DEATH AND BURIAL OF HORACE GREELEY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1393, 17 January 1873, Page 4

DEATH AND BURIAL OF HORACE GREELEY.

The 2VS6une furnishes the following account of the illness and last hours of Mr Giceley : — He was in almost as good health «<9 isual, when, on the day after the electit n, 'te wrote the card announcing his resumption of the editorial charge of the Tribune. Hib sleeplessness was known to have become greatly worse, but for years he had suffered more or less from the same difficulty. It is now clear that a sufficient allowance had not been made for 'the intense strain upon him throughout the summer, and especially during the last month of his wife's illness ; but it soon became evident that his strength was unequal to the hard task to which he set himself. He wrote only three or four careful articles, no one of them half a column in length. The most notable, perhaps, was that entitled "Conclusions," wherein he summed up his views of the canvass. In all, he wrote less than three and a half columns after his return, contributing to only four issues of the paper. Two or three times he handed his assistant short articles, saying, " There is an idea worth using, but I haye not felt able to work it up properly, and you had better put it in shape." At last, on the 12th, he abandoned all effort to visit the office, and sent for the family physician of A. J. Johnston, the friend with whom he was a guest, and in whose house his wife had died. Every effort was made to induce sleep, but he grew worse until it became evident that his case was critical. Dr Geo. C. Choate and others were called in for consultation, and finally it was decided to take him to Dr Choate's residence, three miles distant from Greeley's own country residence at Chappaqua. Here he received unremitting attention, Dr Choate and Dr Brown, and others, were called in consultation, but the " insomnia " had developed to inflammation of the brain, and under this the venerated patient speedily sank. At times he was delirious, and at other times as clearheaded as ever. He lost flesh and strength with startling rapidity, and in a few days the . possibility of a speedy death forced itself into an unwilling recognition. It was not, however, until Thursday that his associates and family brought themselves to admit it. Even they still clung to his faith in the vigor of his constitution, but Wednesday night he failed very rapidly. On Thursday evening he seemed somewhat easier, but during the night his sleep was very uneasy, he muttered occasionally, and frequently raised his right hand. Towards morning he waa more quiet, and between eight and nine he fell into a nearly unconscious condition, which continued, with some intervals throughout the day. He made inaudible exclamations, but many of them, in consequence of . his extreme weakness, were unintelligible. About noon, however, he said, quite distinctly and with some force, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." During the day he recognised various people, his daughter many times, and the several me/nbers of his household at Chappaqua, Johnß. Stuart and Mr Reid. On the whole he suffered but little, and seemed to have no more restlessness than the ordinary restlessness which accompanies the last stage of disease. During the day his extremities were cold, and there was no pulse at the wrist, and the action of the heart was very intermittent and constantly diminishing in force. He had nut uskeel for water or been willing to dritk jii.ee his stay at Dr Choate's, but dur n<4 Friday he asked for it frequently, and up to within half-an-hour of his end, he manifested in various ways his consciousness of what was going on around, and answered in monosyllables and intelligently the questions addressed to him. About half -past three he said distinctly, "It is done!" Beyond the briefest answers to questions, this was his last utterance. His youngest daughter, was with him through Thursday evening, and throughout Friday the eldest daughter, Ida, was in constant attendance. The other members of the Chappaqua household were present, with Mr and Mrs Stuart and a few other friends. Nothing that science or affection could suggest was wanting to ease his last hours. The wintry night had fairly set in when the inevitable hour came. His daughter and a few other friends stood near the dying man, who remained conscious, and seem ingly rational and free from pain, though now too weak to speak. In an adjoining room sat one or tiro more friends and the physician. At ten minutes before seven o'clock they drew back in reverent stillness from the bedside,, for the great editor was gone in peace after so many struggles. In one account of the last days of Mr Greeley, he is said, during his western tour, to have never slept over four hours at a time. Through the day he would often doze in a car and catch snatches of sleep. Upon his return to New York hi& wife was found to be rapidly wasting, and it was while passing sleepless nights at her bedside that he first began to show signs of great mental depression. On one occasion while the opposition press was criticising his Pittsburg speech, he said, "If they make the issue that I'm the Rebel candidate, I'm bound to be defeated." This consideration seemed to weigh on his mind. Often, when he supposed he was alone, he would put his hands to his head and cry out, " Oh !" as if suffering intense pain. The WeeUy Bulletin, speaking of Greeley's funeral, says : — The number of applicants for tickets of admission to witness the funeral services of Greeley, at Chapin's Church, is enormous. The church accommodates only 1800, and many prominent personages had great difficulty in procuring cardß. Some persons offered high prices for tickets, but found none. Several prominent journalists arrived last evening from Philadelphia and other cities, among them Colonel Forney. The crowd that visited the City Hall last evening was estimated at 40,000. A despatch from Washington states that twenty Democratic members of Congress left that city last night to attend the funeral, of Mr Greeley. Senators Fenton, Schurz, Tipton, and Trumbull will be present. Charles Sumner telegraphs that his health prevents his attendance, bat he will be present in souL The route of the procession will be through Fifth Avenue to Fourteenthstreet, from Fourteenth-street to Broadway, from Broadway to Hamilton Ferry. The remarks of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in delivering Greeley's funeral oration were quite brief. He spoke of

deceased as one who, for thirty years, had filled the land with controversy as a man of war, and though dying without civic honors, as one whose memory shall ; live for ever in the annals of his country. : To-day all men forget the recent strife 1 and conflict of opinion in sorrow for him • because he was something more than a r mere professional man. He was a man ; so good and ao noble that he had but few compeers for thirty years. He built for himself no outward monument and no estate, but to-day, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, there is not a man ' who has not felt the effect of the labors 1 of Horace Greeley.