Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-10-28
MRS. HARRISON DEAD.

HID. uHAllpUN UAHu.
THE PRESIDENTS WIFE PEACEFULLY EXPIRES
TO EsDAY MORNING INTERESTING SKETCH
OF HER LIFE AND LAST ILLNESS.
Tuesday morning iass at LAO o'clock Mrs
Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison, wife of the
President died. aged sixty years. For months
the deceased i;..! becn &n invalid from con-
ump1 ION, al during the past few weeks her
condition had been 50 critical that death was
looked for at any time. Monday her physi-
clans gave out the bulletin that she was sink
ing fast and could not be expected to live
through the night.
Hour alter hour slipped away, each leaving
the patient weaker in turn, yet so gradual
was the decline that it could not be said posi-
lively at any minute that she had materially
rallied.
The measure of the ebbing tide was the res
piraton, which slowly sunk from about Is at
iighttall to Il at midnight. The physician
iiad said thai if she tidad over that hour she
alght and probably would survive until day
light.
So frequent clances were east at the clock,
Which was steadily ticking away the life time
vi ;he invalid, and there was visible air of
relief when the gong sounded twelve and one
critical point was supposed to have been
passed.
The hope inspired by the doctors last state
! ment was only of short duration. About 1880
| o'clock while he sat by Mrs. Harrison's side
with his fingers lightly pressed to her pulse
his practiced hand discerned noticeable
weakness of the hearts action followed al
most Immediately by slight decrease of res
| piration. He notified the grief-stricken fam
| lily grouped around the couch that the end ap-
peared to be very near, and that unless she
soon rallied from the stuDor into which she
then was drifting she could scarcely live half
an hour longer.
| The intelligence had most depressing
effect upon the President, who had been in
constant attendance on his afflicted wife for
over nine hours, and he sustained himself
with the greatest difficulty 81
Death came at LAO. -
Profound sympathy for the President and
his family have been expressed throughout
the country, and kilograms Of coincidence
have been pouring in from all parts of the
world. Among the first are those from Mr..
and Mrs. Cleveland, the Pope and Queen
Victoria The funeral services took place in
| Washington Thursday morning in the East
Room of the Executive Mansion, conducted
according to Presbyterian forms by Rev. DR..
/ Dennis s. Hamlin, pastor Of the church OF
| the Covenant. AS far as possible the funeral
was private one, only few persons being
| invited. After the services the funeral party
left for Indianapolis where services of more
public nature will be conducted to-day. The
remains will then taken to Crown Hill Gene
terry and laid to rest.
MRS. CARRIE L. SCOTT HARRISON.
| About 81 years ago the household of Rev.
John Witherspoon Scott, Presbyterian di-
vine, president of the Oxford (Ohio) Female
College, was made happy by the birth of a
daughter. At that time Andrew jackson
| swayed the destinies Of the country. and Emil
| ly DOnelson, wife of his private secretary,
and Sarah Yorke Jackson, wife OF his foster
son, divided the honors of the social admins
tration Of the Executive Mansion. The in
FAINT daughter of the reverend professor re-
ceived the name of Carrie. DR.. Scott belong
ed to an old Pennsylvania family. When he
was youth in Philadelphia he met a young
lady named Mary Neal. The young people
were much attached to each other, but crcum-
stances interviewed to separate them The
young ladys father was bank cashier in
Philadelphia. About the time she was enter
ing the most interesting age Of maiden life he
removed to Washington, Pa, taking his fam
lily with him, to found and ma mage bank in
the interests Of Eastern capitalists. About
the same time Mr.. Scott, having completed
his educational and theological studies. went
to Washington, Pa. as an instructor in the
old Washington College. The old acquain-
tances were renewed, and soon after Mary
Neal, the bank cashiers daughter, became
the wife of John w. Scott, professor. Some
forty miles in northwesterly direction from
Cincinnati, Ohio, is the rural town of Oxford.
As early as 1926 it was made the seat of Miami
University, founded under the patronage of
the State. These important educational in
terests subsequently led to the establishment
of the Oxford Female College and the Wes-
tern Female Seminary. Of the former, Rev.
John w. Scott had become president.
There was student at Oxford at this time
named Benjamin Harrison. He had passed
from Farmers College into the Miami Uni
versity and graduated at the age of 10 years.
| The young student in the midst of his pursuit
of learning found himself overtaken in love,
and DR.. SCOTS daughter was the object Ct his
| affection.
On October 20, 1858, he there made Miss
Carrie Scott his wife. The prospects in life
for the young couple were not bright, but the
young people were full Of hope. Their honey
moon was passed under the paternal roof at
North Bend, below Cincinnati. In the follow
ing March the young couple went to India
napolis The cash capital at the command OF
Benjamin Harrison when he began married
life and the practice Of his profession was
$500. Nh and Mrs. Harrison began their do
| nestle responsibilities in rooms in an India
napolis boarding house. In the summer of
1854 Mrs Harrison paid visit to her parents
at the old home at Oxford and there, on Au-
gust y, Russell Harrison. their eldest child
was born. After this the young mother hav
ing returned to Indianapolis, the proud hus-
band rented a small house and began life in
earnest, his faithful and industrious wife do
ing her own housework in cottage of three
rooms. The steady gains in pecuniary re-
wards in two years found Mrs. Harrison pre-
siding over larger and more pretentious
house. Here their second and last child,
Mary Scott Harrison, was born. The couple
steadily grew in the estimation of their neigh
bors, and Mr.. Harrison achieved fame in pol
itics s
In 1881 General Harrison entered the Sen
ate Of the United States, and Mrs. Harrison
became member Of that distinguished circles
the wives of Senators. In her Washington