| From the Wilmington Journal |
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| September 15, 1862 |
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| Death of Hon. Wm. S. Ashe |
| On last Friday evening, as our readers are
aware, Mr. Ashe met with a terrible accident on the Wilmington &
Weldon Railroad, the hand-car on which he was proceeding up the road
being struck by the down mail train, and he himself so forcefully
injured as to render recovery almost hopeless. He lingered, however,
until last night about eight o'clock, when he passed off quietly and
calmly, and apparently without pain, from sheer exhaustion of his
system consequent upon the terrible stroke it had received. |
| We hear that Mr. Ashe was born in this
country in the earlier part of the year 1813, and was, therefore,
going on his fiftieth year at the time of his death. The very day on
which he met with his fatal accident we saw him cheerful, active and
vigorous, in the full flush of health and life, and hope, with many
years of usefulness, apparently, before him. His sudden and melancholy
fate is deeply felt in this community, where his death will be
sincerely regretted by a large circle of attached friends. |
| Mr. Ashe entered public life at an early
age, and at different times was called upon to fill many prominent
positions of honor and trust, which he did with remarkable ability and
eminent usefulness. His clear good sense, intuitive knowledge of men,
earnestness of purpose, fertility of resource, and popularity of
manners gave him an influence and a power in every deliberative body
of which he was a member, to which men of mere showy attainments
frequently aspire in vain. As a member of either branch of the General
Assembly of North Carolina, or of the House of Representatives of the
United States, his influence was felt and acknowledged, and his best
efforts were earnestly given for the promotion of all constitutional
measures that would redound to the interests of his native State, and
especially of his loved Cape Fear, to which by birth and tradition he
was so firmly attached. |
| Eminently social, warm-hearted and
generous, he made friends and gained popularity without employing any
of the arts of the demagogue. An ardent partisan, and as such bitterly
opposed in party times by those of the contrary opinion, he made few
enemies, and secured very many firm and devoted personal friends from
the ranks of his unwavering political opponents. |
| That, like all frail mortals he had
failings, not even his warmest friends will deny, while even those
least friendly to him must admit that: |
| "Even his failings leaned to virtue's
side." |
| Taking him all in all, we shall seldom
look upon his like again, nor can this community and the State at
large soon cease to mourn the loss of the noble, generous, big-hearted
gentleman, the ardent patriot and the useful citizen. |
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