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NEW YORK TIMES
April 6, 1885

ULYSSES S. GRANT DESPONDENT. ANXIOUS TO DIE BECAUSE WITHOUT HOPE. THE GENERAL'S DREAM

General Grant awoke at about 7 o'clock yesterday morning with a sigh. He looked wonderingly at the doctors and closed his eyes again. Opening them again, he said, with a grim smile, "It's a good deal better to be here than where I have just been." The doctors waited for him to go on. "I have been travelling," he said. "I had a single satchel with me and was very poor. I was only partly dressed and had no money. This worried me a great deal, although I thought I ought to be used to it by this time. I felt I was in a bad predicament - no money and no friends. After awhile I came to a fence. I climbed it and landed safely on the other side. Then I found I forgot my satchel." The General paused and laughed outright. "Of course I wanted the satchel, but I couldn't get it without paying duty on each step I went back. Having no money I was in a fret until I thought I would go home and borrow money from Mrs. Grant. When I got there she only had $17. As that was not enough to pay the duty, I was glad to wake up."

The General joined his companions in laughing over the story, then lay musing for awhile before he fairly roused himself. The narrative of the story had been so well told that it was mentioned in a bulletin afterward issued to show how clear the General's faculties are.

The General told the doctors that the treatment they gave him last week had "saved him beyond any doubt." "You need not fear a change of treatment," the doctors assured him. When Dr. Shrady left him this morning he took the General's hand and said, "We propose to keep it up on this line if it takes all summer." The General laughed and pressing the doctor's hand, bade him good morning. At 9:10 o'clock, General Dent told the reporters, "The General is having his ups and downs, seeming at times to be falling fast, at other times exhibiting wonderful vigor, walking across and about the room; sinking helplessly into his chair, passing suddenly from a wakeful to a dozeful state, and from speech into silence." At 4:00 o'clock the room was chilly and a wood fire was built in the grate. The General was wheeled up in front of it to enjoy. During these quiet hours, Mr. Marshall called and left five copies of his steel engraving for the General to autograph. One of the pictures was put on an easel, which stood in the library window all afternoon.

General Grant's family and immediate friends have been much annoyed over expression that have reached them of the concern temperance people have given themselves in regard to the treatment by which the General has been sustained since Thursday. From these complaints it seems assumed that the doctors have dosed him so plentifully with brandy that he has been in a state of constant inebriation for the past three days. the falsity of such assumptions only aggravates the case, for while it's true that brandy was injected at the critical moment on Thursday morning, it did save the General's life. It has been given only twice since, and at no time in larger quantity than a dram. Morphine has been injected frequently, but brandy only when absolutely necessary to rouse him. This explains the stupor and frequent incoherence of speech with which the General has lately been afflicted. He is incoherent only for a little while after waking.

Restless symptoms appeared at dusk. The General began to change position frequently in his chair and the light from the fireplace made him nervous. His attendants wheeled his chair about to face the other way. He left his chair and moved across the room to his bed. Rising, he walked about and took his chair. Then he complained of a return of the soreness of the throat. Dr. Shrady applied cocaine, which deadened the pain, but did not put the patient at ease. The family became apprehensive that another bad turn was pending, and Dr. Shrady shared their fear. At 9:25, General Grant was hobbling about the second floor, wasting his little energy in almost constant motion. The doctors decided that it must be stopped without delay. A strong injection of morphine served their purpose. At 10 o'clock he was sleeping quietly. The family waited for the result, when they withdrew to their various sleeping rooms, assured by the doctors that there was no immediate danger.

Senator Chaffee had been with General Grant today and said his mind was melancholy. The General told him today in a tone of utter despondency, "This is hard." "Yes, it is hard," Chaffee responded, "but don't you feel better now?" The General grasped the arms of his chair and half turning about, looked straight at his companion. "No, I am not better," he said diffidently. "I am going to die. You know it as well as I do. So do the doctors. Every moment to me is a week of agony. The suspense is awful. I don't see the use of prolonging the struggle. I want to die." The Senator said: "I tried to cheer him up, but it was no use. Harrison came in with a cup of milk and the General motioned him away. Then he called him back and took the milk, not because he wanted it, but to please Harrison.

When Harrison had gone the General resumed his melancholy strain. He talks like this only to me. The family have not suspected him of such a tendency. He repeatedly said he wants to die, and has long so desired. Yet he doesn't want any fuss made over him. It annoys him, yet he is at the same time very desirous to please everybody. The same is the case with Dr. Newman's visits. He doesn't believe that his prayers are going to save him. It would make no difference to the General if the prayers were not said - he has reached that level of indifference. His desire to avoid fuss occurred at the supposed death scene on Thursday. Mrs. Grant approached him and broke down. "Don't make me feel badly," he protested kindly. "I am going away now." He is reconciled to the end and doesn't care how soon it may come as long as it comes without a scene." Dr. Shrady went home at 11 p.m. and spoke of the General's despondency. He said the evening had been disquieting and the morning hours would naturally be dreaded."

 

 

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