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_From the “Columbus Enquirer-Sun.”_
“HENRY W. GRADY died at 3:40 o’clock this morning.”
Such was the brief dispatch received early yesterday morning by the
_Enquirer-Sun_. A simple announcement of the death of a private citizen,
but of one who had endeared himself to the people of his native State
and the entire South, and little wonder is it that it should have caused
considerable sensation throughout the city and been the cause of
numerous inquiries.
The brilliant Grady dead! He who had just returned from a triumphant
ovation at the North where he attracted profound attention by the
delivery of one of the grandest, most comprehensive and magnificent
speeches on a subject of vital importance to the South and the
country—cold in the embrace of death. The news was so sad and unexpected
that it was difficult to realize, and surprise was engulfed in one
universal expression of sorrow and regret, as the full force of the
direful announcement, “Grady is dead!” was impressed on the public mind.
The bright, genial, brilliant and magnetic Grady! The fearless, eloquent
and talented young Georgian whose name is synonymous with that of his
native State throughout this broad land; the earnest, industrious,
versatile and able journalist, dead! Cut down in the very prime of life;
at the very threshold of a career which held forth greater promise of
fame and honors than that of any man in the State at the present moment.
This knowledge adds weight to the grief that fills every heart in
Georgia at the thought that Henry Grady is no more.
His death is not only a great loss to Atlanta in whose building up he
had given the full vigor of his great intellect and tireless energy, the
State, whose devoted lover and earnest pleader he was, and the South at
large, whose fearless eloquent champion he had ever proved himself on
many memorable occasions, but to the country. No man of the present age
has done more to bring about a thorough understanding between the two
sections than Henry Grady. While there may have been in his two notable
speeches at New York and Boston some declarations in which there was not
universal coincidence of opinion, either North or South, it is generally
recognized that great good has been accomplished in giving the
intelligent and fair-minded people of the North a clearer and better
insight into Southern affairs and removing unjust prejudices. The people
of the South and of Georgia owe much to Henry Grady, and will ever hold
in grateful and affectionate remembrance his good work in their behalf.
Georgia has not produced a citizen who, in private station, has achieved
such renown, and who has so absorbed the affections of the people as
Henry W. Grady. In every city, town, and hamlet throughout the State,
will his death be mourned, and regret, deep and universal, expressed
that the State should be deprived of the services of a citizen so useful
and valuable at almost the very commencement of a glorious and brilliant
career.
Grady was magnetic, eloquent, warm-hearted, and impulsive, and numbered
his personal and devoted friends, as he did his admirers, by the
thousands. The writer had known him long and intimately, and thoroughly
appreciated his kindness of heart and the strength of his friendship,
and his regret at the loss of the State is heightened by the knowledge
of the loss of a personal friend and associate.
The sincerity of the grief which pervades Georgia to-day is the greatest
tribute that can be paid to the memory of this peerless young Georgian
who, in his peculiar magnetism, was simply incomparable.
To his beloved wife and children, and his proud, fond mother, at this
hour of fearful bereavement the heartfelt sympathies of the entire State
are extended. May God in his infinite mercy temper the force of this
terrible blow to them, and enable them to bow in Christian resignation
to His Divine will.
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