Omaha daily bee., 1895-02-21
DOUGLASS DEAD
Born a Slave he Passed Away Full Of
Years and Honors,
BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE STORY
After an Active Career He Passed the Last
Years in Peace and Quiet at His
Home Near Washington - End Came
Sudden and Unexpected.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20.-Frederick Doug
lass, the noted freedman, orator and dpo-
mat, died a few minutes before o'clock to-
night at his residence in Anacosta, a suburb
of this city, of heart failure. His death was
entirely unexpected, as he had been enjoying
the best of health. During the afternoon he
attended the conference Of the women of the
United States, now in progress in this city,
and chatted with Susan B. Anthony and
others of the leading members, with whom
he has been on intimate terms for many
years. When he returned home he said moth
ing of any feeling of illness, though he ex-
pressed himself as being a little exhausted
from the climb up the stairs leading from the
street to his house, which is on high ter
race. He sat down and chatted with his
wife about the women at the convention.
Suddenly he gasped clapped his hand to
his heart and fell back unconscious. doc
tor was hastily summoned and arrived within
a very few moments, but his efforts to revive
Mr.. Douglass were hopeless from the first
Within twenty minutes after the attack the
faint motion of the heart ceased entirely and
the great ex-slave statesman was dead.
Mr.. Douglass leaves two sons and daugh-
ter, the children of his first wife. His second
wife, who was white woman, survives him.
u
romantic one. Miss Helen Pitts, whom he
married, was a New England woman Of mid
die age, clerk in the Office of the recorder
of deeds of the District of Columbia when
Mr.. Douglass was appointed to that Office.
She was a member of literary society, to
which he belonged. They were thrown much
together and finally became engaged. Her
relatives opposed the union bitterly on ac-
count of his color, but finally yielded to
force of circumstances. Some of them have
for some time been living near the Douglass
home on Anacosta Heights.
Frederick Douglass was born slave, of
a white father, near Tuckahoe, Md, about
1917. He learned to read and write through
the kindness Of relative Of his owner and
when about Is years Of age began to hire
his own time from his master, paying the
latter SO week, and retaining for himself
the balance of his earnings. After working
in this way for some years he made his es-
cape, in September, 1888, and reached New
Bedford, Mass, where he at once became
the intimate friend Of William Lloyd Gar
rison, who encouraged him in his efforts to
educate himself He soon developed such
power as an orator that he was employed in
1S41 as lecturer by the American Anti
Slavery society. In 1S45 he went to Eng
lard, where his eloquence attracted great at
tention. Friends there raised $500, which
was sent to his former master, and his legal
emancipation thereby secured.
Returning to America in 1S47, he began the
publication at Rochester. N. Y, of Fred
Douglass Paper, afterward the North Star
a weekly journal, which he continued for
some years In 1859 the John Brown riots
took place in Virginia He was supposed to
be implicated in these, and Governor Wise
made requsition for his arrest upon the
governor of Michigan in which state he then
was. To avoid difficulty Mr.. Douglass went tc
England, where he remained for six or eight
months He then returned to Rochester and
continued the publication of his paper. When
the civil war began in 1861 he urged upon
President Lincoln the employment of colored
troops and the issuance of a proclamation OF
| emancipation. In 1868, when it was at last
decided to employ such troops, he
| gave his assistance in enlistng men
| for such regiments, especially the
| Fifty-fourth and Fifty-ffth Massachu,
| sets. During the civil war he was Otter
| consulted by President Lincoln on questions
| affecting the colored race, and at its close
| resumed his place on the lecture platform
| In 1870 he began, at Washington, the publ
| cation of the New National Era, the work
| being continued by his sons when he left it
| In 1871 he was appointed a member of the
| commission to San Domingo, and on his re
! turn was made a member of the territorial
| council of the District of Columbia Ii
| 1872 he was chosen presidential elector fol
| the state of New York, and from 1877 tC
| 1881 was United States marshal for the Dis
| trict of Columbia. He then became commits
| sioner of deeds for the District of Columbia
and on his retirement from that office ir
| 1886 made third visit to England. He was
| United States minister to Hayti under Pres
| dent Harrison.
His published works are: Narratives o.
My Experience in Slavery" 1914; my Bond
age and My Freedom 1855, and his auto
| biography, 1881.