Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1906 — DR. HARPER IS DEAD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DR. HARPER IS DEAD.

President of Calvrniltr of Chlcaaro - faewmbt to, Long nineagy ‘ ■ William Rainey Harper, ppreiSeat of the University of Chicago, Is dead. His, loing struggle against the ravages of an Intestinal eancedr-a terrible, tragic, losing fight of nearly twelve 1 months' duration —ended Wednesday afternoon, when, exhausted by suffering and wasted from lack of nourishment, bis life slowly flickered out. His last wonts, before he passed into the final coma from which he never awoke, were murmured, half-itjcohdrent messages 6f fa re welL to the members of his family, all of whom were at the bedside. The sentence,. “God always helps," was repeated often by the dy* lng man. -. i Six weeks ago It became apparent to Dr. Harper's physicians that the sands df his life were almost run. BBT friends, his wife and children, aftd even the patient himself, recognized that the end was at hand. Ills strength failed rapidly, and tho pa \n that tortured him became so extreme that opiates were administered constantly by hypodermic Injection.

Last Saturday morning his mind became ckuidoil, and then Dr. Frauk Billings and Dr. Charles.P. Small, liis attending physicians, informed the patient that he had but very few more days to live. With indomitable resolution the dying educator occupied his lucid TOdTjuteT iiioufeuls tfi "a rra ng lug his and the university’s affairs, and in planning the details of hi§ funeral. In the Dr. Harper the University of Chicago, the great city of which that institution has for years been the pride, the whole educational world of America and the cause of disinterested, earnest scholarship have sustained a severe loss. Dr. Ilarper was a Tvohderfwl organizer atid administrator, and his achievements in that capacity have hadl ample recognition. But he was also a true educator; he had a passion for his profession and for learning, and his ambition was to make tbe University of Chicago not merely one of the biggest but oue of the noblest, loftiest and most genuine scats of culture.

DR. HARPER IN HIS SICK ROOM.