San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-30
WAS A PATHETIC SCENE.
The Trainmen Knelt and Prayed
While Passengers Life Was
Ebbing Away.

Deathbed scenes necessarily evoke
emotions of grer and sorrow, and
these are graduated in profundity by
the attendant circumstances and con-
ditions. The parting moments that
marked the close OF the earthly ca
reer of Mr.. w. II. CovingtOn, a res
pected citizen of Jackson, Miss, were
such that remembrance of them will
be neither easily nor speedily Obliter-
ated from the memories of those who
gathered around him to console and
comfort him as he-far away from
home and those who were near ana
dear to him-yielded up his spirit 10
Him who had infused 1t. strangers
all, these sOrrowing mourners We're,
but those ties of human friendship
and brotherly love which make us all
akin to the divinity We're the actuat-
ing motives that inspired their reyer-
end genufections while with bowed
heads they prayed earnestly and fer
vently for the departing soul OF one
known only to them as a fellow crea-
ture. The deathbed was berth in a
Pullman sleeper, and it was only
after life was extinct that those who
had attended him during his last
moments learned that the deceased
was W. III. Covington, of Jackson,
| Mss.
i The ravages of consumption caused
Mr.. Covington, some time ago, to
| leave mississippi in quest of health
and to locate at San Antonio, Texas,
long famed for its sa1ubrious cline,
especially healthful for those who
suffered from that dreaded malady.
At first evidences of recuperation re-
kindled the flames of hope, but these
evidences were short lived. A col
lapse followed, and as Mr.. COvington
realized from his sinking condition
that his end was nearing, he deter
mined to make his way back to his
home in Jackson, TO die among his re-
lations and friends.
He took the sleeper at San Antonio
and when the trainmen at Houston
were about to make up the berths on
this eastward bound train, they dis
| covered this passengers condition
such that they determined not to dis
turb him. A physician was aboard
and he administered to the patient,
| although the man of medical science
realized that he, even then, was in a
moribund condition. When the train
reached Algiers, the physician an
| nounced that it would be extremely
dangerous to disturb the patient and
| for that reason it was decided to fer
nv the Pullman to this side-some-
thing unusual. Here, DR.. Formento
was summoned and he saw at once
that the unfortunate passenger had
but a few moments more to live. Rev.
Mr.. Ahrens was in the vicinity and
he boarded the car. When Informed
| of the conditions, he at once suggest
ed offering up supplication for the
dying stranger. AS with one Impulse,
conductor, porters and trainmen, to-
gether with City Passenger Agent
Harry Abbott, knelt and prayed ST.
lently and fervently. The scene was
a most mournfuIly Impressive one,
Ten minutes afterwards, the. stranger
breathed his last 1t was only after
the body had been removed to the
hospital that 1t became known who
the stranger was
Mr.. Covington was well known in
New Orleans. His family is one of
the most prominent 10 Mississippi.
He was married to Miss Van Cleve,