A Fatal Accident by T. M. Steward

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 10, 1866

A Fatal Accident.

By T. M. Steward

Bro. Stephen Lawton of Mackford, Green Lake Co., Wis., aged 49 years, was killed by accident, at Pittsfield, Mass., the 13th inst. He had been East on a visit for several weeks, and was just returning home. He arrived in Pittsfield from the East on the 3 o'clock A. M. train. As it was very dark, he inquired the way to the American House, and was directed. He was soon heard and found upon the ground some eighteen or twenty feet below where he had evidently fallen from the wall near the Rail Road bridge, in North Street, and was horribly mangled, breaking one leg, an arm, and fracturing his skull. He was taken to the American House, medical aid procured, and every thing possible done to alleviate his sufferings, but he died about 10 o'clock, A. M. of the same day. After telegraphing to seven places, they at last found his residence. The heart-rending news reached his wife in Mackford the 16th, when she immediately sent for them to forward the body to her. They did so, and it arrived the 23d. His friends felt relieved to see that he was well cared for and neatly laid out in a respectable coffin, and ready for burial. He looked very natural, with a heavenly smile upon his countenance.

Sabbath we attended his funeral, and sought consolation from the text, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. xv, 26. Sr. Lawton is left a lonely widow in this cold-hearted world, but sorrows

not as those who have no hope.

We have in the life and character of Bro. Lawton, unmistakable evidence of deep-seated, genuine, love-inspiring piety. He was a man respected and beloved by all who knew him. Evidence of this might be seen in the falling tear from a house full of all classes. May it make a lasting impression on their minds. One prominent man (not a professor,) said of him, that he thought no man he knew of was so well prepared to die. May we all live the life of the righteous, that our last end may be like his.

"Dear as thou wert, and justly dear We will not weep for thee; One thought shall check the starting tear; From sorrow thou art free. "Angels shall guard thy sleeping dust, And, as thy Saviour rose, The grave again shall yield her trust, And end thy deep repose."