Embassy of the
United States Of America

Mexico, July 3, 1941.

Dear Mr. Cash:

	I telegraphed you last night as follows:
		Your wire reached here too late to
	stop cremation. In any case it would
	have been advisable as Mrs. Cash is in
	no condition to make the long trip on
	the train, as your son had expressed
	his preference for cremation and in nearly
	every instance bodies of Americans dying
	in Mexico are creamated. I am writing you 
	in full. Mrs. Cash expects to reach Char
	-lotte by plane Saturday or Sunday. Will 
	wire later. She is with us at the Embassy 
	and with friends. My wife joins in deep 
	sympathy. The State has lost one if its 
	most brilliant writers.
	
	I am writing today as per my telegram. Your son
since arrival in Mexico had suffered from diarrhea,
which left hiom very nervous. He was greatly disturbed
-almost beside himself- over the German-Russian war.
He had long been militantly anti-Nazi, and in his
weakened physical condition his mind became impaired.
He became obsessed with the thought that the Nazis were
seeking to do him harm. His wife did everything to
aid him and protect him and friends here, when his
condition became known, were ready to do anything for
him. If he had not ended his life it would have been
necessary to confine him in a hospital for those men-
tally afflicted. In a spell when he was not responsi-
ble for his acts he hanged himself in a hotel.

	Mr. Ben Meyers of the Associated Press and his
wife were the best of friends to Mrs. Cash and took
her to their home, where she spent the night. They
acted as the truest friends in her great grief. This
morning my wife and I asked her to come to the Em-
bassy, where she will stay as long as necessary be-
fore leaving for home. You may be sure my wife will
comfort her in every way. I did not know before that
Mrs. Cash and my wife were related through her father.

	The

												The

Mr. John W. Cash
North Morgan Street,
Shelby, North Carolina.

			-2-

	The officials of the embassy and Consulate have
done everything in their power and will continue to
do so. The Mexican authorities require an autopsy and all
here deemed it best that his body be cremated. That is
the general course when Americans die here. Mrs. Cash
said he had often said that he approved of cremation, and,
felt that his family and friends could not have seen
him as he was before the autopsy. Morever, his wife
felt she could not endure the agony of the long train
trip and all that it involved, in her already over-
strained nervous condition. She was utterly crushed,
but is trying to bear up and thinks and talks of you
and his family in your joint bereavement.

	In your grief there is no comfort except in the
Christian faith, which Mrs. Cash says is strong and
based on your religion. Your son had won a high place
in the world of letters and larger fame awaited him.
He nad my son Jonathan were good friends. It is
beyond my understanding why this tragedy should have
come to him and to all who loved him. Mrs. Cash tells
me that you are a Primitive Baptist. I lived in a com-
munity - Wilson - where members of this faith predomin-
ated, and owe most of my education to Elder Sylvester
Hassell, a saint if one ever walked the earth. Your
church gives strength, for it remains true in a chang-
ing world to the "ancient landmarks which the fathers
have set."

	My wife joins in deep sympathy to you and all
who loved your gifted son.

Sincerely yours,

Josephus Daniels