Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1885 — FORMER PRESIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

FORMER PRESIDENTS.

Circumstances Under Wliiclt They Hare Died from Washington to Grant. Gen. Washington, the first President, took cold during a five hours’ ride over his plantation, on the l‘2th of December, 1799, during the last two hours of which he was exposed to a severe storm of snow, hail and rain. The cold developed itself next evening, when he was very hoarse, but he made light of it “I never take anything for a cold,” he said; “let it go as it came.” At 2 o’clock next morning he awakened his wife, but would not let her rise to send for a physician lest the latter should take cold. When Washington’s Secretary was called at daybreak he found him breathing with difficulty. Physicians were sent for, and meanwhile he. was bled and a gargle was prepared, but on attempting to use it he was convulsed and nearly suffocated. The remedies of the physicians were also without avail, and at 4:30 p. m. he sent his wife for his two wills, had her destroy one and entrusted the other to her keeping, giving her instructions as to his letters, papers and accounts. Between five and six, when assisted to sit up, he said to his physicians, “I feel that lam going. I thank you for your attentions, but I pray you to take no more trouble about me; let me go off quietly—l cannot last long.” Further remedies were tried without avail in the evening. “About ID,” writes his Secretary, “he made several attempts to speak to me before he could effect it. At length he said: ‘I am just going; have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead.’ I bowed assent, for I could not speak. He then looked at me again and said: ‘Do you understand me?’ I replied: ‘Yes.’ ‘Tis well,’ he said. About ten minutes before he expired (which was between 10 and 11 o’clock) his breathing became easier. He lay quietly; lie withdrew his band from mine and felt his own pulse. I saw his countenance change, and spoke to Dr. Craik, who came to the bed-side. The General’s hand fell from his wrist; I took it in mine and pressed it to my bosom. Dr. C raik put his hands over his eyes, and he died without a struggle or a sigh.” The body was buried on the 18th, a schooner being stationed off Alexandria to fire minute guns while the procession moved from the house to the vault. The troops, horse and foot, led the way; then came four of the olergy; then Washington’s horse, with his saddle, holsters and pistols, led by two grooms in black; then the body, borne by the Masonic order (of which he was a member), and officers, followed by the family and several old friends, and the corporation of Alexandria. At the tomb the Bev. Mr. Davis read the funeral service and delivered lr brief address, after which the body was deposited in the vault with Masonic ceremonies. Washington’s remains were deposited in their present receptacle at Mount Vernon in 1837. The vault was built in accordance with the provisions of his will, and is of brick, with an Arch roof. Over the grateway, in a marble tablet, is the simple inscription : “Within this enclosure rest the remains of General George Washington.” Two coffins lie in the vestibule of the vault; the first ia’that of Washington, the other that of Martha Washington. The Mount Vernon Association ha.% taken good care of the first President's last resting-place. Jaws ADAMS. John Adams, the second President, died on July 4th, 1826, the semi-century I of American independence: Adams, at j 91, preserved a remarkable activity of mind, though his sight was impaired so that he conld neither read nor write. ; By April, 1826, it was evident that he Was failing, though his ; neighbors in Quincy, Mass., hoped fondly that he would be able to attend the local Fourth of July celebration. When, however, it became apparent that he . could cot attend in person, a delegate was appointed to visit him and beg a last word or cheerful message. On June 30, the delegate called on Mr. Adams, and “spent seme few minutes with him in conversation, and took from him a toast to be presented on the Fourth of - July as coping from him.* “I will give," said he, “Independence Forever!” When ashed if he would not add anything to it, be replied: “Not a word.” At this time Mr, Adams experienced no suffering, but respiration became more and mere difficult, till on the morning of the 4th Hr. Holbrook predicted that the patient would not

last much beyond sunset. “Unoeasing shouts,” we are told, “greeted the toast offered at the Quincy banquet, but as the guests left the hall, news came of the death of its author. He had passed away calmly and without suffering at the snnset of that brilliant and memorable day. “Thomas Jefferson still survives,” were the last words he uttered, so far as could be gathered from bis failing articulation. He was bnriod in the family vault in the cemetery, but npon the completion of the Unitarian Church, of Quincy, just across the street, in 1828, the body was removed to the vault in the room beneath the church, where John Quincy Adams was also buried in 1848. Their wives are buried with them. The bodes lie in leaden caskets, placed in cases hewn from solid blocks of stone.

THOMAS JEFFERSON. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President, died only a few hours before John Adams. On the 3d of July he dozed hour after hour under the influence of opiates. Bousing occasionally, he fervently expressed a desire to live until the day he had assisted to consecrate fifty years before. At 11 o’clock at night he whispered to Mr. N. P. Trist, his grandchild’s husband, who sat by his bed: “This is the Fourth?” Mr. Trist remained silent, being unwilling to say “Not ye,t!” “This is the Fourth?” again whispered Jefferson, and when the watcher nodded: “Ah!” he sighed and sunk to sleep with an expression of satisfaction npon his countenance. His watcher thought him dying, but he lingered until 12:40 in the afternoon, occasionally indicating a desire by words or looks; “I resign my soul to God, and my daughter to my country” is a popular version of his latest utterances. On the fly-leaf of an old account book, Jefferson wrote this: “Choose some unfrequented vale in the park, where is no sound to break the stillness, but a brook that, babbling, winds among the woods—no mark of human shape that has been there, unless the skeleton of some poor wretch W’ho sought that place out of despair to die in. Let it be among ancient and venerable oaks; intersperse some gloomy evergreens. Appropriate one-half to the use of my family, the other to strangers, servants, &c. Let the exit look upon a small and cMstant- part of the Blue Mountains.” His wishes have been well carried out. His remains lie in a little enclosure to the right of a road leading from Charlottesville, Va., to Monticello. An obelisk nine feet high marks the spot.

JAMES MADISON. James Madison, the fourth President, ancl the last survivor of the signers of the United States Constitution, died June 28, 1836. During liis last illness, when the family and Doctor were at dinner, his voice was heard feebly from the adjoining chamber: “Doctor, are you pushing about the bottles? Do your duty, Doctor, or I must cashier you.” Ho is buried at Montpelier, four miles from Orange Court House, Va. The grave is in the center of a large field, in a lot about one hundred feet square, surrounded by a brick wall. On the gate is a sign, “Madison, 1820,” Four graves are here. Over one of them rises a mound twenty feet high. A granite obelisk bears the inscription: “Madison. Born March 16, 1751.” By its side is a smaller shaft of white marble, - inscribed : “In Memory of Dolly Payne, wife of James Madison, born May 28, 1768; died July 8, 1849.”

JAMES MONROE. James Monroe, the fifth President, and the third to die on Independence Day, died July 4, 1831. He passed away in New York City* at the residence of his son-in-law, Samuel L., Gouvernor. His remains were deposited, with public honors, in the Marble Cemetery on Second street, in New York, where they reposed until 1858, when they were removed, under the escort of the Seventh Regiment, then commanded by Col. Abram Duryea, to Hollywood Cemetery, at Richmond, Va., the occasion being memorable for the enthusiastic warmth with which New York’s citizen soldiers were received by their southern brethren. The remains rest on a beautiful site overlooking the James River Falls above Richmond, five feet under ground, in a vault of bricks and granite.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. John Qnincv Adams, the sixth President, and “the old man eloquent,” was found by death Where he could have wished its approach—in the halls of Congress. Qn February 21, 1843, he ascended the steps of the Capitol with the accustomed alacrity, and took his place in the House. While petitions were being presented, suddenly there was a erv of “Mr. Adams!” and a rush of members towards his seat. He was rising with a number of petitions in his hand when he was struck with apoplexy, and dropped down, clutching at his desk, and falling into the arms of the member who sprang across the aisle to his assistance. He was carried into the rotunda, then into the Speaker’s room. He attempted to speak, but his voice was a mere murmur, low' and indistinct, though Mr. Ashmun, who was placing him on the sofa, heard him say: “ This is the last of earth; I am content.” He became insensible at once, and lingered, faintly breathing, till 10 o’clock on the morning of the 23d, when he expired. Mr. Adams’ body was removed on the car drawn by six white horses that had served for Harrison’s funeral, and after lying in state in Faneuil Hall, Boston, was buried under the Unitarian Church, at Quincy, Massachusetts.

ANDREW JACKSON. Andrew Jackscn, the seventh President, died on Sunday, June 8, 1845, at the Hermitage, his famous home. For months he had been suffering from disease of the lungs, drepsy, and diarrhoea. Almost to the last he was pestered 3 by office-seekers and hero-worshippers. His last writing was a statement to help his old friend and soldier, Robert Armstrong, to a pension. On the 30th of May he gave Mr. Healy, the artist, the last sitting for the portrait designed for Louis Phillipps, of France. Nightly he blessed and kissed each member pf -hiSV family, bidding each a farewell as if Vor ./Ahe last time, then offered an|team®st prayer for them and for his country. His Bible was always near him- On the Friday previous to

hit) death lie gave directions concerning his funeral, and diotated a letter—his last—to the President, bidding him act promtly and resolutely <n the Affairs of Texas and Oregon. On the morning of his death, a brilliant, hot day, he bade farewell to his family, friends, and servants, whom he addressed with calmness, strength, and even ambition, on the subject of religion, concluding; “I hope and trust! to meet you all in Heaven, both white and black,” words he repeated again in the afternoon as the end was coming on. Hearing the servants on the piazza weeping, he spoke again: “What is the matter with my dear children? Have I alarmed you ? Oh, do not cry! Be good children, and we will meet in Heaven,” At 6 o’clock he died without a struggle or a pang. His funeral was attended by 3,000 people on the Tuesday following. He is buried at the Hesmitage, on the Lebanon Pike, eleven miles fromJSasliville, Tennessee. A massive moqument of Tennessee granite marks his grave, and that of his wife he had loved so well.

MARTIN VAN BtJREN. Martin Van Buren, the eighth President, died at Kinderhook, Columbia County, New York, on July 24, 1862, of asthma, which developed into a painful catarrhal affection of the throat and lungs. One of his last distinct utterances was to his clergyman:—“There is but one reliance.” He is buried in the little village cemetery at Kinderhook, in the family lot. A granite shaft fifteen feet high marks his grave. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. William Henry Harrison, the ninth President, died in 'Washington City, April 4, 1841. He rode on horseback to his inauguration, and stood bareheaded, and without an overcoat, to deliver his inaugural, contracting pneumonia, which was aggravated by subsequent imprudences. His last words heard by Dr. Washington were: “Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.” precession two mfiles in length escorted the body, which was conveyed on a funeral car drawn by six white horses, to its temporary resting place in the Congressional burying ground, where the Episcopal service was read by Dr. Hawley. His present resting place is at North Bend, Ohio, a few yard from the track of the Illinois Central Bailroad, where it enters the tunnel. The grave is a simple mound, unfenced, on a little knoll, and is shaded by beeches and other trees. There, is no monument, and no inscription anywhere to tell the story of the life of the departed hero of Tippecanoe. The condition of his grave was brought prominently before the country a few years ago. Since then the mound has been cemented on the top, in imitation of stone slabs, and otherwise improved.

JOHN TYLER. John Tyler, the tenth President, was taken ill on Sunday, January 12, 1862, while at breakfast at the Hallard House, Richmond, Virginia, and died at midnight of the 15th. “Let me give you some stimulent,” said- his doctor. “I will not have it,” replied the dying man, and closing his eyes he quietly passed away. His body lay in state at the Capitol. Ho was a member of the Confederate Congress, and was interred at Hollywood Cemetery, on the 21st, by Bishop Johns. His grave is a little mound covered with bushes, about ten yards from the grave of Monroe. The last time the writer saw it, it was neither enclosed nor curbed. At its head was a small magnolia tree, on the south another magnolia, and on the north a young juniper tree. Near by are the graves of President Monroe, William Allen, one of Jefferson Davis’ bondsmen, Dr. Lawrence ltoane Warren, the philanthropist, James M. Mason, the Confederate envoy to England, a son of Jefferson Davis, and Liet. Gen. A. P. Hill, of the Confederate army. JAMES K. POLK. James K. Polk, the eleventh President, died at Nashville, Tennessee, June 15, 1849, three months after his retirement from the Presidency. He had suffered from diarrhoea on the journey home, and a recurring attack proved fatal. On his death-bed he received the rite of baptism at the hands of a Methodist clergyman. He is buried at the old family homestead at Nashville, Tennessee. The monument is a block twelve feet square by twelve in height. GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR. Gen. Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President, attended the Fourth of July ceremonial in Washington City, in 1850, when the dust from Kosciusko’s tomb was deposited in the Washington monument, and endured for several hours the heat of the day, which, he declared, was worse than any he had experienced in Mexico or Florida. Going home, he insisted on eating freely of unripe cherries and drinking cold water and iced milk, despite the remonstrances of his servant. This brought on an attack of cholera mprbus, followed by typhoid, of "which he died on the 9th. An imposing procession accompanied his remains to the Congregational Cemetery, the Episcopal services having been previously read in the East Boom of the President’s mansion by Dr.j Butler and Dr. Payne. His remains have been moved three times, and now repose in a public spot in F’rankford, Ky. After the burial in the Congressional Cemetery at Washington the body was removed to a lot on the Taylor homestead, five miles back of Loiiisville, and then taken to Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville. In 1878 the remains were placed in the beautiful cemetery at Prankford, where they are in the companv of many illustrious dead, including \ ice President Eichard Mentor Johnson.

MILLARD FILLMORE Millard Fillmore the thirteenth President, died at Buffalo, New York, on March 8, 1874, and after lying in state in St. Paul’s Cathedral, the remains were buried on the 12th, at Forest Lawn Cemetery, three miles from Buffalo. A tall monumont bears the inscription “Millard Born January 7, 1§00; died March 8, 1874;” The grave is at the eastern extremity of the lot in the denter of a grassy space. FRANKLIN PIERCE. Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth President, died on Friday, October 8, 18fi9, at the residence’ of Mr. Willard Williams, Concord, New Hampshire, of dropsy and inflammation of the itomftoh.

For the last three days of his life Be was nearly unconscious, and died without pain. His body lay in state at Dorie Hall, and was buried in the Minot Cemetery, on Main Street, on the 11th. The Pierce lot is at the northwestern corner of the old cemetery, and contains nearly an acre of ground. It is surrounded by a neat iron fence six feet high. The monument is of Italian marble, surmounted by a draped cross, and its total height is fourteen feet eight inches. JAMES BUCHANAN. James Buchanan,.the fifteenth President, died at Wheatland, near Lancaster, Pa., on June 8, 1868, after an illness of one month, though he had been faiMng for nearly a year. His last hours were very peaceful and nearly painless. On the night before his death he gave detailed directions for his funeral and the erection of his monument, dictating the inscription, a blank to the left for the date of death, “which cannot he distant,” he said. In the morning he asked for a drink of water from the spring, saying to the medical attendant, “Doctor, if disembodied spirits ever come back, I believe that mine will be found about that spring.” His last authentic words, as he sank into the sleep in which he died were: “Oh, Lord God Almighty, as Thou wilt.” His funeral took place on the 4th, the exercises being conducted by Dr. Nevin, President of Franklin and Marshall Colleges, an immense concourse being present. He is buried at Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, on the banks of the Conestoga. The lot is inclosed bp a neat iron fence. All round the fence is a hedge of blooming roses, and rose bushes are planted in the inClosure. A fine sarcophagus of Italian marble marks the grave.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President, died by the hands of John Wilkes Booth, in Washington, April 15, 1865. Nine of the persons supposed to be implicated suffered condign punishment. The funeral honors paid to the deceased Chief Magistrate were of the most elaborate character. His remains are buried at Oak Bidge Cemetry, Springfield, Illinois. A fine pile of marble, granite, and bronze marks the spot. It bears the single word “Lincoln.” ANDREW JOHNSON. Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth President, died suddenly at Greenville, Tennessee, on Saturday, July 31, 1875, and was buried with Masonic ceremonies on the 3d of August. His grave is at Greenville, Tennessee, on the spot selected by himself. The monument is of marble, npon a base of granite, nine and a half by seven feet. The tomb was erected by the President’s threo surviving sons, ■ JAMES A. GARFIELD. James A. Garfield, the twentieth President, was assassinated in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad depot, in Washington City, July 2, 1881, by Charles Guiteau, and died of hisi wound September 19, at Elberon, near Long Branch, New Jersey. During his illness a popular movement was inaugurated to raise a fund of $250,000, to be invested for Mrq Garfield and the children. The sum was rapidly raised while the President lived, and after his death additional contributions swelled the amount to over $365,000. On the 21st of September the President’s remains were conveyed from the Frankly n^Tottage, to Washington. Every city in the Union was draped in mourning. The body was laid in state in the Capitol. Funeral services took place there On Friday, Sept, 23, and the remains were then transferred to Cleveland, Ohio, where they were entombed September 26.

A Wife’s Device for a Smoking Room. In the way of luxurious living I know of nothing more nearly unique than the smoking room in a certain Fifth Avenue residence. The mistress of the house has a dislike for tobacco smoke, and her nose seems to be acutely sensitive to it. Her husband could not, in their former domicile, whiff his cigar so remotely from her bondoir that the fume would not distress her. Therefore he stipulated with the architect of the present abode that there should be a smoking room to suit the peculiar requirements. The apartment is entered by a long passage, provided with three doors at intervals, so that in opening one the others prevent the escape of a particle of smoke. There are no windows, the light entering from above, and a system of ventilation carries the odor into the chimney. The wood-work is all ebony, including the ceiling and a heavy wainscoting, and the black furniture is upholstered in the same somber color. In order to augment the illumination from that skylight, a mirror of heavy beveled plate makes a continuous glass frieze around the walls at the height of five feet, the line being broken only by the door. Under the glass is an ornamental shelf, on which are pipe trays, tobacco pots ! and other utensils for smoking, drinking, and reading. Ages hence, when New York is dug out from the coverings of some Pompeiian dis? aster, puzzling apartments will be discovered. Fashionable minds are now full of a desire for novelty in the construction of their homos. —New York Letter. ■■ A ;

A Couch on Which Christ Lay. A stone has been found in the ruins of a Christian church fAElatea,Greece, by a member of the Ecole francaise, of Athens, on which is a Greek inscription setting forth that it came from “Cana, in Galilee, where our Lord Jesus Christ turned the w r ater into wine.” Another partially-pre-served inscription shows the name Antonins. The itinerary of Antonins, of Piacenza, who visited Galilee in the sixth century, mentions the conch on which Jesns lay during the marriage at Cana, and says, that” he rested on it himself, and' wrote his “unworthy” name and that of his parents upon it. The Btone 1 appears to be the very accubitus on which Antonins inscribed his name, the theory being that the stone conch was first removed to Byzantium for safety during some invasion, and thence was brought to Elates by one of their Latin prince* who ruled in Greece. —New York Timef, | . When the heart is full the lips are silent. When a man is fall it is different* *

Liberty Enlightening the World. When Patrick Henry put hia 'old cast-iron spectacled back on the top of his head and whooped for liberty, he did not know that some day we wbuld have more of it than we knew what to do with. He little dreamed that the time would come when we would have more liberty than we could pay for. When Mr. Henry sawed the air and Bhouted for liberty or death, I do not believe* that he knew the time would one day come when liberty would stand knee deep in the mud* of Bedloe’s Island and yearn for a solid place to stand upon. . It seems to me that we have too much liberty in this country in some ways. We have more liberty than we have money. We guarantee that every man in America shall fill himself up full of liberty at our expense, and the less of an American he is the more liberty he can have. If he desires to enjoy himself, all he needs is a slight foreign accent and a willingness to mix up with politics as soon as he can get his baggage off the steamer. The ndore I study American institutions the more I regret that I was not born a foreigner, so that I could have something to say about the management of our great land. H I could not be a foreigner, I believe 1 would prefer to be a Mormon or an Indian not taxed. I am often led to ask, in the language of the poet: “Is the Caucasian played out?” Most everybody can have a good deal of fun in this country except the American. He seems to be so busy paying his taxes all the time that he has very little time to mingle in the giddy whirl with the alien. That is the reason that the alien who rides the United States on the “Limited Mail” and writes a book about us before breakfast, wonders why we are always in a hurry. That is the reason we have to throw our meals into ourselves with a dull thud, and hardly have time to maintain a warm personal friendship with our families.

We do not care much for wealth, but we must have freedom, and freedom costs money. We have advertised to furnish a bunch of freedom to every mas, woman or child who comes to our shores, and we are going to deliver the goods, whether w T e have any left foi ourselves or not., What would*., the great world beyond the seas say to us if some day the blue-eyed Mormon, with his heart full of love for our female seminaries and our old women’s homes, should land upon our coasts and find that we were using all the liberty ourselves ? . What do we want of liberty, anyhow ? What could we do with it if we had it? It takes a man of leisure to enjoy liberty, and we have no leisure whatever. It is a good thing to keep in the house “for the use of guests only,” but we don’t need it for ourselves. *- Therefore, I am in favor of a statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, because it will show that we keep it on tap winter and summer. We want the whole broad world-' to remember that when its gets tired of oppression it can come here to America and oppress us. We are used to it, and we rather like it, we can get on the steamer and go abroad, where we may visit the effete monarchies and have a high old time. The sight of the Goddess of Liberty standing there in New York harbor night and day, bathing her feet in the rippling sea, will be a good thing. It will be first-rate. It may also be -productive of good' in a direction that many have not thought of. As she stands there, day after day, bathing her feet in the broad Atlantic, perhaps some moss-grown Mormon moving toward the far West, a confirmed victim of the matrimonial habit, may fix the bright picture in his so-called mind, and remembering how, on his arrival in New York, he saw Liberty bathing her feet with impunity, he may be led in after, years to try it on himself.— Bill Nye, in St. Paul Herald.

Men and Women in Wings. If here or in the hereafter men and women are even to be possessed of wings it will be at the expense of proportion and symmetry, for according to the law of mechanics, to make them of sufficient size really to support the body is artistically out of the question. It is a notable fact that artists rarely put wings on full-grown people, but whether this is the result of a conviction that full-grown men and women are rarely angelic, or simply a regard for the conflicting laws of art and mechanics is not stated. Still, according to the Art Journal, the wing that wotfld be long enough to bear up even a child would be so preposterously in the way as only to call attention to the outrageousness of the fancy. Even in nature the wing of a swallow, or gull, or any swift-flying bird, looks foolish as soon as the creature is aground. Accordingly we find that in art the most successful results have been reached where there has been no attempt to make the wings mechanically adequate, but an endeavor only to proportion them to the size and shape of the figure, without any regard to its weight. One may suppose them features which, through disuse, have dwindled to proportions possible in art. Indeed, some of the very happiest wings are the most rudimentary. The tiny Cupid’s wing, just budding from his cherubic shoulder, seems to belong more intimately to it than any other form of yet invented.

Royal Salaries. The total yearly charges of the British royal family and immediate relatives are as follows: The Queen, $3,096,915; Prince of Wales, $603,335; Duke of Edinburgh, $122,880 ; Duke of Connaught, $145,000; Princess Royal oflGermany, $40,200; Princess HeleHe, $30,000; Princess Louise, $30,000; Duchess of Albany, widow of Prince Leopold, $3,000 ;Duchess of Cambridge, $30,000; Princess Augusta, $15,400; Duke of Cambridge, $111,015; Princess Mary (Duchess of Teck), $3,400. Total, $4,268,145. “What do you suppose I’ll look like when I get out of this?" indignantly inquired a fashionably-dressed young lady of a guard of an overcrowded tramway car the other day. “A good deal like crushed sugar, miss,” said the ticket-puncher. And the lady stood up and rode some distance further, with the smile of an angel.