Terre Haute Weekly Gazette, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 6 August 1885 — Page 9

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GRANTS DEATH-BED.

PORTRAIT FROM THB LAST PHOTO GRAPH OF HIM EVER TAKEN —W ««I Can Safely Oo the Km«d that Mllllona

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fSpecfal (Correspondence.!

Saratoga,July 25.—It could only be with a feeling of relief and thankfulnoss that the country heard at last that Gen. Grant wai no more. His wa? the -wearisomest, painfulest illness and death mortal man is often called to suffer.

Your readers have had the main facts ol his closiqg days by telegraphic dispatches. But there ft re points of interest and scones which.m6re outline of fact coidd not disclose. At mpmeat everything- connected with pen. Grant is of interest. In the history of the country his is the fourth death to attract universal national attention. The first was that of Washington, Then came the tragedy of Lincoln and that of Garfield. Kow Gaii.MJrant, the greatest soldier our counti'y has produced in the last half oentury, hai gona to joiq the rest. He was honored amouj natioils^abroad as no other living ^American

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The last flvo weeks of the general's life „Were spent at Mt. McGregor, nearS&ratoga. When he went there, Juao 16, there was an unexpressed fear in all hearts that he would neveMeavo the„plea§an" cottage till he was earned out in lilsrcottiu. Ho rallied at first, but grew weak again during the intense lieat of- the lsSt'.,W* weeks. July 21 it became clear to his physicians that death was near. They told members of his family what to look for. From the time this hint was given-they stool about Jiim and watched the great life go out hour by hour. 'Al.

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AT LAST.

At 7 o'clock p. m., July S9, the general beckoned his son, Col. Fred Grant, and nodded towards the bod at one -side of the parlor. In that room and on Ihe veranda ne had spent most of the last five weeks,

had sat in a chair because the gatherinjg' mucus in his throat would have strangled ..him in a reclining posture., But now when

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nodded "yes." He attempted to rise, but fell back, and his head sank upon his breast. Col. Fred and the nurse helped him to the couch, and laid him at full length. It was the first time in four months that he had thus lain upon a bed. They kijew then that he must be very weak. All night they watched him. Mrs. Grant sat besida him,' fanning him, holding his hand. Immediately behind her mother, looking over her shoulder, stood Mrs. Sartoris, the goueral's dearly beloved daughter Nellie. Col. Fred stood at the head of the bed, at intervals smoothing his dying father's brow. No daughter could have been tenderer or more thoughtful than Col. Fred has been all these dreary nine months. He has tended the suffering general with perfect and touching devotion. Opposite Mrs. Grant, on tlie other side of the bad, stood Jesse Grant and U. S. Grant, "'Jr. At the foot stood the general's three -daughters-in-law.

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During the night life was sustained by hypodermic injections of brandy. At fl o'clock in the morning, July33, Dr. Douglas joaid: "His brain, his heart and lungslare alive, and that is all I can say of either or of all."

A few minutes after 8 Dr. Shrady sent the last bulletin of Gon. Grant's illness to The •"Medical Record under the headline "At iXast." It clo-ied the story.

Mrs. G/ant and Fred had not moved frotn their positions during the nighc except at intervals of a few minuter Twic) during the night the dying man had whispered feebly: "Water." But he grew too weak to "kwallow it. Then Mrs. Grant dipped handkerchiefs in ice watar and wetted his Hps from tinia to time.

So they watched and waited. At length the supreme moment came. "Papa," said Mrs. Sartoris, "don't you know mo? Don't you know Nellie!" I Ho opened hi$ eyes and fired them on this

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belov&l daughter witn a taint look ot recognition. An eloquent and touching story ,of this final moment is taken, from The NeV brk Sun: "Her's was the last- face hb saw. In a moment ipore tho tense and weary lodk went out of, his face, bis eyes closed, with one faiut breath his life left him.

I .* f"It'was 8:08 by the clock. Not a leaf stirred on the ti*ees in the warm morning air without, and there was not a cloud In the sky. A splash of red midsummer sunlight came in through the opeu window, and hi been falling full upon a portrait of kindl faced Lincoln which hung on the wall over the head of the bad and beside a trait of the dying man himself, and it was just as the last of this light crept off the frame of the picture to the wall that the general caasad to breathe." Rev. Dr. Newnlan, the wull-kuown belligerent doctor of divinity, formerly Mrs. Grant's pastor, hid been lingering about t^e cottage lor sot«e days. He had bat In the porch during mnfch of that susponjeful night Ha ^(iras a warm personal frienl of Gen. Grant, but that did not prevent trim" from having, a gof»d appetite. Man must eat. jCiw*fiS0 o'clock Rev. Dr. Newman proposed to Dr. Douglas that they two go over to tha hotsl and get breakfast. Dr. Douglas declined, saying, ho did not th'nk it safo to leave Gen. Grant's bedside. Still retaining bis excellent appetite, ho waver, Dr. Newman went alone. The far at Hotel Balmoral is said to be very g6od. The reverend doctor was enjoying his morning repast when word came to him a few minutes after 8 that tha general was dying. He left his good breakfast and hastily went to the cot Jise. But it "was too late. Much to his reg ret, the rev* erend doctor was noj present ao the death •cene.

Gen. Grant took to his bed only about thirteen hours before his death.

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THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH.

Six days before the end came he sat on the veranda in the morning, reading a newspaper. Unknown to him," Mr. John Gilman, the photographer at Mt,' McGregor, took an excellent picture of him by the instantaneous proc3s?. It is a striking picture, and ona that We are fortuijate to secure. The geueral's wasted hands, whitened beard and straggling locks of hair and fallen choaks, tell more than words can of t'.:e s'e^pbss agony that had torokan this strongman. "1® 1

He hod at no tim? drpaded ffo'ath itself. He said once that Dr. Netfman was his personal friend, not his spiritnal adviser. Con* cerning death, ho remarked: "I can safely go the road that millions have gone before me." It is a remarkable say-in? on the whole. But many of Grant's sayings were remarkable. The last voT\intary utterance of his life was this: "I do not want anybody distressed on my account."

For about six weaks before he died he had been unable to speak above a whisper, some times not at all. To prevent fatigue a pencil and writing pad were provided, and he expressed his wishes by that means. One of the first, saddest things done after his life went out forever was the putting away of these mournful writing materials. He could never want them a^ain. fie did dread lest his death should be attended with frightful physical suffering. That, let us thimk God, he was spared. He went out as peacefully as the light fades off a sbnset sky.

He would have died months ago, only that he was kept alive by the iron determination to finish his book, his history of the war. That done, his mind was at rest A week before his death he seemed easier and better than he had been in some time. Dr. Douglas congratulated b}m, For answer Grant wrote: "I feal sorry at the prospect of living through the summer and fall in the condition I am in. I do not think I can, but I may. Except I do not gather strength, I feel quite as well from day to day as I have dono heretofore. But I am losing strength. I feel it more the inability to move around than in any other way, or rather in tbe lack of desire to jtry to move."

Dr. Douglas endeavored to Cheer him by telling him of the more comfortable condi* tion of his throat and his increased strength. But for answer the dyini* man only wrote: "After all that, however, the disease is stQl there, and must ba fatal in the end. My lire is precious, of course, US my family, and would be to me if I could recover entirely. There never was one more willing to go than I. I know most people havo first one and then anotier little thing to fix up, and never get quite through. This was partially my case. 1 fiwt wanted so many

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work on m7 boot, so the authorship would bo clearly mine. It was graciously granted to me, after being apparently much lower than since, and with a capacity to do more work than I ever did in the same time. My work had been done so hastily that mu6h was left out, and I did it all over from the crossing of the James river in 18Q4 to Appomattox in 1865- Since that I have added as much as fifty pages to the book, should think. There is nothing more to do, and, therefore, I am not likely to ba more ready to

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Q. A. K. TKKT OW fHS MOtTRTAXir: They pitched their tent upon the neadles beneath the pine trees .Grant was terriblj emaciated.1'' *Hb weighed at his death much less than 100 '-.J S 'ii pounds. ,fi4i

During hi3 military career be had taken part in more than thirty battles and innum-: arable smaller skirmishes. He was presiddfet of the Society of the Army of the Potomac. During his illness he signed 500 pertificatea for newly elected members of that organisation. All wished to have the old commander's name to their certificates.

Gen. Grant left no wish concerning hie burial place, except thtub it be in some spot where his wife might rest beside bim whan her time came to go. Immediately on his doath offers of places of sepul ture were telegraphed from Springflell, 111.: from the National Soldiers' cemetery at Washington and elsewhere'.' The mayor of New Yoik city (Tared Central park. Tha board of aidertueu seconded the offer. After Some consider at iou, the proposition wai accepted.

Gen. Grant's body will 11a In tlie noble aod beautiful Central park, New York city. A subscription has been opened to erect for him a magnificent monument The whole nation will be parmitted to contribute.

The body has beon embal|Faed. The vetoi have been in^cbeJT RnJLA^ferBjentg a more life-lika appcarsiJPf'Inuu Grant wore for many months. Tho body will lie in state at Albauy. also at city hall. New York. The final interment takes place Aug. 8. The Grant family remain at Mt. McGregor till Octobar. A. J. Botbwkll.

frt. A Long Bridge. AMI!? 5 w-:r

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With tbe completion of this bridge Chicago has an unbroken rail communication with Jacksonville, Fla. Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta are points taken in on thewfty. i«

Readers #ill remember the terrible disaster that happened at this point on the Ohio rivflV about a year ago, Tbe railway ferryboat running from Evansville, Ind., to Henderson, Ky., ten miles below was capsized in a tornado. She was loaded with passengers, and nearly every soul on board waft dro"Wned.

The beautiful bridge shown in the illustration takes the place of the ferryboat line. The span across the river channel, through which the steamboat is pass ing, is 625 feet in length. It is said to ba the longest span of truss bridge in the world. Tbe bridge proper is nearly three-quarters of a mile long. It is reached on tbe Indiana side by three and a half, miles of powerfully built trestle work.

The completion of this bridge give3 the shortest time from northwest* to southeast that has yet been made. It is built for the Chicago and Easten* Illinois railroad, it enables trains t* moke the distance from Chicago to NastmUe in sixteen hours.

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THE VOICE OF THE RAIN. 3*

[Walt Whitmuj hi Outlng.l 4

And who art thouf said I to the soft-falling shower, Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as bera translated: 1 am tbe Poem of Earth, said the voice Of the rain, Eternal rise impalpable out of the laiid and the bottomless sea, Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely formed, altogether chang&, and vet the same, I desoand to lave the drought*, atomies, dust-layers of the globe, And all that in them without me were seeds onlj, latent, unborn, And forever, by day and night, I givo back lift* to my own origin, and make pure and beautify it (For son?, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfillment, wandering. Recked or unrecked, duly with love re turns.)

Burlington Free Press: A Kentucky girl was struck by lightning while dressing for her wedding. Without turning .artrand or taking the hair pias out of her mouth, she simply remarked: "You girls had better stop flinging your shoes till we get started.*

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TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, THURSDAY. AUGUST 6. 1885 TWO PARTS:PART SECOND.

The "general's body is still at Mt McGregor. A detail, of bis own beloved old soldifers from Wbe^for post, G. A. St., guard tbe cotfiige from stupid and vulgar intruders.

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Merchant Traveler! Plants are avaricious —they want the earth. .. Chicago Ledger: Energy and a boy dig ging fish bait both mean about the same thia& "Whitehall Times: The borrower ot troubles never grumbies at usurious rate* •f iaterest 1 i-. a- •!. if*'

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A VISIT TO HELL GATE,

EXPLORING UNDER

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[Special Correspondetoa.! York. July 29.—Reader, have you sver been through Hell Gate? Well, I have been not otily through it and over it and under it, but returned to tell my experience. Of course this has no connection with the gate of Sheol, from whose entrance you understand there is no return, but to the narrow and dangerous passage which connects Lorig Island sound with the river east of New York cit/.

Why this rockbdund channel, where the seething, foaming tide goes roaring through, was originally caKed Hell Gate may only be inferred from the red-hot time the ancient Dutch mariner must have had in getting through there, for even as late as 1848, when every rock and eddy was familiar to pilots, the officers of the United States coast survey reported that in the two months they were surveying the locality fifty vessels went ashore on the rocks, while one call in every fifty attempting to run its rapids [sustained more or leas injury.

But then the early Dutch settlers of New York were partial to sulphurous suggesting titles for this locality. Not. far from here we still find Spuyten Duyvel, the Frying Pan, the Gridiron and Pot Rock, while their descendents modified many of the still harsher names to Negro Head, Hog's Back, The Bread and Cheese, etc..

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shores of Hell Gate, while tbe dotted lines indicate the level,' twenty-six feet below tbe surface of the water, where its rocky bottom begins to project upward. The value of a clear, open channel at this point to tbe commerce of New York is estimated at $4,* 000,000 per day, a figure greater than the entire cost of the improvements thus far.

In 1866 Gen. John Newton, the' present chief engineer of the United States army, was directed to examine these obstructions and present a plan and estimate the cost of tbeir removal. This plan then adopted baa been found to meet tbe requirements of the work almost exactly, and sof amiliar is Gen. Newton with it that sitting at bis desk in Washington he directs the operations through his very efficient superintendent, Lieut. G. McC. Derby, at the works. With what skill this exceedingly hazardous undertaking has been carried on may be understood from the fact that up to 200 men have been engaged here for nearly ten years, and there Was but one man kilied. While in the St. Got hard tunnel, where the work W£3 scarcely as hazardous, there were S77 men killed and 810 injured.

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WORKS ON THE REEF.

Mood rock, which the present operation* are intended to remove, is a pyramidical shaped rock, covering over nine acres, tho a{ex of which projected slightly above the water, this tremendous obstruction being locatAl in the centre of the channel

In 1875 the work was' commenced by sinking two shafts in tha apex of tha pyramid and building up the stone around the shafts a it was removed from the excavations so

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The above diagram, though looking like a porous plaster, is a ground plan of the tunnels.. The hnregular shaped blocks represent the stono pillars supporting the roof, and between them are the tunnels, or streets, each tunnel being 10 feet wide and from 5 to 85 feet high.

Landing on this artificial island we, tbe artist and. myself, presented bur credentials and stated our mission toLieu|. Derby, the superintendent, a handsome^ooking Wfflt Point graduate, Ha raid: "On, certainly you magr taspeot and sketch tht works on the island to your heart's'content, but it is out of the question for you to enter tho mine as you understand the drill holes are being loaded with dynamite, .which makes it hazardous even to remain about works."

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After assuring the lieutenant that from many long interviews with O'Donovan Rossa and other noted dynamiters our familiarity with explosives had bred a contempt for tbe danger. The lieutenant thought that would be likely. After a few running queries as to whether O'Donovan and others who talk dynamite had ever realjly seen a particle .of the compound, and as to whether they could be hired to handle it in loading this mine, following with some suggestions as to the uses such people might be put to on the day of the explosion, the lieuten ant said: "Well, gentlemen, you seem to be determined on going below, but remen£ ber you take your life in your hands. I am going down on my regular tour of inspection and will accompany you." So arraying our* selves in long rubber boots, coats and capes, and being furnished each with a miner's torch, we followed the lieutenant down stout wooden stairs, in the smaller shaft, a distance of some forty to fifty feet, where we found several very powerful pumps at work clearing the mine from tbe water which poured in through cracks and fissures in the roof.

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SECTIOW OF FLOOD R0C*1'^

The above shows at a glance the shape of the rock and direction of tire tunnels. Tbe lower tunnel was made simply as a reservoir into which the upper works could be drained, and as a precaution in case a hol» should break in the roof, the water rushing in would fill this reservoir before flooding the mouth of the shaft, thus enabling tho workmen to escape. The first thing that^impresses one on groping through, the tunnels is the darkne'ss of the dark in them. The feeble glimmering of the torches only makes Ui9 inky blackness of the gloom appear blacker. On the sunlit surface of the earth there is such'a thin? as objects storing pp during the day light which they radiate in a phosphorescent way during the night, but not so with subterranean rocks which were imbedded beneath the surface before light was created.

In this mine as little artificial light as.poesible is permitted owing to tbe danger of nsing up the air.

THE STYX

In this scene we have a vi^Wbf the ihtner's pet, the mule. The river Btyx shown in the picture is about'ten feet wide. It is the main drain of tbe whole mine. Across tbe bridge over it, and along dark, silent tracks, throe mules draw the stones and debris dug out of the passage ways. They cart this debris to the mouth of tho main shaft, where it is drawn up and removed. And except for the glimmer they get at the bottom of that shaft, those three blessed mules have not seen the light of day for seveil years. Their stables are away back in passage-ways so dark that tbe dungeon in the-Dogers prison at Venice is broad daylight in comparison. There they eat, sleep and meditate.

Moreover, such is the contrariness of the mule nature that they have got fat on it. They are in flrst-rate condition. These three mules are government mulesi Perhaps it is their cheek that has sustained them through all this trying period. Perhaps it was their knowledga that they were fed on government pap. When the administration was Republican they were Republican. Now they are Democratic mules. They are soon to be brought to the light. Then for the first- time in years they will know what flies and mosquito are. There is no rose without its thorn. They will probably be nearly blind, but an attempt will be made to save their sight. Their eyes are to be carefully hooded and tha light let into them gradually.

Crossing the Styx we followed our guide along tbe dark passages surrounded with wet, dripping rock on all sides.

On,.on we groped our way, stopping only to relight the torches which be coma extinguished by the water dropping from above. This was another source 'of danger, as, in case all thr»3 lights went out and matches wen unavailing to igni'.e the wet wicks, we might grope around through stony streets for hours before finding the shaft, as the points of the compass ccnnot lie retained in the dark. About a quarter mile from the shaft we come to a dam or water tight door •Silt acrces the tunneL

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-i TUB FAT WOMAN'S MISERY. It is called tbe "fat woman's misery" from the extreme narrowness of the door through which the visitor must pass. Beyond this door the mining operations were extremely hazaitious owing to the rotten character of the rock. This water tight door' was necessary to protect the whole mine from flooding in case the river came pouring in after a blast (Squeezing through thi* door we wade through a stream of water equal to a good sized brook. It comes chiefly from "the rock 'hat Moses struck," as th« miners term it. This was a Jhsufe about on* foot wide which they encountered here, which no amount of wedging or cementing could stop completely. The sight of .this Niagara convinced the artist that he bad explored the mine in that direction sufficiently so, wading back, we felt relief on reaching the safe side of "fat woman's misery," and heard its door bang shut with a report that echoed and reverberated through the long lines of galleries.'

LOADING THK SB1U. HOLES WITS DYNAMITE. On our return we cams across a gang of men loading the drill holes with dynamite. They worked from a sectional staging, and I believe a mother could take lessons on handling her infant from the tenderness shown by the miners toward these long copper cylinders of dynamite. Those cylinders are sealed water tight so that the dampness cannot permeate tham. From the onds of each cylinder are four wires or primers, to which the electric wires for exploding, them will be attached.

Engineer Gen. Newton and every one connected with this mine deserve unstinted praise for the skilful manner with which the work has been conducted. Every hole drilled was directed according to survey so that the exact distance of the river above was always known from the point of a drill boring in tha roof, and so well has" every detail been calculated beforehand that almost the prccise position of every boulder of rock after tha final blast has been determined.

Many discoveries of methods and devices have also been made in the science of engineering during the progress of this work, probably the most valuable being a hollow cylindrical drill.

The 16,000 tons of rock excavated represents a solid block of stone 200 feet square and 110 feet high. This has all been thrown into a hole 120 feet deep and covering several acres which was found in the river near flood reek.

I give here some figures which wilt impress one with the immensity of this wori: Extent of rock tunneled, 9 acres length ot tunnels, 21,670 feet^ or four miles rock removed, 80,156 cubic yards number of holes drilled for explosives, 13,243, drill holes being 10 feet long and 8 inches in diameter drill holes will be charged with 225,000 pounds of "rackarock," the new explosive, and 75,0J0 pounds of No. 1 dynamite. The whole cost of the wcrk thus for is about $1,000,030.

So great is the danger in loading the mine that tbe accidental discharge of one of the dynamite cartridges would by concussion explode all the surrounding cartridges, kill every one about the mine and destroya million dollars worth of work. But every precaution that human ingenuity can devise is being taken. None but the most reliable men are engage! for the loading.

The method of exploding the mine will be this: When all the drill holes in the roof are plugged full of explosives, some of them will be connected with electric wires, tha remaining cartridges will be exploded by the concussion from those fired by the eleotrie spark. Then the Works and every movahb piece of stone being removed from around tbe shaft's mouth, the mine will be flooded completely with water thon at high tide some morning during the coming Octo ber, the delicate fingers of

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child will touch the knob of a telegraph key, causing the electric current to explode tho*) thousands of dynamite cartridges. There will be an upheaval of the river, a shock

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of earthquake, aijd Flood rock will subside, leaving forever an open channel. And the labor of a decade of years will have culmi

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