Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
CHAPTER XIV
DEATH OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.—FUNERAL
SERVICES AT WASHINGTON, D. C.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS died suddenly of heart
failure at his home, Cedar Hill, Anacostia, in the
District of Columbia, February 20, 1895, at seven
o'clock p. M., in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
Until stricken he was to all outward appearances
in his usual good health and spirits. Death came
unexpectedly, giving no warning of its approach.
In the morning of the 20th, Mr. Douglass
came, with his wife, to the city, she going to the
Congressional Library and he to attend the
Women's Council, which was then in session at
Metzerott Hall. Mr. Douglass, as a member of
the National Woman's Suffrage Association, was
naturally interested in the proceedings of all
gatherings of representative women; hence his
presence at Metzerott Hall. He was on this
occasion specially honored by an invitation to
remain through the secret business session of the
Council, from which all persons except members
were excluded. As he entered the hall the President,
Mrs. Mary Wright Sewall, suspended
business and designated the Rev. Anna H. Shaw
and Miss Susan B. Anthony to escort 1 him to the