The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-21
WHEN MEN Met Death
THE EASIEST THING IN LIFE Is
THE PASSING TO THE
BEYOND
DYING RARELY FEEL DREAD
Man Who Has Seen Hundreds Die
Tells His Impressions of an
Individuals Passing
Away.
PHILADELPHIA Press.

Philadelphia Press.
If there is such thing as being an au-
thority on death, Thomas IL. Andrews,
surgeon to the bureaus of police and fire,
should rank high as an expert. In the
course CT thirty-Seven years active prac-
tice, he has conducted over 1900 post
morten examinations and has seen at
least half that number of human beings
die
He talked freely on the subject Of death
yesterday, and in a most entertaining
manner, if such a paradox is possible.
He went back to the days when he was
the first medical cade+ from Pennsylva-
MA with the sanitary Commission; when
he helped to sew " the gaping wounds
Of war at Fair o Ks, Cold Harbor ana
In the Seven Days Fight; when he was
assigned to the steamer Wilson Small,
on the Pamunky river, a floating char
mel house with 800 cases of typhoid fever
on board.
Later on he was stationed here IN
Philadelphia at a military hospital I'M
der charge of the famous surgeon, Paul
Beck Goddard For sixteen years he
was demonstration of anatomy at Jeffer-
son hospital; was coroners physician
for years and is now entering on his
fourteenth year as surgeon to the bu-
reaus of police and fire. He has looked
into the eyes of dying men and women
and children of every kind and conditions,
and this is the summing up of it all:
Death is as much of a mystery to
me now as it was when I first saw a
human being die.
Mature is never so kind to man as
when she is severing the ties that bind
him to this earthly life. She removes
all fear, ameliorates every harsh sur
rounding, softens every sound and
smooths the narrow pathway to the
grave with kindly hands. The easiest
thing in life is to die
ON your experience, DR.. Andrews
I asked. have you ever found case
IN which fear of death rose to the point
where men fought and screamed at its
approach"
Never. In severe sickness death comes
in the guise of a welcome visitor. On
the battlefield or as the result Of accident
or sudden shock, when it comes to a
man swiftly, who but a moment before
was in perfect health and who half an
hour later will be lfeless, a fortitude
which L cannot describe and have never
been able to analyze sustains the vic
tim"
do men and women of the higher
grades of intelligence exhibit any differ
ent emotions as death approaches from
those gifted with less mental power?
Does the professional man or the scien-
fist betray any different feelings or emo
tons from those exhibited by the day
1aborer the peasant, or the most ignorant
of me-"
No md yes, was the reply. 1.-THE scien-
list, the man or woman Of keen intellf-
gence and trained faculties, unless their
lives have been conspicuous for an ex-
hibitiOn of faith in religion and its teach
tngs, are slower TO accept ministrations
Of clerYymen and others. The man of low
intellig6Ice yields at the first approach
and calls for religious consolation.
THE reason for this is, I think that
the vast majority of professional men,
outside Of the clergy, and particularly
doctors and scientists generally are not
ainclined to believe or accept what they
cannot demonstrate as a scientific fact.
And yet, as a rule, these men and woIn-
en- willingly accept religious ministration
when death is only a matters of hours.
II recall an instance during the war
One of the most distinguished men In
the Confederacy was brought to me for
treatment. I saw at once that his death
was matter Of hours only He was one
OF the most brilliant and charming men
ever met told him mat he could not
live and asked him if he desired to talk
with a clergyman. He replied in rather
careless way that he did not feel disposed
TO change his views That death as he
Of dragging religion in at the last hour
That was in the morning. He then
felt strong and clear-minded. When l
saw him in the afternoon, he was
weaker, and referring to our earlier con-
versation told mGthat he had been raised
in the Methodist 4aith, and that its teach
1ngs had left aE impress ion on his mind
He asked me . send for a Methodist
clergyman, which I did When 1 saw him
just before he died he told me what COM
fort the talk with the minister had given
him and that he now would face death
with a drawer heart than he could have
done before.
Il merely cite this instance" said Dr.
ANDREWS, to show that there is nothing
Whlch influences man so much in later
life, and even in the death-hour, as the
environment and teaching of his boyho0d
days. Jimmy Eogue the notorious burg
lar and criminal, told me here in my
office that a night never went over his
head that he did not kneel down and say
his prayers.
Has there ever been any demonstra-
ton, physical or otherwise on the part
of all the hundreds whom you have seen
on the threshold Of death which you
could interpret as a positive Indication
of a future life?"
mot one"
"Have you ever encountered instances
1r which dying persons have told YOU Of
visions which they have seen, of voices
they have heard?"
Eyes, recall particularly one instance.
It was that of man who had apparently
died, but revived for little time before
he finally passed away. He told me about
the lights and sounds and chaos Of
magnificent things he had seen, beyond
the river, as he put it. Of course he