St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-18

moment. A feeling of sadness seemed to
have spread among the guests of the
Hoffman house, and there was an ex-
pressive quietness and solemnity among
the crowds in the corridors. Voices
were huShed and all were talking in low
tones of the last sad news about the eX-
senator. The friends who came late to the
house went away with SorroWful eX-
pressions, but said very little. The
hopes that the doctors had of MI. Conk-
ling's recovery were based upon
THE SPLENDID PHYSIQUE
of the patient; and that was, perhaps,
the very canse of his last sickness,
which dates from the day of the great
blizzard, March 12, when Mr.. Conkling
walked to his home on West Twenty
fourth street from his office at No. 2
Wall street. He delighted in telling the
story of his struggle, and how he nearly
got lost in a snowdrift in Union square.
For two weeks OF SO thereafter he con-
tinued to work, but ON March 80 he had
to give up. On April he called in Dr..
Agnew, and on April the operation in
volving the cutting of the mas
terd bone, the projection behind
the left ear. was resorted to to let
out the pus that accumulated
in the honeycomb formation of the
bone. Many believed that his sickness
l., Sc o,-l
ence. All the afternoon the sick states
man lay upon his bed in the rear of
his apartments of the Hoffman
house annex. Very little motion of
the body was noticeable, except slight
movement of his right side in way
that would not irritate the cut in the
side of his head, which the surgeon had
made
AS A LAST RESORT
to save his life. At $50 DR.. Anderson
said Mr.. Conkling was fast passing
away. He did not think the ex-senator
would last longer than two hours. Mr.
Conkling is now unconscious and the
end will probably come from heart fail
ure. Mrs. Conkling and Mrs. Oakman
are now with him. Dr.. Anderton was
relieved by Dr.. Hartley. At $50 Dr..
Barker issued this official bulletin:
'Mr. Conkling is failing fast. His lungs
are fast filling up with blood,
owing to a failure of the heart,
which has resulted from the
gradual wasting away of his vital
powers" DR.. Barker would not say
definitely how long Mr.. Conkling could
live, but said he could not survive the
night. At $50 p. m. Ed Stokes came
out of the house, and was at once sur
rounded by an inquiring and anxious
crowd. He said: 'Mr. Conkling is
sinking very rapidly. His death is a
question of very short time. Mrs.
Conkling and the others are at his bed
side" Mr. Stokes was much affected,
and hurried away.
LARGE CROWDS OF PEOPLE
congregated in the street through the
evening, owing to the bulletins an
nouncing that the end was near.
Prominent politicians and members of
the bar were seen in the cor
ridors of the Hoffman house dis
cussing the abilities of the dying sena-
tor and inquiring the latest news. Every
one was anxious to get information,
and yet feared that at any moment it
would be learned that the end had come.
A sorrowful group surrounded the sick
mans bed. Mrs. Conkling, whose Wig
lis had been beyond the endurance of
many stronger women, and who had
watched her husband well on the early
morning, was at his side, looking worn
and despondent. His nephews, Judge
Alfred C. Coke and Aid. Conkling, and
his brother, Col. Frederick A. Conkling,
and Mrs. Oakum were sorrowful OBJ
servers of the passing hours of the
great senator. The strong frame that in
his delirium required the stoutest port
ers of the Hoffman, house to hold him,
even while wasted by disease, now lay
low and almost lifeleSs in the hands of
the great destroyer. The breathing
of those powerful lungs, whose
musical but sonorous sounds reverber-
ated through the halls Of congress. was