The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-18

NEW YORK, Oct. 17-Charles A.
Dana, editor of the New York Sun, died
at his home in Glen Cove, L. l.. at 1:2o
| O'Clock this afternoon.
| Mr.. Dana's death had been expected
for several hours and his family and
| physicians were at his bedside when
| the end came. His condition had been
such for several months that the mem
bers of his family had kept themselves
In constant readiness to go to his bed
side at any moment. On Saturday
morning he had a relapse, and it was
apparent that recovery was impossible.
| Several times, however, he rallied, but
toward night began to sink. During
the night there were feeble rallies, but
they did not last long. This morning
| it was seen that the end was but a
few hours off and his attendants re-
mained almost constantly at his bed
side. The end came quietly.
The extreme heat of Saturday and
Friday had much to do with Fastening
death On Friday Mr.. Dana showed
signs Of distress and everything pos
sible was done to relieve him.
| He had been weakened by his long
| illness, and during the summer was
several times thought to be on the
verge Of a fatal collapse but each time
rallied. He did not improve much with
the coming cool weather, and the sink
ing spells became more frequent.
On Friday Mr. Dana was able to take
only the lightest nourishment, and this
condition continued. Paul Dana and
his sisters, Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Under
hill and Mrs. Branan, were at his home
on Saturday morning and were warned
to remain there. They were at the
bedside when death came.
The cause of Mr. Dana's death was
cirrhosis of the liver. On June he was
at his office apparently strong and
healthy. The next day he was taken
| i'll and he never afterward visited New
York He was seVenty-eight years Old.
Preparations for the burial have not
yet been completed.
TOLD OF EDITOR DANA.
Nobody, looking at Mr.. Dana any
| time in the ten years since he passed
| the Biblical three score and ten, could
associate him with the thought or
death. Though the cartoonists always
for some reason drew him little, he was
a big man, tall and wide, with noble,
square shoulders and long, straight
! legs His town house is in Madison
avenue and a good two miles above his
| office, but almost any night at the last
! decade he has done the distance Of
| evenings on foot.
There was no finer sight in the me-
| tropolis for many years than this fine,
| StatueSqueS figure, leaving the shabby
! old Sun building and starting home
ward. At o'clock in the evening Park
! Row is a raging torrent of humanity,
| and he who walks therein must elbow
| his own way. Mr.. Dana used to come
to the door alone, stand for moment,
like a diver hesitating before his
plunge, then, buttoning his coat and
| taking a new grip on his stlck-1n he
| went and presently his white beard
was seen floating on the current here
and there till, presently, beard and
owner came ashore on the other side
Then. at a four-mile stride, the old
| editor started across the city hall park,
shoulders we'll back, form swinging
steadily and the sturdy legs cleaVing
their way. If you were close enough
you might have heard the whistl1ng
| aria of a new opera, or line from the
| Divine Comedy, uttered in fine mellow
tones-for all the world as if the walk
er were healthy youth of twenty.
OF recent years you may have no
| ticed that there has been less in the
Suns editorial page about the youths
of seventy" less about the glory of
living to ninety or 100 years. Dana
| lately said less and thought more Of
death than formerly.
For some years it was Mr.. Dana's
practice to eat his luncheon in the Sun
building. in the office Of Mr.. Laffan
the publisher, and the editors closest
| associate If we except Paul Dana, who
had the good fortune to have been
brought up as his illustrious fathers
intimate friend and pal. These
| luncheonS, however, were rigidly eX-
elusive. A waiter brought in from a
neighboring restaurant a brace of
chops and a bottle Of claret, and over
this simple fare the two men spent an
hour, of give and take at-the Lord
| knows what conversation. Lafan is a
wire-edged North of Ireland man,
though educated at Black Rock and in
L
innate association with Mr. Dana to
the fact that he talked Chinese inscrip-
tions, pottery Paul Verlaine, or almost
anything else as we'll as Dana. Both
men, like the late M. Theirs, had the
"foible of omniscience" and Of that
| boundless store of recondfte and use
less information which marks the deep
ly learned, each had his share Laffan
came to the Sun as art and theatrical
critic. having failed in Baltimore pub
fishing a penny paper. He advanced
speedily from that somewhat ornamen-
tai position to be business manager or
publisher and so near to the editor that
nobody on the Sun ever cared to try
issues with him for priority. It is only
an occasional genius that can do busi-
ness and pottery, too, but Laffan is Of
that sort, and everybody attributes his
success in the Sun office to that versa
tality.
few years ago when the Sun and
the World were at each other hammer
and tongs, the World used to declare
every day or so that this man Laffan'
had hypnotized Dana. and would come
into the Sun as owner when the editor
died. AS for the "hypnotism,''I think
fior ic frl1ar he c11ooac