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| Rabelais,
Francois (1494?-1553) |
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"Bring down the curtain, the farce is
played out." |
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Francois Rabelais was a French writer who
had been a
Franciscan friar,
a Benedictine monk, a secular priest, and a physician. The
obscene
humor and ecclesiastical satire of his greatest book, Gargantua and
Pantagruel, led to his condemnation by the Sorbonne. |
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Rabelais's last words have also been
recorded as "I owe
much; I have
nothing; the rest I leave to the poor" and "I am going to seek a great
perhaps." |
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| Raleigh,
Sir Walter (1554?-1618) |
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"Strike, man, strike!" |
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Sir Walter Raleigh--a poet, historian,
explorer,
philosopher, and soldier--was
the epitome of a Renaissance man. Unfortunately, Raleigh's
anti-Spanish
privateering alienated King James I who charged him with treason in
1603.
Raleigh was held, under sentence of death, in the Tower of London until
1616 when he was finally granted a reprieve. The reprieve was
revoked
in 1618 after Raleigh sailed to South America and attacked a Spanish
camp
near the Orinoco River. Upon his return to England, Raleigh was
beheaded.
Before his execution, Raleigh refused to be blindfolded and touched the
ax, saying " Doest thou think that I am afraid of it? This is that that
will cure all sorrows." He then placed his head on the block and
noting a hesitance on the part of the executioner said, "What dost thou
fear? Strike, man, strike!" It took two blows to sever his
head, which his wife embalmed and kept in a red leather bag until her
death
29 years later. |
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Raleigh's last words have also been
recorded as "'Tis a
sharp remedy,
but a sure one for all ills" and "So the heart be right, it is no
matter
which way the head lieth." |
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| Reeves,
George "Superman" (1914-1959) |
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"I'm tired. I'm going back to
bed." |
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George Reeves was an American actor most
famous for
playing Superman
on the classic 1950's television series. Although Reeves had been
a respected actor for years (one of his first important roles was as
one
of the Tarlton twins in Gone With the Wind), he became so
typecast
in his Superman role that he couldn't find work after the series ended
in 1957. Late one night while he was living with his finance and
another friend, two other friends came to visit. Reeves became
angry
that he had been awakened and announced that he was going back to
bed.
He went back upstairs to his bedroom and shot himself in the head with
a 30 caliber luger. |
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| Remington,
Frederic (1861-1909) |
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"Cut 'er loose, Doc!" |
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Frederic Remington was the premier artist
of the
American West.
In 1909, he developed an acute case of appendicitis. He spoke his
last words to the surgeon just before his emergency appendectomy and
died
of peritonitis and other complications following the operation. |
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| Rhodes,
Cecil John (1853-1902) |
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"So little done, so much to do." |
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Cecil Rhodes emigrated to South Africa
from England for
health reasons
and made a fortune from gold and diamond mining. He died from
heart
disease, beset by personal scandals and discredited for his role in
fomenting
the Boer War. A colleague, sitting at his bedside, heard Rhodes
murmur
his last words. |
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For more information;
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| Roland,
Madame Jeanne-Marie Phlipon (1754-1793) |
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"Oh Liberty! Liberty! What crimes are
committed in
your name!" |
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Madame Roland was a devotee of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
and the wife of
Jean-Marie Roland de La Platière, a former government official
who
became a leader of the Girondist party during the French
Revolution.
Her salon served as an intellectual meeting place for Girondists and
Jacobins,
including Maximilien Robespierre and Georges Danton, alike. When the
moderate
Girondists lost popularity and fell into disfavor with the radical
leaders
of the revolution following their protests over the killing of the
aristocracy,
her husband was forced to flee Paris for safety. Eventually
Madame
Roland was arrested and sent to prison. On 23 November she was
taken
to the guillotine along with another prisoner. Before she was
executed,
Madame Roland bowed to a nearby statue of Liberty and spoke her last
words.
Her husband committed suicide upon learning of her death. |
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| Roosevelt,
Franklin Delano (1882-1945) |
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"I have a terrific headache." |
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Franklin Roosevelt was the 32nd president
of the United
States and
greatly expanded the role of the federal bureaucracy in attempting to
manage
economic and social issues. As president, he also led the nation
through most of World War II. In February, 1945, Roosevelt met
with
Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at Yalta to plan the final months
of
the war and decide upon the organization of the post-war world.
Bested
by Stalin at the conference and exhausted by the negotiations,
Roosevelt
returned to the United States and took Lucy Page Mercer Rutherford, his
long-time mistress and his wife's former secretary, with him to relax
at
his private getaway in Warm Springs, Georgia. There, while having
his portrait painted, he remarked to the artist that he had a terrible
headache, collapsed, and died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Of
course,
Mrs. Rutherford was spirited away before Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor,
arrived. |
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| Rothstein,
Arnold "Mr. Big" (?-1928) |
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"Me mudder did it." |
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Arnold Rothstein was the notorious
gangland money man
who made a fortune
on the 1919 World Series fix. Rothstein, a partner of Meyer
Lansky,
was shot while playing poker at Park Central Hotel in New York City on
November 4, 1928. He was taken to Polyclinic Hospital where
despite
intensive police questioning he refused to name his killer. He
appears
as the fictional character, Meyer Wolfshiem, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's
novel, The
Great Gatsby. |
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| Ruffin,
Edmund (?-1865) |
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"I here declare my unmitigated hatred
to Yankee
rule--to all political,
social and business connection with the Yankees and to the Yankee race.
Would that I could impress these sentiments, in their full force, on
every
living Southerner and bequeath them to every one yet to be born! May
such
sentiments be held universally in the outraged and down-trodden South,
though in silence and stillness, until the now far-distant day shall
arrive
for just retribution for Yankee usurpation, oppression and atrocious
outrages,
and for deliverance and vengeance for the now ruined, subjugated and
enslaved
Southern States! . . . And now with my latest writing and
utterance,
and with what will be near my latest breath, I here repeat and would
willingly
proclaim my unmitigated hatred to yankee rule--to all political, social
and business connections with Yankees, and the perfidious, malignant
and
vile Yankee race." |
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Edmund Ruffin was a vocal proponent of
secession and
rabid supporter
of Southern rights. Following the defeat of the Confederacy, he
found
that he could not bear to live under Union reconstruction and chose to
commit suicide. Before he did, he wrote these words in his diary. |
| Ruth,
George Herman "Babe" (1895-1948) (see
epitaph) |
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"I'm going over the valley." |
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Babe Ruth was one of the all-time greatest
American
baseball players.
On 13 June 1948, he returned to Yankee Stadium in New York City to
celebrate
its 25th anniversary despite being gravely ill from throat
cancer.
He was admitted to the hospital a little over a week later but
recovered
enough to attend the premier of The Babe Ruth Story starring
William
Bendix in late July. He became so weak during the screening that
he departed before the movie finished and was readmitted to the
hospital.
On 16 August Ruth told a visitor "Don't come back tomorrow. I
won't
be here." Later that evening he left his bed and began to wander
about his room. A doctor noticed him and asked where he was
going.
Ruth returned to his bed and lapsed into a coma and died within the
hour. |
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| Sacco,
Nicola (1891-1927) |
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"If it had not been for these things I
might live
out my life talking
at street corners to scorning men. I might have died unmarked, a
failure, unknown. Now we are not a failure. This is our
career
and our triumph. Never in our full life could we hope to do such
work for tolerance, for justice and for man's understanding of man." |
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In 1921, Nicola Sacco and his partner
Bartolomeo
Vanzetti, Italian
immigrant anarchists, were convicted of murdering the paymaster and a
guard
at a shoe factory during a robbery. National and international
communist,
anarchist, socialist, and labor organizations protested their
innocence,
and a series of defense motions and appeals wound their way through the
courts for over six years. Repeatedly, judges and even an
independent
investigative committee upheld their conviction and sentence.
Both
men were finally executed in 1927. In 1977, on the fiftieth
anniversary
of their execution, the governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis,
decreed
that they were innocent and declared any "disgrace should be forever
removed
from their names." |
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Just as with
most murdering communists, anarchists, and other assorted radicals of
America's not to distant past, the political, media, and academic left
of today have made a heroes and martyrs of Sacco and Vanzetti.
Impartial or balanced biographies are nearly impossible to find.
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| Sanders,
George (?-1972) |
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"Dear World. I am leaving you
because I am
bored. I
feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries
in this sweet cesspool. Good luck." |
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George Sanders was a British actor whose
film career
spanned four decades
and included Rebecca, Forever Amber, and All About
Eve,
for which he won an Oscar. The screen's epitome of a cad, Sanders
was married four times in real life; his wives included two of the
Gabor
sisters, Zsa Zsa and Magda. In April 1972, Sanders checked into a
hotel in Barcelona, wrote a short suicide note, and took an overdose of
sleeping pills. |
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| Saroyan,
William (1908-1981) |
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"Everybody has got to die, but I have
always
believed an exception
would be made in my case. Now what?" |
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William Saroyan was a Pulitzer Prize
winning writer of
plays, short
stories, and novels whose works were noted for their sentimental
optimism.
Before his death in 1981, Saroyan telephoned his final words to the
Associated
Press. |
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| Scott,
Robert Falcon, Captain (1868-1912) |
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"Had we lived, I should have had a tale
to tell of
the hardihood,
endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the
heart
of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must
tell
the tale, but surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see
that
those who are dependent on us are properly provided for. R. Scott" |
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Captain Scott was a famous British
explorer who led an
ill-fated expedition
to the South Pole. Despite severe weather and repeated equipment
failure, Scott and his men arrived at the South Pole on January 18,
1912,
only to find that Roald Admundsen and his party had reached it a month
before. On the return trip, the entire party became lost within
eleven
miles of the basecamp, and everyone perished. Scott's diary
was later found by other explorers. See Captain
Lawrence Oates. |
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| Sedgwick,
John "Uncle John," General (1813-1864) |
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"They couldn't hit an elephant at this
distance." |
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General John Sedgwick was a corps
commander in the Army
of the Potomac
during the Civil War. At the battle of the Wilderness, while
inspecting
his troops, he approached a parapet and peered out over the surrounding
countryside. His officers and men urged him to take cover from
small
arms fire, but Sedgwick scoffed at their concerns, "What! What men!
This
will never do, dodging from single bullets!"
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Sedgwick's
Chief of Staff recorded that shortly thereafter
Sedgwick saw another soldier drop to the ground as a sharp-shooter's
bullet passed by with a long shrill whistle. Again, Sedgwick
repeated
his remark about the elephant, and the soldier replied that he'd been
dodging bullets all day and that if he hadn't, one of them surely would
have taken off his head. Sedgwick replied, laughingly, "All
right, my
man, go to your place." No sooner had the words left his mouth
then
the general fell to the ground, blood spurting "in a little fountain"
from a hole in his cheek, just under the left eye.
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| Sitting
Bull (1831-1890) |
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"I am not going. Do with me what
you
like. I am not
going. Come on! Come on! Take action! Let's go!" |
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Although Sitting Bull--an important Sioux
chief who is
most famous
for his role in defeating Custer at the Battle of the Little Big
Horn--surrendered
with about 200 of his followers in 1886, he continued to resist the
U.S.
government and tribal authorities by encouraging performances of the
Ghost
Dance ceremony and fomenting a new war against the white man. On
15 December 1890, about forty Native American members of the Indian
Constabulary
surrounded Sitting Bull's cabin and attempted to arrest him. When
Sitting Bull refused to leave with the police, a crowd of angry
supporters
gathered around him. One of them, Catch the Bear, pulled a gun
and
shot the senior officer, Lieutenant Henry Bull Head. As Bull Head
fell, he fired once and hit Sitting Bull in the side. A close
quarters
fire fight immediately broke out, and by the time it ended fourteen
men--six
of whom were police officers--had died. |
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| Sobhuza
II (1899-1982) |
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"I am going." |
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Sobhuza II, King of Swaziland, called a
meeting of his
advisors to
discuss political relations with other African states. Suddenly,
he stopped the meeting and dismissed everyone except his minister of
health.
To him, Sobhuza said, "I am going." Confused, the minister asked
where. Sobhuza silently smiled, waved good-bye, and died.
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| Socrates
(469-399 B.C.) |
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"Crito, I owe a cock to
Asclepius. Will you
remember to pay
the debt?" |
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Socrates was a Greek philosopher broke
with tradition
to investigate
both ethics and logic. Possessed with an amazing ability to
irritate
politicians, he was eventually convicted of corrupting the young people
of Athens through his teaching and sentenced to death by drinking
hemlock. |
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| Stein,
Gertrude (1874-1946) |
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"What is the question?" |
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Gertrude Stein was a U.S. writer who
became famous for
her experimental
prose. She lived most of her life in Paris with her companion
Alice
B. Toklas. When Stein was dying of cancer, she turned to Alice B.
Toklas and whispered, "What is the answer?" Miss Toklas did not
respond.
Stein nodded, as if in agreement, and continued, "In that case, what is
the question?" |
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| Surratt,
Mary (1823-1865) |
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"Please don't let me fall." |
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Mary Surratt, one of the Lincoln
assassination
conspirators, was the
first woman ever executed by the United States government. She
was
hanged on July 7, 1869. |
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