The record-union., 1893-01-28
Special to the REcoRD-UN1ox.


WASHINGTON, Jan. 27.-James G.
Blaine is no more He died this morn
ing at II o'clock. The end came peace
fully, the ex-Secretary of State passing
from state of Inconsistencies to death.
His wife and children were at the bed
side.
The news quickly spread to the Cap
itol and throughout the city. 1t was
everywhere expected. but when the an
nOuncement came the impression was
more profound than any created by sim
liar news since the death of Abraham
Lincoln.
The approach of death was made evil
dent to the family fully two hours before
its actual occurrence. 1t was between
and o'clock this morning when the
first dangerous symptoms were observed.
Both of his physicians were Immediately
telephoned for, and arrived within few
minutes of each other. The powerful
heart stimulant (nitro-glycerine) which
several times before brought the patient
out of the dark valley of death was power
less now.
DIR. Hyatt at $50 came out and said to a
group of waiting newspaper men that he
feared the end was at hand. In the mean
time all the family were summoned into
the death mber-Mrs. Blaine, Hattie
Blaine, Mrs. Damrosche, James G..
Blaine, Jr., and Miss Dodge Gail Hamil-
tom. In the silence of fearful sorrow
they witnessed the closing scenes. The
patient lay so quietly that even the doc
tors were hardly able to say when he
died. No word of consciousness, no look
of recognition passed. At 1915 he lay so
still that the window shades were raised
to give more light and enable the physi-
clans to determine if life still fingered.
Fifteen minutes later they proclaimed
him dead.
The news was instantly flashed all over
the world. Young Blaine was in the act
of writing a note to President Harrison to
inform him of the event when the Presi-
dent himself arrived, accompanied by his
Private Secretary and Secretary of State
Foster. All the rest Of the Cabinet
quickly followed, and the excitement
throughout the city became general as the
news spread.
DEATH NOT UNEXPECTED.
hO hONS VI Dldtll6 , Q6dtH eDT6dQ
through the departments with startling
rapidity. While it created profound
feeling everywhere, the feeling was in
tensiied in the State Department, where
there is hardly an official or employe
who has not a personal acquaintance with
the dead man. Although the event was
daily expected and everyone was in a
measure prepared for the reception of the
sad news, it was shock to everyone. 1t
is a noticeable fact, as indicating the
character of a man who for two terms
held the highest position in the Cabinet,
that he never again passed under the
portals of the State Department after the
day of his resignation. Those who have
been long in the State Department and
knew Blaine when he was at his best.
recognized with sorrow that during his
last service there was remarkable
change in his physical condition.
Blaine's death, although it removes
from the world character prominent in
everything he undertook, occasioned lit
tla surprise, for it had been so long pre-
dicted and was wholly anticipated. It was
a foregone conclusion that his battle with
death would end in defeat, though the
facts as TO his illness have from the first
been studiously concealed through Off
cial channels. He was sick man when
he returned to Washington for the winter,
and death and its bereavements added
more and more TO his ailments. He has
grown worse and continued on his jour
ney TO the grave as fast as the days could
carry him. Science and skill furnished
him weapons of defense FOR compara-
lively long time; but death knows no
defeat. He was doomed from the start,
and to all intents has been a dead man for
many days. His mind has been almost
blank for weeks, his lucid moments hav-
ing been few and far between, but his
physical frame withstood the ravages of
wasting disease till now.
From the cradle to the tomb Blalne's
sixty-three years have been active. All
the trials and tribulations that fall 10 the
lot of public man have been his. and
earned for him the peaceful ending of a
career which closed when the light OF