St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-03-05
Gen. Grant Fatally Ill.
The Great Soldier Dying of Cancer.

Early ldSC week Tile report came bllilb
Gen. Grant was steadily recovering
from his illness. Later this report was
contradicted. The following story was
made public Saturday:
Last June, while living in his cot
tage at Long Branch, Gen. Grant was
very much troubled by his throat He
consulted DR.. De Costa of Philadelphia
who was stopping there, and was
warned that the trouble might be Sc
rious and that he had better see his
family physician. The trouble abated,
and Gen. Grant thought no more about
it until it broke out with renewed viO-
lence in October. He consulted with
DR.. Fordyce Barker, who at once de-
tected symptoms of cancerous growth
and directed him to specialist in
throat diseases, DR.. j. H. Douglass adj
vised him to stop smoking gradually,
but he soon ceased it altogether, and
felt much better for it. His hip, which
had been injured by his fall on De-
cember "a, 1888 had improved so much
that he was able to take long walks.
In December he took cold during one
of the walks and went back to DR..
Douglass. He was then almost I'M
able to speak, and he ate with great
difficulty. The root of the tongue was
hardened, and there were patches on
the soft palate, accompanied by Il slight
liberation. All along through his i'll
ness Gen. Grant has worked on his
military history and war "reminiscences
for the Century. He had routine
way of passing his time before his re
cent relapse. He arose about O'Clock
and read the morning newspapers. He
breakfasted ut $50, and then accom-
panied by his colored servant, drove
down town to DR.. Douglass's office.
When he returned to his house, about
I1.30, he wonld go to work on his book
of which the second volume is nearly
completed. He wrote it out himself
referring occasionally to Gen. Badeau
for dates and other minutiR. Col.
Fred Grant wrote out a copy of his
fathers manuscript. Lunch was eaten
at 100, and the writing was continued
until $50. Then the general would 90
out for drive with Mrs. Grant. He
dined ut o'clock, and the evenings
were passed in social recreation, play
ing whist, or entertaining friends.
DR.. Douglass said Gen. Grant is a
very sick man, but he is doing very
well considering his condition. He
came to me first on October % last,
and asked me to examine his throat.
| did so, and saw at once that he WAS
suffering from cancer. He asked me
If it was not a cancer, and | told him
the disease was of a cancerOus charac-
ter in mild form. 1t probably arose
from excessive smoking, combined with
other causes. | at once told his fami-
ly of the nature of the disease, and
they know how serious the case is. |
think the general also knows it now.
The cancer continued to grow worse,
although its growth has not been
steady. The hardened part of the can
Ger is at the root of the tongue on the
right side. The liberation is in the
soft palate just above where the ton
sils lie. The loss of teeth has prevent
ed Gen. Grant from chewing solid food. |
He eats minced meat, terrapiD, and
other soft food, aud has no difficulty in
swallowing it. Indeed, he swallows
more readily than he did two months !
ago. This is probably due to the fact
that the liberation has relaxed some
of the membranes. He takes a good |
deal of nOurishment, although he does |
not want to eat, as the effect of the di-
sease is to destroy all appetite. The |
cancer is what is called benign can
Ger, and if it were anywhere else on
the body we could at least hold it in
allegiance. AS it is, an operation would |
no good. 1t would be quite |
impossible to cut it out from the root
of his tongue. Within the past 10
days there has been great change for |
the worse. The mind has great in
fluence on such diseases, and | believe |
that distress of mind caused by the |
failure of the relief bill in Congress in
jured the general very much. Two |
weeks ago he was feeling much better. |
Then came the defeat of the bill, and |
he seemed to lose heart
Throughout his troubles Gen. Grant |
has worked constantly on his literary
projects. OF late his attention had |
been given to his own autobiography, |
feeling that if it was to be completed |
it must be done at once His literary
work for the past year has embraced a /
series of papers on different battles and |
of the rebellion, which |
were contracted for by the Century t
magazine, and one of which has been
on "The Battle of Shi-
lob" The others were to be on '"The !!
Campaign" '"rhe Chatta-
nooga Campaign" and the "Wilder-
ness Campaign His last work, and
that upon which he is now laboring, is
the history of his military life. The
first volume is completed and the sec
Dnd nearly so.
a post office has been established at
East Barre. ...-