New-York tribune., 1906-10-18
rTNERAL OF MRS. DAVIS
Her Body TO Be Placed Beside Has
bands in Richmond Vault.

-. sfe OF the late Mrs Jefferson Davis, whose
-. occurred on Tuesday at the Hotel Majes-
o' uss one Of mingled storm and sunshine.
u W.. var and tumult ragged around her. her
.s+,, bappiness was all but unbroken. It is
:, .,at there never was a more perfect union
hers She was her husbands constant con-
rsorte and adviser. and greatly aided him in his
go, Some of his ablest speeches. It is said,
-. nrepared with her assistance Her own ac-
INIT of her meeting with the man who was
ss+orxard 10 become her husband and President
:, the confederacy is most Interesting. It was
srring the Christmas holidays. when she was
-. from school in Philadelphia. at the family
"a. IN Natchez, Miss Jefferson Davis had
canned on his way to political meeting at
r,.tsburg TO see his brother. Joseph, and the
,.,tsr thinking to make the visit more agree
,,s sent a saddle horse to the Howell home
...sd to bring back Miss varina Howell. who
-ss then in her seventeenth year. The result
ras wedding about year later, though Miss
uoUeIls first impression OF her future husband
rss not altogether favorable.
:, letter 10 her mother she said:
40 not know whether this Mr. Jefferson
rsvis is young or old. He looks both at times;
but believe he is old. for from what I hear he
q only two years younger than you are. He i'm
r-esses me as 2 remarkable kind of man. but Of
Uncertain temper. and has way OF taking for
s-anted that everybody agrees with him when
sA expresses an opinion which offends me: yet
ta &c most agreea BILE and has peculiarly sweet
roice and a winning manner of asserting him
seF The fact is. he is the kind of person I
sbould expect TO rescue one from mad dog at
s-y risk but 20 insist upon a stoical Indifference
~ the fright afterward. I do moi think that
shsu ever like him as I DO his brother Joe
would YOU believe it. he is refined and culu-
,sted and vet he IS a Democrat!
Mr.. Davis's age at that time was thirty-six.
and he was a widower. having been previously
married 10 a daughter of Colonel (afterward
pres;dent Zachary Taylor, who died during the
bo6eymoon Of malarial fever. He married Miss
lowell in February. 1S47. The same year he
vas elected q member OF Congress and from
that time until the outbreak OF the Civil War
the couple spent much of their time in Washing
Ton. where Mrs Davis shone as social leader.
In her memoir of her husband Mrs. Davis gives
en- interesting glimpse OF the seriousness with
which the representatives Of the country re-
esrded their duties in those days. When the
future President of the Confederacy was serv-
,Ds as Secretary Of War Mrs Davis, having no
ether servant at hand to send errand,
made use on one occasion OF one Of his attend
ants for half an hour. The Secretary told her,
when he learned Of this indiscretion, to engage
more servants If she had not enough, but on no
account to forget that the servants OF the Secre-
tsry Of War were paid by the government to
attend exclusively to government business
During the war Mrs. Davis was exposed TO
-sny grave dangers which she met with great
hsroigrn She tells how at the commencement
o the conflict her husband gave her pistol
s-d showed her how 10 load aim ana nre II.
Es said: You can al least. if reduced to the
last extremity. force your assailants 10 Kill you.
you cannot remain undisturbed In our own
u.ntry make for the Florida coast and take a
70 ion m try
2. come TO me when the struggle is endeo;
Suldo not expect to survive the destruction OF
cnrxaational liberty" She felt keenly the hor-
rnGthe war and when the flag or the Merrl-
NE damp with blood was brought 10 her IN
Echnond she tells how IL made her sick ana
sonuEful over the dead and dying OF both Sec
no1s"
Il was during the war, too, that terrible
private sorrow came TO her. She had left her
children quite well playing IN her ROOM anu
had just uncovered her work basket. IN MT
Davis's Office, when a servant came Tor her
"The most beautiful and brightest or my
children. Joseph Emory" she writes, had IN
pay climbed over the connecting angie OF q
bsnister and had fallen TO the brick pavement
below He died in few minutes after we
reached his side. The child was MI Davlss
hope and greatest Joy in life"
She had another terrible shock when her daugh-
Ter Winnie CVarina) the Daughter OF the CON
tsderscy," died only q few years ago. WINNIE
protest that was raised in the South when her
engagement 10 the grandson of famous Adolf
ronist preacher was announcer.
PRESIDENT ROOSEvELTs MESSAGE.
After the war Mrs. Davis seemed 70 forget to
great extent the bitterness Of the conflict.
She became a friend of Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant,
and made many other friends IN the North
But she never forgave General Nelson A. Miles
for putting shaclles on her husband when ne
vas prisoner in Fortress Monroe
After her husbands death Mrs. Davis solo
ths Beauvoir estate IN Mississippi, where MI
Davis spent his last days, TO the Daughters OF
the Confederacy. for $4,000. as memorial
home for Confederate veterans, having pre-
rousiy refused $4,000 from a Northern hotel
syndicate. She was greatly beloved Throughout
he South and almost Venerated by the vet
ersns, and many offers Of financial assistance
we're made to her but she always refused tnern
Much Of her time after the death or her nus
hand was spent IN the preparation or his
nsnoirs and IN other writing.
The funeral viii take place this AFTERNOON
fEon the Hotel Majestic The service VIII be
read by the Rev Nathan A. Seagle. OF st Ste
phens Church. and the body Will be taken to
Hchmond. Va this evening for fnterment be-
tos the body OF the late President or the Con-
,ederacy
Yesterday morning Mrs. J. Addison Hayes.
ne only surviving daughter OF Mrs DAVIS re.
eFed the following message from PresloehI
Roosevelt:
:. Pray accept the most sincere sympathy or
HTS Roosevelt and myself.
THEODORE ROOSEVEIT
The President also directed that a suitable
sofsl tribute be sent 10 the funeral from the
Hon