Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1895 — W. Q. GRESHAM DEAR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

W. Q. GRESHAM DEAR.

SECRETARY OF STATE PASSES AWAY IN WASHINGTON. All the Family Present Except Otto, the Son—Heroic Life and Character of the Man—He Dies the Victim of Overwork. End of a Noble Life. Walter Quintou Gresham, Secretary of State, died of pneumonia Tuesday morning at 1:15 o’clock at the Arlington Hotel in Washington. All hope of his recovery was practically abandoned when a sinking spell occurred shortly before 6 o’clock Monday evening. The most powerful heart stimulants known to medical science, nitro glycerine and digitalis, were injected periodically, and an infusion of normal saline solution was made through an opened vein in the arm. He recovered slightly, but owing to severe rigors shortly before 11 o’clock ho began to fail rapidly, and his vitality began to ebb. The three physicians saw that the end was near, and at 12 o’clock withdrew to the ante-room, leaving in the sick chamber only the members of his family, Mrs. Gresham, her daughter, Mrs. Andrews, and son-in-law, Mr. Andrews, and the nurses. I p to that time lie had been conscious and talked a£ intervals, llis words were full of bravery. He fully appreciated his

condition and spoke words of hope and cheer to his stricken wife and daughter. Sometimes hfs mind wandered slightly nnd went back to the days of long ago, recalling incidents of life and happiness in the springtime of his life. He spoke, too, of his absent son and his private secretary, Mr. Landis, whom he loved as a son, and who, like his son, was speeding to his bedside, all too late. All through the long night of his pain the dying statesman had called nnd asked for the coming of the man who was flying eastward with all the speed steam and steel could bring him. but it was not to be. The shadow of death was upon the father’s face when Otto Gresham saw it. He reached the bedside too late. The Secretary of War tried to arrange for a special train from Pittsburg to bring the young man on, but as the result proved, no flight could have been swift enough to cover the distance in time. Just before the physicians retired he ceased speaking, though he appeared to be conscious. Airs. Gresham sat at the bedside smoothing his fevered brow and occasionally reading to him from Bible passages which lie loved. As the end approached his pulse became hardly perceptible. Gradually bis eyes glazed and closed. Mrs. Gresham, with noble nnd heroic fortitude, continued to read the words of the gospel to her departing hus-

band. Her daughter and son-in-law stood with bowed heads at the side of the couch. At 1:15 o’clock his breathing ceased; a peaceful shadow passed over his pale countenance; his pulse flickered, and the sorrowing family were in the presence of death. One of the nurses conveyed the news that the end had come to the physicians in the next room, and they in turn brought it to the watchers in the reception room. President Cleveland was immediately notified. Pneumonia Causes Heath. Four weeks ago Mr. Gresham was attacked with what was looked upon as a light attack of pleurisy, but it refused to yield to treatment, spread from one lung membrane to tiie other, and finally developed into severe pneumonia. His condition after that time was extremely critical. His heart action became enfeebled, requiring the constant administration of the most powerful heart stimulants. One or the other of his physicians, Drs. Johnson and Prentiss, or both, were constantly with him. His pulse reached 160, and was so feeble that it could barely be counted. But for the stimulants, he would have died. Nitro glycerine and strychnine were given continuously, hypodermically, together with digitalis and whisky. He was able to take no nourishment save in a liquid form—principally milk punches—and the whole effort of the physicians was directed toward sustaining and strengthening him. The right pleuralic cavity was filled with the effused fluid, and the lungs compressed so us to make breathing impossible. Mrs. Gresham’s devotion to her husband during his illness was of the most tender, patient and faithful character. Although physically slight, she displayed, so said pne who was in the sick chamber several tines a throughout the Secretary’s

illness, remarkable endurance and nerve.' For four weeks she hardly bad her clothes off. Night and day she was at the bedside, snatching an hour or two of sleep when she could on a lounge in her room. She seemed determined to fight off death. “If he dies,” she said many times, “I lose all.” With patience and devotion she ministered to his every want, giving everything her personal attention, and trying to cheer and brighten him when he was peevish and fretful. The utmost persuasion was required to induce her even to lie down. Sunday she grew so faint from sheer exhaustion that she reeled and would have fallen had not one of the nurses caught her in her arms.

WALTER Q. GRESHAM.

WHERE W.Q. GRESHAM WAS BQRN, IN HARRISON COUNTY, IND.