The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-10-19
MRS. JEFFERSON DAVIS
HAS PASSED AWAY
Vile OF the President OF the
Coniederaey Dies in
New York.
HAD WONDERFUL VITALITY
Death Wss Due TO Pneumonia, Though
She Succeeded in Shaking Of
Similar Attack a
Year Ago.

New York. Oct. lS.-Mrs. Jefferson
DAVIS, widow of the president of the
~confederacy. who has been i'll for y
week at the hotel Majestic in this city,
died at LES o'clock last night. Death
was due to pneumonia. induced by a
severe cold, which Mrs. Davis contract.
ed upon her return from the A6iron-
dacks, where she had spent h sum-
mer months. Although grave fears
were felt from the first, Mrs. Davis
wonderful vitality. which brought her
safely through a similar attack a year
ago. gave hope OF ultimate recovery
until asst night, when q decided change
for the worse was evident. mt the at
tending physicians announced that the
end was near. 1t was then believed
u a Mrs. Davis could not survive the
night. but she rallied slightly during
h early hours. Shortly after i o'clock
she had a similar spell, n Rev.
Nathan A. Seagle, rector Of st. Steph-
ems Protestant Episcopal church, was
hurriedly summoned to give religious
comfort to the patient in her last mo-
ments of consciousness. The clergy
man remained come time and an hour
later it was announced that Mrs. Davis
had lapsed into q state of coma. The
period of unconsciousness continued tic
the end.
Was Born in Natchez, Miss.
Mrs. Varina Howell Jefferson Davis was
born in Natchez, Miss, May Z. 1926, the
granddaughter of Governor Richard How
ell, of New Jersey. Her marriage to JEFF
ferson Davis was February %, 1S45, shortly
before his election to congress from MIS-
sissippi. He resigned from congress the
following year to go to the Mexican war,
from which he returned severely wounded,
and they went to live at his Brierfield
plantation, Davis Bend, Warren county,
Miss.
Mrs. Davis was with her husband in
Washington While he was United States
senator, from 1s47 to 1852; while he was
secretary of war. 1853 to 1857, M IN Rich
mond during the time he was president of
the confederate states, from 1861 to 1865.
During the first year Of Mr.. Davis inn
prisonment Mrs. Davis was not permitted
to be with her husband, but was at his
during the second year at Fortress
They went to England together
in 1867 and remained three years, return
ing to Memphis, Tenn, where they es;de
for the next eight years.
Since her husbands death in 1889 at
Beauvotr station, on the Mississippi coast,
Mrs. Davis has resided in New York and
has written articles for the newspapers
and magazines. She has four SOM and
one daughter dead. One daughter, Mrs.
I. A. Hayes, lives in Colorado Springs,
Colo.
Had No Use for General Miles.
In May, 1902, a letter was found purport-
ing to have been written by Mrs. Davis to
General Grant years before, complaining
of her husbands treatment at General
Miles hands. A portion Of the letter reads
follows:
[Mr. Dav.s] for Miles lady friends, and
liking to be made a spectacle of, he
retired to quarters when the females pur-
sued him.. Please, General Grant, go
down to Fortress Monroe and change Cen
eral Miles for an older and kinder man.
Mrs. a said: 81 may have written
that letter and it may be a forgery. /
do not remember it, but had 1 written 1t
it is not likely that I should have been so
mild. I should have said much more
while 1 was about it.
II regard General Miles with disgust and
contempt. 1t is true that 1 said he is a
but all the world knows that.
It is also true that 1 said he is was a boor
in his manner toward my husband.
told him that his nlisdeeds would cling tic
him like the shirt of Nessus, and l wrote
to General Grant on another occasion
about my husbands treatment. 1t was
only through an accident that I did not
meet General Grant. and, although never
did meet him personally, l lave nothiis
but feelings of respect for him"
Mrs. Davis wept when she appeared be
fore the Mississippi legislature a few years
ago at Jackson, Miss. She was escorted
to the joint session by Senator Cayce. who
eulogized Jefferson Davis and spoke OF
his distinguished service to this countr,
and the undying love of the people OF
Mississippi for the only president of the
confederate states. Mrs. Davis cried Wher
she attempted to reply.
Gentlemen" she said, 81 shall always
tenderly love the people of Mississippi
who have clung to the cause of a defeated
man. 1 can say no more"
Refused Fortune for Old Home.
A year g Mrs. Davis refused an offer
5000 coo for Beauvoir, the.old Davis man.
sion in the state of Mississippi. She of.
fered the place to the state for $4,000 tc
be used as a home for ex-confederates.
In March, 1902, a general southern re.
was given to Mrs. Davis at New
Thousands of men and women
shook her hand. 1t was with great trepi-
that the old veterans of the civil
war approached the chair of Mrs. Davis.
She made vivid for them the memory of
their old leader, the man who had distin-
guished himself in the army and the con-
gress OF the United States before he had
become the chief executive of the nation
which made such an impression upon the
world during the four short years of its
existence. She had been at the side of
the confederate president during the
stormy period, and she, after the death of
leader, had become to the survivors
of the war the symbol of that struggle
one of the last strong links tbs bound
them to the glorious past.
One mile below Algiers, La, facing the
river, is the hamlet OF Tunisburg, now
designated as McLellaaville, and two
blocks back from the river stand the
ruins of an old fashioned mansion, sur
by IA grove of cedar trees. a man
sion wherein w. 3. Howell, father-in-law
of Jefferson Davis, resided with his family
a While. MIR. Howell was at
time officer of the port of
New Orleans.
Mr.. Davis bought the old home from
his relatives in 1853. and it continued in
his possession until seized by the United
authorities and sold under the con-
tiscation act.
Oakland, Cal.-The threatened lock.