The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-04-28

His Bedside.
Redding, Ct-Samuel Langhorne
Clemens, Mark Twain" the great
American humorist, who by his witt
cisms and buoyant utterances had all
his life tried to dispel the clouds Of
mourning and suffering from the
souls of his fellowmen, is dead.
The direct cause of death was an
gina pcctcris. He lapsed into a state
of coma and never regained con-
sciousness.
His last day was bad day for the
little knot of anxious workers at the
bedside. For long hours the gray,
aquiline figure lay in the inertia Of
death, while the pulse sank lower and
lower, but late at night Mr.. Clemens
passed from stupor into the first nat
ural sleep he had known since he re-
turned from Bermuda, and in the
morning he awoke refreshed, even
family cheerful, and in full posses
sion of all his faculties.
Called For His Glasses.
He recognized his daughter, Clara,
Mrs. Ossip Gabrilowitsch, spoke a ra-
tional word or two and, feeling him
self unequal to conversation, wrote
out in pencil:
Give me my glasses"
They were his last words. Laying
the glasses aside he sank first into
reverie and later into final uncon-
sciousness.
At the deathbed were only Mrs.
Gabrilowitsch, her husband, Dr. Rob-
ert Halsey, DR.. Quintard, Mr.. Paine
and the two trained nurses. Restora-
tives were administered, but the pa
tient failed to respond.
Oxygen of No Use.
Oxygen was tried, and the physi.
clans explained that it was of no
value, because the valvular action of
the heart was not disordered. There
were only an extreme and increas-
ing debility, accompanied by labored
respiration.
Angina pectoris is a paroxysmal a.
fection of the chest, of battling and
obscure origin, characterized by Sc
we're pain, faintness and deep depres'
sion of the spirits. The pain is Sc
we're and of an oppressive crushing
or stabbing character. The attacks
progress in frequency and severity
with uncertain intermissions, some
times of long duration to a fatal ter
mination.
1t is certain to be recalled that
Mark Twain was for more than so
years an inveterate smoker, and the
first conjecture of the layman would
be that he had weakened his heart by
overindulgence in tobacco.
DR.. Halsey said that he was un-
able to predicate that the angina pee
toris from which Mark Twain died
was in any way sequel of nicotine
poisoning. Some constitutions, he
said, seem immune from the effects
of tobacco. This was one of them.
Yet it is true that since his illness
began the doctors had cut down
Mark Twain's daily allowance of 20
cigars and countless pipes to four
cigars day.
Funeral Services Simple.
The little village of Redding was in
mourning for it's benefactor and
friend, Mark Twain, who had endeared
himself by his kindly good nature and
generosity.
When the body was conveyed to the
station to be placed on the train which
was to take it to New York, where fu.
neral services were held in the Brick
church, all business was suspended
and the villagers and farmers
from the surrounding hills Assem-,
bled to pay their last tribute to the
dead.
On the arrival of the body in New
York it was taken to the Old Brick
Presbyterian church, where services
were conducted by Rev. DR.. Henry
Van Dyke, assisted by Rev. Joseph H.
Twitchell of Hartford, the latter life
long friend of Mr. Clemens. At the
conclusion of the New York services
the body was taken to Elmira, N.
Y, in Lake Forest" the private
car of E. E. Loomis, vice president
of the Delaware, Lackawanna & West.
ern railroad. There we're no pail
bearers, and the service consisted
of little more than an address by Rev
DR.. Henry Van Dyke, of Princeton.
At Elmira a second service, as sim.
pie as the first. was held at the home
of Gen. Langdon, where an address
was delivered by Rev. Jos. Twitchell.
1t is said the author left more than
81 900 0OG.