The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-06-21
COL. PoLK's LAST MOMENTS.

know something definite n authentic
about Col. Folks last illness and death,
which is evidenced by the large num-
Der of inquiries I have received and
am still receiving. Hence I make this
brief statement in answer to all, and
for the brotherhood generally.
The last batch of matter Col. Polk
sent us for THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER
was dated May 31st. We re 3eived it
Thursday, June I'd. There were four
pages, as written, of this matter. Only
one page written in his own hand, the
other three pages on another subject,
was dictated by the Colonel and written
by Bro. J. H. Turner, who explained
in a note accompanying that Col. Polk
was not feeling we'll and had requested
him to say as much, but expected to
be all right in a day or two. The next
mail brought us a letter from DR.. J. NJ
Hayes, of Oxford, N. c., who was with
him, stating that he had strictly for
hidden the Colonel exercising himself
either mentally or physically for a few
days, when he expected him to be ali
right again. DIR. H. stated in this LET
ter that the Colonel had one Of his Oh
attacks. 1 wired Bro. J. H. Turnerdi
receipt of this information to give PEI
ticulars and say if I ought to go. KLo
this l received a very encouraglngEe re-
ply and a promise to keep me pospd.
All the news received up to this time
was encouraging, though not satbEac-
tory.
On Tuesday, June 9th, I recebed a
letter from the Colonel signed f. L.
Polk by Macune." From all thisPOrre-
spondence 1 learned that he w~asiuffer-
ing with a return of his old 1oubIe,
~hemorrhage of the bladder, andthat it
was the most severe and stubborn at
tack he had had. I decidedat once
that I ought to go to him, and after
consultation with Mrs. Polk I left on
the next train. l reached lis bedside
Wednesday II {. m, 8th inst. Found
him completely exhausted, physically,
from loss of blo'd, but mentally about
as clear as ever, entertaining the many
friends who wre constantly calling,
and seemed toGnjoy their calls exceed
iugIy. l talke( with him and the doc.
tor Is or 20 minutes, and they satisfied
me that he wal greatly improved and
would soon be9Ip if a recurrence of the
hem Orrhage Duld BE- prevented. |
wired Mrs. Pix at once that | found
him much improved, and then insisted
that he shOull sleep some, as he had
evident needtf it. He went to sleep
and seemed 10 be soundly sleeping,
while I WATCHED him closely ard famed
him. He hal slept perhaps fifteen
minutes, wha | discovered something
wrong and tiled to arouse him, but
could not, AMI the doctor being in the
room, l cal4d his attention to him.
The doctor f4t for his pulse and found
he had nOneEhat his heart had ceased
to perform its functions. After ap-
plying hot later and mustard to his
hands, armsIfeet and legs for perhaps
an hour, thTse of us working and rub
bing with Ill our might, we restored
circulation ind consciousness returned.
Leaving thedoctor and servant in the
room, Iran5 10 the office and wired Mrs.
Polk to cone; change. not so hopeful.S
When I returned to his room he had
relapsed into the same condition from
uvt1T,I va LpI inst rovivn1 him ord
the doctor said he would not live
twenty mirutes. But we again applied
the same remedies with all our might
for a few Moments, finding his pulse
return andgrOw stronger; with hope
returning, We worked more vigorously,
and keeping this up for about two
hours, wewere rewarded by seeing
him open lis eyes, look around, recog-
nize us all and in ignorance of what
had occurred. He told us what a sweet
nap he hal had, and how much he en-
joyed it, seeming to be perfectly |
rational, and speaking in his natural
voice, This he continued to do until
we were all buoyed up with strong
hope thath he would recover. He slept
well most of that night, and q ked me
several times about Mrs. Polk. l had
informedhim that she would Don be
with him. She arrived about noon,
and found him, seemingly, but little
more exhausted than l had found him
on my arrival the day before. He
was weaker, however, as we could
readily discover. This was Thursday;
Thursday night I sat by him all night
and his suffering grew more and more
intense, until midnight he seemed to
,,, TLo l1oEon o-l -.