pain" Toward the last no
food was taken, but when a
wet cloth was pressed TO his
lips he would suck from it the
| water TO moisten his mouth. During the
Generals last night, DIR. Shrady was con-
stantly within call. DIR. Douglas was all
| night at the cottage, and DIR. Sands slept at
the hotel after midnight. Within two min
utes after the death of General Grant, Karl
Gerhardt. a Hartford sculptor who has been
making study here of the General, was
summoned to the cottage at the suggestion of
DIR. Newman to make plaster mask of the
dead mans face. He was highly successful.
Within half an hour after the Generals
decease, the waiting engine at the mountain
| depot was on the way 20 Saratoga
| to bring the undertaken who will
place the remains on ice to-day 10