Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-16
MRS, DAVIS NEAR END
Only a Question of Short Time
to Death.
NOW IN HER BOTH YEAR
Caught a Severe 1ld Last Saturday,
Which Grew Worse.
CLERGYMAN CALLED TO BEDSIDE
Family is Assembled at the Hotel Ma
jestic in New York Awaiting :"
the Last Moments.
NOW IN HER BOTH YEAR
CLERGYMAN CALLED TO BEDSIDE

NEW YORK, October 18-Mrs. Jefferson
Davis, who has been i'll of pneumonia at
the Hotel Majestic, was still alive early to-
day, but her death, 1t is said, was not far
off,
Mrs. Davis took sudden change for the
worse last night, and her physicians said
the end was only a question Of hours. Her
only surviving daughter, Mrs. J. Addison
Hayes, and other relatives remained near
her bedside throughout the night.
Mrs. Davis is eighty years old.
On Saturday, October 6, Mrs. Davis again
caught a severe cold and her condition soon
became serious. She was attended at her
apartments in the Hotel Majestic by DR..
Robert H. Wylie, and her daughter, Mrs.
]. Addison Hayes, was hurriedly- summoned
from Colorado Springs.
With her ability to resist disease greatly
lessened because of her age Mrs. Davis
grew worse until pneumonia developed
A Clergyman who was hurriedly summon
ed to Mrs. Davis room, remained with her
short time and as he left the hotel he
said she was unconscious and sinking rap
idly DR.. Webb, who has been in constant
attendance in the sick room since late last
night, said that the end was momentarily
expected.
Mrs. Davis has made New York city her
home for several years. but spent the sum-
mer in the country, returning to the city
in the autumn to live, usually in hotel
Last winter while stopping at hotel she
was taken seriously ill as the result of a
cold, and, owing to her age. it was feared
that she would not recover. After a week s
illness, however her health was restored.
Mrs. Varina Davis widow Of Jefferson
Davis, war president Of the confederacy, is
so critically i'll in New York that her ply
sicians predicted last night that she could
not live more than a few hours. Mrs
Davis returned from an all summer visit
| to the Adirondacks a week ago, and went
| to the Hotel Majestic. The day Of her ar
rival there she was stricken with cold
that developed into pneumonia, which
reached such an alarming stage yesterday
| that near relatives were summond to her
bedside, and those at a distance notified OF
| her approaching death. DIR. Webb, hus-
band of a granddaughter Of Mrs. Davis
is one OF the physicians In charge of the
| case. Mr. and Mrs. ]. Addison Hayes, the
| latter the only surviving daughter of Mrs
Davis, and their son. w. D. Hayes OF
| Colorado Springs, and DR.. and Mrs Webb
are at the Majestic, and Jefferson Hayes
| Davis, another grandson and a student al
| Princeton, was expected to arrive before
morning.
| Mrs. Davis Is very devoted to her only
! surviving daughter and to her grandchil-
| dren, but she has never recovered from the
loss of her daughter Winnie, who died al
Narragansett Pier In 1893. and who was
beloved throughout the southland as the
daughter of the confederacy.
Mrs. Davis, before her marriage, was Mist
Varina Howell, granddaughter of Gov
Richard Howell of New Jersey, and daugh.
| ter Of William Burr and Margaret kemp<
| Howell. She was born in 1925 at Natchez
| Miss, and was educated at Madame Gre
| laud's school in Philadelphia ana by private
| teachers at home. She married Mr.. Davis
| of Mississippi in 1S45 and was a devoted
| wife and most loyal companion during tht
| struggles of the civil war. After Mr.. Davis
| release from Imprisonment at Fort Monroe
| they went to England returning afterwarC
| to live In Memphis, Tenn. Later they re-
| moved to Beauvoir station, on the Missis-
! sippi coast, where Mrs. Davis acted as hel
| husbands amanuensis when he wrote his
| Decline and Fall of the Confederate Gov.
/ eminent" Since her husbands death ir
| 1850 Mrs. Davis has written numerous
| criticisms and articles for newspapers and
magazines. Her property, and. as she ha.
| always declared. her heart, are In the south
| but the state of her health has compelled
| her to live in a northern climate. Mrs
| Davis was eighty years old on May Z.