The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1897-10-23
DEATH OF CHAS. A. THOMAS,

] A~AA>@s
1t is our painful duty to announc,
to the readers of The Gazette tn,
death of Charles A. Thomas, wht
died at St. Martinville, on Saturday
morning last. We cannot max.
this sad announcement without ex
pressing something of the sorrow
which this intelligence has brough,
to his friends, and We offer to GU,
and character of a man, who was
for long number of years and to
| the time of his death, a friend as
dear to us as life itself. AS will be
remembered by many of our sub
scrioers, Charles A. Thomas was
one of the founders of this paper.
He it was who wrote the modest
salutatory which made known to
the public the humble part the
paper would endeavor to play in the
industrial, social and political life
of this town and parish. That
salutatory was characteristic of the
man who wrote it. 1t contained the
views of broad-minded, sincere
and fearless man, expressed in
clear, unostentatious language. He
meant every word. and what he
honestly conceived to be right, he
did not hesitate to say. No one
who knew him ever charged him
with insincerity. Every word
that he wrote came from his heart,
the promptings of which we're al
ways honest and pure. No merce-
nary motive ever caused him to
prostitute the noble profession of
which he was but an unpretentious
member. Although constant
sufferer from disease, he performed
the duties of the Journalist with
commendAble energy, and let it be
said to his everlasting credit that
be never, at any time, used his pen
n a revengeful spirit, or to wound the |
feelings of fellow man with VIII ON |
lie might have differed on questions
IF public or personal character. |
All his acts, to the smallest detail
n his intercourse with his assOci-
ties, formed an unbroken lesson of
,ood will toward men-he believed
n, and practiced the broad phyloso-
,hy of universal brotherhood. 1t
S not necessary for US to speak
ere of his religious belief, but
ufice to say that he possessed as
Jig heart as ever beat in mortal
rame, and in his broad charity he
ooked beyond the narrow bounds |
f creed. He was profoundly con-
cientious in all his dealings, sim 1
ere in his affections, and truthful ,
t all times. He ablorred hyPoc- I
sy and pitied the hypocrite. He
we'd as he died, true to himself, /
, his conscience and to his God. '
Charles Thomas was inherently Z
pod man. Those who knew him c
1t the currents of his generous i
cart and his loving soul. No one il
his position in life had more dis e
terested friends and fewer enc "
les. All those who came in con- e
ct with, and understood him,
on became attached to him.
Although sufferer for perhaps
ore than a decade, none thought
at his end was so near, and it was -
It day or two before the fatal
'ur, he spoke to his devoted sister u
the terrible separation with a "
urage born only of fervent soul "
d brave heart. He bore it all =
roically, and entered into the ~
adow of the valley of death with -
= contentment which is alone the
;ult of well-spent life. ="
Happy in his death is the man
o is followed TO his 'snarrow g.
use" by the spontaneous tributes nc
his fellow men, whose tenderness ST
memory, born of an intimate &C tn
aintance, throw a halo of sad ar
he'd sentiment over his grave, far