The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-09

spoke or moved after he fell under the sudden
stroke, and died within few minutes, without a
struggle. To all intents and purposes, he was
dead the instant he fell upon the floor 1t was
2:30 o'clock when DR.. Mclean led the stricken
widow from the room where her husband had
sat planning and working in the full pride of
health and strength FIVE minutes before.
DR.. Mclean pronounced his death the result
of sudden stroke of paralysis, due to the burst
ing of large blood vessel at the base of the
BRAIN He stated that Mr.. Vanderbits death
WIS as painless as it was sudden. The Doctor
| knew his patient most intimately, and promptly
certifed"to the cause Of death to avoid the un-
| necessary formality of coroner's inquest and
autopsy
AS soon as it was ascertained beyond doubt
that Mr.. Vanderbilt was dead, the men servants
were summoned, and helped to carry the body
| OF their dead master up stairs to the bed room
he had occupied in life. Mrs. Vanderbilt
| saees were sent to the Grand Central Depot to
| summon her sons, and to the residence of her
sons law to inform them CT the bereavement.
| Cornelius William X, and Frederick w Van
| derbilt had been together in the Office at the de-
| pot less than half an hour before the message
| came, and had gone away together. The mes
| sage found Cornelius Vanderbilt in a meeting Of
| the trustees of the American Bible Society, at
the Bible House. He FASTENED at once to the
| house, whittier MIR. Depew had preceded
| him. dumb with distress over his friends
death. One by the other children arrived,
and as the report spread with lightning like
| plolty, the nearer friends or the dead man also
| came
Mr. Vanderbilt, while he had for two years
! past been victim OF indigestion, with its at
tendant ills, had lately, despite the frequent re-
ports of his death, been apparently mending.
| There had been an improvement in the general
tone of his health that was particularly noticea-
BILE to-day. On Monday night he attended the
performance in the Metropolitan Opera house.
and nothing was apparently further from his
mind than sudden death. Like most
people, Mr. Vanderbilt had his own
| little private superstitons, and one of them
| was that if he ever passed the age of
sixty-fve. which for some reason in the family's
| history, is looked upon as the critical age, he
would be good for twenty years more In a con-
| versatlon with near friend, more than three
| weeks ago he stated this as his belief when the
subject was brought up. and he rejoiced in the
| knowledge that the turning point was nearly
| reached Had Mr.. Vanderbilt lived till May s,
next he would have been xty-five years of age.
| He was born on the Staten Island homestead. in
the year 1921. The nearness of the time which
| he himself considered critical. gave him no
| apparent concern, however He did not expect,
neither did be fear death He did not know it
| when it seized him.
BY arrangement of nearest friends with
| members Of the family, it was decided that
| the funeral should be on Friday next at 10
o'clock, from st. Bartholomew Church. at Mad
| ison avenue and Forty fourth streets, Of which
| Rev. DR.. Cook is pastor Mr.. Vanderbilt was a
vestryman in the church. to the construction of
of the church was charged with the funeral ar
rargements. At Mr.. Vanderbilt's own DESIRE
he will be inferred in the family mausoleum in
the Moravian cemetery at New Dorp. Staten
Island, which has just been completed 1t was
one of the last acts of his life to turn over by
deed, for 81, all of the old farm property of the
| family on Staten Island, to his son
George, .,,t to do with as s.he he desired and
visited and went over the island together last
Saturday, incidentally inspecting also. the just
completed mausoleum
Mr.. Vanderbilt had made will, but what its
provisions are is not known to anyone outside
the family. and his confidential counsel, and his
friend Mr.. Depew. The Vanderbilts were a very
united family Mr. Depew ventured the predic-
ton that the milionaire's death would make
nc,,mcl;an no change in siiG, their condition No
result Mr.. Vanderbilt had long ago abandoned
Wall street and the stock market. He owned
no real estate as investments. Like the Com
modore he had no faith in real estate, but believed
that for men in active affairs it was the correct
thing to invest in properties that could be
turned into money instantly If needed.
He had, bedsides, theory which he used to ex-
press in words to this effect: That real estate
was really owned by the municipality the own.
ers were really only the tenants.
The children Mr.. Vanderbilt leaves are. in
their regular succession as to age from Cornelius
who is about forty years of age, down; Cornelius
William K, Frederick w., George W., and
four daughters-Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard, Mrs
William D. Stone, Mrs. Hamilton Mex. Twom-
bly, and Mrs. Dr.. Seward Webb Cornelius and
William K. are both actively engaged In the
management Of the family railroad interests
and will SO continue. Cornelius is the chairman of
the board of directors of the New York Central
and the Michigan Central systems, and William
K. holds the same office in the Lake Shore and
Nickepate system, and Frederick w, who is
about thirty two. is director in all the roads.
The Tribunes account Of the death scene is as
follows: "He was seated in his own armchair
in careless half-reclining position. and his Wis
itor sat oppotte. upon sofa. Suddenly Mr.
Garrett observed hitch in Mr. Vanderbi!ts
voice; it seemed to grow thick, and his words
seemed to come with difficulty. Mr.. Garrett was
alarmed to see painful twitch in his face An
| other and fainter one passed-just the slightest
paused, tottered. and then fell forward upon his
side at the feet of his astounded guest
with whom but moment before he
had engaged in lively conversation. Before Mr.
Garrett could lean over him and place his hand
upon his heart it had ceased to beat Within
| thirty seconds from the time that the indistinct
articulation was noticed he was dead. A blood
vessel in his brain had broken-the physical
catastrophe known as apoplexy. He never
knew how he died. nor guessed that the end had
come. His sensation may be described, if de-
scribed at all, as moment of stupor. then Of
blindness, mental chaos, and then the end"
The coroner went to the Vanderbilt mansion
about o'clock tonight and viewed the body.
The testimony from Mr. Vanderbilt's body serv-
ant, in regard to the scenes at the time and i'm
mediately after death. was substantially in ac-
cordance with the story already told. Dr.
Mclean was the only other witness. He said
~ have been the family physician of the de-
ceased since $780, He has had i'll turns, but he
has never been seriously sick or unwell for any
length of time. He has had attacks of irregu-
larity of the hearts action, which was due
to indigestion. which would last an
hour or two, and then pass away. l saw him
alive last on Sunday Dec 6, at noon and he was
quite we'll then should say unusually So His
pulse beat seventy-two per minute In fact
have never known him to vary one pusation or
beat in minute in a month, since
have been his family physician. His
pulse was full and regular. / called again yes
terday morning to see him, and learned be had
III L. xA-.