Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1889-04-23
SOME DEATH-BEDS.
BY ALEX DUKE BAILIE,

death bed scenes by writers OF notion,
or sensational newspaper reporters, by
excited and emotional pulpit orators, OF
from prejudiced or partial enemies OF
friends of one who has passed away al
most invariably form an individual idea
Of dying; and anything conflicting with
such conception is pronounced unreal,
over or under-drawn, or impossible.
I have stood beside many who were
going to the @long hereafter" in quiet
rooms, surrounded by weeping relatives
and friends. with all the consolation OF
priestly ministrations; and also where
the Angel of Death hurled his fatal dart
amid the rush and roar and violence of
battle, and my eyes have witnessed much
that was strange in the worldly ending
of men.
As a general thing the fading
out is painless. calm, and without acute
mental sensibility.
The different ways in which 1 have
seen men give up life, the constitutional
peculiarities which controlled them, is
q deep subject can no more fathom
than could the secrets of their hearts,
their hopes and fears at that awful mo-
mcnt. 1 can only tell few of the
widely opposite cases that have come
beneath my immediate notice.
In the brigade to which my regiment
was attached was Captain, a foreigner;
he had seen much service abroad and
his splendid military record gained for
him a commission in the Union army.
A more utterly depraved man I never
knew. He laughed at the most revolt
ing crimes as good jokes; religion, wo-
manhood, nothing that even COM
monty bad men hold dear was sacred to
his mind, eyes, or tongue. His
life had been and was one long
round of debauchery, drunkenness,
and dishonesty. He had wife and
children in far away land, but the
thought of doing his duty as husband
and father never crossed his brain. He
won large sums by cheating at cards
and devoted the money to feeding his
depraved passions. Of all this he
boosted when he could find an audience
to listen to his vile harangues.
His redeeming qualities, if they could
be called by that name, were his mag
nifcent ability as commander and his
reckless bravery. That man received
fatal wound while "going the rounds"
as Officer of the Day" from the rifle of
q Confederate sharp-shooter near our
lines. He was carried into camp and
fingered for an hour. The surgeons
told him that nothing could be done to
save him. A few of us, who knew his
manner of life, watched about his cot,
with more curiosity than sympathy.
When the end was very near, he was
asked if he desired the services of a
chaplain. With his last breath he an
swered:
@No, I have never done anything I
have to ask pardon for, and died.
What was he-man or devil?
There was Lieutenant of our regi-
ment, in his honor give his real name,
Silas MARBLE. AS true, honest, brave,
and noble man as ever lived. He left
q fine farm, young wife and child
whom he loved devotedly, and enlisted
in the Kansas or Colorado regiment,
CT forget now which it was.) He
entered the service, not because he had
any military tastes or inclinations, not
because he regarded the whole thing in
the light of "big picnic" as I and
many other careless boys did, but from
an earnest, religious sence of
duty. There was not sim
gle detail in connection with
military affairs, war and fighting
that he did not hate with all his soul;
but no man ever performed every exact
ing service, more willingly took all
needful risks, than Silas MARBLE. His
worth and earnestness soon earned him
q promotion and he was assigned to my
command. Because he would not obey
the unlawful, murderous orders of a
drunken, political general who visited an
outpost in charge Of the Lieutenant, his
superior in rank, but in nothing else,
stripped the shoulder-straps from his
uniform then and there, and sent him in
arrest tohis quarters. protested vigor-
ously, clamorously, and holly against
such injustice; the General, when sober,
was frightened and MARBLE returned to
duty. But his health failed from that
moment, the assurances of his friends
could not console him, he brooded
over the matter, though he fought
hard against dependency, and in
few weeks he died, literally
of broken-heart. He uttered no re-
proach, never mentioned the name of
the man who had wronged him, but his
last words we're unjust! unjust" and
then he passed away to receive the re-
ward of good and faithful service. L
bow my head in reverence to his memory
when think of him.
i knew, from early life, a gentleman,
q member of the Society of Friends, a
quaker. I knew him in his business and
his home. He was an ideal Christian,
IN the fullest meaning of that word.
Religious. scrupulously honest, more
than liberal In charity; good man, if
ever one walked on earth. Yet that
friend could not talk of, or hear mem
toned the word death without feeling
Of terror that pervated his whole being,
and nnneryed him for hours. In his
sickness and TO the very end, his agony
Of mind was terrible to witness, and his
was the only case ever knew where a
man wrestled with death to the last gasp.
Al lady,y near and dear to me, whose
life knew to be all that was pure and
true. was not church member. seldom
attended religious services, made no
claim TO sanctity, asked for no prayers
during the sickness she knew would
tenaaz1late fatally, geye up her life With
khe peace Of 81 infant sinking into slum-
lbef. She had always talked Of, antici-F
pated. provided for her death; all her
snrkzlly affairs had been long arranged
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