| From the Wilmington Journal |
| |
| September 18, 1862 |
| |
| 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 fearfully 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 learn that Mr. Ashe was born in this
county 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 marked ability and
eminent usefulness. His clear 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
aspired 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 warmly
attached. |
| Eminently social, warm-hearted and
generous, he made friends and gained popularity without employing any of
the arts of the demagogue. An ardent partizan, 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. |
| {Wilmington} Daily
Journal, 15th |
|