The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-02


in which the ex- President is. Inquiries were
made at the home of General Grant this morn
ing where the sad news of his failing condition
was confirmed. There are four physicians in
attendance upon the General DIR. John a. Doug
lass, DR.. Fordyce Barker DR.. Henry B. Sands
and DIR. T. NJ. Markoe. The first named has at
tended him regularly since last September DR.. ]
Barker sees him very often, and the other two
are consulting physicians. DR.. Douglass said
this morning:
1.-THE cause of Gen. Grants illhealth is
cancer in the mouth at the base of the tongue.
1t first made its appearance early last summer.
AT that time DR.. DeCosta, of Philadelphia, at
tended the case. He afterwards called the at
tention of the family physician, DR.. Barker, to
1t, and in October began to treat the case l
have been there regularly ever since then The
cancer was not caused directly by smoking, but
that unquestionably aggravatedit The General,
you know, was never great eater, but he was a
great smoker. and after awhile his system came
to depend great deal upon tobacco. At the
time the cancer began to trouble him, moreover,
his body was in rphysical condition. He had
been i'll with many diseases previously. He had
injured his hip; he had pleuro pneumonia, boils
affair and other troubles to worry him, so that
you can see that he was not fit to cope with his
new trouble
CHANGE FOR THE WORSE.
"Snce the cancer began to trouble him he has
been now better, now worse. A little more than
week ago relapse came On Monday and
Tuesday of last week he ate more than had been
his habit, and of improper food. Tuesday night
he slept we'll. On Wednesday night he was
taken with a violent earache, not neuralgia,
which came from the reflex from the throat.
That night he slept very poorly. His rest was
not improved on Thursday night By Friday he
was somewhat better. / 60 to see him twice ev-
cry day. was there yesterday afternoon and
again at 1890 o'clock last night. found him out
of bed in the afternoon. I do not know how he
is to-day but am going to see him very soon.
Some time ago had microscopic expert make
diagnosis of his throat, and found that it was
peculiar structure of malignant epithelial.
General Grants hip is much better. He can
walk without the use of his cane if he wishes to.
His condition is very serious. He has ap
petite and is very weak He spends little time
each day in revising his history of the He
has somebody read to him what he has already
written, and then dictates his corrections His
| two volumes are so near completion that the
necessary This literary work takes his mind
| off himself. He is very patient and reticent If
| his cancer was in another part OF his body it
| would, OF course change the case somewhat. AS
| it is he may live several months and again he
may live but short time. do not think there
ls any hope that he will over recover"
| During the day General Grants house was
| visited by many friends, who expressed their
sympathy in the warmest terms. They were
| told that the General was unable to see any
one, and that for weeks he had had little
comfort in the society of even his most init
| mate associates. The bare effort to articuiate
| is accompanied at times by acute pains, and
| always by great inconvenience, especially since
all his teeth have been extracted. The reason
| for extracting them is that he has been sub
ected to intense suffering in his right ear and in
| the crown of his head. It has not been consid-
cred advisable to replace the lost teeth by arti-
| fetal ones on account of the sympathetic tender
ness of his jaws and the interior of his mouth.
| for, although the cancer is still confined TO the
base of the tongue. the soreness of the adjoining
/ parts is often very painful Another conse-
quence of the loss of his teeth is ain inability to
/ take solid nourishment His entire nourishmeut
| is taken in q liquid form, and has been for many
days.
| The symptoms are aggravated by the general
| condition of his SYSTEM which, since the injury
to his thigh, has almost daily become
weaker. The lack of his usual exercise
dent, for ever since his retirement from
the army, he has made point to walk daily on
| his way to the elevated trains both going from
| home and returning. 1t was long his habit, on
| returning from business in the afternoon by the
Sixth avenue elevated railroad to leave the train
| at the Twenty third street station and proceed
| thence to Fifth avenue and walk up Murray hill
to his home on Sixty-fourth street Almost any
day between the hours of and 5 P. AZ. he could
be seen taking his exercise on the avenue and
| returning the frequent salutations that greeted
his we'll known face Although he kept car
| riage and team they were used chiefly by Mrs.
L..l
ing he could be met daily Fifth avenue or
| Fifty ninth street on his way to Fifty ninth
street station of the Sixth-avenue road, smoking
| his customary cigar, and often in the company
| of a friend or of some member of his family.
FOND OF COMPANY.
| The Generals fondness for social intercourse
| has always been stimulated since his arrival in
this city by frequent visits from friends, espe
| cally in the evening, and by constant accept
ance of invitations to dinners and receptions.
| His large circle of army acquaintance were al
ways welcome to his house, and it was the habit
| of the General to entertain them, not in his
long parlors on the first floor, which are adorned
with many curiosities Of Japanese art obtained
by him during his Eastern tour but in the cozy
and very comfortable library on the second floor,
so that less intimate friends calling in the even
| ing and received in the parlor were often una
ware or the delightful social festivities on the
| floor above upon which they were unconsciously
| intruding Old army comrades used to say that
an evening with Grant in his library on Sixty
! sixth street was almost renewal of similar re-
unions in his tent at City Point.
The loss of all these pleasures to which Gen
eral Graut's nature, Notwithstanding his consti-
! tutional reserve, is peculiarly adapted, bears
heavily upon the great soldier in the hour of his
singular misfortune. The knowledge that it is a
positive pain to him to utter a single SEN
| IS SOfrOWflll General inns
| is deterrent to his comrades. The most dis
couraging feature of The Generals case is his
own conviction that if his autobiography is to be
| finished the work must be done speedily and had
he not proceeded far enough with it to forestall
| the necessity of actual composition, the present
| ucealnnsS Of his Condition would