The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-24
EX-GOV, BULLOCK
GOES HOME To Die
STOPPED IN SAVANNAH
on WAY TO CHARLESTOWN. II. l.,
TO BREATHE HIS LAST.

Borne in Arms of Two Negroes He
Was Carried from Central Train
TO CarrinEe and Driven TO Steam
er Kansas City-uI in Atlanta for
More Than a Month, His Only
Wish Is tn Breathe His Last amid
Familiar Scenes-FamOus Recon-
struction Governor Passing Away.
on his way home to die, Ex-Gov.
Rufus B. Bullock was in Savannah
yesterday morning for several hours
He arrived from Atlanta on the morn
ing train over the Central Of Georgia,
He is on his way TO his old home
at Charlestown, r. l.. and at IL O'Clock
sailed for New York on the Kansas
CITY. of the Ocean Steamship Com
pany's line. He was accompanied by
his wife and son, Volny Bullock.
When the train. reached Savannah
Gov. Bullock was carried in the arms
of two sturdy negroes from the train
to a carriage which bore him to the
wharf.
The condition of the former Governor
of Georgia was that of a man whose
life had nearly been run. Pale and
emaciated, he chung to the negroes
with all his feeble strength. In their
hands he was as helpless as an in
FAINT. His frame was almost a skeleton
and his every look told that the last
few days of his life had come.
Talked 10 the Negroes.
Yet with the shadow of the last
blight upon him. his mind was still
active, and to the negroes he smoke
several times, apparently in cheerful
frame of mind. AS he had been the
friend of the colored man through life,
so in his last visit to Savannah, it was
two members of the race who lifted
him tenderly from the train and en-
q bled him to complete the link in his
journey to his old home in Rhode Is
land.
Arriving at the steamer the same
careful attention was given the distin
guished patient, and careful hands bore
him into the stateroom which he was
10 occupy On the Kansas City the
diagram showed that there had been
reserved for Gov. Bullock and party
two state rooms. and two berths in
other rooms. These last were for the
nurses who accompanied the dying
man.
Gov. Bullock's Last Wish.
For the last month ex-Gov. Bullock
had been seriously i'll at his room at
the Peachtree Inn. No one recognized
better than he that the end of life was
not far distant, and during the last few
days he had often expressed the wish
10 close his days at his old home at
Charlestown. where he spent his boy
hood.
Owing TO his condition the physicians
4 49,. 49, IT.
wish could be gratified, but il was
finally decided that there was sufficient
strength left to carry the i'll man to
the far North. where he wished to be
laid at rest. and where he hopes to
spend a few days before his spirit and
body part company
on Sunday night Gov. Bullock, ac-
companied by his wife and son and
nurses. was placed aboard the Central
train. although it was feared he would
not survive the journey. His condition
when he arrived. however, was such as
10 cause his family to hope that he
would live to the end of his journey.
His Last Public Act.
Gov. Bullock is about 70 years old
and is completely broken down.
One of his last public acts was to at
tend. on March %, the state Repub-
ncan convention al Atlanta. where he
introduced resolutions calling on Con-
gress TO punish the Southern states by
reducing the representation from those
states which have in any measure dis
franchised the negro.
Shortly after this convention he was
confined to his bed and had not been
able TO leave 1t up to the time of his
departure from Atlanta
The dying man was the famous re-
construction Governor of Georgia and
made for himself a reputation which
will live for many years after he has
passed away. He was an ardent friend
of the colored race.