Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-08-25

watched anxiously for poiicemah'
who came slowly along in the process
Of time, and then she left the street.
The policeman approached the pros
trate figure and glanced from the sole
Of his foot to the crown Of his head
in the conventional manner. He spoke
to the man. who was just able to gasp
out words to the effect that he was
very i'll and to "go to the liquor-store
at Twenty-hrst street and Eighth ave-
nue." Then he sank into unconscious
ness. The policeman fastened away to
the nearest ambulance call and rapidly
summoned one OF the vehicles to con-
yey the suffering man to the hospital.
A crowd had collected on the spot, with
the usual object of satisfying vulgar
curiosity in spite Of everything. ny
the time the ambulance with the doctor
had appeared the man was dead. This the
doctor was very quick TO discover, and,
mounting on the ambulance again, stated
that he could not take a dead body
in the vehicle. The crowd looked up
in astonishmcnt at this exhibition OF
red-taped energy. But the doctor had
technical rights on his side and drove
away with them. Officer Charles Hig-
gins, who had first found the man, was,
in consequence of these proceedings,
obliged to leave it on the sidewalk with
the crowd while he went off in search
Of a vehicle in which to convey the
corpse to the Twenty-ninth precinct
station.house. He succeeded in captur-
ING A butchers cart. and into this sug-
gestive wagon the body was lifted. OH
Ger Higgins then drove with it to Cap
tain Williams's station-house.
There the corpse lay all the afternoon
awaiting Identification. The liquor
store at the corner of Eighth avenue,
to which the dying man had referred
when the policemen first saw him, was
kept by man named Pyle, son-in-law
of the deceased. Mr.. Pyle, however,
did not regard his father-in-law with
aGectionste eyes, and declined to have
ANYTHING to do in the matter, though
he condescendingly allowed his wife to
visit the station-house late in the after
noon to identify the body and gracious
" gave her permission to pay part of
the funeral expenses.
In a wretched little frame house in
Eighteenth street, west Of Ninth ave-
nue., lived the family Of the deceased.
So squalid and dilapidated is the APP
pearance Of this dwelling that it is APP
parently only kept from falling by the
two brick houses which stand on either
side Of it. Inside his old wife, worn
and wasted with disease and hourly eX-
pecting to die, was reclining on mise
rable bedstead yesterday when she re-
ceiyed the news Of her husbands death.
A daughter. with three children, occu-
pied the sitting-room-a weird-looking
apartment, decorated grotesquely with
faded pictures and few gilt-framed
photographs.
James Cummings dead;" she said
coldly. "Well, it was drink that did
it. Drink, hard drink, for twelve years,
with heart-disease. I've not had dol
lar from him for years. We haven't
lived together for a very long time"
Then she talked about her dead hus-
band in calm, unsympathetic manner,
which relaxed somewhat as she went
on, and broke down when she finished.
She told how thirty years ago she and
her husband, then respectively thirty
six and thirty-two years Of age, had
left their quiet little home in Paisley,
Scotland, and came over to this coun-
try to seek their fortunes. lie was
dashing young fellow, and great IA
vorite in the circles in which they
mixed. When be arrived in America
he formed a society to help the Scotch
emigrants, and sang in concerts in the
old Khickerbocker Hall with this OBJ
icct in view. Then she related his eX-
periences during the war-how he had
fought side by side with Colonel Came
ron, and had seen that officer killed,
while he himself received injuries in the
leg which subsequently liberated,
and had caused him trouble ever
since that time. After the war
her troubles had begun. One of
her sons had been killed in it, and
when it was over she had lost a second
by drowning. Her husband had been
led away by gay companions, and had
gradually drifted away from his home.
lie drank necessarily, and when she
had discovered that he was a hopeless
inebriate she had forbidden him the
house, and struggled along in compare
tive restitution with her widowed
daughter and three children.
Then James Cummings had gone to
the Soldiers Home in Bath, n. Y, and
for two years, removed from the infiu-
ence of drink, had seemed on fair
road to recovery. But the two years
at an end he had emerged from his re-
treat, and after one effort at restraint
had dropped back into his old intempe.
rate course, intensified as time went on
lie had obtained work in little plas
terer's basement in Twenty-third street
and his earnings there were 81 day
which were spent in drink. He haC
lately applied to Washington for a pen
sion, and the family were at presen
anxiously awaiting its arrival. james
Cummings had belonged to the Seventy
ninth HighlanderS and to the CaledOniaI
Club. He had rallied considerably
lately, and had been much elated OF
the day of General Grants funeral
when he had carried a flag in the pro
cession.
FEATHER was good man when h
was young" said the daughter yester
day, "but when he was led aStray b,
his friends we were obliged to give hin
up"
Old Mrs. Cummings showed littl
interest in the manner Of the dispose
of her husbands remains. "Onl
don't let them bring him here" sh
said, or | shall die" The body vii
be buried at the expense of the chill
dren.
DEATH ca USED BY SCRATCH
The Handling OF a Eetai Filter Results 4
Washington Lady's Death.
a Washington special says: Mrs
Lyles, wife of Mr.. Henry Lyles. tn