Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1877 — Com. Vanderbilt's Hours-Sketch of His Life. [ARTICLE]

Com. Vanderbilt's Hours-Sketch of His Life.

1 AJKew Tflfl special (Jan. 4) to the ChiScagfFVt&ttn#'gives the following account *Of Ore last Mfors of Mr. Vanderbilt: Com. Vanderbilt died a few tuln the evening he waa placed in hto rollingchair and taken to his atttitog-rooaK There he conversed with his fariflly -tabd ata fiwnfi, Mr. William TrambulL At ten o'clock he retired’,' tortlng renifeatable. At-twoin Utc morning he grew suddenly worse, anadlea of exhaustion as toe hour stated. The Comder, but it did not paae away as be expected, aud pupped hto str|pgih from duy to A gentleman WhA Wafi.present When Vanderbilt died, and who has spent much time with MtkJroom;gives this account of his last hours: He said that on Thursday tost it seemed to Wm that he Waa e/s s weakness for the last month, with one or two periods of rallying. On Wednesday evening he saw one or two of his friends, with whom he talked cheerfully until nearly ten o’efobk, and it 4 waa thought ,by those Who were with him that iye was brighter than he waa in the morning. After the company went away bo conversed wit* Mrs. Vanderbilt upon religious subjects vary earnestly. Hto faith seetned very neat, and ho expressed himself deliberately and decidedly. Amonif other things, he sold: “ No: I shall never cease to >trust* Jesus. Jfow could I over let that go?” He spoke also of his consciousness of his ignorance in regard to spiritual things—fair Instance, the existence and operations of toe Holy Ghost; but- hto Ignorance did not stand tn the way ofrhto faith, He said he refid the Bible, and tried to understand it as well as he could, and whatever it said he. firmly believed. About two a. m. a change came again, and at four he had grown much weaker. Later. in tbe morning his children and pastor were sent for. Dr. Downs arrived about ntaoetaloek, and l)to famHyarrivod ftlittlf a The Udmoii/dorie found great tßffldnls la speaking, and could makp but few utterances during the last hour/ of’ It to life/ He took intereßt in passages es fidfiptutakepeated from time to time, and upon one of the ladies making a suggestion in regard to singing, he misunderstood her, and ra tae no sign of assent. A little later he turqetj to liia wife and said: ”I thought, you wonld sing.’’ A few of his,favorite hymns were th an sune, with pauses between. Tftfc' first hymn sung was *‘Bbew ptty, Lord; ob, the singing, and even attempted,? with hto hoarse voice, to join in a hymn which always interested him. A K ifrai’ the 6ne beginning with the Words, 1 “ Come, ye sinners, poor and needy.” he was so low, whenever, that luqpn was sung, he invariably tried to join In it, generally adding, at the close: poor, I am needy, weak and wounded, /kick and sore,” Dr. Deems proposed prayer, to which he seCroed gladly to accede. At this time It looked as though hto strength was failing so rapidly that very soon , he would not be able to expectorate,, so that [the friends about him anticipated, a strmfgjc at tbe last. Among other things toe pastoi prayed that God would be pleased in His mercy to vouchsafe unto the sufferer an easy departure out of his great pain into cyerlask ing life. The Commodore evidently followed the whole prayer, and; wh-eh-it wm Moled with the bqnedietion, be reheated V«h the minister the words, “The bicesing es God Almighty, the Father, Bon and Holy Ghost,” and his voice then < failed 1 'hlia- lHeladterward attempted'to speak several timfsf but could not artieulata wMh sufficient clearness to make himself understood,After the lapse of some time he turned to bit wife, who was sitting beside hiih', arid hia mind seemed to recur so tbenreycr toat bad been offered, and he said, “That | good prayer.” These were the last woeda, ne uttered. Mrs. yandcrbJitVfejufod, because it expressed Just your sennnfentt now.” He couldbot spenkybut notified assent. The obstruction lirhls throadmpparently ceased to be painful, and he closed hto mouth for a few minutes, awbe hed- been seen to do byhla friedds When .thinking closely.' /His eyes irrigtatMncd.fifid his fiijmth opened, utter whiok, cfofcing he breathed quickly a left jump and <*• «>irciL /f it,W:sl J( p, 1 pL l tosato-iw -« Je , uOG

' When it was known thathe has C<jape<J to exist, deep sobs were heard throughout the room. Mrs. Vanderbilt was very/deeply affected, as were many of those around! her. The grief of the family and friends'‘was shared by the two faithful female nurses who have been In Attendance on the Commodore for many days and nights during his 1 illness, and the old servants of the family wbre also much affected. Miss Phmbe,Vanderbilt', the Commodore’s.' sister,' and Capt. Jaco w Vanderbilt, of Staten Island, were ndtritf the house when' h e ffifed. 'They weifcr detained on Staten Island by the illness es Mrs.’ Egbert, a widowe d sister’of the Commodore, eightyVour years of age, and now lying at the point of death. The news of the Cotnrtqdote’l diafth’ had been so long expected, that k uf^de'but .little stir on Wall street. ■ ». J . »**w o! BIOftB APHIOAL. U The Chicago Journals[yefi the . following brief sketch of >Mr. Vanderbilt’* Jife: Cornelius Vanderbilt was born cm Staten Island,,. 1^ay.27,1794. His. education, was .very meager. At the age of sixteenhq be4s%Dusiuesßj, buying a boat. Which he pliedJMiwecn the ferry, ofhia neighborhood End New York. ThrPe years lateFhe married. He' #tn:ibhrdly be said to have relinquished bUeiMss^until the day of his death. Few men have begun man-hood-life oseturly, or BMrin&laed k hold.upon the activities of the world ablate, as dfiUCommodore Vanderbilt. He was a giant. Whatever he did at all he did in a nifftcrly way. He, remained in the navigation business until he outgre* it in wealfh and the magnitude of his ambition. Ha controlled the commerce betwefctt' Newt York and Aspinwall nearly all the time f lota the commencement of the California fever until the completion Of the Fuel Ho Railroad! •During his steamship career, Mpu Vanderbilt owned not less than twenty steamers, half of them being constructed- hlmsdf, and counting all his steam craft, on alas and rivers, his fleet numbered sixty-sijt vessels. From this business he retired with a fortune estimated *t 140,000,000’. Entering railroad speculation,. the Commodore rlskeu niuch, and without loss, lls slock in 'WWW railroads, anlong them thCTlOTjeplTTOrtl Harlem, HudsonTtlyu'r At Cepirri/'aud Ihfe Lake Shore <ft tliehigoh- Southern Railroausfbeing estimated dn value at wcarly 1 #l«*»MO,e00. Mr. Vanderbll t gave liberally in certain directions, his gift to theVanderhiit University in Nashville, Tenn.,. being o lm. million dollars. amm wnlt;h .ijift placed that school upon a basts poor thin is genarttay supboeld. His' list of regular pensioners was quite long. He made no display of charity to individuals. He was munifioent to his, eopUHmtteMuflqring the Vanderbilt, nan managed tie van estate for seme time pan, anils fully competent* to assume the arduous task. It is not expected the demise of the father will make any material difference with tfe* railway affaire of the country. • _ the death of Fielding Bradford, Professor of tute. He urns regarded as the first paleontologist in this country, and had but two or three equal* In the world. About eighteen yean ago he became quite deaf, and since httfhhlPf&jSocMtt AWF®* * h«ait-Uho#fe at the institute, haying no other, companions than his books and fossils He had just entered his sixtieth year.