COPYRIGHT DFPOSIT 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS 
 
 IN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 AN HISTORICAL WORK 
 
 GIVING PORTRAITS AND SKETCHES OE THE MOST EMINENT 
 CITIZENS OF NEW YORK 
 
 uLcA 
 
 ■JjD:, '\^'S,\hXM 
 
 PUBIJSHED BY 
 
 L. R. HAMERSLY & CO. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 I 90b 
 

 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 
 Two Cooies Received 
 
 MAY 19 1906 
 
 CLASS (^ ^^-l' 
 
 141 ^ M-*f 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 Coi>vKi(;uT, 1906, BY L. R. Hameksly & Co. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The history of a city is, to a large extent, the history 
 of the men who, through the exercise of energy, abiUty 
 and pubHc spirit, have made it what it is ; whose Hves 
 have not been solely devoted to business and personal 
 concerns, but who have had the interests of their city 
 at heart; and to whose earnestness of purpose and 
 patriotic devotion to the good of the municipality its 
 institutions and public and industrial interests owe their 
 origin and development. This may truly be said of 
 New York, the influence of whose leading citizens has 
 been strongly felt in the growth of its civic institutions, 
 and to whose commercial and political activity it owes 
 the high standing which it has attained among the 
 cities of the world. Of men of this character New 
 York possesses many of whom it may well be proud, 
 and none in an}' city better deserve the honor that it 
 is here proposed to give them, of placing on record 
 the story of their careers. Since to their exertions the 
 city in great measure owes its growth and prosperity, 
 it is fitting that they should receive the high measure 
 of credit which is their due, and that the coming gen- 
 erations should have the opportunity of learning what 
 was the influence, at the opening of the twentieth cen- 
 tury, of its energetic and capable citizens upon its evo- 
 lution, and of profiting by their example. It is to this 
 worthy end that the work here offered is devoted. 
 
 Here may be read the life stories of those citizens of 
 the American metropolis who have been most eminent 
 in commercial and productive enterprise, and of those 
 whose professional, legislative and official careers have 
 been most marked and valuable. Among them are 
 included many of the most prominent merchants, bank- 
 ers, jurists, statesmen, theologians, physicians, soldiers, 
 authors, scientists and philanthropists of our country; 
 men who fought nobly for the cause of the Union in 
 the Civil War, men to whom is due the commercial 
 and industrial growth of our city, and who have given 
 it its present high standing as one of the metropolitan 
 cities of the civilized world. 
 
 To all those who take pride in the progress of a city 
 which, in the space of less th.an three centuries, has far 
 
 I outgrown cities which were founded more than two 
 thousand years ago, and to-day has but a single peer 
 in the world, this work is offered as, in an ample sense, 
 a history of that city, since it is the history of the men 
 who have been and are now engaged in laying for it 
 the foundations of a marked and memorable future. 
 The work here referred to is practically a second edi- 
 tion of "The Makers of New York," one of the most 
 valuable books ever issued concerning New York and 
 its people, a work that had a large and instantaneous 
 success, and is still held in high value by its possessors. 
 This book has now been out of print for years, and the 
 time is certainly ripe for a suitable successor ; one not 
 dealing with the men of bygone generations, as that 
 largely did, but confining itself to the influential men 
 of to-day. While, of course, it does not seek to be 
 exhaustive, it has been made a well-considered selec- 
 tion from the lives of our leading men, and we trust 
 that it will be valuable to future historians and, like the 
 former, be deemed indispensable in libraries, newspaper 
 offices and historical societies, as well as on the book- 
 
 ^ shelves of prominent citizens. The record of the for- 
 mer work shows that it was not a mere storehouse of 
 
 I sketches of subscribers to the volume, since two-thirds 
 of those whose names appeared in it did not purchase 
 the work ; and the same may be said of the present edi- 
 tion, which it is proposed to keep free from any com- 
 mercial considerations, putting in only those whom 
 editorial supervision may deem worthy, that it may 
 truly carry out the promise implied in its title. 
 
 ' This work, in truth, needs no eulogistic preface. It 
 speaks for itself. Alike as a splendid example of the 
 art of book-making and for the pemianent value of its 
 contents, it appeals to every citizen of the metropolis, 
 and must long be cherished as the roll of honor of those 
 to whom the city owes its fame, its development and its 
 prosperity. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 JOIiN JACOB ASTOR 
 
 Colonel ill the Sptinisli-Aincricaii War and Capitalist 
 
 Was born at the family estate of Fernclitt, Rhine- 
 beck, N. Y., on July 13, 1864. He is the son of 
 William Astor. grandson of William B. Astor, and 
 great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, the founder of 
 the Astor family in America, and is the inheritor of 
 his father's great estate. He received his education 
 at St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H., and at Harvard 
 University. He subsequently followed the example 
 of his father in making an extended European tour, 
 and on his return to the United States, traveled ex- 
 tensively in Cuba and Mexico and made several ex- 
 peditions to the Rocky Mountain region, following 
 the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. On his 
 return to New York he became concerned in the 
 management of the extensive Astor estate, which 
 includes a vast and highly valuable amount of real 
 estate in New York City, the Astors being the lead- 
 ing property holders in the American metropolis. 
 Colonel Astor's inherited share in this estate is a 
 very large one, and his time, when not engaged in 
 other duties, is fully occupied in the care of it. He 
 is also a director in many banks and trust companies. 
 
 his duties in connection with which absorb much of 
 his time. 
 
 The military career of Colonel Astor began in 
 1S95, '^vhen he was appointed, with the rank of 
 colonel, on the stafif of Governor Morton. On the 
 outbreak of the war with Spain, he manifested his 
 patriotic spirit by presenting a complete and fully 
 equipped and manned battery of artillery to the 
 national government. Shortly after the beginning 
 of the war, on May 9, 1898, he was commissioned 
 Inspector-General, with the rank of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel U. S. A., and with orders to report to Major- 
 General J. C. Breckinridge and to accompany him on 
 an inspection of the camps of Chickamauga Park, 
 Huntsville, Tampa, Key West, and other localities. 
 Subsequently he was detached and ordered to report 
 to Major-General W. R. Shafter, at Tampa, Fla., for 
 duty on his staff and to accompany the army of in- 
 \-asion in Cuba. After the landing of the army in 
 Cuba, he took part in the operations of the Fifth 
 Army Corps, being actively engaged with it in the 
 stirring events of the battle, siege and surrender of 
 Santiago de Cuba. After the surrender of the Span- 
 ish forces, he was chosen by Major-General Shafter, 
 j commanding the Army of Invasion, to deliver the 
 official terms of capitulation to the Secretary of War, 
 and proceeded to Washington in the performance of 
 this dtity. He received his discharge from the army 
 in September, 1898, and was recommended by Gen- 
 eral Shafter, in his report to the Secretary of War, 
 to be brevetted Colonel for "faithful and meritorious 
 services." 
 
 Since the close of the war Colonel Astor has re- 
 sided in New York, engaged in the business duties 
 aliove mentioned, among which should be included 
 the erection in 1897 of the Astoria Hotel. This 
 splendid structure immediately adjoins the large 
 Waldorf Hotel, previously built by his cousin, Wil- 
 liam Waldorf Astor, the two hotels having since been 
 under one management and constituting the Wal- 
 dorf-Astoria, one of the largest and costliest hotels in 
 the world, and in great measure the centre of hotel 
 life in New York. More recently Colonel Astor has 
 built, at great cost, another fine hotel, the St. Regis, 
 opened to the public in 1904. 
 
 Colonel Astor's time is by no means all taken up 
 by business and social duties. His mind turns 
 strongly to invention, and his ability in this direction 
 is testified to by a number of useful devices upon 
 which patents have been issued to him; one of these 
 a pneumatic machine to remove worn-out material 
 from roads before new stone is laid down, was exhib- 
 
MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ited by liim in 1893 at the Cliicago World's Fair, and 
 was awarded a first prize. It acts by means of an air- 
 blast, which blows off the pulverized stone after it 
 has been crushed. It is a device that is likely to 
 prove of great utility in the macadamizing of country 
 roads, and has been highly commended by the Scien- 
 tific American. Another invention, decidedly more 
 ambitious in character, but certainly of doubtful 
 utility, is one designed to induce rain. Its purpose 
 is to move large volumes of surface air by a suitable 
 mechanical device, and convey it to the upper atmo- 
 sphere through a conduit. The idea underlying the 
 device is, that by moving a volume of warm, moist 
 air to the colder upper regions and preventing its 
 mingling with the atmosphere while ascending it will 
 discharge its moisture as rain. The practical appli- 
 cation of this idea has not yet been reahzed, Colonel 
 Astor having contented himself with proposing the 
 theory instead of constructing the mechanical means 
 for its utilization. Whether it will be effective can 
 only be told by a practical demonstration, and the 
 difliculty and costliness of that would doubtless prove 
 very great. 
 
 An invention which seems far more likely to be 
 of utility is that of a practical turbine engine. On 
 this he has taken out American and foreign patents, 
 but with creditable generosity has presented the en- 
 tire device to the public. In addition to his mechani- 
 cal inventions, Colonel Astor has entered the field of 
 authorship, and has shown a marked literary ability 
 
 in his book entitled "A Journey in Other Worlds; a 
 Romance of the Future." The story is an ideal con- 
 ception of the inhabitants of the planets Jupiter and 
 Saturn, and is a curious and interesting piece of fic- 
 tion, with a plot handled in a very original manner. 
 As may be perceived from the above statement, 
 Colonel Astor's time has been somewhat actively and 
 usefully employed. Aside from his business, literary 
 and mechanical labors, he has long been an ardent 
 lover of sports and outdoor recreation and is an active 
 member of many country clubs. He is especially 
 interested in automobiling, in which he takes a great 
 delight ; being very expert in driving his cars, through 
 his thorough and practical knowledge of their mech- 
 anism and construction. Cruising on his large steam 
 yacht Xnunnaha! is another form of outdoor enjoy- 
 ment of which he is very fond. 
 
 j In 1 89 1 Colonel Astor married Miss Ava L. 
 
 j Willing, of Philadelphia, a descendant of a promi- 
 nent Pennsylvania family, whose ancestors came to 
 America with William Penn, and who still hold much 
 of the original family property. This marriage united 
 
 I two of the leading Knickerbocker and Quaker family 
 stocks. There are two children, a son, William Vin- 
 cent Astor, born 1892, and a daughter. 
 
 I His club membership, above spoken of, includes 
 
 j the Metropolitan, L'nion, Knickerbocker, Brook. 
 New York Yacht, Riding. Racquet and Tennis, 
 Country and Tuxedo clubs, the Society of Colonial 
 Wars. etc. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 REAR-AD:\nRAL JA^MES RUFUS TRYON 
 United Stales Naz'y (retired) 
 
 James Rufus Tryon, long a prominent surgeon in 
 the United States Navy, and at present bearing the 
 rank of Rear-Admiral, on the retired Hst, was born at 
 Coxsackie, N. Y., on the 24th of September, 1837. 
 Obtaining his preliminary instruction in the schools of 
 his native place, he entered Union College for the ad- 
 vantages of a higher education, graduating from this 
 institution in 1858. His subsecjuent eminence in his 
 profession was acknowledged in the degrees of Ph.D., 
 conferred upon him by Union College in 1891, and 
 LL.D., in 1895. Taking up the study of medicine and 
 graduating M.D., he applied for a position in the 
 United States Navy, passed the necessary examination, 
 and received the appointment of Assistant Surgeon on 
 September 22, 1863. This was in the midst of the 
 Civil War, and the new member of the surgical corps 
 of the Navy found abundant work laid out for him. 
 Assigned to the West Gulf Squadron, he served in it 
 till the end of the war, being present at the hot fight 
 under Admiral Farragut in Mobile Bay, and after this 
 battle being put in charge of the wounded at the Naval 
 Hospital, Pensacola, Fla. 
 
 At the close of the war he was assigned to the Naval 
 
 Flospital at Boston, remaining on duty there till 1866, 
 when he was detailed to make a special report to the 
 Naval Department covering the history of the treat- 
 ment paid memliers of the wounded in that hospital 
 during the war. ]'"or the four following years he was 
 engaged on shore duty as an assistant in the Bureau 
 of Medicine and Surgery at ^Vashing■ton, with the rank 
 of Passed Assistant Surgeon, to which he was pro- 
 moted in 1866. 
 
 I In 1870, at the end of this term of service, he was 
 ])ut at sea duty, being ordered to the Asiatic Squadron, 
 :.n which he remained until 1873, and receiving promo- 
 . tion to the grade of full Surgeon in the latter year. 
 His service in the Asiatic seas was an acti\e one, part 
 of his time being spent as physician in charge of the 
 temporary smallpox hospital at Yokohama, Japan, dur- 
 j ing the epidemic of that disease in 1871, and part of it, 
 by appointment of Rear-Admiral John Rodgers, then 
 in command of the station, in superintending the erec- 
 tion of the present United States Naval Hospital at 
 Yokohama, a service f(jr which his long experience in 
 I hospital requirements had v,-ell fitted him. 
 
 At the conclusion of his term of service with the 
 Asiatic Squadron he was put on special duty at New 
 York, and from there sent to the Navy Yard at Pensa- 
 cola, Fla., where a yellow-fever epidemic was decimat- 
 ing the garrisons. After a period of duty here extend- 
 ing over three years he was assigned to the North 
 Atlantic Station, and from 1879 to 1882 was again 
 engaged on special duty at New York City. He left 
 there in the latter year for a further term of sea duty 
 on the Pacific Station, his services being called for dur- 
 ing the following years in Alaska, Hawaii and on the 
 I South Pacific Coast. 
 
 ! After this long period of active service in various 
 parts of the world Surgeon Tryon was sent to Phila- 
 delphia in 1883 as a member of the Examining Board 
 of Surgeons, and in 1884 was honored by being sent 
 as a delegate to the International Medical Congress at 
 Copenhagen, Denmark, in whose deliberations his 
 varied experience proved of value. After taking an 
 active part in this Congress he was kept on duty in 
 European waters and on the African coast for the fol- 
 lowing three years, when he was ordered to report at 
 the Marine Rendezvous, New York, and from 1888 to 
 i8gi was again a member of a ]\Iedical Examining 
 Board, this time in New York City. In the last-named 
 year Union College, as already stated, conferred on 
 him the honorary degree of Ph.D. as a fitting recogni- 
 tion of his high standing in the Surgical Corps of the 
 United States service. In the same year he was pro- 
 moted to the rank of Medical Inspector. 
 
MEN OF AI'FAIJ^S IX NEJl' YORK 
 
 Later in 1891 Surgeon Tryon was assigned to duty 
 on the cruiser Chicago, flagship of the North Atlantic 
 Station, and later %vas actively engaged in the duties 
 of his profession at Montevideo, Uruguay, and at La 
 Guayra, Venezuela. One of its periodical revolutions 
 was now talking place in Venezuela, and he volunteered 
 his services for the relief of the wounded of hoth par- 
 ties at Macuto, his work here being so appreciated by 
 the Venezuelan authorities that he was honored with 
 the decoration of the "Busto del Libertador." the chief 
 decoration of honor of that South American republic. 
 
 Surgeon Tryon had now been in active duty tor thirty 
 years, and had won, by his intelligence and high ability 
 in his profession, an advanced standing in the estima- 
 
 tion of the Naval Department. His eminence was rec- 
 ognized and rewarded in iS(;3 by his promotion to the 
 high post of Surgeon-Cicneral in the United States 
 Navy, his equivalent rank in the service being that of 
 Commodore. On May 10, 1893, he was appointed 
 Chief of the Bureau of Aledicine and Surgery of the 
 Navy Department, and remained in this field of duty 
 till 1897, in January of which year he was appointed 
 Medical Direct<ir. and in October. General Inspector 
 of Hospitals. Li 1898 he was a delegate to the Inter- 
 national Congress of Hygiene and Demography at 
 Madrid, .Spain. He Avas retired from active service, 
 with the rank of Rear-Admiral. September 24, 1899. 
 and now resides in his ])lace (_)f liirth, Coxsackie, N. Y. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 LEVI PARSONS MORTON 
 
 Former Vice-President, and former Governor of 
 tlie State of New York ; born Shoreham, Vt., May i6, 
 1824 ; youngest son of the Rev. Daniel Oliver Morton. 
 He is a direct descendant of George Morton, of Baw- 
 try, Yorkshire, England, one of the Pilgrim Fathers 
 who landed at Plymouth, Mass., from the ship Ann 
 in 1623. Mr. IMorton was educated at the Academy 
 in his native town, and then chose a mercantile career. 
 When tv^'enty years old he began business at Hanover. 
 N. H., remaining there about five years; in 1849 '^^ 
 became connected with the house of James M. Beebe 
 & Co., in Boston, as a clerk, and was admitted to part- 
 nership at the same time that Mr. Morgan, the suc- 
 cessor of George Peabody & Co., of London, joined 
 the firm ; five years later he came to New York, and 
 established the dry goods commission house of Mor- 
 ton & Grinnell; in 1863 he went into the banking 
 business, establishing the well-known house of Mor- 
 ton, Bliss & Co., and in connection with Sir John 
 Rose, who was at one time financial minister to 
 Canada, he founded the house of IMorton, Rose & Co., 
 of London, England. Mr. Morton was a careful stu- 
 dent of the financial transactions of the Government, 
 and his firm was one of the syndicates which so suc- 
 
 cessfully assisted in funding the national debt and 
 making the resumption of specie payment possible at 
 a fixed rate. The London firm were the first fiscal 
 agents of the LTnited States Government from 1873 
 until 1884. and were reappointed in 1889. In the 
 negotiation of the United States bonds and the pay- 
 ment of the Geneva award of fifteen million five hun- 
 dred thousand dollars, and the Halifax Fishery Award 
 of five million five hundred thousand dollars, Mr. 
 Morton's firm was especially active; the firm of Mor- 
 ton, Bliss & Co. was dissolved on October i, 1899, and 
 was succeeded Ijy The Morton Trust Co., of which 
 Mr. Morton was elected president, and he still fills 
 that position. In 1878, President Hayes appointed 
 Mr. Morton honorary commissioner of the United 
 States to the Paris Exhibition, and in that same year 
 he was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress from the 
 Eleventh District in New York, defeating his oppo- 
 nent, a Tammany Democrat, by seven thousand 
 votes; he was returned in 1880 by a largely increased 
 vote. He represented in Congress the wealthiest dis- 
 trict in the LTnited States, and in the conscientious 
 attention to the interests of his constituency, as well 
 as those of the State at large, found himself a very 
 busy man ; his experience in finance made him natur- 
 ally a leader in this branch of legislation, and he was 
 promptly accorded a prominent place among his asso- 
 ciates at the national capitol. He strongly opposed 
 the unlimited coinage of silver in 1879, and character- 
 ized the measure then before the House as a "bill for 
 the relief of owners of silver mines and silver bullion 
 in the United States and Europe;" was always deeply 
 interested in international politics and the relations 
 of the United States with other countries, and served 
 as a member of the committee on Foreign Afifairs in 
 the Forty-sixth Congress. The nomination for the 
 Vice-Presidency was informally tendered Mr. Morton 
 at Chicago in 1880, but he declined it, preferring to 
 remain in Congress; subsequently he was given his 
 choice between a place in the Cabinet as the Secre- 
 tary of State. Secretary of the Navy, and the French 
 Afission, and he chose the last named. His creden- 
 tials were presented to the French Government on 
 August I, 1881. and the manner in which he filled 
 that important position won for him the good opin- 
 ion of the people of both that country and this; was 
 able to secure the removal of the restrictions upon 
 the importation of American pork to France, and was 
 al)le to bring about also the recognition of American 
 corporations in that covmtr\'. Mr. Morton drove the 
 first rivet in the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty Enlight- 
 ening the \Vorld, and had the honor of accepting it 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 for his government. He represented the United 
 States at the Paris Electrical Exposition and the 
 Sub-Marine Cable Convention; in 1885, after the in- 
 auguration of President Cleveland, he resigned his 
 mission and returned home. At the Republican Na- 
 tional Convention in Chicago, in 1888, Mr. Morton 
 was nominated for the Vice-Presidency, and was in- 
 augurated in March of the following year. As a pre- 
 siding officer of the Senate he discharged his duties in 
 a most able and impartial way. On July 14, 1881, 
 Dartmouth College conferred upon him the degree of 
 doctor of laws, and in the following year Middleburg 
 College remembered him with a similar honor. Mr. 
 Morton is president and director of the ]\Iorton 
 Trust Co., president and trustee of Fifth Avenue 
 Trust Co. ; tnistee of Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co. ; 
 director in the Guaranty Trust Co. ; director in the 
 Home Insurance Co. ; director in the Panama Coal 
 Co., and director in the Washington Life Insurance 
 Co. He is president of the Metropolitan and member I 
 
 of the Union, Union League, Lawyers' Republican 
 and Tuxedo clubs, the Century Association, the New 
 England Society, the Sons of the American Revolu- 
 tion, and the American ( icDgraphical Society. He 
 has been married twice: his first wife was Lucy Kim- 
 ball; she died in 1871. His second wife, whom he 
 married in 1873, is a daughter of William L. Street; 
 she is descended from several of the old Jilanhattan 
 families; her grandfather was General Randall S. 
 Street, and her grandmother, Cornelia Livingston, a 
 grandmother of Rol)ert Li\ingston and Alida 
 (Schuyler) A'an Rensselaer. ]\lr. Morton has had 
 five children by his second wife. His eldest daughter, 
 Edith Livingston, was married to William Corcoran 
 Eustis, April 30, 1900; his daughter Helen was mar- 
 ried to Count De Perigord, now Duke De \^alencery. 
 in London, in October, 1901, and his daughter Alice 
 was married to \\'inthrop Rutherford, in February, 
 1902. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ALBERT BROWN CHANDLER 
 
 Albert Brown Ciianulkr, llie president of the 
 Postal Telegraph Cable Company, was born in West 
 Randolph, Vermont, August 29, 1840. Mr. Ran- 
 dolph's famih^ is of English origin, his progenitor 
 being one of three brothers who settled in Roxbury, 
 Massachusetts, in 1637. He is also a descendant on the 
 maternal side of John Winthrop, the first Governor of 
 Massachusetts, through the Governor's daughter, Mary 
 Winthrop. 
 
 Mr. Chandler w-as not so fortunate as to obtain a 
 collegiate education, his early entry into practical 
 affairs precluding that privilege, but he was well 
 grounded in the branches of study pertaining to the 
 public schools, and was an apt and proficient scholar. 
 His school vacations were employed in studying the 
 printer's art, an opportunity for which was afforded 
 him in the office of the local newspaper and in the 
 office of a paper in Montpelier, the capital of the State. 
 Much of his leisure time was also spent in learning to 
 manipulate the keys of a telegraph instrument in an 
 office which was located in a book store in his native 
 town, he at the same time earning a small compensa- 
 tion by discharging the duties of a messenger boy. The 
 knowledge of telegraphy which he gained at this time 
 
 was destined to soon stand him in good stead. His old- 
 est brother, William W. Chandler, was general freight 
 agent of the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad in 
 1858, and at that time, when his brother was but eigh- 
 teen years of age, learning something of his proficiency 
 in telegraphy, he offered him the position of manager 
 of the Western Uni^n Telegraph office at Bellaire, 
 Ohio, at that period a comparatively unimportant 
 station. Here he gave almost immediate evidence of 
 his superior natural qualifications, and early in the 
 following year he was transferred to Pittsburg and 
 given a responsible position in the office of the Superin- 
 tendent of the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad Com- 
 pany, and three months later was made agent of the 
 railroad at Manchester, an important freight shipping 
 pi lint near Pittsburg. He remained in this position 
 until 1863. His reputation as a skilful telegrajiher 
 had spread even then to such an extent that he was 
 asked to take an important position in that line nf work 
 under the Cio\'ernment. This offer he declined for the 
 time, but two years later, when he was twenty-two 
 years old, he joined the ranks of the military telegraph- 
 ers, the headquarters of which were in the War De- 
 partment, within sound of the voice of the great War 
 Secretary, Edwin M. Stanton. The character of the 
 work performed was unlimited in its variety. It in- 
 cluded all the reports from army headquarters in the 
 field, the various important points outside the line of 
 hostilities, as in New York and other principal cities 
 of the North and Canada, as well as the consular sta- 
 tions throughout the world. In speaking of the work 
 of the corps to A\hich he was directly attached, Mr. 
 Chandler recentl\- said : "We were cipher telegraphers. 
 All the messages we sent or received were in cipher. 
 Not the commercial cipher in use at the present time, 
 devised for the double purpose of abbreviation and 
 secrecy, but intended for secrecy alone. Of course, this 
 was not universal. The ordinary telegrams between 
 the various departments were in the ordinary charac- 
 ters, but when they came to us there the cipher was 
 used. Our skill in this line was frequently used for the 
 purpose of deciphering intercepted telegrams from the 
 enemy, and to good purpose, not infrequently resulting 
 in the frustration of important plans." 
 
 An almost daily visitor to the rooms occupied by the 
 military telegraphers was President Lincoln. Of these 
 visits Mr. Chandler says : "He came into my room, 
 as he would often remark, to 'get away from his per- 
 secutors.' He was as interested as a child in the work 
 that was being done, and would look over my shoulder 
 almost for hours, watching me deciphering. This inter- 
 course led me to love the man, as did every one with 
 
8 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 whom he came in contact. A more human and yet 
 noble cliaracter never existed. He was dignified, but 
 with a natural dignity. He was never intentionally 
 unkind to any one, and no one could misunderstand 
 liim without doing so deliberately." Mr. Chandler 
 retained his position in the War Department until 
 about a year after the close of the \\ ar. During all the 
 period of his service he was noted lor the skill and in- 
 telligence with which he discharged his important du- 
 ties, and on more than one occasion he received the 
 special approval of Secretary Stanton for some spe- 
 cially skilful piece of work. 
 
 In 1866 it was determined to organize into one com- 
 pany the several telegraph companies then existing, and 
 while this organization was in process Mr. Chandler 
 was made chief clerk in the superintendent's office for 
 the eastern division, and was also placed in charge of 
 the transatlantic cable traffic, and to the duties of these 
 positions were added those of superintendent of the 
 sixth district of the eastern division. He continued to 
 occupy these positions, and to discharge their onerous 
 duties with complete satisfaction to the company, until 
 Januarv, 1875, when he resigned to become the general 
 manager of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Com- 
 pany. From the position of general manager he was 
 advanced by rapid stages through the different grades 
 of secretary, trustee, treasurer and vice-president to 
 that of president, to which position he was called in 
 1879, and which he continued to hold until 1882, when 
 the Atlantic and Pacific was al)sorhed by the Western 
 Union Company. In the latter year Afr. Chandler 
 was tendered and accepted the presidency of the Fuller 
 Electric Company, which was one of the first to engage 
 in the arc system of electric lighting. 
 
 In December, 18S4, at the instance of Jnhn W. 
 Mackav, the California millionaire and financier, he 
 
 was empIo3'ed as counsel by the Postal Telegraph and 
 Cable Company, and in 1885, when the company had 
 become involved in litigation, he was appointed by the 
 Supreme Court of New York as receiver. Upon the 
 termination of the legal questions involved, it was 
 mainly through his efforts that the company was suc- 
 cessfully reorganized, and in recognition of his valu- 
 able services he was elected its president and general 
 manager. He was also chosen as general manager of 
 the United Lines Telegraph Company. Subsequently 
 he became a director, and afterward president of the 
 Commercial Telegraph Company. 
 
 Through Mr. Chandler's efforts the New York 
 Stock Exchange obtained control of the last-named 
 company, he subsequently becoming vice-president and 
 general manager of the New York Quotation Company, 
 and afterward president of the Brooklyn District Tele- 
 graph Company. In 1887 he, with several of the chief 
 officials of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 effected arrangements for the discontinuance of the de- 
 structive competition which had previously existed, 
 resulting in much advantage to the telegraph compa- 
 nies and to the public. 
 
 About twelve years ago tiie Postal Telegraph Com- 
 pany purchased a plot of ground at the corner of 
 Murray Street and Broadway, and erected thereon a 
 handsome twelve-story structure, in which are located 
 die main offices and the operating rooms of the com- 
 pany. This fine structure was projected mainly 
 through Mr. Chandler's efforts. He is now president of 
 the New England Telegraph Company, and vice-presi- 
 dent of the Commercial Cable Company, the Postal 
 Telegraph and Cable Company, the Commercial Pacific 
 Cable Company, the Otis Elevator Company, and the 
 National Surety Company, besides occupying several 
 minor [wsitions of trust. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JUDSON D. BINGHAM 
 
 United States Ar)ny 
 
 Was born in Messena, St. Lawrence County, New 
 York, May i6, 1831 ; in 1850 appointed cadet at the 
 United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y., 
 from the Tenth Congressional District of Indiana, on 
 the recommendation of Hon. A. J. Harlan, Representa- 
 tive in Congress from that district; served as a cadet 
 at the Military Academy from July i, 1850, to June 
 30, 1854; promoted to Second Lieutenant, Second 
 United States Artillery, July i, 1854; served as Assis- 
 tant Instructor of Artillery Tactics at the United States 
 Military Academy from July i, 1854, to August 28, 
 1854; served in garrison at Fort Wood, Bedloe's 
 Island, New York Harbor, November and December. 
 
 1854, and at Barrancas Barracks, Fla., from January, 
 
 1855, to March 22, 1856; promoted to First Lieutenant, 
 Second Artillery, March 12, 1856; on duty in United 
 States Coast Survey Service from March 22, 1856, to 
 June 12, 1857; in garrison at Fort Monroe, Va. (Artil- 
 lery School of Practice), 1857 to i860; on expedition 
 to Harper's Ferry, Va., to suppress John Brown's 
 raid, 1859; on frontier duty at Fort Ridgely, Minn., 
 from ]N.Iay, i860, to April, 1861, and on expedition to 
 
 the Yellow Medicine, Minn., in summer of i860; in 
 garrison at Fort McHenry, Md., May and June, 1861 ; 
 appointed Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, United 
 States Army, May 13, 1861 ; served during the Re- 
 bellion of the seceding States; in charge of trains and 
 supplies of General Banks's command, in the field, in 
 Maryland, from August, 1861, to February 12, 1862, 
 and in charge of Quartermaster's depot, at Nashville, 
 Tenn., from March, 1862, to March, 1863; served as 
 Chief Quartermaster of the Seventeenth Army Corps 
 (Lieutenant-Colonel ex-officio) from January i, 1863, 
 to April 23, 1863, when General Grant appointed him 
 Chief Quartermaster of the Department and Army of 
 Tennessee; he continued on duty in the field as Chief 
 Quartermaster of that army from that date during the 
 time it was commanded by Generals Grant, Sherman 
 and McPherson, up to the date the latter was killed in 
 battle, and subsequently by Generals Logan and How- 
 ard, to the end of the siege of Atlanta, Ga., August 25, 
 1864; was present as Chief Quartermaster of the Sev- 
 enteenth Army Corps at Lake Providence and Milli- 
 ken's Bend, La., April 9 to 23, 1863; was present as 
 Chief Quartermaster of the Army of Tennessee at the 
 siege of Vicksburg, Miss., from April 23 to July 4, 
 1863; was present at the surrender of the city and 
 during its occupation from July 4 to October, 1863; 
 was at Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn., and at 
 Bridgeport and Scottsboro, Ala., until last of Decem- 
 j ber, 1863; joined General Sherman at Cairo, III, Janu- 
 [ ary i, 1864, and under his direction arranged for trans- 
 porting troops from Memphis to Vicksburg for the ex- 
 ' pedition to ]\Ieridian, Miss. ; as Chief Quartermaster 
 of the Army of the Tennessee accompanied General 
 Sherman on the march with the Sixteenth and Seven- 
 teenth Army Corps from Vicksburg to Meridian and 
 return, February and March, 1864; was present as 
 Chief Quartermaster at headquarters Army of the 
 Tennessee, Huntsville, Ala., March to June, 1864; 
 and in the invasion of Georgia, including siege of At- 
 lanta, June to August 25, 1864; was appointed Inspec- 
 tor of the Quartermaster's Department (Colonel 
 ex-officio), August 2, 1864, and served as such from 
 August 25, 1864, to December 31, 1866, being engaged 
 in making investigations at Boston, Mass. ; New York 
 City, Elmira, Syracuse, and Ogdensburg, N. Y. ; Tren- 
 ton, N. J. ; Nashville and Chattanooga, Tenn. ; Louis- 
 ville and Camp Nelson, Ky. ; Fort Snelling, Minn. ; 
 and Fort Riley, Kans. ; on duty in the Quartermaster- 
 General's office, Washington, D. C, at various times 
 from September, 1864, to December, 1865; from De- 
 
 General Sherman at St. Louis, Mo., as Inspector of the 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 Quartermaster's Department; was on duty as Chief 
 Quartermaster, Department of the Lakes, at Detroit, 
 Mich., from January 8, 1867, to March 31, 1870; in 
 February, Marcli and April, 1869, made inspections at 
 Forts Richardson. Griffin, Concho, Stockton, Davis, 
 McKavitt and San Antonio. Tex. ; served as Assistant 
 in tlie office of tlic Quartermaster-General at Wash- 
 ing-ton, D. C, from April 4. 1870, to October, 1879, 
 and in charge of the IJureau from October 25, 1873, to 
 January- 19, 1874, and from January 28 to February 
 20, 1875; served as Commissioner to audit Kansas 
 War Accounts, under Act of Congress approved Febru- 
 ar)' 2, 1871, from ^March 8 to April 5, 1871 ; served as 
 Chief Quartermaster Department of the Missouri, Fort 
 Leavenworth, Kans., from October. 1879, to Novem- 
 ber, 1S83 ; served as Chief Quartermaster, Division of 
 the Pacific and Department of California, Presidio of 
 San Francisco, Cal., from November, 1883, to May 30, 
 1886; served as Chief Quartermaster, Division of the 
 Missouri, Chicago, 111., June 4, 1886, to December, 
 1894; promotions, to Quartermaster with the rank of 
 Major, July 20, 1866; to Deputy Quartermaster-Gen- 
 
 eral with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, March 3, 
 1S75; to Assistant Quartermaster-General with the 
 rank of Colonel, July 2, 1883; brevets, Major, Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel and Colonel, March 13, 1865, for faithful 
 and meritorious services during the war ; Brigadier- 
 General, April 9, 1865, for faithful and meritorious 
 services in the field during the war; retired from active 
 service, May 16, 1895; member of the Society of the 
 Army of the Potomac ; of the Anny of the Cumberland ; 
 of the Army of Tennessee; Commander of the Society 
 of Veterans of Indian Wars of the United States since 
 its organization, April 23, 1896; companion of the 
 Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United 
 States, and as ex-Senior Vice-Commander of the Com- 
 mandery of the State of Illinois, a member of the Com- 
 mandery-in-Chief ; member of Manhattan Club of New 
 
 [York; of Union League of Philadelphia, and Osceola 
 Club of Pensacola, Fla. ; also member of Association of 
 Graduates of United States Military Academy at West 
 
 ! Point, N. Y. Is a member of the National Geographic 
 Society, of the .\rmy and Navy Club of New York, 
 
 ' and of the Fortnightly Club of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ROBERT BARNWELL ROOSEVELT 
 
 Few members of the American Bar have attained 
 a higher distinction in the legal profession than 
 Robert B. Roosevelt. He has also become equally 
 distinguished as an author and statesman. He was 
 born in the city of New York on the 7th day of 
 August, 1829. His family had lived in or near the 
 city since 1648, and was of Dutch lineage on both 
 sides to the time of his grandfather, who married Miss 
 \"an Schaick. Mr. Roosevelt received a collegiate 
 education, and after his graduation began the study 
 of law. Possessed of a vigorous mind and being a close 
 student, he made rapid progress in his studies, and 
 was admitted to practice at the age of twenty-one. 
 He early attained an enviable reputation as an able 
 counsel and advocate, and was intrusted with many 
 important cases. But his professional life was early 
 supplemented by an activity in literature and in po- 
 litical affairs, which brought him prominently into 
 public notice, and eventually turned his life interests 
 aside from legal practice. His literary taste devel- 
 oped early and rapidly, and was accompanied by 
 powers of imagination and reasoning, together with a 
 lucid style, that have made him popular as a magazine 
 writer and as an author of more ambitious works. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt has lieen from his youth an ardent 
 lover of sport and of outdoor recreations, but his 
 enthusiasm in this direction has always been tempered 
 with a measure of good judgment that led him to 
 make a vigorous protest against the indiscriminate 
 slaughter of game in which so many so-called sports- 
 men indulge. In his determination to overcome this 
 pernicious ])ractice he de\oted much time and energy 
 to the organization of clubs and associations for the 
 preservation of game, and to the obtaining from the 
 Legislature of the State the passage of laws restric- 
 tive of the \-an(]alism tliat threatened the complete 
 externiinatidii nf the game and fish inhabiting the 
 woods and waters of the State. In these efforts he 
 was seconded by many prominent persons whose sym- 
 pathies with the cause he had enlisted, and by their 
 united help was founded the New York State Fish- 
 ery Commission. He was eventually placed at the 
 head of this commission, and his labors in the direc- 
 tion and management of its affairs were incessant 
 until t888, when his appointment by President Cleve- 
 land as LTnited States Minister to the Netherlands 
 caused him to suspend his supervision of the work. 
 This he did not do, however, until he had submitted 
 to the Legislature a complete and exhaustive report 
 on the work of the commission, giving in detail the 
 results of its work for twenty-one years. 
 
 At the time of Mr. Roosevelt's acceptance of the 
 3,linistership to the Netherlands he had been for a 
 number of }'ears president of the Holland Trust Com- 
 pany, and so anxious were the members of this or- 
 ganization to retain his services that they decided to 
 continue him in the nominal position of president 
 during his absence from the country. On the election 
 of a Republican administration he resigned his foreign 
 mission and returned to the active management of 
 the affairs of the Holland Trust Company, and re- 
 sumed his interest in literary, political and domestic 
 affairs. He again became particularly active in the 
 subject of the increase of the fish supply and the pres- 
 ervation of game, and served for a number of years 
 as the president of the Fish Culture Association, 
 the Association for the Protection of Game, and 
 also of the international association, having the same 
 ol)ject. Llis work in this direction was not confined 
 to labors in the organization with which he was di- 
 rectly associated, but took the form of literature in 
 his published volumes on "The Game Fish of North 
 .'\merica," "The Game Birds of the North," "Super- 
 ior Fishing," and "Fish Hatching and Fish Catch- 
 ing," "Florida and the Game ^^^ater Birds," "I^ove 
 and Luck." Lie is also the author of "Five Acres Too 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 j\Iuch," a clever satire suggested by Edmund Mor- for the country at large, and was prominent in many 
 ris's "Ten Acres Enough." Also of "Progressive of the debates. In municipal affairs he was active for 
 Petticoats," a humorous illustration of medical many years, giving particular attention to the fomia- 
 habits. He edited the political works of Charles G. tion of the paid fire department and the improvement 
 Halpine. of the conditions of the Health Department. He was 
 
 Politically, l\Ir. Roosevelt has been, througliout his for some time an active member of the commission 
 entire career, an active member of the Democratic appointed by the city authorities to superintend the 
 l)arty, working in its interest during the Civil War, I construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. He has been 
 at which time he took part in the formation of sev- connected with the successful development of many 
 eral political associations. His greatest and most use- financial properties, and has investments in many of 
 ful activity in municipal politics, however, was his the States of the Union. His most important busi- 
 sliarc in the founding of the Committee of Seventy, , ness connection, however, is with the Holland Trust 
 whose work was directed against the outrages of the I Company, already mentioned. In this he has asso- 
 Tweed Ring. He was also the first vice-president of ciated with many men of prominence in the commer- 
 the Reform Club, and one of the editors of the Citi- cial world, for the most part, like liimself, descended 
 zen, a paper devoted to the pohcy of this club. He from Dutch families. Through this Holland element 
 subsequentlv took entire charge of this paper, and tlie company appeals to those of Knickerbocker de- 
 worked energetically through its columns for the scent in the United States, and has advantages and 
 overthrow of the Tweed ascendancy. j close relations with the Netherlands, a country that 
 
 In 1870, Mr. Roosevelt was elected a member of contains more wealth in proportion to its size than 
 the Fortv-seventh Congress, having received the any other country of Europe. 
 
 nomination and active support of both factions of the Mr, Roosevelt was treasurer of the Democratic 
 Democratic partv. When in Congress he was an ac- National Committee at the time of Mr. Cleveland's 
 tive member of the Committee on the District of second election. He is president of the Sons of the 
 Columbia, and by his superior knowledge on the sub- j .American Revohition, and was chairman of the Com- 
 jcct of nnniiciiial afTairs, ;m(l his untiring attention to mittee for the Protection of Soldiers during the Span- 
 his duties, lie was enabled to render most important i-^h-American ^^'ar. He has been a delegate to many 
 service to the citizens of the capital, .^s an evidence national conventions, and was president of the So- 
 of their appreciation of his labors in their behalf they ciety of Founders and Patriots. He was one of the 
 presented to him a costly gold-headed cane on his founders and has been ever since a member of the 
 retirement from ofifice, an unusual event. ]\Tr. Roose- 1 Lotos Club. He is also a member of many other 
 velt took an active part in forming the legislation ' clubs. He is the uncle of President Roosevelt. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 DARIUS OGDEN ^IILLS 
 
 Darius Ogden Mills has been for many years one 
 of the foremost bankers and financiers of the Ameri- 
 can metropoHs. Mr. Mills was born in North Salem, 
 Westchester County, New York, September 25, 1825, 
 and is descended from an old family whose pioneer 
 came from the north of England some time before the 
 American Revolution, settling first on Long Island 
 and then in Connecticut. James Mills, the father of 
 the subject of the present sketch, was a man of con- 
 siderable prominence in the community in which he 
 dwelt, and was intrusted with the duties of various 
 local oi¥ices. He was a man of large means, and was 
 engaged in numerous forms of business, which caused 
 him to lead an unusually actixe and busy life. Some 
 of his investments proving unfortunate in their char- 
 acter, he suffered a financial reverse which swept 
 away the greater part of his fortune, and he removed 
 to Ossining, where he died in 1841, leaving his sons 
 dependent upon their own energies for the gaining of 
 a livelihood. D. O. Mills, then sixteen years of age, 
 did not flinch from the task that was set before him. 
 Inheriting rugged health from his earliest boyhood, 
 he showed himself in the early stages of his career to 
 be cool, clear-headed, capable and self-reliant, and 
 
 from the moment that he first entered practical affairs 
 he made his way with marked success. He received 
 his education at the North Salem Academy and at 
 the Mount Pleasant Academy in Ossining, leaving 
 the last-named institution at the age of seventeen to 
 accept a position as clerk in a mercantile establish- 
 ment in New York. He almost- immediately estab- 
 lished his aptitude for business, and was frequently 
 adxanced liv his employers to a more responsible 
 position. He remained with this concern four years, 
 when, at the invitation of his cousin, E. J. Townsend, 
 of BufTalo, he went to that city to serve as cashier 
 in the Merchants' Bank of Erie County, and also to 
 become a partner with Mr. Townsend. Mr. Mills's 
 two brothers had been attracted to California by the 
 discovery of gold in that country, and D. Ogden 
 determined to follow them. Concluding an arrange- 
 ment with Mr. Townsend by which his business in- 
 terests in Buffalo would be cared for, and providing 
 himself with the means for carrying forward such 
 enterprises as he might engage in, he left for the 
 Coast, arriving in San Francisco in Jime, 1849. He 
 immediately purchased a stock of merchandise and 
 laid his plans for a trading expedition to Stockton, 
 the then center of the gold operations. This enter- 
 prise was crowned with signal success, and at its con- 
 clusion he settled in Sacramento, where he carried 
 on a business of general merchandizing, buying gold 
 dust, and dealing in exchange on New York. So suc- 
 cessful were his ventures that by the end of Novem- 
 ber he found himself in the possession of a cash capi- 
 tal of .'?40.ooo. Finding the work so congenial and 
 profitalile, I\Tr. Mills decided to return to Buffalo, 
 close out his interests there and to make California 
 his future home. This decision he carried into effect, 
 and in 1850 he returned to the Coast, this time with 
 a large cargo of valuable merchandise, which he dis- 
 posed of at such a profit as to enable him to estab- 
 lish, with others, a banking institution at Sacra- 
 mento, which at once became, under the name of 
 D. O. Mills 6c Co., and has remained to this day. the 
 leading banking concern of that city. He subse- 
 quently established a branch in Columbia, which he 
 placed in charge of his brothers, James and Edgar. 
 In 1864 he was elected president of the Bank of 
 California, n new institution which began business 
 •^hat year with a capital of $2,000,000. He remained 
 connected with it till 1873. when he resigned the 
 presidency and retired from business. After it was 
 wrecked by his successor he was summoned again to 
 the bank and resumed the presidency, subscribing 
 personally to the bank capital $1,000,000, raising in 
 
14 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 all nearly $7,000,000, and within six weeks enabling 
 it to resume payment. In three years he again left it, 
 after having firmly re-established its financial 
 standing. 
 
 During his residence in Californi;i. Mr. Mills identi- 
 fied himself largely with the business interests of the 
 Coast, and is still a large owner in gold, silver, cop- 
 per and quicksiher mines, land ventures and indus- 
 trial enterprises. Practical business engagements, 
 however, never so absorbed his time as to render him 
 indifferent to the higher interests of the population 
 of the Coast. He accepted, with evident pleasure, 
 the positions of regent and treasurer of the Universit}' 
 of California, and he endowed a professorship in that 
 institution, which is called the Mills Professorship 
 of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy. He also be- 
 came one of the first trustees of the Lick Observa- 
 tory and the Lick estate, and he has in many other 
 ways promoted the growth of popular taste and 
 intelligence. 
 
 In 1880. Air. Mills transferred his home and part 
 of his capital to New York, and he has ever since 
 made his residence in that citv. One of his first in- 
 
 vestments was the construction of a superb office 
 building on Broad Street, which is known by his 
 name, and which embraces in its tenantry some of 
 the greatest corporations in the metropolis. A simi- 
 lar building was erected by him a few years ago in 
 San Francisco. 
 
 Mr. Mills is a liberal contributor to the arts, and 
 is favorably known for his ]M-actical efforts for the 
 relief of those in the lower ualks of life, notaljly in 
 the construction of hotels where lodging and food of 
 a superior character may be obtained for the actual 
 cost of supplying them. He has devoted largely of 
 his time and means to the perfection of these schemes, 
 and his efforts have been crowned with a large meas- 
 ure of success. He is fond of travel, and his name is 
 often found in the lists of the outgoing or incoming 
 ocean steamers. 
 
 Mr. Mills was married September 5, 1854, to Jane 
 T., daughter of James Cunningham, and their chil- 
 dren are Ogden. and Elizabeth, wife of Whitelaw 
 Reid, .Embassador to Great Britain. He is a member 
 of the Metropolitan. Century, L^nion. Union League 
 and Knickerbocker clubs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 REAR-AD^IIRAL ARTHUR BURTIS 
 
 United Stairs Navy 
 
 Was bora in New York, and appointed assistant 
 paymaster from tliat State l>y Mr. Lincoln in 1862; 
 his grandfather, Artliur Burtis, was an Alderman of 
 the city of New York from 1813 to 1819; his great- 
 grandfather and great great-grandfather both served 
 in the Revolutionary War. His father was the Rev. 
 Arthur Burtis, D.D., an eminent clergyman of Buf- 
 falo, N. Y. Young Burtis' first orders were to duty 
 under Admiral Farragut in the Sagamore, but on the 
 way there in the supply steamer Rhode Island he 
 contracted yellow fever and was sent north ; upon re- 
 covering was ordered to the Connecticut, employed in 
 convoying the California steamers through the Car- 
 ibbean Sea; the Connecticut was next on the block- 
 ade, capturing four noted blockade-runners; also 
 caused the destruction of four more, in the course of 
 which dut)' she was engaged with Fort Fisher. From 
 1864 to 1866 Paymaster Burtis was attached to the 
 Muscoota, of the Gulf Squadron ; while in the Mus- 
 coota he was promoted to paymaster. May 4, 1866; 
 from 1867 to 1869 he was stationed at League Island ; 
 from 1870 to 1873 was attached to the Brooklyn, 
 
 which ship brought the body of Admiral Farragut 
 from Portsmouth, N. H., to New York, and then 
 went for a cruise in European waters — part of the 
 
 I three years' cruise on the Brooklyn he was the fleet 
 
 I paymaster of the European fleet. Upon his return 
 home, after service at the Bureau of Provisions and 
 Clothing, Navy Department, 1873, he became in- 
 spector of provisions and clothing at the navy yard, 
 Philadelphia, from 1874 to 1877; most of the time 
 he had the additional duty of paymaster of the re- 
 ceiving-ship St. Louis. In 1878 he was a member of 
 the Board of Examiners ; again ordered to League 
 Island, and after about a year's service there went to 
 the practice-ship Constellation for her summer cruise 
 with the cadets of the Naval Academy. After this he 
 was for some time on special duty at Navy Pay Office, 
 New York ; from 1883 to 1886 he was attached to the 
 Galena, of the North Atlantic Squadron; the Galena 
 was at Aspinwall in the spring of 1885; during the 
 rebellion on the Isthmus, and when that city was 
 burned, the officers and crew of the ship prevented 
 much destruction of property and loss of hfe; the 
 Galena also seized at St. Andrew's Island the filibus- 
 
 I tering steamer City of Mexico, in February, 1886. 
 From June, 1886, to May, 1889, was the paymaster 
 of the navy yard. New York; he next went to the 
 Vermont, receiving-ship at New York, and in Janu- 
 ar}', 1890, was ordered as fleet paymaster of the Pa- 
 cific Squadron in the flagship Charleston. The 
 Charleston brought King Kalakau from the Sandwich 
 Islands to California, and took his remains back to 
 Honolulu in January, 1891 ; from the Charleston he 
 was transferred to the flagship San Francisco, March 
 31, 1891; the San Francisco was in Chili during the 
 revolution in 1S9T, and in Valparaiso when Balma- 
 ceda's army was defeated and the Congressional 
 forces captured that city, August 28, 1891 ; he was 
 promoted to pay inspector, September 21, 1891 ; was 
 detached from the flagship San Francisco, January 
 30, 1892; Pay Inspector Navy Yard, New York, De- 
 cember, 1892-1900; and he was member Board of 
 Inspection and Survey, January, 1896-97; U. S. S. 
 New York, fleet paymaster, 1897, North Atlantic 
 Station. The New York was at Tortugas when the 
 Maine was destroj^ed at Havana, February 15, 1898; 
 captured the Spanish steamer Pedro, April 22, 1898, 
 and later several other prizes : action with the Matan- 
 zas batteries, April 27, 1898; engagements, San Juan, 
 Porto Rico, May 12, 1898; engagements, Santiago de 
 Cuba, June 6, 1898; action. Santiago, June 16, 1898; 
 action, Aguadores, Cuba, July i, 1898; action, San- 
 
 [tiago, July 2, 1898; action with Cervera's fleet, July 3, 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJV YORK 
 
 1898; promoted to pay director, May 5, 1898; de- 
 tached from the New York, July 3, 1899; in charge 
 of Navy Pay Office, Boston, Mass., December 30, 
 
 York, the Holland Society of New York, the Sons of 
 the American Revolution, the Kappa Alpha Society, 
 the St. Nicholas Club of New York, the Union Club 
 
 899-1902; Navy Pay Office, New York, 1902; re- of New York, and the Council of the Military Order 
 
 tired, November 21, 1902, with rank of rear-admiral; of the Loyal Legion, 
 received the honorary degree of A. M. from Hobart i N. Y. 
 College; member of the St. Nicholas Society of New 
 
 His home is now at Buffalo, 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 BISHOP HEXKV C. POTTER, D.D. 
 
 The Right Reverend Henry Codman Potter, 
 the seventh Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese 
 of New York, was born in Schenectady, New York, on 
 May 25, 1825, being the son of the Rev. Alonzo Potter, 
 who was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsyl- 
 vania in 1845, and ne[)hew of the Rev. Horatio Potter, 
 who became Bishop of New York in 1861. Mr. Pot- 
 ter received his early education in the Philadelphia 
 Academy of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 
 thence entered the Theological Seminary near Alexan- 
 dria, Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1857. 
 He was immediately made deacon, and one year later 
 was ordained to the priesthood. Erom his entry on 
 the deaconate until May 15, 1859, he was in charge of 
 Christ Church, at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He was 
 subsequently transferred to St. John's Church, of Troy, 
 New York, in charge of which parish he remained for 
 seven years. At the end of this period he was installed 
 as assistant rector at tlie famous Trinity Church, of 
 Boston, where he served for two years. His next field 
 of duty was as rector of an equally well-known church. 
 Grace Church, New York City, of which he assumed 
 pastoral charge in May, 1868, a post of duty which he 
 continued to occupy for the succeeding sixteen years. 
 
 During this period he received many invitations to 
 transfer his labors to other fields, but he uniformly 
 tleclined to make any change. In 1863 he was chosen 
 president of Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, by a vote 
 of its trustees. This position he declined, and at a later 
 date (1875) declined another offer, more in the line of 
 his profession, that of Bishop of Iowa. His uncle; 
 Bishop Horatio Potter, of the Diocese of New York, 
 feeling, in 1887, tmfitted to perform all the duties de- 
 volving upi>n him, preferred a request to the Diocesan 
 Convention, then in session in Philadelphia, for an 
 Assistant Bishop. This request of the aged Bishop was 
 immediately complied with by the election of his 
 nephew as Assistant Bishop. The consecration of the 
 newly elected Bishop took place on October 20, 1883, 
 in the presence of forty-three Bishops and nearly three 
 hundred clergymen, who were assembled at the general 
 convention. Mr. Potter's long connection as rector 
 with Grace Church ceased in January, 1884, though he 
 was still to remain related to his old parish in his new 
 capacity as Bish.op, which office he immediately as- 
 sumed. Bishop Horatio Potter being unable to per- 
 form any of the duties of the office, he was soon obliged 
 to retire from active labor in the diocese, all of whose 
 duties now fell to the care of his assistant. On Janu- 
 ary 2, 1887, the aged Bishop died. His nephew now 
 became the head of the See, a position which he has 
 since that date continued to fill. The diocese over 
 which he has episcopal control is the largest in popu- 
 lation of any in the United States. Its numerical 
 strength is over two millions, and within its boundaries 
 are more than two hundred parishes and churches and 
 over three hundred and fifty clergy, while the number 
 of communicants is in excess of fiftv-four thousand. 
 The annual contributions of the diocese amount to over 
 three million dollars. In 1866, Bishop Potter was ap- 
 pointed secretary of the House of Bishops of the Prot- 
 estant Episcopal Church, and continued to perform the 
 duties of that office until his election to the bishopric 
 in 1883. 
 
 Nothing remains to be said at this time in connection 
 with Bishop Potter's abilities as a member of the Epis- 
 copate, the high regard in which he is held by the com- 
 munity at large, or the earnestness with which he ap- 
 plies himself to the responsibilities and important duties 
 of his position. Concerning these his name has become 
 a household word, and on all hands none but the most 
 approving words are heard. Not only is he conscien- 
 tious, faithful and devoted to the spiritual welfare of 
 the members of his church, but his time has been largely 
 given to bettering the conditions of the struggling 
 masses of all denominations. New York affords a 
 
1 8 
 
 MEN 01' AhF.-URS IX XJllT YORK 
 
 large field for the exercise of this true ])hilanthropy, 
 and Bishop Potter has availed himself of its opportuni- 
 ties to an extent equal to that of any other man in the 
 community. It has not infrequently happened that in- 
 stead of availing himself of the privilege so largely en- 
 joyed by others holding a similar position, that of 
 seeking rest and recreation during the heated term at 
 some seaside or mountain resort, he has remained in 
 the city during all these periods and devoted his time 
 to the welfare, spiritual and otherwise, of the thousands 
 whose habitations are in the humbler quarters of the 
 city. By these efforts he has been enabled in an un- 
 ostentatious manner to convey blessings to many who 
 know him only as :m humble and earnest worker in 
 the ministry. 
 
 Bishop Potter lias, by his ministrations and mingling 
 with those in humble life, naturally become familiar 
 with the conditions and environment of the laboring 
 classes. In becoming thus familiar it has not infre- 
 quently happened that he has been a witness to the | 
 struggles that have so frequently occurred between 
 capita! and lalior during the past few years, and he has 
 made Ihniself ac(|uainted with the details of the ques- 
 tinns in dispute. Such being the case, it has naturally 
 fallen to his l^t to be called upon to participate in the 
 arbitration of tliese dis])Utes, and upon all .such occa- 
 sions his ser\'ices have been found to be invaluable, and 
 the ju.stice and wisdom of his decisions have in almost 
 every in.stance been appro\-ed by both parties to the 
 controversy. 
 
 Bishop Potter was married in early life to Eliza R. 
 Tacol), of Xew "S'lirk City, who died a number of years 
 ago. On October 4. ]i)n2. he married again, his second 
 wife being Mrs. Clark, widow of Alfred Corning Clark, 
 who died in 1S96, leaving her an estate of many mil- 
 lions. Mrs. Potter, though ])ossessed of great wealth, 
 has never been iirominent in society. She has chosen a 
 more congenial field for her activities, and has been a 
 generous though discriminate dispenser of charity. 
 She built and e(|uippe(l the .Alfred Corning Clark 
 Neighborhood TTouse at Canton and Kivington streets. 
 New York, at a cost of one hundred ami seventy-five 
 
 thousand dollars. She also erected the Alfred Corning 
 Clark Memorial Chape! in East Thirty-first Street, 
 New York, at a cost of more than one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. The ceremonies attending the laying of 
 the cornerstone of this last edifice were presided over 
 by the Bishop. Mrs. Potter has also provided tlie 
 A'oung Alcn's Christian Association at Cooperstown. 
 New ^'ork, witli a Iiandsome home, furnishing it at the 
 same time witli an extensive library and a gymnasium 
 thoroughly equii)ped with all of the up-to-date appli- 
 ances. Besides these conspicuous instances of lier 
 laounty, she has given largely in other directions, which 
 have not laeen made juililic. 
 
 Sociallv. Bislmii Potter is a great favnrite 'i'he 
 Potter family has always stood in the front rank of 
 New York society. It has allied itself with a number 
 of the oldest and most prominent houses. The Bishop 
 himself is a thorough man of the world. He is genial 
 in temperament and has a keen sense of humor. ]\Iany 
 instances of his wit are recited, and he is quite noted 
 for his epigrams. He is a delightful after-dinner 
 speaker and has been much in request at all the fash- 
 ionable functions In which it is considered appropriate 
 to ask a clergyman. Each summer he visits Newport, 
 where he has a summer house. The Gables. Besides 
 the honors received l^y Bishop Potter at the period of 
 bis graduation, he lias h.ad several degrees conferred 
 upon him by various colleges. x\mong these are in- 
 cluded the degree of .\.M.. and subsequently that of 
 D.l).. conferred by f'ninn College: the degree of 
 LL.D.. fnni tlie I'niversity of Cambridge. England- 
 of D.D.. frnm the Cniversity of Oxford, lingland : of 
 D.D.. frnm Harvard, and of the same degree from 
 Yale l'ni\ersitv. this l.asl lia\ing been conferred on the 
 occasion nf liis ele\ation to tlie liish.ipric. .Mthougli 
 well advanced in years, I'.isho]) Potter is still active in 
 the discharge of liis m;iny and impi'rtanl duties. His 
 greatest work for some years i)ast has been the sujier- 
 intendencv of the building of the Cathedral of St John 
 tlie Divine, on Morningside Heights, wliicli. when com- 
 oleted. will l;e one of tlic most magnificent ecclesiastical 
 edifices in the countrv. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 19 
 
 DR. S. ADOLPIIUS KNOrF 
 
 S. Adolphus Knopf, born at Halle-on-the-Saale. 
 Germany, Noveniljer 27, 1857; pursued elassical stud- 
 ies at the Higher Municipal School of his native city; 
 came to the United States in his early youth and set- 
 tled first in New York and then in Los Angeles, Cal. ; 
 taught languages and entered the University of 
 Southern California, remaining there until 1886; 
 then entered Bellevue Hosiiital Medical College, 
 N. Y., and in 1888 was graduated; he then engaged 
 in general practice at Los Angeles, Cal. ; in 1890 went 
 to France, matriculated at the University of Paris, 
 receiving equivalent of "bachelier es esciences es let- 
 tres" at the Sorbonne, graduated from the Faculty 
 of Medicine of the Paris University in 1895 with the 
 mention of "extremement satisfait" for his doctor 
 thesis ("Les Sanatoria, Traitement et Prophylaxie de 
 la Phtisie Pulmonaire"). He remained one more 
 year in Europe for the special study of sanatorium 
 treatment of consumptives, serving as assistant phy- 
 sician to Professor Dettweiler of the Falkenstein 
 Sanatorium. In June, 1896, the Academy of Medi- 
 cine of Paris made him laureate for his work on tu- 
 berculosis and sanatoria. Pie returned to America 
 in 1896, settled in New York City, devoting himself 
 
 exclusively to tuberculosis work. In 1898, the Col- 
 lege of Physicians of Philadelphia conferred upon him 
 the Alvaranga prize for his work, entitled "Pulmon- 
 ary Tuberculosis, Its Modern Prophylaxis and the 
 Treatment in Special Institutions and at Home." A 
 year later (1899) the International Congress for the 
 Study of Tuberculosis, which convened at Berlin, 
 awarded Dr. Knopf the prize of 4,000 marks for his 
 essay "Tuberculosis as a Disease of the Masses and 
 How to Combat It." This work has since appeared 
 in German, American, Arabic, Brazilian, Bulgarian, 
 Dutch, English, Finnish, F"rench, Hebrew, Flindustan, 
 Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian (2), Japanese, Mexican, 
 Polish, Russian (2), Servian. Spanish and Swedish 
 editions. In 1901, Dr. Knopf wrote the second and 
 enlarged edition of his doctor thesis, for which the 
 Institute of France made him laureate. He is also the 
 author of a prize essay on "Habitual Constipation." 
 The doctor has served as interne, assistant and visit- 
 ing physician to a number of American, French and 
 German general and special hospitals. He is ex-vice- 
 president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Preven- 
 tion of Tuberculosis, and of the American Academy 
 of Medicine; he was honorary vice-president of the 
 British Congress on Tuberculosis in 1901, and official 
 delegate of the United States Government to the 
 International Congress on Tuberculosis in Paris, 
 1905. In 1902 lie was chairman of the Committee on 
 the Relief of the Sick Poor of the New York State 
 Conference of Charities. Fle is an honorary fellow of 
 the Maine Academy of Medicine, and of the Sociedad 
 Cientifica Antonio Alsate of Mexico, and honorary 
 director of the New Haven Anti-Tuberctdosis Asso- 
 ciation. Dr. Knopf is a member of the International 
 Bureau for the Prevention of Consumption ; one of 
 the founders and directors of the National Associa- 
 tion for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis 
 and of the Committee on the Prevention of Tuber- 
 culosis of the New York Charity Organization So- 
 ciety. He is a fellow of the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation, the New York Academy of Medicine and of 
 the New York State and County Medical Associa- 
 tions and Societies. He holds at present the posi- 
 tions of associate director of the Clinic for Pulmonary 
 Diseases of the Health Department, visiting physi- 
 cian to the Riverside Sanatorium for Consumptives 
 of the City of New York; consulting physician to the 
 Tuberculosis Dispensary of the Gouverneur Hospital, 
 the Sanatoria for Consumptives at Gabriels and Bing- 
 hamton, N. Y., Scranton, Pa., etc. 
 
 Besides being the author of the books already re- 
 ferred to ("Les Sanatoria, Traitement," etc., "Pul- 
 
.1/£A' OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 nionary Tuberculosis, Its Prophylaxis and Treat- 
 ment," etc., "Die Tuberkulose als Volkskrankheit," 
 etc.), Di'- Knopf wrote the article on Tuberculosis in 
 the Twentieth Century Practice of Medicine and 
 made numerous other contributions on the diagnosis, \ 
 prophylaxis and treatment of tuberculosis and the so- 
 ciological aspect of consumption, alcoholism, etc. 
 Some of these are : "The Early Recognition of Pul- 
 monary Tuberculosis," "The Urgent Need of Sana- 
 toria for the Consumptive Poor," "State and Individ- 
 ual Prophylaxis of Tuberculosis During Childhood," 
 "Respiratory Exercises in Prevention and Treatment 
 of Pulmonary Tuberculosis," "The Mission of Socie- 
 ties for the Prevention of Consumption in the Anti- 
 Tuberculosis Crusade," "The Duties of the Individ- 
 ual and the Government in the Combat of Tuberculo- 
 sis as a Disease of the Masses," "How May the Pub- 
 lic School be Helpful in the Prevention of Tubercu- 
 losis?" "The Treatment and Care of Consumptives at 
 
 Their Homes and the \^alue of Local Sanatoria," 
 "The Treatment and Care of Post-Operative Tuber- 
 culous Patients and a Plea for the Establishment of 
 Seaside Sanatoria and Convalescent Homes," "The 
 Modern Tuberculosis Dispensary," "The Open-Air 
 Treatment at Home for Tuberculous Patients with 
 a Description of a Window Tent and a Half Tent," 
 "The Treatment and Care of Advanced Cases of Pul- 
 monary Tuberculosis," "The Tuberculosis Situation 
 in Penal Institutions, with Special Reference to the 
 State Prisons at Sing Sing and Columbus, Ohio" ; 
 "Woman's Duty Towards the Health of the Nation," 
 "The Family Physician as a Factor in the Solution of 
 the Tuberculosis Problem," "Consumptive Heroes," 
 "Die Anti-Tuberkulose Bewegung in den Vereinigten 
 Staaten im Jahre 1905," "The Sanatorium for Tuber- 
 culous Patients and Its ]\Iedical and Social Mission," 
 "The Possible \'ictory Over the Great White 
 Plague." 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL GEORGE W. MELVILLE 
 
 Unilcd States Navy 
 
 It is rare to find high professional ability and the 
 capacity to attend scrupulously to office work and de- 
 tails combined in the same individual with the daring 
 spirit and dauntless courage which lead to gallant 
 deeds in the face of the most distressing conditions 
 imder which men can be placed. The "sound body" 
 enabled the "sound mind" to do such things as Mel- 
 ville has accomplished, for his life has been one of 
 strange and stirring adventure. Although his name 
 will ever be associated with the Jeannette Expedition, 
 he was a volunteer for two other well-known similar 
 ventures to the far north, each of which accomplished 
 its mission, "tiito, cito, jucunde," — owing, in great 
 measure, to the knowledge which he had of the things 
 to be provided — a complete outfit being the necessary 
 adjunct of success in undertakings of this nature. 
 De Long, in his journals, bears full testimony to his 
 cheerful and steady co-operation during that trying 
 drift through entirely unknown seas. When the su- 
 preme moment came, and, with their own resources 
 cut down to the lowest amount, the party had to 
 make for an unknown shore, over a vast extent of ice 
 
 and water, Melville was equal to the occasion. He 
 commanded one of the three boats engaged in the 
 retreat, and accomplished the feat of bringing that 
 wliale-ljoat's crew out alive — while the others per- 
 ished, either in the icy waters of the Arctic or the 
 equally inhospitable waste about the Lena delta. 
 Most men would have thought that they had done 
 enough; but, after a few days of rest to recuperate 
 his forces, he again took his life in his hands and led 
 a party which discovered, far down in that lonely 
 wintry waste, the liodies of De Long, Dr. Ambler 
 and their ill-starred companions. One boat, he 
 rightly judged, had been lost during a night of 
 storm, as they were approaching the land. In search- 
 ing for the other boat's crew "he fought his perilous 
 and painful way, mile by mile, through the rigors of 
 perpetual winter and floating archipelagoes of ice 
 along the Arctic coast for over five hundred miles, 
 surviving the privations which had been fatal to 
 many, and persevered until his search was rewarded 
 by the recovery of all the records of the Jeannette 
 Expedition." In the face of obstacles presented by 
 the worst season, he penetrated to the mouth of the 
 Lena in his search, and left no doubt that the un- 
 fortunate crew of the third boat had not succeeded in 
 reaching the shore. As it was, he contributed to the 
 geography of the world a new and important chart of 
 that region. It was under his charge that the rude 
 but massive tomb was built which sheltered the poor 
 remains of the lost, "and the rites of Christian bur- 
 ial were performed over the6e martyrs to science and 
 humanity, where perpetual winter had embalmed 
 them." They were, however, subsequently exhumed 
 by order of the LTnited States Government and 
 brought home, to be laid among the dust of their 
 kin, with impressive ceremonies. The Russian Gov- 
 ernment offered every assistance to the officers who 
 accomplished this pious mission, while our own Gov- 
 ernment conferred substantial rewards upon those 
 who had aided Melville in his extremity. For his 
 Arctic services Engineer Melville afterwards received 
 special promotion, with the approbation of the whole 
 navy and of the country at large. Engineer-in-Chief 
 Melville was born in New York, of Scottish lineage, 
 on January lo, 1841, and his education was acquired 
 in the public schools, the school of the Christian 
 Brothers and the Brooklyn Polytechnic School. 
 He entered the navy at the outbreak of the Civil 
 War, and served well and faithfully, both during that 
 trying period and afterwards — when peace came — 
 j on our own coast, in the West Indies, in Brazil and 
 ' on the East India Station, besides duty at navy 
 
MEX OF AFFAIRS IN NEJV YORK 
 
 yards. He was everywhere a favorite on account of 
 his cheerful, modest and unostentatious deportment, 
 as well as for the zeal, bravery and endurance which 
 he showed on all occasions which were calculated to 
 bring- forth those qualities — and there are not few, 
 even in the ordinary course of service. Melville was 
 made engineer-in-chief of the navy, and chief of the 
 Bureau of Steam Engineering in August, 1877, and 
 in January. i8f)2. was recommissioned in the same 
 office, with the entire approbation of the whole navy, 
 as well as that of the great industrial estaljlishments 
 with which he nccessarilv comes in contact in con- 
 
 ducting a vast business. As an instance of his ability 
 to accomplish unusual feats, and his capacity for ex- 
 traordinary eft'ort. we may mention the fact that in 
 the summer of 1887 he himself prepared the general 
 designs of the machinery of five vessels of the new 
 navy. January, 1896, reappointed for the third term 
 as chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, and 
 again for the fourth time in 1000. He was retired in 
 1903, but his interest in political matters is as keen 
 and his judgment as good as when he was in the 
 very prime of life. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 23 
 
 NATHAN STRAUS 
 
 Nathan Strain is known as a leader in many 
 fields. In philanthropy, sport, politics and business 
 he has made his mark, and tlie indelible stamp of his 
 individuality is impressed ujion everything he under- 
 takes. 
 
 It is no easy task to describe a character which 
 abounds in so many opposites. The stranger is very 
 apt to be deceived in him and not give him credit 
 for the shrewdness and perspicacity which he pos- 
 sesses, but his brilliant successes in Inisiness are the 
 best proofs of the soundness of his judgment and of 
 his executive a1)ility. It has l)een said that his nature 
 is full of opposites. This is illustrated in many ways. 
 He has been known to go to great lengths to assist 
 an unfortunate em])loyee, win mi he afterward con- 
 demned as inefficient. The em])loyee's inefficiency, 
 however, had no effect upon the CMutinuatinn of his 
 employer's kindness. 
 
 "I would rather have the friendship of Nathan 
 Straus than that of any other man in New York," 
 said a prominent office-holder the other day. "He 
 will go to any lengths to help a friend, l)Ut his bump 
 of combativeness is also developed to a remarkable 
 
 degree, and when he fights, my advice is to 'lay 
 down !' " 
 
 It seems strange to many that Mr. Straus, with his 
 various business enterprises, should have the time to 
 devote to his practical charities. It is claimed by 
 those who are in a position to judge, that through 
 the medium of one of his charities alone he has saved 
 from the grave thousands upon thousands of the tene- 
 ment children. His dispensaries of Pasteurized milk 
 are catalogued among the most notable features of 
 New York City, and those who have never taken time 
 to inquire into the aim and benefit of these institu- 
 tions would be astounded by the statement that to 
 cease their operations would result in the extinction 
 of a large percentage of infant life. The wonderfully 
 beneficent effects of this charit}' of ])lacing pure steri- 
 lized milk within the reach of the poor of New York 
 City stimtdated the erection of similar plants in vari- 
 ous cities of the United States, and lately it has been 
 much discussed in connection with the municipal 
 ownership and operation of public utilities. Nor is the 
 good accomplished confined to this country alone, for 
 recently in the German Reichstag a liill was intro- 
 duced to jirovide for the sterilization of niillc. an<l the 
 results attained by Mr. Nathan Straus in New York 
 were quoted in favor of its passage. 
 
 Nothing less than the most remarkable condensa- 
 tion and rapid combination would admit of Mr. 
 Straus's operation of so many philanthropies in con- 
 nection with ills personal grasp of the great amount 
 of detail belonging to his diversified enterprises. He 
 has the genius of despatch without rush or hurry, 
 is possessed of extraordinary nerve power and unflag- 
 ging energy. He never yields to ph}-sical fatigue, and 
 brain fag, so common to men of large occupations, is 
 a thing unknown to him. 
 
 In ]iolitics, Nathan Straus is a steadfast Democrat, 
 and is a ])o\vcr behinil the throne in New York. In 
 his quiet, crdni way, he wields a potent power; and 
 his influence is much sought after, and alwavs used 
 on the side of right and justice. His appointment by 
 Mayor Grant to the position of Park Commissioner 
 afforded him ample opportunities for establishing 
 many improvements in the park system of New^ York. 
 He lent his heart and brain to this cause, with the 
 earnestness characteristic of him, and effected manv 
 reforms. 
 
 In 1894 he was the Democratic nominee for Mayor, 
 an honor that he deeply appreciated, but from which 
 he turned aside. This act of itself sufificientlv pro- 
 claims the man's devotion to other and higher duties. 
 Plis keen insight forecasted that he would be called 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 upon to divide his energies. For that reason his 
 choice fell upon a continuance of his philanthropies 
 and the management of his business interests. 
 
 It was never necessary for Nathan Straus to as- 
 sume control of New York City to convince the peo- 
 ple that he was equal to the office. His executive 
 aliilitv is as unassailable as his goodness of heart. 
 While the people of the metropolis feel his strength, 
 it is perhaps for his tenderness, his benevolence and 
 his modesty that he is most beloved by them. 
 
 In i8q8 he accepted the presidency of the Board 
 i)f Health of Xew York, where his standing as a citi- 
 zen, his activity in intelligent helpfulness to the poor, 
 his energy and his familiarity with the problems to 
 be solved, contributed to make him an ideal man for 
 the position, which he resigned, however, after serv- 
 ing some nidnths. liecause he was not willing to keep 
 the position when he coidil not devote to it the time 
 its duties required. 
 
 It would be difficult to enumerate the instances of 
 his wholesale charities. "Tliey are as l)ig as the brain 
 
 that conceived them. His closest friends and associ- 
 ates are in ignorance of the uni\ersality of his deeds 
 of charity. 
 
 His eye is ever alert to the needs of humanity, and 
 whether he is engaged in clothing a shivering news- 
 boy or providing a carriage for a crippled child or 
 forming large plans for the amelioration of distressed 
 c()ndition.s, he is equally glad in the giving. 
 
 And amid this multitude of duties he still has time 
 to de\-ote to his pet hobby, after sterilized milk, his 
 trotters. In "Cobwebs" the "King of the Speedway," 
 j he had the most famous roadster of his day, and it is 
 i behind him that Mr. Straus forgets the cares and 
 worries of business. If it were possible to ask every 
 one who has visited the New York Speedway, or 
 heard of it, to name some horse in connection with 
 the great drive, it is long odds that nine out of ten 
 would quickly an.swer, "Cobwe1)s." Hundreds would 
 be found who could not remember the name of any 
 other horse, for with them the Speedway and "Cob- 
 welis" are svnonvmous. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 GENERAL J. WATTS DE PEYSTER 
 
 John Watts de Pevstkr, Brevet ]\Iajor-General, 
 by Special Act of tlie Xew York State Legislature for 
 "meritorious services rendered to the National 
 Guard and to the L'nited States, prior to, and dur- 
 ing the Rebellion." On his father's side he can trace 
 back his descent under most favorable circumstances 
 for six hundred years in Flanders, especially in Ghent, 
 where his peo])le continually held offices, which, to 
 hold, was peculiarly the right of those of noble or 
 aristocratic lineage. As far back as the thirteenth 
 century they suffered on account of their acceptance 
 of Protestant or Reformed doctrines, and were faith- 
 ful even to the death for their opinions. They were 
 termed "Huguenots," although the title is generally 
 considered applicable only to Frenchmen; but the 
 de Peysters belonged to districts that are now French 
 territory, constituting the "Nord" and the "Pas de 
 Calais." On his mother's side, W^atts, the record is 
 equally striking and honorable. The family resi- 
 dence was a very imposing building 60 feet square 
 and three stories high, together with appropriate out- 
 buildings, originally just outside, but latterly within, 
 the city limits of Edinburgh. The site was remark- 
 able as affording exquisite views to the northwest, 
 
 west and southwest. This Watts residence was 
 torn down about or less than half a century ago, 
 when the domain became the property of the Cale- 
 donian Railroad. John Watt, whose daughter mar- 
 ried Sir Walter Riddel, whose Baronetcy dated back 
 to the reign of King David I (twelfth century), was 
 a very remarkable city functionary, and held the 
 office of Dean of the Guilds, or Deacon-Convener, 
 then an important position of authority and influence. 
 When his King, James VI of Scotland, was besieged 
 in the old Tolbooth, and the lives of himself and his 
 court were threatened by a tumultuous mob incited 
 by the Calvinist clergy^ John Watt called his (iuilds 
 to arms and rescued the King, thereby saving his 
 native city from the punishment of military execu- 
 tion. The brave gentleman was afterwards assassi- 
 nated in re\'enge for his loyalty. The crime was insti- 
 gated by the same Calvinist ministers and party, and 
 his murderer escaped through their influence. His 
 grandson, Robert W^att, emigrated to New York, and 
 for some unknown reason added an "s" to the name, 
 and thus became Watts, and at the same time the 
 family of his wife, Nichols, dropped the "s" and be- 
 came Nichol. 
 
 His maternal and paternal ancestors suffered 
 greatly in body, person and property for their loy- 
 alty, "faithful even unto death" to their Kings and 
 religion, in Europe and America ; and it was only 
 when the slaveholders' rebellion of 1 86 1-65 occurred 
 that his sons and he had the good fortune to find 
 themselves on the winning side. Religious persecu- 
 tions dro\-c the de Peysters of Flanders to seek refuge 
 in England and Holland, and fmm the latter coun- 
 try General de Peyster's great-great-great-great- 
 grandfather emigrated to the New Netherlands, 
 where he immediately exercised influence in citv 
 offices, and his great-grandson, wlmse statue 
 adorns Ijowling Green, opposite the new Custom 
 House, on the same spot ^\■here he presided as Re- 
 cei\'er-General of the Port in 1705. ha\ing held, in the 
 course of his long life, every public office, even that 
 of Acting Governor, under the Crown, in his native 
 city. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is remarkable for the 
 variety of distinguishing features that have been 
 shown by his successful powers of research and com- 
 position in painting, sculpture and architecture, 
 wherein, as professionals admitted, if they had lis- 
 tened to him, success would have rewarded their at- 
 tention, and failing to do so they came short of suc- 
 cess. The latter was displayed in the membership 
 diploma of the Holland Society, the handsomest in 
 
26 
 
 ME.V OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 the State, for whicli he has just received a most flat- 
 tering Vote -of Thanks or Resolution, and this power 
 was also shown in his practical plans of puhlic build- 
 ings which he has erected, i. e., his church as a memo- 
 rial of his two daughters; his Fireman's Hall, in mem- 
 ory of his first and second sons, in the village of 
 Madalin, and his Watts dc Peyster Home for Invalid' 
 Children in the township of Unionvale. 
 
 The first public building in which he was interested 
 was the completion of an Episcopal church at Natchi- j 
 toches, which was the first Protestant place of wor- ; 
 ship in that district. When a regiment from Dutchess j 
 County, N. Y., occupied that city during the Red j 
 River expedition, the men climbed into the belfry and 
 were surprised at finding a liell bearing a dedicatory in- 
 scription and the name of the doimr. a fellow country- 
 man. During the slaveholders' reliellion the edifice was 
 neglected so that it had to be entirely restored, which 
 was done in 1900 at the expense of General de Peys- 
 ter, by whom it was originally completed. The Gen- 
 eral seems to have survived almost all the associates 
 of his boyhood and school days. 
 
 General de Peyster has conveyed his home near 
 Tivoli Station, named Rose Hill, after his ancestral 
 home in Scotland, to the Leake and Watts Orphan 
 House at ^'(inkers, founded and endowed by his ma- 
 ternal grandfather, John Watts, only reserving for him- 
 self the use of a portion of the property for life. He has 
 just presented Fort Johnson, a historic family jiroperty 
 at .'Xkin, N. Y., to the Montgomery County Histori- 
 cal Society. .Among other benefactions of the Gen- 
 eral are: .\ Home for Consum])ti\-es. at I'nionvale, 
 Diitchcss County, the first of the kind; St. Paul's 
 Training .School for I'oys, at Union\'ale : the Watts 
 de Peyster Indnstrial Home and School for Girls, at 
 Madalin. with its ])uildings and extensive grounds. 
 To the city of Kearney. Neb., General de Peyster 
 presented a bronze bust of his cousin. Major-General 
 Philip Kcarnv. 1 le erected a chapel at Nebraska City 
 ;is a memorial of bis dead soldier sons: afterwards 
 pulled down and the Watts de Peyster tablets trans- 
 ferred to a church in Kearney. At .Mtoona, Pa., he 
 comi)leted a church and built a memorial parish school 
 and jiarsonage in memory of his daughter. Maria j 
 Beata. For 1^'ranklin and Marshall College, at Lan- 1 
 caster. Pa., he erected and C(|uipped a fine library ! 
 building, furnishing a large number of books and valu- 
 able publications, and to the Peake and Watts Orphan 
 House at Yonkers. N. A'., he gave funds for an Annex 
 and added a donation of pro])erty valued at $200,000. 
 To the State cajiitals fif New York. Pennsylvania and 1 
 New Jersey, General fie Peyster has ]>rescnted bronzes i 
 
 and oil paintings of various distinguished relatives. 
 He has given a most valuable and, in some respects, 
 inestimable collection on Napoleon and on other sub- 
 jects, together with objects of art, bronzes, pictures, 
 etc., to the library of the Smithsonian Institute, to 
 which he is still adding. 
 
 In the city of New York are several statues of 
 heroic size in commei:ioration of historic memljers of 
 the General's family. In Trinity churchyard stands a 
 bronze statue of the General's grandfather, the Hon. 
 John Watts, Jr., the last Royal Recorder of New- 
 York ; in the Bowling Green is a bronze statue of his 
 famous ancestor. Col. Abraham de Peyster, a public- 
 spirited citizen of the early period of Manhattan's 
 history. Op]K)site this statue General de Peyster was 
 himself born, in the old Watts residence at No. 3 
 Broadway. ]\Iarch i), 182 1. No. i Broadway was 
 built by his great-uncle, the Earl of Cassilis. 
 
 General de Peyster is a life member of the Royal 
 Historical Society of Great Britain, honorary fellow 
 of the Society of Science, Letters and Arts of Lon- 
 don, and member of the Maatschappij der Neder- 
 landsche Letterkunde of Leyden. Holland, and other 
 learned societies. He is of the seventh generation 
 resident in the First \\'ard. city of New .Amsterdam, 
 afterward New A'ork. and the sixth born therein in 
 the course of two centuries and a half, and his fam- 
 ily's connection \\ itii Dutchess County has extended 
 over seven generations. 
 
 The General was sent to luu-ope in 1S31 as Mili- 
 tary .\gent of the State of New A'ork. One of the 
 results of that ronuuission was the establishment of 
 a [laid fire de]iartnK'nt. with steam fire engines, and 
 the organization of the jiresent niuniciiial police of 
 New York City. 
 
 At the beginning oi the Civil War. (ieneral de 
 Peyster offered his services as Brigadier-General, with 
 three picked regiments, to President Lincoln. Con- 
 ditions ])reventcd the acceptance of the ofTer, but two 
 of his sons served with credit tbroughoiu the strug- 
 gle, and all three of his sons were brevetted Colonels 
 for services rendered, before attaining legal manhood. 
 Pie repeated his offer of troops, but it was again re- 
 fused. He was reviled by his Northern neighbors for 
 suggesting the use of negroes as soldiers in the Ci\il 
 W;u-. ipiite as much as Sonllierners had upbraided 
 him for defeiHling John Brown: but. in h,,th cases, he 
 maintained his o]iiinons. He saved the Italian soldier. 
 Siro I'esci. a follower of Mazzini, froiu condemnation 
 to a li\-ing death in the salt nu'nes of Sardinia, and 
 smuggled him. acting as his body-servant, from Italy, 
 through I'rance and subsequently to Switzerland. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 27 
 
 AUGUST BELMONT 
 
 August Belmont was Ijorn in the city of New 
 York oil the i8th of February, 1853. He is the sec- 
 ond son of August Behnont, the famous banker and 
 financier, and has shown the possession of quaHties 
 which promise to make him a worthy successor to his 
 distinguished fatlier in the business to which the lat- 
 ter has given a world-wide reputation. His prelim- 
 inary education was obtained at the Rectory School, 
 Hamden, Connecticut, followed by periods of study 
 at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, and Phillips Ex- 
 eter Academy, after which he entered Harvard Uni- 
 versity, where he graduated in 1875. Shortly after- 
 ward he entered his father's banking house, to begin 
 there his business career, and quickly showed a power 
 of application and a natural aptitude to financial busi- 
 ness which gave him rapidly a grasp of affairs un- 
 usual in one of his age, and fitted him to assume the 
 responsibilities of the great business which his father 
 had successfully founded. Mr. Belmont had in him 
 too much of the old stock to fritter away his time in 
 frivolous pursuits, preferring to make himself active 
 in business affairs and useful in the world to any life 
 of mere pleasure. The death of his father, and the 
 devotion of his brothers to legislative pursuits, in 
 
 time threw the whole care of the great business 
 mainly within his hands, and he has proved himself 
 fully capable of handling it. His father's force of 
 character, directness of purpose, and Inisiness tact 
 and judgment have descended to him, and the world 
 of finance recognizes him as a power no less declared 
 than that of the able founder of the house. To-dav 
 Mr. Belmont, still a young man, is at the head of the 
 \ great banking establishment of August Belmont & 
 [ Co., which, under his directing care, promises to re- 
 tain the commanding position which it has attained 
 1 in American finance, and to grow into still greater 
 inlluence in the metropolitan center of the New 
 World trade. In addition to its American interests, 
 this house possesses vast foreign interests, as the ac- 
 I credited representative of the Rothschilds in America, 
 its European connections extending to every im- 
 portant field of finance in that continent. Mr. Belmont 
 has shown himself fully capable of managing the great 
 interests confided to him, and a self-reliance and keen 
 judgment that have made him a worthy successor 
 to his father in the conception and handling of im- 
 portant enterprises. In addition to his immediate 
 connection with the . banking business, he has as- 
 sumed other business interests, one of the most im- 
 portant of which being the presidency of the Inter- 
 borough Rapid Transit Company, chairman of the 
 board of directors of the Louisville & Nashville Rail- 
 road, a director of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
 Railroad, vice-president of the Kings County Ele- 
 vated Railroad, and a director of the Bank of the 
 State of New York, the National Park Bank, the 
 Equitable Life Insurance Company, the Manhattan 
 Trust Compan)', and various other corporations. 
 Mr. Belmont's most prominent financiering effort in 
 the last few years has been in connection with the 
 New York Subway enterprise, the financing of which 
 great scheme was successfully carried through mainly 
 by his efforts. Politically, he is strongly Democratic 
 in his views, but has shown none of the tendencies to- 
 ward a political life manifested by his distinguished 
 brothers, his extended business interests fully occupy- 
 ing his attention, and proving more congenial to his 
 turn of mind. His hours of relaxation, on the con- 
 trary, are given to quieter pursuits, he being particu- 
 larly interested in horses and dogs. He is a member 
 of the American Kennel Club, and his earnest efforts 
 as President have gi\-cn him a coiumanding position 
 among the organizations of this kind. In the de- 
 velopment of thoroughbred horses he has been 
 equally active, and in fact the present prosperity of 
 racing, of turf interest in this State, is largelv due to 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 his individual efforts. He is in addition a member of 
 various clubs, including the Union, Knickerbocker, 
 Manhattan, Country, New York Athletic (of which 
 latter he has been president), and various others, 
 particularly yacht clubs. He was flag officer of the 
 Corinthian Yacht Club. 
 
 August Belmont is worth as many millions as he 
 has years to his credit, and he has barely passed the 
 half-century mark. He is wiry and active, a bundle of 
 nerves dri\en by a sleepless brain, a marvelous engine 
 of finance. Only by setting aside a portion of every 
 year for recreation is he enabled to keep his mental 
 and physical forces in such shape as to enable him to 
 attend to the multiform duties and enterprises under 
 his control. He is, perhaps, actively engaged in con- 
 ducting more business ventures than any other man 
 in New York. He usually arrives at his office down- 
 
 town at eleven o'clock in the morning, and leaves 
 promptly at four o'clock in the afternoon, unless there 
 is something of extra<irdinary importance to detain 
 him. 
 
 He has a handsome yacht, \vliich becomes his ht^me 
 for a good part of two months every summer, the re- 
 maining time being spent either at Newport, Lenox or 
 Saratoga. During this time he gives little or no atten- 
 tion to business. During the metropolitan racing sea- 
 son he manages to be at the track two or three days 
 in the week, and again it is significant that wherever 
 the Belmont colors are seen on a race course it is a 
 guarantee of absolute fairness and honesty. 
 
 Mr. Belmont was married in 1881 to Miss Bessie 
 H. Morgan, now deceased, and has a family of three 
 sons. August. Raymond and Morgan. He resides 
 on a handsome estate at Hempstead, Long Island. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 29 
 
 LOUIS WINDMULLER 
 
 Louis Windmuller has for many years been prom- 
 inently identified with the city of New York as one of 
 its foremost merchants and pubhc-spirited men. He 
 is a native of Westphaha, in whicli country he re- 
 ceived his education, his higher studies being pur- 
 sued at a cohege in the city of Munster, an institu- 
 tion of learning which had the distinguished honor of 
 having been founded by the great warrior-statesman, 
 Charlemagne. He early acquired a knowledge of the 
 institutions of the United States, and resolved to make 
 it his future home. In 1853 he took passage for this 
 country, landing in New York, which city he has made 
 his home up to the present time. With the char- 
 acteristic energy of his countrymen, he soon em- 
 barked in business, inaugurating a career which has 
 been attended throughout with marked success. 
 Aside from his immediate business relations he be- 
 came in time widely known for his connection with 
 prominent financial institutions, his active labors in 
 the interests of reform and charity, and his connec- 
 tion with many of the municipal and social institu- 
 tions of the city. 
 
 Among the financial enterprises witli which he has 
 been prominently identified, and in which he took a 
 
 large part in founding, are the Title Guarantee and 
 Trust Company, the German-American Insurance 
 Company, the Hide and Leather National Bank, and 
 the Bond and Mortgage Company. To the stability 
 and wide influence of these institutions, in some of 
 which he is still a director, Mr. Windmuller was a 
 large contributor. 
 
 Notwithstanding his great activity in the business 
 interests of the community, Mr. Windmuller has de- 
 voted largely of his time and means to numerous 
 measures of reform, having been one of the founders, 
 and since 1889 the treasurer, of the Reform Club of 
 New York. He was also a member of the German- 
 American Reform Club of New York, and as one of 
 its executive committee took an active part in the 
 nuniicipal campaign which resulted in the election of 
 William \.. Strong as the reform Mayor of New York. 
 He has ever been indefatigable in his advocacy of a 
 sound currency and tariff, and civil sei"vice reform, 
 his efforts in these directions having been from time 
 to time made known in public addresses and through 
 the columns of the press. His interest in public af- 
 fairs is further shown by his membership and active 
 work in several other associations for municipal and 
 State improvement. Prominently among these may 
 be mentioned the Chamber of Commerce Committee 
 on Internal Trade and Improvements, of which he 
 was for a long period chairman. He was also a mem- 
 ber of the executive committee for the consideration 
 of the improvement of the State canals, and in that 
 capacity he strongly advocated the amendment of 
 the Constitution, which was finally adopted, authoriz- 
 ing the State Legislature to make the appropria- 
 tions necessary to the proposed canal improvement. 
 It is not saying too much to assert that the final adop- 
 tion of the canal improvement scheme was largely 
 due to the energetic efforts of Mr. Windmuller. 
 
 While devoting so liberally of his time and means 
 in tlie promotion of the business interests of the com- 
 munity, Mr. Windmuller has devoted much attention 
 to the charitable institutions of the city. He was 
 auditor of the Business Men's Relief Committee, and 
 also a member of the Legal Aid Society, an organi- 
 zation formed for the purpose of furnishing legal ad- 
 vice gratuitously to destitute persons, without regard 
 to nationality. He was for a long time treasurer and 
 a member of the Board of Directors of this very use- 
 ful organization. When the German Hospital Fair 
 was inaugurated in t88S the movement elicited Mr. 
 Windmuller's active sympathy, and he contributed 
 largely of his time and means to its successful pro- 
 motion. For this purpose he arranged a collection 
 
30 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 of paintings, which proved so potent and attractive 
 tiiat over one hnndred thousand dollars was cleared 
 for this charitable institution. 
 
 Outside his connection with institutions devoted 
 to reform and charity, Mr. W'indmuller is a member 
 of numerous other New York organizations, among 
 which may be included the Merchants, German, 
 Lotos, Insurance, Athletic, and various other clubs, 
 the ^Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the New York 
 Historical Society, of which latter he is a life mem- 
 ber. As indicating his special interest in the father- 
 land, it may be stated that he has been active in the 
 creation of a fund for the erection of a monument to 
 Germany's greatest poet, Goethe, and that he is treas- 
 urer of the fund. He is also a vice-president of the 
 Heine Monument Society. 
 
 His interest in various subjects has called forth 
 many ably written articles, and his contributions have 
 been gladly welcomed to the colunms of Harper's 
 
 W'eekly, The Forum, and many other periodicals 
 whose pages are open to the discussion of public af- 
 fairs. From his multifarious business, public and so- 
 cial duties Mr. Windnuiller has found time to make 
 numerous visits to Europe, where he has formed a 
 large and influential acquaintance, particularly in Ger- 
 many, his native land. 
 
 Mr. Windmuller was married in 1859, and his do- 
 mestic relations have been of the happiest. He has 
 three children, and is the possessor of a beautiful 
 suburban home near the village of Woodside, Long 
 Island. He is active in church matters, having been 
 one of the founders of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of 
 Woodside, and a member of its vestry. He takes a 
 warm and intelligent interest in matters connected 
 with art and literature, and his home is adorned witli 
 a fine collection of paintings and a valuable library of 
 books, in whicli the subjects of art and general liter- 
 ature are particularly represented. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 COMMANDER BRADLEY ALLEN EISKE 
 
 United Stales Navy 
 
 Was born at Lyons, N. ^'., June 13, 1834. Ap- 
 pointed to United States Xaval Academy, Septem- 
 Ijer 21, 1870. Was graduated, second in class. May 
 30, 1874. Served in U. S. S. Saratoga, Constellation. 
 Pensacola, Plymouth, Powhatan, Minnesota, Brook- 
 lyn, Atlanta, Yorktown, Petrel, Monadnock and 
 Massachusetts. In 1877 invented his detaching ap- 
 paratus for lowering boats in a seaway, which is still 
 in use in many ships. In 1883 wrote "Electricity 
 and Electrical Engineering," which is still (igo6) 
 selling, in its tenth edition. In 1884 was member 
 of the Eirst International Congress of Electricians. 
 In i88q invented the naval telescope sight. It is 
 rare that any invention has received such general 
 condemnation as this received. It was declared not : 
 only impracticable, but incorrect in principle. Lieu- 
 tenant Fiske succeeded, however, in convincing Com- 
 mander Folger, the Chief nf Bureau of Ordnance, 
 that it was a great invention, and in having it put , 
 on board the U. S. S. Yorktown for trial. But when ! 
 Lieutenant Fiske was ordered to the ship a year 
 later, he found it had not 1)een unpacked, and that 
 all the officers, especially the captain, deemed it too 
 
 foolish to waste time on. After the inventor's per- 
 sistent requests, however, the captain finally per- 
 mitted him to test it, but he became still more con- 
 vinced of its worthlessness by the tests, reported 
 against it officially, and refused to allow any more 
 ammunition to be used to test it. The Chief of Bu- 
 reau of Ordnance then gave orders that its test be 
 continued nevertheless ; and in Unalaska, Lieutenant 
 Fiske, in i8()j. succeeded in making such an un]iar- 
 alleled record nith it, that its value was demonstrated 
 beyond drinbt. As no one else seemed disposed to 
 report on it, howe\-er, he had to make the official re- 
 port on it himself, and the Chief of Bureau of Ord- 
 nance accepted it, and began to consider seriously the 
 adoption of the system in the navy. In May, 1894, 
 Lieutenant I'iske made a still more extraordinary 
 record with his inxention. and proved so conclusively 
 that it abolished the principal error in naval gun- 
 nery, that the Department shortly after adopted it for 
 the service. This in\-ention is now in use in all the 
 ]irincipal na\'ics nf the \\<irl(l. The "Text Book of 
 Ordnance and ( innner_\-," used at the United States 
 Naval Academy, says: "The naval telescope sight is 
 an improvement of such importance as to be ranked 
 with the change from smooth bore to rifled cannon." 
 In 1892 Lieutenant Fiske invented the stadimeter, a 
 portable little optical instrument, by means of which 
 the distance of a ship can be cjuickly measured, if the 
 height of her mast l)e known. This instrument is 
 supplied to all the shi])S of our navy. In 1894 Lieu- 
 tenant h'iske was ordered by the Chief of Bureau of 
 Ordnance to in\estigate the applicability of elec- 
 tricity to turning the turrets of battleships, .\fter 
 trying several plans, he reported that the Ward Leon- 
 ard System was the most promising. After two years 
 of testing various ways of applying this system, it 
 was finally adapted perfectly to the work, the culmi- 
 nating invention for adapting it being made and 
 patented by Lieutenant Fiske. In spite of the strenu- 
 ous opposition (if the Bureau of Construction, Lieu- 
 tenant Fiske's recommendation that it be tested in 
 competition with that bureau's steam system on 
 board a ship at sea was finally adopted, and the restdt 
 of the test was an overwhelming victory for the elec- 
 tric s}-steni. This system, with no important change 
 of any kind, has been put into all the battleships and 
 armored cruisers constructed since that time, and 
 marks a distinct advance in the application of science 
 to naval needs. In 1896 Lieutenant Fiske invented 
 the electric warning whistle, by means of which the 
 alarm is given in the various compartments below, 
 when the watertight doors are to be closed. This 
 
32 
 
 MEN OF .-U-F.-IIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 invention has been installed in practically all our war- 
 ships constructed since that time. In 1S96 Lieuten- 
 ant Fiske invented the naval electric semaphore. 
 This was installed in the flagship New York of the 
 North Atlantic Fleet, and the inventor was immedi- 
 ately sent to Asia. The apparatus was shortly after- 
 wards condemned, and put out of the sliip. When 
 Lieutenant-Commander Fiske returned in 1900, he 
 had another semaphore apparatus constructed, like 
 the one in the New York, except that it was oper- 
 ated by mechanical means. He preferred the electri- 
 cal means himself, but had to yield to the prejudice 
 in the navy against electrical things. This apparatus 
 has now been installed in several of the battleships, 
 and it has provided a means of day signalling far bet- 
 ter than any used before, but its performance has 
 been altogether eclipsed by the electric semaphore, 
 like the one in the New York, which Commander 
 Fiske put into the Kearsarge in 1904, and by means 
 of which the unparalleled record of forty-five displays 
 per minute has been achieved. In 1901 Lieutenant- 
 Commander Fiske invented the naval telescope and 
 mount, which renders it easy to use powerful tele- 
 scopes on shipl)oard. In 1904 Commander Fiske 
 invented the turret range-finder, an optical instru- 
 ment by means of which an observer can measure the 
 distance of the enemy while himself protected inside 
 the turret. 
 
 Although devoting himself largely to the solving 
 of naval problems by means of mechanism, Comman- 
 der I'^iske has been most fortunate in experiences of 
 the military kind. In 1892 he was in \^alparaiso in 
 the ^'orktown during the critical times following the 
 F.altimorc incident, and in 1894 he was in Rio, in 
 Admiral Benham's flagship, when the fleet was 
 cleared for action, and enforced neutral rights. At 
 the battle of Manila Bay he was Navigator of the 
 Petrel. With the permission of the captain he ar- 
 
 ranged an observing station aloft, and there he sta- 
 tioned himself, above the smoke, with his stadimeter, 
 and kept the captain continually informed of the dis- 
 tance of the enemy, and of all that was going on. 
 His view of the battle was probably the clearest that 
 any one got that day, and it was described by him in 
 the November "Century" that followed. In the 
 afternoon, after it was seen that the Spanish ships had 
 ceased to fire, the Petrel was ordered by Dewey to go 
 close in to the Cavite Arsenal, and Lieutenant Fiske 
 was sent ashore to the arsenal by the captain. He 
 found the arsenal full of thousands of Spanish sol- 
 diers and sailors, and he spent a most interesting after- 
 noon there, with half a dozen men of the Petrel, and 
 finally towed ofif a lot of Spanish tugs and launches. 
 He was reported to the Department by the captain 
 for "eminent and conspicuous conduct in battle" for 
 his work that day. 
 
 Lieutenant Fiske. besides being Navigator of the 
 Petrel at the capture of Alanila, was also Navigator 
 of the monitor IMonadnock during the first four 
 months of the Filipino insurrection, when the ]\Io- 
 nadnock's light draught and heavy battery enabled 
 her to support the flank of our army in its operations 
 on the east side of Manila Bay. During this time, 
 besides minor engagements, he took part in the bom- 
 bardments of Panafiaque and Malabon. As executive 
 officer of the Yorktown, he took part in the bom- 
 bardment of San Fernando. 
 
 Commander Fiske was a member of the Naval \\'ire- 
 less Telegraph Board in 1904-5. He receivcfl the 
 Flliott Cresson gold medal from the Franklin Insti- 
 tute in i8()3. and the gold medal for the prize essay 
 by the United States Naval Institute in 1905. He 
 is the author of many papers on electrical and naval 
 subjects, of which his series of articles in The Ignited 
 Service Magazine. "Recollections of Manila." re- 
 ceived the most attention. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 33 
 
 CHARLES RAXLETT FLINT 
 
 Charles Ranlett Flint, New York's foremost 
 shipowner, and one of its leading merchants, was born 
 at Thomaston, Maine, Jannary 24, 1850. He is the son 
 of Benjamin Fhnt, who was one of the largest ship- 
 builders and shipowners of his day in that great ship- 
 building State. The son received his preliminary edu- 
 cation in the public schools of Thomaston, and at a 
 private school at Topsham, Maine. His father hav- 
 ing removed to Brooklyn, he entered as a student at 
 the Polytechnic Listitute of Brooklyn, and was 
 graduated from that institution with honors in 186S, 
 at the same time Ijcing elected president of his class 
 and of the alumni. Immediately upon his graduation 
 he entered upon a liusiness career, gaining his first 
 experience as a dock clerk. From the first he dis- 
 played qualities of unusual natural ability, united 
 with unflagging energy, and in one year's time he be- 
 came the confidential clerk of W. R. Grace, and two 
 years later, at the age of twenty-one, entered busi- 
 ness on his own account as a member of the firm of 
 Gilchrist, Flint & Company, ship chandlers. One year 
 later he became associated with his old employer, W. 
 R. Grace, in organizing the firm of W. R. Grace & 
 Company, their business being that of a shipping and 
 
 commission trade with the countries of the Pacific 
 Coast of South America, especially Peru. In 1876 he 
 visited I'eru, and organized the firm of Grace, Broth- 
 ers & Company, of Callao, Peru. On his return to 
 New York at the end of that year he was appointed 
 by the Republic of Chile its consul in this city, which 
 office he held until 1879, being in 1878, during the 
 aljsence of the charge d'affaires, placed in charge of 
 the archives and correspondence of the Chilean lega- 
 tion. He resigned this position in April, 1879, upon 
 the declaration of war by Chile against Peru, on ac- 
 count of the relation of his firm to Peru as financial 
 t agents of that country. His resignation was cabled 
 to Chile, and the affairs of the consulate placed in 
 charge of a Chilean official, then residing in New 
 York. Mr. Flint's business relations subsequently 
 became much broadened, and in 1880 he was elected 
 president of the United States Electric Lighting- 
 Company, and in 1884 visited Brazil, where he es- 
 tablished a large rubber business on the Amazon 
 River. Upon his return he was appointed consul for 
 .Nicaragua in New York and represented that repub- 
 lic in negotiating with the parties who had received 
 the concession for constructing the Nicaragua Canal. 
 In 1885 he became a member of the firm of Flint & 
 Company, composed of his father, himself, and his 
 brother, Wallace B. Flint, and with the shipping busi- 
 ness of this firm united the rubber, lumber and com- 
 mission business which he had previously developed. 
 He is now the senior member of this firm, which is 
 largely engaged in the importation of wool, hides 
 and skins from the Argentine Confederation and Uru- 
 guay and the exportation of American manufactures. 
 In 1878 he organized the Export Lumber Company, 
 which now has yards in New York, Boston, Portland, 
 Montreal, Ottawa, and in Michigan, and has handled 
 over two hundred million feet of lumber in one year. 
 In 1 88 1 he formed a combination of the leading deal- 
 ers in crude ruljber, and, in 1S86, organized the New 
 York Commercial Company, the largest dealers in this 
 material in the world. The business of manufactur- 
 ing rubber shoes and boots was similarly consolidated 
 by him, the result being the organization of the 
 United States Rubber Company of New Jersey, its 
 capital being forty million dollars. He is the treas- 
 urer of this company. The producers of mechanical 
 rubber goods were similarly combined l)y him in an 
 organization known as the Mechanical Rubber Com- 
 pany, with a capital of fifteen million dollars, in which 
 he is a director and chairman of the finance commit- 
 tee. He is connected also with several banks, trust, 
 railroad and steamship companies, and is at present 
 
34 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ccinsul-general of tlic Costa Rican Government in the 
 United States. 
 
 During the winter of 1S89-90, Mr. Fhnt was ap- 
 pointed a memher of the International Conference 
 of American Repubhcs, iield in the city of Washing- 
 ton. His intimate knowledge of the trade, resources 
 and customs of the South American people enabled 
 him to render valuable services in that conference. 
 It was for the same reason that Secretary Blaine 
 availed himself of the services of Mr. Flint in his ne- 
 gotiations looking to the recognition of the new Re- 
 public of Brazil. It was during this period that Mr. 
 Flint suggested the idea of establishing an International 
 American Bank, and also proposed the organization 
 of the existing Bureau of American Republics. As 
 the confidential agent of the Department of State, 
 he negotiated with Brazil the first treaty authorized 
 under the Aldrich amendment. During the Da Gama 
 rebellion in Brazil he became the agent of President 
 Peixoto for the purchase in this country of vessels 
 and supplies for the Brazilian Government. In this 
 service his great powers for organization and equip- 
 ment were brought into full play, and with the most 
 
 beneficial results to the Brazilians. So favorable was 
 the impression which he made on the Brazilian Gov- 
 ernment that he was intrusted a few years later with 
 the important duty of fitting out a fleet of war ves- 
 sels for that government. In 1896 he established the 
 ! Pacific Coast Clipper Line, a connecting link between 
 New York and San Francisco. In 1898, during the 
 period of the Spanish-American War, he was the con- 
 fidential agent of the United States Government for 
 the purchase of war vessels. 
 
 During the past year Mr. Flint has paid one or 
 more visits to Russia, and it is confidently believed 
 that he will have much to do with the rchaljilitation 
 of the Czar's navy. 
 
 Although an active, stirring, hard-working busi- 
 ness man, Mr. Flint enters with zest into outdoor rec- 
 reation, and spends much time in the open air with 
 rod or gun. He is fond of yachting, and was the 
 owner of the Gracie, proljably the greatest prize win- 
 ner of any 3'acht in the L^nited States. He is a mem- 
 ber of several clubs, including the Union, Century, 
 Riding. Metropolitan, Xew York Yacht and South 
 Side Sportmen. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 35 
 
 GENERAL HORACE PORTER 
 
 The name of General Horace Porter is largely iden- 
 tified with the military history of the country, but he 
 is equally well known as a statesman and a man of 
 affairs. He was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 
 August 15, 1837. His ancestors were long identified 
 with the early history of Pennsylvania. His grand- 
 father, Andrew Porter, born in Worcester, Pa., Sep- 
 tember 2^. 1743. and the proprietor of a scientific 
 school in Philadelphia, left the arts of peace in 1775 
 to join the forces of the American Revolution as 
 Captain of Marines, and afterward of Artillery. He 
 served through the entire war, and was promoted 
 from rank to rank until he became Colonel of the 
 Fourth Continental Artillery, and later Brigadier- 
 General. At the close of the Revolutionary War he 
 was commissioned Major-General of Militia, and after 
 service as commissioner for surveying and fixing the 
 boundary lines between Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
 declined the position of Brigadier-General in the 
 regular army and Secretary of War, tendered to him 
 by President Madison. David R. Porter, son of An- 
 drew Porter, was an iron-master, with extensive 
 works located at Huntingdon. He served for a num- 1 
 
 ber of years in the Senate of Pennsylvania, and was 
 twice Governor of the State, elected in 1839 and again 
 in 1844. 
 
 After receiving an elementary education in the 
 public schools of his native place, young Porter en- 
 tered the scientific department of Haiward College in 
 1854, having already manifested a strong tendency 
 toward mechanical pursuits, and also a love for mili- 
 tary life. His mechanical genius was early manifested 
 by the in\'ention of a water test, when he was only 
 twelve j'ears of age, which was used in his father's 
 extensive iron works, and by his subsequently devis- 
 ing many mechanical improvements. 
 
 Remaining at Harvard only a year, his military in- 
 clinations led to his entering at West Point Academy 
 in 1855, and he was graduated from the institution in 
 i860, third in a class of forty-one. He was commis- 
 sioned a second lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps, 
 and for three months served as instructor of artillery. 
 Upon the outbreak of the Civil War he was placed at 
 once in active .service in the field, his first prominent 
 duty being in connection with the expedition against 
 Port Royal, South Carolina. Subsequently he was 
 engaged in the operations for the reduction of Fort 
 Pulaski. For gallant and meritorious conduct in 
 these latter operations he was promoted to the grade 
 of Captain and was presented with a sword taken 
 from the enemy. In Juh', 1862, he was appointed 
 Chief of Ordnance of the Army of the Potomac, un- 
 der Major-General McClellan. His services during 
 this period were held in the highest estimation by the 
 authorities at ^\^'lshington, as well as bv the General 
 commanding. He was afterward transferred to the 
 same position in the Army of the Ohio, and subse- 
 quently in the Army of the Cumberland, being now 
 assigned to general staff duty in the field. He dis- 
 tinguished himself in the hard-fought battle of Chick- 
 amauga, and while serving on the staff of General 
 Thomas at Chattanooga first met General Grant, with 
 whom he was afterward to become so intimatelv as- 
 sociated. In 1864 'le was assigned to dutv on the 
 staff of General Grant as aide-de-camp, with the rank 
 of Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers, and took part in 
 the series of battles which followed General Grant's 
 memorable movement on Richmond. He was promoted 
 to the grade of ;Major in the regular army for gallant 
 conduct in the battle of the Wilderness, and for 
 similar gallantry at Spottsylvania he was made a 
 Lieutenant-Colonel. During the remainder of the 
 war he was in close companionship with General 
 Grant through all the memorable incidents attending 
 the struggle to penetrate Lee's lines at Petersburg, 
 
36 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS f\ MAI' YORK 
 
 and in the pursuit of the lleeini,'- Confederate forces 
 until their final surrender at Appomattox. lie was 
 one of the small group present on the occasion of the 
 meeting between the great commanders which was 
 destined to become one of the most imjiortant epochs 
 in American history. 
 
 General Porter had received his promotion to the 
 rank of Brigadier-General before the fall of Rich- 
 mond, and soon after the close of the war he was 
 intrusted with an iniportant mission looking to a 
 report on the condition of the freedmen in the South. 
 He subsequently accompanied General Grant on his 
 tour of inspection through the northwestern States. 
 He continued in the discharge of active military du- 
 ties during the reconstruction period, and served as 
 Assistant Secretary of War when General Grant was 
 placed in charge of that department. When General 
 Grant was elevated to the Presidency in 1869, Gen- 
 eral Porter became his private secretary. In 1873 '''^ 
 resigned from the army to accept the position of 
 vice-president of the Pullman Palace Car Company. 
 Tn 1875 he was made chairman of the extension com- 
 mittee of the Metropolitan Railway, an enterprise in 
 which he was largely interested financially. He sub- 
 se(|uently became connected, as a director, with nu- 
 merous railroad enterprises and with the Equitable 
 
 Life Assurance Society and the Continental Bank. 
 He also occupied the position of president of the 
 
 ' West Shore Railroad Company. 
 
 ! In 1897 President McKinley appointed General 
 Porter to the important post of Ambassador of the 
 United States to France, a position which he contin- 
 ued to hold till near the close of 1905. He discharged 
 all of the duties pertaining to the ambassadorship 
 with signal al)ilit}", and proved himself on all occa- 
 sions an able and fitting re])resentative of his Gov- 
 
 [ ernment. It was during his stay in Paris that he 
 became dcei)ly interested in the subject of conveying 
 to this country the remains of Commodore Paul 
 Jones, the founder of the Amercian Navy. These re- 
 mains had for long years remained in obscurity in the 
 city of Paris, and it was only through the persistent 
 and indefatigable search conducted under the direc- 
 tion and at the personal expense of General Porter 
 that they were finally discovered, fully identified and 
 finally conveyed to this country, to find a final rest- 
 ing place within the grounds of the Xaval Academy 
 at Annapolis. 
 
 General Porter is a member of many of the most 
 important and popular clubs, is president of several 
 military societies, of the Union League Club and the 
 Grant INIemorial Association. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 37 
 
 FRANK TILFORD 
 
 Frank Tilford, mercliant and banker, is the young- 
 est son of the late John M. Tilford, one of the founders 
 of the widely and favoral^ly known firm of Park & Til- 
 ford. He was burn in the cit}' of New York on July 
 22, 1852. He attended the public schools, completing 
 his education at the Mount Washington Collegiate 
 Institute. Inheriting his father's aptitude for a mer- 
 cantile life, he manifested a desire to enter this field in 
 his early youth, and although other avenues were open 
 to him had he desired to pursue them, he followed the 
 natural bent of his mind and selected the field in which 
 his father had gained so conspicuous a ]ilace among the 
 great merchants of the countr\'. Accordingly, he be- 
 came an employee in his father's establishment at the 
 corner of Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue, accepting 
 the humblest position among his fellow-workmen. The 
 value of a thorough knowledg'e of the business, such as 
 his father had acquired by a systematic apprenticeship, 
 was so great that the son of the proprietor was required 
 to begin at the riglit place, to do his work thoroughly, 
 and to look for adwincement only when he had become 
 thoroughly familiar with each successive department. 
 In this practical manner young- Tilford employed his 
 time until the new store was opened at the corner of 
 
 Thirty-eighth Street and Sixth Avenue, in October, 
 1873. His knowledge of the business at this period was 
 so complete that he was placed in complete charge of 
 this store and found himself in a position of responsi- 
 bility such as was well calculated to try the mettle 
 of a young merchant then only twenty-one years of 
 age. His careful training and painstaking industry 
 had, however, well fitted him for the position he was 
 now filling, and by the closest attention to business he 
 proved himself to he a capable and successful business 
 manager. He became a partner in the concern some 
 time before his father's death, and when that occurred 
 he was selected to fill the positions of vice-president 
 and director of the corporation, which had been for 
 many years filled by his father, the concern having been 
 incorporated in 1890. 
 
 In 1874, when he was twenty-two years of age, he 
 made his entry into banking circles by being chosen a 
 director of the Sixth National Bank, and having the 
 distinction of being the youngest bank director in the 
 city. He held this position for ten years, but upon 
 the death of b^-ancis Feland, the president of the bank, 
 he resigned. In 1876 he became a member of the Real 
 Estate Exchange, and was an extensive operator in 
 the purchase and sale of property, both in Harlem and 
 on the West Side above Fifty-ninth Street, displaying 
 in this field a keen business foresight and discriminat- 
 ing judgment, which was rewarded by eminent success. 
 In 1885 he was elected a trustee of the North River 
 Savings Bank, and in 1889, with George G. Haven, he 
 organized the Bank of New Amsterdam, since changed 
 to the New Amsterdam National Bank. He was elected 
 president of this bank in 1896, and the bank's great 
 prosperity has been largely due to his vigorous but 
 conservative management. 
 
 In January, 1901, Mr. Tilford sold his interest and 
 severed his connection with the bank and shortly after- 
 ward organized and established the Fifth Avenue 
 I Trust Company, of which institution he was trustee. 
 He sold his interest in 1902, organizing the very 
 successful Lincoln Trust Company, which occupies 
 a well-appointed office building on Fifth Avenue. 
 Of this institution he is vice-president and also chair- 
 man of the executive committee. In addition to the 
 large trade and banking interests, Mr. Tilford is largely 
 interested in lighting companies, being president of the 
 Standard Gas Light Company, Tlie New York and 
 Queens Gas Comi)any, The New York and Queens 
 Electric Light and Power Company, in all of which he 
 takes a very active interest. He is also a trustee in the 
 Consolidated Gas Company, a director of the Williams- 
 port Gas Company and the Dallas Gas Company. 
 
38 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 Mr. Til ford's versatility and attainments are well 
 evidenced by the multiplicity of his interests, he being 
 also identified with and a director in many other enter- 
 prises. 
 
 Mr. Tilford has always taken an active interest in 
 public affairs, and in 1900 was one of the Presidential 
 electors. He was largely instrumental in the promotion 
 of the Grant Monument Fund, being a member of the 
 executive committee. His sincere patriotism was re- 
 cently particularly manifested by a generous gift of a 
 colossal bust of \\ ashington to each of the public 
 schools of the Borough of Manhattan. The presenta- 
 tions with a])propriate ceremonies, in January, 1902, 
 commanded wide attention and flattering comment. Mr. 
 Tilford's philanthropic interests are as large and varied 
 as his business affairs, being an active director of the 
 
 Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, in which he recently 
 established an ear clinic, the People's Institute, The 
 New York School of Applied Design for Women, The 
 Metropolitan Parks Association, and other associa- 
 tions. He is also a director in The National Art Thea- 
 tre Society, The Municipal Art Society, and is a mem- 
 ber of the Sons of the Revolution, New York Histori- 
 cal Society, Chamber of Commerce. He is an ardent 
 }'aclitj:man and owner of the magnificent steam yacht 
 Xorman. He was commodore of the Indian Harbor 
 Yacht Club for many years, is now vice-commodore 
 of the Atlantic Yacht Club, and holds memberships in 
 many clubs, among which are the Union League, Lo- 
 tos, Riding, Automobile Club of America, Republican, 
 Indian Harbor. Larchmont. Seawanhaka-Corinthian, 
 and New York Vacht clubs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 39 
 
 SPENCER TRASK 
 
 Spencer Trask was born in the city of Brooklyn in 
 1844. Few names command a more exalted position in 
 the financial history of the metropolis than that of 
 Mr. Trask. After receiving his preliminary education 
 in the public schools he entered the Polytechnic Insti- 
 tute of Brooklyn, and after completing his course there 
 he entered for a full course at Princeton College. From 
 this institution of learning, the Alma Mater of so many 
 distinguished men in all the walks of life, he was gradu- 
 ated with high honors in 1866, at the age of twenty- 
 two. 
 
 At this time Mr. Trask had not decided upon what 
 he would enter for his life work, but he was not long 
 in forming a conclusion. He chose the field of finance, 
 and the great success which has followed his many 
 years of effort in that field attest the fact that his choice 
 was wisely made. New York has long been promi- 
 nent as the financial center of the country, and the chief 
 connecting link between the American, European and 
 South American money markets, and such houses as 
 that established and conducted for over a quarter of 
 a century by Spencer Trask have had much to do with 
 lifting the metropolis to its commanding position in 
 th° financial history of the country. 
 
 The house of Spencer Trask was established in 1869, 
 and in April of the following year its founder became 
 a member of the Stock Exchange, the firm name at 
 this time being Trask & Stone. Several changes took 
 place in the membership of the firm, it being at one 
 period known as Trask & Francis, but in 1881 it be- 
 came known as Spencer Trask & Co., under which 
 well-known title it has continued till the present time. 
 Numerous partners have, from time to time, been asso- 
 ciated with Mr. Trask, all eminent in the field of 
 finance, until there is now included the names of George 
 Foster Peabody. William Blodgett, Edwin M. Bulkley, 
 Charles J. Peabody and E. P. Merritt, the latter gentle- 
 man being the Boston representative of the firm. Mr. 
 Charles J. Peabody shares with Mr. Trask the privi- 
 leges of membership in the Stock Exchange, this double 
 representation in that powerful financial institution 
 being of great achantage tn the firm. 
 
 It need scarcely be asserted that the house of .Sjiencer 
 Trask & Co. has had fnr many years a prosperous ca- 
 reer, and that it now occupies a commanding and influ- 
 ential position among the financial institutions of New 
 York. Its beautiful banking I'ooms are located at Nos. 
 27 and 29 Pine Street, in the very heart of the finan- 
 cial district, and its Boston branch is at No. 2 Congress 
 Street. It has also branch oftices in the cities of Al- 
 bany and Providence. These offices are brought into 
 immediate connection by private wdres and long-dis- 
 tance telephones, the same facilities being extended to 
 the correspondents of the house in the cities of Phila- 
 delphia and Chicago, thus affording the most favorable 
 facilities for the prompt and profitable conduct of busi- 
 ! ness, it being well said that time is money, more espe- 
 cially in the rela.tions of finance than in any other busi- 
 ness that can be named. 
 
 The special line pursued by the house is the negotia- 
 tion of railroad, municipal and other desirable issues of 
 bonds, in addition to which it does a large business in 
 banking and general brokerage. 
 
 I Mr. Trask's energies have been extended beyond the 
 field of banking, and he has been largely employed in 
 the promotion of industrial enterprises. Prominent 
 among these is the Edison Electric Illuminating Com- 
 pany, of which he is the president. He is also a stock- 
 holder in several railroad corporations and a member 
 of the boards of directors. He is also president of the 
 Broadway Realty Company and of the Morningside 
 Realty Company. He was the organizer of the Brook- 
 1 lyn and New York Illinninating Company, becoming its 
 ■ president. 
 
 His executive and administrative abilities are of the 
 highest order, and his services are sought in aid of the 
 
40 
 
 MllN 01- AFFAIRS IN NEir YORK 
 
 administration of institutions outside the field of 
 finance, but to these he has been able to devote but a 
 limited portion of his valuable time. He is, however, 
 chairman of the board of trustees of the New York 
 Teachers" College, and he devotes a good deal of his 
 attention to the progress of this institution. He is also 
 a trustee of the General Theological Seminary, and 
 trustee in a number of other educational and philan- 
 thropic societies. 
 
 Mr. Trask's tastes and habits are pre-eminently do- 
 mestic. His country home is situated at Yeddo, New 
 York, al)i)Ut a mile from the village of Yeddo, and on 
 the avenue leading to Saratoga Lake. In this hand- 
 some country seat he takes great pride, and spends a 
 considerable portion of his time there in the enjoyment 
 of its rural comforts and in the entertainment of his 
 friends. The estate embraces about five hundred acres, 
 and the grounds are given a special distinction by their 
 inclosure of a chain of small lakes. In and out among 
 these and through the surrounding woods are beautiful 
 drives, which, with praiseworthy generosity, Mr. Trask 
 has thrown open to the use of the public, and which are 
 made much use of by the residents of Saratoga and 
 the visitors to this delightful fashionable resort. 
 
 The original mansion on the estate was destroyed by 
 fire in 1 89 1. It had been extensively remodeled by its 
 new proprietor, and its destruction entailed the loss of 
 much valuable personal effects which could not be re- 
 placed. On the site of the destroyed building a more 
 modern and far handsomer edifice has been erected, 
 which is to-day one of the finest country resi- 
 dences in the State. Mr. Trask does not selfishly con- 
 fine himself to personal enjoyment in this delightful 
 rural home. His benevolent instincts have led him to 
 develop a scheme by which a portion of his wealth has 
 been devoted to a praiseworthy philanthropic object. 
 This is the establishment of a Convalescent Home for 
 Children, which he presented some years ago to the 
 Diocese of Albany. For this purpose he purchased and 
 had appropriately fitted up a place at Saratoga. The 
 children are conveyed there each summer from the vari- 
 ous hospitals and elsewhere, and thus alxmt one hun- 
 dred poor young invalids are treated to an excellent op- 
 portunity for recuperation. 
 
 Mr. Trask was married in Brooklyn in 1874 to 
 Katrina Nichols, daughter of George L. Nichols. He 
 is a member of the IMetropolitan, Union League, Re- 
 form. Citv, Lawyers' and National Arts clubs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 41 
 
 JOSEPH H. CHOATE 
 
 Joseph II. Choate, one of the leaders of the New 
 York bar, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on Janu- 
 ary 24, 1S32. He is descended from one of the oldest 
 and most highlj' respected New England families, 
 many of his relatives and ancestors having gained dis- 
 tinction in various fields, but more particularly at the 
 bar. Mr. Choate, after a thorough course in the prepar- 
 atory schools, entered Harvard College at the age of 
 sixteen, and was graduated with honors in 1852, at 
 the age of twenty. He then decided to adopt the pro- 
 fession in which so many of his family had become dis- 
 tinguished, and he accordingly entered the Dane Law 
 School, from which he was graduated two years later, 
 and was admitted to practice at the Massachusetts Bar. 
 In 1856 Mr. Choate decided to remove to New York, 
 to whose bar he was admitted to practice in that year, 
 and where he has continued in active practice ever since, 
 attaining a high distinction as one of the ablest advo- 
 cates of the country. His services have been eagerly 
 sought by a large number of prominent litigants. 
 
 Among the cases in which Mr. Choate has been 
 engaged are many famous ones, in most of which he 
 has borne a leading part, and gained applause for his 
 forensic ability and deep and thorough knowledge of 
 
 the law. To describe all the cases in which he has thus 
 been prominent would be far beyond the space at our 
 disposal, and be almost equivalent to writing a legal 
 history of New York for more than a quarter of a 
 century past. Mr. Choate's distinction as one of the 
 leaders of the bar of New York is not his only 
 claim to consideration. He is as popular as he is able, 
 and may be considered as decidedly the leading lawyer 
 of the city in this regard. His popularity is not con- 
 fined to his clientage and to the people at large, but ex- 
 tends to the profession as well, it being doubtful if any 
 other lawyer in the city has as many professional 
 friends and well-wishers as Joseph H. Choate. This 
 popularity is due, in large measure, to his personal gifts 
 of courtesy and geniality, which are so marked as to 
 win him friends where\'er he goes. Among the most 
 celebrated cases in which he has been engaged may be 
 named that of General Fitz-John Porter, whom he 
 served as counsel in his protracted suit for reinstate- 
 ment to his military rank, and the rights of which he 
 had been deprived by sentence of a court-martial. The 
 origin of this celel:)rated case must be familiar to all stu- 
 dents of the Ci\il War. General Porter was charged by 
 General Popewithdisobedience of orders during the sec- 
 ond battle of Bull Run, in a failure to bring his troops 
 into the engagement, although his corps was "within 
 sight and sound of the battle," thus imperiling the army 
 and being the principal cause of the defeat of the Union 
 forces. The court-martial, convened at General Pope's 
 instance, sustained these charges, and General Porter 
 was cashiered and dismissed from the service in Janu- 
 ary, 1863. He continued under the ban of this decision 
 for many years. In 1870 he appealetl without effect to 
 President Grant for a reversal of the decision of the 
 court-martial. The struggle to obtain this reversal con- 
 tinued for years, and brought into play all Mr. Choate's 
 legal powers ; it was finally successful, its success being 
 largely due to the ability of the plaintiff's counsel, and 
 in 18S6 General Porter was finally restored to the army 
 with all his disabilities removed. 
 
 Another almost equally celebrated case in which Mr. 
 Choate acted as premier counsel was the notable Ces- 
 nola case, in which also he was successful. These are 
 but the most famous of the many important legal strug- 
 gles in which he has been engaged. Politically, Mr. 
 Choate is a member of the Republican Partv.and a very 
 acti\-e one, taking a prominent part alike in national. 
 State and municipal politics, and exerting his powers 
 particularly in the work of reform. He was one of 
 the original Committee of Seventy, that earnest body 
 of reformers wh.ich came into being during the political 
 dominance of Tweed and his infamous ring, and which 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IX XEJV YORK 
 
 cmslied the disdainful "Doss" and for the time being 
 ])urified ilie pohlical atnKispb.ere of New York City. 
 In brins^ing about this highly desiraljle result Mr. 
 Choate and his friend and associate, Charles O'Conor, 
 were very largely instrumental. When the convention 
 for the amendment of the Constitution of New York 
 met a few years since, Mr. Choate was one of its lead- 
 ing members and took an active and commanding part 
 in its deliberations. 
 
 In 1899, Mr. Choate was chosen by President Mc- 
 Kinley as the .Ambassador to reijresent the United 
 States Government at the Court of St. James's, a posi- 
 tion wliicb be cnntinued to fill until 1005. when he re- 
 tired at his own urgent re(iucst and against the ex- 
 
 pressed wishes of President Roosevelt. During his 
 stay in London he conducted the afYairs of bis import- 
 ant mission with marked abilit}'. and did much to per- 
 petuate and cement the good feeling and kindly rela- 
 tions existing between the two great English-speaking 
 nations. 
 
 In social circles I\Ir. Choate is highl_\- esteemed; he 
 is ready as an after-dinner speaker, rivaling the most 
 eminent in this social art, in which he is noted for his 
 keen though bamiless wit, though if necessary he can 
 be caustic and sarcastic. He is a member of the Cnion 
 League, Harvard and other clubs, and the New Kng- 
 land Society, in both of which organizations he has 
 ser\-e(l as iiresident. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 43 
 
 REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST 
 
 Charles Henry P.srkiiurst, Presbyterian clerg}^- 
 man, lias for a numlier of years occupied a pre-eminent 
 position among the advocates and workers in the field 
 of pohtical and social reform in New York. His influ- 
 ence in the community in this direction has been 
 strongly felt, and his early training seems to have been 
 such as to peculiarly qualify him for the work to 
 which lie has so successfully devoted a vevy large part 
 of his time and energies in his later years. To-day he 
 is regarded as one of the leading forces in civilization, 
 through the fearless and effective assaults he has made 
 upon the social and political evils of the metropolis. 
 
 Passing to a review of his early life, we find that 
 Charles H. Parkhurst was born at Framingham, 
 Massachusetts. April 17, 1842, where his father was 
 engaged in cultivating his small farm during the sum- 
 mer months, and in school teaching during the winter. 
 It may fairly be presumed that the son received from 
 the father the advantages which would naturally follow 
 from so close an association with his teacher, and we 
 find him at the age of sixteen a pupil in the Clinton 
 Grammar School. His surroundings in respect to worldly 
 goods were doubtless of a modest nature, for the record 
 shows that after a short period spent at the academy 
 
 he sought and obtained employment as a clerk in a dry 
 goods store. At the age of eighteen more favorable 
 circumstances enabled him to enter Lancaster Academy, 
 where he took a full course in preparation for college. 
 In 1862 he was entereil at Amherst College, where he 
 was a close and painstaking student, and fmm which 
 institution he was graduated with honors in 1866. In 
 the following year he became principal of Amherst 
 High School, which position he continued to hold until 
 1870. Having acctmiulated sufficient means at this 
 time, he decided to visit Germany, with the purpose of 
 studying philosophy and theology. He accordingly 
 proceeded to that country, but soon after his arrival 
 there was forced to return home on account of the seri- 
 ous illness of a member of his family. 
 
 He now became professor of Greek and Latin in 
 Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, and 
 two years afterward married Miss Bodman, one of his 
 former pupils at Amherst. With his wife he now re- 
 turned to Europe, where he remained two years en- 
 gaged in study at Halle, Leipsic, and Bonn, and on his 
 return spent some months at his old home, devoting 
 part of his time to the study of Sanscrit. In the spring 
 of 1874 he received and accepted a call to the Eirst Con- 
 gregational Church of Lenox, in which field of duty he 
 soon gained a reputation as a pulpit orator. His resi- 
 dence in Xew ^'ork City began in 1880, he receiving, 
 on March 8 of that year, a call to the Madison Avenue 
 Presbyterian Church, his jiresent charge. In this new 
 and broader field of duty he began to take an active 
 interest in municipal and national politics, and gave his 
 \'iews to his congregation from the pulpit with a force 
 and eloquence that from the first attracted attention. 
 
 Ten years afterward Dr. Parkhurst began to play 
 a more prominent part in city affairs. A sermon on 
 municipal politics, preached by him in 1890, attracted 
 the attention of Dr. Howard Crosby, president of the 
 Society for the Prevention of Crime, and induced him 
 to invite the active pastor to become a member and di- 
 rector of the society. He accepted the offer, went heart- 
 ily to work, and on April 30, 189 1, after Dr. Crosby's 
 death, was elected president of the society. The new 
 president at once began a thorough study of the situa- 
 tion, fortifying himself with data, and a year after- 
 ward, in Eebruary, 1892, delivered a sermon on the 
 corruption of the municipal government of New York, 
 which stnick fearlessly at men in high places, and the 
 echoes of whose bitter arraignment reverberated 
 throughout the English-speaking world. 
 
 The effect in New York was cyclonic. The bold 
 preacher was summoned before the grand jury, which 
 ileclared that his charges against the police and officials 
 
44 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 were without substantial foundation. He, however, 
 was not to be so easily silenced, but sustained his views 
 before the jury, and at once began to gather material 
 for another sermon whose facts should be beyond ques- 
 tion. To make sure of this, he employed detectives, 
 and even made personal visits to saloons, policy-shops, 
 gambling-hells, and houses of ill-fame, where he wit- 
 nessed .scenes of the lowest depravity. The results of 
 his inquiry were given to the public in another sermon 
 that rang like the voice of doom in the ears of the up- 
 holders of vice. His course was bitterly assailed by 
 some, and as strongly defended by others, but he kept 
 firm. In March, 1892, he was again summoned before 
 the grand jury, and now so convinced them of the cor- 
 rectness of his statements that they made a strong 
 I>resentment. charging the police authorities with "in- 
 competence or cornqition." The matter could not stop 
 here. The reform element of New York was too thor- 
 oughly aroused to Ije lightly put to rest again, and the 
 final result was the appoitxtment of a legislative commit- 
 tee of in(|uiry. the famous Lexow Committee. The 
 results of this investigation are public property. We 
 need say no more about them here than that they were 
 largely due to the unflinching and persistent attacks of 
 Dr. Parkhurst upon corruption in high and low places 
 alike, his arraignment even reaching the judiciary, 
 while his assault on Tammany Hall was so vigorous as 
 to play a leading i)art in llie n\cr\vhelming defeat of 
 that organization at the polls in 1894. and from the 
 effects of which it has never recovered. 
 
 The views of Dr. Parkhurst on municii)al affairs are 
 always eagerly sought by the members of the press, and 
 the high estimate that is placed u])on them is evidenced 
 
 by the eagerness dis])layed at every recurring crisis in 
 the city's affairs to obtain inter\'iews with him for pub- 
 lication, as liis views are known to have a wide influ- 
 ence in the formation of public oiiinidn. 
 
 It is unpleasant to recortl that the reform measures 
 so auspiciously inaugurated under the administration 
 of Mayor Strong were not wholly successful, and to 
 none were its shortcomings more disappointing than to 
 Dr. Parkhurst. Owing to the seemingly ineradicable 
 corruption existing in the police department, the efforts 
 of both the Mayor and Dr. Parkhurst were often com- 
 pletely frustrated, but the great reform agitator relaxed 
 no effort, and often, thrnngh the vigilant and well- 
 disciplined forces of his society, he was enabled to ex- 
 pose and bring to punishment notorious criminals and 
 promoters of vice. Pie has continued this work to the 
 present time, and the organization which he has so ably 
 conducted has received the commendation of every 
 citizen who has hopes for a permanent improvement in 
 our social conditions. The detraction and criticism 
 which followed the first eff(^rts of Dr. Parkhurst no 
 longer prevail, and to-day no citizen of New York is 
 more highly respected, and his crusade for municipal 
 reform is having its useful effect in every community 
 throughout the land. 
 
 Dr. Parkhurst is greatly beloved by the members of 
 his congregation, and they have cordially seconded his 
 efforts in the cause of humanity. Plis labors are tm- 
 remitting and severe during a large portion of the year, 
 -md he has conse(|uently adopted the policy of taking 
 a period of absolute rest each year, which lie passes for 
 the most part in a modest cottage on the shores of Lake 
 C'.eneva in Switzerland. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 JOSEPH PULITZER 
 
 Joseph Pulitzer, who occupies a prominent posi- 
 tion in the front rank of American journaHsm, is a na- 
 tive of Hungary, his birtliplace being Buda-Pesth, the 
 double capital of that kingdom. He was born on April 
 ID, 1847, ^"d was educated almost wholly through the 
 instructions recei\-ed from a i>ri\ate tutor. He came to 
 the United States in his eighteenth year, during the 
 progress of the Civil War. He immediately offered 
 his services to his adopted country by enlisting- in the 
 cavalry branch of the army, where he served with great 
 zeal and credit until the close of the conflict. Soon 
 after receiving his honorable discharge from the army 
 he turned his steps toward St. Eouis, where so many 
 of his countrymen had preceded him, and where he at 
 once entered upon his life struggle, which for a time 
 was fated to meet with many discouraging obstacles. 
 His first efforts were not crowned with very signal suc- 
 cess, but he was imiuied with the spirit that is not dis- 
 couraged by adverse experiences, and he in time 
 obtained employment v.liich secured a competent liveli- 
 hood. At this time he began the study of law, and at 
 the same time applied himself assiduously to the study 
 of the English language, reading extensively in its 
 literature. He soon discovered a distaste for the law 
 
 and found a more congenial opening in journalism. In 
 1868 he became a reporter for the Westliche Post, a 
 paper conducted in St. Louis by the German patriot 
 and American soldier, Carl Schurz. Li this field of 
 worls Mr. Pulitzer found his vocation for life and soon 
 made his mark by the zeal and intelligence which he 
 displayed in the discharge of the duty assigned to him. 
 ^Vhile employed as a reporter he became a careful stu- 
 dent of American politics, and was not long in making 
 himself fanu'liar with the men and measures of the 
 time. Lie rose successively in his chosen vocation to 
 the positions of city editor, managing editor, and in 
 time Ijecame a i)art owner in the paper. He took an 
 active jiart in local as well as national politics, and in 
 1869, when but twenty-two years of age, he was elected 
 to the Missouri State Legislature. In 1872 he was a 
 delegate to the Cincinnati convention which nominated 
 Horace Greeley as the Democratic candidate for the 
 Presidency. In 1874 he served as a member of the 
 Missouri constitutional convention, and in 1880 be- 
 came a delegate to the Democratic National Conven- 
 tion and the Missouri member of its Committee on Plat- 
 form. He was elected to Congress from the St. Louis 
 district on the Democratic ticket in 1884, but the duties 
 of this position so interfered with his journalistic duties 
 that he resigned after a few months' service. 
 
 Six years before his election to Congress, in 1878, he 
 founded the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by purchasing the 
 franchise of the Dispatch and uniting it with the Even- 
 ing Post. The energy and enterprise which character- 
 ized this venture from the start gave it a position in 
 the front rank of the daily press of St. Louis, and soon 
 made it a valuable property. Mr. Pulitzer retains the 
 ownership at the present time. 
 
 The signal success which had attended Mr. Pulitzer's 
 journalistic efforts in St. Louis in making his paper 
 one of the leading organs of public opinion in Missouri, 
 led him to aspire to a yet higher field, and in 1883 he 
 purchased the New York World, a newspaper which 
 had been twenty-three years in existence under various 
 managements, but at no time attaining a very large 
 circulation, and its prosjierity from a commercial stand- 
 l>oint being considered on the wane. In the first issue 
 of the patter under the new ownership the following 
 announcement apiieared : "There is room in this great 
 city for a journal that is not only cheap but bright, not 
 only bright but large, not only large but truly Demo- 
 cratic ; dedicated to the cause of the people rather than 
 that of purse-potentates; that will expose all fraud and 
 sham, fight all public evils and abuses: that will serve 
 and liattle for the people with earnest sinceritv." Mr. 
 Pulitzer applied to his new venture the same methods 
 
46 
 
 .1/£A' OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 that had brought such good results to his Western 
 paper, and almost from the first issue under the new 
 management the \A'orld began the upward career which 
 has brought it to the position it nmv occupies, that of 
 being one of the most prosperous and influential jour- 
 nals of the world. The premises on Park Row for so 
 long occupied by the pajicr were soon found too 
 cramped for the rapidly expanding business, and the 
 erection of the present commodious and commanding 
 structure adjoining the New York terminus of the 
 Brooklyn Bridge was begiin. This magnificent build- 
 ing was completed in 1890, and the various depart- 
 ments of the paper were immediately transferred to it. 
 The structure is eighteen stories in height, the first 
 floor and basement being occupied respectively as the 
 business office and the press-room of the paper, while i 
 several of the upper floors are occupied by the mechani- 
 cal and editorial departments. The intermediate floors 
 are rented for office purposes. The corner-stone of this 
 edifice was laid October 10, 1889, by Master Joseph 
 Pulitzer, Jr., then four years of age, Mr. Pulitzer him- 
 self being detained in Germany, whither he had gone 
 for treatment for a threatened loss of sight. It was 
 completed by December 10, 1890, when its formal open- 
 ing took place in the presence of a notable assemblage 
 of Governors, Congressmen and other visitors of public 
 ])rominence. Mr. Pulitzer's concluding words in the 
 cablegram he sent on this occasion were: "God grant 
 that this structure may be the enduring home nf a news- ! 
 paper forever unsati.sfied w ith merely jjrinting news, 
 forever fighting every form of wrong, forever inde- 
 pendent, forever advancing in enlightenment and 
 progress, forever wedded to truly democratic ideas, 
 forever aspiring to l)e a moral force, forever rising to a 
 higher plane of jjerfection as a public institution." 
 These words have the true ring in them. Tliev could 
 
 be well emulated in deeds by the whole newspaper 
 w<uid. 
 
 Mr. r'ulitzcr is a forceful speaker as well as writer, 
 and in the Greeley and Tilden campaigns he was ac- 
 tively employed by the Denmcratic National Campaign 
 Committee. In the Tilden campaign he made seventy 
 speeches in sixteen States, and he was also a strong 
 advocate for the election of ]\Ir. Cleveland, and as 
 strongly opposed the electidu nf Mr. Bryan on the free 
 silver issue in 1896. 
 
 Mr. Pulitzer has aaiuired great wealth in his news- 
 paper enterprises, and he has in late years dispensed 
 much in the cause of education and in the promotion 
 and .support of charitable institutions. In 1889 he 
 established ten annual collegiate scholarships for the 
 poorest, brightest and most deserving boy graduates of 
 New York public schools, giving to winners in open 
 competition two hundred and fifty dollars annually for 
 seven years for preparatory and college course. There 
 have been one hundred and forty-seven scholarships 
 awarded thus far under this generous provision. He 
 has gi\ep. to Columbia College one hundred thousand 
 dollars to secure free tuition to prize-winners, and the 
 number thus provided for in the different colleges is 
 sixty-four. He has paid to holders of scholarships over 
 one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and established 
 three free scholarshij^s in Barnard College. In 1903 he 
 gave one million dollars to Columbia University to es- 
 tablish and maintain a College of Journalism, t(^ rank 
 with similar professional schools of law, medicine, en- 
 gineering and architecture, and agreed to gi\e one mil- 
 lion dollars addition.al when the school has been in suc- 
 cessful operation three years. 
 
 Mr. Pulitzer has a fine summer residence at liar 
 Harbor, Maine, and a winter residence at Jckyl Island, 
 Brunswick, Georgia. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 47 
 
 JOHN CLAFLIN 
 
 John Clafi.in. the present head of the great mercan- 
 tile corporation of the H. B. Claflin Company, was 
 born in Brooklyn, July 24, 1850. Before proceeding 
 to a sketch of the career of the younger Claflin it will 
 be interesting to review in a brief manner the wonder- 
 ful activity and phenomenal success of the fuunder of 
 this great house. Horace Brigham Claflin was born in 
 Milford, Massachusetts, December 18, 181 1. His 
 father, John Claflin, was a countiy storekeeper, farmer 
 and Justice of the Peace, an office that at that period in 
 the history of the country carried with it much more of 
 importance and dignity than it does at the present time. 
 Horace was a close and apt student in his boyhood days 
 while in attendance upon the public schools, and in due 
 time he was entered at Milford Academy, where he 
 completed his studies in the higher branches, and from 
 which institution he was graduated in 1829. He im- 
 mediately entered his father's store as a clerk, and 
 speedily accjuired a thorough knowledge of the business. 
 In 1 83 1, with his brother Aaron and his brother-in-law 
 Samuel Daniels, he succeeded to his father's business. 
 In 1832 the concern opened a branch store in Worcester, 
 and in 1833 Aaron purchased the Milford store, leaving 
 to the other partners the Worcester business. The 
 
 firm of Claflin & Daniels met with a considerable de- 
 gree of success, but the senior member became imbued 
 with a desire to enlarge the field of his operations, and 
 in 1843 1''^ sold out his interest in the Worcester store 
 and moved to New York City, and soon afterward, 
 forming a business connection with William F. Bulk- 
 ley, they organized the importing and wholesale dry 
 goods house of Bulkley & Claflin at No. 46 Cedar 
 Street, which was at that time near the center of the 
 wholesale dry goods district. The firm prospered from 
 the start, and in 1850 remo^'ed to more extensive quar- 
 ters in a store which they had constructed at No. 57 
 Broadway. Mr. Bulkley withdrew from the firm in 
 185 1, and it assumed the name of Claflin, Mellen & Co. 
 The trade of the concern increased rapidly, and it be- 
 came necessary to seek larg'er accommodations. To 
 obtain these Mr. Claflin, with others, erected the Trin- 
 ity Building at No. 1 1 1 Broadway, to which place the 
 j business was transferred. In 1861 the great warehouse 
 I on Worth Street, extending from Church Street to 
 West Broadway, was secured and this gigantic store 
 has been for many years one of the leading points of 
 interest in the metropolis. One of the most trying 
 periods in the history of the great house occurred about 
 the time of its removal to the present site. It was the 
 period of the breaking out of the Civil War, and in 
 consequence of its immense business connections in the 
 South, and the resultant loss in value of a large part 
 of its assets, the firm was compelled to ask from its 
 creditors an extension of time in which to meet its 
 maturing obligations. This was promptly granted, and 
 the renewed obligations were promptly met at maturity. 
 Thereafter the house entered upon a career of un- 
 paralleled prosperity. In 1864 the firm assumed the 
 name of H. B. Claflin & Co. The sales of the concern 
 at this period exceeded anything that had been previ- 
 ously known in the history of the trade in the metropo- 
 lis, reaching in a single year to the enormous sum of 
 seventy millions of dollars. From 1865 to the time 
 of his death this establishment was the largest of its 
 class in the world. 
 
 Mr. Claflin's son and future successor in the im- 
 mense business built up by his energy and ability re- 
 ceived a preparatory education in the schools of Brook- 
 lyn and New York, and he afterward entered the Col- 
 lege of the City of New York, from which he was 
 graduated in 1869, carrying off many of the honors of 
 his class. He inherited from his father an excellent 
 ' aptitude for business, and with a natural inclination to 
 a life of trade he entered the great establishment in 
 1S70 and quickly acquired a knowledge of the details 
 of the business and was not long in comprehending and 
 
4« 
 
 ME\ OF AFFAIRS IN A'LIP YORK 
 
 mastering its broader and more comprehensive inter- 
 ests. At the expiration of the three years in which he 
 was employed as a clerk he was admitted into the firm 
 as a iuninr partner. In the later years of the elder 
 Clatlin much of the care and responsibility of the busi- 
 ness fell upon the shoulders of his son. His manage- 
 ment proved all that could be desired, and for the ex- 
 tension and continued prosperity of the house the credit 
 is very largely due him. It was at the period of his 
 being taken into the firm that a great panic in business 
 circles occurred, and the house encountered one of its 
 most serious struggles. It had an abundance of assets, 
 but the banks were unable to meet the overwhelming 
 demand for discounts, and a short extension of the 
 niaturing paper of the concern was found necessary. 
 The credit of the house was in no way impaired, and a 
 few months sufficed to end its difficulties. By the valu- 
 able assistance the younger Claflin rendered to the firm 
 at this time his reputation for ability became assured 
 in the mercantile world. 
 
 On his father's death, in 1885, John Clafiin became 
 the responsible head of the concern, and during the 
 past twenty years he has handled it with a skill and 
 enterprise which have disproved the assertions of those 
 who declared that the business would rapidly decline 
 with the passing away of the great merchant to whom 
 its remarkable development was due. For several years 
 the concern has been conducted as a corporation, the 
 stock being largely held by its employees, which they 
 are enabled to obtain by a system of easy payments. 
 The plan has worked satisfactorily to all concerned, 
 and many of the emjiloyees are the yearly rccijjients of 
 considerable sums in the shape of dividends. 
 
 Mr. Claflin is an indefatigable worker uliile engaged 
 in the offices of the great establishment, but he wisely 
 
 gi\-es (wo months of each year to recreation. In these 
 holidays he seeks enjoyment in directions not generally 
 attractive to the wealthy pleasure-seeker. He is en- 
 thusiastically fond of travel and research, spending his 
 vacations in the Rocky Mountains or other regions of 
 difficult exploration, usually without companions, and 
 often in localities which white men seldom reach. In 
 this way every portion of the United States has been 
 visited by him, while his journeys have extended 
 through Mexico, South America, Europe, and Asia, 
 all of which he has traversed extensively. In the sum- 
 mer of 1877 he performed a remarkable journey, the 
 details of which would make a highly interesting book 
 of travel and adventure. Entering a port of Peru, in 
 company with a single white companion, he traversed 
 the South American continent from side to side at its 
 widest portion, journeying most of the way by mule 
 ;ind canoe, and finally reaching the Atlantic at the 
 mouth of the .Vniazon. The course he followed has 
 Ijeen often traversed in parts, but seldom in its entire 
 length by a white man. Many of his friends sought to 
 lissuade him from this enterprise, on account of its 
 danger, but he was not to be stopped, and finished the 
 journey in six months in safety, and with a rich bar- 
 vest of experiences. 
 
 Mr. Claflin is a trustee of Plyniduth Church, though 
 not a member. He is also a trustee of many charitable 
 institutions of Drookl3-n, and actively interested in their 
 prosperity. About half the year is spent by him in the 
 fine Brooklyn mansion built by his father, and the re- 
 mainder of his business year in the family residence of 
 I'ordham, in the upper section of New York City. He 
 is a member of the Metropolitan, Tuxedo and other 
 clubs, and of the Society of the Sons of the .\merican 
 Rexolution. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 49 
 
 WILLIAM GILBERT DAVIES 
 
 William Gilbert DAViES,one of the foremost mem- 
 bers of the New York bar, was born in the city of New 
 York, Marcli 21, 1842. He is descended from a Welsh 
 family, some of the members of which settled at King- 
 ston, Herefordshire, England, whence John Davies, the 
 ancestor of the family in this country, moved to Litch- 
 field, Connecticut, in the year 1725. He was an active 
 and devoted member of the Church of England, and it 
 was largelv thrnugh his efforts that St. Michael's 
 Church, in that town, was founded. That church, in 
 commemoration of his great services in its behalf, 
 erected a tablet to his memory, and the church is still 
 largel}' sustained by the proceeds of lands donated by 
 him. His grandson, Thomas Davies, a great-grand- 
 uncle of the subject of this sketch, was graduated from 
 Yale College, studied theology in England, was or- 
 dained deacon and priest by the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury at the chapel in Lambeth Palace in August, 1761, 
 and returned to this country as a missionary of the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts. He died prematurely in 1766, but his influence 
 upon his family and their ecclesiastical relations were 
 such that they remained loyal to the English Govern- 
 ment throughout the Revolutionary struggle, and in 
 
 consequence sufifered from the obloquy and persecution 
 to which the Tories were subjected. Mr. Davies' 
 grandfather, Thomas John Davies, moved to New 
 York in 1800 and settled at Black Lake, St. Lawrence 
 County, where he served for several terms as Sheriff 
 and County Judge. His son, Henry E. Davies, came to 
 New York City shortly after his admission to the bar, 
 in 1826, where he occupied successively the positions 
 of Corporation Counsel, Justice of the Supreme Court, 
 and Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals. He was 
 married to Rebecca Waldo Tappan. a descendant of 
 Abraham Tappon, as the name was then spelled, who 
 came from England to Newburyport, Massachusetts, 
 in 1630. On his mother's side Mr. Davies traces his an- 
 cestry back to Anneke Jans, to John Hull, Master of 
 the Mint and Treasurer of the Colony of Massachusetts 
 Bay, who coined the famous pine-tree shillings, and to 
 Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, who married the treas- 
 urer's daugliter Hannah. It is a tradition, well au- 
 thenticated in the family, that her dowry consisted of 
 her own weight in the coins from her father's mint. It 
 must not be inferred from what has been said that Mr. 
 Davies has not pure patriotic Revolutionarj' blood in 
 his veins, for while some of his ancestors were arrayed 
 on the side of England in that memorable conflict, John 
 ! Foote and Benjamin Tappan, his great-grandfathers, 
 bore arms in the cause of Independence. 
 
 Mr. Davies, after a preparatory course in the schools 
 of New York, entered Trinity College, Hartford, Con- 
 necticut, and was graduated from that institution in 
 i860. A short time subsequent to his graduation he 
 went abroad, and for several months pursued his stud- 
 ies at the University of Leipsic, Germany. During the 
 greater portion of this period he had applied himself to 
 the study of law, and upon his return to this country he 
 entered the law office of Slosson, Hutchins & Piatt, 
 where he completed his studies. He was admitted to 
 the bar in 1863. and after a partnership of a few years' 
 duration with Henry H. Anderson, he entered the ser- 
 \-ice of one of the leading insurance companies, where 
 he was for many years one of its most valued counsel. 
 This position he resigned a number of years ago to 
 again enter upon the active practice of his profession 
 at the bar. 
 
 Mr. Davies has gained a wide knowledge in mu- 
 nicipal affairs, and his wisdom and judgment have on 
 several occasions been called into service by the authori- 
 ties in solving some of its most difficult problems. One 
 of these instances was when the city determined to 
 widen and extend the congested thoroughfare of Elm 
 Street; he was chosen a member of the commission 
 which was to carry through this difficult problem. This 
 
50 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 involved the examination of an immense number of 
 titles to property and to the subsequent fixing of values 
 in the condemnation proceedings. This required the 
 untiring efforts of the commission, extending over a 
 period of several years, and was concluded in a man- 
 ner to meet the unqualified approval of the authorities. 
 
 Mr. Davies possesses an analytical mind in an emi- 
 nent degree, and for this reason has been frequently 
 called upon to act as referee for the courts in the set- 
 tlement of questions requiring the utmost discrimina- 
 tion and a thorough knowledge of the law governing in 
 such cases. His reports have been noted by the clear- 
 ness and conciseness of their conclusions, and have sel- 
 dom failed to meet with entire approval. 
 
 Mr. Davies is an active member of the State and 
 City Bar Associations, and has always taken a promi- 
 nent part in the deliberations of these bodies. He is 
 also a member of the Lawyers' Club, and a special lec- 
 turer on the Law of Life Insurance in the Law School 
 of the University of the City of New York. 
 
 Following the traditions of his ancestors, Mr. Davies 
 is a member of the Anglican Church, and was for many 
 years a vcstrj'man of Christ Church. He took a more 
 than usual interest in the welfare of the church, of 
 which he prepared a historical sketch, which was 
 published in the Magazine of American History some 
 years ago. When the congregation moved to its new 
 edifice on Seventy-first Street he found the distance 
 from his residence so inconvenient that he severed his 
 relations w'ith the official body and connected himself 
 with the more adjacent parish of St. Bartholomew. 
 
 Historical studies have always been an interesting sub- 
 ject with him, and he has been for many years an 
 active member of the New York and Virginia Histori- 
 cal Societies, of the New York Geographical and Genea- 
 logical Societ}', and is a corresponding member of the 
 New England Historic-Genealogical Society. He is 
 also a member of the Union, University, Century, 
 Tuxedo, Grolier, Manhattan, Metropolitan, Lieder- 
 kranz, and St. Nicholas clubs, of the Society of the 
 Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, 
 and the Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association. When 
 the safety of the Union was in such imminent peril in 
 1S63, caused by the advance of Lee's mighty army into 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Davies immediately responded to 
 the call of the Government for additional troops, and 
 
 I offered his services as a private soldier, being assigned 
 to duty with the Twenty-second Regiment of New York 
 
 j Volunteers. He remained with the regiment through- 
 out the Gettysburg campaign, thus gaining the privi- 
 lege, of which he feels justly proud, of wearing the 
 bronze button of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 Mr. Davies married, on December 15, 1870, Lucie 
 
 ' Rice, daughter of the Hon. Alexander H. Rice, of 
 Boston, Massachusetts, one of the most distinguished 
 citizens of that Commonwealth. 
 
 Mr. Davies, while steadily declining to enter public 
 life, though frequently solicited so to do, has, neverthe- 
 less, always taken a deep interest in questions of local. 
 State and national politics, and his efforts have always 
 been in the direction of reform in the highest sense of 
 that term. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ELERIDGE THOMAS GERRY 
 
 Elbridge Thomas Gerry, lawyer and philanthro- 
 pist, was born in the City of New York, December 25, 
 1837. He is the son of Thomas R. Gerry, who was 
 the son of Elbridge Gerry, a leading man in the early 
 history of the countiy, and one of the signers of the 
 Declaration of Independence. He was also a member 
 of the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1778 and 
 from 1783 to 17S5, a delegate to the Constitutional 
 Convention in 1787, member of Congress from Massa- 
 chusetts from 1789 to 1793, Commissioner to France in 
 1797, Governor of Massachusetts in 181 o, and Vice- 
 President in 1813. It was during his Governorship 
 that the Legislature redistricted the State in an arbi- 
 trary manner (1811) to procure a majority for the 
 Democrats in the elections for State Senators. It was 
 erroneously thought that the redistricting was done at 
 the instigation of the Governor, whence arose the now 
 familiar term "gerrymander," in allusion to the fancied 
 resemblance between a salamander and a map of the 
 new districts of the State. The father of this distin- 
 guished American, Thomas Gerry, the first of the fam- 
 ily in this country, came to America in 1730, and was 
 a successful merchant in Marblehead, Massachusetts. 
 
 The father of Elbridsre T. Gerrv was a naval officer. 
 
 who died when his son was but seven years of age. 
 Under his mother's care the son was carefully educated, 
 taking a full course at Columbia College, from which in- 
 stitution of learning he was graduated with high honors 
 in 1857, delivering the German salutatory oration 
 on that occasion. Within the same year he was elected 
 president of the Philolexian Society of the college. A 
 short time after his graduation he began the study of 
 law in the office of William Curtis Noyes, an eminent 
 lawyer of his time. Under the careful tuition of Mr. 
 Noyes he became thoroughly proficient in the knowl- 
 edge of the law, and in 1866 he was admitted to the 
 bar, soon afterward being admitted to practice in the 
 Supreme Court of the United States. Following his 
 admission he formed a legal partnership with Mr. 
 Noyes, his former preceptor, and upon the death of that 
 gentleman he entered into partnership with the Hon. 
 William F. Allen, Judge of the New York Court of 
 Appeals, and Benjamin V. Abbott, a well-known legal 
 author. Eventually, Judge Allen withdrew from the 
 firm and it was afterward continued under the name 
 of Abbott & Gerry. For many years he was actively 
 occupied with the laborious duties of an extensive prac- 
 tice, being retained in many famous cases, both civil 
 and criminal. One of his most notable cases was the 
 defense of one McFarland, tried for homicide. He also 
 conducted some memorable will cases, and was con- 
 nected as leading counsel in many other trials of lead- 
 ing importance. 
 
 In 1S67 Mr. Gerry was selected as a member of the 
 convention elected to revise the Constitution, and was 
 an active member of the committee which formulated 
 the article on the pardoning power, which was subse- 
 quently adopted. He was also active in the debates 
 which took place on the floor of the convention on the 
 various amendments, and his great legal ability con- 
 tributed largely toward the perfection of the instal- 
 ment which was finally adopted. 
 
 It was at about this period in Mr. Gerry's career 
 that he began to take an active interest in philanthropic 
 and humane work. It was his daily observation of the 
 suffering inflicted upon dumb animals that led him to 
 form a connection with the American Society for the 
 Prevention of Cnielty to Animals, after its formation 
 by Mr. Henry Bergh. He co-operated heartily with 
 Mr. Bergh in the work of this society, and it is to his 
 persistent and untiring efforts that most of the legisla- 
 tion pertaining to this subject has been carried through. 
 
 On the subsequent formation of the Society for the 
 Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Mr. Gerry gave the 
 work laid out by it his hearty co-operation. The forma- 
 tion of the society, the agitation for which began in 
 
il/£.V OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 1874, was, in fact, mainly due to Mr. Gerry's efforts, 
 and since 1879 he has been its president, and through 
 his untiring and eminently successful labors has won 
 for the society a world-wide reputation. During the 
 existence of this society it has investigated the cases of 
 more than three hundred thousand children, and res- 
 cued more than fifty thousand from neglect and desti- 
 tution, or from vicious surroundings, and placed them 
 in moral and comfortable homes. Through the exam- 
 ple and encouragement of the New York society nearly 
 two hundred similar associations have been fomied in 
 the United States and a large number in foreign 
 countries. 
 
 Mr. Gerry's prominence and activity in the cause of 
 humanity has caused his naiue to be very often seen in 
 the public prints in connection with the efforts so often 
 made by parents to exploit the precociousness of their 
 children on the stage, as dancers or singers, to the 
 detriment of their morals and not infrequently with 
 disastrous results to their physical well-being. In all 
 violations brought to the attention of Mr. Gerry 
 through the agents of his society he has brought to 
 bear the full force of the law provided to meet such 
 cases. His efforts have also been directed with equally 
 beneficial effect in enforcing the law against the em- 
 ployment of child labor in the factories. 
 
 In 1886 Mr. Gerry was appointed by the State Sen- 
 ate, in association with the Hon. Matthew Hale and 
 Dr. A. P. Southwick, to consider the most humane and 
 effective method of executing criminals sentenced to 
 death. As a consequence of the report of this commis- 
 sion, the State of New York adopted its present system 
 of electrical execution of criminals in place of the old 
 
 system of hanging. Since 1885 he has been a governor 
 of the New York Hospital; in 1889 served as chairman 
 of the executive committee of the centennial celebration, 
 and in 1892 was chairman of the commission to con- 
 sider the best method of caring for the insane of New 
 York City ; he is a trustee of the Protestant Episcopal 
 General Theological Seminary, and from 1885 to 1892 
 acted as commodore of the New York Yacht Club. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr. Gerry's great activity in the 
 field of philanthropy, he has always been a leading 
 member of the higher social circles, and his name is 
 seldom missing from the list of the more important 
 gatherings of fashionable society. Besides his resi- 
 dence in New York, he is the owner of a handsome 
 villa at Newport, Rhode Island, and he spends much of 
 his time at that famous summer resort. He has trav- 
 eled much, both in his own country and abroad, having 
 many years since given up the practice of his profes- 
 sion. He was married in 1867 to Louisa M. Living- 
 ston, a granddaughter of Morgan Lewis, who occu- 
 pies a prominent place in the history of New York, 
 having been Governor of the State in 1805, and being 
 known as one of the most eminent jurists of his time. 
 He was also at one time Grand ^Master of tlie Masonic 
 fraternity. 
 
 In addition to the positions of trust already men- 
 tioned as having been held by Mr. Gerry, he is chair- 
 man of the New York Commission on Insanity, a di- 
 rector in the Fifth Avenue Trust Company, the New- 
 port Trust Company, the Industrial Trust Company of 
 Providence, of Rhode Island. He is a member of the 
 New York Yaclit. Turf and Field. Knickerbocker, 
 Melroiiolilan and numerous other clulas. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 S3 
 
 SIGOURNEY W. FAY 
 
 SiGOURNEY Webster Fay occupies a prominent 
 position among the leading merchants in the woolen 
 trade in New York City. He is a native of Boston, 
 in which city he was born on February 6, 1836. Mr. 
 Fay has in some inscrutable way learned the valuable 
 secret of looking young, for despite the evidence which 
 is so positive to the contrary, he has not the appearance 
 of having passed his fiftieth mile-stone on the highway 
 of life's journey. Mr. Fay spent his boyhood days in 
 his native city, and received his elementary education 
 in the public schools for whose excellence Boston is so 
 famous. He passed successfully through the higher 
 branches embraced in the curriculum, and emerged 
 from these studies thoroughly equipped for the active 
 duties upon which he was destined so soon to enter. 
 His natural inclination was to follow in the footsteps 
 of his father, and become a merchant. And that he 
 inherited the sterling qualities which lead to success 
 in the activities of life may be gathered from a glance 
 at the family history. 
 
 The founder of the family in this country was John 
 Fay, who came from England to America in 1640, and 
 settled in Massachusetts. His son, Josiah Fay, the 
 great-grandfather of the subject of the present sketch. 
 
 and Elisha Forbes, of the same town, great-grandfather 
 on the maternal side, both served as soldiers in the 
 ranks of the Revolutionary Army. Their first service 
 was at Bunker Hill, wliere they both won distinction 
 for their gallant conduct. They were so thoroughly im- 
 bued with the spirit of patriotism that they decided to 
 continue in the service of the Colonies until the close 
 of the struggle, and they accordingly enlisted in the 
 First Connecticut Infantry, where they both distin- 
 guished themselves for bravery and soldierly conduct. 
 Nahum Fay, son of the Revolutionary patriot, was a 
 successful merchant, and it was in his father's estab- 
 lishment he first learned the rudiments of a business 
 which was destined later to develop into such vast 
 proportions. To obtain a more thorough training, 
 young Fay determined to visit Boston, where he sought 
 and obtained employment with the large dry goods 
 concern of Lawrence, Stone & Co. Here he rapidly 
 advanced in acquiring a complete knowledge of the 
 business, and after a few years' service decided to en- 
 large his information by becoming familiar with the 
 workings of the manufacturing department of his busi- 
 ness. With this end in view he entered the employ of 
 the Middlesex Woolen Mills of Lowell. It was in this 
 great manufacturing establishment that he developed 
 the qualities and gained the knowledge pertaining to 
 the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods which 
 were to equip him so thoroughly in his future business 
 career. This valuable knowledge and Mr. Fay's su- 
 perior business qualifications were not long in becom- 
 ing known outside the great manufacturing concern, 
 and in i860 he was invited to New York, and, in the 
 commission dry goods firm of Stone, Bliss, Fay & 
 Allen, began a business career which has been attended 
 with uniform success to the present. For ten years, 
 until 1869, this house carried on, it is confidently as- 
 serted and believed, the largest local commission trade 
 in woolen goods in the city of New York. They were 
 the selling agents of about fifteen of the large New 
 England woolen factories. In the course of time sev- 
 eral changes took place in the composition of the mem- 
 bership of the firm. The first to occur was in 1869. 
 when it became Perry, Wendell, Fay & Co. This 
 formation continued until 1878, when, through the 
 death of Mr. PeiTy, the senior member of the firm, an- 
 other change took place, the firm thenceforward being 
 known as Wendell, Fay & Co. During all these years 
 the prosperity of the house has remained undiminished, 
 and it has successfully weathered all the financial 
 storms that have from time to time swept over the 
 country. It follows, as a natural sequence, that the 
 credit of the firm has always been of the highest order, 
 
54 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 and it has never been placed in a position where it 
 had to ask the indulgence of the holders of its commer- 
 cial obligations. It has extended its field of operations, 
 and has many connections outside the city of New 
 York. Its origin may be said to have been in Boston, 
 where its first founder began business, and the house 
 has always maintained close relations with its connec- 
 tions there, through a branch house. It also has a rep- 
 resentative in Philadelphia, and in many other large 
 business centers in the South and West. 
 
 The goods dealt in by the house comprise the highest j 
 grades of cloths, suitings, goods for the manufacture of 
 uniforms, and, in fact, all the best products of the 
 woolen manufacture, and in this connection it may be' 
 stated that the firm represents in the goods it handles ' 
 all the leading woolen mills of the United States. ' 
 Among these the premier place is held by the old and : 
 reliable Middlesex Mills of Lowell, within whose walls 
 Mr. Fay acquired the valuable knowledge which en- 
 abled him to attain and maintain the enviable position 
 which he has always held among the leading business 
 men of the metropolis. Other great manufacturing es- 
 tablishments with which the firm has had long and close 
 relations are the Campbell Mills, the Dumbarton Mills, 
 the Swift River Manufacturing Company and a num- 1 
 ber of other leading concerns. The success which has 
 so uniformly attended the firm in its business enter- j 
 prises is naturally a matter of pride ainong its members, | 
 and for this success they cheerfully accord the praise to [ 
 Mr. Fay, who has made it possible through his great 
 ability and business sagacity. Among all his trade as- 
 sociates he is regarded as a model merchant, his great 
 
 activity being combined with integrity, and with an 
 intelligence and an uprightness that command the ad- 
 miration and respect of all who know him. 
 
 The great popularity which Mr. Fay possesses 
 among the patrons of the house is largely due to his 
 pleasant face and agreeable manners, and the natural 
 sociability of his disposition, he being noted for his 
 constant geniality and courtesy. The large and un- 
 remitting demands upon his time consequent upon his 
 large business connections have given him but little 
 time for holiday indulgences. A merchant's time in 
 these days of energetic competition are usually too 
 completely taken up to permit of his indulging to any 
 great extent in affairs of purely pleasurable entertain- 
 ment. But Mr. Fay has a decided literary taste, and 
 he has been through a great portion of his life an ex- 
 tensive reader and student of contemporary history. 
 He possesses a ready flow of language, a pleasing ad- 
 dress, and no mean gifts of oratory. He has, in conse- 
 quence, received numerous invitations to appear upon 
 the lecture platform, and to these invitations he has 
 complied to an extent that has gained for him con- 
 siderable reputation in this field of intellectual exercise. 
 
 Outside his firm connections Mr. Fay is a member of 
 the Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Hanover 
 National Bank and of the Exchange Fire Insurance 
 Company. He is a member of the Union League, City, 
 Players', Metropolitan and Merchants' clubs, and of 
 the New England Society. By virtue of direct descent 
 he is a member of the Society of the Sons of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution. In t86o he married Delia A., daugh- 
 ter of Emery B. Fay, of Boston. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJV YORK 
 
 55 
 
 HENRY CLEWS 
 
 Henry Clews, stockbroker, banker and author, is 
 a native of Staffordshire, England, his father being at 
 the time of his birth one of the leading manufacturers 
 of goods especially adapted to the American market. 
 The son received a liberal preliminary education, it 
 being the design of his parents that he should enter the 
 ministry. The temperament of young Clews, however, 
 did not appear suited to the vocation selected for him, 
 and he expressed a desire that he might be permitted 
 to enter upon a field that would be more in accord with 
 his natural inclinations. He desired to engage in a 
 vocation that would call forth his best energies, and 
 which he hoped might eventuate in a successful business 
 career. In this desire he was not opposed by his par- 
 ents, and at the age of fifteen he was so fortunate as 
 to obtain the permission of his father to accompany 
 him on a business trip to this country. He was fas- 
 cinated by the busy scenes which he encountered in the 
 metropolis of the New World, and even with his im- 
 mature mind he was enabled to perceive the great op- 
 portunities which were presented to the ambitious 
 young man. Upon his departure from home it was no 
 part of the father's plan that he would return without 
 his son. It did not take the latter long, however, after 
 
 a survey of the field, to decide that he would endeavor 
 to persuade his father to leave him behind. So urgently 
 did he prefer his request that he finally obtained his 
 parent's consent. This he not only gave, but through 
 his business connections he was enabled to obtain for 
 his son a position as junior clerk in the large wool im- 
 porting house of Wilson G. Hunt & Co., where he im- 
 mediately applied himself to the acquirement of the 
 knowledge in all its details of the business of the con- 
 cern. He soon evinced an aptness and an industry 
 that broug'ht him to the favorable notice of his em- 
 ployers, and he was from time to time advanced to 
 more responsible positions. He served the house faith- 
 fully and efficiently for a considerable time, but as he 
 advanced in years he developed an ambition to enter 
 the field of finance. This desire was not immediately 
 to be satisfied, but in 1859 the opportunity came to him 
 when he was enabled to become a member of the newly 
 organized banking firm of Stone, Clews & Mason. The 
 new firm met with varying success, but it had not been 
 organized long when a change took place through the 
 retirement of Mr. Stone, and it was henceforth known 
 as Livermore, Clews & Co. The firm was well estab- 
 lished and doing a prosperous business when the great 
 struggle between the North and the South was begun. 
 The financial needs of the Government at this eventful 
 period were very great. Its credit was at a very low 
 ebb. and it was with the utmost difficulty that it was 
 enabled to meet its current obligations. The outgoing 
 Administration had brought discredit upon the Treas- 
 ury by its failure to float an emergency loan, and this, 
 in connection with the distracted political condition of 
 the country, led to a general feeling of distrust in finan- 
 cial circles that the obligations of the Government 
 might become valueless. Mr. Clews and his house were 
 not of those who took this pessimistic view of affairs. 
 He had the highest confidence in the ability of the 
 Government to suppress the rebellion, was outspoken in 
 his defence of the Union cause, and was in consequence 
 selected by Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the 
 Treasury in Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet, as the agent for 
 the sale of the bonds issued by the Government to meet 
 the extraordinary expenses of the war. These bonds 
 were not very favorably received by the business world, 
 many financiers regarding them as very risky securi- 
 ties : but Mr. Clews, though he knew the Treasury was 
 empty, bad the utmost faith in the strength and ability 
 of the GoA-ernment and the recuperative power of the 
 North, and not only invested every dollar of his own 
 in the bonds, but borrowed largely for the same pur- 
 pose, bringing himself seriously into debt. The task he 
 had undertaken was one of great magnitude and diffi- 
 
S6 
 
 MUX OF AFFAIRS IX XEU' YORK 
 
 culty, and his exertions in its successful prosecution 
 have become a matter of national history. In 1864 his 
 firm subscribed to the national loan at the rate of from 
 five to ten millions a day. It need scarcely be said that 
 his trust in the Govemment was well placed, and that 
 his house benefited largely by its faith. Secretary 
 Chase at a later period said, "Had it not been for Jay 
 Cooke and Henry Clews. I could never have succeeded 
 in placing the 5-20 loan." 
 
 After the war he made banking his distinctive busi- 
 ness, though he retained his valuable commission busi- 
 ness in Government bonds. The revival in railroad in- 
 terests that followed offered one of the most valuable 
 fields for investments, and his house engaged in the| 
 negotiation of railroad bonds in Europe, a line of busi- 1 
 ness in which it became extensively engaged. The 
 present firm, that of Henry Clews & Co., was fonned in 
 1877, each memljcr pledging himself ne\er to take a 
 speculative risk. Its business lias grown until it is n(jw 
 probably wider and more varied than that of any other 
 banking house in the country. There is no man in 
 .America whose opinion in matters of finance is more 
 highly ])rized than that of the head of this great firm. 
 
 ATr. Clews lias always taken a deep interest in Ameri- 
 can jmlitics. hut merely to the extent of securing good 
 government, he persistently declining to accept an offi- 
 
 cial position. Twice the portfolio of the Treasurj' De- 
 partment has been tendered him, and as often the 
 Republican nomination for Mayor of New York, but 
 business interests have in each case forced him to de- 
 cline these proffered honors. He also declined the post 
 of Collector of the Port of New York, offered him by 
 President Grant, and subsequently conferred upon Gen- 
 eral Arthur. Yet he has not hesitated to act when 
 reform became imperati\'e, and to him is due the credit 
 of originating and organizing the famous Committee 
 of Seventy, before whose assault the Boss Tweed Ring 
 went down. His views on public or business affairs are 
 broad and liberal, his opinions on the latter topic being 
 admirably expressed in his book entitled "Twenty- 
 eight A'ears in Wall Street," a work of great literary 
 merit and which has called out highly favorable com- 
 ment. He served for many years as treasurer of the 
 American Geographical Society and the Society for 
 the I'revention of Cruelty to Animals, was one of the 
 founders of the Union Leagaie Club, has long been a 
 member of the Union Club, and is connected with many 
 other institutions of tlie city. Throughout his career 
 Mr. Clews has been noteworthy for industrj^, persever- 
 ance, and unyielding integrity, and his career and char- 
 acter form a worthy example to the gTowing youth of 
 this country. 
 
AlEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 57 
 
 of his death resided 
 Street), P.rooklyn, E. 
 receive<l liis preHniina 
 scliools, and after a 
 
 JOHN C. JUHRING 
 
 J. C. JuiiRiNG, merchant, was born in New York 
 City, and is the son of John C. and Lena (Stake) Juh- 
 ring. His father was a successful real estate operator 
 during- the period from 1S50 to 1875, and at tlie time 
 in Lincoln Place (Wilson 
 I). John C, tlie }-(iunger. 
 r}' education in the public 
 preparatory course entered 
 Mount Washington CoUeg-iate Institute, from which 
 he was graduated in 1S69. He entered the em- 
 ploy of Francis H. Leggett «S: Co., importing and 
 manufacturing grocers, in 1873. ^"'1 ^s the result of a 
 close attention to his duties, reliability and rapidly ac- 
 quiring the knowledge necessary to develop and push 
 business, he was rapidly advanced in positions of trust. 
 He was given an interest in the firm's profits, and in 
 1892 he was admitted to partnership. Li 1902, when 
 the firm was changed to a corporation, he was chosen 
 as its vice-president and secretary. He was one of 
 the charter members of the ^lerchants' Association of 
 New York, and at its first meeting, in 1897, he was 
 elected its first vice-president and proved to be one 
 of its most active workers. Lnbued with an unusual 
 degree of civic pride, he laid plans to secure members, 
 
 and within a short period after its organization he'suc^ 
 ceeded in adding to the membership roll one hundred 
 and fifty representative firms. 
 
 Mr. Juhring is recognized as a public-spirited citi- 
 zen, and one who always has in mind the welfare and 
 best interests of the city of his birth. He takes a com- 
 mendable pride in setting forth the superior advan- 
 tages possessed by New York City as a great trading 
 center, and as he is so thoroughly identified with the 
 business interests of the metropolis, his views are well 
 worth recording here. He said on a recent occasion : 
 "The reasons for New York's great predominance are 
 numerous. It is the focal point of commerce, manu- 
 factures and distribution. There are, of course, other 
 great trade centers, but they cannot become the great 
 focal points upon which the great currents of interna- 
 tional trade converge. The commerce of a nation is its 
 interchange of cummodities with other nations, and be- 
 cause we can and do furnish vast quantities of foi_)d 
 products as well as manufactured gi^ids to other na- 
 tions, and must in turn buy tea, coffee, spices and in- 
 numerable other necessities that foreign countries pro- 
 duce, naturally there must always be great trade cur- 
 rents setting to and from our shores. New York is 
 the main port of entry for the whole country, and there- 
 fore the greatest distributing center. Hence the prin- 
 cipal steamship lines converg-e here to a greater extent 
 than in any other port on this continent. It is this con- 
 centration that has made New York the great center 
 that it is, and so soon to be the metropolis of the world. 
 It is also significant that more than seventy per cent, of 
 the merchandise that the United States imports for 
 business purposes passes through the port of New York, 
 and it follows as a logical setiuence that these goods 
 can be procured here to better advantage than in any 
 other market. These are a few of the reasons for New 
 York's commercial supremacy, and they indicate why 
 the metropolis towers above all other American cities." 
 
 On February 15, 1905, the Evening Mail, in a 
 department of that journal called "Men of Affairs," 
 published a picture of Mr. Juhring, and stvled it the 
 "Promoter of Gotham's Advantages." In this picture 
 Mr. Juhring is seen welcoming and introducing out-of- 
 town merchants from San Francisco, Philadelphia, St. 
 Louis, Boston, Chicago and other cities to Father 
 Knickerbocker. In the background is a faint outline 
 of the front of Francis H. Leggett & Co.'s establish- 
 ment. On the steps of the building is seen a big rooster 
 in the act of crowing, and from his bill proceeds the 
 legend, "It pays to buy in New York." The explana- 
 tion as to why the Evening Mail selected Mr. Juhring 
 as the subject of its cartoon is found in the fact that in 
 
MRS' OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 1904, through his untiring efforts, more than two thou- 
 sand out-of-town merchants were induced to visit the 
 metropolis during tlie season as the guests of Leggett 
 & Co. They were cordially welcomed and ro3'ally en- 
 tertained during their stay in the city. They were 
 invited to partake of a hountiful luncheon, which was 
 served in the King Street manufacturing home of the 
 compan}^ and afterward, from the deck of a large 
 steamer yacht, treated to a revelation of the commer- 
 cial supremacy of the city, viewing its vast wharves, 
 warehou.ses and immense skyscraping business struc- 
 tures. Many of the visitors had not been in the city in 
 many years, and so profound was the impression made 
 upon them on this occasion that they were forced to 
 the conclusion that their business interests would be 
 best subserved in the future by making their purchases 
 in this market, which offers more of everything and in 
 greater variety than it is possible to find elsewhere, and 
 on more advantageous terms. Thus the efforts of Mr. 
 Juhring in inducing these merchants to visit the 
 metropolis were productive of splendid results. ]\Iany 
 new business connections were established and trade 
 relations of an enduring character formed. To Mr. 
 Juhring's untiring efforts was accorded the praise for 
 inaugurating and carrs'ing through this great move- 
 ment, and one of the leading journals said of him in 
 this connection : "If all Gothamites had Mr. Juhring^s 
 public spirit and energy New York would be the best- 
 advertised city in the world." As showing the sub- 
 stantial benefits flowing from this movement on the 
 
 part of Mr. Juhring to increase the current of trade 
 flowing in the direction of the metropolis, it is discov- 
 
 ] ered that the influx of buyers this year is largely in 
 excess of any year since 1900, which was a banner 
 
 ' year. 
 
 } Mr. Juhring's eminent executive and business quali- 
 fications have led to his selection for many positions of 
 trust. He is a director of the Coal and Iron National 
 Bank of New York City, a trustee of the Citizens' Sav- 
 ings Bank, besides being connected in a similar capacity 
 with many other commercial institutions. In politics 
 he is a Republican, but of independent views, and he 
 has given his unqualified support to all movements 
 looking to an improved condition in the administra- 
 tion of the local government. He is a member of the 
 JMerchants' Club of New York and of several out-of- 
 town social organizations. He was married on Octo- 
 ber 19, 1901, at the Majestic Hotel, in New York City, 
 
 I to Miss Frances Bryant Fisher, an interesting feature 
 of the wedding being the presence of Miss Helen M. 
 Gould as one of the bridesmaids. 
 
 It has been well said of Mr. Juhring by one who 
 knows him intimately : "He possesses a pleasing per- 
 sonality and a wonderful capacity for details. He com- 
 
 j bines perseverance with persistency ; great tenacity of 
 
 I purpose to accomplish results. His motto is 'Keep on 
 
 I keeping on.' He is self-contained, courteous in man- 
 ner, somewhat rcser\-ed. yet straightforward, and a 
 strict disci]ilinarian, 1)ut well liked for his fair deal- 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 59 
 
 GEORGE C. BARRETT 
 
 George C. Barrett, Justice of tlie Supreme Court 
 of New York, was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, 
 July 28, 1838. On the side of his father, the Rev. 
 Gilbert Carter Barrett, a minister of the Church of 
 England, he is of English descent, while to the Irish 
 blood of his mother, Jane M. Brown, may be attributed 
 the keen wit and genial humor that have so distin- 
 guished him. His father was sent as a missionary to 
 the Oneida Indians in Canada in the spring of 1844, 
 and the future Justice spent many of the years of his 
 boyhood on the banks of the Canadian river Thames. 
 For six years young Barrett pursued his studies with 
 his father, who was eminently qualified by his scholarly 
 attainments to impart to the son the useful knowledge 
 which was to be the foundation of his completer educa- 
 tion. The elder Barrett died when his son was in his 
 fourteenth year, and the latter was brought to New 
 York, where he entered the Columbia Grammar School. 
 Subsequently he began a course at Columbia College, 
 but he was obliged to leave the college before gradua- 
 tion in order to earn his own living. When but six- 
 teen he began writing for the newspapers, and he was 
 most successful in his journalistic work. He studied 
 law in the office of Van Cott, Cady & Smales, and was 
 
 admitted to the bar when only twenty-one. His judi- 
 cial career began at the early age of twenty-five, when 
 he was elected Justice of the Sixth Judicial District 
 Court. Before the end of his term of service he was 
 elected to the bench of the Court of Common Pleas. 
 This position he resigned at the end of two years, and 
 went back to his law office. 
 
 Judge Barrett's sympathies and energies were heart- 
 ily enlisted in the fight against the Tweed ring. He 
 was one of the signers to the call for the mass meeting 
 of September, 1871, at which the Committee of Sev- 
 enty was appointed. He was made counsel for that 
 committee, and as such he obtained from Justice 
 George Barnard the order enjoining Richard B. Con- 
 nolly from acting as City Controller. He appeared 
 subsequently before Judge Barnard and argued in sup- 
 port of the injunction, being opposed by William O. 
 Bartlett and Richard O'Gorman. The suit resulted in 
 the resignation of Connolly and the appointment of 
 Andrew H. Green to succeed him. The exposure of 
 the iniquities of the Tweed ring immediately followed, 
 and in this Judge Barrett took an active part. 
 Throughout the memorable anti-Tammany campaign 
 he took a foremost part in the advocacy of municipal 
 and political reform. His public utterances carried 
 weight because of his ability, dignity and sincerity. On 
 October 19, 1871, he was nominated by the Apollo 
 Hall Democrats to succeed Josiah Sullivan as a Justice 
 of the Supreme Court, and the nomination was in- 
 dorsed by the Committee of Seventy, the Municipal 
 Council of Reform and both wings of the Republican 
 party. The candidate of Tammany Hall was Thomas 
 H. Ledwith, a Police Justice, and he was defeated by 
 Judge Barrett by more than forty thousand majority. 
 When he took his seat on the Supreme Court bench 
 Judge Barrett was but thirty-four years old, but his 
 fitness to occupy so exalted a position was generally 
 conceded. 
 
 Judge Barrett's first term as a Supreme Court Jus- 
 tice expired December 31, 1885, and he was elected to 
 succeed himself. His nomination had been practically 
 unanimous. He was named by Richard Croker in the 
 Tammany Hall Nominating Convention, and was suc- 
 cessively indorsed by the County Democracy, the Re- 
 publicans, and by Irving Hall. In the election he re- 
 ceived nearly two hundred thousand votes. During his 
 judicial career he has presided over many civil and 
 criminal cases. Among them may be cited the trial of 
 Richard Croker for murder; that of Henry W. Jaehne, 
 and the other "Boodle Aldermen" who were convicted 
 of having received bribes, and of Jacob Sharp, who 
 bribed them; those of the Tammany Election Inspec- 
 
6o 
 
 MEN OP AFFAIRS IX XEW YORK 
 
 tors who fraudulently miscounted in favor of Maynard 
 for Judge of the Court of Appeals, and that of Ferdi- 
 nand Ward, the so-called "Xapoleon of Finance." the 
 first case where a man was ever convicted for a false 
 representation or statement made over a telephone. His 
 opinion in the Sugar Trust was affirmed throughout, 
 and the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States in the cases under the Sherman Act take the 
 same general view of the subject; his charge in the 
 Landraff Bakery conspiracy case has repeatedly been 
 referred to since in this and foreign jurisdictions; he 
 thought out and had passed the Special Jury bill, the 
 first measure of the kind in this country ; he assisted in 
 the formation of the .Vppellate Division of the Supreme 
 Court, having been consulted by the leaders of the party 
 in power, and he was appointed a member of the Ap- 
 pellate Division of the First Department when the 
 court was formed ; he drew and had passed the act giv- 
 ing the Appellate Division the power to regulate the 
 reorganization of the Supreme Cnurt under the amend- 
 ed Constitution of 1895. and under the power thus 
 granted he assisted in preparing the rules for the re 
 organized court; he wrote the majority opiniup. affirm- 
 ing the constitutionality of the Rapid Transit act; this 
 was affirmed by the Court of Appeals and guaranteed 
 to Xew York City the underground railroad recently 
 completed ; when the .\ppellate Division Court House 
 was formally oi)ened, he responded to the speeches of 
 the bar; in 1900. preferring tlie more interesting work 
 of the civil and criminal courts, at his own re(|uest he 
 was relieved of the assignment to the Ai)i)ellate Divis- 
 ion and returned to his Suiircme Court duties. His 
 
 retirement from the bench took place on January 2. 
 1906. after a service of nearly forty years. 
 
 Judge Barrett's love of literature and of art is his 
 diversion and his greatest personal comfort. His 
 warmest friends are among highly cultured people, and 
 both here and in foreign capitals he is on terms of cor- 
 dial friendship with the masters of art and i)f literature. 
 His own pen is scarcely ever idle, though in late years 
 his contributions to public prints have not been many. 
 He has written three or four plays, one of which, "An 
 .\merican Marriage," was produced at W'allack's The- 
 atre in 1883. Although its literary and artistic merits 
 were generally recognized, its quality was of too fine a 
 te.xture to meet with popular success. He is a master 
 of English, and his literary work has so permeated his 
 legal labors that he is famed not only for the force and 
 clearness of his opinions, but also for their grace and 
 (hction. on which account they are not infreciuently 
 preserved by members of the bar. 
 
 Judge Barrett's sensitiveness regarding the dignity 
 of his judicial office was manifested by his withdrawal 
 from the Nineteenth Century Club in 1888. He re- 
 signed from tliat organization liecause he was not will- 
 ing to be held indirectly responsible for the denuncia- 
 tions by Courtland Palmer, President, and also by other 
 members of the club, of the sentences of the Chicago 
 anarchists who were held accountable for the Hay- 
 market riots in that city. He married Mrs. Gertrude 
 F. \'ingut, daughter of Sunnier Lincoln Fairiield. the 
 New England writer and ]!oct. I le is a member of the 
 L'ni\'ersity. Century. Melroioliian. Manli.'Ut;ni and 
 Democratic clubs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 6i 
 
 HUGH JOHN GRANT 
 
 Hugh J. Grant, twice i\layor of New York and 
 since prominent in its business circles, was born at No. 
 307 West Twenty-seventli street. He was the only 
 child of parents who from the first g"a\e him the most 
 careful and thorough training, both educational and 
 domestic. The elder Grant was an extensive owner of 
 real estate, and his keen e}-e and prophetic judgment 
 saw the amazing transformations that were destined to 
 be brought about in real estate on the west side of the 
 city by the building of rapid transit lines and the erec- 
 tion of homes for those with moderate incomes. 
 
 Young Hugh was sent at an early age to the public 
 school in Twenty-eighth street, where he developed the 
 qualities of studiousness and perseverance which con- 
 tributed so largely to his success in his succeeding 
 years. After his ptiblic school course he was sent to 
 Manhattan College, where he de\-oted special attention 
 to the study of modern languages. He took private 
 lessons in German and French, in the former of which 
 he acquired a marked jM-nficienc}". He was graduated 
 from Manhattan when he was but sixteen years of age. 
 His parents then took him on a trip to Europe, and he 
 spent nearly a year abroad, the greater portion of the 
 time being passed in Berlin. On his return he entered 
 
 St. Francis Xavier's College, on West Sixteenth street, 
 where he remained three years. The suljsequent two 
 years he spent in the Columbia Lavr School, from which 
 he received his diploma as a Bachelor of Law. After 
 his graduation he entered the law office of D. i\I. Por- 
 ter, a leading lawyer, where he was initiated into the 
 practice of the legal profession. He remained in Mr. 
 Porter's office for about a year, when he established a 
 bvisiness connection with ex-Recorder James M. Smith, 
 and maintained an office at No. 25 Chambers street. 
 He subsequently moved uptown, and conducted his 
 law practice in connection with his real estate business 
 at No. 303 West Fifty-fourth street. His father had 
 charge of many estates, and this business engrossed the 
 son's attention to the almost entire exclusion of ordi- 
 nary law practice. 
 
 The first appearance of Mr. Grant in politics was in 
 1SS2. when he received the Tammany nnniinatirm for 
 Alderman in the Nineteenth District and was elected. 
 In the following year he was re-elected and became a 
 member of the famous "Boodle Board" of 1884. It 
 was for his manly and unimpeachable course during 
 that period that he came prominently before the public. 
 He was largely instrumental in unearthing the coupon 
 frauds in the Comptroller's office, thereby causing one 
 of the sensations of the day. Numerous franchises for 
 ferries and railroads were disposed of by the board of 
 1884, the most important being that given the Broad- 
 way surface railroad, to secure the granting of which 
 more than five hundred thousand dollars was said to 
 have been used as a corruption fund through Jacob 
 Sharp. Every member of the board with the excqj- 
 tions of Aldermen Grant and O'Connor were charged 
 with having been corrupted. Some confessed their 
 crime, others sought safety in flight to foreign ports, 
 two were sent to Sing Sing, and others escaped punish- 
 ment by technicalities or death. 
 
 Mr. Grant was very active in exposing this infam}', 
 and his course greatly increased his popularity. In 
 the fall of 1884 he received the Tammany Hall nomi- 
 nation for Mayor, but was defeated by W. R. Grace in 
 a close contest, the latter having received the support 
 of many Republicans who were dissatisfied with their 
 own ticket. The following year ]\Ir. Grant received 
 the Tammany nomination for Sheriff, and he was 
 elected by a handsome majority. His administration 
 of this office won high praise from the courts and from 
 the pulilic. He held his deputies to a strict accounta- 
 bilitv. and as a result he left the office with fewer pend- 
 ing suits than had any 1 if his predecessors. His second 
 run for the Mayoralty, which occurred in 1888, pre- 
 sented one of the most stirring political battles that the 
 
62 
 
 MEX OP A [-FAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 city had witnessed in many years. He won by a de- 
 cisive vote over Abraham Hewitt and Joel B. Erhardt. 
 His administration of the city's affairs was marked by 
 great vigor in cutting down needless expenses and in a 
 judicious and economical management of the city's 
 business. To him was accorded the credit of inaugu- 
 rating a better system of street paving and also of plac- 
 ing underground the myriads of overhead electric 
 wires. 
 
 Mr. Grant was re-elected Mayor in 1890. defeating 
 Francis M. Scott, the Fusion candidate. The canvass 
 was a very warm one, but the result was decisively in 
 Mr. Grant's favor. His second term was marked by 
 the same clear conception of the city's requirements 
 and a sound and economical application of the money 
 of the people to meet those requirements. 
 
 In 1894 Mr. Grant was nominated for a third term, 
 hut owing to a revulsion having been brought about in 
 the minds of the people through the disclosures of cor- 
 ruption among the members of the police force, made 
 by a legislative committee, he was unsuccessful and 
 was defeated by William L. Strong, who had been 
 selected to head what was termed the Reform ticket. 
 
 Since his retirement to private life Mr. Grant has 
 been a busy man in the management of his large real 
 estate interests, and he has by his clear judgment and 
 business tact added largely to his fortune. Mr. 
 Grant married a daughter of ex-United States Sena- 
 tor Edward Murphy, Jr., of Albany, and his do- 
 
 mestic life has been an exceedingly happy one. Imme- 
 diately following his marriage he again visited Europe, 
 making before his return an extended trip through Ire- 
 land, where he and his bride were the recipients of 
 much social attention. He has lived for some years in 
 a fine house at No. 261 West Seventy-third street, and 
 also has a fine summer residence in New Jersey, w^here 
 he maintains a large farm for breeding horses. He has 
 for years been a lover of speeding animals, and has 
 taken a great deal of interest in the turf and in sporting 
 events generally. For a few years, including a part of 
 his Mayoralty term, he managed the racing stud of 
 I Nathan Straus. He was one of the principal promoters 
 j of the laying out and construction of the Speedway, and 
 he is not infrequently seen on that popular concourse 
 behind one of his fast steppers, he being the owner of 
 more than one that has attained a national reputation. 
 Mr. Grant's acknowledged business qualifications 
 ! have led to his selection as receiver in several important 
 instances. He was chosen to wind up the affairs of the 
 I St. Nicholas Bank, which were seriously involved, and 
 he discharged the duty in a way that gave satisfaction 
 to all interested. Later he was selected by counsel to 
 I be the receiver of the Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse 
 j Company, and still later he was selected to straighten 
 out the affairs of the Third Avenue Railroad Company. 
 Of late years he has not been prominent in the political 
 world, though still taking an active interest in muni- 
 cipal affairs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 63 
 
 WHITELAW REID 
 
 Whitelaw Reid, journalist and statesman, was 
 born a little more than sixty-eight years ago in Xenia, 
 Ohio, a town founded by his paternal grandfather, a 
 Scotch Covenanter of the sternest and strictest sort. 
 A maternal uncle, who was also a Covenanter, pre- 
 pared young Reid for college, and at nineteen he was a 
 graduate with honors from the Miami University. He 
 then became principal of a school at South Charleston, 
 Ohio, teaching many pupils who were older than him- 
 self. While in this employment he saved sufficient 
 money to repay his father the expenses of his senior 
 year at college. Returning home before he had reached 
 his majority, he negotiated for and became the pro- 
 prietor of the Xenia News, and in two years had se- 
 cured for it a circulation and a business prosperity that 
 it had never previously enjoyed. He was an ardent 
 advocate of the principles of the newly formed Repub- 
 lican party, and being a constant reader of the New 
 York Tribune, then guided by Horace Greeley, he con- 
 ducted his own columns as much as possible after the 
 model of the great journalist he was destined to suc- 
 ceed. In i860 Mr. Reid was the first Western editor 
 outside of Illinois to advocate the nomination of Mr. 
 Lincoln for the Presidency. When Mr. Lincoln re- 
 
 ceived the nomination he made his first efifort as a 
 public speaker, and proved himself an able and con- 
 vincing advocate of the Republican cause throughout 
 the campaign. Soon after its close he disposed of his 
 interest in the News and became the legislative corre- 
 spondent at Columbus of the Cincinnati Times. The 
 vigor and raciness of his letters attracted wide atten- 
 tion, and his services were sought by other prominent 
 journals. At the close of the session of the Legislature 
 he was ofi^ered and accepted the city editorship of the 
 Cincinnati Gazette, which position he was filling with 
 great satisfaction at the time of the actual breaking out 
 of hostilities between the North and the South. At his 
 own urgent request, he was sent into the field to repre- 
 sent the Gazette as its war correspondent, and his let- 
 ters to that journal over the pen name of "Agate" de- 
 [licted the struggle in a manner that has been equaled 
 by few correspondents on either side of the Atlantic. 
 He went through the first and second campaigns in 
 West Virginia as well as the Tennessee campaign, and 
 was present at the memorable engagements at Fort 
 Donelson and Pittsburg Landing. He left a sick bed 
 to witness the latter battle, and was the only correspon- 
 dent who actually saw the fight, his graphic account of 
 which filled more than ten columns of the Gazette, and 
 earned for him a national reputation. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Reid was sent to Washington by the 
 managers of the Gazette, and for the three following 
 years he was the representative of that journal at the 
 national capital. It was at this time that he first met 
 Horace Greeley, and the two at once became close 
 friends. 
 
 As the result of an extensive trip through the South 
 at the close of the war, Mr. Reid made his first contri- 
 bution to the field of literature, a book called "After 
 the War; a Southern Tour." This visit to the South 
 also led him to engage in business in that section. In 
 partnership with the late General Francis J. Herron, he 
 engaged in cotton planting, but the venture, owing to 
 an invasion of the army worm, did not prove a success. 
 The following 3'ear he made a similar venture in Ala- 
 bama, and this was more successful. While growing 
 cotton, however, Mr. Reid's pen was not idle, and it 
 was during this period that he wrote his book, "Ohio 
 in the War," two large volumes of more than a thou- 
 sand pages each, and which has been pronounced a 
 monument of industry and patient regard for detail. 
 After seeing this work through the press, Mr. Reid 
 became editor-in-charge of the Cincinnati Gazette, and 
 the same year reported for it the impeachment trial of 
 President Johnson. His work in this connection led to 
 his selection as the leading editorial writer on the New 
 
04 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEll' YORK 
 
 York Tribune. John Russell Young was at that time 
 managing editor of the Tribune, but soon gave way to 
 Mr. Reid. W'hen, in 1872. Mr. (jreeley accepted the 
 Democratic nomination for the I'residency, Mr. Reid 
 was made editor-in-chief of the jdurnal. The defeat 
 of Mr. Greeley, followed soon after by his death, gave 
 a serious check to the prosperity of the great journal. 
 It was in serious financial straits, as a result of its 
 course in the campaign, and this fact, in connection 
 with the disappointment of Mr. Greeley's political am- 
 bition, is believed ti 1 have caused his death. \'ariiius 
 .schemes were instituted by Mr. Sinclair, the publisher, 
 and (jthers, to replace the Triliune on a sound financial 
 basis and restore it to its position of leadership of the 
 Republican party. Finally, when other plans had 
 failed, Mr. Reid placed the matter before Mr. William 
 Walter Phelps. Upon Mr. Reid's statement of the con- 
 dition of the Tribune's affairs Mr. Phelps unhesitat- 
 ingly agreed to put up all the money that was needed 
 to rescue the paper from its financial troubles, and Mr. 
 Reid thus obtained its complete control. He was then 
 only thirty-five years old, and had to face a task that 
 would have baffled a less resolute and able man. What 
 he had to do was to save the property and make the 
 paper again the e.x])onent of the highest ideals of its 
 partv. Many believed he would fail, but such were the 
 skill, tact and extraordinary business sagacity displayed 
 b_\- hini tli;it within four years he had the Tribune back 
 in its old place as the recognized organ of its party in 
 .\'c\v ^'ork. and had made it again a prosjierous lousi- 
 ness concern. The great prosjoerity of the journal at 
 this ])eriod was shown when Mr. Reid was enabled f)ut 
 of its earnings to erect what was then the finest office 
 building in New York. 
 
 \\'hen Mr. Reid married the daughter of Mr. I). O. 
 Mills, a California nu'llionaire who liail transferred his 
 
 residence to New York, he was himself already a rich 
 man, with resources suflicient to carry him through life 
 unassisted by any further effort. It was not until he 
 had achieved an independence that he consented to hold 
 a public ofiice. Presidents Hayes and Garfield had in 
 turn offered him the German mission, but on both occa- 
 sions he declined the honor. It was not until 1889 that 
 he accepted from President Harrison the appointment 
 of Minister to France. He proved an able representa- 
 tive of the Government while in Paris, but returned to 
 the United States in 189J, and rccei\ed the nomination 
 for the office of \'ice-Presi<knt on the ticket with Gen- 
 eral Harrison. For several years succeeding the cam- 
 paign, which resulted in the defeat of the Republican 
 national ticket, Mr. Reid confined his activities to the 
 editorial sanctum of the Tribune, but in 1S97 l^^ ^^''^^ 
 again called into the diplomatic service of the Govem- 
 ment as special ambassador to Queen Victoria's jubilee, 
 and in 189S he was a member of the commission which 
 arranged the terms of jieace at the conclusion of the 
 Spanish-American War. His next ]iul)lic serxice was 
 three years ago, when be represented the Government 
 as special ambassador at the coronation of King Ed- 
 ward. When Rufus Choate decided to retire from the 
 position of ambassador at the Court of St. James's Mr. 
 Reid was almost immediately selected by the President 
 as his successor, a positi<in for which he is eminently 
 qualified by bis great ability and his previous ex]ieri- 
 ence in the delicate duties of the diplomatic ser\ice. 
 One of his jirinie i|ualifications as a diplomat i> his 
 equable t(.m]>ci-. lie is newr known to Inse his seli- 
 command, Imt alwa\s remains codl. no matter liow 
 exciting the conditions around him. lie is well fitted 
 in every way. .sociall}- ;mil politically, to acce]}tablv 
 represent his Government at this important post. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 JUDGE HENRY ALGER GILDERSLEEVE 
 
 Henry Alger Giedersleeve, Judge of the Supreme 
 Court of New York City, was born in Dutchess County, 
 New York, August i, 1840. His early Hfe was spent 
 on his father's farm, and in attendance at the pubhc 
 schools. His father was entliusiastic in his devotion to 
 agricuhural pursuits, and much of Judge Gildersleeve's 
 remarkable fortitude and endurance may be traced to 
 his early hardy life on the farm. He was fond of the 
 pursuit of game, and it was during this period of his 
 life that he acquired the familiarity with the use of 
 firearms that was to contribute so much to his fame as 
 a marksman at a later period in life. After attending 
 the district school until he was about fifteen years of 
 age, except during the summer months, when his ser- 
 vices were required on the farm, he commenced a sys- 
 tematic course of study which continued until soon 
 after the breaking out of the Civil War, when he left 
 College Hill, Poughkeepsie, and recruited a company 
 for the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment of New York 
 Volunteers. He was selected to command the com- 
 pany, and, as such, was mustered into the service of the 
 Government on the nth of October. 1862. The regi- 
 ment was sent to Baltimore, and entered the service in j 
 what was then known as the Middle Department of the j 
 
 Atlantic, under the command of General Wool. He 
 was subsequently transferred with his regiment to the 
 Army of the Potomac, and participated in the Gettys- 
 burg campaign, and in the subsequent campaigns in 
 Maryland and Virginia. After several months of spe- 
 cial duty, Captain Gildersleeve rejoined his regiment at 
 Kenesaw Mountain, where it formed a part of the 
 command of General Sherman, then engaged in fight- 
 ing his way to Atlanta. He served in Sherman's army 
 through the entire campaign, famous in history as 
 "Sherman's March to the Sea," participating in numer- 
 ous battles and skirmishes. He was afterward made 
 Provost Marshal of the First Division of the Twen- 
 tieth Army Corps, on the staff of General Williams of 
 A'lichigan, the delicate, arduous and responsible duties 
 of which position he discharged in a manner which 
 met the approval of his superiors. He was promoted 
 to the rank of Major in his regiment, and in March, 
 1865, he was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel of United 
 States ^^_)luntee^s by President Lincoln "for gallant 
 and meritorious services in the campaigns of Georgia 
 and the Carolinas." At the close of the war he re- 
 ceived the additional brevet of Colonel, and accompany- 
 ing the commission was a highly complimentary letter 
 from Governor Fenton. On the return of the regiment 
 to Poughkeepsie the command, largely depleted by the 
 hard service and casualties of the war, met with a tri- 
 umphal reception. Colonel Gildersleeve receiving special 
 recognition, and on the 8th of June, 1865. he. with his 
 regiment, was mustered out of the service. 
 
 Immediately on his being mustered out. Colonel Gil- 
 dersleeve began the study of law, entering the Law De- 
 partment of Columbia College. He was admitted to 
 practice in May, 1866, and from that time until he was 
 elected to his present office, in 1875, h^ was a hard- 
 working and successful member of the bar. He was 
 particularly successful as a jury lawyer, in both civil 
 and criminal cases, and established a prosperous and 
 lucrative practice. Conspicuous for fairness and im- 
 partiality at all times, he was frequently named as 
 referee by litigants, and in that capacity disposed of 
 many important cases. 
 
 His military education and instincts led Colonel Gil- 
 dersleeve. in the spring of 1870, at the unanimous re- 
 quest of the officers of the Twelfth Regiment National 
 Guard, State of New York, to accept a commission in 
 that regiment as Lieutenant-Colonel. His experience 
 and fine soldierly qualities made him a valuable officer 
 to the regiment, and he enjoyed the respect and confi- 
 dence of the entire command. 
 
 Upon the institution of the National Rifle Associa- 
 tion. Colonel Gildersleeve became one of its incorpo- 
 
66 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 rators and directors, and also its secretary, in which 
 capacity in the early years of that now famous associa- 
 tion he did very hard and efficient work. While in- 
 structing the members of his regiment at Creedmoor in 
 ritle practice he developed the qualities which afterward 
 made his name famous as a rifleman. He had a natural 
 bent for outdoor sports, and found rifle practice a most 
 congenial recreation. He first came into prominence 
 as a marksman while a member of the American Rifle 
 Team in its first successful contest with the Irish team 
 at Creedmoor, in 1874. In October of that year he 
 was promoted to the position of Assistant Adjutant 
 (kneral and Chief of Staff in the First Divisinn Na- 
 tional Guard of the State of New York, with the rank 
 of Colonel, which position he held for more than twelve 
 vears. \\hcn the bill providing for a General Inspector 
 of Rifle Practice became a law. General John A. Dix, 
 then Governor of the State, tendered the position to 
 Colonel Gildersleeve, but he declined the honor, pre- 
 ferring to retain the position he then held. When it 
 was decided to send a team of American riflemen to 
 Ireland, in 1875. Colonel Gildersleeve was unanimously 
 cho.sen to captain the team, was placed in full charge, 
 and conducted the famous match at Doilymount with 
 distinguished credit to himself and honor to his coun- 
 try. The Americans, during their stay in Ireland, were 
 everywhere received with great enthusiasm, and it was 
 in the responses which Colonel Gildersleeve was called 
 ui)on to make to these ovations that his talents as an 
 orator and public speaker were first lirought to notice. 
 Since then, on the lecture ])latfi)rm. he has been most 
 
 effective, and in after-dinner speeches he has always 
 been happy in his remarks as well as elo(|uent and 
 impressive. 
 
 Judge (jildersleeve's judicial career began with his 
 selection, in 1875, as Judge nf the Court of General 
 Sessions of the City of New York, whicli iiosition be 
 held fur fuurteen years, disposing of an immense num- 
 ber of criminal cases of every kind and description, 
 with but few reversals from bis decisions. He was de- 
 feated by a small number of votes when he was a candi- 
 date for re-election, in 1889. A little later Ciovernor 
 Hill appointed him to a vacancy on the Superior Court 
 bench, and in Xox-emlier. 1891, be was elected to suc- 
 ceed himself for a fourteen years' term by a majority of 
 over thirty-three thousand votes. During the past few 
 years he has served in all branches of the court, and for 
 a time took part in the General Term decisions in sev- 
 eral cases involving novel points of law. 
 
 Judge Gildersleeve is still in the active discharge of 
 his judicial duties, though well advanced in life, being 
 blessed with perfect health and an iron constitution. 
 \\\i\\ a past so varied and eventful, he has still many 
 }-ears of usefulness before him. In personal appear- 
 ance he is tall, strong, and heavily built, of dignified 
 and rather reserved bearing, but with manners of un- 
 varying kindness and courtesy. He still preser\'es his 
 fondness for outdoor sports, and is frequently seen at 
 athletic games. He has of late years joined the army of 
 golf players, in wliicli game he has become quite an 
 expert, and was recently made presiilent of a club in 
 the Adirondacks. 
 
MEN OP AFFAIRS IX XEIV YORK 
 
 67 
 
 REV. GEORGE CLARKE IIOUGHTOX, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. George Cl.vrke Houghton, priest of the 
 Episcopal Church, was born in the city of New York on 
 the 17th of December, 1850. His father, Fredericlv E. 
 Houghton, a banker and broker, who for many years 
 carried on business in Wall Street, was descended from 
 Clarke Houghton, of Deerfield, Massachusetts. This 
 ancestor was an Englishman who married into a Co- 
 lonial family which won distinction in Colonial times 
 and also for its services to the cause of the patriots dur- 
 ing the Revolutionary struggle. On the mother's side 
 Dr. Houghton is descended from the Dawsons, a 
 Scotch family of some distinction, who settled in this 
 country in the early part of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Dr. Houghton was prepared for college in a private 
 school, under the careful tuition of Edmund Burke, a 
 noted teacher of his time, and aftenvard matriculated 
 at St. Stephen's College at Annandale. He was gradu- 
 ated from this institution in 1867, at the age of seven- 
 teen. It was the original intention of young- Houghton, 
 as well as that of his immediate family, that he should 
 begin the study of law, with the view of making that 
 his profession, but from this view he was dissuaded by 
 
 his uncle, who induced him to turn his attention to the 
 study of theology. He accordingly entered the General 
 Theological Seminary of New York, from which he 
 was graduated in 1870. In the same year he received 
 the degree of ]\Iaster of Arts and was ordained to the 
 priesthood by Bishop Horatio Potter. Eor three years 
 I he was the editor of a church magazine, and at the age 
 of twenty-two was head master of a school, and in- 
 structor and lecturer in other schools. His first work 
 in the ministry was when he was made curate in 
 Trinity Church of Trinity Parish, New York, and he 
 was later transferred to Saint Chrysostom's in the same 
 parish. After several years' service in Trinity parish, 
 during which he gained a reputation for great energy 
 and effective work in behalf of the church, he received 
 I from, and accepted a call to, Trinity Church, Hoboken, 
 to which parish he was destined to contribute his best 
 efforts for eighteen years, in a greatly diversified field, 
 and with most gratifying results. When Dr. Hough- 
 ton took charge of the Hoboken church, in January, 
 1879, the entire city had a population of less than 
 twenty-five hundred inhabitants. The parish of which 
 he became rector had about seventy-five communicants, 
 which he increased during his ministry to six hundred 
 and fifty. He organized many agencies of work among 
 the poor of the city, and was the pioneer of the self- 
 helpful works in Holoken which help the poor by 
 teaching them \vn\ to help themselves. He caused to 
 be formed "house-work" classes, to teach the children 
 how to serve in every department of the household. 
 "Mothers' Societies," sewing schools where graded 
 lessons in sewing were taught, dressmaking classes, 
 millinery classes, cooking- classes, etc., were organized, 
 and valuable assistance given to the different members 
 in the homes of the poor. To carry on these great 
 philanthropic and reformatory measures he had the 
 effective co-operation of the church societies which he 
 had caused to be organized. The Chapter of the Broth- 
 erhood of Saint Andrew did effective work among the 
 young men of the parish. The Saint Agnes Chapter 
 of the Daughters of the King, composed of fifty young 
 women, did a large amount of mission work among the 
 young women of Hoboken. 
 
 In 1885 Dr. Houghton was elected, by the State 
 Board of Education in New Jersey, Superintendent of 
 Instruction, which position he continued to hold for 
 twelve years. In 1887 he organized the New Jersey 
 Industrial Education Association and founded the 
 Manual Training College, of which he was president, 
 and one of the board of directors for ten years. As 
 showing the immense field and diversified labors of Dr. 
 Houghton during his rectorship of Trinity parish, the 
 
68 
 
 .1/£.V OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 following brief summary is given : During ten of the 
 eighteen years of his incumbency he was also rector of 
 Saint John's Church, West Hoboken; Grace Church, 
 Weehawken; Church of the Transfiguration, Pine Hill; 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction for Hudson 
 County, President of the Manual Training College, 
 President of the Industrial Education Association, New 
 Jersey; Chaplain of the Ninth Regiment, National 
 Guard of New Jersey; Chaplain of Euclid Lodge of 
 Masons, the Royal Arch Chapter and of Pilgrim Com- 
 mandery. Knights Templar ; Chaplain of the Widows' 
 Home and the Riverside Yacht Club; President and 
 Warden of Saint Katherine's Home; Director in 
 Christ's Hospital, Jersey City, and trustee in various 
 other civic and eleemosynary institutions. During the 
 first ten years of his service, besides carrying on the 
 immense work indicated above, he managed to cancel 
 almost the entire delit of Trinity Church, which 
 amounted to a very considerable sum when he took 
 charge. 
 
 In commemoration of the longest rectorship the 
 parish had previously known, the vestry determined in 
 1889 to celebrate in some suitable way their ten years' 
 successful work and advancement under Dr. Houghton. 
 The commemoration took the form of a full week of 
 services, festivals and social meetings. A historical 
 and statistical sermon was delivered by the rector on 
 Sunday, January 10, and each day of the week had its 
 own special commemoration and suitable celebration. 
 .Among the beautiful memorial and other gifts by which 
 the church was enriched on the occasion were the fol- 
 lowing: An elaborate gothic puljjit, richly and chastely 
 carved, which was the gift of those who had been con- 
 firmed in the church during the rectorate of Dr. Hough- 
 ton. The five remarkable windows over the altar and 
 one in the nave of the church, were all memorial gifts. 
 A beautiful choir banner was presented by a Sunday- 
 School class The lecturn, of magnificently carved oak, 
 was another gift. The large Altar of quartered oak. 
 with its canopied tabernacle and richly carved and pan- 
 eled reredos, was given as a marriage memento from 
 the ha])py couples whom Dr. Houghton had joined in 
 wedlock. A beautiful stone bai)tistry was built ;uid jjtc- 
 sented by Mrs. John Stevens as a memorial nf her luis- 
 
 ' band, the late John Stevens, who, at the time of his 
 death, was junior warden nf the parish. 
 
 During this period the church had been rebuilt, the 
 new structure being very much larger than the original 
 building. A large extension to the rectory was also 
 built and a large schoolhouse and parish building 
 erected. 
 
 In 1897, Dr. Houghton was called as vicar to the 
 j Church of the Transfiguration, in New York. This 
 church had already become widely known as the "Little 
 Church Around the Corner." This name it derived 
 from a peculiar and pathetic incident cunnected with its 
 history. A neighboring church had been applied to by 
 Mr. Joseph Jefiferson for its services in performing the 
 last rites for a brother actor, George Holland. The re- 
 quest was denied, and the distinguished applicant was 
 referred to the "little church around the corner." The 
 then rector, Dr. Houghton, uncle of the present incum- 
 bent, responded in the true Christian spirit, and the de- 
 sired service was rendered. This incident appealed 
 strongly to the hearts of the theatrical profession, as 
 well as to the liberal minded of all classes, and the 
 I church has ever since been largely attended by the 
 members of that fraternity. On the death of the rec- 
 tor Dr. Houghton was selected to succeed him. Under 
 his direction the church has been greatly beautified and 
 many memorials added; one of the latest is a most 
 unique Lady Chapel, in memory of Mary C. Houghton. 
 He has a stafif of three curates, and the clergy are con- 
 stantly at work among the poor of the city, having met 
 with marked success in finding work for the unem- 
 ployed. 
 
 Dr. Houghton married, in 1871, Mary C. Pirsson, 
 (laughter of Tallxit Pirsson, of New York. Among 
 his publications are: "Sermons of the Festivals," 
 "Manual of Devotions," "History of the Church of the 
 j Transfiguration," and "The Life of the First Rector 
 and Founder of Ihe Church nf the Transfiguration." 
 1 He is a memlicr of the \'ew ^'ll^k Historical Society, 
 j the American Museum of Natural History, the Na- 
 tional Geographical Society, the Church Choral So- 
 ciety, the Munici])al .Art Society, Society' of the Sons of 
 the Revolution, the Society of the Colonial Wars, and 
 , the Calumet, Catholic and .\rts clubs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 69 
 
 WILLIAM B. HORNBLOWER 
 
 William B. Hornblower, jurist, was born in 
 Paterson, New Jersey, May 13, 185 1. His great- 
 grandfather was a member of the Continental Con- 
 gress; his grandfather was Chief Justice Joseph C. 
 Hornblower, of New Jersey, and his father was the 
 Rev. William Henry Hornblower, a graduate of 
 Princeton in the class of '38, and for twenty-seven 
 years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Pater- 
 son, New Jersey, and subsequently Professor of Sacred 
 Rhetoric at the Western Theological Seminary, Alle- 
 gheny City, Pennsylvania. The son, the subject of 
 this sketch, pursued his preparatory studies in a col- 
 legiate school of New York, under the late George P. 
 Quackenbos. Entering Princeton College in the class 
 of 'j7i, he took high rank as a scholar, winning the class 
 prize of '59 in English literature and becoming belles 
 lettres orator of his class at graduation. After he had 
 acquired the degree of A.B., he entered the law school 
 of Columbia College, and in 1875 '^^ was graduated 
 with the degree of LL.B. Before this he had taken the 
 degree of A.M. at Princeton, and had entered the law 
 office of Carter & Eaton, bankruptcy lawyers. Within 
 two years he became a partner in the concern. The 
 senior partners of the firm were averse to court prac- 
 tice, and Mr. Hornblower was required, at the be- 
 ginning of his career, to attend to a large part of the 
 
 litigated business of the firm. This brought him into 
 contact with the bench and bar and paved the way to 
 the popularity which he eventually achieved. His pro- 
 fessional successes, which were begun in handling bank- 
 ruptcy cases, led to a wider range of practice, until 
 among his clients were embraced the names of some of 
 the largest corporations and consolidated interests in 
 New York City. Perhaps no lawyer at the New York 
 bar at the time that Mr. Hornblow' er was in active prac- 
 tice had among his clients so many important interests. 
 At different times he acted as counsel for the New York 
 Central Railroad Company, the Rome, Watertown and 
 Ogdensburg Railroad Company, and the New York 
 Security and Trust Company. He also acted as counsel 
 for the New York and New England Company during 
 the Parsons management. Throughout the Grant and 
 W'ard litigation he was counsel for the receiver, and 
 succeeded in maintaining the right of the firm to a large 
 amount of property, the illegal transfer of which would 
 have defrauded the firm's creditors. He also had an 
 extensive practice as counsel for other lawyers in the 
 trial of cases and in the argument of appeals, both be- 
 fore the Court of Appeals of the State and the United 
 States Supreme Court, and he acted as referee in cases 
 involving important questions of insurance, railroad 
 and corporation law. 
 
 Mr. Hornblower comes of Republican ancestry, his 
 father having been one of the EJectors for Lincoln and 
 Hamlin in i860, and a stalwart anti-slavery man. 
 While still in college, however, the son became deeply 
 interested in the subject of constitutional law, his atten- 
 tion having been dra\\n to the subject by the stormy 
 discussions then raging over the impeachment of Presi- 
 dent Johnson and the various measures passed by Con- 
 gress during the reconstruction period. As a result of 
 these studies he became a Democrat, and coming of age 
 during the Liberal Republican movements, in 1872, he 
 joined the Democratic party, and has been affiliated 
 with that party ever since. But while a Democrat in 
 his political faith, he is in no respect a man of extreme 
 views, inheriting from his father and grandfather the 
 conser\ati\e tendencies of a natural lawyer. His 
 father, although a clergyman, had a legal bent of mind 
 and was opposed to the extremists in all ecclesiastical 
 legislation. He vigorously opposed in the General As- 
 sembly of 1863 the passage of the extreme and violent 
 resolutions denouncing rebellion as a crime, and de- 
 claring that any one participating therein thereby for- 
 feited his right to church membership. Dr. Horn- 
 blower, notwithstanding his intense unionism, pro- 
 tested against these resolutions as assuming ecclesias- 
 tical authoritv over the consciences of individuals in 
 
ME.y OF AFFAIRS 7.V XFJ]' YORK 
 
 political matters. His wisdom has been vindicated by 
 time. Mr. Hornblower has inherited from his father 
 strong convictions and independence of judg-ment, com- 
 bined with moderate and conservative views, going to 
 make up the strong judicial mind. 
 
 Mr. Hornblower's writings and public addresses 
 have met with the highest commendation. Among 
 them are his '•Conflict Between Federal and State De- 
 cisions/' in the American Law Review for March, 
 1880; an address before the American Social Science 
 Association in 1888, entitled. "Is Codification of the 
 Law Expedient?" In August, i8yi, he delivered an 
 impressive address before the American Bar Associa- 
 tion on "The Legal Status of the Indian," and the same 
 year he delivered a lecture before the Columbia College 
 Law School on "The Appellate Courts." 
 
 In 1890 Mr. Hornblower was appointed by the Gov- 
 ernor on the commission created to projiose amend- 
 ments to the Judiciary .Vrticle of the State Constitu^ 
 tinn. In 1803, "l""i the death of Judge P.latchfonl, of 
 the I'nited States Supreme Bench, President Cleve- 
 land sent to the Senate the name of Mr. Hornblower to 
 fill the vacancy. The Senators from New York, how- 
 ever, opposed the nomination, and solely on political 
 grounds succeeded in defeating his nomination. The 
 incident brought Mr. Hornblower's name into unusual 
 ])nimincnce thmugli the ]iress. and b}- a leading jnurnal 
 it was said of him: "There is ])r()bab]y no lawyer in 
 Xcw York of whom it can be nmrc truly said that he 
 has risen to prominence without incurring enemies 
 than of Mr. Hornblower. .\ strong and courageous 
 advocate and counsel at all times, intenselv loval to tb.c 
 
 interests that he is representing, and habitually deter- 
 mined to succeed in undertakings for his clients, he has 
 so comported himself as to win and retain the esteem 
 and admiration both of the bench and the bar. His 
 professional associates are exceedingly jjroud that he 
 
 j has been recognized as especially well fitted among the 
 lawyers of the city for the high station to which the 
 
 I President has nominated him. They are proud of him 
 because of the prominaice to which his talents have 
 raised him at an early age. * '■■ •■= His readiness 
 as a speaker and his brilliancy as an advocate in trial 
 cases were at ni> time exhibited at the expense of the 
 
 j soundness of legal views or in defiance of principles of 
 good law. The eminent fairness which he displayed 
 in the trial of cases made it a pleasure for Judges to 
 listen to him in the presentation of whatever he had to 
 offer and commanded the attention and respect alike of 
 those associated witli liini and those arrayed in opposi- 
 tion to him in the disposition of cases. His reputation 
 years ago was laid on this firm foundation: that he 
 regarded the law as a means of securing absolute jus- 
 tice and that his mind was not naturally inclined to 
 take a perverted view of any case." Other journals 
 of high standing, regardless of party atTfiliati<ins. spoke 
 
 ! in equally strong commendatory terms of Mr. Horn- 
 
 ! bknver's fitness for the eminent position for which In- 
 had been selected. 
 
 Mr. Ilornblower's i)osition in social circles has al- 
 
 I ways been one of prominence, and he is a member of 
 various societies and clubs in New ^'ork, including the 
 Reform, the IMctropolitan, the .\binliattan. the Century 
 anil 'he l'ni\ersitv. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 FRANCIS L. WELLMAN 
 
 A. Wei 
 
 Francis L. Wellman, son ( f Will 
 man, a prominent Massachusetts liankL-r, was liorn in 
 Brookline, Massachusetts, July 29, 1854. His father 
 was one of the leading financiers of Boston and repre- 
 sented the great English banking firm of Baring 
 Brothers for a quarter of a century, ^'oung Wellman 
 received his preliminary education in the jniblic schools 
 of his native town, upon the completion of which he 
 entered Harvard College and was graduated in the 
 class of 1876. He was graduated from the Boston 
 Law School in 1878, and was the valedictorian of his 
 class. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar im- 
 mediately upon his graduation, and was simultaneously 
 appointed instructor at the Boston Law School, antl 
 later lecturer Iwtli at the Boston Law School and at the 
 Harvard Law School. During this period he was for 
 a term associated with ex-United States Senator Bain- 
 Ijridge \\'adleigh. It was the custom of many young 
 lawyers of Boston at that time to engage Mr. Wad- 
 leigh to assi.st them in court with important cases. It 
 was in the preparation of one of these cases that Mr. 
 Wadleigh discovered in young Wellman the qualities 
 that were destined to make him a ])o\verful jurv lawvcr, 
 and he predicted for him a brilliant future. He con- 
 
 tinued for some time to fill the positions of instructor 
 and lecturer with great satisfaction, but Mr. Wellman's 
 restless energy and desire to participate in the stirring 
 scenes of court practice made his life as an instructor 
 rather irksome, and in 1883 he transferred the scene of 
 his activities to New York City, where he accepted the 
 position of assistant in the Corporation Counsel's ofiice. 
 He was given full charge of all the trials by jury in 
 which the city of New York was defendant, and during 
 the sex-en vears that he retained the position he de- 
 tended the interests of the city with such skill and 
 abilitv that the recoveries against the city are said to 
 have averaged less than one-half of one per cent, of the 
 amounts claimed l)y the litigants. He held this posi- 
 tion for eight years, and at the end of that time was 
 appointed First Assistant District Attorney, and for 
 four years conducted the prosecution of all the princi- 
 pal criminal trials of New York County, including the 
 prosecution and conviction of such noted criminals as 
 Dr. Carlyle \\'. Harris. Dr. Robert Buchanan and 
 many others of almost equal celelirity. 
 
 In 1894 Mr. Wellman was appointed General Coun- 
 sel for the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, and 
 he has since that time had direct supervision over and 
 has personally conducted all the more important litiga- 
 tion of that company in the courts. At the same time 
 he has had a ver_\- extensi\'e and lucrative clientage in 
 the courts in his private practice, in partnership with 
 the well-known corporation lawyer, William W. Gooch, 
 under the firm name of Wellman & Gooch, at No. 15 
 Wall street. During twenty-five years of active prac- 
 tice Mr. ^\'ellman has examined and cross-examined 
 upwards of fifteen thousand witnesses, and it is the 
 result of this wide and varied experience that he has 
 embodied in his recent book on cross-examination, pul)- 
 lished by the Macmillan Company, a work which has 
 not onl}' been widely distributed and sought for among 
 the legal fraternity throughout the country, Ijut has 
 I received for its literary qualities the highest commenda- 
 tion from the press. 
 
 It has been truly said that the great lawyers who 
 during the last quarter of ;i century have maintained 
 their places as leaders of the bar of New York and 
 added lustre to its national and international fame are 
 slowly passing away, and it will not be long before 
 their great achievements will be merely heroic mem- 
 ories to guide lawyers for all time in the path which 
 leads to an honored and successful career. \\' hen the 
 names of E\-arts, Choate, Carter, Coudert, Ingersoll, 
 Daly. De])ew and others who ha\-e given stability and 
 prominence to the Xew "\'ork bar shall be ])laced upon 
 the memorial roll w ith the Kents, Li\ins:stones, 
 
72 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 O'Conors and Bradys of other days, their places must 
 be filled from the ranks of tlie rising lawyers of to-day, 
 and among those who are qualified by training, experi- 
 ence and mental attributes to step into the front rank 
 with the legal giants of the day no one is more con- 
 spicuous than Francis Lewis W'ellman. He is active, 
 energetic and enthusiastic and there are few members 
 of the legal profession who are better grounded in the 
 jjrinciples of civil and criminal law. A possessor of all 
 the elements of the fine judicial mind, which gives him 
 a comprehensive grasp of complex questions of law so 
 re<-idily that it seems to come from intuition rather 
 than from the slow process of reasoning, Mr. Wellman 
 is essentially a court lawyer. A large proportion. of his 
 time is devoted to practice in the civil courts, where he 
 has attained most marked success. ]\Iany of his clients 
 are members of his own profession, who pay him the 
 high cr)mpliment, incidentally accompanied by corre- 
 si)onding fees, of conducting their cases in the courts. 
 He has a wonderfully effective faculty for creating an 
 agreeable impression of his personality ( n the minds of 
 a jury, whicli has enabled him in many instances where 
 the scale was evenly balanced to turn the verdict in 
 favor of his client. His great ability as a criminal 
 lawyer has already been referred to. Probably his 
 most prominent service in criminal prosecutions was 
 his origination of the whole elaborate system of trying 
 poisoning cases in this country, which resulted in the 
 conviction of Carlyle W. Harris and Dr. Robert Bu- 
 chanan. .\mong the other sensational trials conducted 
 bv him and which resulted in convictions, sonic of them 
 
 in the face of a strong public sentiment in favor of the 
 prisoner, were those of Ben Ali, alias "Frenchy" ; Fan- 
 shawe, Stroud, Stephanie, Gardner and Frank Ellison. 
 To Mr. W'ellman are accredited more verdicts of nnn^- 
 der in the first degree than have been detained by any 
 other criminal lawyer of Xew York, with perhaps one 
 exception. 
 
 Since the enactment of the stringent election laws 
 Mr. Wellman has frequently been called upon to prose- 
 cute the cases arising thereunder, and this duty he dis- 
 charged with such vigor and with such a thorough dis- 
 regard of the political affiliations of the accused as to 
 call frr>m the public and the ]ircss the highest encomi- 
 ums. By his eft'orts were reaped the fir.st fruits of the 
 ballot reform movement, Ijy securing the condign pun- 
 ishment of these violators of the citizen's sacred rights. 
 
 Mr. Wellman is a Democrat in politics, but has 
 never been an active partisan. From his well-known 
 forensic power his services as a public speaker have 
 been sought in many cainjiaigns, but. like many others 
 of great ability in his profession, he has chosen not to 
 appear upon the stump. He is a member of the Uni- 
 versity Club, the Har\ar(l Alumni Association, the 
 Ardsley Club and several other similar societies. He 
 was married in 1894 to Emma Juch, whose celebrity as 
 an opera singer is well known throughout the musical 
 wnrld. The great rewards which have come to Mr. 
 Wellman in the line of his profession have brought to 
 him an affluence that has enabled him to somewhat 
 relax liis legal work, and his name is in consequence 
 less often ])rought before the public. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 73 
 
 LIEUT.-GEX. JOHN M. SCHOFIELD 
 
 United States Army 
 
 Lieutenant-General John McAllister Scho- 
 FiELD, late Commander of the United States Army, 
 was born in Chautauqua County, New York, Septem- 
 ber 29, 1 83 1. He received his early education in the 
 public schools of his native place, and chose the pro- 
 fession of the law. Before entering actively upon his 
 studies, however, he received an appointment to the 
 Military Academy at West Point, and entered thai 
 institution in 1849. ^^ '^^'^^ graduated in 1853. and 
 was assigned to duty with the First Artillery. He 
 served with this regiment for two years in Florida, at 
 various stations, and in 1856 was detached and as- 
 signed to duty at the ]\Iilitary Academy as Assistant 
 Professor of Philosophy. He remained on this duty 
 until t86o, when he obtained a leave of alisence and 
 accepted the appointment of Professor of Physics at 
 the Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, re- 
 taining the position until the breaking out of the Civil 
 \\'ar in 1861. His first active duty at the expiration of 
 his lea\-e of absence was as mustering officer for the 
 State of Missouri. .\s with other graduates of the 
 Military Academy, the thorough military training and 
 knowledge gained there rendered his services of in- 
 calculable value in the organizatii n nf the militarv 
 
 forces at the beginning of the great struggle, and his 
 promotion was in consequence very rapid. He was 
 appointed Major of the First Missouri Infantry on 
 April 26, 1 86 1, but was detached a month later and 
 transferred to the artillery branch of the service, being 
 placed in command of a battery and taking part in the 
 engagement that took place at Frederickstown, Mis- 
 souri, on October 21, 1861. He was in command of 
 the District of St. Louis from November 27, 1861, to 
 February 15, 1862, and of the Department of Missouri 
 from the latter date until September of the same year. 
 During this period he contributed largely by his great 
 energy and superior military knowledge in organizing 
 and equipping the large volunteer force that was placed 
 in the field by the State of Missouri, having been raised 
 to the rank of Brigadier-General of Volunteers Novem- 
 ber 26, 1 86 1, and one year later, November 29, 1862. 
 promoted to the grade of Major-General of Volunteers. 
 He was a member of the Army and Navy Board to 
 examine the condition and fitness of the Mississippi 
 gun and mortar boat flotilla in December, 1861. 
 
 From September, 1862, to April, 1863, he organized 
 and commanded the Army of the Frontier, as it was 
 known in military circles, for operation in Southwest 
 Missouri and Northwest Arkansas. By these opera- 
 tions the Confederates were forced south of the Ar- 
 kansas River. During this period General Schofield 
 earned distinction for the judgment and skill with 
 which he carried forward his movements, and on April 
 20, 1863, he was placed in command of the Third 
 Division of the Fourteenth Corps, Army of the Cum- 
 berland. In October, 1864, having been placed in com- 
 mand of the Twenty-third Army Corps, he joined 
 General Thomas at Nashville, Tennessee, and was im- 
 mediately engaged in opposing the forces under Gen- 
 eral Hood, resulting in the decisive battle of Franklin 
 on November 30. In this engagement the Union 
 forces gained a decided advantage, and the victory was 
 largely due to the splendid achievement of the troops 
 under General Schofield's command. The Twenty- 
 third Army Corps was engaged in the pursuit of the 
 army under General Hc«id until January, 1865, at 
 \\-hich time the corps was transferred, by way of Wash- 
 ington and the seaboard, to North Carolina, reaching 
 its destination on the 8th of February. General Scho- 
 field was placed in command of the Department of 
 North Carolina and of the Army of the Ohio on the 
 same date. He formed a junction with General Sher- 
 man at Goldsborough on March 22, and was present 
 with his command at the engagement at Durham Sta- 
 fidn. resulting in the capitulation of Johnston's army, 
 the terms of which were intrusted to him. 
 
74 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 General Schofielcl was appointed a Brigadier-General 
 in the regular army November 30. 1864, lirevetted 
 Major-Cieneral March 13. 1865. and advanced to the 
 full grade of Major-General United States Army 
 March 4, 1869. by President Grant on the day of his 
 first inauguraticn. He was selected l)y General (h-ant. 
 in 1865, to conduct such (ii)erati(ins as might prove to 
 be necessary to terminate the French occupation of 
 Mexico, and at the request of Secretary Seward he 
 went to France in No\-ember of that \-ear, to accom- 
 plish, if piissihlc, the withdrawal of the I^-ench army 
 fnim Mexico by peaceful means. The hirtunate ter- 
 mination of this mission and dfiicial ntgntiatinns ren- 
 dered unnecessary any military operatic ms by the 
 United States in Mexico. After returning from Eu- 
 rope, General Schofield commanded the First Military 
 District, the State of \"irginia constituting the "First 
 Military District," under the Congressional reconstruc- 
 tion laws. 
 
 Recognizing the great executive ;inrl administrative 
 ability possessed by (kneral Schcfield. President John- 
 son placed him in charge of the War Department, and 
 President (iranl continued him in that position until 
 March, i8()9, when a civilian was ap'pointed and (jen- 
 eral Schofield was restored to his military duties in the 
 field. He has commanded in succession the several 
 military departments and divisions of the country, in- 
 cluding the Military Academy, and was assigned to the 
 command of the United States .\rmv in 1888. He was 
 
 made Lieutenant-General of the Army by special act of 
 Congress on February 5. 1895. W'hen entering upon 
 the duties of commanding general of the army. General 
 Schofield assumed in effect the position of chief of stafif 
 of the army instead of commanding general, explaining 
 to President Cleveland, in a carefully prepared paper, 
 that under the Constitution of the United States, the 
 President being commander-in-chief, there could be no 
 other, and that the true position of the military head of 
 the army was that of chief of staff to the commander- 
 in-chief, in accordance with the almost universal cus- 
 tom of the great militar}- ])owers of the world. This 
 was the fi.amdation of the measiu'e which was finally 
 adop-ted by Congress and put into operation organizing 
 a general stafY of the army with a chief of staff at its 
 head. 
 
 After his retirement from active service in 1895, 
 General Schofield wrote a sketch of his official career 
 luider the title of "Forty-six Years in the Army." The 
 degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred tqjon him b}' 
 the Uni\ersity of Chicago in 1884. fie was comman- 
 der-in-chief of the Military Order of the Uoyal Legion 
 from 1900 to 1904. He is now president of the .-\sso- 
 ciation of (h-aduates of the United States Military 
 Academy. General Scliotield is fond of travel, is thor- 
 oughly familiar with all the im])ortant and interesting 
 points in his own country, and has made frequent and 
 protracted visits to foreign lands. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 7S 
 
 SETH LOW 
 
 Setii Low, mercliant, educator, pliilanthropist, was 
 l)orn in Brooklyn January 8, 1850. He belongs to a 
 family which had attained and still holds a prominent 
 place in that city's financial and social life. He passed 
 through his early studies at the Juvenile High School 
 and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and then 
 entered Columbia College, where he was graduated in 
 1870 at the head of his class, though he was not yet 
 twenty years of age. Following his graduation, he 
 made an extended trip abroad, after which he became 
 a clerk in the well-known mercantile house of his father 
 and uncles, A. A. Low & Brothers, himself becoming a 
 partner as early as 1875. Subse(|uently. on the retire- 
 ment of the older members of the tirni, he was placed 
 at its head. During his early business career he was 
 elected a member of the New York Chamber of Com- 
 merce, and was appointed to serve on several of its im- 
 portant committees. He was made the first President 
 of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities and was officially 
 or otherwise associated with other philanthropic in- 
 stitutions or reform movements in his city. At the 
 same time he was active and influential in church and 
 Sunday school work. His hal)its of systematic study 
 and his love of books and learning did not end with his 
 
 collegiate course. He was ever a hard student, and 
 during those busy years the youthful clerk or merchant, 
 while manifesting a reasonable regard for the claims of 
 society, in which he was always a jovial and coveted 
 presence, chose rather to spend his leisure hours in re- 
 \-iewing his fa\i)rite classics, in reading tlie standard 
 authors and the fresher literature, and in mastering 
 many a g'reat practical problem relating tcj commerce, 
 finance, civil government and service, municipal elec- 
 tions, and particularly the political, educational and 
 charitable organizations and affairs of Brooklyn. In 
 pursuing this course he was laying deep and strong the 
 foundations of his future usefulness. When he began 
 to come more iirominently before the public as a 
 speaker at meetings called in the interest of such mat- 
 ters as ha\e been referred to, his hearers were aston- 
 ished at the extent of his knowledge in regard to every 
 subject he treated, the remarkable ease and familiarity 
 with which he handled it, and none the less at his 
 mature an<l lucid thonght, and his calm, wise, convinc- 
 ing and \ery winning way of carrying his points. His 
 style of oratory, which has not varied in his later 
 years, was simple, natural and manly, and of a very 
 rare and effective kind. He at once establishes pleasant 
 relations between himself and his auditors, and before 
 he has finished his address he is sure to make friends 
 and quite as sure to make no enemies. 
 
 Mr. Low early took an active interest in local and 
 national politics, and has always been an advocate of 
 the principles and tenets of the Republican party. For 
 several years his activities in local politics were felt in 
 the old Fourteenth Ward of Brooklyn, where he led the 
 movement which took so many young men into politics. 
 He was one of the organizers of the Young Republican 
 organization. It was not an office-seeking brigade, 
 and one of its rules was that the moment a member 
 accepted a political nomination or appointment his 
 name was dropped from the rolls. Its ideal was dis- 
 interested work for the principles of the party, and its 
 strength in the campaign of 1880 amazed the politi- 
 cians. I\Ir. Low was its president. In 1881 the Re- 
 publican party was divided between what was practi- 
 cally the old-fashioned spoils idea and the idea repre- 
 sented by this club. Two nominations for the Mayor- 
 alty had resulted. The division meant disaster to the 
 party, but this was averted by the withdrawal of both 
 nominees and the substitution of Mr. Low, who upon 
 his acce|)tance of the nomination resigned from the 
 club. The result was favorable to his candidacy, and 
 on the 1st of January, 1882, he took the office of Mayor 
 under the new charter, which gave to the incumbent 
 the independent appointment of all the heads of the 
 
76 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX NEW YORK 
 
 departments. Mayor Low's administration met the 
 approval of the people and he was elected for a second 
 term. The chief results were reform of the tax collec- 
 tion system, the extension and improvement of the 
 schools, the development of the bridge facilities, the 
 improvement of the public works, and especially the 
 establishment of the merit system in the subordinate 
 grades of the city service. Mr. Low, after laying aside 
 his official cares, again went abroad and was every- 
 where honored with marked civilities for his great per- 
 sonal merits and accomplishments, but especially for 
 his signal service in the cause of home rule and sound 
 government. 
 
 Two years after the expiration of ]\Ir. Ixiw's second 
 term as Mayor the firm of which he was the leading 
 member retired from business, but a new outlet for his 
 activity was soon provided when his fellow trustees of 
 Columbia College unanimously offered him the presi- 
 dency of that institution. It was a remarkable honor 
 to pay to a man so young that it was less than twenty 
 years since he had been one of the college's graduates. 
 Under his administration the institution continued its 
 prosperous career, and from a college comparatively 
 unknown it was turned into a university and its influ- 
 ence and reputation greatly widened. In two years 
 after he had taken hold of the institution Mr. Low 
 revealed how. in spite of prodigious administrative 
 duties and of finance, he had come to a thorough under- 
 standing of the Inter tendencies nf lijohcr education. 
 He spent many weeks in careful study of the college 
 and its i)ossible future. \ le saw a cliance to develop 
 the Columbia of i8go into a magnificent university, 
 taking its place with the greatest institutions of learn- 
 ing in the world. lie early agitated the removal of the 
 college from the site which it had occupied near the 
 
 railway yards, and it was mainly through his efforts 
 that it was finally located on that noble and command- 
 ing plateau bounded by Morningside Park and River- 
 side Drive. The new structure rec|uired an enormous 
 outlay of money for its construction, and to this fund 
 Mr. Low was a contributor in the generous sum of one 
 million dollars. During the ten years that he directed 
 the affairs of the college he gave unremitting attention 
 to its duties, and was rewarded by seeing his Alma 
 Mater enter upon a career of prosperity that has con- 
 tinued to the present time. 
 
 In 1897 he was selected i)y the leaders of the reform 
 movement to head the municipal ticket for ]\layor, l)ut 
 owing t(j the jilacing of a ticket in the field by the Re- 
 publicans the Reform ticket was defeated by the Tam- 
 many organization. In 1899 he was selected by Presi- 
 dent McKinley as one of the representatives of the 
 United States Government at The Hague Peace Con- 
 ference. In the deliberations of this body he took a 
 prominent part, and his ser\ices were acknowledged 
 and highly commended by tiie President. In 1889 he 
 again headed the Reform ticket for Mayor of New 
 York and was elected by a liandsonie majority. His 
 administration of the affairs of the city was marked by 
 a wise economy and the introduction of many needed 
 reforms. He has retired from an active participation 
 in political affairs, but has not lost his interest therein, 
 and has recently taken a ])roniinent part in an effort to 
 secure legislation looking to a reform in the system of 
 elections. 
 
 Mr. Low lias been Presi<]ent of the Ceographical 
 Society of Xew \nrk an,l of tlic Xew York .\cademy 
 of Political Sciences, and also Vice-President of the 
 New York Academy of Science. He is also a director 
 in several financial institutions. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 77 
 
 JEFFERSON M. LEVY 
 
 Jefferson J\I. Levy, a prominent lawyer and states- 
 man, was born in tlie city of New York. His ancestors 
 settled in New York and Virginia early in tiie seven- 
 teenth century, and v.-ere among the oldest owners of 
 real estate in the first named colony, their patent, ac- 
 cording ti) the records in Albany, dating back to 1665. 
 The remains of Mr. Levy's great-grandfather lie in the 
 old cemetery in the "New Bowery," in New York City, 
 and those of his great-grandfather at Monticello, the 
 former home of Thomas Jefferson, and which historic 
 mansion has descended to his grandson. Mr. Levy is 
 the owner of much other property, but he takes the 
 greatest pride in being the possessor of the estate once 
 owned and occupied by the writer of the Declaration 
 of Independence. 
 
 Representatives of the Levy family have made its 
 name historic through their services in several of the 
 wars in which the country has been involved. Mr. 
 Levy's uncle, Uriah P. Levy, was the ranking officer in 
 the United States Navy at the time of his death in 
 1862. He was an ardent patriot and distinguished 
 officer, and his career furnishes an example which all 
 young men may well emulate, with honor to themselves 
 and profit to their country. At the breaking out of the 
 
 war between the United States and Great Britain in 
 1812 Mr. Le\-y x'olunteered his services and became 
 inseparable from the brave and patriotic officers and 
 men who in the Argus, an American man-of-war, de- 
 tied the enemy in the English channel. He was cap- 
 tured in one of his engagements and languished in 
 Dartmouth prison until the close of the war. For his 
 meritorious services he received substantial recognition 
 and promotion. He was an intrepid seaman, and in 
 1822, in Dunbardeen Lilet, at the risk of his own life, 
 he saved the lives of a number of men and women im- 
 periled by a furious gale. In 1827 he interposed his 
 own bodv to receive the blows aimed by Brazilian sol- 
 diers at a brother officer, and saved the latter's life. 
 This manly act and the skill he showed in naval mat- 
 ters brought him to the attention of the Emperor Dom 
 Pedro, who offered him the command of a frigate in 
 the Brazilian Navy if he would resign from the Ameri- 
 can service. To this generous offer Lieutenant Levy 
 replied: "I would rather serve as a cabin boy in the 
 American Navy than as a captain in any other service 
 in the world." He was an ardent admirer of Thomas 
 Jefferson, a statue of whom, by David d'Anjiers, he 
 caused to be placed in the Capitol at Washington. He 
 also presented a copy of this splendid work to the city 
 of New York, and it now ornaments the Governor's 
 room in the Citv Hall. In recognition of this patriotic 
 act, the freedom of the city was extended to Commo- 
 dore Levy by the jMayor and commonalty. 
 
 After the death of President Jefferson the Commo- 
 dore, at the recpiest of President Jackson, purchased 
 Monticello, and it has come by regular descent to the 
 present owner. 
 
 The father of Jefferson M. Levy, the subject of this 
 sketch, was, like his father, an officer in the United 
 States Navy. He was born in Philadelphia in 1807, 
 and entered the service at an early age. He obtained 
 rapid promotion, and at the time of the Mexican war 
 was in command of the war sloop America. When 
 Vera Cruz surrendered to General Scott, Captain Levy 
 was made the commandin.g naval officer of that port. 
 Jeffers(jn }vl. Levy, his eldest son, received his prelimi- 
 nary education under private tutors, entering the Uni- 
 versity of New York at an early age and being gradu- 
 ated with honors. Soon after finishing his collegiate 
 course he began the study of law in the office of Clark- 
 son N. Potter, one of the most distinguished members 
 of the American bar. His acquirement of legal knowl- 
 edge was rapid under the direction of his eminent tutor, 
 and he was admitted to practice in the prescribed time. 
 He was successful from the start. One of the first 
 cases placed in his hands was that of the widow of 
 
MEX OF AFFAIRS /.V NEJV YORK 
 
 James B. Taylor. Tlie interests involved were of great 
 magnitude, and the yonng advocate had arrayed 
 .against hini some of the greatest legal minds of the 
 -New Yoi-k bar, such as Francis Kieman, Roscoe Conk- 
 ling, Henry L. Clinton and Edward W. Staighton. He 
 conducted the case with such marked ability that it 
 caused great surprise among the opposing counsel, and, 
 despite their united efforts, he secured a decision favor- 
 able to his client. This event brought him into promi- 
 .nence and his success was thenceforth assured. He 
 made a close study of the laws governing the adminis- 
 tration of estates in the Surrogate's office, exposing 
 their defects and bringing them to public notice. The 
 result was that the laws were so amended by the Legis- 
 lature as to put an effective check upon the system of 
 extravagance and wasteful allowances which up to that 
 time had been a scandal and a disgrace. 
 
 While inheriting wealth, Mr. Levy may justly la}' 
 claim to being a self-made man. the pnimiiu-nce he has 
 ■obtained in his profession and in the business and 
 political world Ijeing due entirel}" u> his (jwu efforts. 
 He early made a close study of the subject of real 
 estate, and increased his knowledge in this line to such 
 an extent that he has come to lie recognized as one of 
 the most thoroughly equipped real estate experts in 
 the city of New 'S'ork, and his advice is freely sought 
 'on this subject I;y cai)italists and banking and insur- 
 ance companies. 
 
 Mr. Levy has always been noted for his interest in 
 [ublic affairs. His ambitions and studies have been in 
 
 the direction of public life, and his acquaintance with 
 pul)lic men is very great, particularly in the Democratic 
 l)arty, with which he is affiliated, and with many of the 
 leaders of which he is on terms of the closest intimacy. 
 He is a familiar figure in political, social and club cir- 
 cles in the metropolis, and takes a justifiable pride in 
 his magnificent country home in Virginia, Monticello, 
 already alluded to, which it is his privilege and pleas- 
 ure to preserve in the same condition as when it was 
 in the possession of its former illustrious owner. He 
 is a man of genial nature, elegant manners and charita- 
 ble impulses, and is widely popular in all circles of 
 society. The possession of an ample fortune gives him 
 that freedom which enables him to devote a giMdly 
 time to study and education in the great problems of 
 statecraft, for which he has a natural inclination and 
 upon which his views are frequently solicited and his 
 ad\'ice acte<l upon by men prominent in public life. He 
 was a \'ice- President of the Young ?ilen"s Democratic 
 Chil) in i.Si)[, and in that _\-ear tleclined a nomination 
 f(!r Congress, to represent the Tenth Xew ^'ork Dis- 
 trict, although, liy reason of his great popularity, the 
 nomination was considered ccpiivalent to an election. 
 His activity in political matters, however, kept him 
 prominently liefore the public, and in 1S98 he was 
 nominated and elected to represent the Thirteenth New 
 \'ork Congressional District. At the expiration of his 
 term, in 1901, be declined a renomination, and has 
 since steadfastly refused political preferment. He is a 
 member of numerous clubs and social organizations. 
 
MEX GF AFFAIRS IN NEJJ- YORK 
 
 79 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL DANIEL E. SICKLES 
 
 United Stales Army 
 
 Daniel E. Sickles, lawytr. ]>('litician, diploniat, 
 army officer, was born in New \'nrk City (Jctiil)er jo. 
 1823. His early education was oljtained in the iniblic 
 schools of New York, after lea\-ing- which he entered 
 the University of the City of New York, of which in- 
 stitution of learning he is a graduate. Although his 
 father was at that time and in subsequent years a 
 wealthy man. the son preferred to strike out for him- 
 self, and with a \-iew of self-support he learned the 
 printer's trade. When temporary reverses overtcmk 
 his father, the high-spirited lad became of real service 
 to the family, as he was alile to c<.'ntril;)ute materially in 
 weathering the storm. He continued for some time to 
 follow his trade, and in his capacity as a journeyman 
 printer he visited other cities. He finally returned to 
 New York an.d entered the law office of Benjamin F. 
 Cutler, who was then Attorney-General in President 
 ^'an Buren"s Caliinet. In his studies he was greath' 
 aided by Kent, Butler and Clerk, all eminent men in the 
 legal profession. It was at this period that he formed 
 the political principles to which he has energeticallv 
 adhered. Butler was a leading DeuKJcrat, and his stu- 
 
 dent became imbued with an enthusiastic devotion to 
 that party. Sickles was a successful lawyer from the 
 start. 'His fine legal mind and effective oratory gained 
 for him eager clients and large fees. Without neglect- 
 ing his practice he took an active part in politics, and 
 in 1852 was a member of the Baltimore convention 
 which nominated Franklin Pierce for the Presidency. 
 He was for se\eral years a member of the General 
 C<mniittce of Tammany Hall, and even at this early 
 |;eriod had come to ])e regarded as a Democratic leader 
 in tlie State. He was app(iinted Corporation .Vttorney 
 m 1X33. and in the fall of that year he was commis- 
 sioned Secretary of Legation in London, James Bu- 
 chanan having been appointed Minister to England. 
 
 After spending two years abroad, Mr. Sickles re- 
 turned to New York, and in 1856 he was elected to the 
 State Senate, after a bitter and exciting campaign. Al- 
 though associated with a minority, he made a brilliant 
 record in the Senate. His speech on the Trinity Church 
 bill, establishing the rights of that corporation, was a 
 noted e\-ent. So complete and effective was his review 
 of the question at issue that the vestry of Trinity 
 caused many thousands of copies of the speech to be 
 printed for distribution. While receiving the most' 
 grateful acknowledgments from Dr. Berrian, Bishop 
 Horatio 1 'otter. General Dix and other prominent Epis- 
 copalians, Senator Sickles' most cherished reward was 
 the consciousness that his elaborate and successful 
 argument was a response to his mother's request to de- 
 fend what she reg-arded as the rights of the church of 
 which she was a member. In 1857 he received the 
 complimentary vote of his party in the Senate for 
 Cnited States Senator. Before his term in the Senate 
 had exj'ired he was elected to Congress, and served 
 two terms. He took a high rank in that body and hekl 
 a leading position on the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
 and his influence in Congressional debates was of a 
 positi\-e character. Retiring from Congress in 1861, 
 Mr. Sickles was one of the first to anticipate the need 
 of his country for soldiers. At the outbreak of the 
 Ci\il War he organized the Excelsior Brigade and was 
 commissi(.'ned Colonel of one of the five regiments. 
 
 On September 3, 1861. the President nominated him 
 Brigadier-General. He commanded a brigade under 
 General Joseph Hooker, and gained distinction at Wil- 
 liamsburg, Fair Oaks, and Malvern Hill. His brigade 
 saw very severe service in the Seven Days' fight before 
 Richmond and in the ^Maryland campaign, and bore a 
 consiiicuous part at Antietam. He succeeded General 
 Hooker in the command of the division, and was en- 
 gaged at b^redericksburg. On the reorganization of 
 the Army of the Potomac he was assigned to the com- 
 
8o 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 mand of the Third Army Corps, and was appointed 
 Major-General March 7, 1863, his commission dating 
 from Novemher 29, 1862. At Chancellorsviile he dis- 
 played gallantry and energy, gaining the first success 
 of the day by cutting off an ammunition train of the 
 enemy, arresting a general panic by rallying the re- 
 treating artillery, and withstanding the force of Stone- 
 wall Jackson's attack with determination after the line 
 was formed. At Gettysburg his corps was posted be- 
 tween Cemetery Hill and Little Round Top. He ad- 
 vanced lo an elevatinn which he thought desirable to 
 hdld, and in this position was assailed by General James 
 I.ongstreet's column, while General John B. Hood en- 
 deavored to gain the unoccupied slope of Little Round 
 Top. . In the desperate struggle that followed the Third 
 Corps effectively aided in preserving that important 
 position from the enemy, but was scattered by the onset 
 of overwhelming numbers. After the line was broken 
 General Ambrose P. Hill followed the Cf)nfederate ad- 
 vantage with an attack on Sickles' right, during which 
 General Sickles lost a leg. All authorities accord to 
 General Sickles a very important part in this the great- 
 est battle of the war, many contending that his was the 
 master stroke that saved the day to the Union arms. 
 After convalescing from his wound he returned to the 
 command of his corps, and remained in active service 
 until the close of hostilities. In ?\larch, 1865, he re- 
 ceived the brevet of Major-General in the regular army 
 for bravery and meritorious service at Gettysburg. 
 
 In 1865 he was sent on a confidential mission to 
 Colombia and other South .Xmerican States, and he 
 succeeded in negotiating an important treaty regarding 
 the rights of transit r)\er the Isthnuis of Panama. Im- 
 mediately upon his rctin-n lo this country he was se- 
 lected to play an important part in the task of recon- 
 
 struction. He was ])laced in military command of the 
 Department of the Carolinas. and he jierfornied his 
 duties in a manner that elicited the cordial approval of 
 Secretary Stanton an.d General (irant, but the views of 
 President Johns(m were not in accord with those of 
 these two distinguislied men. and the President relieved 
 him of his command after first offering him the mission 
 to the Netherlands, which he declineil. He was mus- 
 tered out of the service January i, 1868, and was 
 placed on the retired list, with the full rank of Major- 
 General, April 14, 1869. 
 
 In the spring of 1869, President Grant ha\ing ten- 
 dered to General Sickles the mission to ^Mexico, which 
 was declined, he appointed him Alinister to Spain, a 
 post which he retained until March 20, 1874. After 
 relinquishing that office he continued to reside abroad, 
 chiefly in France, until 1880. He formed many close 
 friendships during that period with persons distin- 
 guished in statecraft, literature and professional life. 
 Since the General's return to the United States he has 
 represented New York for two terms in Congress. He 
 drew and secured the passage of the act making the 
 Gettysburg battlefield a national park. 
 
 In recent 3'ears General Sickles' mode of life has been 
 exceedingly quiet, from which he occasionally emerges 
 to take a h.and in the stirring political events of the day. 
 He headed a committee of war veterans in the national 
 campaign of 1896 which was organized to oppose the 
 election of Mr. Bryan, and also took an active part in 
 opposition to the same candidate in 1900. He was 
 elected Sheriff of New York in 1890, and has recently 
 served a term as member of the Board of Aldermen, a 
 position which he consented to accept from purely pa- 
 triotic nioti\cs, and that he might de\-ote his energies 
 to the protection of the interests of the tax-payers. 
 
MEN Of AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 WILLIAM C. CHURCH 
 
 William Cokaxt Church, journalist, was born in 
 Rochester, A". Y., August ii, 1836. In his ancestry is 
 embraced a long list of distinguished persons. Among 
 the prisoners released in New York b\- the British at 
 the close of the Revolution was Willard Church, a 
 native of Mansfield, Conn., and a kinsman, some de- 
 grees removed, of Colonel Benjamin Church, the 
 famous Indian fighter. Willard, who had starved with 
 Washington at Valley Forge, fought with Anthony 
 Wayne at Stony Point, and witnessed the execution of 
 Major Andre at Tappan. N. Y.. settled in New York 
 after the Revolution, and his family, of Xew England 
 origin, have been associated with, that State and its for- 
 tunes for over a century. One of ^^'illard Church's 
 sons, Pharcellus, died in 1886 at the age of eighty- 
 five. He was a clergyman, an author of reputation, 
 and an editor of large experience. Three of his grand- 
 sons, the sons of Pharcellus. are men of literary reputa- 
 tion — William Conant. Frank Pharcellus. and John 
 Adams Church; the youngest of the three. John, having 
 a still further reputation as a man of science, a "Ph.D.." 
 he being widely known in his profession of mining 
 engineering as a professor at Columbia College, in the 
 State University of Ohio, and in Ann Arbor Univer- 
 
 sity; also by his work in connection with the Comstock 
 Mines, while employed on the Government Survey, and 
 by his introduction of American methods of mining 
 into China, where for four years he served on the staff 
 of the famous viceroy, Li Hung Chang. 
 
 The eldest son. Colonel William Conant Church, de- 
 rives his name from Roger Conant, the founder of 
 Cape Ann Colony and Salem. Massachusetts, of whom 
 he is a lineal descendant in the se\-enth generation on 
 his mother's side. 
 
 Born in a family largely devoted to literary pursuits, 
 young Church was at the age of nineteen proprietor of 
 a weekly publication in New York City. At twenty- 
 four he held the responsible position of publisher of the 
 New York Sun, which even at that early date, i860, 
 had a circulation of over sixty thousand. He withdrew 
 from this position in 1861. and was traveling in Europe 
 at the outbreak of the Civil War. Retui-ning in July, 
 1 86 1, he participated in the joint military and naval 
 expedition under Admiral Dupont and General Sher- 
 man, and was present at the capture of Port Royal, and 
 returning North in the steamer Bienville, he gave the 
 first news of the victory through the columns of the 
 New York E\'ening Post. He snlisequently joined the 
 Army of the P(>tomac as a volunteer aide on the staff of 
 General Casey, and continued with him during the siege 
 of Yorktown. and through that general's subsequent 
 career on the peninsula, participating in the battle of 
 ^^'illiamsburg. and also that of Fair Oaks, being 
 wounded in the latter engagement. For his gallant 
 conduct and efficiency he was made inspecting and mus- 
 tering officer of the provisional brigades, with the rank 
 of Ca])tain and Commissary of Subsistence. He sub- 
 sequently received the brevets of Major and Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel. 
 
 A sketch of Colonel Church would be incomplete 
 without a history of the journal he founded, and of 
 which he has been the proprietor and editor for over a 
 third of a century. This is one of those rare instances 
 in the newspaper world in which the journalist has been 
 so long anfl so closely identified with his journal that 
 the life of one is the life of the other. Under his able 
 direction The Army and Navy Journal has long since 
 come to be regarded as an authority on all military and 
 naval matters, and it is generally acknowledged that 
 e\-er since it was established it has had much to do with 
 the formation of whatever public opini("in has influenced 
 the polic\- in accordance with -which the Federal Gov- 
 ernment has endeavored to imp'-ove each arm of the 
 service. Tn this connection a narrative of the events 
 that led up to the establishment of the journal that has 
 given its editor a national reputation will be of interest • 
 
MEN Of- AFFAIRS IX XEll' YORK 
 
 In Februar}'-, 1863, there was established in New 
 York City an organization having for its declared ob- 
 ject "the distribution of journals and documents of un- 
 questionable loyalty throughout the United States, and 
 particularly in the armies now engaged in the suppres- 
 sion of the rebellion, thus to diffuse knowledge and 
 stimulate a broad, national patriotism." Among those 
 active in this society were Professor Francis Lieber, 
 Levi P. Morton, Charles Astor Bristed. Le Grand B. 
 Cannon. George Giblis. William T. Blodgett, George P. 
 Putnam. James Len.ox. James A. Roosevelt. William C. 
 nr_\ant. A. T. Stewart, ^^'illiam H. ^\■ebb. Robert Len- 
 ox Kennedy. George Oixlyke. Henn,' E. Pierrepont. 
 John Jay. and the Hon. Charles King, LL.D., who was 
 the first president of the society, and many others well 
 known in business and professional circles. In concert 
 with this body there was established the New England 
 Publishing Society, and in Broolclyn there was still a 
 third society, having the same objects and like member- 
 ship. These three, with the Board of Publication of 
 the Union League Club of Philadelphia, through mu- 
 tual interchanges, constituted what was practically one 
 organization, having a strong membership, widely ex- 
 tended ramifications, and a powerful influence upon 
 public sentiment. In April of the same year a plan was 
 submitted to aid in the establishment of an army and 
 navy journal, under certain guarantees on the part of 
 
 the editor as to the general character of the journal and 
 its retention in Inyal hands, and under the auspices of 
 this society, aided by the Loyal Publication Society of 
 New England and the L'nion League Club of Phila- 
 delphia, it was soon established. 
 
 This was the origin of the oldest of our service i)eri- 
 odicals, and backed by such powerful influence, and 
 with Colonel Church as its guiding genius, its success 
 was assured fmm the start, a success which has con- 
 tinued, witlnuu interruptiiui. to the present time. 
 
 Colonel Church has taken an acti\e part in public 
 aft'airs in New 'S'ork City, and is a member and trustee 
 of the Century Club and the .Authors' Clul). and a mem- 
 ber of the Players' and City clubs. He is a member of 
 the Grand Army, George ^^'ashington Post, and \vas 
 one of the earliest members of the T-oyal Legion, his 
 insignia numbering- 130. He was a charter member of 
 the New A'ork Commandery. over which he. for two 
 years, presided, in the absence of General .^clmfield. as 
 its Junior, and then as its Senior Vice-Commander. 
 
 In his social and domestic life Colonel Church is a 
 genial and hos]iital:)le gentleman, with an ever-widen- 
 ing circle of friends who have been won to his side by 
 his agreeable manners, and whose friendshi]i he has 
 retained by his sterling- iiersonal cpialities. his unselfish 
 devotion to the highest interests of the service, and his 
 ])ure and exalted patriotism. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 83 
 
 DR. JOHN CONNER BARRON 
 
 John C. Barron, physician and capitalist, was born 
 in Woodbridge, in the county of JMiddlesex, New Jer- 
 sey, November 2, 1837. His ancestors liave been dis- 
 tinguished in the commercial world for many genera- 
 tions. His grandfather, Joseph Barron, was a farmer, 
 merchant, tanner and capitalist, and was for many 
 years president of the famous old turnpike road which 
 extended from Woodbridge to Philadelphia, a position 
 in those pioneer days which would be equivalent to a 
 similar one in connection with some great railway en- 
 terprise of these later times. It Vv-as in the period when 
 all travel took place on horseback, or by stage coach and 
 carriage, and the care of the ])ublic highwa}-s was a 
 matter of great concern, requiring a most vig'ilant ad- 
 ministration. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Barron 
 was Colonel Richard Conner, of Staten Island. He 
 also was engaged in mercantile pursuits and repre- 
 sented his county in the State Legislature for several 
 sessions at a time when the journey from New York to 
 Albany occupied nearly a week. An uncle, Thomas 
 Barron, was a director of the Louisiana branch of the 
 United States Bank, and a great-uncle, Ellis Barron. 
 served as a captain in the First Middlesex Regiment of 
 New Jersey troops in the War of the American Revolu- 
 
 tion. John Barron, the father of Dr. Barron, was a 
 man of fine character and large influence. He was pos- 
 sessed of large means and held a prominent position in 
 the business community of the metropolis in his day. 
 
 Young Barron received a liberal education. He en- 
 tered Yale after a preparatory course at the Burlington 
 College, and was graduated in the class of 1858. 
 Choosing medicine for his profession, he entered the 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and 
 was graduated in 1861. The Civil War had already 
 broken out when he received his diploma, and he at 
 once entered the Union Army as a volunteer assistant 
 surgeon. His first duty was in his own State with the 
 Mechanics' Rifles, but later, at his own request, he was 
 transferred to the famous Sixty-ninth Regiment New 
 York Volunteers, which was already in the field. Dr. 
 Barron's entry into the Union Army was inspired by 
 purely patriotic motives. One of the first to volunteer 
 his services, he was enthusiastic and untiring in the 
 discharge of his duties. He spared no pains in watch- 
 ing over the health of the L'nion soldiers, going so far 
 in one instance as to contribute one thousand dollars 
 
 j from his own means with which to furnish medical sup- 
 plies to the hospital department. He was with his regi- 
 
 ' ment when it participated in tlie first conflict of the 
 war, the battle of Bull Run. That he was on the fight- 
 ing hue is attested by the fact that in that memorable 
 engagement the Sixty-ninth lost more than two hun- 
 dred men in killed and wounded. For his valuable ser- 
 vices on this occasion he was promoted to the rank of 
 surgeon. When the time for which the regiment had 
 enlisted had expired. Dr. Barron returned with it to 
 New York and entered upon the practice of his profes- 
 sion. He became a meml)er of the fauKms Seventh 
 Regiment of New York Volunteers, and was commis- 
 sioned a surgeon on its staff. He served in this position 
 for some time, and was eventually appointed Surgeon- 
 General of the First Division of the National Guard of 
 New York, with the rank of Colonel. Although Dr. 
 Barron's services in the field did not extend beyond the 
 period of his first enlistment with the Sixty-ninth Regi- 
 ment, he relaxed none of his zeal for the LTnion cause, 
 and was active in all the ninvements on the part of the 
 citizens looking to the care and comfort of the soldiers 
 at the front, in the promotion of which he not only 
 gave much of his time, but also contributed liberally of 
 his means. 
 
 At about the time of the conclusion of the civil 
 struggle Dr. Barrun put into effect a long contemplated 
 ])lan, and sought recreation in extended foreign travel. 
 He made protracted stays in Great Britain and the 
 
 , important countries of Europe, and then, with an en- 
 
84 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN A"£//' YORK 
 
 ergy characteristic of the man, made an adventm-ous 
 trip of seven hundred miles up the river Nile. This 
 was at a period when such a trip was no holiday affair, 
 and the journey was filled with many thrilling inci- 
 dents. 
 
 Dr. Earron inherited large wealth, and upon his re- 
 turn from his foreign travels the care of his property 
 and the necessity of looking after safe investments 
 necessitated the abandomnent of the practice of medi- 
 cine. Business pursuits thenceforth claimed his un- 
 divided attention, and in this field he proved an enter- 
 prising and successful man. He has made large in- 
 vestments and is in personal control of nearly all his 
 properties, being president of the Carpenter Steel 
 Works of Reading, Pa., the Kentucky Coal, Iron and 
 De\elopment Company, the Lyons and Campbell 
 Ranch and Cattle Company and the Gila Farm Com- 
 pany, and a director in the Brooklyn City Rapid Tran- 
 sit Company, the United New Jersey Railroad and 
 Canal Company. He is also a director in several hank- 
 ing in.stitutions. While these large and varied interests 
 have drawn heavily upon his time, he has found fre- 
 quent occasion for other pursuits. He is a lilieral patron 
 of literature and art and the possessor of a handsome 
 and well-furnished i)rivate library. He has long been 
 
 a trustee and treasurer of the celebrated Barron Library 
 in W'oodbridge, N. J., founded by his uncle, Thomas 
 Barron, in 1876, and he is a life member of the New 
 York Historical Society and life Fellow of the New 
 York Geographical Society. 
 
 A man of refinement and possessing a social disposi- 
 tion, it is not surprising that his name should be found 
 among the membership of many of the popular clubs. 
 He was one of the original members of the Union 
 League Club, having joined in 1863. He is also an 
 active member of the Downtown, New York Yacht, 
 Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht, Larchmont Yacht, 
 Jekyl Island and Currituck and Narrows Island Shoot- 
 ing clubs, and has been \'ice-Commodore of the At- 
 lantic Yacht Club, Rear-Commodore of the Seawan- 
 haka-Corinthian and the New York Yacht clubs, and 
 Vice-Commodore of the Hudson River Yacht Club. 
 From the number of yacht clubs of which Dr. Barron is 
 a member it will readily be inferred that he is a great 
 lo\-er of aquatic sports. This is, indeed, one of his 
 chief recreations, and he is an enthusiastic patron of all 
 yachting events. He was the ov. ner of the yacht Wave, 
 one of the American boats which fur the honor of the 
 coimtry raced with the Scotch cutter Madge a number 
 of \-ears ago. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ^5 
 
 CAPTAIN BRADLEY SILLICK OSBON. 
 
 Bradley Sillick Osbon, naval officer, journalist, 
 artist, author and lecturer, was born in Rye, West- 
 chester County, New York, August i6, 1827. He is 
 the eldest son of the Rev. Abiathar Mann Osbon. He 
 attended the public schools of his native town, and 
 afterward the Normal School at Middletown, Connec- 
 ticut, and Berkshire Academy, Sheffield, Massachu- 
 setts. From the earliest period of his manhood he 
 manifested a desire to follow the sea for a calling, and 
 began his active life by finding employment on a New 
 York pilot boat, those vessels that were so famous for 
 their perilous ventures before the days of steam tugs. 
 He subsequently entered the United States Navy as an 
 ordinary seaman, and served as such on board the Sup- 
 ply, the North Carolina and the Onkahye. After leav- 
 ing the navy he shipped at New Bedford, Massachu- 
 setts, on the whaleship Junior, and in that vessel cir- 
 cumnavigated the globe, visiting nearly all of the 
 groups of the Pacific islands, and spending a summer 
 in the Antarctic and a winter in the Arctic oceans. 
 His familiarity with these waters led to his selection as 
 supercargo and ice pilot on board the ])rig Swallow, 
 cruising in northern waters. The vessel became nipped 
 in the ice, and the officers and crew were compelled to 
 
 winter at St. Lawrence Bay. Upon the conclusion of 
 this voyage he went to China and entered the naval 
 service. He served as boat commander, and was en- 
 gaged in the destruction of the piratical junks that 
 infested the waters near Hong Kong. After a service 
 in China of five years and eight months, he went to 
 Argentina, South America, and served in the navy of 
 that country in command of a vessel under Commodore 
 Coe, participating in many naval engagements. Re- 
 signing from this service, he was employed by the Cali- 
 fornia Steamship Line, and served as fourth, thirtl, 
 second and chief officer in the steamers of that line. 
 He was second officer of the Panama Railroad Com- 
 pany's steamer Guatemala, the first steaiuer t(( make 
 the passage from New York to Panama without stop- 
 ping for coal. He served on the Pacific coast for sev- 
 eral years, and in April, 1861, acted as aide to Captain 
 John Faunce on the United States steamship Harriet 
 Lane, one of the fleet sent to the relief of Fort Sumter, 
 and witnessed the surrender of that fortificatidu. He 
 was a volunteer aide to Flag Officer DuPont on the 
 flagship Wabash at the capture of Port Royal, South 
 Carolina, and served as fleet signal officer to Admiral 
 Farragut on board the flagship Hartford at the capture 
 of the forts below New Orleans, which eventuated in 
 the fall of the city. He was specially commended by 
 Admiral Farragut for gallant conduct on this occasion. 
 He was aide to Commander John L. Worden, com- 
 manding the ironclad Montauk, in the engagements on 
 the Ogeechee River, South Carolina, and in the de- 
 struction of the Confederate privateer Nashville. He 
 was slightly wounded by splinters during his service on 
 board the Hartford and was severely injured by flying 
 bolts while in the pilot-house of the Montauk. 
 
 At the close of the Civil War, Captain Osbon was 
 recommended by Admiral Farragut to Major-General 
 Jose M. Car\-ajal for senior officer of the Mexican 
 Navy, with the rank of Admiral. This position he ac- 
 cepted, and performed active and important duty for 
 the Mexican Republic. After a service of several years 
 he resigned his position and returned to the United 
 States. He subsequently served as Superintendent of 
 the Guanoco and La Brea Railroad in Venezuela and 
 Superintendent of the New York and Bermudez Com- 
 pany's asphalt mines, Venezuela. He made a survey 
 of the Chaguaramu's sulphur mines at Carupano, Ven- 
 ezuela, and also of the harbor and bay of Carupano, the 
 chart of which was published by the L^nited States 
 Hydrographic Office at ^^'ashington. He served as an 
 acting volunteer naval scout during the Spanish-Amer- 
 ican War, and was the first to discover the location of 
 the fleet of Admiral Cervera oflf the island of Curasao 
 
86 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 and report it to the Navy Department. For this ser- 
 vice he received the special cunmiendation of tlie Secre- 
 tary of the Navy. 
 
 Captain Osbon served in the various offices of Cap- 
 tain. Commodore and Rear-Admiral (in the last posi- 
 tion for two terms) of the National Association of 
 Na\ al X'eterans. He was the founder and organizer of 
 tlie United States Veteran Navy, and was its first Com- 
 modore. He was Commander of Naval Post No. 516, 
 Grand Army of the Republic, for two terms and chair- 
 man of the Associated Commanders and Quartermas- 
 ters of the Grand Army of the Republic Posts of the 
 City and County of New York. On the occasion of the 
 opening of the Harlem Ship Canal he was the senior 
 officer in command of the marine parade. He was 
 decorated by the Government of Venezuela with the 
 order of the "Bust of the Liberator" for distinguished 
 services rendered to that government. He is a member 
 of "The Survi\ors of Farragnt's Fleet" and the "Arc- 
 tic Club." 
 
 The later vears of Captain Osbon's life have been 
 spent in more (juiet fashion. He has devoted much of 
 his time to literary pursuits and in compiling the remi- 
 niscences of his eventful life. Many of these have ap- 
 peared in magazine articles, and many have been em- 
 bodied in lectures. Ca])tain Osbon is a brilliant speaker 
 
 and tells his stories with a charm and cleverness that at 
 once command the most profound attention, while the 
 magnetism of his personality is remarkable. Taken as 
 a whole, his entertainments on the platform are most 
 charming. His literary talent is not a development of 
 recent date, as during the Civil War he was a valued 
 correspondent of the New York Herald on naval mat- 
 ters. He is also an artist of no mean merit, and fur- 
 nished to Harper's \\"eekly many valuable sketches of 
 scenes of the civil conflict. He is the author of "Os- 
 bon's Handbook of the Navy," a publication that is 
 highly \-alued by the serxice. He is also the compiler 
 of "The Register of the United States \'eteran Navy." 
 He was the founder, and for many years the able 
 editor, of The Nautical Gazette, the first journal of its 
 class to be published in the United States. He has 
 always been a voluminous and valued contributor to 
 the press on maritime subjects. The reminiscences 
 already referred to have for some time been appearing 
 in serial form in Pearson's ^Magazine, and have been 
 received with great favor. A distinguished critic has 
 said of thoni : "We make no hesitancy in declaring 
 that from the combined standpoints of literary merit, 
 human interest, dramatic excitement, subtle humor and 
 historic value this reminiscent series of papers is the 
 best thing that has ever come to Pearson's." 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 87 
 
 CORNELIUS N. BLISS 
 
 Cornelius Newton Bliss, one of the most eminent 
 merchants that the metropolis ever produced, was born 
 in Fail River, Massachusetts, in 1833. A man of sturdy 
 pliysique, clear mind and unquestioned force and pro- 
 bity of character, he has, from a modest beginning, 
 made his way to the front in the business life nf the 
 community by honoralile business methods. It may be 
 truly said of him that he is the architect of his own for- 
 tune. He Ijegan almost with his youth to fight the 
 battle which was to end with success inscribed on its 
 l)anner. Disaster, failure and obscurity were never 
 written im the horoscope of his life. Talent, energy 
 and pmliity ha\e guided him to a gi lal where he can 
 look ])ack with no regret f<ir bis years nf application. 
 His ancestors were English, and, imbued with a spirit 
 of adventure, and believing in freedom of worship, 
 they came to make their home in the colonies of x\mer- 
 ica. They landed in this country in 1630, and settled 
 in New England, where they endured all the hardships 
 which fell to the lot of the i)ioncers, but which were 
 crowned with pr(jsperity. In the ^^'ar for Independence 
 they were patriotic and helped to dri\-e the British and 
 the Hessians out of the country. These ancestors set- 
 tled first in Wevmouth, Massachusetts, but later re- 
 
 moved to Rehoboth. The father of the subject of this 
 sketch moved to Fall River, and died there at the early 
 age of twenty-six, when Cornelius was but an infant. 
 The mother remarried and moved to New Orleans, but 
 the boy remained in Fall River, in charge of relatives, 
 until he had been graduated from the common schools 
 and from Fiske's Academy. He then joined his mother 
 in New Orleans, and after an additional course in the 
 schools in that city he took his first step in his business 
 career. At this point it is interesting to note one or 
 two of his prominent characteristics as a boy of fifteen. 
 He possessed an independent spirit, and always had a 
 large amount of pluck, backed by strong muscles, when 
 the occasion required, though by no means of an ag- 
 gressive or combative disposition. Boy as he was, he 
 could not bear to see the weak oppressed, and his sym- 
 pathy was not always the only aid he extended. He 
 had no wild oats to sow and was anxious to begin his 
 l)usiness life. His stepfather, Edward S. Keep, was 
 engaged in the dry goods business on a large scale, and 
 his counting room offered attractions to the young 
 g'raduate. He was ambitious, and for one year he 
 w^orked hard, with the determination to master as 
 speedily as possible the details of the business. He be- 
 came convinced that he could succeed in the mercantile 
 line, but he believed that New Orleans was not at that 
 time expansive enough, and his eyes turned toward the 
 large Northern cities. One day in 1848 he resolved to 
 try his fortune in Boston, and accordingly bade adieu 
 to the Crescent City, notwithstanding its many attrac- 
 tions. The largest dry goods house in the United 
 States at that time was that of James M. Beebe & Co., 
 of Boston. He obtained employment with this firm, 
 which proved to be the lieginning- of a remarkably suc- 
 cessful career. His ability, his energy and his thorough, 
 mastery of the business did not fail to attract the atten- 
 tion of the great merchants, and in due time he was 
 given an interest in the concern. The business con- 
 tinued to prosper to a wonderful degree, and through 
 all the \'icissitudes of trade it weathered every storm 
 and was unscathed b}' any financial panic. In 1866, by 
 mutual agreement, some of its memliers desiring to 
 retire from active business life, tlie firm was dissoh-ed, 
 each member retiring with a substantial bank account. 
 Mr. Bliss, not desiring to lead an inactive life, soon 
 after became a member of the firm of John and Eben 
 Wright & Co., large dry goods merchants of Boston. 
 Having decided to open a branch house in New York. 
 Mr. Bliss was placed in charge of it. The firm name 
 w'as changed to Wright, Bliss & Fabyan, and after- 
 ward to Bliss, Fabyan & Co. From the start the firm 
 succeeded in New York. It was the field just suited to 
 
88 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS IX XEU' YORK 
 
 Mr. Bliss and his partners, and in a few years it be- 
 came one of the largest houses in its own field of indus- 
 try in the metropolis and its business connectidus be- 
 came world-wide. An important branch of the con- 
 cern was also established in Philadelphia. The firm 
 occupies a magnificent building at Xo 117 Duane 
 street, in the heart of the dry goods district. 
 
 Since his removal to New York Mr. Bliss has en- 
 tered heartily into every movement which would ])nv 
 mote the growth and welfare of the city. Few iJublic- 
 spirited projects fail to receive his contribution of time 
 or money and in all the numerous admirable schemes 
 which have emanated from among his colleagues of the 
 Union League Club he has taken a cordial interest. 
 Mr. Bliss's strong character, high social standing and 
 financial strength have caused him to be much sought 
 after as a trustee in financial institutions, the character 
 of whose directorate is the important element in secur- 
 ing the public confidence. He is a Director and \'icc- 
 President of the Fourth National Bank (having for a 
 time .served as its President), the Central Trust Com- 
 pany, the American Surety Company, the Equitable 
 Life Assurance Society, the Home Insurance Society 
 and other important financial institutions, and is Gov- 
 ernor and Treasurer of the Society of the Xew York 
 Hospital. 
 
 .\lways an active Republican in politics, Mr. Bliss 
 has. ne\erthelcss, ne\-er sought or occu])ied an official 
 position, the exceptions in this regard being when he 
 consented to act as a member of the International Con- 
 ference in Washington City in 1889. and in one other 
 instance, referred to further along. President .\rtliur 
 
 tendered him a position in his Cabinet, but he declined 
 that honor, as ^\ ell as the suggestion of a nomination 
 by the leaders of his party on various occasions, for an 
 elective office. 
 
 While too preoccupied by his business interests to 
 serve his coimtry in pul)lic station, he has always 
 labored with energy to promote the practical work of 
 his parly. In 18S4 he was chairman of the Committee 
 of One Hundred a])pinnted at a public meeting of the 
 citizens of Xew York to attend the Chicago Conven- 
 tion and urge the nomination of President .\rthur to 
 succeed himself. When the convention decided to 
 nominate ]\Ir. Blaine, Mr. Bliss became his loyal sup- 
 porter, and rendered effective service in that remarka- 
 ble campaign. He has served as a member of the Re- 
 publican County Committee of X^ew York and was 
 chairman of the X^ew York Republican State Com- 
 mittee in 1887 and 1889, and also treasurer of the Re- 
 publican Xational Committee in 1892. He has long 
 been a Director and was for a time President of the 
 Protective Tariff League, whose energies are directetl 
 in favor of the .American system of protection to home 
 industry. In 1897, against his own inclinations, he 
 was urged by President IVIcKinley to accept a position 
 in his Cabinet as Secretar}- of the Interior. He dis- 
 charged the important duties of the office with marked 
 aliility, but resigned before the end of the term. 
 
 The social standing of Mr. Bliss is attested by his 
 membership in the Union, Century. Union League. 
 Riding. Metropolitan. Merchants". Players' and other 
 popular clubs and in a number of the public-spirited 
 societies. 
 
MEN OP AFFAIRS IX NEJV YORK 
 
 8g 
 
 LYMAN J. GAGE 
 
 Lyman Judson Gage, financier and ex-Secretary of 
 the LTnited States Treasury, was born in DeRuyter, 
 New York, June 28, 1836. His parents, Eli A. and 
 Mary (Judson) Gage, were nati\-es of New Yi^rk, Ijut 
 the ancestors of each were from New Engkuid. wliere 
 1)(.>th families were settlers in the early histriry of the 
 country. ha\-ing emigrated from England. Lyman Gage 
 entered the academy at Rome, New York, when he was 
 but ten years of age, but after only four years of school- 
 ing he was obliged to suspend his studies that he might 
 begin the battle of life by earning his own support. 
 His first occupation was found as an employee in the 
 Rome Post Office, where his compensation was five dol- 
 lars per month. He assumed his duties with an alacrity 
 and intelligence that in time brought him to the favor- 
 able notice of his superiors, and in one year, at the age 
 of fifteen, he was placed in the more responsible posi- 
 tion of mail agent on the Rome and Watertown Rail- 
 road. Here he displayed wonderful ability for one so 
 ynung, and he exhibited the energy and faithfulness to 
 duty which won him such great distinction in his after 
 life. He aspired to a higher field, however, for the 
 exercise fif his energies than the mail service ofifered, 
 and in 1854 he sought and obtained employment in the 
 
 Oneida Central Bank. There, as a clerk, he served at 
 the exceedingly modest salary of one hundred dollars 
 per year, wbkh he sought to ha\-e increased at the 
 expiration of eighteen months. The management re- 
 fused his recpiest, and this action on their part was 
 perhaps the indirect cause of producing one of the great 
 bankers of the world. Young Gage was somewhat dis- 
 appointed, and very likely disgusted, at the economical 
 \'iews of the bank officials, and he resnh-ed to at once 
 seek a position where he could at least have a reason- 
 able ]i()])e for ninre liberal treatment. Srion after, 
 in furtherance of this determination, he went to Chi- 
 cago, he being then nineteen years of age. A career of 
 conquest did not immediately open before him. Indeed 
 he had only stepped upon the threshold of a path that 
 led to success afar off, and through numberless vicissi- 
 tudes. His ascendency was not easy or swift. The 
 banks and otiier institutions in which he sought em- 
 ployment in the line of his experience had no \-acnncies 
 that he cou'd fill, but there were other lines of industry 
 in which he thought he could make a living, and he 
 found a chance to work hard for small pay in a lumber 
 •yard and planing mill, where bookkeeping formed a 
 part of his duties. This was not the position to which 
 he aspired, but he went at his duties with alacrity, an<I 
 for three years follow ed them industriously and without 
 complaint. Poor as it was. there was worse to follow, 
 for in the financial depression of 1858, when thousands 
 of business firms were forced to suspend, the con- 
 cern in whose employ he was was one of those that 
 were compelled to succumb. Young Gage thus sud- 
 denly found himself thrown out of employment. Al- 
 though the firm was comjielled to relinquish his services 
 in his former capacity, they needed the services of a 
 watchman to guard their property, and he accepted the 
 duties of that position rather than eat the bread of idle- 
 ness. It was an exhibition of his pluck and industry 
 similar to many others in his career, but perhaps more 
 striking. However, these disagreeable duties had to be 
 performed but for a short time. In August, 1858, he 
 obtained a position in a bank, the emi>loyment to which 
 he aspired, and the first of the kind which he had had 
 since his arrival in Chicago. The Merchants' Savings, 
 Loan and Trust Company, wanting a bookkeeper, set 
 him to work on a salary of five hundred dollars a year. 
 He regarded himself as fairly started now upon the 
 road in life that was to lead upward. Events proved 
 that his hopes were well founded. He took hold of his 
 new labor with a will and worked with that effective- 
 ness that usually results in an occu|)ation for which a 
 man has natural abilities. In less than six months he 
 was promoted to the position of pa_\-ing teller, at a 
 
90 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 salary of twelve hundred dollars a year, and at the gress, and one of the chief promoters of the Art Insti- 
 expiration of a year was further advanced to be assis- tute, and later of the Field Columbian ]\Iuseum. 
 tant cashier, at a salary of two thousand dollars. At Mr. Gag-e's humanitarian interests have led him to 
 the end of the second vcar lie was given the post of tlie study of economics, es]!ecially the relations of capi- 
 cashier, which position he held until iiSriS, when, hav- tal to labor, and he has taken a i)rominent part in the 
 ing served the institution a comjilete decade, he severed discussitms growing out of those relations, seeking to 
 his connection with it to assume a more advantageous | advance plans for their mutual benefit. Every great 
 connection with the First National Bank of Chicago, problem of labor or reform — for the moral and material 
 lie went into this great financial institution on the most well-being of his fellowmen — has had in him an earnest 
 alluring terms as its cashier, his great abilities having student and strong worker. He was in the forefront in 
 been readilv recognized some years liefore liy its man- the battle waged by the Ci\-ic Federation, of which he 
 agement. He soon gave unmistakable evidence of the was president, for tlie ]nn-ification of Chicago, and was 
 possession of .-i high character of banking genius. Flis a frequent speaker and wielded a large influence in the 
 service did much towanl extending the popularity of monster meetings which were held by tliat body to 
 the hank, and in 1882, when a new charter was pro- purge the city of gambling houses and many other 
 cured and a reorganization effected, Mr. Gage was forms of evil. 
 
 elected vice-president and manager. He filled these Mr. Gage's great financial aliilities were brought tc 
 positions for nine years to the entire satisfaction of the the service of the Government when he accepted the 
 directors and stockholders, and after discharging the portfolio of the Treasury, under President McKinley, 
 active duties of the executive for -everal years be was in 1807. His training bad (|ualified him well to take 
 elected president of the l)ank in 1891. hi Id of the management of the finances of the country. 
 
 Long before this Mr. Gage's solid abilities had 1 His libera! lousiness training and his keen intelligence 
 gained a general recognition from the financiers of the t enabled him to grasp quickly the significance of the 
 country, and as far back as 1882 he had been elected business in those liureaus which were obliged to refer 
 president of the American Bankers' Association, and ; to him for his judgment and ajiprox-al a vast number of 
 was twice re-elected unanimously to that honorable questions. His administration of the affairs of the 
 oftice. Notwithstanding Mr. Gage's prominence as a ' Treasury Department, extending over a jieriod of five 
 banker, he is probably e(|ually well known among men years, was marked Iiy great wisdom, and was such as 
 through his various works in a jniblic or semi-public to inspire confidence among tlie financial interests 
 capacity. He was one of the giants who \\r(!nglit that througluiut the country. His treatment of his subordi- 
 mighty accomplishment, the World's Columbian Expo- nates was characteristic. He has a keen sense of jus- 
 sition, which did so much to establish the character of tice and an unmitigated contempt for a shirk and a 
 Chicago for growth and commercial achievement. He fraud. .■\ belic\er in tlie merit system, he insisted upon 
 -served as a pioneer in this work, and was chairman of an observance of the letter and the spirit of the civil 
 the committee sent to Washington in behalf of Chicago service law to such a strict degree as to provoke the 
 when that city first became a coni|)etitor for the exposi- coii<luiinatioii of niaiiy of tlie eager and rcactioiinry 
 tion. He was one of the tlnxe gentlemen who pledged p;irti-ai's of the parly with which he was afiiliatcd. Tn 
 ten million dollars on behalf of the city, and when the A])ril. 1902, ]\lr. Gage resigned from the Treasury and 
 exposition company was organized be was made its became the president of the United States Trust Corn- 
 first president. It was his influence, first and foremost, pany of New York. Mr. Gage is a man of social tastes. 
 which carried the great enterprise safely through the and is a member of many social organizations, Tiie 
 many trials that early beset it, and though he resigned [ qiu'et life, too, claims much of his sympathy, for he is 
 the presidency he retained a position in the directory ' a student of literature in all of its leading forms and 
 throughout the whole period of the herculean work branches, and adds tlie culture of liooks to the knowl- 
 that gave the world its greatest ex])osition. He was ; edge he has received fmni contact with the best char- 
 president of the bankers' section of the World's Con- 1 acters of the world's busy and crowded life. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 Qt 
 
 WILLTA^^I TRAVERS JEROAIE 
 
 ^^'ILT.IAM Travers Jerome, lawyer and jurist, was 
 born in the city ..if New York, April i8, 1S59. He is 
 the son of Lawrence K. Jerome, popularly known as 
 "Larry," a noted wit, whose fame was by no means 
 confined to Manhattan Island. Lawrence Jerome and 
 his brother, Leonard, as is familiar to every old New 
 Yorker, married sisters, and one of the four daughters 
 of the latter union was the famous Lady Randolph 
 Churchill, who later married Lieutenant G. F. AL Corn- 
 wallis West. 
 
 Until 1877 young Jerome was under the instruction 
 of private tutors. He then began a course of study at 
 the ^^'illiston Preparatory School, at East Hampton, 
 ^Lassachusetts. Li the autumn of 1878 he entered 
 Amherst College, by the advice of his last tutor, who 
 was a clergyman. This gentleman was radical in his 
 religious views, which were largely instilled into the 
 mind of his young pupil, and to this day these impres- 
 sions have remained. Lawrence Jerome, although of 
 exactly opposite temperament and views of things the- 
 ological, approved of this religious tendency, and was 
 very proud of his boy. A friend says young Jerome 
 developed into a man of a strong religious nature, posi- 
 tive in his opinions and belief — absolutely honest and 
 
 conscientious. Because of this he sowed no wild oats, 
 and always sought the counsel and society of good men. 
 In 1 88 1 he left Amherst with the highest honors, 
 though in ill-health from overwork in his studies. He 
 stood highest in mathematics, but took a deep interest 
 in metaphysics, the sciences and languages, particularly 
 in Greek and Latin. So great was his knowledge of 
 chemistry that he was made an assistant instructor to 
 Professor Harris in that department. 
 
 In 1881 Mr. Jerome entered the law department of 
 Columbia College, and after taking the usual two years' 
 course decided to remain another year, and was gradu- 
 ated with the class of 1884, receiving the degree of 
 LL.D. After serving the required time with the law 
 firm of Stanley, Clark & Smith, he was admitted to the 
 bar at the June term of the Supreme Court, after pass- 
 ing a brilliant examination. Of his own merits he was 
 never sanguine. After his examination he said he had 
 
 I not felt confident that he would ])ass, as he had an- 
 swered only half of the questiniis. l!ut the answers in 
 writing were so comprehensi\e, ami they so completely 
 covered every point of law, that he passed triumphant- 
 ly. He opened his first office in Temple Court, with 
 Mr. Daniel Nason, his college chum, who had gradu- 
 ated and passed with him, as his partner. This relation 
 continued unchang'ed for some time. The new firm 
 prospered, and later the office was removed to No. 55 
 Nassau street. 
 
 In 1888 District Attorney John R. Fellows appointed 
 Air. Jerome one of his assistants. In the fall of 1899 
 
 I the latter supported Mr. Goff for the District Attor- 
 neyship against De Lancy Nicoll, and upon the election 
 of Mr. Nicoll he retired from the office and returned _ 
 to private practice. While in the District Attorney's 
 office he managed a immber of important cases, among 
 others that against James Barker, then the Tammany 
 Hall leader in the Thirteenth Assembly District, who 
 was convicted of a charge of assault; also the case of 
 Emerson, the keeper of a policy shop, in which Bedell, 
 a clerk, had lost a vast sum of his employer's money. 
 On one occasion, during the trial of certain police 
 officers, he took the witness stand himself to testify that 
 a certain detective officer could not be believed under 
 oath. After leaving the District Attorney's office Mr. 
 Jerome appeared as counsel in the celebrated Carlyle 
 W. Harris case, and in connection w-ith Mr. Goff in 
 the equally celebrated Gardner case. 
 
 Mr. Jerome's career really began when he joined the 
 reform movement which inspired the appointment by 
 the Legislature of an investigation committee, which 
 was headed by State Senator Clarence Lexovv. John 
 W. Goff, counsel for the committee, selected him as one 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IM NEW YORK 
 
 of liis assistants in that liistoric investigation, at the 
 close of wliicli tlie great poHtical campaign for reform 
 in tlie city's affairs began, with j\Ir. Jerome as counsel 
 for the famous Committee of Seventy and manager of 
 the camjiaign against Tammany, which resulted in the 
 election of William L. Strong as Mayor and John \\'. 
 Goff as Reccirder. In the following year Mayor Strong 
 appointed Mr. Jerome Judge of the Court of Special 
 Sessions, ranking him second only to Judge Kinsdale* 
 and giving him the eight-year term. 
 
 In politics Mr. Jerome may be called a Jeffersonian i 
 Democrat. He has fixed views, is unswervable in his 
 ideas of right and wrong, deliberate in forming his 
 conclusions, and will make no concessions when he has 
 once decided upon a course. His arraignment of the 
 system of ]:i;litical crime and corruption in Xew York, 
 in an address before the League for Political lulucation 
 in 1896, was a graphic and powerful effort in the in- 
 terest of reform. On this occasion he used the follow- 
 ing forcible language : "Jvly own opinion is that crime 
 may be stamped out by rational means, just as smallpox 
 and fever, which were considered necessary e\ils a few 
 years ago, are now jiractically unknown in civilized 
 countries. The power that is going to stamp it out is 1 
 education and occupation. It is not by shielding a boy 
 from temptation and bolstering him along that you are 
 going to make a good man of him. It is by filling his 
 mind so full of good, pure thoughts that he has no 
 time or inclination to be bad. " * * The vast .sys- 
 tem of blackmail in this city is known by everyone but 
 the District .\ttorneys, who have never done anything 
 to root it out. When you have in that position a man 
 who is aggressively honest, and who does not sit and 
 wait for crime to rub against him, you may look for 
 revelations and reforms where you little think it now." 
 
 One of the strongest elements in Mr. Jerome's char- 
 acter is the fearlessness with which he expresses his 
 
 opinions regarding the conduct of those holding official 
 positions. In April, ICS99, he openly charged that the 
 Police IMagistrates' clerks drew defective complaints to 
 enable licjtior dealers to e\ade the excise law. His 
 arraignment of the methods of the District Attorney's 
 office was made in an e(|ually bold and fearless manner. 
 
 it was a natural result of Mr. Jerome's prominence 
 and great infiuence in the eft'ort to correct the evil prac- 
 tices in the municipal government that he should be 
 chosen in 1901 as the candidate on the reform ticket 
 for the office of District Attorney. It was his first 
 experience as a campaign orator, and it is not going too 
 far to ascribe to his masterly and convincing speeches 
 the largest part in the success of the ticket. His ad- 
 ministration of the office for four years was in strict 
 conformity to the lines he had laid down in his speeches 
 and in his former criticisms, and great reforms in his 
 oflice were instituted and carried through. Many noted 
 criminals were convicted, and the calendar was reduced 
 to a smaller number of pending cases than had been 
 known for a innnber of years. His prosecution of 
 gamblers and policy dealers was of an aggressive char- 
 acter, such as had ne\er been known in the history of 
 the office. He was elected to succeed himself in No- 
 vember, 1905, in one of the most hotly contested cam- 
 paigns ever held in New York. He ran independent of 
 all party affiliation, declaring his platform to be a sim- 
 ple indorsement of his administration, or, as he tersely 
 put it, a response from the people as to whether he had 
 "made good" his former pledges. His unique position 
 in the campaign attracted wide attention, and the con- 
 tributions to his campaign fund came from almost 
 c\cry State in the Pinion. 
 
 i^Ir. Jerome is a member of the Piai" 
 Xew York, and of many social clubs. II 
 residence at Lakewood, Connecticut, where his hou 
 of relaxation are spent. 
 
 \ssociation of 
 has a countrv 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS /.Y NEJJ- YORK 
 
 93 
 
 JOHN D. CRIMMINS 
 
 John Daniel Crimmins, conspicuous as a contrac- 
 tor, public man and piiilantliropist, and without the 
 mention of whose name a history of the material de- 
 velopment and growth of Manhattan Island would be 
 incomplete, was born in New York City, May i8, 1844, 
 of Irish parentage, his father, Th(;mas Crimmins. being 
 also a well-known contractor of his day. The elder 
 Crimmins was a man of sound sense and great enter- 
 prise, who, having settled in New York in 1837, en- 
 gaged in contract work in 1849, ^"^ retired from 
 business in 1873, the possessor of a large fortune. The 
 son gained his education in the public schools and St. 
 Francis Xavier College. Upon his graduation from 
 the latter institution, at the age of eighteen, he found 
 occupation as a clerk in his father's office. The voca- 
 tion suited the enterprising nature he had inherited 
 from his father, and he entered upon the mastery of all 
 the necessary details with ardor and intelligence. At 
 the age of eighteen he had made such progress in ac- 
 quiring a knowledge of the business that he was made 
 superintendent of the work then in progress, and at the 
 age of twenty he was made a partner, the firm name 
 being Thomas Crimmins & Son. 
 
 The contracts executed by the firm previous to this 
 
 date were confined mainly to excavations, water front 
 improvements, heavy fimndations, and similar work. 
 The influence of the junior partner was now seen in an 
 extension of the operations of the concern, and the 
 field was so broadened as to embrace the construction 
 of private and public buildings under the provisions of 
 contracts. Even at this early stage in his business 
 career young Crimmins was fully qualified to direct 
 and plan intricate work requiring great skill, and he 
 received the highest commendation, from many distin- 
 guished engineers for carrying out construction work 
 devised by himself. 
 
 The first work performed by the firm in the con- 
 struction of buildings was executed in 1866, since 
 which time many hundreds of public and private build- 
 ings have been erected under its direction. Progres- 
 si\eness has always been one of Mr. Crimmins's chief 
 characteristics, and he has been quick and alert in the 
 employment of mechanical appliances to facilitate his 
 work. He was one of the first to make use of the steam 
 drill in the making of excavations, and many other 
 appliances of equal value were adopted by him. Under 
 such influences the business of the firm grew at a rapid 
 pace, and in 1872 Mr. Crimmins assumed entire charge 
 of the work, his father retiring from active life. For 
 se\eral years thereafter he conducted the business inde- 
 pendently, but afterward formed a partnership with his 
 brother, Thomas E. Crimmins. He has, however, 
 always maintained separate business connections out- 
 side the firm, involving many transactions of impor- 
 tance. His connection with the construction business 
 naturally led to his acquiring a vast amount of useful 
 knowledge regartling real estate values. This knowl- 
 edge led to judicious investments, and he has gradually 
 become one of the largest real estate operators in the 
 city. 
 
 To a greater or less extent Mr. Crimmins has for 
 the past forty years been identified with a large per- 
 centage of the large construction work projected in 
 New York, especially with operations requiring the 
 highest degree of ability in the contractor. He accepts 
 very few contracts from the city, his work being almost 
 wholly performed for corporations, estates and indi- 
 viduals. He laid the foundations for the Manhattan 
 Railway, constructed the electrical subway and has laid 
 many miles of gas and water mains, built the tank 
 foundations for various gas companies, and constructed 
 the Broadway line and the street railways on Lexing- 
 ton, Lenox and Columbus avenues. His work is always 
 thorough and satisfactory, and contracts are not in- 
 frequently awarded to him without competition. He 
 is one of the largest employers of labor in the city, 
 
94 
 
 MUX OF AFFAIRS /:V XFIV YORK 
 
 .seldom carrying fewer than two thousand names on 
 his payroll, and often as many as six to eight thousand. 
 He has gone through every financial storm unscathed, | 
 and has not defaulted a pay day or disapjininted a credi- 
 tor. His influence with his workmen is remarkable. 
 Patient, an attentive and sympathetic listener, just in ; 
 his conclusions, while at the same time ready to defend 
 with reasonahle argument his position against unwar- 
 ranted demands, he has never failed to reach a friendly 
 settlement of every dispute with his own men. He has 
 fre(|uently hcen called to serve as an arbitrator in cases 
 of strikes, anil in most instances has been successful in 
 bringing about an adjustment of the differences to the 
 entire satisfaction of all concerned. 
 
 Mr. Crimmins has been for some years largely asso- 
 ciated with traction enterprises in New York and is a 
 large stockholder in several of the companies. He is a 
 member of the Chamber of Commerce, a director in 
 the Fifth .Vvenue Bank, the National Union Bank and 
 the Title Insurance Company i)f New \nvk. ])rt'si(]ciit 
 of the Essex and Hudson Land and liii] ri i\cmcnt 
 Company and trustee of the Northwestern Mutual Life- 
 insurance Company of Milwaukee. He is also a mem- 
 ber of several boards of trustees of charitable institu- 
 tions connected with the Catholic Church and of the 
 building committees of a number of them. He has 
 superintended the building of various convents, schools, 
 asylums and churches and the house of the Catholic 
 Club. 
 
 Mr. C"rimmins is a Democrat and has played some 
 part in jiolitics, though too busy a man to enter upon a 
 
 political career. He was Park Commissioner from 
 1883 to 1888, and has served at various periods as 
 either president or treasurer of that board. He has 
 also been a valued member of all the special committees 
 of citizens formed during the past twelve or fifteen 
 years to represent the people of the city in public com- 
 memorations and the achievement of non-partisan ob- 
 jects in which prominent people are accustomed to co- 
 operate. He has served as one of the Board of Visitors 
 to the West Point Military Academy and also as a 
 Presidential Elector. His familiarity with and success 
 in the handling of large numbers of emi)loyees led to 
 his selection as one of the advisers in the settlement of 
 the great trolley strike in Brooklyn a number of years 
 ago. 
 
 Although one if the Ijusiest men in the city of Xew 
 Vork, with large and \aried interests requiring his con- 
 stant care, he is not engrossed to the exclusion of the 
 more refining influences of life. A charming man so- 
 cially, of an artistic temperament, a scholar and a bibli- 
 ophile, lie rejoices in the possession of a collection of 
 rare and valuable books and manuscripts. Li manners 
 he unites courtesy and refinement with the thorough- 
 ness of discussion and quickness of decision of an ex- 
 perienced business man. Several of the best knowm 
 business and social clubs of the city have elected him 
 to membership, including the Manhattan, Law^yers', 
 FJemocratic, Catholic, Players', Sul)urban, Stamford 
 Yacht and Building Trades. He is also a large con- 
 tributor to the support of the Metropolitan Museum of 
 Art ;uid the .American Aluseum of Natural History. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJl' YORK 
 
 JOHN H. STARIX 
 
 John Henry Starin, merchant and steamboat 
 owner, was born in Sammonsville, Montgomery (now 
 Fulton) County, New York, August 2/, 1825. Nicho- 
 las Starin (ov Stern, as he spelled his name), who 
 founded the family in America, an emigrant from Ger- 
 ma.ny in 17JO, settled in the Mohawk Valley upcm the 
 German hdats. Ten of his lineal descendants fi light in 
 the American Revolution under Washington. Myn- 
 dert Starin, father of John H. Starin, the subject of 
 this sketch, was born in Glen, Montgomery County, in 
 1786. He was an enterprising man, and Ijuilt the fac- 
 tories which formed the nucleus of the \-illage of Sam- 
 monsville, and later laid out and established Fulton- 
 ville, now one of the most charming places of residence 
 in the State. His wife Rachel, whom he married in 
 1810, was a daughter of Major Thomas Sammons, of 
 Johnstown, New York. The Sammons family sup- 
 plied many soldiers for the \\'ar of Independence. 
 
 John H. Starin inherited in large measure the busi- 
 ness cjualities of his father, and these were manifested 
 at an early period in his life. He received his educa- 
 tion at the Esperance Academy in Schoharie County. 
 After leaving this institution he began the study of 
 medicine under Dr. C. C. Yates, of Albany, but his 
 
 I tastes tended in a different direction, and he finally 
 accepted a clerkship in the drug store of his brother, 
 Delancy Starin, at Fultonville. He sought and ob- 
 tained the position of Postmaster of the village, the 
 duties of which position he discharged in connection 
 with his clerical duties. In 1856, having accumulated 
 some means, he remo\-ed to New York and began the 
 manufacture of medicines and toilet articles. In a short 
 time he succeeded so well in his business that several 
 highly advantageous partnerships were offered him, 
 which he declined to accept. The transportation of the 
 goods he sold brought him into contact with the rail- 
 road and steamboat men, and, seeing the trouble and 
 worry over it, the idea of establishing a g-eneral freight 
 agency in the city representing the leading trunk lines 
 occurred to him. This was the beginning of his for- 
 tune. The railroad officials saw at once the advantages 
 of a general agency, and he oljtained the clientage of a 
 leading road. The new business increased so rapidly 
 under Mr. Starin's energetic and excellent manage- 
 ment that he soon gave up his manufacturing of medi- 
 cines and devoted his entire time to his new venture. 
 
 Soon after this the Civil War broke out. and Mr. 
 Starin proved himself a valued friend of the Union by 
 his zeal and energy in facilitating the transportation of 
 troops, munitions of war and army supplies for the 
 Government. Many Iiungry troops were indebted for 
 relief to his indefatigable activity and courage in carry- 
 ing them food and other necessities. It is impossible 
 to estimate the immense amount of good he did for the 
 Union cause. It is sufficient to say that his contracts 
 with the Government were carried out with such cel- 
 erity and success that he became noted as a transporta- 
 tion agent, and when the war ended he had no trouble 
 in extending his steaml)oat and railroad connections. 
 His business has increased to enormous proportions, 
 and by far the largest proportion of all the lighterage 
 and handling of freight of the great railroads is prac- 
 tically in his hands. The ramifications of his immense 
 business cannot be enumerated in detail. His steam- 
 ])oat lines, his large establishments on the river front 
 for receiving and dispatching freight, and his many 
 enterprises help to comprise the growth and prosperity 
 of the city. No one can carry out a gigantic contract, 
 requiring condensed energy and vast resources at com- 
 mand, quicker and better than he. This was eminently 
 exemplified on the occasion of the centennial celebra- 
 tion in New York, when the merchant marine display 
 on the North and East Rivers was intrusted entirely to 
 him. As an evidence of his public spirit it may be men- 
 tioned that when New York was struggling to have the 
 city selected for the site of the World's Fair, Mr. 
 
96 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX XEIV YORK 
 
 Starin pledged the sum of five hundred thousand dol- 
 lars on behalf of tiie owners of steam transijortation in 
 the harbor. 
 
 It is inipossil)le to speak of all the enterprises in 
 wliich Mr. Starin is en.s^aged. I'.esides his large fleet 
 of vessels, tugs, propellers, floating elevators and dry 
 docks, he owns a large amount of real estate in New 
 York City and in other portions of the State. His 
 famous stock farm near Fultonville possesses the finest 
 stock in any racing or trotting stud in this country. 
 and hundreds are given cmi)lnyment among the rural 
 population in the neighborhood. It came to his atten- 
 tion frequentlv, after he had become the owner of a 
 number of excursion fwats, that the excursionists were 
 often troubled in the selection of a resort, antl that 
 Coney Island did not always satisfy them in this re- 
 gard. This fact led him to the purchase of the liarren 
 islands in the Sound opposite New Rochelle and their 
 transformation into a public pleasure ground. This 
 resort is now one of the most popular and well con- 
 ducted in the vicinity. If }^Ir. Starin has any special 
 hobby it is this Glen Island pleasance. The grounds 
 are beautifully laid out and policed, and supplied with 
 numerous attractions for the children, as well as per- 
 sons of an older growth, among them being a large and 
 well supplied zoological garden. The strictest order is 
 maintained, olijectionable characters being rigidly ex- 
 cluded, and thus the ]?atronage. wliich is enormous, 
 comes from the better element in socictx'. It was the 
 object of Mr. Starin to ])rovide a resort where i)arcnts 
 could take their children without coming in contact 
 with the contaminating influences of those of a less dis- 
 criminating character, and his effort has been crowned 
 with a wonderful degree of success. A large fleet of 
 commodious and well-appointed steamers is maintained 
 fr)r the exclusive use of the patrons of this resort. 
 
 Mr. Starin is a stanch Republican, and has always 
 taken an active interest in the campaigns of his party. 
 In 1876 he was elected to Congress from the Twentieth 
 Congressional District, comprising the counties of 
 Hamilton, Saratoga. Schenectady, Intlton and IMont- 
 gomery. His services in Congress were highly appre- 
 ciated by his constituents, and he was renominated in 
 1878 and re-elected by a large plurality, receiving near- 
 ly seven thousand more votes than his Democratic op- 
 ponent and over ten thousand more than the Greenback 
 Labc r candidate. His wise course and consistency 
 caused his constituenc}' to urge him to accej't a third 
 term, but this hcinor he declined. In 1882 he was 
 prominently mentioned in connection with the nomina- 
 tion for the office of Governor, and received forty-two 
 votes in the convention, which finally, after a pro- 
 tracted struggle, nominated Alonzo B. Cornell. He 
 has been a member of the New York Chamber of Com- 
 merce since 1874, and in 1880, upon the death of Horace 
 Seymour, he was elected President of the Saratoga 
 Monument .\ssociation to provide a fitting memorial of 
 the battle that practically decided the Civil War. In 
 that patriotic enterprise he worked energetically and 
 secured for it an appropriation of thirty thousand dol- 
 lars from Congress, added a liberal donation of his 
 own, and l)y his personal effort induced many others to 
 subscribe. 
 
 Mr. Starin's habits of life are simple and unaft'ected. 
 He has many clerks and hundreds t:i other employee-;, 
 and he is a hero to all of tlicsc, with whom be is daily 
 brought into the most frank and intimate intercourse 
 and relations. Mr. Starin has since its organization 
 been a member of the Rapid Transit Commission and 
 has rendered invaluable services in the deliberations .and 
 conclusions of that important body. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 97 
 
 EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN 
 
 Edmund C. Stedman, known for many years as 
 "the banker poet," is of New England ancestry. He 
 was born in Hartford, Connecticut, October 8, 1833. 
 He is the second son of Colonel Edmund Burke and 
 Elizabeth Clementine (Dodge) Stedman. The Rev. 
 Aaron Cleveland, the New England jjoet, was his great- 
 grandfather. Edmund was at an early age placed 
 under the care of his great-uncle, James Stedman, of 
 Norwich, to be educated. His father died while he was 
 quite young, and a few years later his mother, who 
 was a woman of culture and poetic gifts, married Wil- 
 liam B. Kinney. In after years, when Edmund C. Sted- 
 man published his collected poems, the volume was 
 "afifectionately and reverently dedicated to my mother, 
 in gratitude for whatever portion I inherit of iier own 
 sweet gift of song." 
 
 At the age of sixteen years Edmund entered Yale 
 College. He was an apt scholar, though impetuous. 
 He was particularly proficient in Greek and Latin com- 
 position, and an original poem, entitled "Westminster 
 Abbey," contributed by him to the Yale Literary ]\Iaga- 
 zine, took the first prize. In his third year at Yale 
 young Stedman, in conse(|uence of his impetuous na- 
 ture and his disinclination to brook restraint, was sus- 
 
 pended by the faculty. He left the college, and did not 
 return, upon the termination of his suspension, to com- 
 plete his coiU"se. Several years afterward, however, 
 the Yale authorities, proud of his literary fame, re- 
 stored him to the class of 1853, and conferred upon 
 him the degree of Master of Arts, which degree he also 
 received from Dartmouth College in 1873. 
 
 From college Mr. Stedman went into a newspaper 
 ofifice, the Norwich (Connecticut) Tribune, and within 
 a few months became the editor of that journal. He 
 was but twenty years old when lie married Laura Hyde 
 Woodv.-orth, on November _', 1853. Soon after his 
 marriage he became the editor of the Heralil. at W'in- 
 sted, Connecticut, and he remained with this journal 
 for three years. In 1856 he decided to remove to New 
 York. His first years in the metropolis were not at- 
 tended with a great degree of success, and his contribu- 
 
 ' tions to \'anit}- Fair, Putnam's Monthly, Harper's 
 Magazine and the New York World and Tribune 
 yielded but a i)recarious income. He struggled on, 
 however, determined not to abate his efforts to secure 
 better results, and they were finally rewarded by his 
 employment on the staff of the Tribune as a regular 
 contributor. Here his literary ability was recognized 
 and his work proved highly satisfactory. He was not, 
 however, brought into any very great prominence until, 
 in 1859, appeared in the columns of the Tribune a 
 poem entitled, "The Diamond Wedding." A wedding 
 
 ' had occurred in New York, at which there was a bril- 
 liant display of costly raiment and jewelry. The bride- 
 groom was a wealthy Cuban, and the wedding was the 
 absorbing topic among the society people of the city for 
 several days. On the inspiration of the moment Mr. 
 Stedman wrote the satirical poem, which broug'ht him 
 into immediate inihlic notice on account of its aptness 
 and real jioetic merit. It estaljlished his reputation as 
 a writer and Ijrought to him many remunerative oft'ers 
 from magazines and newspapers. The wedding poem 
 was soon followed by "How Old John Brown Took 
 Harper's Ferry." This poem so impressed Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson that he included it in his "Parnassus." 
 Another satirical production that brought him much 
 fame was "The Ballad of Lager Beer." W'hile con- 
 tinuing in regular newspaper work he wrote many 
 other poems and in 1861 he published a volume entitled 
 "Poems, Lyrical and Idyllic," which was well received. 
 In 1 86 1, upon the breaking out of the Civil War, 
 Mr. Stedman assumed the important position of Wash- 
 ington correspondent for the New York World, a por- 
 tion of his time being spent in the field at the head- 
 ((uarters of Generals McDowell and McClellan. His 
 letters were polished, graphic and valuable for their 
 
oS 
 
 MEN OF Al-FAIKS IX XEll' VORK 
 
 reliable and interesting detail. Failing health com- 
 pelled him to abandon the arduous duties of a corre- 
 spondent and he accepted a position in tlie office of 
 .\ttorne)--General Bates. This he filled for two years, 
 resigning in 1864 and returning to New York. He 
 published this )-ear a narrative poem. "Alice of I\Ion- 
 mouth. an Idyl of the Great \\'ar," which was widely 
 read and greatly admired. It tells the story of the mar- 
 riage of a young man of social rank to a girl in a lower 
 grade of society, of the young man's disinheritance, his 
 death in the war after a reconciliation, and the happi- 
 ness brought to the home of the father b}- the presence 
 and ministrations of the young widow. 
 
 .\fter the war Mr. Stedman became dissatisfied with 
 journalism, and, having accumulated some means, he 
 purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and 
 became a broker. He made up his mind that he would 
 thenceforth pursue his literary work as a diversion, and 
 not as a means of support. He was successful in busi- 
 ness from the start, and with the increase of his ma- 
 terial prosperity came also a broader and more far- 
 reaching influence in the literary world. Some of his 
 best work in the literary field was done at his home in 
 the evenings, after the toil and anxiety of his work in 
 Wall Street. In this way he wrote "The Victorian 
 Poets." His home became a centre for the literary 
 people of New York and fur a number of years the 
 most distinguished men and women in the world of 
 letters and art were to l)e met at the Stedman weekly 
 receptions. In a large square rnnm at the tup of his 
 home in West Fifty-fourth street was the library — 
 workshop and study in one. Here all the ]wrai)hernalia 
 of his toil were about him. The evidences of the range 
 and the extent of his reading and scholarship were to 
 be found in taking down some of the volumes on the 
 
 shelves. Here were the Greek classics in the original, 
 with loose sheets among the pages wherein are trans- 
 lations of Theocritus or Bion, done into finished Eng- 
 lish verse. His whole collection of the French [joets is 
 bound in exquisite vellum or morocco. Among these 
 volumes ]\Ir. Stedman's own works appear in several 
 ' rare and beautiful editions. There is one volume here 
 j which one holds with truly reverent delight ; it is Mrs. 
 I Browning's own copy of "Casa Guida Windows," with 
 her interlineation and corrections. It was the gift of 
 the poetess to r\lrs. Kinney, 'Mv. Stedman's mother, 
 which, to the son, gives it a greatly added value. 
 j Mr. Stedman possessed for a number of years a com- 
 I fortable and picturesque summer home in Newcastle 
 Islands, at the mouth of the Piscata(|ua River, in New- 
 Hampshire. In 1883 the poet-banker met with finan- 
 I cial reverses which necessitated his living for a few 
 years in a more economical manner than he had been 
 j accustomed to, but his business was not broken up and 
 j he gradually retrieved his fortunes. Of late years Mr. 
 I Stedman has owned and occupied a fine old mansion in 
 Lawrence Park, Bronxville. He has read on public 
 occasions several striking poems of his own composi- 
 tion. He read, in 1871, his poem, "Gettysburg." at the 
 annual reunion of the Army of the Potomac, and in 
 1878 he read before the Century Club a poem on the 
 death of Bryant. In 1898 he published a volume of 
 dainty verses entitled, "Poems Now First Collected," 
 being occasional verses written by him in recent years. 
 \ He has enjoyed the personal friendship of neaii\- every 
 ! writer of distinction of his i)eriod. One of his closest 
 I friends was Eugene Field, who, in acknowledgment of 
 a per.sonal service, sent to Mr. Stedman a copy of his 
 poems illustrated with pen and ink sketches by himself, 
 I with a friendly dedication. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 99 
 
 HENRY WHITE CANNON 
 
 Henry White Cannon, banker and ex-Con- 
 troller of the Currency, was born in Delhi, Delaware 
 County, New York, September 27, 1850. His direct 
 ancestor on the mother's side was the first-born of Puri- 
 tan Americans, Peregrine White, who was Ijorn in the 
 Mayflower, Noveml)er 20, 1620, while that famous 
 vessel lay in Cape Cod Harbor. His grandfather on 
 the same side was a Revolutionary soldier of distinc- 
 tion, who was taken prisoner by the British and died in 
 the old "Sugar House" prison of New York. Benja- 
 min Cannon, his paternal grandfather, in whose honor 
 Cannonsville, New York, received its name, was a man 
 who stood high in the business world, and the same 
 may be said of his son, George B. Cannon, who was 
 for several years Postmaster at Delhi under President 
 Grant. 
 
 Henry W. Cannon was educated in tlie private 
 schools of Delhi, and afterward studied at the Dela- 
 ware Literary Institute. He inherited a strong busi- 
 ness proclivity, and having decided to pursue the busi- 
 ness of banking he obtained a position in the First 
 National Bank of Delhi, where he was made teller be- 
 fore he became twenty years of age. He left immedi- 
 ately afterward, being offered in 1870 what seemed to 
 
 him a better position in the Second National Bank of 
 St. Paul, Minnesota. 
 
 In 1 87 1 he removed to Stillwater, Minnesota, and, 
 though only twenty-one years old, he organized there 
 the Lumberman's National Bank, of which he became 
 cashier and active manager, and continued so for thir- 
 teen years. Two years after this institution came into 
 existence the panic of 1873 began, and banks every- 
 where suspended currency payment, but so skilful and 
 judicious was the management of the youthful cashier 
 that his bank was carried through the storm without 
 once refusing payment. 
 
 During his stay in Stillwater Mr. Cannon became 
 secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and secretary- 
 treasurer and general manager of the water and gas 
 companies, which institutions prospered greatly under 
 his careful and able direction. 
 
 When the public debt was refunded he became active 
 in purchasing and exchanging Government bonds for 
 Minnesota banks. He also negotiated loans for the 
 city of St. Paul. His operations in these various direc- 
 tions, which frequently brought him to the East, and 
 into contact with prominent officials and financiers, 
 gave him such a reputation as an able banker that in 
 1884, at the solicitation of the Minnesota Congressmen 
 and numerous bankers, he was appointed by President 
 .Vrthur Controller of the Currency, to succeed Hon. 
 Jnlm J. Kudx, and in tliis highly responsible position 
 Mr. Cannon quickly demonstrated his ability. Young 
 as he was, his experience had been varied, and he had 
 diligently studied the principles of banking and com- 
 mercial law. He found himself at once in a position of 
 difficulty, the financial crisis of 1884 causing great 
 trouble in the banking community, during which many 
 banks were saved from going into the hands of re- 
 ceivers by the skill and judgment of the new Con- 
 troller. He also wisely dissuaded the Senate from or- 
 dering an inquiry into the condition of the banks of 
 New York, which might have precipitated disaster. 
 During his term of office the charters of numerous 
 national banks expired, and new charters were granted 
 only after the Controller had satisfied himself of the 
 soundness of the institutions ; this was a task demand- 
 ing great labor and vigilance on the part of Mr. Can- 
 non; it was very judiciously performed. 
 
 On the election of President Cleveland, Mr. Cannon 
 was asked to continue in office, but he resigned early in 
 1886 and removed to New York, where lie became vice- 
 president of the National Bank of the Republic. In 
 November of the same year he became president of the 
 Chase National Bank, the position which he still holds, 
 and in which the bank has greatly prospered under his 
 
 ^OFi.. 
 
MEX OF AFF.AfRS LY NEW YORK 
 
 care. This bank was organized in 1887 by John 
 Tliompson and his son, Samuel C. Thompson. The 
 name gi\-en to the bank by its founders was in honor of 
 Cliief Justice and ex-Secretary Salmon P. Chase, who 
 was the founder of the national banking system. The 
 business of the l)ank has always been conducted in a 
 most conservative manner, and the reputation of the 
 institution from the day it opened for business to the 
 present time has been in every particular unquestioned. 
 The Chase National was one of the original desigiiated 
 depositories and fiscal agents of the United States 
 Treasury and still acts in that capacity. The bank has 
 lost none of its prestige with the Government or in the 
 community at large since it came under the direction of 
 Mr. Cannon. 
 
 Mr. Cannon has. ever since he tonk n[) his residence 
 in the metropolis, taken an actixe interest in municipal j 
 affairs, and in 1887. np.Mi the election nf Hugh J.] 
 Grant to the Mayoralty he was, lai acccmnt of his well- 1 
 established business ([ualiticatinns, re(|uested by the 
 Mayor to accept the important position of Aqueduct 
 Commissioner. Although the holding of a public posi- 
 tion did not accord with Mr. Cannon's inclinations, he 
 finally, at considerable personal sacrifice, consented to 
 accept the office. His administration of this depart- 
 ment was conducted with great vigor, with a due re- 
 gard to economv, and was uni\ersallv C(jnimended. 
 
 Soon after the election of President Harrison he 
 selected Mr. Cannon as a member of the Assay Com- 
 mission, a position requiring the most thorough and 
 intimate knowledge of the subject to I^e treated. He 
 served the Government for two years in this commis- 
 sion, and in 1892 President Harrison evinced his fur- 
 ther confidence in Mr. Cannon's abilities by selecting 
 him as one of the United States Commissioners to the 
 International Monetary Conference of that year. In 
 this conference he took an active part, and sustained 
 his reputation for wisdom and acumen regarding mone- 
 tary problems. 
 
 Air. Cannon has contributed not infrequently to the 
 columns of the public press on financial matters, and is 
 a clear and forcible writer. In banking circles his coun- 
 sels are held in the highest estimation, and his name is 
 associated with all important financial movements. 
 He is a director in several large railroad companies, 
 among them being the Great Northern, the Lake Erie 
 and Western, the New York, Ontario and Western, and 
 the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. He is 
 president of the Pacific Coast Company, and is also a 
 director of the Manhattan Trust Company and of the 
 United States Guarantee Company. 
 
 Mr. Cannon's social standing is of the very highest, 
 and he is connected with some of the leading clubs of 
 the metropolis. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 HORACE SEE 
 
 Horace See, engineer and naval architect, was born 
 in the city of Philadelphia on July i6, 1835. His 
 father was R. Calhoun See, the well-known silk im- 
 porter of that city. After receiving a classical and 
 mathematical education at the Episcopal Academy and 
 the private school of H. D. Gregory, he entered the 
 employ of Messrs. I. P. Morris & Company, of Phila- 
 delphia, passing through their shops and office. In the 
 year of 1879, after passing through subordinate posi- 
 tions with Messrs. Neafie & Levy, of Philadelphia, the 
 National Iron Armor and Shipbuilding Company, of 
 Camden, New Jersey, with George W. Snyder, of 
 Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and Messrs. William Cramp 
 & Sons, of Philadelphia, he became superintending 
 engineer of the latter concern, and was very successful 
 in the methods introduced by him to raise the standard 
 of work in this establishment, whereby the ships not 
 only made records for speed, but at the same time were 
 found to demand only a minimum amount to maintain. 
 These characteristics were exemplified in the perform- 
 ance and reliability of the steamships Alameda and 
 Mariposa, on the Pacific. The steamer Monmouth is 
 another example, this vessel having since her arrival in 
 New York harbor in 1888 maintained her position as a 
 
 pacemaker, notwithstanding she is now in her eigh- 
 teenth year and many improvements have since then 
 been introduced in vessels of her character to bring 
 about better results. 
 
 In 1886 he induced his firm to modify the Govern- 
 ment designs for machinery nf the gunboat Yorktown 
 and cruiser Newark ])y sul)stituting the triple expan- 
 sion for the double compound engine. This led to con- 
 siderable opposition, but he made it so clear to Mr. 
 Whitney, Secretary of the Navy, who was favorable 
 toward introducing that which would improve the 
 character of the vessels, and succeeded so well in con- 
 vincing him that it would be a mistake to neglect the 
 opportunity of doing so. that his plans were adopted. 
 The wisdom of this decision has been evidenced in the 
 superior performance of these vessels and that of the 
 Philadelphia, although the engines were of the hori- 
 zontal type with its supposed limitations The dyna- 
 mite cruiser Vesuvius, delivered to the United States 
 Government in 1889, is an additional example. The 
 engines of this vessel were of the four-crank vertical 
 triple expansion variety, the first of this kind in the 
 navy of the United States, if not that of any country. 
 Tlie performance was highly satisfactory, a speed of 
 nearly twenty-two knots being attained in a vessel of 
 over eight hundred tons displacement at this early date. 
 It attracted considerable attention both here and abroad. 
 The vessels and machinery designed by him contain 
 many improvements of his invention not only in the 
 design but also in the methods of construction which 
 have enabled the vessels to be successful from the very 
 beginning of their life. The cylindrical mandrel by 
 securing a perfectly true bearing and journal exploded 
 the errrmeous idea that it was necessary for an engine 
 to begin with hot bearings and that time was necessary 
 to remove such a condition. The value of this inven- 
 tion has been notably exemplified not only in the per- 
 formance of the steamship Alameda and steamer Mon- 
 mouth, before noted, but also in all the vessels where 
 it has been employed. The radial valve gear invented 
 by F. C. Marshall and afterward abandoned by the 
 inventor on account of excessive wear, has been im- 
 proved and employed by Mr. See with much success 
 by F. C. Marshall and afterward abandoned by the 
 Stephenson link motion. The water-tube boiler has 
 received improvements at his hands by which its safety, 
 as well as economy and durability, have been increased. 
 Other improvements of his include the grease extractor, 
 evaporator, piston, and, last but not least, the ash ejec- 
 tor by the use of which the ashes are forced by a jet of 
 u'ater through a pipe from the fire room floor upward 
 and outside the vessel above the water line, thereby 
 
102 
 
 .l/i-.V OP AFFAIRS IN NEJJ' YORK 
 
 reducing the labor, a\ui(ling noise and securing cleanli- 
 ness. This invention has been further improved by the 
 introduction of an air vessel near the jet. The success 
 attending this new feature led him tn extend the appli- 
 cation of an air \essel to a fire h}-drant. where the air 
 surrounds the pipe leading to the nozzle to form pro- 
 tection against freezing, act as a cushion to prevent 
 water-hammer and to secure a steadier flow of water. 
 Many improvements have also been introduced by him 
 in the construction of the hull of a vessel, that of the 
 patented folding hatch cover being one that has not 
 only expedited the handling of large covers, but made 
 the operation safer and the hatch tighter. He was also 
 the first in this country to employ the lap-butts in the 
 outside plating, the bilge-keel, the water-tight air port 
 in tlie pilot-house, etc. 
 
 Mr. See came to New York in 1889, where his field 
 of operations was enlarged, acting as consulting engi- 
 neer of the Newport News Steamship and Dry Dock 
 Company. su]jerintending engineer of the Southern 
 Pacific Company, superintendent of the Cromwell 
 Steamship Company, and superintending engineer of 
 the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, as well as con- 
 sulting engineer for different parties. There have been 
 built or altered from his design and under his superin- 
 tendence since his location in New York very nearly 
 thirty vessels in the construction of which he has intro- 
 duced many im])rovements both in the hull and ma- 
 chinery, impriivenicnts the use of which is not confined 
 to this oiuntry, but has also extended to others. His 
 designs have not been of the sensational order or made 
 to cater to a fashion, but simple and direct in order to 
 obtain the best results. He has just completed designs 
 for a steel barge and tug for the .\ew \<>vk State Canal 
 
 Commission to ascertain whether two boats loaded to 
 ten feet draft could be built to carry 1000 tons of wdieat 
 each and of such dimensions that two could be readily 
 passed through the locks at one time. He has also been 
 called upon by the Panama Railroad Company to de- 
 sign vessels for this company. He is a member of the 
 British Institute of Naval Architects, American Society 
 Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, North-East 
 Coast Institute Engineers and Shipbuilders, England : 
 associate member American Society of Naval Engi- 
 neers, United States Naval Institute; past president 
 American Society of Mechanical Engineers ; Fellow 
 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 member American Geographical Society, Chamber of 
 Commerce of New York, New' York Yacht Club, Cen- 
 tury Association, Colonial Society of Pennsylvania. 
 Sons of the Revolution, Pennsylvania Society of New 
 York City, of which he is one of the founders, etc., etc. 
 He has been a member of the National Guard of Penn- 
 sylvania, holding the position of adjutant in the Twen- 
 tieth Regiment during the July riots of 1877 and later 
 that of captain c^f the First Regiment. 
 
 The See family is of French extraction, in common 
 with the Naudains, Bayards and others who settled in 
 Delaware after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
 The Sees located in St. George's Hundred, Delaware. 
 Mr. See's mother was Margaret Eber, daughter of Hil- 
 yard Eber, who built Fort Jay and the original fort in 
 the Pea Patch in the Delaware River, M the latter 
 point he sank the first artesian well in this cnuntry. 
 Hilyard Eber's ancestors were members of the Society 
 of Friends, who came from lingland with William 
 Pcnn in ir)S2, and was one of that eminent pioneer's 
 must \alue(l friends and advisers. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJV YORK 
 
 103 
 
 ALEXANDER E. ORR 
 
 Alexander ]i. Orr, retired merchant, is a native 
 of Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, where he was 
 born March 2, 1831. He is a descendant of the clan 
 McGregor, so famous in the history of Old Scotia. 
 His parental ancestors left Scotland in tlie seventeentli 
 century, and the son was originally intended for serv- 
 ice in the British East India Company, but furlune de^ 
 tined that he should become a business man of eminence 
 in the metropolis of the Western World. A place had 
 been secured for him at the age of thirteen in the col- 
 lege of the company at Addiscombe, England, but a 
 se\-ere accident, which made him a cripple for years. 
 pre\-ented his accepting the appointment. He was in- 
 stead sent to a private tutor at Killaloo Glefie. where 
 he was educated, fully recovered from the effects of 
 his injury, and threw away the crutches \\ hich he had 
 been compelled to use for several years. 
 
 In 1850 Mr. Orr made a voyage fmni Cardiff, 
 W'ales, to Wilmington, North Carolina, the trip occu- 
 pying, in that day of slow sailing vessels, from two to 
 three months. While waiting for the vessel to discharge 
 its cargo and receix'c another for the return voyage, lie 
 visited Richmond, \Vashingt(.n. I'>,iltiinnre and Thil- 
 adelphia, but the limited time allowed him before re- 
 
 turning to his vessel did not permit of his extending 
 his trip to New York. He had, however, seen enough of 
 the United States to fill his mind with an intense desire 
 to make this country his future home. Soon after his 
 return home he completed his arrangements for carry- 
 ing this desire into execution, and the following year 
 arrived in Philadelphia. After a brief stay in that city 
 he removed to New York, where he soon found em- 
 ployment with William Ralph Post, a prominent ship- 
 ping and commission merchant. Later he served in the 
 same capacity with the firm of Wallace & Wickes. In 
 1858, after an active experience of about six years, 
 during which time he had gained great knowledge and 
 had received substantial promotions, he became con- 
 nected with the house of David Dows & Co., one of the 
 largest shipping concerns of its day. It was at about 
 this period in his career that he was happily married 
 to a daughter of Ammi Dows, one of the partners in 
 the concern. The firm of David Dows & Co. was 
 founded in 1825, and from the beginning had been a 
 prosperous and ever-growing business house. It was 
 reorganized in 1861, Mr. Orr becoming one of the part- 
 ners, the others being two of Mr. Dovvs's nephews. 
 With the enormous trade in cereals and other products 
 at their command, the house had a wonderful career 
 of prosperity. For considerably more than a quarter 
 of a century, under the intelligent guidance of Mr. 
 Orr antl the other members of the firm, it became one 
 of the largest commission houses in flour, grain and 
 provisions in the entire country. Its aim was to con- 
 duct a strictly commission business, principally in home 
 products, and it effected much in advancing the im- 
 portance of the port of New ^'ork. It erected in Brook- 
 lyn one of the largest grain elevators in the world, 
 which, with the adjoining warehouse, has a capacity 
 of over three and a half million bushels of grain. The 
 building and machinery represent an investment of 
 over a million dollars. By the improved appliances 
 in the elevator, the largest vessel can be loaded in from 
 seven to nine hours, which it would have taken almost 
 as many days by the old methods. The firm of David 
 Dows & Co. was always the synonym for the highest 
 commercial credit, and none in New York has ever 
 stood higher in the estimation of business men. Mr. 
 Orr, during his active connection with the firm, man- 
 aged a large share of its business. 
 
 In 1859 Mr, Orr became a member of the Produce 
 Exchange, and he was especialh^ acti\-e in promoting 
 the movement which led to the erection of the fine 
 Ijuilding it now occupies. As secretary of the building 
 committee of the Exchange he had much to do with 
 the construction of the plans and the supervision 
 
104 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 of the structure, which cost over tliree milHou dollars. 
 The iiianinioth huih.liui,'-. with its scjuare Italiau tuwcr, 
 frontiug ou Whitehall street and Bowiiny (Ircen, i^ 
 one of the many cons])icuous edifices in downtown 
 New York. At the laying of the cornerstone, on June 
 6, 1882, Mr. Orr made the principal address of the 
 occasion, in which he said the liuilding would he con- 
 secrated to the (iod of seed-time and harvest; and 
 when the huilding was completed and cipeneil. cm Ma) 
 (>. 1 884, although he was ahscnt on l)usiness in the 
 West, he wrote that the work had hcen accomplished 
 hv "courage, perseverance, and faith," which had heen 
 the watchwords of the committee. Mr. Orr has been 
 connected with the Arbitration Commission and the 
 Benefit Assurance Society of the Exchange, and with 
 Franklin Edson, H. O. Armour and others organized 
 the Produce Exchange Gratuity System, whereby each 
 member ]xiys three dollars into a fund at the death of 
 a fellow-member, and whii'h controls o\-er one milli(jn 
 dollars. 
 
 In public affairs Mr. Orr has always taken a lively 
 interest, and has freely given of his time for the pub- 
 lic good. He was associated with John Bigelow, Dan- 
 iel Magone and John D. \"an Buren in the Canal Com- 
 mission appointed 1)}' Governor Tilden in 1S75, and 
 worked for eight months in exposing the Canal Ring 
 frauds, which led to jilacing the canals of the State 
 under the care of the Sui)erintendeut of Public \Vorks. 
 He was an intimate friend r)f (iovernor Tilden and was 
 one of the Tilden Presidential Electors in 1876. Al- 
 though a Democrat in national affairs, Mr. Orr has 
 long believed in the dixorce of municipal affairs from 
 
 partisan politics. He aided in organizing the citizens' 
 movement which led to the selection of Seth Low for 
 .Mayor in 1881, and has taken a similar course in differ- 
 ent municipal contests since that period. He opposed 
 the financial heresies of Mr. Bryan and acted with the 
 Sound Money Democrats in supporting Mr. Mclvinley, 
 and he also gave his support to Mr. Roosevelt in the 
 more recent National campaign. 
 
 Mr. Orr has alwa_\-s been an ad\ocate for the adop- 
 liiin of business ])rinciples in the conduct of municipal 
 affairs, and he was, for several years, a member of the 
 Civil Ser\iec Commission of Brooklyn, during which 
 time he was very active in bettering the condition in 
 the police and other departments of that city. 
 
 Mr. Orr retired from active business a number oi 
 years ag^o, and since his retirement he has devoted 
 much of his valuable time to the advancement of im- 
 portant measures in connection with Greater New- 
 York. He was a])pointed a member of the Raj)itl Tran- 
 sit Commission, and aided largely in pushing forward 
 the plan which has resulted in the present splendid sub- 
 way system. When the legislati\e investigations into 
 the methods of conducting the life insurance companies 
 resulted in the resignation of the president of the New- 
 York I^ife, Mv. Orr w^as induced to assume the im- 
 portant duty of reorganizing the company, and he is 
 now engaged in that work, with the declared intention 
 of resigning as soon as a suitable man is chosen tn liM 
 the position. He is a Director of numerous banks, in- 
 surance and railroad companies, etc., and a member of 
 the l^owutown. City, Hamilton, Atlantic Y'acht, and 
 other clubs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 I part, with much credit to himself, in a number of severe 
 engagements. The first battle in which he fought was 
 that of Big Bethel, near Fortress Monroe, on June lo, 
 1861, and during the autumn of that year he was ac- 
 tively engaged in campaign mo\'ements on the Eastern 
 Shore peninsula of Maryland and Virginia. When 
 McCIellan led his army to the James River peninsula 
 in the spiking of 1862 the Fifth New York was with 
 it, and Private Prime saw an abundance of service in 
 this campaign, first in the siege of Yorktown, z\pril 
 15 to May 4, then in tlie sliarp fight at Williamsburg 
 on May 5, and later in the month at Hanover Court 
 House. In the Seven Days' battles before Richmond 
 his regiment was actively engaged, taking part in the 
 series of hard battles from Gaines' Mill to' Malvern 
 Cliffs. In the first of these engagements, that at 
 Gaines' Mill, the young patriot distinguished himself 
 
 ;iilv 
 
 galla 
 
 Hid i 
 
 r.gbt 
 
 that time for\\ar( 
 was exceptionally 
 
 In the Maryland campaign 
 tober, 1862, his regiment ag; 
 
 it and daring conduct. He received 
 the tight, l)ut the excellent record 
 lim a double ])roinotion. and from 
 lis progress upward from tlie ranks 
 apid. 
 
 Septemlier and Oc- 
 formed part of the 
 
 RALPH EARL PRIME 
 
 Ralph E.^rl Prime, distinguished as a lawyer, an 
 author, a soldier and an active member and literary 
 exponent of the Presbyterian Church, was born at Mat- 
 tea wan, N. Y., on the 29th of March, 1840, the son of 
 Alanson J. Prime, ]M.D., and Ruth Havens (Higbie) 
 Prime. Of the descendants of James Prime, the origi- 
 nal memlier of the family in .\nierica, a monogTapb has 
 been published by tliis bis latest descendant. 
 
 Mr. Prime was educated in private schools, in the 
 Academy at ^^' bite Plains, N. Y., and by private tutors. 
 He subse(|uently gave some time to the study of medi- 
 cine, his father's profession, but was led from this by 
 a stronger predilection for the law, in which he took 
 a full course of study, and was admitted to practice 
 before the liar of Xew York in 1861. 
 
 The outbreak of the Civil War, however, immedi- 
 ately fiillowed his admission, and the fervent, patriotic 
 spirit of the young lawyer called him to offer his serv- 
 ices in the cause of his country, and he at once enlisted 
 as a private in the Fifth New ^Virk Volunteer Infantry, 
 bis enlistment dating from April 20, 1S61, in response 
 to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers. 
 
 During the following two years the youthful soldier 
 saw a great deal of active service in the field, and took 
 
 troops under General McCIellan and did splendid serv- 
 ice in the battles in Western Maryland, especially at 
 South Mountain and the sanguinary struggle at An- 
 tietam, 111 which young Prime played an active part 
 and added to his record for gallant service. He also 
 fought in the subsequent engagements at Shepardstown 
 Ford and Blackford's Ford. The value of his services 
 in these several battles was recognized by four regi- 
 mental promotions, and on March 4, 1863, President 
 Lincoln nominated him to lie Brigadier-General. As 
 mav lie seen, b.is progress from his position as private, 
 less than two years liefore, had been exceptional. 
 
 His military career ended with the period of hard 
 fighting alcove mentioned, and on his return to private 
 life he engag^ed in the practice of law at Yonkers, 
 N. Y., vvhere he has since remained, his period of 
 Ijractice in the courts extending- cn-er forty years. As a 
 lawyer his business before the courts has been large and 
 profitable, and he occupies an advanced position in the 
 profession, having been City Attorney for the city of 
 Yonkers and Deputy Attorney-General for the State 
 of New ^'c.rk. 
 
 Islw Prime's professional studies and his interest in 
 church matters have brought him the theological degree 
 of D.C.R. and the legal one of LL.D., and his military 
 services and those of his ancestors have led to mem- 
 bership in a number of nfilitary and patriotic associa- 
 tions, including the New York Society of the Military 
 
io6 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX XEIV YORK 
 
 Order of the Loyal Legion, the Society of the War of 
 1812, the Empire State Society of Sons of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, the New York Society of Colonial 
 Wars and the Order of the Founders and Patriots of 
 America, of which he is one of the past governors- 
 general. He is also President of tlie American Flag 
 Association. 
 
 He has been an extensive tra\eler in the three conti- 
 nents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and for much of his 
 life has been earnestly interested in the progress and 
 development of the Presbyterian Church, in which he 
 has been an elder for mere than twenty years and has 
 taken an active part in its councils. Li 1884 he was a 
 delegate from the Presbyterian Church in the United 
 States to the Pan-Presbyterian Council at Belfast, and 
 has since attended many such councils: in 1886 that of 
 London, in 1896 that of Glasgow, in 1899 that of 
 
 Washington, and in 1904 that of Liverpool. In 1894 
 he served as INIoderator of the Presbytery of West- 
 chester, and in 1896 INIoderator of the Synod of New 
 York. 
 
 His deep interest in church subjects and in the duties 
 and relations of the elders is shown in his various mon- 
 ographs on church subjects, including "Duties of Pres- 
 byterian Elders," "The Elder in His Ecclesiastical Re- 
 lations," "The Elder and Ecclesiastic," "Representa- 
 tion in the Church Courts," "Christian Giving," "The 
 Power I if God's Word" and "The Elder Moderator 
 and the Riding Elders." His writings on secular sub- 
 jects include "The Revolutionary, Ante-Revolutionary 
 and Post-Revolutionary Services of George Clinton," 
 "Liaccurate Quotations by Authors." "The Descend- 
 ants of James Prime." "I'nder the Elms" and "Wan- 
 derings from the Elms." 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 107 
 
 elihl: root 
 
 Secretary of State; born Clinton, N. Y., Febru- 
 ary 15, 1845; i'l 1S64 was graduated from Hamilton 
 College, where his father was professor of mathemat- 
 ics. After graduation from the University Law School 
 m the city of New York in 1867 he was admitted to 
 the Bar and engaged in active practice of his profes- 
 sion in New York City; in a few years he became 
 prominent both as a lawyer and as a leader of the re- 
 form element of the Republican Party ; he has held the 
 office of president of the New England Association, 
 president of the Union League Club and president of 
 the Republican Club of the City of New York ; devot- 
 ing himself closely to his chosen work, he rapidly ac- 
 quired an extensive practice, particularly in corpora- 
 tion cases, being the counsel in many of the most fa- 
 mous in the annals of New York City ; few lawyers of 
 to-day have so remarkable a record of success in cases 
 entrusted to their care; he was leading counsel in the 
 celebrated contest growing out of the will of the late 
 A. T. Stewart, through the schemes of alleged Irish 
 heirs; he was counsel in the Broadway surface railroad 
 litigation, the Sugar Trust contest, the Aqueduct liti- 
 gation, and, in one of the most sensational cases of 
 modern times, he successfully defended Robert Ray 
 
 Hamilton in the suit brought about through the machi- 
 nations of the notorious Emma Mann; while serving 
 as a United States district-attorney he convicted Joseph 
 D. Fish, president of the Marine Bank, of criminal 
 complicity in connection with the celebrated Grant- 
 Ward frauds; participated with much distinction as 
 chairman of the Judiciary Committee and leader on 
 the floor of the Republican majority during the Con- 
 stitutional Convention of New York in 1894; his prac- 
 tice as a lawyer was characterized by constant work in 
 the preparation of cases, and the wonderful power of 
 concentration which enabled him to penetrate quickly 
 to the marrow of the subject under investigation ; his 
 arguments seldom failed to carry a comprehensive un- 
 derstanding and clear conviction to those whom he has 
 from time to time been called upon to address ; so force- 
 ful was his analysis and exposure of municipal corrup- 
 tion in the famous address delivered at Cooper Union 
 during the Presidential campaign in 1892 that, at the 
 time, the boldness of his assault astonished his hearers, 
 but in the light of the Lexow exposures, following the 
 Parkhurst agitation, his arraignment of evil-doers was 
 completely justified; subsequent to the close of the 
 Spanish-American War, the condition of afifairs de- 
 manded that the office of Secretary of War should be 
 filled by a lawyer of great administrative ability and 
 one in the full possession of his mental and physical 
 powers ; the duties of the office were most intricate and 
 complicated, and called for physical self-sacrifice that 
 few men are able to give to the work; no Secretary of 
 War since the day of Edwin M. Stanton has had any- 
 thing like the difficulties to adjust, the opposition to 
 overcome and the new systems to inaugurate; called 
 suddenly from his legal profession in the city of New 
 York, Mr. Root found himself confronted with the 
 task of placing an army of 70,000 men in the Philip- 
 pine Islands to put down an insurrection attended with 
 almost universal sympathy, if not the active support of 
 the inhabitants of those islands; communication was 
 diffixult and treachery, suspicion and assassination con- 
 fronted the troops at every step; while called upon to 
 conduct affairs with great firmness, the Secretary of 
 War constantly held in view the necessity for carrying 
 conviction to the minds of the inhabitants of all those 
 islands that the American Army was not there for the 
 purpose of exploitation, and that having received the 
 territory from the Spanish government, the great duty 
 devolved upon the United States of providing a proper 
 government which would convey to the Philippine peo- 
 ple some idea of the benefits to be derived from living 
 under our flag; in the midst of this great work the Sec- 
 retary was, early in his official career, compelled to take 
 
To8 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN KEIF YORK 
 
 up the great burden of sending' the Chinese Expedition 
 to rescue our minister and his household; this expedi- 
 tion was conducted under instructions prepared by the 
 Secretary of War; many of the most important ques- 
 tions arismg during tliat trying period were left to his 
 decision: that American interests were well protected 
 rmd tliat our country emerged from the ycvy compli- 
 cated situation with every cause for self-satisfaction is 
 a matter of history; to the untiring and painstaking ef- 
 forts of Mr. Root is greatly due the establishment of 
 civil government in Porto Rico and the Philippine 
 Islands, and the success of stable government far be- 
 yond just expectation in the island of Cuba; the solu- 
 tion by Mr. Root of thousands of intricate legal ques- 
 tions, invoKing to a great extent our Xational honor. 
 
 in the adjustment of civil and military afifairs in Cuba, 
 Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands stands without 
 parallel ; in the midst of this vast work he was called 
 upon to reorganize theArmy, to change our staff system 
 and to build up a system of education and training for 
 the Army which will long stand as a monument to his 
 masterly aliility; resigned from the Cabinet of Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt in 1904, and resumed the practice of 
 his profession; LL.D., Hamilton, 1894; Yale, 1900; 
 was meinber of Alaska Boundary Tribunal which sat 
 in London in September and October, 1903, and set- 
 tled the disputed boundary between Alaska and Can- 
 ada. In 1905 was appointed Secretary of State in the 
 Cabinet of President Roosevelt. Has been prominently 
 named for position on the Supreme Bench. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 BRIG.-GEN. ALBERT LEOPOLD MILLS 
 United States Army 
 
 A Brigadier-General in tlie United States Army 
 since 1904, Superintendent of tlie United States Mili- 
 tary A.cademy at West I'nint, and a soldier of long- and 
 arduous service, Albert Leop(.>ld Mills is a native of 
 New York City, where he was born at Washington 
 Heights on ALiy 7, 1854. Lie is the son of Abiel Burk- 
 man Mills and Anne Warford Mills, both descendants 
 of good old Colonial families. His father, who was born 
 in Old Hadley, Mass., traced his ancestry to the earliest 
 colonists of New England, while his mother descended 
 from Long Island colonists of ancient date, her imme- 
 diate ancestors moving to Hunterdon County, New 
 Jersey, before the Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Mills's early school life was spent in the city 
 schools of New York, he entering the Military Acad- 
 emy at West Point as a cadet on July i, 1874, and 
 passing through the ordinary course of instruction in 
 that institution. On his graduation, in 1879, he was 
 assigned to the cavalry arm of the service and commis- 
 sioned Second Lieutenant in the Eirst Reg'iment of 
 Cavalry. 
 
 His preliminary duty in the United States service 
 
 was in the Department of Tactics at the Military Acad- 
 emy, but he was soon sent with his regiment to the 
 West, at that time the only field in which a young 
 .Vmerican soldier could gain experience in the art of 
 war. The Indians of the plains were still, in many 
 cases, full of their ancient intractable and savage spirit, 
 and for years the army was kept busy in seeking to 
 bring under control and keep at peace upon their reser- 
 vation these unruly wards of the Government. The 
 young cavalryman served in active campaigning with 
 his regiment on the Indian frontier in the various 
 States of Oregon, ^\'ashing■tl)n, Idaho, Montana, Da- 
 kota, Wyoming and Arizona, his service being one that 
 required almost incessant activity and faithfulness. 
 During this time he took part in the campaign against 
 the unruly Crow Indians in 1887, in the Sioux cam- 
 paign of 1890, and in various other disturbances 
 among the Indians of the plains and mountains, in 
 which he gained a thorough training in the exciting art 
 of frontier \\arfare. It was an active and dangerous 
 service, unlike the military service of any other nation, 
 I and with much hardship and often small results; but 
 there could have been no better experience to produce 
 hardy and capable men, inured to service under the 
 severest conditions and fitted for duty under the most 
 extreme exigencies of warfare. 
 
 Ten years of this arduous service passed before Lieu- 
 tenant Mills gained a step of promotion, he not reach- 
 ing the grade of Eirst Lieutenant in his regiment until 
 January 23, 1889. In October, 1890, he was made 
 Adjutant, holding this office until October, 1894. Sub- 
 sequently his regimental service on the frontier was 
 liroken l)y a tour of duty as an instructor in the details 
 of the profession, first as professor of military science 
 I and tactics at the South Carolina Military Institute, at 
 ' Charleston, and afterward as instructor in the depart- 
 ments of strategy, cavalry and tactics in the United 
 States Infantry and Cavalry Officers' School at Fort 
 Leavenworth, Kansas. He was engaged at this work 
 in the last-named school in 1898 when the war with 
 Spain broke out, and an opportunity for active service 
 ; again arose. 
 
 His services were at once called upon in connection 
 with this war, he being innnediately appointed Captain 
 and Assistant Adjutant of United States Volunteers, 
 and kept busy in organizing the regiments of recruits 
 as they \\ere forwarded to the camps in the South. On 
 June 10, 1898, he was assigned as Adjutant-General 
 to the Second Brigade, Cavalry Division, Fifth Army 
 Corps. As such he accompanied the expedition to 
 Cuba and took part in the Santiago campaign, in which 
 he won high credit for g-allantry in its two fields of 
 
MEX Of AFFAIRS IX XEfV YORK 
 
 battle. He was present at the first engagement on 
 Cuban soil, that at Las Guasimas, and played his part 
 well in the jungle fight at this locality and the daring 
 rush against the Spanish blockhouses. He gave equally 
 distinguished service at the subsequent battle before 
 Santiago, where the Spanish defenses were captured 
 by an irresistible charge of the American troops. In 
 this sharp struggle Captain Mills was among the most 
 active and ardent, and fell with a severe and dangerous 
 wound. 
 
 His brilliant service in these engagements brought 
 him high honor and rapid promotion, he being ad- 
 vanced to the rank of Captain in the Sixth United 
 States Cavalry on October 24, 1898, and awarded a 
 Congression:d medal of honor for his most distin- 
 
 guished gallantry in action near Santiago de Cuba, 
 July I, 1898. He was subsequently nominated by 
 President McKinley for the brevet ranks of Major and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel for gallantry in the battles of Las 
 Guasimas and Santiago de Cuba, and on Alay 7. 1904, 
 was promoted Brigadier-General in the United States 
 service. He took no part in the Philippines campaign, 
 ha\'ing been appointed Superintendent of the W^est 
 Point Military Academy on August 22, 1898. which 
 position he has since held. 
 
 General Mills married in 1883, his bride being Alada 
 Thurston Paddock, of Brooklyn, N. Y., eldest daugh- 
 ter of Rt. Rev. John Adams Paddock, D.D. He has 
 two ch.ildren, Gertrude Warford Mills, born 1884, and 
 Chester Paddock Mills, born 1887. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 JAMES M. BECK 
 
 James M. Beck, lawyer, was born in Philadelphia, 
 July 9, 1 86 1, of New England and Swiss-German an- 
 cestry. He was educated at the Lincoln Grammar 
 School, the Protestant Episcopal Academy, and the 
 Moraviati College at Bethlehem, Pa., graduating in 
 1880, and delivering the salutatory oration for his class. 
 In 1892 he received the degree of LL.D. from Muhlen- 
 berg College. After about a year's service as clerk in 
 the office of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, he 
 began the study of the law under Albert A. Outer- 
 bridge, and was admitted to practice before the Phil- 
 adelphia Bar in 1884. His marked ability as an advo- 
 cate was soon evident, and in 1885 he was invited to 
 form a legal association with the Hon. William E. 
 Harrity, which partnership continued until the year 
 1898, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. In 
 1888 Mr. Beck was appointed Assistant United States 
 Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 
 which position he held nearly four years, resigning it 
 in 1892 in order to devote his entire attention to his 
 rapidly increasing private practice. In 1896 he ac- 
 cepted an appointment as United States .-\ttorney for 
 the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which had been 
 offered to him by President Cleveland, and held this 
 
 position for four years, resigning July 11, 1900. Dur- 
 ing his term of office a large number of important 
 cases — civil and criminal — were tried by him, in a very 
 large proportion of which the Government, through his 
 skilful handling of the cases, was successful. Very 
 early in his term of office Mr. Beck found himself 
 called upon to enforce the neutrality laws regarding 
 Cuba, which was then in a state of rebellion against 
 the Spanish government. In prosecuting this case he 
 had to contend against the strong public sentiment then 
 existing in favor of Cuban independence, and the natu- 
 ral bias of an American jury, but after a week's trial, 
 in which he was opposed by clever and eminent coun- 
 sel, he secured a conviction. The case was appealed, 
 and on its argument before the Appellate Court Sen- 
 ator Gray, of Delaware, appeared for the appellants. 
 The Court of Appeals, however, rendered its decision 
 in favor of the Government. Other important cases 
 conducted by Mr. Beck were the naturalization cases, 
 growing out of the extensive frauds perpetrated by a 
 deputy clerk of the United States Court and a clerk 
 employed by the Court of Common Pleas, together 
 with a large number of "runners," who had been issu- 
 ing bogus naturalization papers to ignorant foreigner.s 
 seeking citizenship who, in most cases, were ignorant 
 of the fraud that was being practiced. A great many 
 convictions were had as a result of these prosecutions, 
 among which were those of the court clerks. The 
 Chestnut Street Bank case and the case against the 
 Redheffers were other cases successfully carried 
 through by him. In the Chestnut Street Bank case he 
 secured the conviction of a bank official, despite the 
 strongly sympathetic attitude of the jury toward the 
 defendant ; and in the case of the Redheffers, who were 
 a family of father and son who had carried on a re- 
 markably successful career as swindlers, after a bit- 
 terly fought legal battle he also obtained convictions. 
 Probably the most important case conducted by Mr. 
 Beck was the prosecution of his predecessor, Elery P. 
 Ingham, together with Mr. Ingham's official assistant, 
 Harvey K. Newitt, for attempting to bribe a United 
 States Secret Service agent. Two tobacco manufac- 
 turers, named Kendig and Jacobs, who were doing a 
 large business in Lancaster, Pa., had employed two 
 young engravers in Philadelphia to make plates for 
 counterfeiting currency notes of different denomina- 
 tions, and tobacco stamps, which they used in their 
 business. An idea of the size of the tobacco business 
 Kendig and Jacobs were doing may be gained from the 
 claim of the Government for $200,000 for stamps il- 
 legally used by the firm during two years of its oper- 
 ation. These were in addition to the genuine stamps 
 
MHN OF AFFAIRS IX XFIF YORK 
 
 tliey, of course, liad to use in order to escape detection. 
 Ingiiam and Newitt, who liad been acting^ as attorneys 
 for Kendig and Jacobs, were proved to be criminally 
 concerned in the affair. A stub1)orn light was made 
 for the defendants at the trial, which lasted nearly a 
 week, but the jury, after deliberating two days, brought 
 in a verdict of conviction. This prosecution attracted 
 widespread attention and resulted in sending ten men 
 to jail. At the trial ]\Ir. Eeck was opposed by A. S. L. 
 Shields, the leader of the Philadelphia criminal bar. 
 Shortly after his resignation of the office of United 
 •States District Attorney, in 1900, President McKin- 
 ley, in recognition of his official services, appointed 
 him First Assistant Attorney-General. In April, 1902, 
 while acting as Master, appointed by the United States 
 Court, he sold the Philadelphia Record for $3,000,000, 
 the highest price ever obtained for an American news- 
 paper at public sale. While Assistant Attorney-General 
 he argued a large number of cases for the Government 
 in the Supreme Court of the United States, this being 
 his principal duty, among which was the Neely case, 
 in which the right of the Government to prosecute the 
 defendant for misappropriating postal funds in the 
 island of Cuba was in question, and which also in- 
 volved the constitutional status of the island during the 
 American occupation. The case was especially assigned 
 to Mr. Beck by the Attorney-General, and was the first 
 of the well-known insular cases. He was opposed by 
 Mr. Delancey Nicoll, of New York. The decision of 
 the court sustained the contention of the Government. 
 In 1903 Mr. Beck resigned this office. In accepting 
 
 his resignation President Roosevelt took the occasion to 
 write Mr. Beck, strong^ly praising the ability witli 
 which he had performed his duties. After his resig- 
 nation he removed to New York City and entered the 
 law firm of Shearman & Stirling, of 4j. Wall Street. He 
 is also senior member of the law firm of Beck, Robin- 
 son & Kane, of Philadelphia. His progress in his pro- 
 fession has been partly due to his marked powers as 
 an orator, which have been displayed on man}' public 
 and private occasions. In 1892 he delivered the b^iurth 
 of July oration in Independence Square, Philadelphia, 
 and in 1893 the oration at the celebration of Pennsyl- 
 vania Day at the Chicago Exposition. Among other 
 noted speeches delivered by him are the Fourth of July 
 oration at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, in Omaha, 
 Xeb. ; the speeches at the unveiling of the statues of 
 Stephen Girard, erected in front of the City Hall, Phil- 
 adelphia, and of Benjamin Franklin, also in Philadel- 
 phia; probably his most noted speech was that in re- 
 sponse to the toast, "The American Bar," at the din- 
 ner in London given by the Bench and Bar of England 
 to the Bench and Bar of the United States, in the sum- 
 mer of 1900, which speech attracted widespread at- 
 tention and met with a most favorable reception. In 
 1890 Air. Beck married Miss ^litchell. daughter of 
 James Mitchell, of Philadeliihia. and has se\-en chil- 
 dren. He is a niemlier of tlie Browning Club, the 
 Contemporary Club, and the Pennsylvania Society of 
 the Sons of the Revolution: also the Lotos Club of 
 Xew ^'ork. He is president of the Xew England So- 
 cietv. and is connected with various other associations. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 13 
 
 WILLIAM BARNES 
 
 Lawyer; bom at Pompey, Onondaga County, N. Y., 
 May 26, 1824; son of Orson Barnes, superintendent 
 of schools, Onondaga County; educated at public and 
 private schools and Manlius Academy ; taught school ; 
 studied law, 1840-46; married Emily P. K. Weed, 
 daughter of Thurlow Weed, July 10, 1849, ""^'^^'^ die.j 
 on February 10, 1S89. Five children. June, 1891, 
 married Lizzie Balmer Williams, widow of Samuel 
 Williams, editor of the San Francisco Bulletin. For 
 several years member of law firm of Hammond, King 
 it Barnes, Albany; special counsel of banking depart- 
 ment; in 1855 appointed special commissioner to exam- 
 ine condition of several insurance companies in New 
 York City, reports of which resulted in the passage of 
 act to organize insurance department in 1859; ap- 
 pointed as superintendent in i860, and held office for 
 ten years : compiler of elaborate insurance statistics ; 
 his ten annual reports and six volumes of condensed 
 insurance reports are established authorities in this 
 country and Europe; he contributed largely to devel- 
 opment of fire and life insurance during term of office. 
 
 John K. Porter, Judge of the Court of Appeals, in 
 a sketch of Mr. Barnes in the Insurance Monitor, in 
 the year 1868, refers as follows to his insurance career: 
 
 "It is hardly necessary for us to give in detail his ca- 
 reer as Superintendent of the Insurance Department; 
 that history is familiar to all who read this sketch; and 
 the thorough and elaborate reports of our department 
 are recognized throughout the United States, as well 
 as in Europe, as the best publications of their kind that 
 have ever appeared in any country; and they are so 
 chiefly for the reason that they bear the impress 
 throughout of Mr. Barnes himself; being marked by a 
 thoroughness and conscientiousness which constitute 
 the real value of any statistical productions. 
 
 "Mr. Barnes is eminently a laborious man. His re- 
 sults have been reached, not by flights of genius and 
 the use of other men's inventions, but by painstaking, 
 persevering efforts. It was a common thing, during 
 the earlier years of the department, for Mr. Barnes to 
 remain with his clerks late into the night, in the prepa- 
 ration of those statistics which, though now so familiar, 
 were then new. and prepared at a great outlay of time 
 and labor. 
 
 "The herculean work of purifying- the insurance at- 
 mosphere of this State was undertaken by Mr. Barnes 
 at a time when great rottenness prevailed among the 
 companies. It is no reflection upon the few sound com- 
 panies, who ha\-c ever maintained the honor of our 
 State, to say that the morals and practices of the in- 
 surance companies, in this and in other States, were 
 scandalously loose twelve, fifteen and eighteen years 
 ago. Mr. Barnes encountered great pressure, and 
 unusual temptations, from the variety of interests 
 likely to be damaged by his conscientious and deter- 
 minetl efforts to discharge the onerous duties of the 
 position he consented to assume. But, regardless of 
 e\'erything but the work before him, he pressed for- 
 ward in the perfecting of a department that is now an 
 honor to him, and a subject of congratulation and pride 
 to those who sustained him, as well as those who tlien 
 opposed him. 
 
 "Of Mr. ISarnes's characteristics there is none more 
 prominent than that of firmness, which, when his con- 
 victions are thoroughly settled, rises to absolute inflexi- 
 liilitv. This lias made him an uncomfortable foe of 
 heterodoxy and a terror to evil-doers generally, but 
 has, at the same time, led him into extremes of unbend- 
 ing rigor, from which the protests of friends could not 
 drive him. It has, nevertheless, preserved his record 
 pure, and no man can say that Mr. Barnes, in his of- 
 ficial capacity, has ever done the thing that he did not 
 believe to he right. 
 
 "When Mr. Barnes was appointed as the head of the 
 Insurance Department, he was a leading member of 
 the Albany Bar, rising rapidly to the head of a profes- 
 
MEN 01- An-AIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 sion of whicli tlic higliest honors and emoluments were 
 witliin easy reach. He liad ah-ead}- made arguments 
 m tlie Court of Appeals, which won the confidence of 
 the Bench and the admiration of the Bar; and if he 
 had not yielded to a sense of duty in entering the pub- 
 lic service, he would have commanded, long ere this, a 
 leading place among American jurists. But he be- 
 longed to an order of men whom Providence seems to 
 have ordained for a better purpose than seeking their 
 own advancement; though, in the highest sense, they 
 leave a deeper impress on their time than those who 
 roll up riches, or those who reap the honors of forensic 
 and public life. 
 
 "It is no undue commendation to say that he has re- 
 formed tlie insurance system of the civilized world. He 
 has achieved an American and a European reputation 
 in this departmait, such as no one had previously at- 
 tained on either side of the Atlantic. He has performed 
 a work as distinctive and enduring as Horace Mann in 
 the cause of education, as that of John Stuart Mill in 
 the science of political economy, or that of John Bright 
 in the interest of popular suffrage. In a utilitarian age 
 he has accomplished ends which none before had com- 
 passed, and which will be of value in all after-time. 
 He has elevated our State in the estimation of the com- 
 mercial world." 
 
 After 1S70 he acted as consulting counsel and actu- 
 ary for several life insurance companies; in 1873 and 
 subsequent years, special counsel for City of New 
 York; acted as counsel for several hundred life insur- 
 ance policyholders; appointed by President Grant, in 
 1872, official delegate to represent the United States at 
 International Statistical Congress at St. Petersburg, 
 Russia ; designated by Statistical Congress as member 
 of commission to collaborate insurance statistics for all 
 countries: specially honored by Czar Alexander II. 
 through Russian Minister at Washington with a sou- 
 venir diamond gold ring with Imperial monogram: 
 Honorable Fellow of Royal Statistical Society, Lon- 
 don, since 1872; one of the founders of Ft. Orange 
 Club, Albany; member of Albany Institute; member of 
 National Geographical Society and of Law Institute of 
 New York; one of the founders and first president of 
 Society of Medical Jurisprudence of New York; mem- 
 ber of New York State Bar Association from its or- 
 ganization, and introduced a resolution in 1896 ap- 
 proving action of Russia in calling the Peace Congress 
 at The Hague and asking the President to appoint dele- 
 gates. Superintended compilation and iniblication of 
 valuable insurance statistics and condensed insunnicc 
 reports by the State; edited the New York St.itc- l;i 
 surancc Department TJfc Valuation Tables, 1870. a 
 
 large edition of which was sold at $250 per volume. 
 Member of Liberty Party in 1844; in 1848 supported 
 Martin Van Buren for Presidency; 1854, leading or- 
 ganizer of first Republican State Convention, Saratoga 
 Springs; organized New York State Kansas Aid So- 
 ciety, and two National Kansas conventions at Buffalo 
 and Cleveland, Abraham Lincoln, Gerrit Smith and 
 Eli Thayer being fellow organizers. In 1843 and 1844 
 organized and managed; at Baldwinsville and Syra- 
 cuse, the first teachers" institutes ever held in the State ; 
 in 1888-92 spent several months in Arizona and ex- 
 pended large sums of money in aid of irrigation in Gila 
 Valley and in introducing the beautiful Arizona onyx 
 near Prescott to the attention of architects, artists and 
 builders. In September, 1904, Mr. Barnes was one of 
 the most active organizers of the successful Semi- 
 centennial Celebration of the Republican Party, which 
 was one of the most notable and imixjrtant features of 
 the campaign of 1904 and which contributed largely to 
 Republican success and enthusiasm in the State of New 
 York. Was a member of the International Peace Con- 
 gress held at Boston, October, 1904, and introduced the 
 resolutions, which were passed, recommending the 
 compilation by the United States of a volume of War 
 Statistics for a hundred years. Mr. Barnes was also a 
 member of the Shaker Peace Congress at Mt. Lebanon. 
 N. Y.. in 1905, and presented the Peace Platform, with 
 the Shakers, to President Roosevelt in December, 1905. 
 Mr. Barnes is the seventh generation in descent from 
 Thomas Barnes, who settled near Hartford, Conn., 
 about 1630, who was a soldier in the Pequot War; the 
 name of Barnes or Barneis can be traced back in Eng- 
 land for over seven hundred years to the time of King 
 John. 1203; supposed to he df Xonnan Scandinavian 
 origin; sc\-eral of the faniil)- were knighted: and two 
 were Lord Mayors of London and erne Bishop of Dur- 
 ham ; the name William Barnes was repeated during 
 almost every generation ; family connected with the 
 Phelps. \Villard Rice, and other old Puritan families. 
 
 Although Mr. Barnes is nearly eighty-two years of 
 age, he is in full possession of his mental and physical 
 faculties, enjoys keenly a long walk on the Nantucket 
 moors, or a good swim in the Nantucket .Sound in 
 front of his residence 1-uilt by the late eminent lawyer, 
 Charles 0"Conor. of New York (1ty. He believes in 
 no liquor, no tobacco, moderation in e\ erylhing. a cen- 
 tury or more as the normal life of man. Last year he 
 made two strong and successful arguments before the 
 Senate Codes and Insurance committees against the 
 ri'iieal of .Section ;o of the New 'N'ork Insurance Code. 
 and an address, also, before the Shaker Peace Congress 
 at Mt. Lebanon, N. Y. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJJ' YORK 
 
 "5 
 
 CHARLES W. DAYTON 
 
 Charles Willoughbv Dayton was born in 
 Brooklyn, October 3, 1846, being tlescended from an 
 old New England family. His grandfather was one 
 of New York's leading merchants, and his father, 
 Abraham C. Dayton, was a man of literary tastes, a 
 frequent contributor to the periodicals of his day and 
 author of "Last Days of Knickerbocker Life in New- 
 York." On his mother's side he is descended from 
 Andrew Adams, a colonel in the Revolutionary War, 
 Speaker of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, 
 and Chief Justice of Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. Dayton was educated in New York, and in 1861 
 entered the College of the City of New York. On ac- 
 count of financial reverses to his father, at the out- 
 break of the Civil War, he left college and entered a 
 law office, stud3dng also in the Columbia College Law- 
 School, whence he was graduated in 1868. He was 
 immediately admitted to the Bar, and quickly built up a 
 profitable practice. His professional labors won for him 
 the esteem of both Bench and Bar, and his standing to- 
 day is in the very forefront of his profession. On June 
 5, 1893, his legal career was temporarily interrupted, 
 when, in response to the nomination of President Gro- 
 ver Cleveland, Mr. Dayton became the Postmaster of 
 
 New York, an olifice which he filled with the highest 
 credit to himself and those who were his political spon- 
 sors for the appointment, while at the same time in- 
 troducing into the department numerous reforms that 
 contributed to the betterment of the service and im- 
 proved conditions for the postal employees. By his 
 administration of the office of Postmaster of the great 
 metropolitan city of New York, Mr. Dayton proved 
 that he was endowed with executive capacities of the 
 highest order, and at the same time he endeared him- 
 self to the large army of postal employees who were 
 under his supervision. When a change of politics led 
 to Mr. Dayton's retirement from the office of Post- 
 master, a bronze tablet was erected in the Postoffice 
 Building containing the folUjwing inscription : 
 
 "Charles Willoughby Dayton, Postmaster 
 at New York, N. Y. Appointed by President 
 Cleveland, June 3, 1893. Erected February, 
 1897, by the employees of the New York 
 Postoffice, wdio desire to perpetuate Mr. Day- 
 ton's record for efficiency, discipline, justice, 
 courtesy, and kindness." 
 
 Mr. Dayton has been extremely active in all depart- 
 ments of metropolitan affairs, while unflagging in his 
 devotion to the practice of his profession. He is a trus- 
 tee of the Church of the Puritans, a director of the 
 Twelfth Ward Bank and the Twelfth Ward Savings 
 Bank, of both of which he is the legal counsel; trustee 
 of the Harlem Library, and president of the "Board 
 for the Improvement of Park Avenue above io6th 
 Street," a work which has involved the expenditure of 
 several million dollars and greatly benefited the public. 
 This work was authorized by the Legislature of 1892, 
 largely through his efforts. 
 
 Mr. Dayton is also an active member of various 
 clubs, including the Harlem Democratic Club, Saga- 
 more and Manhattan clubs. The Players, the Geo- 
 graphical Association, Sons of the American Revolu- 
 tion, and the Downtow-n Association. He was one of 
 the incorporators of the Post-Graduate Medical School 
 and for over thirty years has been a member of the 
 Bar associations of the State and City of New York. 
 
 Like most members of the legal profession, Mr. Day- 
 ton takes a great interest in politics, and he has been 
 an active participant therein all his life, having made 
 his first campaign as a political speaker when only eigh- 
 teen years of age, in support of General McClellan for 
 the Presidency in 1864. In 1881 he was elected to the 
 State Legislature, and at once became prominent in the 
 deliberations of that body as an advocate of municipal 
 
ii6 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 reform, the passage of the primary election law of that 
 year being largely due to his efforts. He declined a 
 renomination. owing to the pressure of his professional 
 duties. 
 
 In 1882 Mr. Dayton organized the Democratic Club, 
 one of the most influential organizations in that party, 
 and in the same year acted as secretary of the Citizens' 
 Reform movement. \\'hen Grover Cleveland was nomi- 
 nated for President in 1884, Mr. Dayton worked skil- 
 fully and energetically in behalf of the Democratic 
 ticket, and was chosen as one of the electors to the 
 Electoral College. In 1888 he was equally active for 
 Cleveland's success, and made numerous speeches in 
 behalf of his candidacy, not only in New York State 
 but throughout the West, a speech made at Burling- 
 ton. Iowa, being reprinted and circulated l)y the Demo- 
 cratic National Campaign Committee as a campaign 
 document. The third Cleveland campaign found him 
 still an enthusiastic and active supporter of his favor- 
 ite candidate for the Presidency, and he was untiring 
 .tnd resourceful in the efforts which he made toward 
 Cleveland's remarkable triumph in 1892. 
 
 ]\Ir. Dayton has frequently been a delegate to the \-a 
 rious conventions of the Democratic Party — National, 
 
 State and Municipal — and his influence in its councils 
 has always been for good and for the cleanest of clean 
 politics. In 1893 Mr. Dayton was elected a member 
 of the State Constitutional Convention of New York, 
 and rendered service therein that evoked the warmest 
 praise of his confreres of both political parties. He 
 fought for the rights and liberties of his native city of 
 New York and rendered valiant ser\-ice in her interest. 
 
 In 1904 Mr. Dayton was a delegate to the National 
 Democratic Convention in St. Louis, and took an ac- 
 tive part in the succeeding campaign. He is still an 
 important factor in the Democratic organization, and 
 although his aspirations for the honorable position of 
 Justice of the Supreme Court have had a temporary 
 check by his failure of election in a tidal-wave year, it 
 is not at all unlikely that his long service to the cause 
 of good government and clean p<ilitics may yet bring 
 him the judicial honors which he tlmrougiily desei^ves 
 and for which he is so well equipped. 
 
 Mr. Dayton's practice as a lawyer is large and re- 
 munerative, his standing in his profession is high, and 
 he has a wide circle of loyal friends. He is married 
 and lives with his wife and children at No. 13 Mount 
 Morris Park, New York City. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IM NEW YORK 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TRACY 
 
 Benjamin Franklin Tracy is a representative of 
 the "southern tier" counties of the State of New York, 
 having- been born in Owego, April 26, 1830. At 
 an early age he exliibited a keenness of intehect and a 
 dihgence in business tliat excited comment among aU 
 , with whom he came in contact, and these two traits 
 liave been the predominating factors in the remarkable 
 success wliich has distinguished his career. 
 
 He was educated in the Oweg-o Academy, and upon 
 his graduation took up the study of the law in his na- 
 tive town and was admitted to the Bar in May, 185 1. 
 lie quickly forged his way to the front rank among 
 the members of the legal profession and won several 
 notable legal victories which attracted so much atten- 
 tion by the brilliancy with \\hich they were achieved 
 that the politicians in Tioga County quickly recognized 
 his ability, and he was made the Whig candidate for 
 District Attorney in 1853 — only two years after hav- 
 ing been admitted to the Bar ! — and was triumphantly 
 elected in a Democratic stronghold. Three years later, 
 in 1856, he was re-elected, defeating the Hon. Gilbert 
 C. Walker, the Democratic candidate, who was later 
 Governor of Virginia. Mr. Walker, instead of exhib- 
 iting chagrin over his defeat, showed that he appreci- 
 ated the brilliancy of intellect displayed by his success- 
 
 ful young adversary by promptly going into partner- 
 sliip with him and securing a powerful clientage 
 throughout Tioga County. 
 
 Honors came in quick succession henceforth to the 
 career thus auspiciously opened, and in 1861 we find 
 Mr. Tracy taking a prominent part in the political ex- 
 citement attending the outbreak of the Civil War and 
 serving in the State Legislature in the following year. 
 He also recruited two regiments of State troops in the 
 spring of 1862 — the 109th and the 137th regiments — 
 and became Colonel of the former. This regiment went 
 to Baltimore and then to Washington, D. C, where it 
 remained on duty until the spring of 1864. Then, with 
 
 I the g-eneral advance under Grant, it joined the gtii 
 Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and took 
 part in the liattles of the Wilderness. Near the close of 
 the first day he fell, exliausied by his exertions, and 
 was carried from the field, but refused to go to the hos- 
 pital, and continued to lead his regiment during the 
 three-days' conflict at Spottsylvania, when he broke 
 down and, surrendering his commana to the lieutenant- 
 colonel, came North to recruit his health. A few 
 months later he was made Colonel of the 127th Regi- 
 ment of LTnited States Colored Troops, and was as- 
 signed to command the military post at Elmira, N. Y., 
 
 j where there was a prison camp — at one time contain- 
 ing 10,000 prisoners — and the draft rendezvous for 
 Western New York. In March, 1865, Colonel Tracy 
 was brevetted Brigadier-General of Volunteers for gal- 
 lant and meritorious services during the war, and on 
 June 13, 1865, the war being over, he tendered his res- 
 ignation and was honorably discharged from the 
 y\.rmy. 
 
 On retiring from the Army General Tracy deter- 
 mined to make New York City his future home, and 
 he entered the law firm of Benedict, Burr & Benedict, 
 and the following year, 1866, he was appointed United 
 States District Attorney for the Eastern District of 
 New York. He justified the wisdom of his appoint- 
 ment by drafting an internal revenue bill that more 
 than trebled the revenue of the United States at a time 
 when our credit was being established by the rapid pay- 
 ment of the enormous debt resulting from the opera- 
 tions of the Civil War. 
 
 In 1873 General Tracy resigned his Federal office 
 and again entered upon the general practice of his pro- 
 
 I fession. He was now forty-three years of age, and in 
 the full plenitude of his powers, and he immediately 
 took a foremost place among the keenest intellects that 
 conferred distinction on the legal profession in New 
 York City. In the many notable cases which he han- 
 
 ! died in this period of his career he was equally success- 
 
AlEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ful, botli in his capacity as an advisory counsel in the 
 interpretation of tlie law and as an impassioned pleader 
 to the jury in the court room. 
 
 In December, i88r, the Governor of New York ap- 
 pointed General Tracy an Associate Justice of the State 
 Court of Appeals, but at the end of two years he again 
 returned to the practice of the law, forming a partner- 
 ship with William De Witt and the General's son, F. F. 
 Tracy, their office being established in Brooklyn. Gen- 
 eral Tracy's prestige as a lawyer brought an enormous 
 business to the new firm, and his own strong personal- 
 ity won for him at once a large and loyal following, 
 both socially and politically, in the City of Churches, 
 into whose life he entered whole-heartedly. In the 
 Presidential campaign of 1888 General Tracy attracted 
 wide attention by his vigorous and effective work on 
 behalf of the candidates of the Republican Party — 
 Messrs. Harrison and Morton — and it was freely ad- 
 mitted by men of all shades of political opinion that 
 he had earned the honors conferred on him when Presi- 
 dent Harrison, on Alarch 5, 1889, appointed Generril 
 Tracy Secretary of the Xavy. 
 
 The new Secretary of the Xavy entered on his du- 
 ties at the climax of his powers, mentally and physi- 
 cally, and determined that in this exalted office to which 
 he had been called he would not only justify his ap- 
 
 pointment but lea\-e a lasting impress on the Naval 
 service. Under his administration there were built the 
 first great battleships of the United States — the "Ore- 
 gon," "Indiana" and "Massachusetts," and the great 
 armored cruisers, "New York" and "Brooklyn" — and 
 the impetus then given to the Ijuilding of ships for the 
 Navy has resulted in the splendid fleet which is to-day 
 the pride of every loyal American. 
 
 \\'hen the Republicans were retired from power in 
 1S93 General Tracy returned to New York and the 
 commanding position at the Bar which his experience 
 entitled him to. In 1897, in response to the insistent 
 demand of the party to which he had always been loyal. 
 General Tracy, although he knew he was foredoomed 
 to defeat, was the Republican candidate for Mayor of 
 New York City against Seth Low and the Tammany 
 candidate, Robert A. Van Wyck. 
 
 General Tracy is a companion of the Loyal Legion 
 and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 He is now in active practice of his profession in New 
 York City, and is one of the most distinguished and 
 most successful members of the Bar in the State of 
 New York. His career has been well-rounded, rich, 
 and fruitful and he has conferred distinction upon 
 every post in which he has ser\'ed during the course 
 of his long and c\entful life. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 119 
 
 WALTER S. LOGAN 
 
 Walter S. Logan, ( 
 liant lawyers, was Lmi 
 County, Conn., on April 
 among- tlie first settlers ir 
 
 ne I if New York's most bril- 
 n in Washington, Litclifreld 
 15, 1847. His ancestors were 
 Washingtiin, which was orig- 
 
 inally a part of ancient Woodbury, and they formed a 
 portion of the migrating parties who went from place 
 to place through Massachusetts, and finally settled 
 down in Litchfield, Conn. The causes of these migra- 
 tions were, principally, religion. It was a time of acute 
 differences on doctrinal points, and after a while these 
 differences were so numerous and the points so acute 
 that nearly every family had a creed of its own. Among 
 other wanderers in search of a spot where they could 
 practice their own forms of worship in peace, and pre- 
 scribe those of others, were the a*ncestors of those two i 
 distinguished characters in America's more recent his- 1 
 tory — the late General Sherman and his brother, the 
 late Senator Sherman. 
 
 Mr. Logan's father, Seth S. Logan, who died in 
 1887, was a prominent Democrat, and was for twenty 
 years, withe mt an intermission, a member of the Con- 
 necticut Legislature, sometimes serving in the Senate 
 and sometimes in the lower house. His mother was a ' 
 Hallister, the name being a corruption of that of the 1 
 
 famous Scottish clan, McAllister. She was a lineal de- 
 scendant of the Rev. John Hallister, of Wethersfield, 
 who, because of his independence in religious thought 
 and conduct, expressed in doubting and controverting 
 Slime of the bigoted Cah'inistic dogmas, was excom- 
 municated. 
 
 ]\Ir. Logan received his primary education in the 
 public schools of his native place, and after a prepara- 
 tory course entered Yale College. He was graduated 
 from this institution in 1870, and immediately entered 
 the law department of Harvard University, from which 
 he was gradnatdl in 1871. He also took a one-year's 
 course in Columbia College. Thus he has the unique 
 distinction of holding a diploma from each of the three 
 great American schools of Yale, Harvard and Co- 
 lumliia. 
 
 The turning point in Mr. Logan's career may be 
 said to have occurred in September, 1871, when at 
 Cambridge, in whose Law School, soon after graduat- 
 ing from Yale, already referred to, he was beginning 
 a post-graduate year course. During the previous year 
 he had enjoyed the special friendship of Prof. C. C. 
 Langdell, Dean of the Law School. Professor Lang- 
 dell had been a distinguished practicing lawyer in New 
 York City, and an associate in business with James C. 
 Carter. Mr. Carter wanted a young man to fill a cer- 
 tain delicate position in his office in connection with the 
 celebrated Jumel case, and requested the professor to 
 select such a person from among the graduates. After 
 carefully scanning the names of several of the most 
 prominent students, he finally selected young Logan, 
 and it was late at night when the fortunate graduate 
 left Cambridge and nine o'clock next morning when 
 he called upon Mr. Carter and secured the position. 
 The arrangement was especially agreeable to Mr. Lo- 
 gan, as he had a profound admiration for Mr. Carter. 
 During this period of business intimacy a close per- 
 sonal friendship was established that was only termi- 
 nated by Mr. Carter's death. While engaged in this 
 gentleman's office it was young Logan's fortunate priv- 
 ileg'e to meet Charles O'Conor, who was one of the 
 counsel in the Jumel case, and a strong attachment 
 grew up between the two men. At the conclusion of 
 his special services with Mr. Carter, he began prac- 
 tice on his own account, and his career from the be- 
 ginning has been one of uninterrupted prosperity. He 
 has been a diligent practitioner, and has conducted 
 some of the most important cases that have been 
 brought before the New York courts, a large propor- 
 tion of which he has carried to a successful conclusion 
 for his clients. Among the most important of the cases 
 he has handled may be mentioned the Chesebrough Es- 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 tate, the Wirt Fountain Pen case, the Phelps Estate 
 litigation, and the Water Right controversies growing 
 out of irrigation in the Southwest. During the trial 
 of the latter case he had occasion to make many visits 
 to the Southwestern portion of the country, frequently 
 extending his trips into Mexico. During these visits 
 he made careful observations of the surroundings, the 
 people and their customs, and he has t\)und time to pro- 
 duce a book which is not only filled with matter of an 
 intensely interesting nature, but is a nrndel of literary 
 merit. Mr. Logan is a graceful and forceful speaker, 
 and his cases are always presented to the court in a 
 clear and comprehensive form, and with a complete 
 mastery of detail. Mr. Logan's practice is not re- 
 stricted to the New York courts. He has conducted 
 many important cases before the United States Su- 
 preme Court and the Lfnited States Court of Claims. 
 A notable case before the latter court was that of the 
 Delaware Indians against the Cherokee tribe, involv- 
 ing vast interests. He has also a large corporation 
 practice, and is a director in and counsel for many sue- ( 
 cessful and influential corporations. He was president 
 of the New York State Bar Association in 1899 and 
 has been, for several \'ears past, vice-president for the 
 State of New York of the American Bar Association. 
 He is also chairman of the Committee on Commercial 
 Law of the American Bar Association, and his name 
 is connected with many reports made by that commit- 
 tee, especi:dly upon the National Bankrupt Law and on 
 
 the question of modern industrial combinations. He 
 is president of the Empire State Society of the Sons 
 of the American Revolution, and in the year 1901 was 
 made president of the National Society. Besides the 
 book on Mexico, already referred to, Mr. Logan is the 
 author of many important articles on professional, so- 
 cial, political and patriotic subjects. 
 
 Mr. Logan has inherited much of the independent 
 spirit of his ancestors, and in politics and in religion 
 he holds that he has a right to form liis own opinions. 
 In politics lie has sometimes been called a ^Mugwump, 
 and in religion a free-thinker, but as to the former he 
 rejects the name as a reflection on his political character 
 and holds to the belief, so firmly maintained by his an- 
 cestors, in the soundness and permanency of Democratic 
 principles, although he cannot be classed as an organi- 
 zation Democrat. When Mr. Logan was a youth he 
 imbibed genuine Democratic ideas and principles in his 
 father's household, in which congregated frequently 
 such political celebrities as Thomas H. and Origen S. 
 Seymour, ex-Governors William A. Buckingham and 
 James E. English, ex-Vice-President Lafayette S. Fos- 
 ter, Minot A. Osborn, ex-Senator William A. Eaton, 
 William H. Barnum and Charles M. Pond, of Hart- 
 ford : and, later, the younger Charles F. Pond, and 
 ex-Governor Thomas ]\[. ^\'aller. now of New York. 
 All these celebrities were frequent visitors at his fath- 
 er's house, and this intercourse had a marked influenca 
 in the formation of his character. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 DOCTOR THOMAS DARLINGTON 
 
 Thomas Darlington, physician, was burn in tlie 
 city of Brooklyn, September 24, 1858. He is the son 
 of Thomas l])arhngton, long and favorably known in 
 the same city, and a grandson of Peter Darlington, 
 equally well known. Doctor Darlington was educated, 
 primarily, in the public scIiumIs of Brooklyn, where he 
 displayeil a great aptitude for mathematics, and was 
 at first inclined to take up engineering as his life work. 
 He accordingly took a special three-years' scientific and 
 engineering course at the University of the City of 
 New York. Upon his graduation, however, he decided 
 upon entering the medical profession, and soon after- 
 ward entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons 
 of New York, and was graduated from that institution 
 in 1880. He immediately entered upon the practice of 
 his profession at Newark. N. J., where he remained 
 for two years, at the end of which time he took up his 
 residence at King's Bridge, New York, and was ac- 
 tively engaged there until 1891, when he decided to 
 \'isit the West, and accordingly made his residence for 
 a time at Bisbee, Ariz. The Western life does not ap- 
 pear to have had many fascinations for Doctor Dar- 
 lington, for in 1 89 1 we find him again at Iving's 
 Bridge, where he resumetl his practice, and that 
 
 has been the field of his operations, so far as his prac- 
 tice is concerned, ever since. His services were always 
 greatly in demand by public institutions, and while in 
 Newark he was the district physician of the Seventh 
 District, and was also assistant physician at St. Mi- 
 chael's Hospital, of that city. He was surgeon to the 
 New Croton Aqueduct Corporation, New York, from 
 1885 to 1889, and to the Harlem Improvement Works 
 in 1888. \\'hile in .Arizona he was surgeon to the Cop- 
 per Queen Consolidated and other mining companies. 
 These important positions were held by Doctor Dar- 
 lington while he was still a young practitioner, and 
 evidence the great energy and activity of his early ca- 
 reer, characteristics which ha\-e remained with him 
 without abatement through all his life. 
 
 Doctor Darlington's skill in his profession, and the 
 great energy shown by !iim in its prosecution, procured 
 him, in a few years, a large and lucrative practice, and 
 his fame gradually spread beyond the borders of his 
 own bailiwick. \\'hen ]Mayor McClellan was elected to 
 the mayoralt}', in 1903, he made a careful canvass of 
 many prominent names presented to him for the selec- 
 tion of a person pre-eminently qualified to fill the office 
 of President of the Health Department of the city. 
 Doctor Darlington's name was on the list, and it was 
 accompanied by endorsements of the highest character, 
 among these being that of the Section of Medico-Legal 
 Surgery of the Medico-Legal Society. It w'as a grati- 
 fying announcement to the large circle of Doctor Dar- 
 lington's personal friends and to the medical fraternity 
 of the entire city when Mayor McClellan decided upon 
 him for the position. It is hardly necessary to add in 
 this connection that Doctor Darlington has met the re- 
 quirements of this important position in every particu- 
 lar. His selection was especially endorsed by the daily 
 press, and a leading journal of the city had this to say 
 of the appointment at the time : "It is a long time since 
 the city of New York has had a medical man at the 
 head of the Health Department, and the city has been, 
 for years, opposed to submitting its management and 
 direction to that profession. Doctor Darlington will 
 be popular with the medical fraternity, and his selection 
 will be perhaps the most fortunate for such a work that 
 the Mayor could make to overcome that deep-rooted 
 objection. He is ardent, enthusiastic, and possessed of 
 high ideals in his w^ork. He will have the fullest con- 
 fidence of the people. He is a thorough gentleman, an 
 illustrious example of the rising young men of the 
 Democratic Party whose mission is to demonstrate that 
 the Democracy of the great city of New York has 
 men in its ranks fit to guard the great interests of the 
 city." The sequel has proved that these predictions 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS /.V NEIV YORK 
 
 were well founded. When Mayor McClellan was elected 
 to succeed himself he found no reason for making a 
 change in the management of the Health Department, 
 and Doctor Darlington was promptly reappointed. His 
 entire administration has been characterized by the in- 
 stitution of various needed reforms, and in carefully 
 and intelligently promoting the efficiency of the various 
 health institutions of the city. The sanitation of a great 
 city like New York is a mighty problem, and it re- 
 quires qualifications of a high order to comprehend and 
 solve the important questions that are almost hourly 
 presenting themselves. How well Doctor Darlington 
 has succeeded in meeting these re([uirements is a famil- 
 iar story to the citizens of New York, and need not b.; 
 repeated here. 
 
 Doctor Darlington has not always permitted his 
 medical or official duties to exclude him from an inter- 
 est in matters that are not directly connected with his 
 profession. He has been a member of the local school 
 board of the Twenty-fifth District since its organiza- 
 tion, and has always taken a deep interest in all matters 
 pertaining to the public schools. He has endeared him- 
 self to teachers and pupils alike by his earnestness and 
 zeal, and by his helpful co-operation and advice. His 
 literary qualifications are of a high order, and he has 
 contributed liberally to the columns of the medical pub- 
 lications of the (lay. Numerous articles fmm his pen 
 have appeared in the Medical Reoird, New York, in 
 
 eluding one on pneumonia, in 1888; "Efifects of the 
 Product of High Explosives, Dynamite and Nitro- 
 I glycerine, on the Human System" ; an article on "Tun- 
 nel Poisoning," the result of personal investigations, 
 ■ appeared in Wood's Reference Plandbook of the Medi- 
 1 cal Sciences; a paper on "The Climate of Arizona, and 
 the Effect of Hot and Dry Climates on Disease," was 
 read before the Congress of American Physicians and 
 Surgeons in i8gi. He has also been a contributor to 
 the columns oi The Scientific American and to the daily 
 press. He was ap])i)inted by President Francis, of the 
 World's Fair at St. Li'uis, a memljer of the Commit- 
 tee on Organization of the International Congress on 
 Tuberculosis, and was selected as the secretary to that 
 committee. He is connected with numerous medical 
 societies, among which are mentioned the New York 
 County and State Medical associations, and the Ameri- 
 can Medical .\ssociation. He is vice-president of the 
 American Climatological Society. Until he became the 
 head of the Health Department he was the visiting 
 physician to many of the hospitals of the city and was 
 the consulting physician to the French Hospital. He 
 is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, and of 
 the Tilden and Jefferson clubs, of which latter he was 
 one of the incorporators. Idc is also a nicniber nf the 
 North Side Board of Trade, and was. for a l<ing period, 
 superintenrlent of the .Sabbath-school of the Church of 
 tlie Mediator, in King's Bridge. 
 
MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 [23 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON PLYMPTON 
 
 George Washington PlymptoNj civil engineer, is 
 the descendant of English ancestors. John and Thomas 
 Plympton, the first of that name to land on this soil, 
 came over in "the good ship Confidence," in 1640, and 
 settled in Sudbury, Mass. These claimed descent from 
 Sir Nigell de Plympton, of Yorkshire, who, in 1168, 
 is referred to in old records as paying tribute to the 
 King. The family in this country distinguished them- 
 selves in the fights with the Indians, as is evidenced by 
 the monument in Sudbury, erected by the town in mem- 
 ory of those of the name killed in Indian warfare, and 
 at the time of the Lexington call to arms thirteen of 
 the name responded. 
 
 Thomas Ruggles Plympton, fifth in line in this coun- 
 try, married Betsey Holden, and George, the sixth 
 child, was born in Waltham, Mass., November 18, 
 1827. He received his education in the public school, 
 continuing by himself his studies of mathematics while 
 working in a machine-shop. In this way, with a book 
 supported beside his lathe, he put himself through 
 geometry and trigonometry. Having decided on the 
 profession of civil engineer, he went to the Rensselaer 
 (Troy) Polytechnic Institute and completed the course 
 in 1847. After graduation he was invited to return as 
 
 instructor, and accepted for one year. In 1861 he was 
 employed as surveyor by the States of Massachusetts 
 and New York. During this period he surveyed much 
 of the Adirondack region, and he relates that he was 
 uft'ered land about "Paul Snnth's" at thirty cents an 
 acre — an offer which he did not accept. He also laid 
 out roads between New York and Albany, anil on a 
 trip up the Hudson can still point out many roads run- 
 ning down to the river, the work of his early surveys. 
 In 185 1 he was appointed Professor of Engineering 
 and Architecture in the University of Cleveland, Ohio. 
 In 1853 he was called to the chair of mathematics in 
 the New York State Normal School of Albany. About 
 1852 he turned his attention to bridge-building, which 
 he desired to make his profession. He himself has said 
 that lie was intended for a teacher. Every bridge- 
 building firm by which he wad employed failed during 
 the time of business depression, and he had constant 
 ofl^ers to teach. These offers are easily understood by 
 those who have known his qualifications as a teacher. 
 In 1859, he was asked to be candidate for Director of 
 the Troy Polytechnic, but decliricd, and in i860 he be- 
 came Professor of Mathematics at the New Jersey 
 State Normal School. 
 
 Mr. Plympton left New Jersey in 1863 to accept a 
 position as Professor of Physical Sciences in the 
 Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. When, 
 in 1890, the Polytechnic became a college, he was made 
 Professor of Civil Engineering, a position which he 
 held until 1905, when he resig'ned, after a connection 
 with this institute of forty-two years. He was then 
 made Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering by the 
 Board of Trustees. In 1869 he was appointed Profes- 
 sor of Chemistry and Toxicology in the Long Island 
 Hospital College and lectured there till 1885, render- 
 ing services which no student under him will ever for- 
 get. He received the honorary degree of M.D. in 1880, 
 and resigned in 1885, when he was made Professor 
 Emeritus of that institution. From 1870 till 1886 he 
 
 j was engaged in the work of editing the D. Van Nos- 
 
 ' trand Engineering Magazine. This magazine was 
 known as standard through this country, and was 
 
 , a recognized authority throughout the engineering 
 world. In connection with this work he translated ar- 
 
 ' tides from several languages, notably from the French. 
 In German he was less fluent, and on one occasion he 
 began rather laboriously to pick out the meaning of an 
 article, only to find, after a few lines, it was one of his 
 own compositions rendered into German. Certain short 
 and pithy statements of his in the magazine were copied 
 in every prominent engineering magazine in the world. 
 He wrote, among other treatises, one treatise on the 
 
MF.X OF AFFAIRS IX XFJV YORK 
 
 aneroid, wliicli is in its nintii edition and is still in 
 demand. 
 
 The indomitable energy of Air. ]*i}-mpt(>n may be 
 somewhat judged liy his work at this ])eriod. It was 
 the time of horse-car and ferryl)oat traftic. He would 
 leave home in the morning about seven-thirty, and go 
 to his work at the Polytechnic in Brooklyn ; from there, 
 about two-thirty, to lecture at the Long Island College, 
 then to the editor's desk in New York, and after an 
 interval for dinner, to his Cooper work, reaching home 
 between ten-thirty and eleven at night. Such exer- 
 tions were jxissible onl\- to a man of great physical en- 
 durance, and this strength was recruited by the long 
 summer vacations, when he went cjuietly to some re- 
 tired country spot, and, for relaxation, built orna- 
 mental bridges or tramiied the countryside, twenty-five 
 miles being regarded as an ordinary stroll. Proposi- 
 tions were made to him fr<;m six colleges to accept the 
 professorship, but were all declined, his work in Brook- 
 lyn and New York being tlinmughly congenial. 
 
 In 1885 he was name. I by Mayor Low and ajjpointed 
 by the Governor a member of the Commission of Elec- 
 trical Subways for BrcKjklyn. Professor Plympton was 
 president of the Board until its dissolution in 1889. In 
 1890 he was appointed by Mayor Chapin a member of 
 the Board of Engineers, to consider ways of improving 
 the terminals of the Brooklyn Bridge. In iS()_' he was 
 made a member of a commission of two, with powers 
 similar to the former Commission i^f Electrical Sub- 
 ways. This appointment was made by Mayor Boody 
 — the first appointment being made by a Republican 
 mayor, the two last by Democratic ones. 
 
 The resignation of Profes.sor Plymptun from the 
 Brooklyn Polytechnic in 1905 was caused by the o])pnr- 
 tunity ofit'ered to direct the same line of work ni the 
 New Technical ]3ay School of the Cooper Union, as 
 he had already directed in the Night School — a posi- 
 tion which he still holds. 
 
 The great teacher is said to be born once in a decade. 
 Professor PIym])ton, with his wide and comi)relunsive 
 knowledge, has the power to impart that knowledge in 
 
 simple, direct form. The president of one of our lead- 
 ing American educational institutions said of him : 
 "His intuitive perception of mathematical relations ex- 
 ceeds that of any man I ever knew." He is no special- 
 ist. Every science makes ajjjjcal to his intellect and 
 the facts of it have been studied, grasped, and are ready 
 for presentation to whomever desires to know. His 
 talks or addresses are models of directness and sim- 
 plicity as befits his subjects. Tl.ey ru'e extempore, his 
 notes being a mere outline, generally contained on a 
 calling-card. The onl_\- parts of his addresses com- 
 posed beforehand are the introductions and closing re- 
 marks. These are masteri)ieces of clear, terse and 
 forceful I'jiglish. 
 
 While he has the scientific knowledge of a subject 
 he is able always to express himself in popular form, 
 and no student can come to him with a serious ques- 
 tion without being satisfied that immediate and sym- 
 pathetic interest is felt in the subject presented. His 
 constant cont.'K't with the }'iiung has doubtless served 
 to keqi him young, and at se\enty eight he is still full 
 of interest in all subjects and still able to tire out much 
 younger opponents at golf. He has taught fifty-five 
 years without losing a full da}^ from pln-sical disability, 
 and thirty-seven of this peril il has taught Ixith day and 
 night. 
 
 ;h the modesty which is inherent in his character, 
 s his attainments ;n-e i\u^: not In culture but to an 
 mal memory and a superri^rmal physical consti- 
 As is natural tn him, he ignores the steadfast- 
 ness of purpose, the patience and perseverance neces- 
 sary for such attainments. He has never sought promi- 
 nence before the public, and, outside of educational and 
 scientific circles, his name is practically unknown. No 
 account of the man could be complete without reference 
 to that attribute almost necessary to a successful 
 te.acher, and which he possesses in so great a degree 
 — the quick and most subtle sense of humor. 
 
 Professor Plympton has been twice married, the first 
 time to Delia Bussey and the second time to Helen M. 
 Bussey, of Troy, and of five children has three li\ing. 
 
 W 
 
 abni 
 tutii 
 
MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEir YORK 
 
 ROBERT ANDERSON VAN WYCK 
 
 Robert A. \'ax ^^'vcK, lawyer, jurist, was bom 
 ill the old Van W'yck mansion, on Lexington Avenue, 
 New York City, July JJ, 1847. ^^^ comes from old 
 Knickerbocker stock, his paternal ancestors being Cor- 
 nelius Barents Van M'yck, who came from Wyck, Hol- 
 land, in 1650. Ten years later, in 1660, Cornelius 
 Barents Van W'yck married Ann, the daughter of the 
 Rev. Johannes Theodoras Polhemus, of Flatbush, who 
 was the first Dutch Reformed minister in Kings 
 County. There is scarcely a prominent Knickerbocker 
 family in New York that Mr. Van Wyck is not related 
 to by intermarriage. The Van Rensselaers, Van Court- 
 landts, Beekmans, Gardiners, Van Vechtens, Living- 
 stons, Hamiltons, and Seymours are his kinsmen. An 
 interesting fact connected with the ancestry of Mr. Van 
 Wyck, which is not generally known, is his connection 
 with the Maverick family, which gave a new word to 
 the English language in the term "maverick," applied 
 on the great cattle ranges of the W^est to an animal 
 found without the owner's brand. The ancestors of 
 Samuel Maverick came from Barbados. In early life 
 Samuel Maverick settled at Pendleton, in upper South 
 Carolina, where he married a daughter of General Rob- 
 ert Anderson, of Revolutionary fame, whose home was 
 
 near Pendleton. His son moved to Texas, and accjuired 
 vast holdings of territory there, establishing the repu- 
 tation of owning more land than any other man in the 
 country. The youngest daughter of Samuel Maverick, 
 Lydia, was sent, when a girl, to school in New York 
 City. Here she met and was married to William Van 
 Wyck, father of the suloject of this sketch, and who 
 was then a young lawyer just entering upon his career 
 at the Bar. After their marriage they removed to 
 Alabama, where they expected to make their hcjme. 
 Not meeting with the success he looked f(ir in that 
 State, however, young Van Wyck determined to try 
 his fortune in South Carolina, and he accordingly re- 
 moved to Rock Mills,, Anderson County. Not meet- 
 ing with much better success there, after a few years' 
 effort he finally returned to New York City. A few 
 years later the death of Samuel Maverick caused Wil- 
 liam Van Wyck to return to South Carolina, where he 
 w^as engaged for several years in the settlement cjf the 
 Maverick estate. 
 
 Robert A. Van Wyck was the filth child of William 
 Van Wyck, and he was an infant when the family re- 
 turned to South Carolina. In 1867, when he was but 
 fifteen years of age, and after his father's death, he re- 
 turned to New York with his mother, and he has lived 
 here ever since. His h.ome, while in South Carolina, 
 w-as only a few miles distant from that of John C. Cal- 
 houn, the great advocate of States' rights. The Van 
 Wyck mansion was the scene of continual and generous 
 hospitality, and was a favorite resort for the young 
 people of the county. The neighborhood was made up 
 largely of Charleston families, many of whom had 
 handsome country residences near, and in this commu- 
 nity of refined and cultivated people the Van Wycks 
 were accredited the highest social standing. Robert 
 went to school at Pendleton to the late W. J. Sigon, a 
 noted pedagogue of his day in South Carolina. Per- 
 sons now residing in Anderson County, and who knew 
 young Van Wyck as a pupil in Professor Sigon's 
 school, say that he was a manly, dignified boy; more 
 like a man than a youth in his manner. He was popu- 
 lar among his schoolmates, and was never at a loss to 
 hold his own in the rough-and-tumble contests on the 
 playground. He was a bright pupil, and at that early 
 age gave full promise of the aptness at study which 
 later enabled him to graduate at the head of his class 
 in Columbia College Law School in 1872. He was also 
 the valedictorian of his class. 
 
 Very soon after his graduation from the law school 
 Mr. Van Wyck, in company with his brother, Augus- 
 tus, went to Breslau. Germany, where he studied for 
 ■ ^ome time in Heidelberg and acquired a considerable 
 
MEX 01- Ah' FAIRS IX XI- If YORK 
 
 knowledge of tlie German language. Returning home, 
 he began life in earnest. Almost simultaneously with 
 his starting out upon his career as a lawyer he launched 
 into politics, the rudiments of which he learned from 
 his district leader, James A. Flack, who was at one 
 time Sheriff of New York County. His activity soon 
 gave him the distinction of being made a member of 
 the Tammany Hall General Committee, and from the 
 outset he distinguished himself by his energy and fear- 
 lessness. After the Presidential election of 1880 he 
 astonished the members of the General Committee by 
 openly charging, at one of its meetings, John Kelly 
 with the responsibility of defeating Hancock. It was 
 John Kelly's treachery, he said, that had sacrificed the 
 National ticket to secure the success of the local candi- 
 dates. So sincere and deep-seated were his convictions 
 on the subject that he severed his connection with Tam- 
 many Hall and joined the organization known as the 
 County Democracy. He remained an active adherent 
 to this wing of the local Democracy until 1887, when 
 he renewed his connection with Tammany Hall, of 
 which organization he has ever since been a staunch 
 adherent, and in whose councils he has been an im- 
 portant factor. In 18S9 he was elected a City Court 
 Judge, and just before the expiration of his term, six 
 years later, he was elected Chief Judge of that court, 
 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Chief Judge 
 Simon E. Ehrlich. In the same year he was re-elected 
 
 for the full term of six years, but had served only two 
 of them when, in 1897, he resigned, to accept the can- 
 didacy fur Mayor on the Tammany Hall ticket. It 
 was the first mayoralty contest under the new charter 
 creating the City of Greater New York, and the honor 
 of being its first Mayor was the spur for the most bit- 
 ter rivalry. The severity of the contest was intensified 
 by the fact that Tammany Hall had been defeated in 
 the previous mayoralty campaign, and it was a life- 
 and-death struggle on the part of the organization to 
 regain control of the municipal offices. A peculiar fea- 
 ture of the campaign was the entire absence of any ora- 
 torical effort on the part of Judge Van Wyck. He has 
 a thorough distaste for public speaking, and even on 
 the occasion of his inauguration he made no address to 
 his assembled political associates. His administration 
 of the affairs of the city was characterized by unremit- 
 ting zeal and industry, and to him was accorded the 
 distinction of having removed the first spadeful of 
 earth at the beginning of the construction of the now 
 completed subway, an enterprise which he had largely 
 aided to inaugurate. Since his retirement from the 
 mayoralty Judge Van Wyck has been actively engaged 
 in the practice of his profession. He is a member and 
 one of the founders of the Holland Society, and has 
 been honored with its presidency. He is a member of 
 the St. Nicholas and Tammany societies, and of the 
 Manhattan, Democratic, and ^^^^n(la clubs. 
 
MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 
 
 The position that Mr. Howells occupies in contem- 
 poraneous American literature is unrivaled by any liv- 
 ing man : an enduring place in the nation's anthology 
 is assured to him, although Hawthorne may excel him 
 as a novelist, Longfellow as a poet, Emerson as an es- 
 sayist and Poe as a critic. William Dean Howells is 
 admittedly the best equipped, most evenly balanced, all- 
 round literary man this country has produced. He is a 
 realist, but he walks on the sunny side of the street; 
 he is always thoroughly American in his opinions of 
 life, and is uncontaminated by long residence abroad. 
 The English of Mr. Howells is the purest that any con- 
 temporary draws from the Anglo-Saxon fount. 
 
 We first hear of him as a printer-boy in the office 
 of the Daj'ton Transcript, a struggling weekly publi- 
 cation owned by his father and conducted as an expo- 
 nent of the anti-slavery cause. Strongly as the Ohio 
 heart may have throljbed, during the later '50's, for 
 the down-trodden and the oppressed, its feelings were 
 not expressed in coin of the realm. One afternoon 
 Howells pcrc called his printers about him, "paid ofif" 
 to his last cent and said : "It's all over; the Transcript 
 is dead!" The shock was very painful, because it 
 meant a loss to "a great cause." Young Howells has 
 
 described the incident with unaffected pathos, and, m 
 conclusion, adds : "Father and I then walked to the 
 Miami and had a good swim." 
 
 That event marked the end of home life, because the 
 young man faced the big world, to make his own place 
 therein. He was then about twenty years old, having 
 been born at Martin Ferry, March i, 1837. Securing 
 employment on the Ohio State Journal, at Columbus, 
 William Dean Howells brought his parents to the capi- 
 tal. His earnings were turned into the Howells treas- 
 ury. The advantages of the State library were im- 
 proved to the utmost by the young man. He developed 
 a desire to write, and his first impulse was the produc- 
 I tion of verse. It was of so high a quality that James 
 I Russell Lowell accepted several of these early poetical 
 efforts for the Atlantic Monthly, then the most criti- 
 cal magazine in America. The Boston market may not 
 have been capable of absorbing the output of the How- 
 ells pen, because poems by the same hand appeared in 
 other magazines and in the daily newspaper for which 
 he set type. In collaboration with "the Mac-o-chee 
 poet," John James Piatt, a volume of verses were pub- 
 lished in i860. The title was tenderness in words: 
 "Poems by Two F"riends." Howells then laid down 
 1 the "stick" and entered the field as a reporter for the 
 Cincinnati Gazette. 
 
 As the son of an Abolitionist, Howells was naturally 
 a Republican, although that party Avas only four years 
 old. Hardly had Lincoln's nomination been announced 
 than, with true journalistic intuition as to timeliness, 
 Howells produced a life of "Honest Abe." If the "ole 
 swimmin' hole" can be credited with the actual start 
 in life on his own account, his cleverness in producing 
 that life of Aliraham Lincoln brought the first profita- 
 ble recogiiition of his genius. The biography was not 
 in any way remarkable, but it dealt with the sturdy 
 qualities of the statesman who was to leave a greater 
 impress upon the history of his country than any Presi- 
 dent since Washington and Jefferson. The "Life" told 
 with a simplicity of style that appealed to every reader 
 the bnyhood of the poor lad; his removal across 
 the Ohio River to Illinois: his patient efforts to mas- 
 ter the intricacies of the law, despite an imperfect edu- 
 cation ; his plunge into politics, leading to a brief term 
 in the National Congress; his defiance of the ablest 
 living man in the Democratic Party — Stephen A. 
 Douglas, known as the "Little Giant" — the remark- 
 able debates between the almost unknown Lincoln and 
 Douglas, the idol of the Northern Democracy; his 
 triumphant election to the Presidency, and the effect 
 of that event upon the anti-slavery cause. Howells, in 
 later years, has been wont to speak lightly of that book 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 and to describe it as "a campaign brochure," but 
 President Lincoln had no sooner taken his seat tlian 
 he sent for the young Ohioan and offered him the con- 
 sulate at \"enice. The salary nf the post was not suf- 
 ticitnt to turn his head; hut Howells accepted it, be- 
 cause he recognized the ardently sought opportunity 
 for study. Tradition says that Lincoln had intended to 
 name Howells for Rome — an oifice with a better salary 
 — hut that speech with the young Westerner disclosed; 
 the bent of his ambition toward a literary career, and, 
 with a judgment that was characteristic of the immor- 1 
 tal war 1 'resilient, he did an act that added another 
 auluring name to .\merican literature. 
 
 The duties at the \'enetian Consulate were not exact- 
 ing. Ample time was afforded the man of twenty-three 
 for a study of the Italian language and literature. His 
 observations in the quaint city of the Adriatic were 
 written and mailed to the New York Tribune, where 
 they first saw light. Afterward these sketches, with 
 some revision, were published in two \olnmes that are 
 now classics of the Engli.sh language. Their titles are 
 'A'enetian Days" and "Italian Journeys." 
 
 Four years of such life, in which Howells did not 
 lose an hour that could be given to self-imjirovement, 
 qualified him to return to New \nvk and accept an 
 editorial position upon The .\ation, a higli-class liter- 
 ary and politic.'d weekly, built upMU lines f;ir too ex- 
 alted for the bustling American nietro])o!is. Mr. How- 
 ells' work was by far the most distinctive in that f)f- 
 ficc. although it boasted of several names already well 
 known to jiolemics. He resigned in 187-'. to take 
 charge of the Atlantic Monthly, the exclusive Boston 
 magazine, the original editor of which, Mr. Lowell, 
 had been first to recognize the genius of the young 
 printer-boy in far-away Ohio. This connection con- 
 tinued until i8,Si. when Mr, Howells turned over the 
 Atlantic to Tliomas I'.ailev .Mdrich, and traveled sev- 
 
 eral years, largely in the interest of Harper's Maga- 
 zine. About 1 89 1 he became editor of the Cosmopoli- 
 tan ^Magazine and pul)lished in that periodical a re- 
 markable series of articles on "Altruism," but he soon 
 resumed his association with the Harper establishment 
 which has continued until the present time. 
 
 Truly has it been said of Mr. Howells that during 
 his long record as editor, critic, essayist, poet, play- 
 wright or novelist, never in a single instance has he 
 slurred his work. His copy is always clean, his mean- 
 ing invariably clear : each phrase has a ch;u'actcristic 
 rhythm, every sentence contains a distinct idea. In 
 fine, in attaining this perfection of his art, the work- 
 man has mastered the use of the file and the pruning- 
 knife. 
 
 Since the Lincoln biography Mr. Howells has i)ub- 
 lished sixty-two books, many of them in two \olumes, 
 and their contents have been uniformly of a high class. 
 Air. Howells has a keen sense of humor, but it ai)pears 
 natiu'ally, and never is forced: master of pathos, he 
 delights most to deal with the gentler phases of human 
 character. 
 
 Although not a college man, literary fame has 
 brought him the highest scholastic honors from Ox- 
 I'ord, St. Andrew's, Harwird and \'ale universities. 
 The story of his youth is told in ".V Chance Acquaint- 
 ance" and ".\ Tioy's Town." His best-known work is 
 "Their ^^'edding Journey"; the most analytical of his 
 novels is "The Rise of Silas Lapham," an<l the latest 
 volume of his .sketches "London Films." llis own fa- 
 vorite is "A Modern instance." Several of his farces 
 have been produced with artistic success. During forty 
 years of work Mr. Howells has stnick every note in the 
 literary gannit. Xo man of letters since Washington 
 Irving has enjoye<I such recognized distinction while 
 living. I'or liudding ;iulhors he is a court of last resort 
 — from Ihs dictum there is not any appeal. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 129 
 
 ANDREW" CARNEGIE 
 
 Andrew Carnegie, the noted philanthropist and 
 ironmaster, was born November 25, 1835, in the quiet 
 little town of Dunfermline, Scotland. Dunfermline is 
 a manufacturing town, and at the time of Mr. Car- 
 negie's birth was noted for its weaving. His father 
 owned three or four hand looms, one of which he oper- 
 ated himself, and hired extra hands for the others 
 when the demands of trade required it. The elder 
 Carnegie, and a long line of grandfathers before him, 
 had been weavers, and it seemed destined that young 
 -Andrew would succeed his father in the trade. The 
 introduction of steam, however, made weaving by 
 hand unprofitable, and the looms of the Carnegies soon 
 fell into disuse. In the hope of bettering his condi- 
 tion, the elder Carnegie sold his looms for a small 
 amount, and together with his scanty savings and a 
 few pounds added by his brother, the entire family set 
 out for America. Some of Mrs. Carnegie's kinfolk had 
 established themselves in Allegheny City, Pa., and it 
 was toward that place the Carnegies turned their faces. 
 Arriving there, the entire family obtained employ- 
 ment in a cotton factory. Young Andrew served 
 as a bol)bin-boy, in which occupation he earned his 
 first money, receiving a dollar and twenty cents per 
 
 week for his work. He was then about thirteen years 
 of age. After about a year at this work he secured 
 employment firing a boiler in a factory. From this 
 position he was promoted to that of keeping accounts 
 in the office of the factory. Later be became a mes- 
 senger boy and telegraph operator, and while in the 
 latter occupation became acquainted with Colonel Tom 
 Scott, who later had much to do with the young man's 
 advance. 
 
 It is worthy of note that Mr. Carnegie was the third 
 telegraph operator to take messages by sound instead 
 of by tape, as was the practice. The elder Carnegie 
 had died in the meantime, and Andrew was the main 
 support of the family. Colonel Scott was superin- 
 tendent of the Pittsburg division of the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad, and when the young telegraph operator was 
 offered the position of his clerk and operator by Colonel 
 Scott at the salary of thirty-five dollars a month, a 
 large sum to Carnegie at the time, the position was 
 gladly accepted. While traveling one day on his di- 
 vision of the line, Mr. Carnegie was accosted by a man 
 who said his name was Woodrufif, and that he had in- 
 vented a sleeping-car. A small model of the car was 
 shown to Carnegie, who, quick to recognize its advan- 
 tages, arranged an appointment with Colonel Scott. A 
 small company was formed and the first sleeping-cars 
 to be used in the world were built for the Pennsylvania 
 Road. Young Carnegie was offered an interest, which 
 he accepted, but when his assessment, amounting to 
 two hundred and seventeen dollars and fifty cents, came 
 due he had not the money to pay it. He secured a 
 loan, however, from a kindly disposed banker of Al- 
 toona, who took his note and permitted him to repay 
 the loan at the rate of fifteen dollars a month. From 
 his share of the earnings of the cars he was able to pay 
 the other assessments. Mr. Carnegie's profit from this 
 venture was some two hundred thousand dollars. With 
 this capital he was now on the road to fortune. Su- 
 premely confident in himself, he at once cast about for 
 fresh avenues to wealth. Still retaining his position on 
 the railroad, he sought opportiniities for investing his 
 sleeping-car profits. \n opportunity presented itself in 
 the shape of some undeveloped oil lands, and in the 
 company formed for its development he invested forty 
 thousand dollars. For a time the venture promised lit- 
 tle success, but the company finally struck oil and he 
 derived a profit of a quarter of a million from his in- 
 vestment. In the meantime the War of the Rebellion 
 had broken out, and during its continuance he had 
 charge of the telegraph office and helped to make the 
 I war cipher system. Mr. Carnegie then became inter- 
 ! ested in the Keystone Bridge Works and later in some 
 
'30 
 
 MEN or AFFAIRS fX XEW YORK 
 
 iron works, and organized a rolling-plant for the pro- 
 duction of structural iron witli a special \-ie\v to its 
 use in railway bridges. The speculation was an un- 
 fortunate one, and after a short operation of the mill, 
 which was known as the Cyclops Mill, at a loss, he 
 turned to his brother Thomas, who, some years be- 
 fore that, together with Henry Phipps, had founded a 
 successful steel plant. A union of interests was ef- 
 fected, and the Union Iron Mills Company was the re- 
 sult. The financial strength of Andrew Carnegie was 
 of material assistance to the combination. The War 
 of the Rebellion was just over, and the recuperating 
 nation had need of everything that men's brains could 
 devise or their hands fashion. The Union Iron Works, 
 in common with similar concerns, made enormous 
 profits. The. opening up of the great West, and the 
 improvements planned i)y the railroads, offered great 
 opportunities for the steel industry. Mr. Carnegie and 
 his partners were prompt to recognize them, and as a 
 result the great Edgar Thompson Steel Works was 
 planned. Other ventures in these industries soon fol- 
 lowed, and as fast as profits were made they were 
 invested in mines, coke-ovens and plants for the utili- 
 zation of products. In these ventures Mr. Carnegie 
 made it a rule to own a controlling interest, and it was 
 his ingenuity, combined with the practical knowledge, 
 organizing capacit}' and inventive genius of his part- 
 ners, that built up a business machine so compact and 
 efficient as to place it beyond the reach of competition. 
 The various companies in which Mr. Carnegie has been 
 interested from time to time are: Edgar Thompson 
 Steel Works, Pittsburg Bessemer Steel Works, Lucy 
 Furnaces, Union Iron Mills. Keystone Bridge Works. 
 Hartman Steel Works, Frick Coke Company, Scotia 
 Ore Mines, etc. Several years ago Mr. Carnegie dis- 
 posed of his interests to the Steel Trust. His wealth 
 
 to-day is estimated at about two hundred and seventy- 
 five million dollars. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie has spent considerable sums of money 
 in philanthropic work, both in America and in the land 
 of his birth, for which he has alwaj^s entertained a 
 strong affection. He purchased Skilx:) Castle, Scot- 
 land, in which he resides when there. He founded the 
 Pittsburg Institute; gave ten million dollars to the Car- 
 negie Institute of Pittsburg, ten million dollars to the 
 Carnegie institutions at Washington, ten million dol- 
 lars to Scotch universities, and a considerable sum for 
 founding libraries in various parts of the country, no- 
 table among which is a donation of five million two 
 hundred thousand dollars to the City of New York for 
 the establishment of branch libraries. He was made 
 Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrew, Edin- 
 burgh, and is an author of no mean ability. A num- 
 ber of articles on the lalior question have come from 
 his pen, and he has published, also: "An American 
 Four-in-Hand in Britain"; "Round the World"; 
 "Fifty Years' March of the Republic." He is a mem- 
 ber of the Union League, Authors', Engineers', Lotos 
 and other clubs. A few years ago he built a magnifi- 
 cent residence in upper Fifth Avenue. New York. Mr. 
 Carnegie is said to be the one conspicuous American 
 millionaire not born in this country. He is far from 
 being the proverbial Scotchman — cautious, slow, but 
 certain. On the contrary, he had the dash, nerve and 
 recklessness of the Western American. He never hesi- 
 tated to take a chance when promotion was in sight. 
 He did n^it wait imtil he had mastered an occupation, 
 or a situation, before accepting it. He accepted it first 
 and then mastered it. Of late years he has acquired no 
 !nean rc])utation as an after-dinner sjieakcr and wit. 
 He spends a jiortinn of each year on his estate in Scot- 
 land. His wife was Miss Louise Whitfield. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 131 
 
 GENERAL PI I RAM DURYEA 
 
 Hiram Duryea, mamifncturer. suldier. was born in 
 Manliasset, Long Island, April u, 1S34. He is of 
 French origin, being a Hneal tiescendant, in the seventh 
 generation, of Joost Durie, a French Hngnenot, who, 
 in consequence of the great religions persecntion in 
 France in the seventeentli century, with other refugees, 
 made his escape and settled in Manheim, in the Palat- 
 inate. Joost Durie seems to lia\-e remained in exile for 
 a number of years, but in 1660, having married Mag- 
 dalene Le Febvre, lie determined to seek a home in the 
 New World, and accordingly emigrated to this coun- 
 try. He at first took up his residence in New Amster- 
 dam, where he remained for some years, but subse- 
 quently removed to Bushwick, Long Island, where he 
 established himself in business and where he died in 
 1727. Hiram Duryea's father, Hendrick \'anderbilt 
 Duryea, to which form the name had been changed in 
 a previous generation, was a direct descendant of this 
 early pioneer. He was born at Syosset. Long Island, 
 February 23, 1799, and was. throughout his long ca- 
 reer, a man of great enterprise and business activity, 
 whose efforts were croAvned with a proportionate suc- 
 cess. He died in 1801, at the advanced age of eighty- 
 two years. Hiram's mother was of distinguished an- 
 
 ' cestral origin. She w-as born at Glen Cove, Long 
 Island, September 12, 1801, and was a daughter of 
 Zebulon Wright, a lineal descendant of Peter Wright, 
 a man of considerable note, who settled at Oyster Bay. 
 Long Island, in 1653, having emigrated from Nor- 
 folk, England, to Massachusetts in 1635. Mrs. Dur- 
 yea died January 9, 1881. 
 
 Hiram Duryea, the subject of this sketch, attended 
 the public schools, where he showed great aptness, but 
 even in his juvenile days he evinced a great love for 
 ! military exercises. He was eager to participate in all 
 I the primitive organizations of this character which 
 were available, and evinced the martial spirit which 
 was to give him fame at a later date. His education 
 in the public schools was supplemented by careful in- 
 struction imparted by a private teacher, and at the age 
 of twenty-one he was fully prepared to enter upon his 
 business career. At that age he entered the establish- 
 ment of his father as a clerk, and at once entered with 
 great zeal and industry upon the task of acquiring a 
 complete knowledge of the business in all its details, 
 and this he accomplished with a surprising degree of 
 rapidity, and in a few years the firm name was changed 
 to that of H. V. Duryea & Son. The business in which 
 the firm was engaged was that of manufacturing 
 starch, and there are few households in the land in 
 which this name is not a familiar one. Mr. Duryea's 
 brothers stalled a branch of the same business as an 
 independent enterprise, but after continuing to operate 
 separately for a time th.ey merged their interests with 
 the older concern, which was located at Glen Cove, 
 Long Island, and the company was thenceforth known 
 as the Glen Cove Starch Manufacturing Company. The 
 concern, under its reorganized form, continued its pros- 
 perous career, and extended its trade and business con- 
 nections until the name became a household word. Gen- 
 eral Duryea was for many years vice-president of the 
 company, and had been its president for some time 
 when it closed its business in 1890. The interests of 
 the company were eventually taken over by the Na- 
 tional Starch Company, of which organization General 
 Duryea served as president for a year and a half. 
 
 During his early business career, young Duryea 
 found time to indulge his taste for military affairs, and 
 was an active member, at various times, of some mili- 
 tary organization. His enthusiasm in this direction 
 brought him into notice in higher military circles, and 
 he was commissioned by Governor Clark, February 5, 
 1855, as First Lieutenant of Artillery, attached to the 
 Forty-eighth Regiment, New York State Militia. He 
 remained in service with this company for some time, 
 but was finally compelled to relinquish his commission 
 
132 
 
 ME\ OF AFFAIRS IX XFIF YORK 
 
 in consequence of a cliange of residence. He was soon, 
 however, to find a more earnest and active field in 
 whicii to gratify his ambition for mihtary honors. Im- 
 mediately after the firing on Fort Sumter, Lieutenant 
 Duryea tendered his services to the Government, and 
 was commissioned Captain in the Fifth New York Vol- 
 unteers, July 4, 1861, and was promoted at the request 
 of his superior officers to the rank of Major, August 
 15. and on September 3 to the rank of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel. The regiment was organized, equipped and 
 drilled on the French system, at Colonel Duryea's sug- 
 gestiiin. and in appreciation of his services in organiz- 
 ing the regiment his name was given to it, and it was 
 known throughout its distinguished historj' as "Dur- 
 yea's Zouaves." The uniform was picturesque, with 
 its blue blouse and red, baggy trousers, and the men | 
 were armed with the sabre bayonet, then considered a 
 most formidable weapon. The Colonel of the regiment 
 upon its entry into service was G. K. Warren, a grand 
 man and able soldier, who afterward distinguished 
 himself on many a battlefield as a corps commander. 
 L'pon the promotion of Colonel Warren, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Duryea was advanced to the rank of Colonel, 
 and proved himself a brave and capable commander. 
 The first active duty of the regiment was at Baltimore, 
 where it was employed in manning the forts. A por- 
 tion of the regiment served as artillerymen, and a por- 
 tion acted as engineers in strengthening Fort Federal 
 Hill and in constructing Fort Marshall. Upon the con- 
 chisinn of this service. Colonel Duryea was ordered 
 with liis command to Yorktown, where he assisted in 
 the construction of several batteries, in which his men 
 .served as artillerists. The Colonel's familiarity with 1 
 this liraiicli of the service was gained in his early ca- ■ 
 reer, and his knmvlcdgc at this particular period was 
 
 highly valued and eagerly sought. Even in so short a 
 period of actual service the regiment had attained such 
 a high degree of proficiency that it was in the ensuing 
 Peninsula campaign assigned to the Division of Regu- 
 lars, and thereafter acted with them continuously un- 
 til the end of the war. For his distinguished services 
 in the siege of Yorktown, Colonel Duryea had the 
 honor of being specially mentioned in the reports of 
 the Commanding General. 
 
 In the first of the Se\en Days' battles before Rich- 
 mond, that known in the military records as the Battle 
 of Gaines' Mills, the regiment did such gallant service 
 as to obtain special mention for the second time in the 
 Commanding General's report. Colonel Duryea re- 
 ceived his commission as Colonel of the regiment on 
 October 29, 1862, but in the following month was com.- 
 pelled to retire from the service in consequence of per- 
 manent injuries and serious illness. Upon the occasion 
 of his retirement he received from his commanding 
 officer, General Butterfield, a highly complimentary 
 mention in a special order. On May 26, 1866, he was 
 commissioned by the President of the United States 
 Brevet Brigadier-General of Volunteers for "distin- 
 guished conduct at the Battle of Gaines Mills." 
 
 General Duryea has, since his retirement from active 
 service, always taken the deepest interest in military 
 afifairs, particularly those relating to the organizations 
 growing out of the Civil War. He has served a term 
 as president of tlie Veterans' Association. He was 
 married in 186S to Laura D. Burnell, daughter of 
 Leander Burnell. He is a member of the Veteran As- 
 sociation of the regiment which he commanded during 
 the war, of the Society of the Fifth Army Corps, of 
 the United Scr\ice Club, and of the milit:iry order of 
 the Loval Legion. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 133 
 
 HERMAN A. ^[ETZ 
 
 Herman A. Metz, merchant, is a native New 
 Yorker, having been born in the metropolis October 
 19, 1S67. He was graduated from the pubHc schools 
 and later studied chemistry in the evening classes at 
 Cooper Union. His business career began at the early 
 age of fourteen, when he became an ofiice boy with 
 P. Schulze-Berge, the founder of the corporation of 
 Victor Koechl & Company. Here he applied himself 
 so assiduously to the business at hand that he was not 
 long afterward appointed laboratory assistant, and suc- 
 cessively arose to the positions of clerk, city salesman, 
 traveling salesman, Boston agent, and manager. When 
 the concern was incorporated under its present name, 
 in 1893, Mr. Metz became the vice-president and treas- 
 urer. Six years later he became president of the com- 
 pany and was virtually the owner of its controlling in- 
 terest. His continuing and almost uninterrupted suc- 
 cess in business has been due not so much to favoring 
 circumstances as to his indomitable energy and supe- 
 rior business qualifications. His knowledge of chemi- 
 cals, which is the basis of his l3usiness, is very thorough 
 and comprehensive. He is also well versed in inter- 
 national trade relations, and he has made no insigniifi- 
 cant study of the labor question as it applies to his own 
 
 factories, but he makes no pretensions to being an au- 
 thority on political history or political methods. 
 
 In 1903 Mr. Metz effected a radical change in the 
 conthict of his business. The chemical and dye-stuff 
 departments were separated from the pharmaceutical 
 branch of the business by transferring the former 
 branches to the newly organized corporation of H. A. 
 Met.7 & Company, which continued the drug depart- 
 ment under the old regime. The manufacture of col- 
 ors and chemicals is carried on by the Consolidated 
 Color and Chemical Company, whose works are located 
 at Newark, N. J. The New York offices of all the 
 companies are located at the comer of Hudson and 
 Moore streets. New York City. The H. A. Metz Com- 
 pany has branch offices in Philadelphia, Boston, Provi- 
 dence, Chicago, Charlotte, N. C. ; Atlanta, Ga. ; San 
 Francisco, Montreal and Toronto, Canada, and at 
 Hamburg and Frankfort-on-!\Iain, Germany. 
 
 Notwithstanding the large amount of time required 
 to look after his main enterprise, Mr. jNIetz does not 
 give his exclusive attention to chemicals and dye-stuffs. 
 He has made very considerable investments in other 
 manufacturing concerns, in which he is a director. He 
 has also large interests in numerous patents which have 
 been granted on various inventions in mechanical and 
 electrical fields. He has always taken a deep interest 
 in educational matters, and has served as a member of 
 the Board of Education of Greater New York. His 
 duties in this connection were never of the perfunctory 
 order. He was energetic and thoroughly in earnest in 
 all his efforts to improve the conditions surrounding 
 the public schools of New York. 
 
 From his earliest manhood Mr. Metz's political affili- 
 ations have been with the Democratic Party, and for a 
 number of years he has been very active in the inter- 
 ests of that party. He was one of those most active in 
 the formation of the Kings County Democratic Club, 
 and was made its president. He is also president of 
 the National Civic Club of Brooklyn, a member of the 
 Brooklyn Democratic Club, and president of the Clin- 
 ton Avenue Association. He is a member of the Kings 
 County Democratic General and Finance committees, 
 a member of the Board of Trustees of the Reform Club, 
 and of the Chemists' Club. 
 
 I In view of the prominence and activity of Mr. Metz 
 I in political aft'airs, and considering his well-established 
 I reputation as a man thoroughly qualified to manage 
 financial problems of great importance, it was natural 
 I that he should be chosen by his party friends for the 
 responsible position of Controller at the recent munici- 
 pal election. He has no gifts as an orator, and his 
 i voice was not heard to any great extent among the 
 
134 
 
 M£^V OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 "spellbinders" during the campaign. But his canvass 
 was none the less effective. He was in evidence at 
 hundreds of the smaller gatherings of the voters, as 
 well as those of a more pretentious character, and 
 evervwhere his o\erwhelming activity was so conta- 
 gious and inspiring to others that he produced the most 
 wonderful enthusiasm for his ticket. Since his instal- 
 lation into office he has exhibited the same nervous en- 
 ergy which has always characterized his business meth- 
 ods, and no doubt is expressed anywhere as to the suc- 
 cess of his administration. The very prominence and 
 importance of his position have compelled him to as- 
 sume at times the role of a public speaker, to which he 
 had been unused, and his remarks on all such occasions 
 have been noted for the clearness and conciseness with 
 which he makes known his views. 
 
 As illustrative of the shrewd character of the man. 
 an incident which occurred in Brooklyn some time ago 
 may be mentioned. The Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociation was making an effort to raise a large sum of 
 money for a specified purpose. Several large subscrip- 
 tions had been obtained from wealthy philanthropists 
 with the not unusual condition that they were not to be 
 bound by their subscriptions vmless the grand total was 
 sul)scribed within a certain prescribed period. On the 
 day before the time expired the association managers 
 were about ten thousand dollars short of the required 
 amount. They were in hopeless straits, and it was 
 with many misgivings tliat they called on Mr. Metz 
 and explained the siluatinn. When he had been in- 
 formed of all the facts he promptly sat down at hi.^ 
 desk and wrote a check for ten thousand dollars, wdiich 
 he handed to the committee with his best wishes, and 
 with the remark that he had called the bluff of those 
 alleged philanthropists who give money accompanied 
 
 with a condition.' The last conspicuous donation in 
 which Mr. Metz has figured was his gift to the Com- 
 mercial High School, something more than a year ago. 
 He has had no time himself, in late years, to indulge 
 in athletics, but he believes in them, and attributes his 
 present robust constitution to the fact that when a 
 youth he took an active part in all sorts of outdoor 
 sports. The large fortune that he has accumulated in 
 the twenty-three years that he has been in business, 
 amounting, it is said on good authority, to several mil- 
 lions of dollars, has enabled Mr. Aletz to indulge his 
 charitable and social inclinations to a very large extent. 
 He is a lavish and persistent entertainer, and his gifts 
 to various charities cover a wide range. He is the pos- 
 sessor of a magnificent library, containing some rare 
 and costly editions, but the literature that most inter- 
 ests him lies between the covers of account lx)oks or 
 scientific treatises on chemical analyses. 
 
 In club life Mr. Metz holds an extensive membership. 
 He is a member of the Riding and Driving, the Ger- 
 mania, the Crescent Athletic, the Lincoln, the Sey- 
 mour, and the Bushwick clubs of Brooklyn, and of the 
 Salmagundi, Democratic, New York Athletic, Wool, 
 and Drug clubs of New York City; the Society of 
 Chemical Industry of London, of the Verein Deutscher 
 Chemiker of Dresdai, the American Chemical Society, 
 the Electro-Chemical Society, and the Chamber of 
 Commerce. He is a director of the Merchants' Asso- 
 ciation, the Board of Trade and Transportation, the 
 .Manufacturers' Association of New York, and the Na- 
 tional Association of Manufacturers, as well as one of 
 the founders and a director of the BriKiklyn League, 
 lie is also a member of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts 
 and Sciences, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. and 
 the American Museum of Natural Historv. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 135 
 
 CARL SCHURZ 
 
 Carl Schurz was born in the little village of Liblar. 
 near Cologne, Prussia, on j\Iarch 2, 1829. He was one 
 of four children of Christian and Marianne Schurz. 
 The death of his only brother in childhood left this 
 son's education the chief concern of his parents, espe- 
 cially of his mother, a woman of strong and admirable 
 traits, from whom he inherits the peculiar bent of his 
 mind. By pecuniary self-denial, for they were poor, 
 Avithout neglecting the interests of their daughters, 
 they gave Carl thorough advantages — first at the Gym- 
 nasium at Cologne, and afterward at the University of 
 Bonn. An ap])etite for all knowledge characterized the 
 young student, but history, philosophy and music were 
 his recreations. His favorite professor at Bonn was 
 Johann Gottfried Kinkel, a poet, born in 1816, who 
 filled the chair of rhetoric. Two years after Mr. Schurz 
 entered the university, the revolutionary year of 1848 
 broke upon Europe, and he joined Kinkel in the publi- 
 cation of a Liberal newspaper, called Spartacus, subse- 
 quently conducting it alone. He was then but eighteen 
 years of age. He was also one of five undergraduates 
 who, tmder the direction of Professor Kinkel, made 
 revolutionary addresses in the neighboring country. 
 For these and more overt acts young Schurz and his 
 
 professor were forced, in 1849, to flee from Bonn, 
 Schurz entering the revolutionary army at Rastadt as 
 an adjutant, taking part in the defense of that fortress. 
 On its surrender he escaped to Switzerland, but Kinkel 
 was captured, sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment 
 and confined in the Fortress of Spandau. Li 1850 Mr. 
 Schurz returned secretly to Germany, and, with great 
 ingenuity and self-de\'otion, effected the escape of his 
 old professor. The details of this event are full of 
 dramatic interest. The fugitives crossed to Mecklen- 
 burg, proceeded to Rostock, and took passage for Leith. 
 Thence Mr. Scluu'z went to Paris and became a corre- 
 spondent for German journals. Finding his technical 
 knowledge of French sadly deficient, he set himself the 
 task of thoroughly mastering the language, which he 
 readily accomplished, subsequently taking up English, 
 Spanish and Italian, in all of which he is a fluent 
 speaker. 
 
 In June, 183 1, 'Mv. Schurz crossed over to London, 
 where he soon found himself lionized in Liberal cir- 
 cles, for t!ie fame of his rescue had preceded him. In 
 London he met and married Margaret Meyer, the 
 daughter of a Hamburg merchant. In July, 1852, 
 with his young wife he came to this country, settling 
 in Philadelphia. He had not then acquired a knowl- 
 edge of English, but, as in the case of his studying 
 French, the daily newspapers and a dictionary were the 
 teachers he mainly relied on, and his advancement in 
 mastering the language was rapid and thorough. Here 
 he began the study of law. but these were struggling 
 years. The friends of Mrs. Schurz, who were wealthy, 
 had opposed her marriage on prudential grounds. It 
 was an enthusiastic love match, and she was too proud 
 to let them know that her husband was not exactly coin- 
 ing money in the New World. In 1854 Air. and Mrs. 
 Schurz visited Europe, and on their return went to 
 live in Milwaukee, Wis., where, after graduating in 
 law, he became the partner of General H. E. Paine, 
 a rising young lawyer who was afterward Commis- 
 sioner of Patents. Mr. Schurz's practice grew at a 
 rapid rate, and in a few years he became the owner of 
 a farm near ^^'atertown. where he established his fam- 
 ily, which now included one little daughter, and his 
 parents, whom he had brought from the Fatherland, 
 and whom he tenderly cared for during the remainder 
 of their days. 
 
 Mr. Schurz developed great ability in handling cases 
 involving questions of Constitutional law, and bade 
 fair to become eminent in its practice, but almost 
 simultaneously with his removal to Wisconsin the 
 Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed by Congress, which 
 caused a greatly increased ag-itation of the slavery ques- 
 
136 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS /.V XEJV YORK 
 
 tion. The effect was like a trumpet-call to the Repub- 
 licans, and Mr. Schurz, who had from the first allied 
 himself with that party, began making public addresses 
 to his fellow-Germans, who were then mainly Demo- 
 cratic in politics. The effect of his speeches was to re- 
 cruit large numbers of them to the Republican ranks. 
 In 1857 he made his first speech in English. It was, 
 delivered in Boston, and so powerful were the argu- [ 
 ments it contained that it was copied far and wide in 
 the Republican press. His wonderful adaptability to 
 the English language was shown l)y the fact that from 
 that period he spoke more easily in English than in 
 German, as, he asserted, the guttural sounds of the lat- 1 
 ter were tiresome in a protracted speech. In 1858 he 
 entered the I.incoln-Douglas campaign in Illinois, and 
 since that memorable contest his name has been famil- 
 iar to every American. In 1 860 he was a prominent 
 memlier of the Republican National Convention, and 
 one of the committee that announced to Mr. Lincoln 
 his nomination for the Presidency. He took an active 
 part in the campaign which resulted in Mr. Lincoln's 
 election. The following year, when he was but thirty- j 
 two years of age, he was sent as Minister to Spain. He 
 remained in Madrid but six months, preferring to give i 
 his services in the field in the struggle for the preserva- ! 
 tion of the L^nion. His first commission was as a I 
 Brigadier-General, and he was soon afterward made a 
 Major-General. His earlier military experience was of 
 great value to him, ami his record as a Commanding 
 General was conspicuous for its gallantry and effective- 
 ness. 
 
 By the close of the war ?\lr. Schurz had become a 
 prominent factor in the Republican I 'arty, and in 1868 
 he was ciiosen as the temporary chairman of the Re- 
 
 publican Convention that nominated General Grant for 
 the Presidency. He had removed his residence to Mis- 
 souri, and in 1869 he was selected as one of the Sena- 
 tors to represent that State in the national council. 
 The second stage of his public service then began. He 
 soon found himself forced to oppose the tendencies de- 
 veloped in his party by the strenuous war period. The 
 first open difference came with the submission to the 
 Senate of the treaty for the annexation of Santo Do- 
 mingo, which he opposed with all his energ}^ At the 
 close of General Grant's first term, Mr. Schurz entered 
 the organization known as "Lilieral Republican," which 
 culminated in the nomination of Mr. Greeley, his in- 
 dorsement by the Democratic Party, and his over- 
 whelming defeat. In 1875 Mr. Schurz entered the 
 campaign in Ohio in support of Mr. Hayes on the finan- 
 cial issue. The triumph that folloAved gave to Mr. 
 Hayes the nomination for the Presidency, and upon 
 his inauguration Mr. Schin-z accepted the portfolio of 
 Secretary of the Interior. In the Cabinet of Mr. Hayes 
 his most important service was the firm and logical 
 aiiplication of the principles and methods of civil serv- 
 ice reform, seven years before their adoption into law. 
 He abolished patronage, and made his appointments 
 solely on merit and fitness, and fitness ascertained by 
 competitive examinations. After the ex])iration of the 
 Hayes administration, Mr. Schm-z removed to New 
 York and became the editor of the Evening Post. Of 
 late years, since his retirement from the editorial chair, 
 he has taken less i)art in public affairs, although re- 
 sponding occasionally wha: called on for a speech on 
 some important occasion. He is a director of the 
 Haml)urg-American Steamship Company, to whose af- 
 1 fairs most of his attention is ""ivcn. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 WARNER VAN NORDEN 
 
 Warner Van Norden, banker, capitalist, was born 
 in the cit}' of New York, July 2, 1841. He is the rep- 
 resentative of the oldest Dutch, as well as one of the 
 oldest Eluguenot, families that have figured in the early 
 history of New York. The Van Nordens came from 
 Holland about the year 1640. while some of the found- 
 ers of Mr. Van Norden's nrnther's family in Amer- 
 ica — a mingled Dutch and Huguenot ancestry — 
 reached New Amsterdam at a still earlier date. Two 
 of these ancestors, Abraham de la Noy and Jean Mou- 
 siner de la Montagnie, were French Huguenots who 
 had been driven out of their native land by the revo- 
 cati<in of the Edict of Nantes. Montagnie very soon 
 became prominent in the affairs of New Amsterdam, 
 and served under Stuyvesant as Governor of Fort Or- 
 ange (Albany). Another famous ancestor of Mr. Van 
 Norden's mother was the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, 
 who, beginning to preach in 1633 in the fortified church 
 near the present "Battery Park," was the first Dutch 
 dominie, and hence tlie first Presbyterian minister in- 
 stalled in New Amsterdam. As a descendant of Dr. 
 Bogardus. ?^Ir. Van Norden is one of Anneke Jan's 
 heirs, who claim the ownership of the great Trinity 
 Church property, which has been the subject of much 
 
 litigation. Other old New York families to whom 
 Mr. Van Norden is connected by blood and marriage 
 ties are the Roomes, Kierstads, Kips, Van Nests, Wal- 
 drons, and Vermilyes. His great-great-grandfather 
 was the owner of all the land now occupied by River- 
 side Park, and long known as the De Kay Farm. 
 
 Mr. Van Norden was educated in the preparatory 
 school of the University of the City of New York, in 
 the grand old building, removed a few years ago, which 
 stood opposite the Washington parade ground. His 
 father was a wholesale produce merchant on the west 
 side of the city, and the son entered a house engaged 
 in a similar line of business at No. 3 Front Street. 
 This concern was the largest of its kind in the country, 
 the principal part of its business being with English 
 shippers. In this establishment Mr. Van Norden re- 
 ceived a thorough training in commercial life. He was 
 noted, even at a very early stage of his career, for his 
 fidelity to duty, diligence and intelligence. These quali- 
 ties, in a brief period, brought him a partnership in the 
 house, and later he became its representative in the 
 South. His mercantile career was attended with 
 marked success. Untiring, upright, commanding the 
 respect and the confidence of all with whom he came 
 in contact, he was enabled to enlarge the trade of his 
 firm, and he shared in the prosperity which he was in- 
 strumental in creating. In 1876 he retired from the 
 mercantile business and engaged in private banking, 
 and subsequently became largely interested in a variety 
 of railroad and other enterprises. 
 
 In the early eighties Mr. Van Norden, with some 
 Pacific Coast friends, became interested in the Plym- 
 outh gold mine of California, and he was chosen as 
 president of the couipau}- that was subsequently 
 formed. The Plymouth was then considered the most 
 valuable gold mine in the United States and produced 
 during the period of its existence considerably over the 
 sum of six million dollars. Mr. Van Norden frequently 
 made a personal inspection of the mine, and though 
 often attended with much risk, the lode being at the 
 bottom of a shaft sixteen hundred feet in depth, he 
 ne\er met witli an injury. He has Ijeen in peril on 
 other occasions, both on sea and on land, and some of 
 his escapes have bordered on the miraculous. His most 
 thrilling experience was in August, 1864, when voyag- 
 ing up the Mississippi on the passenger steamer "Em- 
 press." At Gaines' Landing, Arkansas, a hidden Cou- 
 federate battery suddenly opened fire on the steamer. 
 Over one hundred shots were fired by tiie Confederates 
 at short rauge, and the captain and a numl^er of pas- 
 sengers were killed, and many were wounded. The 
 steamer was disabled, and was on the point of being 
 
.^8 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 surrendered wlicn the United States gunboat "Prairie 
 Bird" came to the rescue, drove oflf the enemy, and 
 towed the imperiled steamer to a place of safety. The 
 surgeon of the "Petrel"' came aboard, and with the as- 
 sistance of j\lr. Van Norden and other passengers who 
 were unhurt, cared for the injured. At sundown a lit- 
 tle group tenderly laid away in hastily prepared graves 
 under a grejit cypress tree the remains of those whose 
 lives had been taken. 
 
 In Januar)-, 1891, Mr. \^-in Xorden, having grown 
 steadily in prominence in banking circles, was elected 
 president of the National Bank of North America, one 
 of the oldest and most substantial financial institutions 
 in the country, and he has ever since remained at its 
 head. Besides conducting the affairs of this bank, Mr. 
 Van Norden has been led, by his progressive nature 
 and intelligent interest in affairs, to become a manager 
 in other important corporations. He is president of the 
 South Yuba Water Company, president of the Land 
 and Improvement Company, vice-president of the Hol- 
 land Trust Company, and a director in the Hiime In- 
 surance Company, the Remington Construction Com- 
 pany, the Van Norden Safe Deposit Company, the 
 American Savings Bank, the Northern Trust Coni- 
 pany of Superior, Wis. ; the New York Mortgage and 
 Security Company, and several other important organ- 
 izations. He was also appointed by the court as re- 
 ceiver in the case of the Chicago and Northern Pacific 
 Railroad Company, and of the Norfolk, Albemarle and 
 Atlantic Railroad Company during the period in which 
 they were in litigation. He was also, for a time, presi- 
 dent of the Holland Society, and is a member of the 
 ("hamber of Commerce, the Union League, and of the 
 Metropolitan and Lawyers' clubs. 
 
 Like his famous ancestor — Dr. Bogardus — Mr. Van 
 
 Norden is a Presbyterian churchman, and is active and 
 prominent in religious circles. He ranks among the 
 foremost of the ruling elders, has frequently served in 
 the judicatories, and was president of the Presbyterian 
 Union of New York City. He has always been active 
 in the deliberations of the Presbyterian General Assem- 
 bly, as well as in the Presbytery and Synod, and is a 
 member of the Assembly's Committee on the Church 
 Magazine and the Presbyterial Committee on Church 
 Extension. Besides this he is a prominent member of 
 the Board of Foreign Missions and a director of the 
 American Tract Society and the New York Associ- 
 ation for Improving the Condition of the Poor. 
 
 Mr. \^an Norden has been specially fitted for the 
 great burden of work imposed upon him by his e.K- 
 tended interests by the possession of a magnificent 
 physique and robust constitution, inherited from his 
 sturdy ancestors. Moreover, he has never vitiated 
 these natural powers by the use of tobacco or ardent 
 spirits. In addition to shrewd business ability and re- 
 ligious activities, Mr. Van Norden is possessed of rare 
 social qualities. Refined, agreeable in manner, with a 
 mind well stored with information by travel, observa- 
 tion and reading, and possessing a racy humor, he is 
 always in demand, both as a conversationalist and an 
 after-dinner speaker. His home is beautified with rare 
 works of art. showing a cultivated taste, but the atmos- 
 ]ihere of family aft'ection \\\\\zh pervades it is its rarest 
 and most admirable adornment. He is deeply inter- 
 ested in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the 
 city, and has contributed largely of bis means in main- 
 taining many public institutions, notably the Metropoli- 
 tan Museum of Art and the American Museum of 
 Natural History. lie is a pnimincnt member of sev- 
 eral social organizations. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 139 
 
 ELBRIDGE GERRY SNOW 
 
 Elbridge Gerry Snow, one of New York's fore- 
 most insurance men, is a native of Connecticut, hav- 
 ing- been born in tlie town of Barkhamstead, that State, 
 January 22, 1841. Mr. Snow conies of ihstinguislied 
 Colonial ancestry, his forefathers being among those 
 who, in the Mayflower days, assisted in laying the 
 cornerstone of this country as a nation. His first an- 
 cestor of note, however, was Sir Nicholas Woodruf?, 
 who occupied the exalted position of Lord Mayor of 
 London in 1579. A descendant of Sir Nicholas, Mat- 
 thew Woodrufif, came to this country from Devon- 
 shire, England, in the early Colonial days. A maternal 
 ancestor, Jonathan Coe, was an officer in the War of 
 the Revolution, and served with great distinction. 
 Among his paternal ancestors who placed their force- 
 ful and powerful imprint upon the country was Thomas 
 Bruce, who was born in England in 1600, and who, 
 emigrating to this country while yet a youth, at the 
 age of twenty-one founded the town of Eastham, Mas- 
 sachusetts. This pioneer was of a sturdy and heroic 
 nature, and he figures largely in the history of the 
 fights in which the Colonists were frequently engaged 
 with the Pequod tribe of Indians, and in which they 
 finally succeeded in driving them back from the settle- 
 
 ments, and preventing them, to a large extent, from 
 making further aggressions. But it was not alone in 
 this connection that Thomas Bruce took an active part 
 in the affairs of the new colony. He was a bom leader 
 of men, a man of superior natural abilities, supple- 
 mented and strengthened by a good education, and he 
 naturally took a leading part in all the public move- 
 ments of the day. His activity and public spirit brought 
 him to the notice of the home government, and he was. 
 at a comparatively early age, appointed Governor of 
 the Massachusetts Colony, an office which he continued 
 to retain for nineteen years. Mayflower ancestry was 
 added to Mr. Snow's family tree by the marriage of 
 Nicholas Snow to a daughter of Stephen Hopkins, one 
 of the signers of the Mayflower compact. From this 
 union the subject of this sketch is a direct descendant. 
 Mr. Snow's earlier education was obtained in the 
 district schools of Barkhamstead and Waterbury, Con- 
 necticut, which was followed up by a course of studies 
 in the Fort Edward Institute, lairt Edward, New 
 York. After his graduation from this institution he 
 decided upon the law as his profession, and began his 
 studies with a law firm. He subsequently, however, 
 accepted a clerical position in the office of an insur- 
 ance agency in Waterbury, Connecticut, where he laid 
 the foundation for the grasp and control of the busi- 
 ness which was e\ entually to place him at the head of 
 one of the largest institutions of its kind in the coim- 
 try, if not in the world. He was not yet twenty-one 
 when he obtained his first employment, and upon his 
 attaining his majority he was offered a responsible po- 
 sition in the main office of the Home Life Insurance 
 Company of New York City, where, for the succeed- 
 ing nine years, his interests were identical with those 
 of his company. In 1871, however, acting upon the 
 persuasion of some of his friends, he made the venture 
 of an insurance agency on his own account. He soon 
 found, however, that the step was not well advised. 
 The competition with long-established agencies proved 
 to be a more strenuous proposition than he had antici- 
 pated, and he lost no time in bringing the struggle to 
 a close. He closed his office, and resumed his position 
 with the institution with which he had acquired all the 
 insurance knowledge he possessed, and in whose serv- 
 ice he had made a magnificent record. So loath was 
 the Home Company to lose his services when he made 
 his independent venture, and against which they had 
 advised, that he was warmly welcomed back to his old 
 place. His work was resumed with his customary ar- 
 dor and industry, and in a short time he was deputized 
 by the home office to act as its agent for the State of 
 1 Massachusetts, with headquarters at Boston. In this 
 
[40 
 
 MUX Of AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 capacit}' lie was aclive and successful in promoting the 
 interests of his company, and under his manag-ement 
 the business was very considerably increased. 
 
 While still acting for the Home Company in Bos- 
 ton he formed a ])artnership connection with a Mr. 
 Iliillis, under the firm name nf Hollis & Snow, and 
 the lirm did a tlourishiiig and i)n)fitable business until 
 1885. At about this time overtures were made to Mr. 
 Snow to cancel his business interests in Boston and re- 
 turn to New Vork City to assume the responsible posi- 
 tion of secretary of the Home Insurance Company. The 
 offer was a high tribute to his great ability in the in- 
 surance field, and his acceptance of the proposition was 
 prompt and characteristic. In his new position Mr. 
 Snow found a wider field and a fuller scope for the in- 
 herent abilities which he possessed, and which were as 
 yet, in a measure, lying dormant. Owing to his pro- 
 gressiveness and enterprise, the business of the com- 
 pany was rapidly advanced and his influence was so 
 strongly felt and recognized that he was elevated to 
 the more important position of vice-president. This 
 ofifice embraced within the scope of its duties the prac- 
 tical management of one of New York's oldest and 
 
 most prosperous insurance concerns. He remained in 
 the office of vice-president for a number of years, and 
 gave his best energies to broadening the business and 
 influence of his company. In this direction his efforts 
 I were crowned with most signal success, and his eleva- 
 i tinn to the presidency of the company occurred in 
 due time. When the investigation by the Legis- 
 lature into the affairs of the various insurance compa- 
 nies was instituted, the Home Insurance Company's 
 method of conducting its business was subjected to the 
 most careful and searching ordeal, but so well had Mr. 
 Snow preserved the integrity of its management that 
 it passed the ordeal unscathed. 
 
 Mr. Snow is connected, in the capacity of stock- 
 holder or director, with several moneyed institutions in 
 New York, one of them being the North River Sav- 
 ings Bank. He is a member of the Insurance Club, the 
 Metropolitan Museimi of Art, the American Museum 
 of Natural History, the New England Society, the Or- 
 der of Odd Fellows, the Municipal Art Society, and 
 the City and Lotos clubs. While taking a decided in- 
 terest in municipal affairs generally, Mr. Snow has 
 never taken an active part in politics. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEU' YORK 
 
 141 
 
 CHARLES A. PEABODY 
 
 Charles A. Peabody, lawyer, president of the Mu- 
 tual Life Insurance Company, was born in the city of 
 New York on April 11, 1849. I^'s ancestors, for many 
 generations back, were residents of the State of Ver- 
 mont. They lived in perhaps the least known town in 
 the Green Mountain State — a little village called Sand- 
 wich. There it was that Charles A. Peabody, the 
 father of the subject of this sketch, was born. He 
 came to New York when yet a young man, and soon 
 afterward married Julie Livingstone. By this mar- 
 riage there were four children — Charles A., the future 
 head of the Mutual Life Insurance Company; Duane, 
 Philip and George L. Duane Peabody died in his early 
 youth. Philip is now a prosperous practicing lawyer 
 in Boston. George Peabody became a physician, and 
 achieved great distinction in his profession. The elder 
 Charles A. Peabody, a profound lawyer, and having a 
 Yankee's appreciation of political preferment, became 
 a friend of President Lincoln, who, discovering in him 
 the sterling qualities needeil for a public officer, ap- 
 pointed him to the Bench of the United States Court 
 in Louisiana. The selection proved to be an admirable 
 one, and Judge Peabody discharged the duties of the 
 position for several years with fidelity and great ability. 
 
 At the expiration of this service he returned to New 
 York and resumed his practice. Charles A. Peabody, 
 the son, laid the foundation of his education in the pub- 
 lic schools of New York, and entered Columbia Col- 
 lege in the class of 1S09. During his college career he 
 developed a great love for outdoor sports and ath- 
 letics, and was the captain of the college baseball team, 
 and was also a prominent figure on the football eleven. 
 These athletic tendencies have never left him, and he 
 is, to this day, almost an enthusiast upon the subject 
 of all kinds of manly sports. Enthusiast is not exactly 
 the right word to use in this connection, however, 
 as Mr. Peabody's even and thoughtful temperament 
 would never permit of his becoming enthusiastic or ex- 
 cited, even in a football game. He takes life too seri- 
 ously and sedately to let his emotions carry him away. 
 
 After Mr. Peabody"s graduation from Columbia, 
 which was with high honors, he took a course in law 
 at the same institution, and was admitted to the New 
 York Bar in the early seventies. He at once joined 
 the law firm of which his father was then the head, 
 with offices at No. 2 Wall Street. The firm was then 
 known as Peabody, Baker & Peabody. After the death 
 of his father, the business was continued under the firm 
 name of Baker & Peabody, Mr. Fisher A. Baker be- 
 ing the senior member. Mr. Baker is the nephew of 
 George F. Baker, president of the First National Bank, 
 and it was generally believed in financial circles that 
 this connection, and Mr. Baker's conseciuent knowledge 
 of Mr. Peabody's superior qualifications, were largely 
 influential in the selection of the latter as the head of 
 the Mutual Company. 
 
 Mr. Peabody, in his practice, devoted a large part of 
 his attention to the study and practice of real-estate 
 law. He became interested in this branch of his pro- 
 fession in his early career, and has closely followed it 
 ever since. He has been, for a long time, recognized 
 as a high authority on the subject, and, indeed, so con- 
 spicuous and far-reaching is his knowledge of this 
 branch of litigation that for many years he has been 
 the representative of the William Waldorf estate in 
 this country. 
 
 Mr. Peabody is not an aggressive man, but he is very 
 thorough and conscientious in all his doings. He is 
 very far from the type of person that the general public 
 would naturally identify with the head of a great cor- 
 porate institution. His cpiet manner of speech and 
 his methodical processes of arriving at conclusions are 
 far and away removed from the brag and bluster that 
 tlie word "insurance" has branded on so many people. 
 So marked, indeed, is his reserve that it has long been 
 the subject of comment by his intimate friends. While 
 
142 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX XEJ]' YORK 
 
 he is a member of several clubs, he is not at all the I 
 typical clubman. He does not hide away in a corner, 
 or seek to avoid contact with his fellow-members, but 
 he keeps himself absolutely to himself, even in a crowd. 
 By this it is not to be inferred that he is taciturn or 
 difficult of approach. On the contrary, he is thor- 
 oughly democratic and affable withal, but he persist- 
 ently and conscientiously refuses to talk about him- 
 self or his ambitions. His workday is run on schedule 
 time. He arrives at his office promptly at nine o'clock 
 in the morning, and, except for the short period that is 
 required for his luncheon, he does not leave it till after 
 five o'clock in the afternoon. In this eight hours of 
 toil his work is unremittent. He does not consume any 
 of his business hours in telling stories, or in reading 
 the newspapers. All that form of occupation is re- 
 served for his leisure hours. 
 
 At his home Mr. Peabody has a room fitted up for 
 his use, which is technically known as the library, but 
 whicJT is really his workshop, where he often spends 
 nianv hours in looking into some real-estate problem, 
 or in solving some legal technicalities. 
 
 On only one occasion has Mr. Peabody broken into 
 politics, and then in a rather inconspicuous way. On 
 November 2, 1875, he was elected to the State Assem- 
 bly by the Republicans of the old Eleventh District. 
 When he took his seat in the Legislature he was within 
 
 a month or two of being twenty-six years old. One 
 term was sufficient to satisfy Mr. Peabody's political 
 ambition, and he has never consented to become a can- 
 didate for public office since. The fascination of real- 
 estate and corporation law was much more attractive 
 to his methodical mind than the vagaries of law- 
 making, as they are indulged in at Albany. 
 
 Mr. Peabody has accumulated a considerable for- 
 tune, and is identified with several large financial in- 
 stitutions. He is a director of Astor National Bank, 
 the Delaware and Hudson Company, the Farmers" 
 Loan and Trust Company, the Illinois Central Rail- 
 road Company, the National Bank of Commerce, and 
 of the Union Pacific Railway Company. He is also a 
 member of the Board of Trustees of the Real Estate 
 Trust Company, the British American Insurance Com- 
 pany of New York, the Bank of Savings, and the Title 
 Guarantee and Trust Company. He is also a director 
 of the Hamilton Fish estate. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1906, Mr. Peabody was se- 
 lected by the stockholders as president of the Mutual 
 Life Insurance Company, one of the largest organiza- 
 tions of its kind in the world. Since his entry upon the 
 discharge of the duties of this responsible position he 
 has devoted his energies almost exclusively to the in- 
 terests of the institution, and its continued prosperity 
 under his direction is well assured. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 143 
 
 PALMER COX 
 
 The Brownie artist was born in Granby, Quebec, a 
 town near the valley of the St. Lawrence, and from 
 which the Adirondacks and the Green ^fountains of 
 \^ermont may be seen. His father was a pensioner of 
 the British Army, having served through the War oi 
 1 81 2 while only a youth, his father being a soldier in 
 the same regiment — the 99th Foot. Early in life Pal- 
 mer Cox left home for the Eastern States, but after a 
 short stay in that quarter went to Lucknow, Ontario, 
 and after a stay of two years in that section drifted to 
 California, via the Isthmus of Panama, attracted by 
 the prospects offered in that new country. It was while 
 in the Golden State that Mr. Cox discovered where his 
 powers lay. He began writing articles on various top- 
 ics for the Western papers, including the Golden Era, 
 the Alta Californian, the Morning Call and. the San 
 Francisco Examiner. The Golden Era was then the 
 chief literary journal of the Pacific Coast. Other con 
 tributors to it at that time were Bret Harte, Mark 
 Twain, who, about that time, was writing his humor- 
 ous sketches from the Sandwich Islands and Virginia 
 City, Nevada, and Clay M. Greene, who has since won 
 fame as a playwright. 
 
 Cox's articles were nearly all illustrated, and gradu- 
 
 ally he found his writings a more and more subordinate 
 part to his drawings. California did not offer much 
 encouragement to illustrators in those days, so Mr. 
 Cox decided to return East, as he had already formed 
 some connections with Eastern publishers through the 
 ; publication of an illustrated diary called "Squibs of 
 California." 
 
 During his residence in San Francisco a great deal 
 of his time had been spent in study. He belonged to 
 the famous sketching club known as the Graphic. Ben- 
 oni Irwin, the marine painter, was instructor and critic, 
 while the memliers included such prominent artists 
 as Narjot, the French painter ; Williams, afterward a 
 teacher in the Boston Art School ; Thomas Hill, the 
 painter of the Yosemite, and Bradford, since known 
 for his Arctic scenery. Palmer Cox also studied char- 
 coal, crayon, and pen-and-ink drawing under J. Len- 
 noux Francis, a Belgian artist. 
 
 The year 1876 found him in New York devoting his 
 whole time to literary and illustrative work. Wild 
 Oats, Frank Leslie's Budget of Fun, Merriman's 
 Weekly and other comic papers were glad to accept his 
 humorous sketches. y\t this time he had the pleasure 
 of meeting a number of artists and writers who were 
 then at home in the city and who were ready to ex- 
 tend encouragement to the new arrival from the Pa- 
 cific Coast, who had little to recommend him to the 
 staff but a breezy originality. Among these gentle- 
 men may be mentioned L. Hopkins, Thomas Worth, 
 James A. Wales, F. Opper, H. Stull, Isaac Eaton and 
 the well-known writer, R. K. Munkittrick. 
 
 Soon Mr. Cox reached that enviable state when he 
 had no longer to seek a market for his wares. Orders 
 came from all over the country and from England as 
 well, publishers saying they had nothing like his style 
 on that side. At that time he was getting up fables, 
 dialogues and verses aliout animals, birds, insects and 
 everv'thing that could be dressed up in odd costumes 
 and talk like human beings, and generally with a moral 
 or teaching some wholesome lesson. There seemed to 
 be no end to the novel situations in which these quaintly 
 dressed and queerly acting creatures might be found. 
 They appeared in the pages of Little Folks, Wide 
 Awake, St. Nicholas, and Harper's Young People. 
 The artist knew, however, that his imagination had 
 limits and was constantly trying to devise some plan 
 by which he might draw a series of pictures to illus- 
 trate some one incident. Then it occurred to him that 
 he might make use of the fairy tales instilled into him 
 in childhood, although they had then made no great 
 impression upon him. 
 
 The Brownies, with whose portraits we are now so 
 
144 
 
 MEN OF .IFFAJKS IX XEIl' YORK 
 
 familiar, originated in the Scottish traditions. They 
 were wee brown folk, all of the male sex, who de- 
 lighted in harmless pranks and helpful deeds. Unlike 
 the ordinary fairy, they were not visible to mortals un- 
 less, indeed, to those gifted with second-sight. Until 
 the fourteenth century, and even later, on the eastern 
 coast of Scotland the benevolent little folk were still 
 firmly believed in. Such were the tales that Palmer 
 Cox had frequently heard from his Scotch-Canadian 
 neighbors, and it had been reserved for him to make 
 the Brownies visible to ordinary mortals. 
 
 In October, 1882, the first pictures of these otUl 
 creatures left the artist's pen, appearing in St. Nicho- 
 las in the following February. Contrary to the ortho- 
 dox tradition, they were made to move about in bands. 
 In the earlier illustrations very little individuality was 
 shown, but each successive story introduced a new 
 character — the policeman and the dude being among 
 the first. Strange to say, these two have proved to be 
 
 greater favorites with the children than any of the Na- 
 tional types. There are now about fifty designs, the 
 twins being the connecting link between the original 
 and the modern Brov.nies. They have worked and 
 played and traveled until now the stories of their deeds 
 fill eight volumes, the last being a Brownie Primer for 
 use in the public schools. 
 
 The healthy, vigorous tone of the verses and the 
 correct drawing of the background animals, etc., in 
 all the illustrations have given the Brownie stories an 
 educational ^•alue that has won for them approval 
 from the grown-up i)ul)lic. Fortunately fur the de- 
 signer, the Brownie is a most adaptable figure, and 
 we find him in all sorts of toys, pins, puzzles, stamps, 
 rulers, calicoes, handkerchiefs, stationery, perfumery 
 bottles, nursery rugs and crumb-cloths. The Brownies 
 also have made their bow to the public in two stage 
 productions that have delighted thousands in the prin- 
 cipal cities of the United States and Canada. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 [45 
 
 GOVERNOR FRANK WAYLAND HIGGINS 
 
 Frank Wayland Higgins, Governor, was born at 
 Rushford, Allegany County, New York, August 18, 
 1856. His father was a successful business man, and 
 his grandfather a physician of considerable distinction. 
 The education of young Higgins was secured at Rush- 
 ford Academy, in the Seminary at Pike, Wyoming 
 County, and at the Riverview Military Academy in 
 I'oughkeepsie. He was graduated from the latter in- 
 stitution in 1873. After traveling in the West for a 
 year ]\lr. Higgins entered business life in Chicago as 
 Western sales agent for an oil refinery. He continued 
 there for Ijut a short time, however, and after two years 
 more of travel he settled in Stanton, Mich., where 
 he became a partner in the mercantile firm of Wood, 
 Thayer & Co. A year later he bought out his partners 
 and continued the business in his own name. In Stan- 
 ton he was married to ]\Iiss Kate C. Noble, of Sparta, 
 that State. His business enterprises in the \\'est were 
 not sufficiently productive to induce him to remain 
 there, and he accordingly closed them out and returned 
 to New York and soon afterward assumed the man- 
 agement of the extensive grocery business of Higgins, 
 Blodgett «& Co., in Olean, N. Y., of which concern 
 his father was the senior partner. He displayed great 
 
 ability in conducting the affairs of the firm, and five 
 years after assuming the management, he having in the 
 meantime been admitted to partnership, he bought out 
 the interest of the other partners in three large stores 
 in Olean, of which he is still the owner. 
 
 From his boyhood Mr. Higgins has been interested 
 in politics. His interest, however, was not that of the 
 sordid politician — for what there is in it. It was a 
 part of his nature to be interested in things going on 
 about him, and particularly of a political character. 
 He was a deep thinker, a careful obsei"ver, and he 
 formed his own conclusions, regardless of the opinions 
 of others. When he was only sixteen years of age he 
 showed his political independence by refusing to be 
 guided by his father in his political affiliations. His 
 father was a supporter of Horace Greeley, the candi- 
 date of the Independent Republicans and Democrats, 
 while the son ardently espoused the cause of General 
 Grant. Though lacking several years of his majority, 
 he gave his best energies to promoting the cause of the 
 Republican candidate. Through the succeeding years 
 he continued to manifest great interest in political af- 
 fairs, and in 1888 he was sent as a delegate to the con- 
 vention which nominated Benjamin Harrison for the 
 Presidency. When he returned home his father gave 
 him a cordial greeting, and said to him; "You have 
 nominated a good man for the Presidency, and I am 
 going to vote for him." This was the first word of a 
 political nature which had passed between the two since 
 the Greeley campaign. 
 
 Mr. Iliggins's introduction to public office came 
 about through methods of practical politics which he 
 did not clearly understand at the time, but which he 
 has since learned all about. He had won the respect 
 of his party in the district by his exhibitions of com- 
 mon sense. His use of this faculty often settled diffi- 
 culties between factions. In 1891 the district had come 
 under absolute Democratic control. The Republicans 
 were looking around the following year for a man w'ho 
 could carry the district in their interest, and they hit 
 upon Higgins. When asked to make the race he re- 
 fused positively to do so. From that time he began 
 to receive letters from all parts of the district urging 
 him, in strong terms, to permit the use of his name for 
 State Senator. These letters became so numerous that 
 it looked as if there was a spontaneous demand for his 
 services. They had the desired effect, and he grace- 
 fully acceded to what he afterward found was a stimu- 
 lated demand. He proved to be the right man, how- 
 ever, and was elected. For ten years he continued to 
 serve as a State Senator. His value to the State as 
 the reorganizer of its finances is well known. His 
 
146 
 
 MEN or AFFAIRS IN NFIW YORK 
 
 sound business instinct has been of great service to the 
 people. On the llour uf the Senate lie never made a 
 reputation as an orator, but developeil into a good 
 pubHc speaker. 
 
 In 1902 Mr. Higgins was nominated for the office 
 of Lieutenant-Governor and was elected, succeeding 
 Timothy L. Woodrufif, who had declined a renomina- 
 tion. As presiding officer of the Senate he was digni- 
 fied in his bearing, and his rulings were characterized 
 by fairness and clearness of statement. 
 
 In 1904 the Republican Party placed Mr. Higgins 
 in Hiiuiination for the office of Governor. The cam- 
 jjaigii was an exciting one, accompanied by many bit- 
 ter attacks on the Republican candidate, but he was 
 elected by a decisive majority. Since he has been in- 
 stalled in the Governor's chair he has conducted the 
 high office with great ability. 
 
 Those pronnnent in the party's affairs in his part of 
 the State say that he ha-; always stood for clean poli- 
 tics. He would never permit any one over whom he 
 had political influence to use methods which were not 
 open and manly. A keen business man, with a broad 
 mind and a conscience, is the impression he creates 
 upon a stranger. There is something in his bearing 
 and manner of speech which indicates that his yea is 
 yea, and his nay is nay. He has been, by some, called 
 colorless. But such is not the fact, the impression aris- 
 ing from the fact that he lacks contrast. He utters no 
 striking sentences and does no sensational things. He 
 does not play to the galleries, but is guided in all he 
 does by his conscience and common sense. When he 
 
 makes a statement on any subject it is based upon ma- 
 ture thought and genuine conviction. When he says 
 anything he means it, clearly and explicitly, and, as he 
 does nothing hastily, he rarely has occasion to retract 
 an utterance. It has been said of him that those who 
 know him only from having met him in his official ca- 
 pacity at the State Capitol are apt to call him cold and 
 unsympatlietic. When he was a member of the Sen- 
 ate, and was to be seen hurrying back and forth be- 
 tween his seat in the big chamber and the room of the 
 Finance Committee, of which he was chairman, few 
 would care to stop him. Unless the message was of 
 unusual importance, or its bearer a close personal 
 friend, he would scarcely pause to listen. Whether be- 
 fore or after a session, he always seemed too full of 
 business to have time to talk. Ou the other hand, those 
 who were able to obtain a closer view of the character 
 of the man fountl a depth of sympathy far lieyond the 
 average. 
 
 While in the Senate Mr. Higgins, by his vigilance 
 and energy, secured the passage of numerous measures 
 of great public interest, many of them looking to the 
 bettering of the condition of the laboring masses. 
 When the Spanish-American War broke out he was 
 at the head of a committee which raised a large sum 
 to provide for the care of the families of those who 
 went to the front from his locality. He has been, for 
 many years, a trustee of the Western New York Home 
 for Friendless and Dependent Children, and a trustee 
 of the Chautaqua Assembly. He is an active member 
 1 of several charity organizations. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 147 
 
 HENRY EDWIX TREMAIN 
 
 Hexry Edwin Tremain, lawj-er and soldier, was 
 Ijorn in the city of New York, November 14, 1840. He 
 is the son of Edwin R. Tremain, and the family has an 
 undonbted claim to be considered as belonging to good 
 fighting stock. The Tremains were amply represented 
 in the contest for the preservatiim nt tlie Union. Lieu- 
 tenant Walter R. Tremain, a brother of Henry E., 
 gave his life to the cause, as did also two cousins — 
 Colonel Frank W. Tremain and Major Frederick L. 
 Tremain — the two latter being- killed in battle near the 
 close of the war, after distinguishing themselves on 
 many a hard-fought field. The sul)ject of this sketch 
 was himself not without military distinction of a high 
 order, as will appear further on. 
 
 Young Tremain, in commrm with the youth of the 
 couiitry in all periods, recei\^ed his education primarily 
 in the public schools of the city. He was ever an apt 
 scholar, and upon the conclusion of his course in the 
 public schools was prepared to enter upon a collegiate 
 course. He accordingly entered the College of the 
 City of New York, at the age of sixteen, and was 
 graduated well up in his class in i860. Upon leaving 
 college he decided to study law, and proceeded to carry 
 his determination into practice by entering the Colum- 
 
 bia College Law School. His aspirations in this direc- 
 tion were, however, doomed to meet with an interrup- 
 tion. In the midst of his studies, and while he was 
 making the most flattering progress, the political ex- 
 citement which had pervaded the land for so many 
 months culminated in the firing upon the flag at Fort 
 Sumter. The echoes of that first shot of the civil con- 
 flict had hardly died away before young Tremain had 
 offered his services in defense of that flag he loved so 
 well, and which had now been ruthlessly assailed. He 
 immediately enlisted as a private in the Seventh Regi- 
 ment, which had promptly offered its services in the 
 I desperate emergency in defense of the Capital. He 
 ; proceeded with the regiment to Washington, and 
 served with it during its brief stay. During this pe- 
 riod the exciting scenes at the Capital, and the increas- 
 ing peril of the Government, served but to increase the 
 military ardor of young Tremain, and, in association 
 with his brother, immediately upon his return to New 
 York, he recruited a company of volunteers and went 
 to the front as a First Lieutenant in the Second Regi- 
 ment of Fire Zouaves, officially known as the Seventy- 
 third New York \"olunteers, and which was subse- 
 cjuently attached to the famous Excelsior Brigade. He 
 served in the line during that winter. He showed 
 great efficiency in mastering the details of his 
 military duties while his regiment was operating in 
 front of ^'orktown in that memorable siege. His zeal 
 and intelligence brought him to the attention of his 
 commanding officer, and he was, in April, 1862, trans- 
 ferred to the staff of General Nelson Taylor, then com- 
 manding the Excelsior Brigade, and served with that 
 1 officer during the entire Peninsula campaign, and sub- 
 sequently under General Pope. He participated in all 
 of the principal engagements which took place in Gen- 
 eral ]\lcClellan's memorable campaign before Rich- 
 mond, culminating in the Seven Days' fight and the 
 retreat to Harrison's Landing. Lender General Pope, 
 to whom the command of the Union forces had been 
 transferred, he participated in the battles of Bristoe 
 Station and Second Bull Run, which ended so dis- 
 astrously to the Union cause. Li this desperate 
 battle he was conspicuous for his gallant conduct, and 
 while participating in a charge on the enemy's lines 
 was taken prisoner. He was conveyed to Richmond 
 I and placed in Libby Prison, where he suffered the hard- 
 ships and inhospitable treatment which gave to that 
 place of confinement such an unenviable name. The 
 Confederate authorities had become acutely aroused 
 over the alleged wanton destruction of private property 
 by the orders of General Pope, and a system of retali- 
 ation was ordered, involving the death liv lot of pris- 
 
148 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEll' YORK 
 
 oners in their hands. Lieutenant Tremain was one of 
 those selected as hostages in this connection, but fortu- 
 Tiately for him the cartel for the exchange of prison- 
 ers \vas agreed upon at about this time, and his con- 
 finement was limited to a few weeks. He was released 
 on parole, and a short time afterward regularly ex- | 
 changed. This permitted him to return to duty, which 
 he promptly did, being promoted to the grade of Cap- 
 tain, and placed as Inspector-General on the staff of 
 General Sickles, who was then in command of his old 
 division — the Second Division of the Third Army 
 Corps. For his gallant conduct at the second Battle 
 of Bull Run he was specially commended in the reports 
 of his commanding officer. He served in the battle of 
 Fredericksburg, and also at Chancellorsville. In the lat- 
 ter battle he bore the rank of Major, his commission 
 dating April 25, 1863, and in this action his bravery 
 was so conspicuous that he was recommended for a 
 brevet. He served for a brief period on the staff of ; 
 General Hooker, and was on duty with General Sickles 
 as Senior Aide-de-Camp of the Third Army Corps at 
 the battle of Gettysburg. He gained great distinction 
 by his conduct in this the most important battle of the j 
 Civil AVar. In 1864 he was detailed for special duty in j 
 the West with General Sickles, and in company with 
 that officer visited every army in the field. While on 
 this service he also served as aide to General Butterfield 
 at Chattanooga, took part in the engagements around 
 Dalton and at Resaca, and was awarded the Congres- 
 sional Medal of Honor for "distinguished conduct" in 
 the latter battle. Later he rejoined the Army of the Po- 
 tomac, and at his own special request was assigned to 
 duty with the Cavalry Corps. He served on the staffs 
 of Generals Gregg and Crook, participating in the bat- 
 tles of Hatcher's Run, Dinwiddle Court House, Farm- 
 ville. Sailor's Creek and other engagements terminat- 
 ing at Apiwmattox. He was commended by General 
 Crook for his gallantry during this campaign. 
 brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel on General Sheridan's 
 
 recommendation at its termination, and subsequently 
 received the brevet of Colonel. On November 30. 1865, 
 he was made Bre\et Brigadier-General of Volunteers, 
 and sent on duty to South Carolina, where he remained 
 until April, 1866, when, at his own request, he re- 
 tired from the service and returned to New York to 
 resume his profession of the law. 
 
 Upon his return to civil life General Tremain took 
 his old place in the Law School of Columbia College 
 and was graduated in 1867. He was not long in se- 
 curing a good practice, and in 1868 he formed, with 
 Colonel Alason W. Tyler, the well-known legal firm, 
 recently dissolved, of Tremain & Tyler, which for over 
 thirty years was one of the leading firms at the New 
 York bar. In 1870 General Tremain received the nom- 
 ination for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but 
 failed of an election, his part}^ being in the minority. In 
 1 88 1 he received the votes of many members of the 
 Legislature in joint convention for the United States 
 Senatorship. In his law business he has been frequently 
 employed by the L'nited States Government, and has 
 practiced much liefore the United States Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 General Tremain has been active as a Republican in 
 every Presidential contest since the war. He has been 
 public-spirited in matters of reform and education and 
 against monopoly, and has delivered many admirable 
 speeches on corresponding topics. He has also con- 
 tributed considerably to the press, and was one of the 
 founders and editors of the Daily Law Journal. His 
 recent books, "Last Hours of Sheridan's Cavalrj-" 
 (1904) and "Two Days of War: a Gettysburg Narra- 
 tive and Other Excursions" (1905), are enjoying an 
 extensive sale. He was one of the founders of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic in New York, and served 
 for a number of j^ears as president of the Alumni of 
 the College of the City of New York. He is now for 
 a second term the president of the Republican Club of 
 the Citv nt X'tw York. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 [49 
 
 WILLIAM McADOO 
 
 William McAdoo, for several years past promi- 
 nently identified with Democratic politics in New York 
 City, was born in Patlimelton, County Donegal, Ire- 
 land, October 25, 1853. The vicinage is redolent of 
 the odor of heroic deeds of long ago. It is a farming 
 country skirting the hills that lend beauty and grace 
 to the picture. The name McAdoo is originally native 
 of the Scotch highlands, but centuries ago it was car- 
 ried across the sea to the Northern counties of the 
 Emerald Isle, where the McAdoos — sturdy, aggressive 
 and a perpetual disturbance when aroused — were loved 
 and respected among the hills and dales of bustling 
 Donegal. Mr. McAdoo's father was a schoolmaster 
 who married the daughter of a rich farmer. The first 
 nine years of his life were spent in the Donegal coun- 
 try. In the year 1S62 his family emigrated to Amer- 
 ica and found a home in the growing little city of Jer- 
 sey City, in the State of New Jersey, with whose polit- 
 ical history the young McAdoo was later to become 
 closely and intimately identified. Lentil his seventeenth 
 year he attended public school. An opportunity pre- 
 senting itself in the form of an opening on one of the 
 Jersey City papers, he undertook reportorial work as a 
 means of adding to the small income yielded by his 
 
 father's real estate office. It was during this stage that 
 ambitions were awakened which shaped the course of 
 his future life. The young man's early ambition had 
 been a naval career, and for the purpose of gratifying 
 this desire he had sought admission to the Naval Acad- 
 emy at Annapolis, but through lack of influence he 
 failed to secure the coveted appointment. There can 
 be no doubt, when the character of the man is consid- 
 ered, that he would have been a competent and efficient 
 officer had he been granted the privilege of following 
 the career of his desires, but his failure in this respect 
 saved him for greater things. At his father's solicita- 
 tion he then turned his attention to the law. Securing 
 a position in the office of Congressman Scudder, of 
 New Jersey, he applied himself diligently to his legal 
 studies until the year 1874, when, at the age of twenty- 
 one, he was admitted to the Bar of his State. Now a 
 full-fledged lawyer, he devoted himself assiduously to 
 the practice of his profession. Gifted with a fluent 
 tongue and an apparently endless vocabulary, Mr. Mc- 
 Adoo was an orator of considerable ability. He was 
 very generally sought by the unfortunates arraigned at 
 the Bar of the Sessions Court, and old attendants well 
 reinember his pleading before juries. When he saw his 
 opportunity to enter into the public and political life of 
 his community, he commanded recognition of his abil- 
 ity as a speaker. He became active in politics, but in 
 no sense of the word was he a ward politician, his ac- 
 tivities being confined to the time of election. His 
 ser\'ices, however, when demanded in the courts or else- 
 where, were given freely and cheerfully for the benefit 
 of his party. In 1880, after having been for a time 
 attorney to the Hudson County Board of Health, he 
 was elected to the Legislature of New Jersey. The As- 
 sembly in which Mr. McAdoo was seated had a strong 
 streak of anti-monopoly running through it. In the 
 campaig'n the issue of the relations of the railroads that 
 make their terminals on the water front at Jersey City 
 and Hoboken had been raised, and the attention of the 
 voters had been forcefully attracted to the practical ex- 
 emption of the holdings of the railroads from local 
 taxation by their practice of paying stated annual sums 
 into the State Treasury for the use of all the State, in 
 lieu of municipal taxes, whicli, in efifect, amounted to 
 a practical subsidizing of the Legislature. These fa- 
 vored railroads were the mainstay of what was known 
 as the "kid-glove" Democrats of the State House, and 
 in the movement begun by INIr. Leon Ahbett to wrest 
 the State leadership from the regime in control at 
 Trenton, and which was assisted by the County Anti- 
 Railroad League, organized in Jersey City by "Tom" 
 Cator, Mr. McAdoo took an enthusiastic part, and eas- 
 
tso 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 ily leaped to the front to share with Cator the distinc- 
 tion of being a brilhant and stirring champion of the 
 people. In the Legislature equal-taxation bills flooded 
 the clerk's desk, and the railroads were taxed from 
 everj^ quarter. But the railroads had not been idle, and 
 that session of the Legislature had nearly half passed 
 when a bill which had slid through the Senate and 
 which, in effect, stole all the water front of Jersey City 
 was discovered on the point of its final passage in the 
 Assembly. Mr. McAdoo made it his mission to find 
 out how it was possible for the act to have passed 
 through the several legislative stages unobserved, and 
 as a result of his investigation, on the day when the bill 
 was called up for passage, in a speech ever since re- 
 nowned for its splendid eloquence, he made a vigorous 
 attack upon the bill and presented the affidavit of an- 
 other member of the Legislature who had been bribed 
 by the railniads, and with it five nnc-lunulrcd-dollar 
 bills with which the bribery iiad been done. An inves- 
 tigation followed the sensation, and out of the agita- 
 tions of these times has grown the New Jersey Cor- 
 poration Tax Laws, which have so greatly enriched 
 that State. One of the immediate effects of this move- 
 ment was the selection of Mr. McAdoo for political 
 promotion, and in i88_i he was elected a member of 
 Congress. Upon his election Mr. McAdoo found him- 
 self enjoying the additional distinction of being the 
 3-oungest member of Congress, of which he was ex- 
 cu.sably proud. In 1886, upon his return to Congress 
 for a second term, he was appointed a member of the 
 Committee on Naval Affairs. As a member of this 
 committee he was brought into close contact with the 
 men who handled the nation's interests afloat, and with 
 his old love of the sea he found his menii)crsliip very 
 congenial. 
 
 There were ships to l>e built, and the new Democratic 
 administration under Secretary Whitney was promis- 
 ing great things for the future. In 1888 he was re- 
 
 elected for a third tenn and reappointed to the Naval 
 Committee. His fourth term as a Congressman began 
 in 1890, and during that term Air. McAdoo made a 
 remarkable and vigorous speech against the McKinley 
 tariff revision scheme which was then before the Na- 
 tional Legislature. 
 
 While a member of the House, through his ready 
 wit, thorough familiarity with his subject, and willing- 
 ness to measure lances with the foremost men of the 
 Republican Party, Mr. McAdoo won for himself con- 
 siderable respect and honor in debate. The Democratic 
 landslide of 1892, which carried Grover Cleveland into 
 the Presidential chair, brought for him the appoint- 
 ment of Assistant Secretary of the Navy. In that of- 
 fice qualities which would naturally lie dormant in a 
 member of Congress were called into play, and while, 
 during his incumbency, the pul^lic at large heard of 
 him but in a desultory way, in the White House his 
 name was mentioned with adminitidu and respect. He 
 was the practical chief of the Navy Department, and 
 at the end of his term came away from Washington 
 with an established reputation as an executive and ad- 
 ministrati\'e officer. He removed to New York in the 
 year 1896 and resumed the practice of the law. In 
 1904, upon the election of CcM-ge B. McClellan 
 as Mayor of the City of New ^'ork. Air. AIcAdoo was 
 apijointed Police Commissioner. As Avas the case in 
 the other public offices that he had held, Mr. McAdoo 
 served the jjcoplc of the metropolitan city faithfully and 
 intelligently, liut a divergence of opinion in regard to 
 the administration of the police department led to his 
 tendering his resignation just previous to Mr. McClel- 
 lan's inaugiiration in January last. Though he has 
 lived, ever since his l)nylion(l, under the public eye, 
 ncN'er has the breath of scandal atlendcd his discliarge 
 of any function. In person he is very slim, of medium 
 height, wiry and ner\'ous, and he is the most tireless of 
 workers. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ney at the office of the Houston Street, West Street 
 and Pavonia Ferry Raih'oad Company — a smaU horse 
 railway just purchased by the Whitney syndicate. On 
 his arrival there, he was tuld Mr. Whitney was not in 
 and was hainled a letter. Thinking it contained an ex- 
 planation of Mr. Whitney's absence, and an appoint- 
 ment for another meeting, he tore it open and was as-' 
 tonished beyond measure when the folloAving met his 
 eyes: 
 
 "Dear Sir: At a meeting of the stockholders of 
 the Houston Street, West Street and Pavonia Ferry 
 Railroad Company, held this day, you were unani- 
 mously elected a director of the company. At a sub- 
 sequent meeting of the directors you were unanimously 
 elected president and general manager, your duties to 
 commence immediately. 
 
 "C. E. Warren, Secretary." 
 
 career as a steam railroad man 
 ay to his phenomenal success as 
 
 HERBERT HAROLD VREELAND 
 
 Herbert Harold Vreeland, under whose guid- 
 ance the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, the 
 greatest system of street railways in the world, 
 achieved such a phenomenal success, started life as the 
 driver of a delivery wagon when a boy, and is one of 
 the finest examples in the United States of that product 
 for which she is so famous — self-made men. 
 
 Mr. Vreeland was born in Glen, N. Y., October 28, 
 1856, and is the son of the Rev. A. H. and Jane Van 
 Riper Vreeland. He first entered the railroad business 
 in 1874, shoveling gravel on one of the Long Island 
 Railroad Company's night construction trains. He next 
 acted as switchman for the same road, then as brake- 
 man and conductor. In 1881 he entered the service of 
 the New York and Northern Railroad as a conductor. 
 A short time thereafter that road was purchased by 
 William C. Whitney and his associates, and they wait 
 over the line to inspect the property, Mr. Vreeland be- 
 ing assigned to the duty of escorting them and explain- 
 ing the needs and the merits of the system as it then 
 existed. He performed this duty so intelligently that 
 the conductor was promptly promoted to the position 
 of general manager. Having mastered the duties of 
 his new position, he was directed to meet Mr. Whit- 
 
 Thus abruptly h 
 was ended and the 
 a street railroad man was entered. With characteris- 
 tic energy he entered on his new duties with an intelli- 
 gence, skill and ardor that fully justified his selection 
 by Mr. Whitney. 
 
 When Mr. Vreeland became connected with the 
 Metropolitan Street Railway Company in 1886 he 
 found more or less disorganization throughout the sys- 
 tem and a considerable spirit of restlessness, with a 
 corresponding lack of discipline, among its innumera- 
 ble employees. He soon rectified all this and brought 
 the organization of the road to such a high degree of 
 ])erfection as to excite the admiration and the emula- 
 tion of the directors of the other street railways in the 
 United States, while at the same time he governed the 
 employees of the road so fii'mly, justly, and diplomati- 
 cally that in time they came to look upon him as their 
 best friend. He organized clubs among the men work- 
 ing for the company, in order that he might meet and 
 become familiar with them, learn their various griev- 
 ances, so that they could be rectified, if possible, and, 
 together witli all this, at the same time effect an ex- 
 change of ideas concerning the operation of the Metro- 
 politan Railway system and ways and means for its 
 improvement. One of these clubs, comprising the men 
 of the West Side cable system, had over two thousand 
 members. He also formed the Metropolitan Street 
 Railway Association, a mutual aid society for the bene- 
 fit of its members in time of need, himself drawing up 
 the constitution and by-laws, and providing the asso- 
 ciation with rooms for a meeting place in the com- 
 pany's power-house at Seventh Avenue and Fiftieth 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 Street. He also introduced a pension system for super- 
 annuated employees — the only one of its kind on any 
 street railway in the world. The street railway em- 
 ployees of New York City were not used to this kind 
 of treatment, and when they had recovered from their 
 surprise at their president's interest in them they be- 
 came his most loyal and efificient helpers, so that Mr. 
 \'reeland occupied a unique position among railroad 
 presidents, in that he was extremely popular, both with 
 the thousands of employees under him and with the 
 financiers of the city. 
 
 When the Metropolitan system was leased to the 
 Interurhan Street Railway Company Mr. Vreeland re- 
 signed from the former and became president of the 
 still larger corporation, the Interurban, and he also be- 
 came president of the financial or holding company, 
 the Metropolitan Securities Comjjany. Mr. Vreeland 
 lias been consulted b}' several of the large surface rail- 
 roads of Great Britain, as well as by several of the 
 larger street railway systems of his own country, the 
 directors of which recognized the superior genius of 
 the railroad man who had brought the street railroad 
 systems of the metropolis into such a splendid organi- 
 zation, solidified and cemented by the good-will and 
 loyal service of its vast army of employees. In fact 
 capitalists, investors, and public ofificials who are in- 
 terested in raihvay problems are constantly seeking his 
 opinion with regard to further development or im- 
 provement of systems which are not being successfully 
 operated. Having a true love for the work to which 
 his life has been devoted, Mr. Vreeland always re- 
 sponds to these appeals as fully and as freely as his 
 own pressing and multifarious duties allow. The Di- 
 rectory of Directors informs us. however, tliat the fol- 
 lowing corporations have the first call upon his services. 
 
 as he is the president of each : Interurban Street Rail- 
 way Company; Metropolitan Securities Company; 
 Bleecker Street and Fulton Ferry Railroad Company ; 
 Central Park, North and East River Railroad Com- 
 pany; Dry Dock, East Broadway and Battery Railroad 
 Company ; Forty-second Street and Grand Street Ferry 
 Railroad Company ; Fulton Street Railroad Company ; 
 North and East River Railroad Company; Third Ave- 
 nue Railroad Company; Thirty- fourth Street Cross- 
 town Railroad Company; Tw'enty-eighth and Twenty- 
 ninth Streets Crosstown Railroad Company; Twenty- 
 third Street Railway Company; New York Railroad 
 Club, and the American Street Railway Association. 
 
 The genealogists of the Holland Society have la- 
 boriously ascertained that Mr. Vreeland is a direct de- 
 scendant of Michael Jansen Freeland, who came to this 
 country in 1636 in the ship Renselaerwyck, from 
 Broeckhausen, North Brabant, whose male descendants 
 were mostly soldiers and clergymen, but none of which, 
 however, made much of a mark on their time until the 
 subject of this sketch, the son of a clergyman, became 
 allied with the street railroad interests of New York. 
 
 Mr. Vreeland is an honorary member of the Tram- 
 ways and Light Railways Association of Great Britain, 
 and he acted as a member of the Electric Railway Test 
 Commission of the Universal Exposition at St. Louis 
 ill 1904. He is a member of the Holland Society and 
 I if the Pilgrims of the United States, and he also be- 
 longs to the following associations and clubs : Law- 
 yers', Transportation, Engineers', Democratic, New- 
 York Athletic, New York Riding Club, and the Kisha- 
 wana Country Club of Brewster, N. Y., where he has 
 a beautiful residence, to which he betakes himself when 
 opi)nrlunity offers lo enjoy country life with his wit'e 
 and five interesting children. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 153 
 
 PAUL MORTON 
 
 As EACH civilization and each phase of eacli civiU- 
 zation breeds its pecuHar type of man, so the conditions 
 of the prairie States during the third quarter of the 
 nineteenth century bred characteristic men who remain 
 in the history of the United States as representing fuhy 
 the people from whom they sprung. These men were 
 men of great originaUty and native force, they were 
 apt to have limitations of outlook, but they compre- 
 hended everything that had come into their observation 
 and experience, and most grew wiser as they grew 
 older. But no width of mental vision could have made 
 up to their country and their own locality for their ca- 
 pacity of putting their energy on one point of focus 
 and of maintaining, through thick and thin, certain 
 ideas which they had a large part in formulating, and 
 for which each of them, for one particular idea, had 
 come to stand. J. Sterling- Morton, an Easterner gone 
 West, landing in Nebraska after a short stay in Michi- 
 gan, will be thought of as, perhaps, the chief and most 
 characteristic of these exemplars. A rugged and ro- 
 bust man in body, in mentality and in integrity, toler- 
 ating not nor compromising with an evil as he saw it. 
 had his birth been Southern and his heritage a planta- 
 tion he would have been one of the foremost of the 
 
 Southern chevaliers, the fire-eaters as they came to be 
 called as their fine frenzy degenerated into rant and as 
 they lost pure ptirposes and the light of political truth. 
 A chevalier of the prairies, he was combative, virile 
 and saved only liy strung common sense from becom- 
 ing a good deal of a Don Quixote. He was a great 
 
 I founder of a race and had a stalwart family of boyi, 
 
 \ one of whom is the Honorable Paul Morton. It was 
 the elder Morton's fancy to dislike a double name, and 
 so it was simply as Paul Morton that the boy was chris- 
 tened who was born in Detroit, Mich., May 22, 1857. 
 The family moved to Nebraska slmrtly thereafter, and 
 it is probably the fact of the early maturing of men in 
 a new country that luade Paul Morton choose to go to 
 work rather than to school at the age of sixteen. The 
 elder Morton was a man of books and study, who could 
 have sent his son to college, and probably wanted to, 
 but it may be that there was some will on the part of 
 the son that carried the day. 
 
 Paul Morton saw the early freighting througii Ne- 
 
 ! braska, he saw the ox-team and the stage coach ; the 
 Indian danger, the death of the arid plains, if not ac- 
 tually before him was still sufficiently near, so that he 
 might understand it fully, so that he might realize 
 what easy transportation means to a country and to the 
 people who inhabit it. The railroad is the aristocrat, 
 
 j the center of attraction of a new country. The best 
 and most ambitious boys want to work in its offices, to 
 man its trains. Paul Morton went to the Burlingt(jn 
 Road when he was sixteen years of age and, with the 
 exception of an interim of six years when he was in 
 allied business, never absented himself from the rail- 
 road field until he was forty-seven. During that time 
 the railroad business moved and he moved with it. His 
 own recipe for moving onward and upward in life is 
 that one must never shirk responsibility, but, on the 
 other hand, must grasp all the responsibility one can 
 hold. His goddess of fortune is "Opportunity," and 
 his motto is "Get there." 
 
 His beginning in railroad life was that of a boy in 
 a railroad office; his termination in 1904 was as a vice- 
 Ijresident of the Santa Fe system, and the manager of 
 the traffic between the East and the West which be- 
 gan away back in history over the Santa Fe trail. Paul 
 Morton's traffic management was not of the kind that 
 skims the cream ofif the current situation, leaving the 
 future to take care of itself. Based on the proposition 
 that the more prosperous a community is, the more 
 prosperous it can make the railroad which runs 
 through it. he engaged in so wide a variety of philan- 
 thropic enterprises that it seemed at times as if the 
 .Santa Fe was running its business largely to make the 
 
154 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 desert bloom like tlie rose. Thousands of dollars went 
 out where there seemed to be no prospect that the road 
 could get anything out of it at all, but it was simply 
 wise and far-seeing planting, just as Sterling Morton 
 used to look ahead and see that tree-planting was the 
 most profitable undertaking of a prairie farmer. The 
 result was a Santa Fe system of growing prosperity 
 and a reputation for Paul Morton of being the best 
 traffic manager in the United States. In 1904 he was 
 induced by President Roosevelt to abandon a salary of 
 thirty-five thousand dollars a year and a career every 
 year getting more attractive, for the Secretaryship of 
 the Navy at eight thousand dollars a year, with the ob- 
 ligation on a man who has the resources of spending 
 from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars a year ad- 
 ditional in entertaining the hundreds in Washington 
 who are there to be entertained. 
 
 He was Secretary of the Navy just one year. Dur- 
 ing that time he made it possible to consolidate the 
 power-plants at the various navy yards and pointed out 
 some defects in the business arrangements of the de- 
 partment that will be of service to his successors, but 
 his great usefulness to the country comes in the fact 
 that, as a member of the Caliinet, he urged and made 
 possible the attack on the abuses of freight transporta- 
 tion, of which the benefits are now being realized. He 
 
 was placed in the position of antagonism to many 
 friends and former associates, and accepted that an- 
 tagonism, and the bitter criticism that resulted, with 
 good-natured fortitude. He did not leave the Cabinet 
 until he had put in the hands of the Executive a well- 
 tempered and accurately cutting weapon which, at a 
 single blow, cut away the shell of the i-ate regulation 
 question and laid bare the meat in the nut. 
 
 For the bookish man, the professional man, whose 
 powers are broadened and ripened by a fallow time, a 
 secretaryship is tolerable for a term of years. For a 
 man of action it is intolerable, nor can affairs long tol- 
 erate the absence of a man known as a master-hand. 
 When the turn of affairs in the great insurance im- 
 broglio of 1905 required the instant selection of the 
 right man to terminate the difficulties of the company 
 first attacked, no one doubted that the right man had 
 been found in Paul Morton, a confidence that has been 
 amply justified by his course as the head of the Equita- 
 ble Life Insurance Company, a course which not only 
 rehabilitated the standing of the company of Avhich he 
 took charge, but averted the threataied danger of a 
 general life insurance panic with its disastrous conse- 
 quences. Since July i. IQ05, Mr. Morton has been a 
 resident of New York and a growing factor in its finan- 
 cial circles. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 t55 
 
 J. G. PHELPS STOKES 
 
 James Graham Phelps Stokes, lawyer, philan- 
 thropist, was born in the city of New York on March 
 1 8, 1872, and is the son of Anson Phelps Stokes, one of 
 New York's most prominent bankers. The first Amer- 
 ican ancestor of the family was George Phelps, who 
 came over from England in 1630 on the ship Mary and 
 John, which was the first of Governor Winthrop's 
 ships to arrive in ^Nfassachnsetts Bay. He settled at 
 first in Massachusetts, but the family soon removed to 
 Connecticut, where it has been established for more 
 than two and a half centuries. Through his first wife 
 George Phelps was a direct progenitor of the mother 
 of the subject of the present sketch, and through his 
 second wife a progenitor of his father. Another early 
 American ancestor of Mr. Stokes was the Rev. John 
 Woodbridge, of Newbury, Mass., who arrived in that 
 colony from England in 1634. Other New England 
 branches of the family bear the well-known names of 
 Dudley, Lamb, Wyllys, Haynes, Wolcott, Egleston 
 and Talcott. The first who bore the name of Stokes 
 in this country w^as Thomas Stokes, who came from 
 London to New York City, arriving there in 1798. He 
 was a descendant of George Phelps and a direct an- 
 cestor of our present subject. 
 
 Mr. Stokes received his primary education at the 
 Berkeley Lyceum, New York, where he was a close 
 student, and made rapid progress in his studies. He 
 was, during these school days, devoted to outdoor 
 games, and was made president of the Interscholastic 
 Athletic Association of New York. In 1889 he en- 
 tered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale, where he 
 took a prominent part in all college associations. He 
 was, for a time, editor of the Yale Record, the college 
 paper, and conducted it ably. He was vice-president 
 of the College Young Men's Christian Association, a 
 director of the Co-operative Association, and a mem- 
 ber of the Delta Psi Fraternity. He was graduated in 
 1892. with the degree of Ph.B., and spent the follow- 
 ing year in extensive travel in foreign countries. Upon 
 his return, just before the close of 1893, he entered the 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia Uni- 
 \-ersity, and was graduated in 1896. Although the 
 possessor of ample means, and under no necessity of 
 earning a livelihood, Mr. Stokes preferred not to eat 
 the bread of idleness, and sei-ved, for some time, as 
 an ambulance surgeon at Roosevelt Hospital. In this 
 position he remained long enough to become thor- 
 oughly equipped for entering upon an active practice. 
 This he did not do, how^ever, but determined to use his 
 knowledge in the promotion of sociological work. He 
 had already carefully studied the conditions of the 
 poor of New York, more particularly in what is known 
 as the East Side. In 1896 he became a resident mem- 
 ber of the University Settlement, and was an inspector 
 for the then East Side Sanitary Union. He spent the 
 college year of 1896-97 studying sociology, pauperism 
 and penology at Columbia University. This course 
 was determined upon wdien he had decided to make 
 this field of labor his life w'ork. His high social posi- 
 tion and undoubted ability gave him unusual promi- 
 nence, and his services were eagerly sought by leading 
 philanthropists and institutions. He has, for some 
 time, been a member of the Executive Committee of 
 the Armstrong Association, the controlling organiza- 
 tion of Hampton Institute; a trustee of the Tuskegee 
 Institute, a manager of the Association for Improving 
 the Condition of the Poor, chairman of Hartley House, 
 a director of the Institution for Instruction of the Deaf 
 and Dumb, chairman of the People's Institute, a mem- 
 ber of the Executive Committee of the Federation of 
 Churches and Christian Workers, a member of the 
 Council of the L^niversity Settlement Society, a direc- 
 tor of the Legal Aid Society, a trustee of the City 
 Club, and a director of the Prison Association. It 
 will be readily understood that in connection with the 
 administration of the affairs of these diversified insti- 
 
156 
 
 MEN OF Al-l-AIKS IN NEW YORK 
 
 lutions for the improvement of the poor and the unfor- 
 tunate, My. Stokes found an ample field for the exer- 
 cise of his greatest activity. His work has been 
 performed with an earnestness and a zeal which show 
 how near to his heart is this lahor of love, and he has 
 been greatly rewarded by seeing his efforts crowned 
 with the best results. His name has become familiar 
 with those of every nationality on the East Side, and 
 ever\-where it is spoken with love and reverence. 
 
 It was rather startling to the social world when the 
 announcement was made that Mr. Stokes had "met his 
 fate" in a co-worker among the poor. His wealth and 
 high social standing gave him an entree into the moi-t 
 select families of the metropolis. Among these were 
 many who regarded Mr. Stokes's labors as a "fad," 
 and that wlien he had had a surfeit of it he would seek 
 his normal position in the social world. But they did 
 not estimate him at his true value. He had no inten- 
 tion or desire to abandon or turn back from his work, 
 and it was in api)reciation nf the high estimate he 
 placed u])on the character of those who were co-oper- 
 ating with him that he selected hi? life's partner from 
 among them. Rose Harriet Paster was a child of the 
 Ghetto. Born in Augustova, Suwalk, Russia, in 1879, 
 
 her parents moved to London when she was but seven 
 years old. There the father died, and the family came 
 to America, settling in Cumberland, Ohio. Miss Pas- 
 ter, at an early age, gained considerable fame among 
 her friends as a writer of verse. These writings at- 
 tracted the attention of a Jewish editor in New York, 
 and he induced her to accept a position on his journal. 
 Soon after her arri\al in the metropolis she became 
 interested in the work of the University Settlement, 
 where she met Mr. Stokes and became deeply inter- 
 ested, and eventually a co-laborer with him in his work. 
 A congeniality of disposition ^^as naturally followed by 
 an attachment that has resulted in a most hai)p\- union. 
 Although Mr. Stokes is a very wealthy man. and 
 could easily assume a life of elegant ease, he has shown 
 no disposition to abandon his arduous labors in the 
 field of reform, but has rather broadened its operations. 
 Pie was the candidate of the Municipal Ownership 
 Party at the recent municipal election for the position 
 of President of the Borough of ^lanliattan, and proved 
 an effective advocate of the cause in which he was de- 
 feated by a narrow margin. While his time is largely 
 given to his philanthropic work, Mr. Stokes has large 
 business interests which reciuire his careful attention. 
 
ViEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 157 
 
 WILLIAM MILLS IVINS 
 
 William M. Ivins, who, in the campaign for 
 Mayor of the City of New York in the year 1905, was 
 the candidate of the Republican Party, was born about 
 fifty-five years ago in Freehold, N. J. While he was 
 a child his family removed to Brooklyn, and it was 
 there that Mr. Ivins received his education, and was 
 one of the first graduates of Adelphi Academy. One 
 of his classmates at Adelphi was Mr. Seth Low. After 
 his graduation Mr. Ivins was employed for a short 
 time in the publishing house of D. Appleton & Co., 
 which employment he left to become a student in the 
 Columbia Law School. Lie was admitted to the Bar 
 in 1873 and six years later, in 1879, he was admitted 
 to practice before the United States Supreme Court. 
 He liegan the practice of the law in Brooklyn as a 
 member of the firm of Bergen & Ivins, and it was 
 there that he first took an active part in politics. He 
 soon became known as one of the most active opponents 
 of the McLaughlin Deiuocracy and was a participant 
 in the movement headed by General Slocum against the 
 Brooklyn ring. This movement was so successful that 
 it compelled Mr. McLaughlin to retire for three years. 
 In 1879 Mr. Ivins was connected witli the prosecution 
 of the O'Reilly cases, which resulted in the fining: and 
 
 I imprisonment of the Brooklyn Board of Aldermen for 
 [ contempt of court. For five years prior to 1880 he was 
 i Judge Advocate, first of the Fifth Brigade and later of 
 i the Second Division of the National Guard of the 
 ' State of New York, and contributed a series of highly 
 interesting articles on military law to the Albany 
 Law Journal. Attack upon political abuses and upon 
 intrenched organizations proved congenial to the 
 I young lawyer. In 1881 Mayor Grace made him his 
 private secretary, and he joined the County Democracy 
 and was active in that powerful opponent of Tammany 
 1 Hall. When Mr. Edson was nominated by that body 
 > for Mayor, Mr. Ivins retired from it and became one 
 of the organizers of the committee which placed Allan 
 : Campbell in nomination, and was chairman of its cam- 
 j paign committee during the canvass. During this pe- 
 riod Mr. Ivins gained a high reputation for upright 
 citizenship and incorruptibility. In 1882 he was ap- 
 pointed one of the school commissioners of the City of 
 New York and served until 1885. While a school com- 
 missioner he devoted himself especially to the subject 
 of industrial education. When Mayor Grace was re- 
 elected he appointed Mr. Ivins City Chamberlain at a 
 salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year, out of 
 which he was required to pay his office expenses. He 
 remained Chamberlain during the administration of 
 Mayor Hewitt, retiring from the office upon the elec- 
 tion of Mr. Hugh J. Grant as Mayor. On January i, 
 1885, he was promoted to the office of Judge-Advocate- 
 General for the State. During his incumbency as 
 Chamberlain he conducted the trial of the Police Com- 
 missioners before the Mayor for malfeasance in office, 
 and during the same period, in addition to his interest 
 in military law, Mr. Ivins made a study of the finan- 
 cial systems of the European cities. After leaving the 
 City Chamberlain's office he devoted himself to his pri- 
 vate law practice. In 1891 he became one of the coun- 
 sel for the State Investigating Committee headed by 
 Senator J. Sloat Fassett, which was appointed to ex- 
 amine into the government of cities in general and of 
 NTew York City in particular. He made an elaborate 
 report of the work of the committee, which established 
 his reputation as an expert in municipal affairs, being 
 one of the most thorough ever published. At the time 
 that the Australian ballot was being advocated 
 throughout the country, and general attention was be- 
 ing directed again.st the evils of the voting system, Mr. 
 Ivins took great interest in the agitation for reform. 
 He lirought out a bonk entitled "IMoney in Politics," in 
 which he exposed many of the forms of corruption 
 which had grown up in the political systems of this 
 and other cities. Later he made the original drafts of 
 
58 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS JN NEIf YORK 
 
 many of the ballot reform laws in use in the different 
 States at this time. Mr. Ivins was William R. Grace's 
 personal counsel and has remained the attorney for his 
 estate. During President Cleveland's second term, 
 when the boundary dispute arose between Brazil and 
 the -Argentine Republic, he was retained by the Brazil- 
 ian Government to argue its case before Mr. Cleveland, 
 who acted as arbitrator. The dispute arose as to the 
 construction of a decree of Alexander Borgia, in 1493, 
 being the last Papal document dividing up and appor- 
 tioning the unknown world. Mr. Ivins won a complete 
 victory for Brazil, securing to that rejiublic a territory 
 as large as the State of New York. He was retained 
 later by Balmaceda to watch over his interests during 
 the revolt of the Chilian navy, which resulted in Bal- 
 maceda's overthrow. When the Cuban rebel, Garcia, 
 was arrested in this country, in 1897, for a violation of 
 our neutrality laws in attempting to send munitions of 
 war to his fellow-insurgents, Mr. Ivins volunteered to 
 defend him. He conducted the case with characteristic 
 skill and energ}-. The trial lasted fourteen days, but 
 the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, after five 
 minutes of deliberation. Always an efficient organizer, 
 he was one of the founders of the State Bar Associa 
 tion, and was a member of its first Executi\-e Commit- 
 tee. He is also a member of the Bar Association of 
 this city. He took a leading part in founding the 
 Kcfiirm Club, which aided the cause of tariff reform, 
 and (if the Commonwealth Club, wlu'ch helped the agi- 
 tation for ballot reform. It falls to the lot of few law- 
 
 yers to take part in larger affairs or to acquire skill 
 and competence in business transactions of greater 
 weight and moment than those in which Mr. Ivins has 
 been rather frequently concerned during the past fif- 
 teen years. An instance of this was his visit to St. 
 Petersburg in 1898. when, on behalf of an American 
 firm, he concluded with the Russian Government a con- 
 tract for many millions' worth of war material. He 
 has a rather remarkable capacity for business organiza- 
 tion, even in this dwelling place of captains of indus- 
 try, and possesses a considerable knowledge of mod- 
 ern languages. Political history and diplomacy are the 
 studies to which he has most seriously and continuously 
 devoted himself. He is familiar with the work of all 
 departments of the city government, and has written 
 much upon the subject for the daily and political press. 
 His articles on "Codification," "Comparative Jurispru- 
 dence" and "Municipal Finance" attracted much atten- 
 tion. Mr. Ivins is president of the General Rubber 
 Company, and for a number of years has been the legal 
 adviser of Charles R. Flint in his rubber interests. He 
 married, in 1879, ^'^^^^ Emma L. Yard, of Freehold, 
 N. J., and has two sons and two daughters. After the 
 campaign of 1905 he was one of the counsel engaged 
 by Mr. W. R. Hearst in his contest of the election of 
 Mr. McClellan. Mr. Ivins is a member of the firm of 
 Ivins, Mason. \\'olf & Hoguet. of 27 William Street, 
 and belongs to the Manhattan, Players', Lotos, Grolier, 
 Barnard, Arclsley, New ^'ork ^'acht, I^awyers' and 
 manv other clul;s of the citv. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 HENRY CLAY BARNABEE 
 
 Henry Ci.ay Barnabee, who, as a singer, imper- 
 sonator and operatic artist, has maintained a career 
 which has reflected credit upon the American stage, 
 was born in Portsmouth, N. H., Novemljer 14, 1833. 
 His early life was passed in that (juiet cit}', where his 
 father, Willis Barnabee, kept the leading hotel. The 
 elder Barnabee had had, previous to his engaging in 
 the hotel business, a notable career as one of the fa- 
 mous "whips" of the old stage-coach time. After leav- 
 ing school young Barnabee entered the dry-goods 
 house of William Jones & Son, in his native city, in 
 which establishment he remained until 1854, when he 
 went to Boston to accept a clerkship in the well-known 
 dry-goods house of C. F. Hovey & Co. Mr. Barnabee 
 had then just reached his majority. Within a short 
 time he became connected with the Mercantile Library 
 Association of Boston, an organization in whose ranks 
 several excellent actors and public readers had their 
 early stage training. It was at the entertainments of 
 this association, which, at the time, were very popu- 
 lar with Bostonians, that he developed his latent mi- 
 metic powers. He first came before the public as a 
 humorist at the Mercantile Library entertainment, 
 April 30, 1856, when the then famous Boston institu- 
 
 1^59 
 
 tion was at the height of its prosperity. His appear- 
 ance was made at the invitation of the "Declamation 
 Committee," and was largely the result of accident; it 
 turned his talents into a channel in which he had never 
 before thought of entering. An entertainment had been 
 announced, in which Mr. Henry Parsons, then well 
 known in Boston as a comedian in the association, was 
 to take a prominent part. Mr. Parsons was to per- 
 sonate a Yankee character, but became ill a day or two 
 before the date of the performance, and Mr. Barnabee 
 was invited to take his place. The result was a de- 
 cided success, the performance developing a greater 
 amount of comic power than even his friends supposed 
 him to possess, and his career from that night was 
 mapped out. It was not in a comic vein wholly that 
 he appeared, nor did he devote himself exclusively to 
 a cultivation of his dramatic abilities. The possession 
 of a fine voice and a natural taste for music had early 
 led him to perfect his talents in that direction. He be- 
 came a member of the choir of the Rev. Baron Stowe's 
 church on Chauncey Street, Boston, and later was a 
 member of a quartet in a Jamaica Plain church. After 
 a few years' connection with the latter church, he be- 
 came a member of the quartet of the Church of the 
 Unity, which engagement, with the exception of one 
 year's service with the choir at Dr. Putnam's church, 
 ' at Roxbury, continued for nineteen years. During his 
 year at Dr. Putnam's church Mr. Barnabee was, among 
 other well-known choir singers, associated with Mr. 
 W. II. ^IcDnnald, who later was interested with him 
 ! in the "'BMStdnians." Mr. Barnabee's early successes 
 in the entertainments of the Library Association caused 
 his name to lie kmnvn far beyond the confines of the 
 city, and his services were consequently frequently in 
 demand. He Isecame exceedingly popular with the ly- 
 ceum audiences of that day. During this period Mr. 
 1 Barnabee had retained his mercantile connections, and 
 it was not until the year 1865 that he yielded to ad- 
 vice that he devote himself wholly to amusement work. 
 His formal debut was marked by a benefit concert at 
 Music Hall, Boston, in which many well-known artists 
 appeared. For a dozen ov more years his popularity 
 with the patrons of the lyceum and entertainment 
 courses throughout the country was almost unparal- 
 leled in the records of this class of amusements. His 
 engagements called him to the cities, towns and ham- 
 lets of New England, the Middle, Western and North- 
 western States, as well as into the Canadian provinces, 
 and he gained fame and fortune wherever he went, 
 commanding his own terms and making a "Barnabee 
 night" a certain success whenever and wherever an- 
 nounced. During these years he also gained a wider 
 
i6o 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS IX XEJV YORK 
 
 recognition of his talents than that accorded him hy 
 the lyceiim audiences of the day, for he was constantly 
 called upon to take part in benefit performances, and 
 in these appearances he proved to have dramatic abili- 
 ties which commanded the approval of the severest crit- 
 ics. In 1866 he appeared at the Boston Museum for 
 J\lr. j\IcClannin"s benefit, playing Tobie Twinkle in 
 "All That Glitters Is Not Gold," and Cox to William 
 Warren's Box in Morton's famous farce, "Box and 
 Cox." He subsequently appeared at the Globe and 
 Boston in various benefits. He has played Aminidab 
 Sleek in "The Serious Family," Henry Dove in ".Mar- 
 ried Life," and other comedy characters. Mi: Barna- 
 bee gave, with great success, for several seasons, "Sir 
 Marmaduke," a musical version of "Betsy Baker," and 
 "The Cork Leg," the latter of which has been sung by 
 him oftener and Avith greater success than any other. 
 Mr. Barnabee's engagements were made tlirough the 
 Roberts Lyceum Bureau, an agency at that time man- 
 aged by Miss E. H. Ober, who also controlled the pro- 
 fessional business of many prominent concert artists. 
 In May, 1879. Miss Ober conceived the idea of giving 
 "Pinafore" with an "ideal" cast, and a company was 
 organized, known as the Ideal Pinafore Opera Com- 
 pany, with such artists as Mary Beebe. Miss Phillips, 
 Mvron W. Whitney, Tom Karl and Mr. Barnabee as 
 
 leading members of the cast. The Bostnn Museum at 
 the time had a piece which did not possess the drawing 
 qualities desired by the manager, and it was withdrawn 
 and "Pinafore" was put 011 in its place. The venture 
 was extremely successful, and Mr. Barnabee s "Sir 
 Joseph" settled his future career, and his oi>eratic suc- 
 cesses since his debut as the airy commander of the 
 "Queen's navee" are widely known. Other works were 
 produced by the company, which dropped the name 
 "Pinafore" and thereafter was known as the Boston 
 Ideals, in all of which ^Ir. Barnabee appeared with 
 success. At the close of the operatic tour of 188G-87 
 it became desirable for some of the leading artists of 
 the Boston Ideals to withdraw from that organization, 
 and the world-famous "Bostonians" was the outcome 
 of that withdrawal. The production of De Koven and 
 Smith's "Robin Hood" by the Bostonians was phe- 
 nomenal for its success. It had a tremendous run in 
 Xew York, followed by others in other cities. The 
 company later produced other operas, but none of them 
 has approached the earlier piece in the degree of its 
 success. Mr. Barnabee has always taken an active in- 
 terest in Boston affairs, and has been identified with 
 many of its social and musical organizations. He is 
 a Mason of high degree and a member of the Ancient 
 I and Honourable Artillery Company of Boston. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 GEORGE BRUCE CORTELVOU 
 
 George Bruce Cortelyou was 1)()i-n in Xew York 
 City, July 26. 1862, and is a meniber of one of the 
 oldest and most prominent families of the State, and 
 which included several who w-ere conspicuous in Colo- 
 nial and Revolutionary history. Two of them, George 
 Bruce and Peter Crolius Cortelyou, were for nearly 
 half a century partners in the principal type foundry of 
 the world. Among their friends and intimate associ- 
 ates were such journalists and politicians as Horace 
 Greeley, Henry J. Raymond, Hugh Hastings and 
 Thurlow W^eed. Peter C. Cortelyou was very popular 
 because of his open-handed hospitality in Ids beautiful 
 home on the Heights of Brooklyn. 
 
 After sttidying at various public and private schools 
 young Cortelyou entered the State Normal College at 
 Westfield, ]\Iass., taking an advanced course. He was 
 graduated with the highest honors, and was fully pre- 
 pared for the college course upon which he intended 
 to enter. In addition to the usual studies in which he 
 had engaged while at the Westfield school, he took a 
 special course in music, for which he had great natural 
 aptness. His musical talent w-as rapidly developed, and 
 he soon became a fine vocalist and a brilliant performer ' 
 on the piano. Instead of entering Harvard, as he had 
 
 originally intended, he continued his musical studies at 
 the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston. Af- 
 ter completing his musical course he was a tutor at 
 Cambridge for a brief period, and finally returned to 
 New York, with the intention of preparing for a busi- 
 ness career. Taking up stenography at the Walworth 
 Stenographic Institute he acquired great proficiency, 
 and upon finishing the course became assistant to the 
 principal. Later he associated himself with James E. 
 Munson, assisting him as official stenographer to the 
 New York Superior Court. From 1885 to 1889 he 
 was principal of the New V^ork College preparatory 
 schools. This not proving very lucrative employment, 
 he applied for the position of stenographer in the of- 
 fice of the New- York Appraiser of Customs. He passed 
 a very creditable examination and entered upon the 
 discharge of his duties. The services he rendered were 
 highly satisfactory, but a change of administration 
 brought its political rewards, and he was removed to 
 provide room for an adherent to the new Appraiser. 
 He subsequently held, for a short time, a position in 
 the New York City Post Office as private secretary to 
 the Post Office Inspector. 
 
 In 1 89 1 Mr. Cortelyou decided to try his fortune at 
 the National Capital. He accordingly proceeded to 
 Washington, and a short time afterward received the 
 appointment of private secretary to the Fourth As- 
 sistant Postmaster-General. It was while on duty at 
 the Post Office Department that Mr. Cortel_\-oii Ijecame 
 acquainted with so many men in public life, and the ex- 
 perience gahied here was of great benefit to him five 
 years later, wdien he was detailed for duty at the 
 White House, ostensibly as executive clerk, but really 
 as private stenographer to the President. In this po- 
 sition he soon impressed the President as not only be- 
 ing alert and accurate in the discharge of the important 
 and delicate duties assigned to him, but as a wise coun- 
 sellor. \\'hen President McKinley entered the White 
 House it did not take him long to discover the tact, 
 ability and other admirable qualities of Mr. Cortelyou. 
 The late J. Addison Porter was the nominal secretary 
 to tlie President, but President McKinley leaned more 
 heavily on Mr. Cortelyou in the administration of pub- 
 lic affairs, and when Mr. Porter retired Mr. Cortel- 
 you was immediately advanced to the secretaryship. 
 The whole world knows how close he was to the la- 
 mented McKinley, and it is generally conceded that 
 during- all his service at the White House he was never 
 found wanting in his fidelity, judgment and sound 
 common sense. His knowledge of men and the va- 
 ried information he absorbed bearing on National af- 
 fairs were all utilized to aid his chief in successful ad- 
 
1 62 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX XElf YORK 
 
 ministration. His remarkable memory, his masterful 
 management of details, and his readiness to assume re- 
 sponsibility at the proper time and place often relieved 
 the President of embarrassment or annoyance, and in- 
 spired those about him with greater confidence in his 
 extraordinary ability. There fell to his supervision 
 all of the work of the clerical force and the vast amount 
 of correspondence received at the White House. In 
 addition to this he took from the President's dictation 
 his addresses, messages and other State pajjers, and 
 prepared them for the public printer and the press. He 
 also had charge of Mrs. McKinley's correspondence 
 and the general management of the social functions 
 pertaining to the White House. 
 
 The relations between President McKinley and Sec- 
 retary Cortelyou became those of tender regard and 
 affectionate friendship. When the President was 
 stricken down it was his secretary who gave to the 
 world all the news of those trying days and nights. 
 His was the arm upon which leaned the sorrowing 
 wife. He was the man upon whom the President 
 
 leaned for everything that was to \ye done. During all 
 that momentous period Air. Cortelyou never made an 
 error, or failed to meet the exacting requirements of 
 that critical period. Only the usual smile was missing 
 from his unruffled courtesy. 
 
 Upon the accession of President Roosevelt, Mr. Cor- 
 telyou was requested to retain his position, and the 
 President's appreciation of his abilities was manifested 
 when he selected him, Fel;ruary 20, 1893. to fill the 
 newly created position of Secretary of the Department 
 of Commerce and Labcr. This was the first instance 
 in which a man hatl risen from the classified service 
 to a Cabinet position. Upon the retirement of Mr. 
 Bliss from the President's ofiicial family Mr. Cortel- 
 you was tendered the portfolio of Postmaster-General, 
 which he now holds. So his official career, so marked 
 and so efticient in all its phases, has brought bin-: back 
 to the field of his first duties under the Goveinmcnt. 
 with which he was thoroughly familiar, and where he 
 is ably administering one of the most important de- 
 partments of the Government. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 163 
 
 WILLIAM SULZER 
 
 William Sulzer, prominent in local and National 
 politics, and a lawyer of marked ability, was born in 
 New York City on the i8th of March, 1863. His 
 early days were passed in the Seventeenth Ward. His 
 father, Thomas Sulzer, was a German patriot of 1848, 
 a comrade of Sigel and Schurz, and Germany had no 
 more persistent or devoted advocate of Constitutional 
 liberty. When the Revolution broke out he was a 
 student at the L^niversity of Heidelberg. Although 
 scarcely eighteen years of ag'e. he joined the patriots, 
 and was foremost among those who struggled to se- 
 cure the blessings of freedom. WHien disaster followed 
 the attempt, he was captured and imprisoned in Carls - 
 rube. He succeeded in making his escape from prison, 
 and passed into Switzerland, where he remained for 
 three years. He came to New York in 1851, where 
 he married, and six years after his arrival was a natu- 
 ralized citizen. He adopted the principles of the Demo- 
 cratic Party, and was an ardent admirer and supporter 
 of Stephen A. Douglas. He was a forceful public 
 speaker, and spoke from the same stand with the "Lit- 
 tle Giant" in this city in the memorable campaign of 
 i860. The son William received his education in the 
 public schools of the city, following- which he took a 
 
 full course in the Columbia Law School. He early de- 
 veloped unusual forensic powers, and became an active 
 member of the Cooper Union Debating Society, where 
 he won a medal in a discussion as to what was done 
 for Constitutional government by our Revolutionary 
 fathers. Afterward, with Thomas C. T. Grain, he or- 
 ganized a "moot court," where law students gathered 
 (ince a \\-eek and discussed questions of Constitutional 
 law. The sessions were held in Justice W'illiam H. 
 Kelly's court. Mr. Sulzer took an active part in these 
 debates, and frequently sat upon the bench as presid- 
 ing judge. Even before his graduation from the law 
 school, which took place in 1883, he had attained con- 
 siderable celebrity as a political speaker. Like his 
 father, he was an unswerving Democrat, and he never 
 lost an opportunity of giving a reason for the faith 
 that was in him. He won such fame as a political ora- 
 tor that the National Democratic Committee selected 
 him as one of its representatives in Connecticut, New 
 Jersey and New York in the Presidential campaign of 
 1884, and he performed the like duty in 1888. 
 
 Mr. Sulzer was admitted to the Bar immediately 
 upon his graduation, and he rapidly acquired a lucra- 
 tive practice, being retained in many important cases. 
 Owing to his great interest and activity in political 
 matters, it was quite natural that he should be sought 
 as a banner-bearer by his party. He was nominated 
 for the Assembly from the Fourteenth District in 1889, 
 and was elected by a handsome majority. He was 
 placed on the Committee on General Laws, a high 
 honor for a new member, and he also served on several 
 other committees of less importance. Being well in- 
 formed on parliamentary law, he took an active part in 
 presenting and debating the measures of his party, and 
 gained a reputation throughout the State for his skill 
 and ability. 
 
 Mr. Sulzer's course in the Assembly was strongly 
 endorsed by his constituents, and he was re-elected in 
 1890. So great had become his prominence that he 
 was strongly advocated for the position of leader of 
 his party, which had obtained a majority in the Lower 
 House. Although failing to receive the distinction, he 
 was made chairman of an important committee, besides 
 being a member of the Committee on Rules, and vice- 
 chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and took a 
 prominent part in many of the most important meas- 
 ures passed at this session. He secured the passage of 
 the bill for the State care of the insane, a bill securing 
 free lectures for workingmen and workingwomen in 
 New York, and a number of other equally important 
 and commendable measures. 
 
 At the opening of the Assembly, in 1893, Mr. Sul- 
 
1 64 
 
 .1/£.V OF AFFAIRS IX X FW YORK 
 
 zer having been again returned, he was the unanimous 
 and prompt choice of the Democratic caucus, composed 
 of sevaity-four members, for the position of Speaker, 
 and he filled the office with marked ability and success, 
 although he had very strong political leaders opposed 
 to him on the floor, among them such veterans as 
 Hamilton Fish, George J\I. Malby, D. E. Ainsworth 
 and others. He earned the tribute of respect and re- 
 gard from all by his fair rulings and the ability with 
 which he handled difficult and doubtful points, and he 
 was accorded the highest praise for his personal quali- 
 ties of good-fellowship. 
 
 In 1894 Mr. Sulzer received the nomination for Con- 
 gress in the Eleventh District, and was one of the band 
 of Democrats who survived the tidal wave of that year, 
 when but five Representatives were elected north of 
 Mason and Dixon's line. Mr. Sulzer's district is the 
 smallest, territorially, in the United States, and the 
 tiiird largest in point of population. It contains more 
 than thirty thousand voters, and tlirce hundred and 
 fifty thousand persons live within its limits. Germany, 
 Ireland and Italy have contributed citizens, while the 
 Hebrew race is well represented. Bounded on the north 
 by I-'ourteenth Street, on the south by Stanton Street, 
 on the west by Third .-\ venue and the Bowery, and on 
 the east by the East River, the district would be com- 
 pletely occupied by small storekeepers and wage- 
 earners but for a small strip on Second Avenue occu- 
 pied by some Knickerbocker families. Mr. Sulzer has 
 succeeded himself at every Congressional election since 
 the expiration of his first term, and he has made a rec- 
 
 ord of usefulness and activity in the great arena of the 
 National Legislature. It is a matter of great pride 
 with him that he has never been defeated, his narrow- 
 est margin being in 1894, when he carried his district 
 by one hlirtdred majority, although Governor Hill, in 
 the same district, was defeated by over four thousand 
 votes, tn 1896, when Mr. Bryan lost it by six thou- 
 sand, JMr. Sulzer triumphed with a plurality of twenty- 
 eight hundred. 
 
 Mr. Sulzer was a delegate to the Xational Conven- 
 tion at Chicago which placed William J. Bryan in 
 nomination as the Democratic candidate for President, 
 and strongly advocated his election. He has been a 
 member of each succeeding National convention, and 
 has been loyal to his party nomination in every in- 
 stance. While in the minority on the floor of Con- 
 gress, his influence is largely felt in the current legis- 
 lation, and he has always been found among those 
 legislators who ad\ocate those interests which are best 
 for the whole people. ]\Ir. Sulzer's personality is strik- 
 ing. Big'-boned and Ijrawny. he stands over six feet in 
 height, and weighs nearly two hundred pounds. He 
 has a smooth face, piercing gray eyes, and straight, 
 sandy hair. He dresses neatly and displays little jew- 
 elry. In intellect he is as rugged as in bod}^ Both 
 body and intellect are ever in action. He has a com- 
 pact flow of words and expresses his ideas Ihiently, 
 but not redundantly. He is methodical. (|uick-willed 
 and energetic. No one (|uestions either his ability or 
 his integrity. His recortl as a legislator is without a 
 blemish. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 16-5 
 
 ISAAC H. CLOTHIER 
 
 The Republic of the United States lias no better 
 basis for good citizenship than that afforded by the 
 Society of Friends, a religimis assnciatii m made up of 
 persons democratic in grain, opposed to form and cere- 
 inoo}', rank and privilege, and valuing men only for 
 what nature and principle have made them. 
 
 Possessed of a deep sense of duty and a sturdy in- 
 tegrity, the Friends have done more to give the solid 
 pith of high principle to the American character than 
 any other class of our people. It is they who have made 
 Pennsylvania the Keystone State in its highest sense, 
 and throughout their whole history they have been 
 distinguished for elevation of character and high- 
 minded integrity. While the population of Philadel- 
 phia is now cosmopolitan, the Friends are still its no- 
 blest element, and as a typical example of them \\'e can- 
 not do Ijetter than to select the eminent merchant and 
 citizen, Isaac H. Clothier, a man who. morally and in- 
 tellectually, stands high among the citizens of our 
 country. 
 
 As a merchant of the highest t\pe, eminent alike for 
 business enterprise and a fine sjjirit of fair dealing 
 Air. Clothier long played a prominent part in the mer- 
 cantile de\elopment of Philadelphia as the most active 
 member of the great firm of Strawbridge & Clothier, 
 
 which owed its remarkable success largely to his busi- 
 ness acumen, progressive spirit and untiring energy. 
 For many years he was the soul of the growing estab- 
 lishment, keeping his finger steadily on the pulse of 
 its multitudinous interests, yet never permitting him- 
 self to become so absorbed in business details as to rob 
 him of attention to his duties as a citizen, alike to the 
 public at large and to educational and charitable af- 
 fairs. 
 
 Isaac H. Clothier has shown himself a man of un- 
 usual ability in many directions. Aside from his prom- 
 inence and greatness as a merchant, he has also been 
 a financier of marked powers and a citizen of acknowl- 
 edged worth, a man of cultivated intellect and nati\-e 
 probity, with a high regard for his duties to the com- 
 munity alike in a public and a private way. 
 
 Born in Philadelphia on the 5th of November, 1837, 
 and educated principally in the schools of the Society 
 of Friends, of which his parents were active members, 
 he left school at the age of seventeen to enter upon a 
 business career. His early ex])erience in mercantile 
 life was gained in the importing dry goods house of 
 George D. Parrish «S: Co., in which he remained six 
 years, gaining a business training of the utmost value, 
 and displaying an activity, loyalty to the interests of his 
 employers and aptitude for commercial affairs of es- 
 sential value to his future career. 
 
 In i860 he became a member of the firm of Morris. 
 Clothier & Lewis, engaged in the importation and sale 
 of cloths, the success of which was largely due to his 
 business ability, and in 1868 entered into partnership 
 with Justus C. Strawbridge, a Friend like himself, who 
 at that time conducted a retail diy goods store in a 
 small way at the corner of Market and Eighth streets, 
 Philadelphia. \\t do not propose to dwell on the re- 
 n.iarkable progress of this establishment, and it must 
 suffice to say that the original small store has grown 
 into one of colossal dimensions, and that it now ranks 
 among the half-dozen greatest stores of the world. 
 
 We desire to present it simply as the field of Mr. 
 Clothier's activities during many years of his life. 
 From the first he was its leading spirit, giving his at- 
 tention especially to the item of ach'ertising, that chief 
 element of success in a modern business. Of his ad- 
 vertisements it may be said that, while well prepared 
 and forcible, they were truthful throughout, no mis- 
 representation being allowed to creep into them and 
 no goods to be sold in the store for other than they 
 actually were. It was this spirit of honor and fair 
 dealing that especially distinguished ]\[r. Clothier's 
 Inisiness career, he I)eing a high-minded, honorable, 
 upright man throughout, always progressive, yet al- 
 
1 66 
 
 MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ways just and truthful. While well directed, persistent 
 effort is essential to any great commercial success, a 
 permanent prosperity can be built only on a basis of 
 unswerving integrity, and it was this princijile that he 
 constantly instilled into the business under his cnntml. 
 
 With a true fellow feeling for those under him. he 
 made himself the friend and helper of the small army 
 of employees in the huge establishment, showing a 
 warm personal interest in their progress and advan- 
 tage. The system of profit-sharing with the heads of 
 departments, miw ail<i])ted by many large concerns. 
 originated with him. and proved an clement (jf success. 
 He always sought to awaken a loyalty to the interests 
 of the house among clerks and saleswomen, to give 
 them a home feeling, a sense of semi-proprietorship in 
 the establishment. \'arious associations for their mu- 
 tual advantage — the Relief .Kssociation, the Savings 
 Fund, etc. — were fostered liy him. and he did every- 
 thing available that would inure tn their comfort and 
 well-being. 
 
 We have spoken at some length up n these matters, 
 for it was as a business man that Mr. Clothier was 
 l)est known. Personally he was modest and unobtru- 
 si\e, doing good (piietly, taking an interest in public 
 affairs, but loving best his home life and intellectual 
 pursuits. In 1894. after forty years of active business 
 life, he retired from connection with the firm. He had 
 gained all the wealth he ca'-ed f(ir. and tonk the wise 
 resolution t.) withdraw while in the prime nf health 
 and visfor. He had, besides, been hmg interested 
 
 in educational and other matters to which he de- 
 sired to give fuller attention. He was always too 
 large-minded a man to permit himself to be absorbed 
 exclusixely by mercantile interests, and ever kept a 
 broad laitliiok upon the world. Moved by benevolent 
 and far-seeing impulses to aid institutions devoted to 
 the ])ub]ic good, yet averse to notoriety of any kind. 
 his altruistic activity was shown modestly. l)ut none 
 the less effectively. 
 
 For years he was. and still continues, a liberal patron 
 and an active manager of .Swarthmore follege, the 
 leading educational institution of the Friends. He has 
 aided it by his business judgment and contributed large- 
 ly to its funds, giving the handsome sum of one hundred 
 thousand dollars to the recent effort to extend its en- 
 dowment. In I'eliruary. 1906. he contributed ten thou- 
 sand dollars more, to help meet the requirements of the 
 Andrew Carnegie library fund. In addition to this insti- 
 tution, he has always been a firm friend of the School 
 of Industrial .\rt, of the Williamson Free School of 
 Mechanical Trades, and of the I'ree Lilirary of Phila- 
 delphia, all of them useful institutions, which have 
 benefited by his aid and interest. 
 
 Socially, be belongs to a number of clubs, but jjrefers 
 and takes care to enjoy a quiet home life in his attrac- 
 tive residence at Wynnewood, near the city, where he 
 di.spenses old-fashioned hospitality to his friends, and 
 indulges, in his well-chosen library, his taste for and 
 familiaritv w ith good literature, which has long formed 
 one of his cliicf enjovments. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 167 
 
 THOMAS A. EDISON 
 
 Thomas Alva Edison, electrician and inventor, was 
 born in Milan, Ohio, February 7, 1847. The Edisoiis 
 are of Dutch origin. The first of the name of whom 
 Thomas Alva is in descent was John, who came to 
 America as early as 1737, and became a banker in New 
 York ; but, being a loyalist in the struggle of the colo- 
 nies and siding with the British interests, he found it 
 con\'enient to change his residence to Nova Scotia. 
 There Samuel, father of Thomas Alva, was born. 
 When Samuel Edison had arrived at the age of man- 
 hood he received a grant of land from the Govern- 
 ment, located on the shores of Lake Erie, and moved 
 to and settled upon it. But in 1838 he became involved 
 in what was known as the Papinean rebellion, and his 
 lands were forfeited to the crown. His personal lib- 
 erty being endangered, he fled for safety to United 
 States territory and settled in Milan, Ohio, where he 
 married a woman of Scotch descent. Of this union 
 Thomas Alva was born. Thus the Teutonic and the 
 Celt are blended in the inventor, and thus, too, some 
 of the contradictions to be found in the nature and 
 the character of the man can be accounted for. While 
 Thomas was vet a small lad. his father found it neces- 
 sary to remove to Michigan. The boy was early thrown 
 on his own resources, indeed early made, in the stress 
 
 of circumstances, a contribution to the family support. 
 Of schooling he had but little, but the foundations of 
 his education were laid by his mother, who had been 
 a school teacher before her marriage. It is known, 
 howe\er, that from the earliest period the young lad 
 was, from inclination, a constant reader, often under- 
 taking works which were beyond his complete under- 
 standing. Newton's "Principia" was one of the works 
 which he attacked when he was but fourteen. His first 
 regular employment was as a newsboy on the Grand 
 Trunk Railway, an occupation that in a considerable 
 degree shaped the course of his life, since it brought 
 him into close contact with and interest in the tele- 
 graph. The story has been often tiild how, without 
 instruction, and on knowledge obtained only by obser- 
 \ation, he began experiments in telegraphy, conducting 
 them in the car of the train, until an accident which set 
 tire to the car resulted in his ignominious e.xpulsion 
 from the service of the company. There are stories 
 of that period, also, showing the thriftiness of the 
 Dutch and the canniness of the Scotch side of his char- 
 acter in the way in which he stimulated excitement at 
 I the stations in advance of the incoming train, whereby 
 he was enabled to cjuickly dispose of his supply of pa- 
 pers, containing an account of the battle of Pittsburg 
 Landing, at the advanced price of ten and twenty-five 
 cents — that thrift and cunning which have been so 
 curiiaisly sIkjwu in his after life in such contradiction 
 to the recklessness and improvidence of the years when 
 he was a telegraph operator. There are tales told, too, 
 and which are repeated in almost every sketch published 
 ! of this wonderful man, showing how decided was the 
 bent of his mind toward investigation, experiment and 
 !n\'entiiin. 
 
 It was through the fortunate incident of saving the 
 life of a child of the stationmaster and telegraph oper- 
 ator on the Grand Trunk that the opportunity came to 
 young- Edison of receiving instruction in the art of 
 telegraphy. The rapidity of his advancement was 
 amazing to those who were in a position to observe 
 him. At the age of seventeen he was a supremely skil- 
 ful operator. When he had attained such perfection 
 that his services were at all times in urgent demand 
 he began a nomadic life, during which he wandered 
 over the cotmtry, a Bohemian in his neglect of the pro- 
 prieties of life and disregard of its obligations, in such 
 contrast to the thrift he had previously shown, and 
 which has been notable in his later career. But even 
 in these days his mind was active in the way of experi- 
 mentation. Indeed, his experiments were often car- 
 ried on to the neglect of his regular duties, resulting 
 I in the loss of employment. It was during this period 
 
1 68 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 that he invented his automatic repeater, by which a 
 message could be transferred from one wire to another 
 without the aid of an operator. At the age of twenty- 
 two lie was in Boston, holding a i)osition requiring the 
 utmost skill, operating the "crack" wire from New 
 York. It was while in this position that he conceived 
 the idea of the duplex system, by which two messages 
 could be sent over a wire at the same time. In 1871 
 he was made superintendent of the Gold and Stock 
 Company, and a year later he not only perfected his 
 duplex system, but developed it into a quadruple sys- 
 tem, making a single wire do the work previously done 
 by four, and saving to the telegraph companies millions 
 of dollars. He also brought to perfection about this 
 time the printing telegraph for gold and stock quota- 
 tions, the right for which he sold for the lump sum of 
 forty thousand dollars. With this sum, so suddenly 
 and, to him, unexpectedly acquired, he abandiMied the 
 field of telegraphy as an operator. He estalilished a 
 factiirv in Newark, N. J., ostensibly fir the manufac- 
 ture (if his stock quotation machines; but his time was 
 chietly, if not wholly, given to experimentation, though 
 still in the line of telegraphy. It was not long before 
 the sextuplex system appeared. Indeed, devices, im- 
 provements and new inventions relating to telegraphy 
 flowed from his fingers and brain, almost without 
 number, and the dominating telegraph company was 
 kept busy in securing control of them, lest they should 
 fall into rival hands. 
 
 In 1876 Mr. Edison removed to Menlo Park and 
 built the first of those buildings intended for merely 
 experimental purposes, and where he has produced 
 some of the most wonderful inventions of the age. 
 Abandoning the field of telegraphy, he entered that 
 of telephony, in which substantial progress had already 
 been made by Gray and Bell. But his contributions 
 were immediately of the highest value, one of his 
 earliest productions being his carbon telephone trans- 
 mitter, by which the intensity of the vocal sounds were 
 more faithfully rendered. It would be impossible to 
 record in this limited space the tenth part of Mr. Edi- 
 son's marvelous inventions. '^I'he ])lionograph, the mi- 
 crophone, the megaphone and the kinetoscope are 
 among those which have brought his name into the 
 greatest prominence, together with the wonderful im- 
 provements he has made in electric lighting, in which 
 field his greatest achievements have been obtained. 
 Here he stands unrivaled and unassailable. In his ac- 
 complishment of the incandescent light no one claims 
 to divide honors with him. The solutic.in of the prob- 
 lem of the commercial subdivision of the light in a gen- 
 eral distribution from a central point, like gas, was his 
 special achievement. 
 
 Mr. Edison, at the age of fifty-nine, is still to lie 
 found each day repairing to his lalioratory. where he 
 is still exercising his wonderful in\enti\'C genius in ])ro- 
 ducing other results which will startle the world and 
 still confirm his title, "The Wizard of Menlo Park." 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 169 
 
 ANTHONY N. BRADY 
 
 Anthony Nicholas Brady, capitalist, began his 
 life in the old French city of Lille, on the 22d day of 
 August, 1843. I lis parents had left Ireland and fled 
 to the more congenial soil of France because of certain 
 political notions that were not in accord with the stat- 
 utes of the British Tsles. The stay in France, however, 
 seems to have been of a temporary nature, for before 
 the young scion of his family was old enough to ex- 
 press an opinion as to the advisability or practicability 
 of the change — in fact, when he was but two years old 
 — the parents decided that, while France was good 
 enough for a temporary abiding place, there was a 
 country beyond the seas that was better for a perma- 
 nent one, to wit, America, and he accordingly em- 
 barked for New York, where he remained but for a 
 short time before proceeding to Troy, N. Y., which 
 place he made his permanent home. It was in that 
 city that young Anthony began his career in life, pretty 
 much on his own account. He attended the public 
 schools with great regularity during his juvenile days, 
 and became more than ordinarily well grounded in the 
 "three R's." ^Vhen lie had attained his fifteenth year 
 he decided to leave the paternal roof and try the world 
 on his own account. He obtained his first employment 
 
 at the Delavan House, Albany, w-here he in time at- 
 tracted the approving regard of its patrons by his quiet 
 demeanor and the strict attention which he gave to the 
 duties of his not very important p(jsition. Gradually 
 he worked his way into more prominence, and finally 
 secured one having- greater responsibilities, which 
 added considerably to his income. He carefully hus- 
 banded his resources, and at a comparatively early age 
 he had accumulated a small capital. When he had 
 reached this stage in his career he determined that it 
 was time to leave his position and make his first ven- 
 ture in the business world. Accordingly, in 1864, when 
 he was but nineteen Axars of age, he opened Brady's 
 tea store. He had carefully studied the possibilities of 
 tlie enterprise, and he was not disappointed in meeting 
 with success. He had already established in the coni- 
 mimity an enviable reputation for active energy and 
 integrity, and he was not long in acquiring a large and 
 profitable trade. As this grew and gave him the com- 
 mand of greater means he established branches of his 
 store in other communities, and in time he practically 
 controlled all of the tea trade throughout a large sec- 
 tion of the State. His success in this line, however, 
 was but a stimulus to venture into other fields, and in 
 a few years we find him looking into the possible profits 
 to be derived from an investment in the private indus- 
 tries of the State. People in Albany were talking 
 about building granite houses and putting down granite 
 pavements as if they were something of a risk. The 
 j experiment seemed all right to young Brady, and he 
 quietly arranged to get control of the granite that came 
 ': to Albany. Contracting seemed to him to be a good 
 method of adding to his capital, and it was not long 
 before he was building sewers and laying pavements 
 ! by the mile. He completed contracts for constructing 
 the approaches to the Government Bridge and the stone 
 work in the Hawk Street Viaduct. With the profits 
 obtained from these works he purchased the Wilton 
 quarry, which gave him an unlimited supply of ma- 
 terial at first cost. 
 
 ! The next field that attracted Mr. Brady's attention 
 was the gas supply of Albany. The gas-lighting com- 
 panies of that city and of Troy were expensive and 
 badly managed corporations. Mr. Brady set his wits 
 to work to master a cheap and effective method of 
 manufacturing gas. He informed himself of the new 
 Tessie de Mote system of gas manufacture, brought to 
 this country and improved by Jerzmanowski, and he 
 set about getting control of the old companies. He 
 knew the economies he could introduce in this service 
 would make them pay. Roswell P. Flower, the late 
 I Governor ; Edward Murphy, afterward Senator, and 
 
I70 
 
 MEX or AFFAIRS IX NEJV YORK 
 
 E. C. Benedict, the financier, liked Iiis plans and helped 
 him acquire control. The deal went through, as many 
 of Mr. Brady's deals have done since, and made a great 
 deal of money for all concerned. When the Albany 
 Gas Light Company had been successfully launched 
 Mr. Brady turned his attention to the condition of the 
 lighting companies in Chicago. He found the Chicago 
 Gas Company practically bankrapt. Mainly through 
 his masterly skill and energy the company was reor- 
 ganized and placed upon a sound financial basis. It 
 was not many years later when Mr. Brady found him- 
 self associated in the great gas enterprises which he 
 engaged in with such men in the financial world as 
 E. C. Benedict. C. K. G. Billings, \\'alter Ferguson, 
 Roswell P. Flower, F. P. Olcott, \\\ J. Campbell and 
 others of equal prominence. 
 
 By studying the chemistry and physics of oil and the 
 natural characteristics of the oil and gas strata of the 
 continent Mr. Brady was able to organize and success- 
 fully operate what was said to have been the Standard 
 Oil Company's first competitor. By his efforts the 
 Manhattan Oil Company of Lima, Ohio, supplied 
 nearly all of the oil used in the gas works of the city of 
 Chicago. He also entered the field of electricity, and 
 for some time had the control of electrically lighting 
 the streets of Albany. One of the great industries of 
 the country in which he liecanie largely interested was 
 the horse railroad system, and later in the cable lines 
 and trolley lines. He was one of the organizers of the 
 Mctrnpiilitau Traction Company of New York, which 
 
 put in operation the Columbus Avenue and Lexington 
 A\enue and Broadway systems. It was about this 
 time that he made his first impression in Wall Street 
 as an organizer. The Providence, R. I., street rail- 
 ways were in the market, and they were brought, al- 
 most as a matter of course, to Mr. Brady and Mr. Ol- 
 cott. rhree days after the proposition had been sub- 
 mitted Mr. Brady returned to New York from an in- 
 spection of the property and advised his associates to 
 go into the deal. The contract, involving an expendi- 
 ture of thirteen million dollars, was executed in less 
 than ten days, and under the able management that was 
 immediate!}' instituted proved an immensely profitable 
 investment. 
 
 About ten years ago he became active in the work of 
 reorganizing what is now known as the Brooklyn 
 Rapid Transit Company, and he has been the moving 
 spirit in Washington, Philadelphia and other large 
 cities in these lines of enterprise. 
 
 Politically, ^Ir. Brady has always been identified 
 with the Democratic party, though he has not followed 
 its financial policy as announced in some of its recent 
 national platforms. Fle was a friend and intimate as- 
 sociate of Daniel Manning, William C. Whitne}', Ros- 
 well P. Flower and many other men distinguished in 
 finance and politics. He is a director in many financial 
 institutions and \'ice-President of the People's Gas 
 Light and Coke C<im])any. In early life he married. 
 Marcia A. ?\tyers, daughter of a iirominent jurist of 
 X'eriuont. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 71 
 
 MAJOR JAMES EVELYN PILCHER 
 
 Was bom in Adrian, ]\Iich.. March 18. 1857, to the 
 Rev. EHjah Holmes Pilcher, S.T.D., LL.D., and his 
 wife, Phebe Maria Fiske. He received his prehminary 
 education in the public schools of Ann Arbor and De- 
 troit, and was graduated in arts from the University 
 of Michigan in 1879. Having by extra work com- 
 pleted the studies preparatory to the baccalaureate de- 
 gree early in the winter of that year, he entered the 
 Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 
 time to save a year's medical school attendance, and 
 was thus able to take his medical degree at that insti- 
 tution in 1880. 
 
 While still an undergraduate young Pilcher became 
 Curator of the Anatomical and Surgical Society, then 
 an active organization in Pn-ooklyn. and was one of the 
 founders of the "Annals of the Anatomical and Surgi- 
 cal Society," a monthly journal published during the 
 year 1880 by that organization, and later transfonned 
 into the "Annals of Anatomy and Surgery," published 
 by a corporation of which he was Secretary and one of 
 the editors of the journal. After a successful career 
 of four years the "Annals of Anatomy and Surgery" 
 was discontinued, largely because of the withdrawal 
 of Dr. Pilcher from its management. 
 
 In 1883 the young doctor appeared before the Army 
 Examining Board, then in session in New York, con- 
 sisting of General Joseph B. Brown and Majors Ben- 
 nett A. Clements and John H. Janeway, and became 
 an approved candidate for appointment to the Medical 
 Department of the Army. In June, 1883, under a 
 contract as Acting Assistant Surgeon in the L'nited 
 States Army, Dr. Pilcher proceeded to the Depart- 
 ment of Dakota and took station at Port Abraham Lin- 
 coln, proceeding in the autumn of the same year to 
 Camp Poplar River, Montana — being meanwhile, in 
 February, 1884, commissioned as Assistant Surgeon — 
 whence he was transferred in 1884 to Fort Custer, 
 Montana. In 1887 he proceeded to Fort Monroe, Vir- 
 ginia, but was almost immediately relieved from duty 
 there and assigned to station at Fort Wood, New 
 ^^ork, with quarters upon Governor's Island, where 
 he alsc) had charge of the hospital during the 
 ensuing two )-ears and attained his captaincy. In the 
 latter part of 1889 he took station at Fort Clark, Texas, 
 returning the following fall to Governor's Island, 
 where he remained during the winter and spring of 
 i8go and 1891, after which he repaired to Fort Ring- 
 gold, Texas. In 1893-95 '^^ was stationed at Fort 
 Niagara, New York. From 1895 to 1897 he was at Co- 
 lumbus Barracks, Ohio, after a six months' sick leave, 
 passed principally in Europe. Thence he proceeded to 
 Fort Cook, Nebraska, where he served during the win- 
 ter of 1897 ^"f' 1898, most of the time also having 
 charge of the office of the Chief Surgeon of the Depart- 
 ment of the Platte in Omaha. 
 
 On the first call for troops for the Spanish-American 
 War he accompanied the Twenty-second Lhiited States 
 Infantry, first to Mobile, Ala., and thence to Tampa, 
 Fla. Here his regimental hospital attracted the atten- 
 tion of the Chief Surgeon of the forces, who selected 
 him to act first as Sanitary Inspector of the camps at 
 Tampa, and later as Chief Surgeon of the volunteer 
 troops, then collecting at Jacksonville under the com- 
 mand of General Henry W. Lawton, and which were 
 later formed into the Seventh Army Corps, under the 
 command of General Fitzhugh Lee. Upon the arrival 
 of the Corps staff, Captain Pilcher, who had meanwhile 
 lieen commissioned as ]\Iajor and Brigade Surgeon of 
 Volunteers, was detailed as Chief Surgeon of the Sec- 
 ond Division of the Corps. .About this time he became 
 impressed with the especial importance of the Supply 
 Department, particularly in connection with volunteer 
 medical officers who were not accustomed to army 
 methods, and upon his request, while still retained as 
 Executi\e Officer of the Chief Surgeon's office, he was 
 also detailed as INIedical Supply Officer of the Corps. 
 
172 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX NEIV YORK 
 
 When the Seventh Corps was about to proceed to Cuba 
 he was detailed to take cliarge of the Medical Supply 
 Department upon the hospital ship Missouri, with a 
 view to purve3-ing for the troops about to be stationed 
 on the Island of Cuba. This order was changed, how- 
 ever, before embarkation to one directing him to estab- 
 lish a permanent medical .supply depot in the city of 
 Savannali. Here an enormous ([uantity of supplies 
 were accumulated and issued by him. until early in 
 1899 the tremendous strain to which he Iiad been sub- 
 jected during the war manifested itself in a severe ill- 
 ness, which necessitated a sick leave and his ultimate 
 retirement in October, 1900. with the grade of Captain. 
 
 In t886 he prepared and delivered at Fort Custer 
 a series of lectures upon first aid, which were repeated 
 in 1887 and 188S at Governor's Island. These lectures 
 formed the basis of his took upon "First Aid in Illness 
 and Injury," which, since its pul)lication in 1893, has 
 had the remarkable history of nine editions in America 
 and one in Great Britain. He also devoted much atten- 
 tion to the training of the then n?v ly organized Hos- 
 pital Corps, and devised a system of liearer drill which 
 was issued from the press in 1888, and was the first 
 manual of Hospital Corps drill to be published in the 
 United States. While at Governor's Island in 1887-89 
 he edited for his brother, the responsible editor, the 
 "Annals of Surgery," a monthly magazine which had 
 succeeded to the "Annals of Anatomy and Surgery," 
 and which has since developed into the chief surgical 
 authority of the world. At tliis time he also became a 
 member of the editorial staff of the New York "Chris- 
 tian Advocate," having in charge the health depart- 
 ment of that journal, which he continued to direct until 
 the failure of his health in 1894. 
 
 In 1896 he was a])pointed Assistant Secretary of the 
 Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. 
 and in the following year was elected secretary an 1 
 editor, producing the volume of proceedings for that 
 year, and serving until 1899. -After an intermission of 
 two years he was. in 1901, elected permanent secre- 
 tary and editDr nf the Association of Military Sur- 
 geons, and in August (>( that year issued the fir.st num- 
 l)er of the "Journal of the Association of Military Sur- 
 geons of the United States," which, fir.st as a (|uarterly 
 and later as a monthly magazine, has been an instru- 
 ment of the greatest importance in the develo])ment of 
 military medicine and surgery in the United States. 
 
 In addition to Major Pilcher's strictly jirofessional 
 work, he has taken much interest in all that relates to 
 literature and bistorv. While but a bov he established 
 
 and edited "The Capitol" — a monthly paper issued in 
 the interests of the students of the Detroit High 
 School, then hnused in the former capitol of Michigan 
 — and in this and other publications evinced a strong 
 and early literary turn of mind. In 1889 he made a 
 card index of the Library of the Military Service In- 
 stitution, and in 1900 he supervised the preparation of 
 a similar index to the Pennsylvania State Library. His 
 work for the State of Pennsylvania resulted also in 
 the su])erb l'"ourth Series of "Pennsylvania Archives," 
 which he edited for liis friend. Dr. George lulward 
 Reed, and wliicli was published in twelve octavo vol- 
 umes, averaging a thousand pages each. In 1902 he 
 prepared a monograph on the "Seal and Arms of Penn- 
 .sylvania," which was published by the State. 
 
 His services as a teacher of the subjects to which his 
 studies have been devoted have been in frequent de- 
 mand. In 1889 be was detailed liy the War Depart- 
 ment to instruct the b'irst Brigade of the Pennsylvania 
 National Guard. In 1896 he was elected Professor of 
 Military Surgery in the Ohio Medical University, 
 where he delivered several courses of lectures, and upon 
 his change of station was honored by election as Emeri- 
 tus Professor of Military Surgery. During the same 
 years he taught military sanitation in Starling Medical 
 College. In 1897 he was elected Professor of Military 
 Surgery in the Medical Department of Creighton L^ni- 
 versity, a position which he held until his departure for 
 duty in the field in connection with the Spanish- Ameri- 
 can War. I'jion his retirement from active service his 
 ser\-ices were sought by Dickinson College, in which 
 he held the chair of anatomy and embryology in 1900, 
 and that of economics and sociology in TQOI-1903. He 
 also has been Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in 
 Dickinson School of Law since 1900. 
 
 Tie is an honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa 
 ;nid Delta Chi fraternities, and in 1902 was honored 
 by .Allegheny College with the degree of L.H.D. 
 
 He has been quick to avail himself of the opportuni- 
 ties for im])rovement and advancement afforded by con- 
 tact with his associates, and in addition to his relation 
 with the .\ssociation of Military Surgeons of the 
 I'uited St;Ue<. of which lie is permanent secretary and 
 editor, he is a member of the Military Service Institu- 
 tion of the Ignited States and of the .\rniy and Navy 
 Club of \^■a.shington ; he is a compatriot of the Sons 
 of the American Revolution and a veteran companion 
 of the Military Order of Foreign W'ars: a member of 
 the .American Medical Association and the .American 
 Medical b'.ditors' Association. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 t73 
 
 ARTHUR P. HEINZE 
 
 Arthur Philip Heinze, lawyer, capitalist, was 
 born in Brooklyn, N. Y., on December i8, 1864. His 
 father, Otto Heinze, was a merchant of considerable 
 standing in New York City. Arthur's grandfather was 
 a Lutheran clergyman, who traced his ancestry back to 
 Kaspar Aquila.who was associated with Martin Liither 
 in the latter's translation of the Bible into the German 
 language. A copy of this Bible, which was presented 
 to this ancestor by the nobles of Thuringia, is now in 
 the possession of Mr. Heinze. 
 
 Mr. Heinze's education was characterized by its 
 thoroughness. He was an industrious and persistent 
 student from the start, and lie stood exceptionally high 
 in all the grades of the public schools, where he re- 
 cei\'ed the instruction which was the foundation of his 
 later educational achievements. Soon after he had 
 completed his studies in the schools of New York he 
 proceeded to Leipsic, Germany, where he took a full 
 course in the High School of that famous educational 
 center. 
 
 Returning to the United States upon the completion 
 of these preliminary studies, IMr. Heinze entered Co- 
 lumbia College, from which institution of learning he 
 was graduated with high honors in 1885. He was 
 
 already equipped for the battle of life well beyond the 
 measure ordinarily allotted to men ; but he was not sat- 
 isfied in that regard, and accordingly returned to Leip- 
 sic, where he continued his studies for some time, and 
 afterward at Heidelberg. After a period thus spent 
 
 j in Germany and in travel on the Continent he returned 
 to his native country. While in (Germany on these 
 different occasions he took great pains to perfect him- 
 
 I self in the literature and language of his progenitors, 
 and as a result Mr. Heinze may justly claim to be a 
 German scholar of no mean acquirements. Mr. Heinze 
 had already decided upon the profession of the law, 
 and nut long after his return he entered the Law School 
 iif Cdlumbia LTniversity and was graduated in 1888. 
 He immediately entered upon the practice of his pro- 
 fession, with varying results for a time, but made his 
 first appearance in the active legal world in the law 
 offices of Wing, Shoudy and Putnam, where he re- 
 mained for several years, taking an active part in the 
 
 \ litigation of many important cases. The death of ]\Ir. 
 
 j Heinze's father, in 1891, materially changed his career. 
 The elder Heinze was possessed of considerable means, 
 and it fell to the lot of this son to settle up the affairs 
 of the estate. Upon the completion of this duty he 
 decided upon making an extended tour of the world. 
 
 j He visited many foreign lands, and returned to the 
 United States by way of the Pacific Coast. His young- 
 est brother, F. Augustus Heinze, had cast his fortunes 
 in the Western country, and was located at Butte, 
 Mont., where he had engaged in the copper mining 
 industry. Lie was not long in discovering that there 
 were great possibilities in the development of these 
 mines, and he at once proposed to his brother to join 
 him in the enterprise. The offer received a favorable 
 consideration from the younger Heinze and those with 
 whom he was associated, and resulted in the formation 
 of the Montana Ore Purchasing Company. The sub- 
 sequent o])erations of the company were attended with 
 the .most flattering results, and in a short time it ranked 
 third in the copper-producing companies of the State, 
 disbursing nmre than tweh-e hundred thousand dollars 
 in four years. 
 
 After several years of uninterrupted success, con- 
 flicting interests were developed among certain parties 
 in Boston, who, conceiving their rights infringed upon, 
 instituted a series of suits against the Purchasing Com- 
 pany, numbering in all about fifty. The interests in- 
 \oh-ed were of great magnitude, and the contest was a 
 long and bitter one, being carried through many courts, 
 but at last resulted in an unqualified victory for I\Ir. 
 Heinze and his brother and their associates. Tn this 
 litigation Mr. Heinze's legal abilities were of vast serv- 
 
'74 
 
 MEN OF .-AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ice and profit to his "company and promised to safe- 
 gtiard its interests to the end. 
 
 Prior to this Successful ending of tlie legal struggle 
 over the interests of the ore company Mr. Heinze 
 looked after and managed the financial ends of his 
 brother's copper mining and raih'oad enterprises in 
 British Columbia, where the latter had built an exten- 
 sive railroad and a smelter, and had receivel a subsidy 
 of four million acres of land from the Canadian 
 Government. This investment proved of immense 
 value, and was subsequently sold to the Canadian Pa- 
 cific Railway Company. 
 
 '■ Having spent several years of unusual activity in the • 
 Western country, Mr. Ileiiv.e detemiined to turn his 
 face east\\ ard. He accordingly transferred the imme- 
 diate supervision of his Western interests to other 
 hands and rettirned to New York City, where the old 
 firm of his father, Otto Heinze & Co., wholesale dry 
 goods' and commission riierchants, is located, and in 
 which concern he still retains a large interest. He is 
 still, however, one of the foremost men in the copper 
 niining industr}- of this country and is the possessor of 
 vast' financial resources. He is Vice-President of the 
 L^hited Copper Company, President of the /Etna In- 
 demnity Company, and a Director in the Nipper Con^ 
 snlidated Copper Company, besides holding a similar 
 position ill several banking concerns. 
 
 In his private life I\Ir. Heinze has always manifested 
 a great fondness for music, historical studies and lan- 
 guages. His proficiency as a lingtiist is remarkable, as 
 he has mastered no less than seventeen languages and 
 speaks five with perfect fluency. He has taken practi- 
 cally no part in politics, though manifesting a decided 
 interest in the various movements that have been made 
 from time to time to effect reforms in the conduct of 
 municipal affairs. To the same extent he has been out- 
 spoken in his support of all movemeri|s looking to the 
 estalilishmen.t of a sound monetary system by the Gov- 
 ernment. \\'hile in the West Mr. Heinze met and mar- 
 ried Miss Ruth Meiklejohn Noyes,the youngest daugh- 
 ter of John Noyes, one of Montana's pioneers, as well 
 as one of its most prominent citizens. He is a member 
 of numerous social organizations and clubs, including 
 the Hamilton Club, the Crescent Athletic Club, the 
 German Club, the Downtown Ass:iciation, the Silver 
 Bow Club of Butte, ]\Iont., and the Karleuhensia So- 
 ciety of Heidelberg, Germany. Mr. Heinze does not, 
 however, devote much of his time to the pleasures to 
 be found in these associations. The larger part of his 
 time is divided between his home and his large business 
 and professional duties. Among New York's many 
 successful financiers he holds a leading position, the 
 importance of which has been greatly augmented by the 
 success of recent legal contests. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 175 
 
 RVX. I'HCmXS JAAFES DUCEV 
 
 Thomas J. Ducey, Catholic priest, was bornin Ire- 
 land, February 4, 1843. ^^^ came to this country when 
 he was five years of age, tlie fortune of his family hav- 
 ing been shrunk by the calamities and sufferings of 
 social conditions. In 1859 the distinguished lawyer 
 and jurist, James T. Brady, Ijecame his guardian, and 
 he was so impressetl by the boy that he made him his 
 son by adoption. Father Ducey was educated at the 
 College of St. Francis Xavier, New York City. While 
 yet a lad, he attracted attention on every side by his 
 quick wit, pleasing address and refined manners. A 
 brilliant career was predicted for him; his guardian 
 and adopted father encouraged his fondness for the 
 play and theatre, and all actors and singers, including. 
 Booth, Forrest and Brignoli, declared he had most 
 marvelous dramatic and vocal genius and that he 
 would be a great success as a tragedian or as a tenor 
 on the operatic stage. These compliments made no 
 impression on young Ducey; though he was fond of 
 fun, and with a nature overflowing with joviality and 
 pathos, he had a very serious side to his nature, and 
 the great tenor or tragedian he was predicted to be he 
 wiped away in the serious aspiration for a higher and 
 more sacrificing life. 
 
 Mr. James T. Brady, who was contemporary with 
 Charles O'Connor, vv'as desirous that young Ducey 
 study lor the bar and succeed to him. in the profession. 
 Brady had most extraordinary .success at the bar. In 
 the great Goodyear patent cases, the Singer and 
 Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine cases, he proved 
 himself to be a man of great scientific grasp. Edward 
 N. Dickinson, the great patent lawyer, said of Brady 
 that he had more scientific knowledge of patent law 
 than a lialf-dozen of men like himself. During the 
 Ci\il War Brady was distinguished in the defense of 
 the Sa\annah privateer case, the Beale military trial 
 at Governor's Island, and the defense of ex-Presidenj; 
 Jefferson Davis. He was associated with Mr. Charles 
 O'Connor in the Davis case. Young Ducey, with every 
 show for a brilliant legal career, abandoned it all to 
 devote himself to the priesthood and the cause of hu- 
 manity. I was present ime flay at old Delmonico's, in 
 Chamber Street, when I heard the late James T. Brady 
 make this remark : "Tom insists on his determination 
 to become a priest. It is a life of great sacrifice and 
 devotion: I will not (Appose his determination, and I 
 feel that the Ijoy will make his mark in the American 
 church." 
 
 Young Ducey abandoned the study of the law and 
 prepared for the priesthood ; he entered the Theological 
 Seminary of Troy in 1864. He was ordained to the 
 priesthood in December, 1868, and appointed Assistant 
 Priest of the Church of the Nativity, Second Avenue, 
 near Second Street. The distinguished-looking and 
 charming man. Father George McCloskey, the brother 
 of the present Bishop of Louisville, was his first pastor. 
 
 Father Ducey's career in the priesthood has been 
 characterized by unusual prominence. Fie has been 
 almost constantly in the public eye; though all men 
 who know him are forced to confess he has ever shrunk 
 from eminence and always avoided the limelight. His 
 social standing from the first was eminent; it could not 
 be otherwise when he was recognized by the leaders of 
 public thought from Washington to Albany. The Gov- 
 ernors of the State, for all the years of his priestly life, 
 have looked up to him as an important factor in the 
 life of the State and the city. The national leaders in 
 Mr. Lincoln's time. Secretaries Seward and Stanton, 
 knew him as a youth in his visits to Washington with 
 Mr. Brady, and predicted a brilliant career for him. 
 Men who know Father Ducey intimately know he is 
 in no way a self-seeking man; whatever prominence 
 he has is thrust upon him. In the opening of his career 
 as a priest in New York City his temperament was 
 such that he sought friends and found them not only 
 among the young men and the people of fashion, but 
 
r76 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS IX XEIJ' YORK 
 
 in the company of the struggling and the afflicted in 
 the tenements of the city, and in the sympathy for the 
 outcast from the Tomhs to Blackwell's Island and Sing 
 Sing, and all have known his devotion and intluence 
 for the good of all men. 
 
 Father Ducey was active and zealous in the dis- 
 charge of his parochial duties, devoting freely of his 
 private means to improving the conditionsof his parish- 
 ioners. His sermons were always on living and prac- 
 tical usefulness of man to his fellow-man, and these he 
 exemplified in his own conduct. He volunteered his 
 services as Chaplain to the Tomhs prison and acted in 
 that capacity for three years, this duty being added to 
 the labors strictly pertaining to his parish. In 1871 
 and 1872 Father Ducey preached a series of sermons 
 on the necessity of religious and moral ideals in public 
 life. These sermons attracted wide attention for the 
 fearlessness with which the young priest attacked the 
 vicious practices of public men. The "Tweed Ring," 
 which w^as then in the zenith of its power, took great 
 umbrage at these strictures, and even went so far as to 
 endeavor to have Father Ducey transferred to some 
 parish outside the city. But his superior. Cardinal Mc- 
 Closkey, realized that the young priest, though bold and 
 fearless in his denunciation of political corruption, had 
 avoided all political partisanship, and had the right to 
 present moral truths as his conscience and intelligence 
 viewed them. Mr. Charles O'Connor, the great lawyer, 
 then at tlie head of the American bar, expressed his 
 
 admiration and pride at the independent and fearless 
 course of the yoimg priest on this occasion and gave 
 him his personal commendation. 
 
 In 1873 Father Ducey was transferred to St. 
 Michael's Church, and there won golden opinions for 
 his charity and sacrifice. In 1880 Cardinal JMcCloskey 
 appointed him to found the parish of St. Leo's. Here 
 for twenty-five years he has been prominently before 
 the community, and the deep interest he has taken in 
 all intellectual and moral mo\ements for the good and 
 uplifting of his fellow-man has made him a very promi- 
 nent character. He was one of the chief founders of 
 the People's Municipal League and Social Reform 
 Club. His fearless and independent course during the 
 Lexow investigation attracted the attention of the 
 whole country. His action in this matter evoked the 
 criticism of the head of the diocese, but he openly 
 and respectfully informed the late Archbishop that 
 he had a right as an American citizen to lend his 
 personality and influence to every moral movement, 
 and when the movement was in no way in violation of 
 his priestly prerogatives he intended to exercise them 
 and take the consequences. He came out the victor 
 in this matter, though his friends, both Protestant and 
 Catholic, feared he would be disciplined and suspended. 
 He is regarded as a brilliant and eloquent preacher. 
 His matter and his manner are always marked with 
 the accent of conviction and fearlessness. He is very 
 active in kindly and charitable work. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 177 
 
 BRIGADIER-GEXERAL ISAAC S. CATLIN 
 UnifCil States Army 
 
 General Isaac S. Catlin was born on the Catlin 
 homestead near Owego, N. Y., on July 8, 1835, and 
 was educated at the pubhc schools, being- graduated 
 from the Owego Academy. He early chose the law 
 as his profession, and began its study in the office of 
 Benjamin F. Tracy. He was admitted to the bar in 
 1857, and not long thereafter became the junior mem- 
 ber of Benjamin F. Tracy's law firm, under the title of 
 Tracy, Warner & Catlin, and he remained in active 
 practice until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he 
 enlisted in the Union Army in April, 1861. In the fall 
 of i860 he was elected Mayor of Owego, being the 
 youngest man up to that time who had filled that posi- 
 tion ; but ere the sun had set on the day that President 
 Lincoln issued his proclamation for seventy-five thou- 
 sand troops young Catlin had raised a company of 
 ■\'olunteers, of which he was unanimously chosen cap- 
 tain. It is claimed that this was the first full company 
 of volunteers enrolled in the North, and the claim has 
 never been seriously disputed. 
 
 General Isaac S. Catlin is descended from fighting 
 stock; his grandfather, Nathaniel Catlin, enlisted at 
 
 New Haven, Conn., in the early days of the Revolu- 
 tion of the American Colonies against the mother coun- 
 try, and served faithfully in the American Army until 
 the cause of the .American patriots was gained and the 
 independence of the Colonies was granted. His ma- 
 ternal great-grandfather, Garrett Brodhead, who was 
 living at Stroudsburg, Pa., at the time of the American 
 outbreak against Great Britain, served as an officer 
 with the Pennsylvania troops, and his great-uncle. Gen- 
 eral Daniel Brodhead, of Milford, Pa., attained dis- 
 tinction by his military service directly under General 
 Washington himself, who gave to General Brodhead 
 the command of the Department of the Delaware, an 
 extremely important post, and an evidence of the con- 
 fidence in the trustworthiness and military ability of 
 General Brodhead which won for its recipient a fore- 
 most place among the American soldiers of the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 With such a military ancestry as this, it is no won- 
 der young Catlin's blood was fired when "Father 
 Abraham" issued his call for troops at the outbreak of 
 the Civil War. 
 
 Captain Catlin's company of recruits was assigned to 
 General Frederick Townsend's Third Regiment of New 
 York Volunteers and was ordered to the scene of mili- 
 tary activities at the front, where it bore itself with 
 such gallantry that it won the encomiums of its com- 
 manding general, and after the conclusion of the battle 
 of Big Bethel, General Townsend wrote that "there 
 was no braver officer on that field than Captain Catlin." 
 
 In July, 1862, Captain Catlin was appointed Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Ninth Regi- 
 ment of New York Volunteers, and two years later. 
 June, 1864, he became its Colonel and commanded it 
 in most of the battles from the Wilderness to the fall 
 of Petersburg', when he was appointed President of a 
 general court-martial in Washington City, where he 
 served until the conclusion of the Civil War, June, 
 1865, when he was mustered out with his regiment. 
 
 At various times during the progress of hostilities 
 General Catlin received tokens of approval from his 
 superior officers, and he also received three brevet com- 
 missions for bravery in the field — the thing always 
 most longed for and, when attained, most dearly cher- 
 ished in the true soldier's heart — and afterward a medal 
 of honor for most distinguished gallantry on the field. 
 
 When the army had disbanded General Catlin re- 
 turned to his home in the State of New York, and the 
 industry, intelligence and skill that had won for him 
 renown in the arts of war being again diverted to the 
 paths of peace, again won for him a leading place 
 among his fellows, and at the next election, in the fall 
 
MBX OF AFF.IIRS IX XEW YORK 
 
 of 1865, he was elected District Attorney for Tioga 
 Coiintv, an ofifice wliicli he filled with the highest dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 In 1870 General Catlin was placed upon the retired 
 list of the United States Army as Colonel of infantry, 
 having previously heen commissioned as Major-General 
 by brevet. In 1871, having moved to Brooklyn and 
 formed a law partnership with Benjamin F. Tracy in 
 the meantime, he became assistant to the United States 
 District .Attorney for the Eastern District of New 
 York, and in 1877 he was elected District Attorney of 
 Kings County, New York. The vigor and the skill 
 with which he conducted the duties of the office of Dis- 
 trict Attorney won for him a strong following in 
 Brooklyn, and three years later he was re-elected for a 
 second term. 
 
 In 1885 General Catlin was nominated for Mayor 
 of Brooklyn, but there was a three-cornered fight and 
 a serious defection in the Republican party in favor of 
 the independent candidacy of General John B. \\'ood- 
 ward, and General Catlin was defeated by this defec- 
 tion in his own party lines. But the canvass be con- 
 ducted that year was one of the most aggressive and 
 picturesfjue ever seen in the City of Churches. In 1893 
 he was nominated for Congress, but declined the nomi- 
 nation, and in 1896 he was offered the nomination for 
 Lieutenant-Governor on the Democratic ticket. 
 
 Although General Catlin acted as prosecuting officer 
 for ten years in his capacity of District Attorney, he 
 also defended many persons accused of crime, includ- 
 ing those charged with murder in the first and second 
 degrees. He was also counsel of the Sheriff of Kings 
 County for nine years. By his brothers-in-arms Gen- 
 eral Catlin was six times chosen Grand Marshal of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic, and he was selected by 
 the Mayor and Common Council to command the Co- 
 
 lumbian parade, which was reviewed by President 
 Cleveland. 
 
 At the Centennial celebration on July 4, 1876, he 
 was chosen by the Mayor and Common Council of the 
 city to deliver the Centennial oration at Fort Greene, 
 and the oration was afterward published by the city; 
 and in 1891, at the unveiling of the Soldiers and Sail- 
 ors' Monument at Owego on the Fourth of July, on 
 which occasion Senator Thomas C. Piatt presided and 
 General Benjamin F. Tracy made a speech remarkable 
 for the heights of oratory to which it rose. General 
 Catlin deli\ered an address tliat evoked the highest 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 During the .Spanish-.\merican War and the follow- 
 ing guerrilla warfare in the Philippines (ieneral Catlin 
 took a prominent part in public affairs, visiting the 
 Island of Cuba in the winter and spring of 1899 and 
 making a tri]) to the Philippines in December. 1900, 
 remaining until April. 1901. His observations on those 
 two trips were widely published in various jonrnals 
 throughout the country, for the General wields a 
 trenchant pen. He had an added interest in these trips, 
 in that his son. G. de G. Catlin, is a First Lieutenant in 
 the Second United States Infantry and served gallantly 
 in Cuba and the Philippines. 
 
 After a military career to which the overworked ad- 
 jective ".strenuous" may be justly applied — his right 
 leg was shattered by a shell in the awful carnag'e at 
 Petersburg and had to be amputated — after the tur- 
 moils of an unusually active and successful political 
 career and the keen intellectual activities of one of the 
 foremost practitioners of the law of his day and gen- 
 eration, General Catlin n(nv spends most of his time 
 enjoying country life at "Meadowficid," the Catlin 
 home.stead in Tioga County, although he still retains 
 liis legal residence in the borough of Brooklyn. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 179 
 
 JAMES STILLMAN 
 
 James Stillman, financier, although reared in the 
 North and practically a New Yorker from boyhood, is 
 a Texan by birth, his parents being temporary resi- 
 dents of Brownsville, Texas, where he first saw the 
 light of day, on June 9, 1850. His ancestral lines, 
 however, are traceable to George Stillman, who was 
 born in London, England, in 1654, and, when a com- 
 paratively young man, came to America and settled 
 in Hadley, Mass., removing subsequently, however, to 
 \\''ethersfield. Conn. His ancestor on the maternal side 
 was John Goodrich, of Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, 
 England, who settled in Wethersfiekl in 1640. ]Mr. Still- 
 man's great-grandfathers fought on the side of the 
 patriots in the War for Independence. His father was 
 Charles Stillman, a man of uncommon business sagac- 
 ity and force of character, who acquired a fortune in 
 mercantile pursuits and increased it by judicious invest- 
 ments in railroad properties and in real estate, princi- 
 pally in the South. 
 
 A good portion of James Stillman's ymith was si)ent 
 in Hartford, Conn., and he was educated at a private 
 school at Sing Sing, N. Y. After completing his 
 studies, having a thorough practical education, he en- 
 tered the employ of Smith & Dunning, a leading firm 
 
 of cotton commission merchants in New York, and 
 he had scarcely attained his majority when he became 
 a member of the firm of Smith, Woodward & Still- 
 man, succeeding to the business of the older house. 
 From the outset of his career Mr. Stillman displayed 
 a remarkable aptness for business. His excellent judg- 
 ment, combined with a restless energy and a readiness 
 to grasp opportunities, speedily won the respect and 
 admiration of his business associates, and in a short 
 time obtained for him an influential position in local 
 commercial circles. In 1873 ^'^^ veteran merchant, Mr. 
 
 I Smith, retired, and Mr. Stillman and William Wood- 
 ward, a brother of James T. Wimdward, President of 
 the Hanover National Bank, continued the business 
 under the firm name of ^Voodward & Stillman, a name 
 which it continued to bear after ]\Ir. \\'oodward's 
 death. 
 
 Business qualities developed by Mr. Stillman made 
 him a welcome and valued adviser in enterprises of 
 various kinds where shrewd judgment and far-seeing 
 business tact were required. Early in his career he 
 won the esteem and confidence of Moses Taylor, the 
 merchant and banker, and an earnest and lasting friend- 
 ship between the two men was the result. Mr. Still- 
 man was associated with the sagacious millionaire in 
 several projects of considerable magnitude, including 
 the construction of the Houston and Texas Central 
 Railroad. Through Mr. Taylor he also became inter- 
 ested in many important corporations, and eventually 
 he liecame a recognized factor in all of the principal 
 interests identified with the great Moses Taylor estate. 
 In November, 1891, Mr. Stillman succeeded Percy 
 R. Pyne, Moses Taylor's son-in-law, as President of 
 
 j the National City Bank, and it has been under his pro- 
 
 [ gressive administration that the business of this bank 
 has attained its present enormous proportions. Al- 
 though its original capital of one million dollars has 
 not been increased, the deposits have attained greater 
 proportions than that of any other bank in the United 
 States. For an institution engaged in a general mer- 
 
 ; cantile and commercial business to have over one hun- 
 dred million dollars on deposit is indeed remarkable. A 
 brief reference to the origin and history of this great- 
 est of financial institutions is not inappropriate in con- 
 nection with a sketch of its present able manager. The 
 original charter of the bank was granted in 1812, and 
 it continued to do business without change until 1865, 
 when it was reorganized as a national bank, with 
 ^.[oses Taylor as President. Mr. Taylor was connected 
 with the bank as a Director for fifty-five years and was 
 its President for twenty-six years. He gave the insti- 
 tution a world-wide reputation for conservatism and 
 
i8o 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS L\ XFir YORK 
 
 solidity. In the same year in wliich the bank was 
 chartered it purchased from the Bank of the United 
 States, whose charter had expired the year before, its 
 banking house on the present site of the City Bank and 
 the house on Pine Street in the rear; with this property 
 went a banking house in Greenwich Village, as it 
 was then called, on Hammond Street. It is interesting 
 to note that Hammond Street was the first one in the 
 city to be lighted by gas, and the residents were in the 
 habit of making excursions to that neighborhood to 
 see the wonderful illuminant. 
 
 Aside from being President of the City Bank, Mr. 
 Stillman is also President of the Second National Bank 
 and is connected as an officer or director with many 
 other moneyed institutions, railroads, banks and indus- 
 trial corporations, among them being the Amalgamated 
 Copper Company, the Allis-Chalmers Company, the 
 American Surety Company, the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad Company, the Bowery Savings Bank, the 
 Chicago and Alton, the Chicago and Northwestern, the 
 Chicago, Burlington and Ouincy, the Lackawanna, the 
 Northern Pacific, the Southern Pacific and the Union 
 Pacific Railway companies, the Consolidated Gas Com- 
 pany, the Hanover National Bank, the Lawyers' Title 
 Insurance Company, the Northern Securities Company, 
 
 the Western Union Telegraph Company, and a num- 
 ber of other institutions of less importance. 
 
 By his connection with these various interests it can 
 be readily understood that Mr. Stillman to-day is the 
 most powerful man in New York's financial field. In 
 Wall Street he is regarded by all as the dominant fac- 
 tor. The personality of Mr. Stillman is pleasing. He 
 is young, measured by his power and the \Vall Street 
 standard. .Nnd that his social qualities and duties are 
 not neglected is evidenced by the fact that he is a mem- 
 ber of such clubs as the Union, the Metropolitan, the 
 Century, the Union League, the Manhattan ;inil the 
 I\eform. He is an enthusiastic yachtsman and the 
 owner of a splendid craft of fine racing qualities, but 
 which he uses mostly for pleasure voyages. He is a 
 member of the New York Yacht Club, the Seawan- 
 haka-Corinthian Yacht Club, the Eastern Yacht Club, 
 the St. Augustine Yacht Club, the Jekyl Island Club, the 
 Storm King Club, the New York Historical Society 
 and the Metropolitan Club of Washington. Mr. Still- 
 man is also a great lover of horses, and is the owner 
 of some of the finest blooded stock in the country. He 
 has a fine farm at Cornwall-on-Hudson, where he takes 
 an intelligent interest in the raising of fine cattle and 
 blooded horses. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 i8i 
 
 CHARLES ADOLPHUS SCHIEREN 
 
 Charles Adolphus Schieren, merchant, was born 
 in Diisseldorf, Rhenish Prussia, February 28, 1842. 
 In 1856, when he was fourteen years of age, he emi- 
 grated with his parents to this country. He had re- 
 ceived an admirable public-school education in Ger- 
 many for one of his age, and decided at once upon his 
 arrival in America to begin the work of gaining his 
 own livelihood. He accordingly learned the cigar- 
 maker's trade, and afterward assisted his father in the 
 business in Brooklyn. In 1864 he entered the service 
 of Philip B". Pasquay as a clerk in his leather belting 
 manufactory in New York. Here he remained for a 
 numlier of years, giving the closest attention to busi- 
 ness, and in time becoming the manager of the estab- 
 lishment. In 1868, having accumulated a capital of 
 two thousand dollars, he decided to enter into business 
 on his own account, and, although it was a very mod- 
 est beginning, he promptly met all his engagements 
 and gradually built up a large and profitable business. 
 The concern now occupies an enviable position in the 
 leather belting trade, ranking as one of the largest 
 manufactories of its kind in the world. In 1882 Jacob 
 R. Stine and Fred A. M. Burrell, two faithful em- 
 ployees, were given an interest in the concern, the for- 
 
 mer retiring five years later. As the business grew 
 
 under the safe and skilful management of Mr. Schieren. 
 it was found expedient to broaden its scope, and ac- 
 cordingly branch, liouses were established in Philadel- 
 phia, Boston and Chicago, and large tanneries were 
 purchased and carried on in Brooklyn, Adamsburg, 
 Pa., and Bristol, Tenn. Mr. Schieren has always given 
 the closest attention to the details in the manufacture 
 of belting, and has thus been able to discover such de- 
 fects as existed in the process and to obviate them in 
 many instances liy impro\-ements of his own devising. 
 He was quick to avail, himself of the use of electricity 
 as a motor and a light-giving agent, and in other ways 
 in the development of his products. For use in elec-' 
 trical machinery he invented an electrical belt, in which 
 a coating of composition was spread over the belt to 
 preserve the leather. This invention was followed by 
 is "American joint leather link belt," in which small 
 nks of leather are strung on steel pins and joined to- 
 gether liy an ingenious device. These were followed 
 liy the producti: n of an ingenious perforated electric 
 elt, to prevent the formation of what are known in the 
 trade as air cushions. These useful inventions proved 
 to be of the utmost advantage in the use of swift- 
 running electrical machinery, and were large factors 
 in bringing Mr. Schieren into a leading position in the 
 leather iielting trade. His thorough grasp of the busi- 
 ness is shown in the several papers written by him on 
 the subject, entitled "The Use and Abuse of Belting," 
 "Transmission of Power by Belt," "The History of 
 Leather Belting," and "From the Tannery to the Dy- 
 namo," these papers having been read and discussed 
 l)efore the National Electric Lighting Association and 
 the Technical Society of New York. 
 
 Although the scene of ]\Ir. Schieren's entire business 
 career has been in New York, in what is familiarly 
 known in the leather trade as "The Swamp," his resi- 
 dence for the entire period has been in Brooklyn, and 
 it is with that city that his social and political interests 
 are closely identified. In politics he has always been 
 a pronounced Repulilican, and has always manifested 
 the deepest interest in the success of his party. While 
 this is true in a national sense, it is equally true that 
 in the selection of municipal oflicers he has always 
 thrown the weight of his large influence in favor of a 
 pure government, within bis party's lines, if possible, 
 but if not to be thus attained, then by a combination 
 with those of another political faith who were equally 
 non-partisan where local interests alone were to be con- 
 sidered. For three years he was the President of the 
 ^'oung Republican Club of Brooklyn. He early iden- 
 tified himself in the project to reorganize the Republi- 
 
[82 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 can party in Kings County ])rior to 1893, and the plan 
 of reorganization submitted Ijy him was adopted by the 
 regular organization. It was in one of the Brooklyn 
 Mayoralty campaigns that he showed most conclusively 
 his devotion to his party and the city he loves so well. 
 \Mien it was found to be necessary that some man with 
 a firm hand and of good executive ability should take 
 the helm in the management of the canvass, he turned 
 his big business in Xew York over to other hands and 
 devoted his entire time until election day to the man- 
 agement of the campaign. This zeal and activity was 
 the natural result of his early training in the ranks of 
 his party. In i860, when he was but eighteen years of 
 age, and three years before he could cast his first vote, 
 he was an active member of the Wide Awakes, the pio- 
 neers of torchlight campaigns, that added so much to 
 the picturesqueness of the work done in Ijehalf of 
 Abraham Lincoln. During all that autumn young 
 Schieren marched with "the boys," his enthusiasm not 
 quenched but rather heightened by the labor and sacri- 
 fices involved, not infrequently atterded by personal 
 danger, as party feeling ran so liigh at that time that 
 the Wide Awakes were on nmre than one occasion 
 assaulted by the rougher element in the party opposed 
 to them. In one such instance liis organization was 
 able to i)nitect Horace (Ircelcy fnnn rough handling 
 by a mob which undertook to jjrevent him from deliver- 
 ing an address in Brooklyn. Trained in such a school, 
 it is not surprising that he is the possessor of so much 
 zeal in his nmre mature vcars. It was this zeal and his 
 
 well-known efforts in behalf of a clean municipal ad- 
 ministration that brought him the nomination of 
 Mayor of Brooklyn in 1893. ^^ ^'^'^^ elected by a very 
 large majority, and his entire administration was char- 
 acterized by a wise and conservative management of 
 the city's afl^airs. Although earnestly solicited, he de- 
 clined a renomination. 
 
 Mr. Schieren has taken jiart in e\'er)- important re- 
 fiirm mo\-ement in the city of his ad<ii)tion. and is par- 
 ticularly active in matters pertaining to the interests 
 of the Lutheran Church in America, in most of whose 
 public movements he has taken a prominent part. Thus 
 he was actively concerned in the erection of the beauti- 
 ful bronze statue of Martin Luther at Washington, 
 D. C, while the new Lutheran college buildings at 
 Gettysburg, Pa. (the Penn.sylvania College), owes 
 much to his earnest interest and encouragement. He 
 has for many years served as a trustee of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association and of the Sunday-School 
 L^nion in Brooklyn, and also as a director in the Union 
 for Christian Work and in the Society for the Preven- 
 tion of Cruelty to Children. He was a member of the 
 committee appointed for the erectii)n of a statue of 
 Henry Ward Beecher, and of that of J. S. T. Strana- 
 han, and also i>f the cummittee appointed f(ir tlie erec- 
 tion of a new building for the Y. mng Women's Chris- 
 tian Association. He has always taken a deep interest 
 in our export trade, and was recently chosen as tem- 
 porary chairman of the National Consular Reform 
 Convention which met in Washington. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 183 
 
 ABRAM JESSE DITTENHOEFER 
 
 Adram Jesse Dittenhoefer, lawyer, jurist, was 
 bom in South Carolina, March 17, 1835. His parents 
 moved to New York four _\ears later, and his father 
 engaged in mercantile pursuits, in which he was quite 
 successful. He was very popular among the German 
 element of New York on account of his kind and gen- 
 erous disposition, and it is said of him that it was 
 through his friendship and kindly interest that many 
 young men got their start in life. 
 
 Young Dittenhoefer acquired a good preparatory 
 education in the public schools and entered Columbia 
 College. At college he was diligent in his studies and 
 almost ahvays occupied a leading position in his classes. 
 He received, invariably, the first prizes in Latin and 
 Greek, and displayed such proficiency in these branches 
 that the distinguished professor, Charles Anthon, was 
 in the habit of referring to him as the "Ultima Thule" 
 of his class. He w?as graduated with the highest hon- 
 ors in the class of 1856. After a thorough course of 
 legal training he was admitted to the bar, at the age 
 of tw^enty-one, and at once commanded attention by his 
 manifest ability and made rapid progress. He early 
 evinced an active interest in politics, and was the Re- 
 publican candidate for Justice of the City Court. He 
 
 was not successful in his candidacy, owing to the large 
 Democratic ascendency, but several years later he was 
 appointed by Governor Fenton to fill the vacancy in 
 the same court caused by the death of Judge Florence 
 McCarthy, and gave his entire salary as Judge to the 
 widow of Judge McCarthy, wlm had been left without 
 any considerable means. L'pon the expiratirm of his 
 term Judge Dittenhoefer declined the nomination to 
 succeed himself and returned to his pri\ate practice. 
 While on the bench he was disting-uished for his sound 
 reasonings and impartial rulings. 
 
 Though of Southern birth. Judge Dittenhoefer's 
 earliest political opinions were formed at a period when 
 the country was in the throes of a great discussion on 
 the slavery question, and he early espoused the cause 
 of the Republican party and cast his vote in i860 for 
 Abraham Lincoln, with whom he was on terms of 
 friendship. He was active in the councils of his party, 
 and was particularly influential among the German 
 voters. A public speaker of commanding ability, his 
 services in the political campaigns were always eagerly 
 sought by the party managers. He was made chair- 
 man of the German Republican Central Committee, a 
 position w hich he occupied for twelve years. 
 
 While there is no branch of law in which Mr. Dit- 
 tenhoefer has not been a conspicuous figure, he has 
 been especially prominent in litigation relating to the 
 stage, and is an authority in that branch of the law. 
 He procured the incorporation of what is known as 
 the Actors' Fund, and has for many years acted as its 
 counsel, without compensation. One of the most nota- 
 ble cases he was ever engaged in w'as one involving the 
 rights of an extradited American citizen. For nearly 
 fifty years a controversy had raged between the United 
 States and England as to the right to try a person for 
 a different crime than the one for wdiich he was extra- 
 dited. England insisted that this could not be done, 
 while the United States authorities contended that such 
 a right existed. A case was finally presented which 
 was to settle this vexed question for all time. The 
 case was against one Rauscher, and Judge Ditten- 
 hoefer, appearing for the defendant, who was extra- 
 dited for murder on the high seas, but was subsequently 
 tried and convicted for cruel and inhuman punishment 
 of a seaman, moved for a dismissal of the later charge 
 
 i on the ground that the prisoner w-as not extradited 
 therefor, but for another offense. The court before 
 which the case was first tried decided against his con- 
 tention, but the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 on an appeal taken by him, reversed the decision of the 
 lower court, and decided that Rauscher could be tried 
 
 1 only for the crime for which he had been extradited. 
 
t84 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 This decision attracted wide attention, and lias become 
 of international importance, the principle having been 
 embodied in the extradition treaties existing between 
 the United States and all foreign countries with which 
 we have such treaties. It is interesting to note in con- 
 nection with this case that Judge Dittenhoefer was 
 originally assigned by the court to look after the inter- 
 ests of Rauscher, who was a poor man, the mate of an 
 American vessel, and the Judge became so interested in 
 the important questions of law involved that he con- 
 sented to carry on the case to its final termination with- 
 out compensation from any source. 
 
 Judge Dittenhoefer is a specialist in the law relating 
 to excise matters, and has handled some notable cases 
 in that line, particularly those growing out of the ad- 
 ministration of the old Excise Board. He is also well 
 versed in the laws governing financial institutions and 
 is counsel for several large insurance c<)m])anies. He 
 holds a like relation to the Lincnln National Bank, the 
 Franklin National Bank and the Mercantile Credit 
 Guarantee Company. Some years ago he was counsel 
 for the bankers and newspaper men who were indicted 
 in Washington for refusing to answer the questions 
 put to them by the committee of the United States Sen- 
 ate appointed to investigate the sugar scandal; recently 
 he has been counsel in the criminal prosecution of the 
 parties indicted in the importation of J'lpanese silks. 
 and gained ciuispicunus success in defeating the appli- 
 cation made by the heirs of Richard Wagner to enjoin 
 the Metropolitan Opera House from producing "Par- 
 
 sifal." He has at times been retained in important 
 criminal cases, and in these he has displayed wonderful 
 reasoning powers and a rare gift for analyzing testi- 
 mony. As an advocate he stands pre-eminent, and his 
 addresses before the court or jury are characterized 
 by their clarity, force and keen insig'ht into human 
 affairs. 
 
 In his private life Judge Dittenhoefer is one of the 
 most genial and companionable of men. He is fond of 
 amusement, and it follows that he is a frequent attend- 
 ant at the theatres. He is an entertainer of no mean 
 sort on his own account, and is a willing contributor 
 to the pleasure of others. As illustrative of this phase 
 of the Judge's character, an amusing incident is related 
 as having occurred on one of his many trips to Europe. 
 To while away the tediousness of the voyage a mock 
 court was instituted for the trial of Alark Twain on the 
 charge of being the most unconscionable liar in the 
 world. Judge Dittenhoefer presided at the trial, and 
 ; the jury consisted of twelve Yale students. The trial 
 was replete with sallies of wit between the Judge, the 
 ' counsel and the prisoner, who was duly convicted. The 
 sentence of the court was that the culprit should be 
 compelled to read his own works three hours each day 
 until the vessel arrived at Bremen. The severity of the 
 sentence was attested by the fact that Twain fell in a 
 swoon upon hearing it pronounced. A pardon was 
 granted on condition that the prisoner proceed to Ger- 
 manv and change his name to the German form — -Bis- 
 Mark. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 tSs 
 
 J. EDWARD SIMMONS 
 
 J. Edward Simmons is one of the most prominenr 
 and highly esteemed men in the business circles of 
 Greater New York. He was born in the city of Troy. 
 N. Y., in 1841, and spent the early years of his life in 
 that city. He is descended from the Dutch, his pater- 
 nal ancestor having come from Holland about one hun- 
 dred and fifty years ago. His maternal ancestry runs 
 back to an old New Hampshire family, and both sides 
 were well represented in the struggle for American 
 independence. Mr. Simmons did not begin life as a 
 poor boy. He was the son of a prosperous merchant, 
 whose standing was high and of long duration, and as 
 a lad he had more than usual educational facilities. 
 After acquitting himself creditably in the public schools 
 and at the academy in his native town he supplemented 
 these studies by a three years' course at a well-known 
 boarding school at Sand Lake. From there he entered 
 Williams College, from which he was graduated with 
 the degree of Bachelor of Arts, after a four years" 
 course, and later he received the degree of Bachelor of 
 Laws from the same institution. Upon the completion 
 of his collegiate course he began the study of law at 
 the Albany Law School. After a full course he was 
 admitted to the bar and began the practice of his pro- 
 
 fession in his native city. Here he continued for four 
 or five years. He then decided to abandon the field 
 of law and enter upon a mercantile career. He accord- 
 ingly associated himself with his father in the whole- 
 sale grocery business, and rapidly acquired a knowl- 
 edge of the business in all its details. His aptitude for 
 an active commercial life was shown from the first, and 
 he soon took high rank among the active business men 
 i)f his community. As he advanced in commercialknowl- 
 edge, however, he became desirous of occupying a 
 broader field. Although conducting an unusually pros- 
 perous business at this time in Troy, he decided to close 
 his career there and remove to New York. In 1867 he 
 entered Wall Street and became a member of a con- 
 
 j servative old commission house in that financial center. 
 The zeal with which he entered this new field is attested 
 by the fact that it took him just five years to work 
 himself into an invalid, and the doctors drove him 
 away from the long office hours that had overtaxed a 
 physique amply qualified for extraordinary wear and 
 tear. Many complain of o\-crwork ; few die of it ; but 
 Mr. Simmons had played close to the limit, and at 
 thirty-one he was almost a physical wreck. lint he 
 rested only for a year, when he was back into the 
 hurly-burly of the Stock Exchange district, and there 
 he has been a prominent factor ever since. 
 
 In 1884 there was a panic in Wall Street, when for 
 a time it seemed as if coiisequences woukl be destruc- 
 tive far beyond Stock Exchange limits. In that year 
 the Marine Bank, one of the leading financial institu- 
 tions in New York, had been forced to suspend pay- 
 ment, and the memorable failure of Grant & Ward 
 startled the whole country. The New York Stock Ex- 
 change stood benumbed, till, of a sudden, the failure 
 of its own President caused still greater excitement, 
 and a sweeping panic ensued. A suspension of the 
 Stock Exchange was seriously considered by its mem- 
 
 ; bers, and conservative men whispered with one an- 
 other of greater perils yet to come. The greatest want 
 was a leader for the Stock Exchange. J. Edward Sim- 
 mons was chosen. Everywhere grew alarm and dis- 
 tnist, but the Exchange survived. Out of its distress 
 
 j its new leader brought it, stronger than it had ever 
 been in its history, and the eleven hundred brokers who 
 made up the membership of Wall Street's great finan- 
 cial institution gave to President Simmons a re-election 
 by a vote unparalleled in its history, and again he was 
 elected, and would have been chosen for the fourth 
 time if his consent could have been obtained. His 
 health having again become impaired by his untiring 
 labors, he spent a year in travel abroad, with beneficial 
 results. 
 
1 86 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS IN XEIV YORK 
 
 In 1888 Mr. Simmons was chosen President of the 
 Fonrth National Bank, one of tlic most sulistantial 
 financial institutions of the country, and he has held 
 the position continuously to the jiresent time. In his 
 hanking career he has made an enviahle record. He 
 has never failed to keep a contract, has never failed 
 to meet every financial obligation, and no claim against 
 him has ever been the subject of litigation. An ardent 
 Democrat of the old school, he has taken an active part 
 in the larger politics of the day, especially in national 
 contests, hut he has persistently refused, though fre- 
 quently urged, to hold any political ofiice. He has. 
 however, held important trusts of a non-political char- 
 acter to which no emoluments are attached. He served 
 as Commissioner of Common Schools, and in 1886 was 
 chosen President of the Board of Education, in which 
 capacity he sened for five consecutive terms. Many 
 beneficial changes were made in the school system dur- 
 ing his incumbency, and in 1888, mainly through his 
 influence, the Legislature i)assed a hill conferring col- 
 legiate rank and power upon the New York Normal 
 College. He also took the deepest interest in promot- 
 ing the success and influence of the College of New 
 York. During his absence in Europe his name was 
 strongly advocated liy the business men of the city for 
 the office of Mayor, but he declined the intended honor. 
 He is President of the New \nrk Infant Asylum, one 
 
 of the largest charities of the city; Governor of the 
 New York Hospital, and A'ice-President of the Cham- 
 ber of Commerce. In line with his settled purpose not 
 to accept a political office, he declined the position of 
 Collector of the Port of New York, tendered to him 
 by J^resident Cleveland in 1883. 
 
 Mr. Simmons has for many years been an active 
 member of the Masonic fraternity, holding many prom- 
 inent positions in the order, and in 1883 he was chosen 
 Grand Master for the State of New York. In 1885 he 
 was advanced to the highest degree known to the 
 order — the thirl}--third degree. His social position is 
 indicated by his membership in some of the most ex- 
 clusive clubs, including the Manhattan, Riding, Metro- 
 politan, Players', University, Lawyers' and New York 
 .Athletic. He is also a member of the St. Nicholas 
 Society, the New England Society and of the Williams 
 Alumni Association. He was married to Julia, daugh- 
 ter of Mr. George Greer, of New York City. Besides 
 his city residence, he is the possessor of a charming 
 summer home near Lake George, known as the "Stag's 
 Head," where his seasons of leisure are passed. 
 
 /V man of serious aims, shrewd in business, broad 
 in views, cherishing generous ideals, entertaining in 
 society, conscious of the dignity of life — such are the 
 traits which stand out conspicuously in the character 
 of Mr. Simmons. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 187 
 
 JACOB RUPPERT, JR. 
 
 Jacob Ruppf.rt, Jr., !jre\ver, manufacturer, was 
 Ijorn in Xew York City, August 17, 1867, and was 
 educated in the pulalic schools and in the Cohimbia 
 Grammar School. His father had planned for him a 
 career as mining and civil engineer, and at eighteen 
 young Ruppert had passed the entrance examinations 
 of the Columbia School of Mines, but afterward aban- 
 doned his plans and determined to take up the business 
 in which his father had been engaged before him. He 
 accordingly entered his father's brewery as an humble 
 employee, and with the fixed purpose of learning the 
 business to the minutest details. He began literally 
 on the ground floor, and the first duty he learned to 
 perform was that of washing the returned kegs. At 
 this he ser^•ed a regular apprenticeship, as he did in 
 e\-ery other branch of the immense estaljlishment. In 
 four years he had passed through all the grades, and 
 was made superintendent in 1889. So well equipped 
 was he in a thorough practical knowledge of the busi- 
 ness that his management was an assured success from 
 the start, and the business of the concern has been 
 greatly extended under his intelligent direction. 
 
 Possessed of great wealth, with a warm, generous 
 nature, it was natural that ^Ir. Ruppert should become 
 
 a prominent figure in social and political life. His first 
 step in this direction was when, as a very young man, 
 he became a private in the Seventh Regiment, that 
 Drganization which has graduated from its ranks so 
 many men d.istinguished in military and civil life. He 
 had a genius ior military affairs, and rapidly accjuired 
 proficiency in drill and tactics. He very early received 
 promotion, and in 1889 Governor Hill appointed him 
 on his military staff, with the rank of Colonel and aide- 
 de-camp. Upon Governor Flower's accession he ad- 
 \-anced him to the senior rank on the staff', and he took' 
 ;i [jroniinent ])art in the military display attending the 
 Columbian celebrations, delivering the address of ac- 
 ceptance of the Columbia Monument for the State of 
 New York. He also took a jjrominent part in the 
 ceremonies attending the ii;iauguration of President 
 Cleveland. 
 
 Following- in the footsteps of his honored father. 
 Colonel Ruppert affiliated himself with Tammany Hall. 
 In doing this he had not only followed the example set 
 him by the elder Ruppert, but had apparently followed 
 the advice of Clark Howell before it was given — that 
 all New York Democrats ought to join Tammany. 
 He became almost at once an active member of the 
 organization, and in time assumed the leadership of his 
 district. Fie had always been an ardent worker in 
 every municipal campaign, and in that of 1897 he was 
 selected by Tammany as its cand.idate for the office of 
 President of the Board of Aldermen, but he declined 
 the nomination. The story of how he came to be a can- 
 didate for Congress is quite interesting. A visitor to 
 his office asked incidentally who was to be the Con- 
 gressional candidate in that district. Colonel Ruppert 
 was unable to give an answer, but he passed the in- 
 quiry along over the telephone to Mr. Croker at the 
 Democratic Club, \\ho in a few moments directed the 
 reph' : "Well, tell him we'd like to lia\'e him take it." 
 Colonel Ruppert avers that beyond his notification to 
 
 [ Mr. Croker that he would accept, and the forwarding 
 of his campaign contribution, that was all he knew 
 about running for Congress. He served during the 
 
 ' Fifty-sixth Congress, but declined a renomination, the 
 duties of a member and a life at the capital not being 
 in accordance \\ ith his tastes and inclinations. Not- 
 withstanding his distaste for legislative duties, he was 
 faithful in his attendance upon all of the sessions while 
 a member, and performed all the work assigned to him 
 
 I on committees with the same energy and thoroughness 
 that have characterized him through all his life in 
 
 j everything that he undertakes to do. He was attentive 
 to the calls made up him by his constituents, and no 
 labor was considered too hard, if it was found neces- 
 
.1/£.V OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 sary to protect tlieir interests. Since his retirement 
 from Congress he has given his entire time to the 
 management of his business interests, which are not 
 confined to the famous brewery. He has large invest- 
 ments in the .Astoria Silk Company, of which he is 
 President, and the De La Vergne Ice Company, of 
 wliich he is a Director. He is also connected, as a 
 Director, with several of New York's leading financial 
 institutions. 
 
 Colonel l\U])pert is very fond of club life, as is evi- 
 denced by the numerous memberships which he holds. 
 His name is found on the rolls of the Xew York Ath- 
 letic, the ^Manhattan, the Democratic, the Suburban, 
 the Military, tlie Jockey, the Catholic, the Arion, the 
 Liederkranz. the Larchmont Yacht, the Atlantic Yacht 
 and the Xew ^'ork Yacht ckibs. In all of these his 
 face is a familiar one. and he takes the liveliest interest 
 in their transactions and a genuine delight in his inter- 
 course with his fcllow-memlers. He is always to be 
 found foremost in all sporting events of a national or 
 international character, and is an enthusiastic yachts- 
 man. He is a liberal patron of the turf, and at one 
 time had a famous string of blooded horses, which 
 was said not to have its equal in the country. His 
 stables while in existence are believed to not only have 
 
 furnished their owner with the desired amusement, 
 which was the primary object, but to have also proved 
 a profitable investment. Colonel Ruppert, though not 
 an active member of the racing fraternity, still main- 
 tains a lively interest in the breeding of horses, and he 
 is the owner of several animals of great value. Dogs 
 are also one of the Colonel's keenest delights, and he 
 has one of the finest collections of St. Bernards in the 
 country, some of which have carried ofT blue ribbons 
 at Madison Square Garden and other shows. The 
 Boston terrier is another l)reed of which he is a great 
 admirer, and of which he is the owner of se\-eral very 
 fine specimens. Next to his horses and dogs Colonel 
 Ruppert enjoys yachting, and he has for many years 
 been the owner of one of the finest yachts in New York 
 waters. But above and beyond all this wealthy young 
 clubman's enthusiasm are his books and their bindings. 
 He is a great reader, and has a valuable collection, 
 mostly of modern literature and English classics. He 
 has made a study of the covers of books as well as of 
 their contents, and he is a connoisseur in the art of bind- 
 ing. His books are rebound as soon as purchased, and 
 are in the most expensive form. He has a great fond- 
 ness for rare editions and is the possessor of a number 
 of great value. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 189 
 
 LUDWIG NISSEN 
 
 LuDWiG NissEN, merchant and capitalist, was bom 
 in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, on December 2, 1855. 
 He comes of a distinguished family and is connected 
 by ties of consanguinity with the famous Danish states- 
 man, George Nicholaus von Nissen. On the maternal 
 side he traces his descent from the old Polish nobility. 
 His mother was a direct descendant of Count von 
 Dawartzky, who, for having taken an active part in the 
 Polish revolution toward the close of the eighteenth 
 century, was exiled and his estates confiscated by the 
 Russian Government. 
 
 Mr. Nissen was educated in the public schools of his 
 native town and was at an early age appointed to a 
 position of trust in the Imperial District Court of 
 Schleswig-Holstein. The strict fomialities and petty 
 restrictions inseparable from the position chafed young 
 Nissen's spirit and he grew restive and discontented. 
 He had the consciousness of possessing abilities for 
 the accomplishment of greater things than the per- 
 functory duties connected with the handling of public 
 documents. He had a great ambition to get into the 
 commercial world, and his young vision had already 
 extended beyond the borders of his own land to the 
 shores of far-off America, where he believed the possi- 
 
 bilities were boundless. Against his expressed desire 
 to emigrate to this country his father set his face and 
 used all his persuasive powers to dissuade him from 
 carrying his desire into effect. He said to him, at 
 length : "Well, aou have my consent to go to America : 
 \ you can become a merchant if fortune favors you. But 
 before takin.g this important step consider that here 
 you have a good position, which is secure to you, while 
 there you will be absolutely friendless, perhaps penni- 
 I less." This was not encouraging talk, but the young- 
 man's anlor was not chilled by it, and after due deliber- 
 ation he decided to cast his lot in the New World. 
 Accordingly we find him landing in New York on Sep- 
 tember II, 187.2, \\ith the munificent sum of two dol- 
 lars and fifty cents in his pocket as the sum total of the 
 capital with which he was to begin his commercial 
 career. The elder Nissen had doubtless counted upon 
 his son soon tiring of his new venture, and that, becom- 
 ing disgusted and discouraged with the prospect before 
 him in America, he would write for money to take him 
 back home. But he evidently was ignorant of the true 
 character of the young man and of his dauntless reso- 
 lution. It may readily be supposed that the small capi- 
 tal was soon exhausted, even with the most careful 
 economy, and the young sprig of European nobility 
 had to scan the columns of the daily press for a chance 
 to get something to do which would keep him from 
 actual want. Through an advertisement in the Staats 
 Zeitung he was enabled to obtain humble employment. 
 It was not exactly in the direct line of his mercantile 
 ambition, but he consoled himself by recalling the old 
 Spanish proverb: "When you cannot get what you 
 like, you must like what you can get." His duties in 
 his new role were more numerous than aristocratic, 
 but he nevertheless did them thoroughly and well, char- 
 acteristics which have remained with him through life, 
 and in time he succeeded in improving his condition by 
 obtaining a subordinate place in a hotel in Dey Street. 
 Here he soon gained the favor of his employer, and 
 was in a comparatively short time promoted to the 
 position of cashier. He was now doing well, and his 
 hopes began to run high. He was careful of his earn- 
 ings and ne\er abandoned the central idea of getting 
 into commercial life. An opportunity presented itself 
 when he was oft'ered and accepted a position in a fac- 
 tory, his object being to obtain a knowledge of the 
 details against the day when he should become a manu- 
 facturer himself. His hopes were, however, doomed 
 to be disappointed for a time. The factory became in- 
 solvent, and young Nissen soon found himself in al- 
 most as bad a plight financially as when he first landed 
 in the countrv. His condition would have been dis- 
 
I go 
 
 MiSX 01' AI-1-AIRS L\ NIiW YORK 
 
 couragir.g to one possessed of less amI)ition and deter- 
 mination. He had made some small business ven- 
 tures, and these hail enabled him tu show that he 
 possessed integrity and character, and had brought him 
 valuable friends. One of these placed at his disposal 
 five hundred dollars with which to purchase a half- 
 interest in a restaurant. He eventually became the sole 
 owner of the business and was for a time quite pros- 
 perous. While thus engaged he made a venture in the 
 wine business, I)Ut through the dishonesty of an un- 
 scrupulous partner he lost not only all his investments. 
 but all his accumulations besides. Thus for the third 
 time he found himself in possession of nothing but an 
 exuberant flow of spirits and the indomitable deter- 
 mination to try again. The opportunity came when he 
 was oiTered a partnership with a Mr. Schilling in the 
 diamond-.setting and jewelry business, under the firm 
 name of Schilling & Nissen. Here, at last, he found 
 himself in his true element. The chance had come for 
 him to display his mercantile instincts, and he was not 
 long in demonstrating that he possessed all of them 
 in a large measure. He entered into the new field with 
 great zeal, and in time displayed such ability as sales- 
 man, purchaser and business manager that as a final 
 outcome the firm name was transpo.sed tti Ludwig 
 Nissen & Co., and a few years later he bought out his 
 
 old partner and admitted a new one, the firm name 
 remaining the same, in the face of the fiercest com- 
 petition he fought bis way up, cjvercame every diffi- 
 culty, surmounted e\ery obstacle, became immensely 
 popular with the trade, built up his business to one of 
 the first in his line, and was finally elected Treasurer 
 of the New York Jewelers' Association, one of the 
 most conservative corporations in the world. He takes 
 a keen interest in public afl^airs. and is an ini])ortant 
 factor in financial circles. He is President of the 
 Stuyvesant Heights Bank of Brooklyn, member of the 
 New York Chamber of Commerce, a Director of die 
 New York Board of Trade and Transportation, a Trus- 
 tee of the Jewelers' Association, and holds the same 
 relation to the Brooklyn Bank, the Dime Savings Insti- 
 tution and to the Guardian Trust Company of New 
 York. He was one of the judges of award at the Ten- 
 nessee Centennial Exposition and a Commissioner to 
 the Atlanta Exposition. He is a member and Director 
 of the Pianover and Union League clubs of Brooklyn, 
 and a memlier of the Parkway Driving, the Hanover, 
 the Aurora Grata, the Riding and Driving, the Munici- 
 pal, the Brooklyn, the Germania and the Marine and 
 Field Clubs. The only public office ever held by Mr. 
 Nissen was (hat of F.xcise Commissioner of Brooklyn 
 under Mavor Schiercn. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 191 
 
 ADOLPHUS S. OCRS 
 
 Adolphus S. Ociis, journalist, pulilislier, was Ijorn 
 in Cincinnati. (31iio. March u, 1858. His father came 
 to America in 1844, and before he had been in tlie coun- 
 try a sufficient length of time to gain a citizenship he 
 enlisted in tlie army. He took part in the war with 
 Mexico and proved himself a valiant soldier. A little 
 more than a decade after the close of the Mexican War 
 he again entered the army, this time as an officer, and 
 as Captain of a company in the Fift)'-second Ohio Vol- 
 unteers he won distinction for his bravery and effi- 
 ciency throughout the four years' struggle for the pres- 
 ervation of the Union. Upon the termination of the 
 war Mr. Ochs, with his family, moved to Knoxville, 
 Tenn. There the son attended the public schools and 
 made rapid progress in all the fundamental branches. 
 The elements of industry and enterprise in his character 
 were an early development. At the age of eleven years 
 he was a carrier boy on the Knoxville Daily Chronicle, 
 supplementing his school hours by earning something 
 on his ow-n account. This was the beginning of his life 
 in the newspaper world, which was in time to grow 
 into such vast proportions. To his course in the public 
 schools he added a short term in a business college. 
 He then made a brief sojourn behind the counter in a 
 
 drug store, this being his only evasion of the printing- 
 business, a business which had unusual charms for the 
 embryo publisher. In 1873, when he was but fifteen, 
 he went back to the newspaper office, so congenial to 
 his in.stincts. This time he found employment in the 
 office of the I<ni>xville Chronicle, where he was "devil" 
 and "copy bo_\-," until his earnest solicitation to be put 
 "at case" w-as gxanted. Here he developed rapidly and 
 quickly became one of the best compositors in Knox- 
 ville. Desiring to widen his knowledge of the art, he 
 left his position in Knoxville and went to the job office 
 of the Louisville Courier-Journal, where he studied that 
 branch of the business industrinusly for a year. He 
 then returned to Knoxville to accept the position of 
 I general "utility man" on the Daily Tribune. A vacancy 
 ; on the reportorial staff of this paper gave him the op- 
 portunity he had been looking for, and he readily ac- 
 cepted the ofTer to step into the place. In this new- 
 held he showed remarkable ability, and was rapidly 
 promoted along the line until he reached the top. Soon 
 after his last promotion as a writer on the paper he was 
 offered the position of business manager, which he 
 promptly accepted. It was while in this position that 
 Mr. Ochs was thrown in contact with Colonel J. E. 
 MacGowan, who was at the time on the staff of the 
 Tribune. The tw-o conceived the idea of starting a 
 newspaper in Chattanooga, MacGowan having the 
 promise of a small financial backing. The Chattanooga 
 Times was not a very pretentious paper in those days, 
 and the opening seemed a good one. The plans of the 
 two were anticipated, however, by Mr. F. M. Paul, 
 who came out v\'ith the Chattanoog-a Dispatch in May, 
 1877. Of this paper MacGowan was made editor, and 
 Ochs became its business manager and advertising so- 
 licitor. This connection, so far as Mr. Ochs was con- 
 cerned, continued for a year, when he left the paper 
 for the purpose of pulilishing a city directory. This 
 venture w-as a success in point of completeness of the 
 work is.sued, but did not realize a large profit. After 
 his departure from the Dispatch it showed decided evi- 
 dences of lack of prosperity, and the publishers were 
 anxious to re-establish Mr. Ochs in control, or to 
 sell the paper to him, pro^•ided he could arrange to 
 assume its obligations. \\'hile negotiations were pend- 
 ing the owners of the Times secured control of the 
 concern ; but out of the assets Mr. Ochs, as receiver, 
 managed to pay off almost its entire indebtedness. The 
 Times itself was not at this period in a very prosperous 
 condition, as is evidenced by the fact that the publisher 
 offered to sell out to Mr. Ochs for eight hundred dol- 
 lars, pro\-ided the latter would assume a debt of fifteen 
 hundred dollars on the material. This offer finally 
 
192 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 culminated in his becoming the owner of a half-interest 
 in the paper, part of the consideration being in the 
 shape of deferred payments. Two years later Mr. 
 Ochs bought the other half-interest, and, with his for- 
 mer associate, MacGowan, installed as editor, and 
 with obligations that would have appalled a less cour- 
 ageous man, he began in earnest his career as a news- 
 paper publisher. The paper prospered rapidly from 
 this period. It became conspicuously identified with 
 the progressive spirit of the South, and was soon fore- 
 most in eveiy movement to promote the de\elopment, 
 growth and prosperity of that section of which Chatta- 
 nooga was the center. 
 
 During the eighteen }-cars in \\hich ^\x. Ochs was 
 the active manager of the ChattanoDga Times no 
 worthy public movement was known in which the paper 
 was not a willing and useful helper, if not the origi- 
 nator, and its prosperity was commensurate with its 
 enterprise. ^Ir. Ochs ran the first special news train 
 in Tennessee, an event which was appropriately cele- 
 brated. On July I, 1888, a jubilee number of the 
 Times was issued, in which the business men of the 
 city manifested great interest. In 1890 was begim the 
 erection of a handsome office building, which was com- 
 pleted at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars. Upon 
 its inauguration the citizens of Chattanooga showed 
 their appreciation of his enterprising spirit by present- 
 ing Mr. Ochs with a handsomely illuminated address, 
 accompanied by a beautiful and costly souvenir. 
 
 In 1896 the pul)lishers of the New York Times 
 found themselves in need of the sers'ices of a man who 
 would rescue the paper from its declining fortunes, 
 and the successful career of Mr. Ochs impressed them 
 with the belief that he was the one to accomplish the 
 task. The matter was presented to him, and after ma- 
 ture deliberation he consented to assume the manage- 
 ment of the paper. What degree of success has at- 
 tended his efforts is known to every citizen of Xew 
 York. The journal hallowed by the name of Henry J. 
 Raymond is now enjoying the most prosperous career 
 in its eventful history, and has recently been removed 
 from its old position on Park Row to one of the finest 
 newspaper structures in the world, at Forty-second 
 Street and Broadway. In 1901 Mr. Ochs obtained the 
 controlling interest in the Philadelphia Times and the 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger and, c mibining the two 
 journals, placed them under the business management 
 of his brother, George M. Ochs. The investment in 
 the.se two well-known journals has been attended with 
 excellent results. 
 
 Mr. Ochs has always been prominent in the editorial 
 and publishers' associations of the countrj', and from 
 1891 to 1897 he was secretar}- of the Southern Asso- 
 ciated Press, and when the Associated Press was reor- 
 ganized he was made a charter member and Treasurer 
 of the new organization. He is still the principal 
 owner of the Chattanooga Times, though its manage- 
 ment is in other hands. 
 
MEN Of AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 [93 
 
 JOHN W. VROOMAN 
 
 John ^V. Vrooman, lawyer, was hn-n in the town 
 of German Flats, Herkimer Count}-. X. \'., March 28, 
 1844. The Vroomans are among- the ])cst fan-iilies of 
 the State, and take a just priile in their ancestry. The 
 first of the American progeniturs were among- the 
 earliest to arrive in Xew Amsterdam from Holland. 
 They finally settled in the Mohawk Valley, at a period 
 when that section was filled with hostile Indians, and 
 the records show that their attempts to establish a 
 home in the wilderness were not unattended by many 
 fierce and bloody conflicts. At the burning" of Schenec- 
 tady, on February 9, 1690, by the Indians, it is found 
 by the history of the event that "Bartholemus Vrooman 
 was killed and burnt, and Barrent, ye sonne of Adam 
 Vrooman, was taken prisoner and carried to Canada." 
 This event was undoubtedly the most thrilling and dis- 
 astrous of any that occurred to the settlers in Central 
 New York before or after that period, but at no time 
 for many years after the first advent of the white man 
 were they undisturbed, and the Vroomans are found 
 in many instances to have been the sufferers from the 
 fierce attacks of the redmen. 
 
 John W. Vrooman traces his pedigree back to Count 
 Egmont, the famous Flenush General, whose execution 
 
 by the Spaniards in 1568 led up to the revolt that an- 
 nihilated the Spanish power in the Netherlands. Mr. 
 Vroiiman's grandmother was a Casler, and closely re- 
 lated to the brave General Herkimer and other leading- 
 families of the Mohawk Valley. 
 
 Young Vrooman's education, while thorough in the 
 elementary branches, did not extend to a collegiate 
 course, and much of his practical knowledge was ob- 
 tained under adverse circumstances in the intervals of 
 farm labor. He possessed an indomitable spirit, and 
 this enabled him to triumph over many obstacles which 
 l:eset his path in his efforts to store his mind -with use- 
 ful knowledge, and we find him teaching as well as 
 studying- in the district schools in order to obtain the 
 means for a higher education. At the age of eighteen 
 he entered the office of Judge Ezra Greaves, in Herki- 
 mer, as a law student, teaching school during the same 
 period. He was thus en-iplnyed when the first sound 
 of the civil conflict broke o\er the land. Inspired by the 
 true spirit of patriotism, he did not hesitate to abandon 
 the career he had entered upon with n-iore than ordinary 
 promise of success. Although but nineteen years of 
 age, he entered the volunteer navy of the United 
 States, and made his entry into the service on board the 
 Vanderbilt, attached to the South Atlantic Squadron. 
 This vessel was one of the swiftest in the blockading 
 fleet, and did effective service in preventing ingress to 
 or egress from the Southern ports on the part of the 
 Confederate vessels. In 1864 the Vanderbilt was or- 
 dered to join the North Atlantic Squadron, and par- 
 ticipated in both attacks on Fort Fisher. The crew of 
 the \"anderl)ilt comprised part of the attacking force 
 from the land side in these memorable engagements, 
 and young Vrooman bore himself with commendable 
 valor on both occasions. He remained in the service 
 until the close of the war and was honorably mustered 
 out. 
 
 U]3on returning to Herkimer Mr. Vrooman resumed 
 his study of the law% and in 1866 he was admitted to 
 the bar. He displayed great energy and intelligence 
 in the cases which he presented to the courts, and met 
 with considerable success. In 1868 he was appointed 
 Chief Clerk to the Surrogate of Herkimer County, a 
 position which he held for ten years. He early took an 
 active interest in politics, being an ardent Republican. 
 In 1876 he was appointed Deputy Clerk of the Assem- 
 bly, a position which gave him the opportunity of gain- 
 ing- a knowledge of the personality of the leading men 
 in political life in the State. In 1877 he was chaim-ian 
 of the Herkimer County delegation to the Republican 
 State Convention in Rochester, and during the delib- 
 erations of that body was made a member of the Re- 
 
194 
 
 MEN or AFl-AIRS IX XEIJ- YORK 
 
 pul)licaii State Committee. In 1878 lie was elected 
 Clerk to the Senate, and so acceptal)l\- <lid he discharge 
 the duties of this responsible positimi that he was re- 
 elected for five consecutive terms. His popularity was 
 never exceeded by any one occupying this honorable 
 position, as was evidenced by his being tendered the 
 nomination for the sixth term. He declined the honor, 
 however, whereupon the Senate presented him with a 
 testimonial nl which any American citizen might feel 
 justly ])r()ud. 
 
 In September, iSqi. ^Ir. X'rooman was nominated 
 on the Republican ticket for the office of Lieutenant- 
 Governor of the State. But a Democratic tidal wave 
 swept the State and the Republican candidates were 
 defeated by a decisive majority. It was a great testi- 
 monial to Mr. Vrooman's popularity, however, that 
 he ran fifteen thousand votes ahead of his ticket. He 
 was a rresidcntial l-'lectur on the Rei)ublican ticket in 
 i8()2. Mr. A'roiiman's defeat in his candidacy for 
 Lieutcnant-rjovernor, while it was a check to his politi- 
 cal ambition, proved to be very beneficial from a pecu- 
 niary standpoint. He thereafter devoted himself more 
 assiduously to his practice, and was active in promoting 
 several large interests which had been intrusted to him. 
 He had been made Treasurer nf the Mutual Reserve 
 Fund Life Association and Chairman of its Executive 
 
 Committee in i8yo, both positions being tendered as a 
 tribute to his ability and integrity. The result of his 
 great activity has been the accumulation of a comfor- 
 table fortune. 
 
 Mr. Vroduian has been fi)r some years prominent 
 in Masonic circles, and was Grand Master of the order 
 in the State in 1890 and 1891. In the Grand Lodge he 
 was elected for seven successive years to various posi- 
 ti(^ns. and in no instance was a candidate named to 
 oppose him or a single vote ever cast against him. He 
 is a member of the Aaron Helmer Post. Grand Army 
 of the Republic; a Trustee of the Holland Society, the 
 Monitor Association of Naval Veterans, the Empire 
 State Society, a Director in the Provident Savings Life 
 Association and in the Herkimer National Bank. He 
 is also a member of the Sons of the American Revo- 
 lution, and (if the Union League and Republican clubs 
 of New York, and of the Alontauk Club of Brooklyn. 
 Me is an earnest member of the Methodist Church, and 
 takes much interest in the Sunday-school and in the 
 Young Men's Christian Association. 
 
 In closing this sketch it is a pleasure to record the 
 fact that, while Mr. Vrooman has ever been an active, 
 and even at times an aggressive, partisan, the breath 
 of scandal or unfair dc;ding has never been attached to 
 his name. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 195 
 
 JEROME BYRON WHEELER 
 
 Jerome Byron Wheeler, merchant, financier, was 
 born in the city of Troy, N. Y., on September 3, 1841. 
 Both of his parents were born in New England, and 
 both were of EngHsh descent. His mother, whose 
 maiden name was Emerson, was of the family which 
 produced Ralph Waldo Emerson, the essayist, lecturer 
 and poet. Both parents possessed strong minds and 
 good character, and their boy grew to manhood under 
 exceptionally excellent inHuences. During his early 
 youth the family moved to Waterford, a small town 
 near Troy. The son was educated at the public schools, 
 and at fifteen became a clerk in one of the village stores, 
 but a little later found more ambitious employment in 
 one of the factories of Waterford. Through this early 
 training in the practical work of life he became ambi- 
 tious, self-reliant, energetic and capable. He had al- 
 ready entered upon a business career when it was inter- 
 rupted by the breaking out of the Civil War. When 
 Fort Sumter was fired upon, the young man, in com- 
 mon with thousands of the patriotic youth all through 
 the Nortli, was anxious to go to the field in defense of 
 the flag. On September 3, ^^•Cn. tlie day on which be 
 became of age, he enlisted as a private in Company D, 
 Sixth New York Cawalrv, and immediatelv went to the 
 
 front with his regiment. The service which this regi- 
 ment rendered to the Union cause throughout the en- 
 tire war was notable. Young ^Yheeler was with the 
 command in all the great campaigns of the Army of 
 the Potomac, being with Sheridan in the Shenandoah 
 \^alley, at (Gettysburg, and at Appomattox. It was not 
 long after his enlistment that the young soldier was 
 found to possess abilities of a nature too valuable not to 
 lie utilized, and he was promoted successively to Quar- 
 termaster's Sergeant, Second Lieutenant on the staff of 
 Colonel Devin, Acting Quartermaster of his regiment. 
 First Lieutenant, Brigade Quartermaster, and before 
 the close of the war he had lieen advanced to the grades 
 of Captain and Major liy bre\-et. As Quartermaster lie 
 won an enviable reputation by the promptness and eflS- 
 ciency which he tlispl;iyed in discharging tlie duties of 
 this responsible position, hi the field he displayed 
 dash, ability and determination, and repeatedly at- 
 tracted the attention of general officers who did not 
 know him, and was complimented many times in offi- 
 cial reports, especially by Colonel I^evin, wlu^ was 
 greatly attached to him. By his personal effort and 
 remarkable display of energy after an engagement or 
 forced march he was almost invariably the first man 
 to bring up his train of supplies for the relief of the 
 famishing soldiers. His services as a staff officer were 
 of the highest order, and no young officer e\'er left the 
 service with a fairer record for Ijravery and efficiency. 
 When, in Sejitemlier. 1865, he was mustered out with 
 his regiment, he returned to Troy with but a fevv dol- 
 lars in his pocket, but with an honorable discharge and 
 a reputation which had preceded him, and which gained 
 him a position. His first employment was as a book- 
 I keeper, but he soon tired of this occupation and deter- 
 mined to take up bis residence in New York City. 
 Here he had the go(id fortune to find employment with 
 a comrade of his regiment, John F. Barkley, who had 
 ; embarked in a small grain business. The place was not 
 [ very remunerative, but it gave young- Wheeler an op- 
 ' portunity to learn the business, which was the main 
 object. Finally, in response to the friendly suggestion 
 of bis old commander. General Devin, to Robert S. 
 Holt, of I-Iolt & Co., flour and commission merchants, 
 that firm of^'ered him a desirable clerkship. Accepting 
 the offer, he threw his whole energy into the work 
 assigned to him, and was rapidly promoted from one 
 position to another, until finally, in 1878, he was ad- 
 mitted to partnership. 
 
 In 1879, through the death of his brother-in-law, 
 R. AI. A'alentine, j\Ir. \\'heeler fiecame connected with 
 the great di-y goods firm of R. H. Macy & Co. He 
 h.ad been made executor of Mr. Valentine's estate, and 
 
196 
 
 MEN Of AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 he finally joined with Charles B. Webster, the senior 
 partner, in the purchase of the entire business of the 
 firm. The sulisecjuent career of this great house is fa- 
 miliar to every one. 
 
 In 1882, while on a visit to Colorado for recreation. 
 he became interested, in behalf of a friend, in a mining- 
 camp at Aspen. This resulted in his purchase of the 
 controlling- interest in two mines, and he gave a portion 
 of his holdings to the friend in whose behalf he had 
 made the investment. The venture proved so remuner- 
 ative that Mr. Wheeler returned to Colorado the fol- 
 lowing year and made large investments. These grew 
 to such proportions that he finallv gave his entire time 
 to the development of his mining interests, in which 
 Charles B. Webster and Robert S. Holt became his 
 associates. Through the energ\' and enterprise of this 
 firm, largely directed by Mr. Wheeler, their operations 
 became of immense proportions, and the resulting prof- 
 its were very large. They were the pioneers in the 
 introduction of improved mining facilities and in the 
 promotion of many railroad lines. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler gradually became deeply interested 
 in the affairs of Colorado and has done much to 
 promote its growth and importance. He has ex- 
 tended his investments in the State in many directions, 
 and always ^vith excellent judgment. The Grand River 
 
 Coal and Coke Company at Jerome Park, for obtaining 
 supi^lics of coke for his smelting works, was an im- 
 portant and successful undertaking. The company 
 owns five thousand acres of valuable coal lands, pos- 
 sessing veins of unusual thickness. At an early day in 
 his Colorado experience Air. Wheeler established the 
 J. B. Wheeler Banking Company at Aspen, and has 
 since founded the J. B. Wheeler Banking Company at 
 Manitou. He has also built an opera house at .Aspen, 
 and has aided largely in the development of the Glen- 
 wood Hot Si)rings. near As])en, as a resort. Sur- 
 rounded by nol;le mountains, possessing a grand cli- 
 mate and springs of great n-iedicinal value, this beauti- 
 ful spot is destined to a great future. For several years 
 Mr. Wheeler made frequent journeys between New 
 York and Colorado, in order that he might give due 
 attention to his interests in both sections, but he finally 
 retired from the R. H. Macy firn-i and gave his entire 
 time to his Colorado interests. Of late, however, he 
 has relaxed greatly in his business pursuits and has re- 
 sumed his residence in New York. He is a most agree- 
 able n-ian in social life, and is a member of several 
 clubs, including the Union League, Goethe, Manhattan, 
 Lawyers" and Conunonwealth. He is public-spirited 
 and philanthropic and is particularly mindful of his old 
 comrades-in-arms. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 197 
 
 REVXOLD WEBB WILCOX, :\I.D., LL.D. 
 
 Reynold \\"ebb Wilcox, one of the must distin- 
 guished of X'ew York's physicians and hospital 
 professors and practitioners, and a medical writer 
 of the highest ability, was born at Madison, Conn., in 
 the year 1856, the descendant of a New England colo- 
 nial family of high standing in the earlier history of 
 this country. On his father's side Dr. Wilcox is a de- 
 scendant of \\'il]iam Wilcoxson, of Stratford, Conn., 
 who came to this country in 1635, he being one of the 
 original settlers of that colony. His father, Colonel 
 Vincent Meigs \^^ilcox, commanded the One Hundred 
 and Thirty-second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, 
 during the Civil War, and took part with them in their 
 severe service during that conflict. His mother, Cath- 
 erine Millicent W^ebb, traces her ancestry to Richard 
 Webb, of Stamford, Conn., who emigrated as early as 
 1626, and was the founder of the well-known Connecti- 
 cut family of that name. Both of his grandmothers 
 were of the Meigs family, so prominent in colonial 
 history, and which derived its descent from Vincent 
 Meigs, of East Guilford (now Madison). Conn., who 
 came to Connecticut in 1640. All of his ancestry can 
 therefore be traced back to a very early period in the 
 
 history of the Colony of Connecticut, in which their 
 descendants have since been honorably known. 
 
 Dr. Wilcox, after a period of preliminary education, 
 was entered as a student at Yale College, proved an 
 earnest and diligent .scholar, and was graduated with 
 honors as Bachelor of Arts in 1878. He sub.sequentlv 
 studied in Hobart College, from which he received the 
 degree of Master of Arts, and in the Medical School 
 of Harvard University, where he graduated as Doctor 
 of Medicine in 1881. During the period in which he 
 ' was engaged in the study of medicine at Harvard he 
 served as house physician in the hospitals of Boston, 
 taking adwantagc cf the opportunity to add to his ac- 
 quaintance with the pi-actical details of the [)rofession 
 in which he was aljout to engage. An honorary col- 
 lege degree came to him in 1892, he being made 
 Doctor of Laws by ^^Liryville College in rec(_)gnilion 
 of his skilled and alnmdant laljors in medical liter- 
 ature. 
 
 Desirous of fitting himself to the utmost available 
 extent for the duties of his profession, he went abroad 
 after his graduation from Harvard, and during the 
 following fifteen months engaged in a thorough course 
 of study in several of the leading medical centers 
 of Europe, including Vienna, Heidelberg, Paris and 
 Edinburgh, gaining there experience of the utmost 
 value. L^pon his return he took up his residence in 
 New York, where he served his term as house surgeon 
 at the ^^'oman's Hospital. Li 1884 he was appointed 
 a clinical assistant at the New York Post-Graduate 
 School and H(5spital, and in 1886 an instructor in 
 the same institution, and in 1889 he was chosen 
 its Professor of ]\Iedicine. As a teacher of prac- 
 ticing jihysicians he is well and favorably known 
 for his extensive practical experience, broad scholar- 
 ship and scientific enthusiasm. The above does not ex- 
 haust his hospital career, he having also given valuable 
 service at the Northeastern and Demilt dispensaries 
 and in the wards of Bellevue, Post-Graduate and St. 
 Mark's hospitals, and as consulting physician to the 
 Nassau Hospital, his duties having been utilized not 
 only for his personal study, but for the instruction of 
 the profession at large. In short, as a teacher and dem- 
 onstrator of the medical art Dr. ^^'iIcox has won an 
 assured place, while in addition he has an extensive 
 private practice. 
 
 He is especially well known to the members of the 
 medical profession by his prolific writings upon medical 
 and therapeutical subjects, in which he has done ex- 
 tensive and valuable work, having pulilished in all 
 more than three hundred papers, most of which lia\-e 
 been translated into French and Ciernian and ha\e Ijeen 
 
198 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 extensively quoted in the American journals. For a 
 number of years he has been the therapeutic editor of 
 the American journal n\ the Medical Sciences, and 
 he is also the author of "Materia Medica" and "Thera- 
 peutics," text-books which have s^nne through six 
 editions, and which ha\e been adopted as the text- 
 books in the leading medical schools. Another 
 work of value bears the title of "Fever Nursing." 
 Notwithstanding the demands upon his time by his 
 large practice, bis hospital and professional duties, and 
 his numerous professional writings, he has found the 
 opportunity to write a genealogical work upon the his- 
 tory of his family, entitled "The Descendants of Wil- 
 liam Wilcoxson, Vincent Aleigs and Richard Webb." 
 
 Dr. Wilcox is a frequent speaker at the various med- 
 ical organizations of w hich be is a member — the Amer- 
 ican Academy of ^Medicine, .\merican IMedical Associa- 
 tion. .\merican Therapeutic, and the Medical Jurispru- 
 dence, Clinical, County, State, Greater New York and 
 Har\ard Medical societies. Of the American Thera- 
 peutic and Harvard societies he has been President 
 
 He is an honorary member of the Connecticut State 
 IMedical Society. 
 
 As an orator he is highly consideretl, and listened 
 to with much attention by the members of luedical 
 societies, his remarks always showing pith and point. 
 He does not confine himself in this direction entirely 
 to the demands of the medical profession, but is fre- 
 quently sought for as a speaker before the various 
 patriotic and scientific societies, in whose purposes and 
 labors he takes a warm interest, and to many of which 
 he belongs. He is a member of the societies of the 
 Colonial Wars, Sons of the Re\'olution, War of 1S12 
 (Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Society), Mili- 
 tary Order of the Loyal Legion, and Sons of Veterans. 
 Of the last he has been Surgeon-General. He is also 
 a memljer of the Metropolitan and the Calumet cluhs. 
 As a physician in active practice, as a teacher of medi- 
 cal practitioners, as a writer ui)on medical and patriotic 
 subjects. Dr. Wilcox has already obtained an en\iable 
 reputation, with the pronn'se of still greater achieve- 
 ments. 
 
MEM OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 199 
 
 SMITH ELY 
 
 Smith Ely, Mayor of New York and member of 
 Congress for several terms, was born on April 17, 
 1825, at the residence of his maternal grandfather, 
 Ambrose Kitchell, at Hanover, IMorris County, N. J. 
 His ancestry were notable in the history of our coun- 
 try, and especially in its military history, some mem- 
 bers of the family having taken part in all the principal 
 early wars. Judge Aaron Kitchell, his maternal great- 
 grandfather, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, 
 and at a later date served as United States Representa- 
 tive and Senator and Presidential Elector-at-large. His 
 father, Epaphras C. Ely, leather merchant in New 
 York City, served as a soldier in the War of 1S12: his 
 grandfather, Moses Ely, was a soldier in the Revolu- 
 tionary army, and his two more remote paternal ances- 
 tors, William Ely and Richard Ely, were captains in 
 the Colonial army during the old French and Indian 
 War. By virtue of this military service of his ances- 
 tors Mr. Ely is a member of the Society of the War of 
 18 12. of the Sons of the Revolution and of the Society 
 of the Colonial Wars. 
 
 Mr. Ely, after the period of his preliminary educa- 
 tion, adopted the law for his profession, studying for 
 three years in the office of Frederic De Peyster, and 
 
 afterward graduating at the Law School of the Uni- 
 versity of New York, Yet he never practiced the pro- 
 fession, devoting his middle life instead to mercantile 
 pursuits, and giving much time to political matters and 
 in the exercise of public duties. 
 
 An earnest and active member of the Democratic 
 party, he has kept himself alert in its movements and 
 interests, and many years of his life have been spent in 
 othcial service as a representative of that party. His 
 public life began in 1856, when he was elected a school 
 trustee of the Seventeenth Ward, holding this office 
 for four years. In 1857 he was elected to the State 
 Senate by a large majority, being the first Democrat 
 ever elected in the district. In the Senate he was the 
 only Democrat on the two most important committees, 
 the Committee on Cities and the Sub-committee of the 
 Whole, and was thus enabled to do much good and 
 prevent much evil in legislation. 
 
 In 1800 he was elected to the Board of County 
 Supervisors, one of whose important functions at thai 
 period was to raise money and enlist men tn carry im 
 the war. This was a duty of the greatest importance, 
 and one to which Mr. Ely devoted himself earnestly 
 and conscientiously. He held this office for eight 
 years, and wliile a member of the board became con- 
 spicuous by his rigorous opposition to any extravagant 
 use of the public funds. A close and stern supervision 
 was of great imp(;irtance, in view of the necessities of 
 the situation and the tendency to use public office for 
 private ends, which was then growing in the metropo- 
 lis, and was soon destined to lead to the deep cormp- 
 tion of the Tweed ring organization. During Mr. 
 Ely's term in office any attempt at misuse of the city's 
 money found in him a vigorous and persistent op- 
 ponent. His record for honor in office was everywhere 
 recognized, and in 1867 he was re-elected on an inde- 
 pendent ticket in opposition to the regidar Democratic 
 and Republican candidates, being supported by every 
 daily newspaper in the city. In the same year he was 
 made Commissioner of Public Instruction. 
 
 His distinguished service in these capacities brought 
 ]\Ir. Ely prominently forward, and he became looked 
 upon as well fitted to represent his party in the United 
 States House of Representatives. In 1870 there was 
 a union of the factions of the Democracy of New York, 
 and he was nominated and elected to the Forty-second 
 Congress from the Seventh District. He took his seat 
 in the House in 1871 and was placed by Speaker Blaine 
 on the Railroad Coiumittee and did good service in 
 that capacity. In 1874 he was re-elected, and during 
 this term served on the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
 tions, the Committee on Public Buildings and the Com- 
 
200 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK __ __ 
 
 mittce (111 the Expenditures of the Treasury Depart- duties Cimniitted to his cliarge. In eacli of the years 
 ment— being cliairman of the last-named committee. of his term the net amount of tiie city debt was reduced. 
 In 1876. while he was still serving in Congress, the it being in January, 1877, $119,811,310; in January, 
 different Democratic elements of New York City 1878, $1 17.700,742, and in January. 1879, $1 13.418,- 
 united in nominating him as a candidate for Mayor. 403, there being thus a total reduction in two years of 
 The Tweed ring had been now overthrown, the reform nearly $6,500,000. At the same time the tax levy, not- 
 clement was at the head of affairs, and no one but a withstanding the increa.se of population, was similarly 
 man of the best record and most unblemished reputa- reduced, decreasing from $31,109,521 in January, 
 lion would have had any opportunity of gaining the 1877, to $28,008,888 in January, 1879. No other 
 nomination, much less of winning the election. The Mayor ever succeeded in attaining a similar result. 
 Republicans nominated the distinguished soldier and Before the expiration of his term as Mayor, Mr. l-:i>- 
 statesman, General John A. Dix. who had recently was offered by the Democratic party in his old Con- 
 served a term as Republican Go\ernor of New York, gressional district the nomination for Congress. He 
 and. under the circumstances, no man except one of declined the honor, however, preferring to retire to 
 the highest standing in the community cuild liave won private life. 
 
 against him. Mr." Ely was that man. The citizens Since the period named Mr. Ely has not held office, 
 rallied to his support and lie wmi the election by a his only appearance in the political field being as Demo- 
 majority of over fifty-five thousand. His administra- cratic Presidential Elector in 1880. He served on the 
 tioii of the important office for which he had thus been Board of Central Park Commissioners in i897-(;8. He 
 cho.sen was characterized by the qualities which he had is unmarried, and is a member of the Century, the 
 shown throughout his official life, those of wise and Alanhattan. the Merchant, the Drawing-Rooni and the 
 strict economy and judicious administration of the Presbyterian Union clubs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 JOHN J. DELANY 
 
 John J. Delany^ lawyer, was born in the city of 
 New York in i860. He received his education in the 
 pubHc schools and at St. Francis Xavier's College. 
 Possessed of strong intellectual powers, he made a fine 
 record as a student and was graduated high in his 
 classes. Immediately after he had finished his studies 
 at St. Francis Xavier he entered the Law Department 
 of Colum.bia College and took a full course. He en- 
 tered upon the practice of his profession within a very 
 short period after his graduation, and from the first 
 gave promise of attaining to the first rank at the bar. 
 He is a fluent and forceful speaker, and his pleadings 
 and public addresses attracted early attention. From 
 his early manhood he took a lively interest in political 
 affairs of a local nature, and soon acquired a thorough 
 familiarity with all the details of the workings of the 
 various parties. His first affiliation w^as with the Re- 
 publican party, but this was not for very long. The 
 formation of the County Democracy, which was made 
 up of former memliers of Tammany Hall, supple- 
 mented by a smaller accession from the Republican 
 party, proved an attractive card for the aspiring young 
 politician, and he entered the ranks of the new organi- 
 zation with great enthusiasm and became one of its 
 
 most ardent members. It was natural that his great 
 activity in political matters should lead to official pre- 
 ferment, and in 1889 he was appointed Assistant Cor- 
 poration Counsel. His selection for this important 
 position was a distinct compliment to so young a mem- 
 
 I her of the bar, but he did not fail to justify the wisdom 
 of the choice. To him was assigned the duty of attend- 
 
 I ing to the negligence cases, and the zeal and activity 
 lie brought to the administration of his department 
 produced a record for efficiency and the dispatch of 
 business that iiad not been equaled by any of his prede- 
 cessors. It was while he was in this office that he suc- 
 cessfully conducted some of the most important cases 
 
 I that had ever been brought before the Court of Appeals 
 Upon the waning of the power and strength of the 
 County Democracy, Mr. Delany liecame a member of 
 the Tammau)' organization, and from that time he 
 liecame an im|)iirtant factor in the political affairs of 
 the city. His is no negative character. He has a tem- 
 perament of the aggressive sort in all matters pertain- 
 ing to party organization. He is what is commonly 
 known as a "born fighter," and he was not very far 
 advanced in this field of activity when he had an oppor- 
 tunity of displaying some of his natural qualities in 
 this regard. The first political fight that brought him 
 into prominence was the long and picturesque one that 
 he waged against William Dalton for the leadershij) 
 of the Eleventh Assembly District. This was Delany's 
 native heath, embracing the scenes of his boyhood days, 
 and it was not a matter of very great surprise that he 
 had a very large following of personal admirers. This, 
 added to a feeling of restive independence toward 
 Croker, the then Tammany boss, gave him the inspira- 
 tion to undertake the diilicult task of ousting a leader 
 who was protected by the powerful shield of the "or- 
 ganization." Fie was duly warned that the attempt 
 would be met by the severest political punishment, but 
 this had no deterrent effect, but rather inspired the 
 rebellious young aspirant to greater effort. Dalton 
 was high in the councils of Tammany, an especially 
 strong favorite with Croker, and the entire strength 
 of the organization was brought to Iiear upon Delany 
 and his friends. When the full significance of this fact 
 is realized it will be readily seen that the undertaking 
 was a desperate one. Violence was resorted to by 
 Dalton's adherents, and "Hell's Bottom," a well-known 
 locality in the district, was the scene on several occa- 
 sions of a veritable war. In some of these conflicts the 
 candidate himself did not come off unscathed, but he 
 never wavered. Old-timers in Tammany remember 
 this fight as one of the most stubborn in the history of 
 
 . the \\'i<jwam, but it resulted in Delanv's defeat. He 
 
MEM OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 carried his case before the executive committee of 
 Tammany, alles^ino- tlie i^rossest frauds in the conduct 
 of tiie eloclinn. hut was turned down. His ih-amatic 
 exit from Tammany with his two huneh-ed foUowers, 
 after an impassioned denunciatory speecli, was the sen- 
 sation of the hour. His revolt resulted in the inaugu- 
 ration of an independent organization in his district, 
 with an enrollment of over two thousand members, but 
 this was subse(iuently abandoned and ^\x. Delany be- 
 came reconciled to Tammany. His spirit of independ- 
 ence, however, has never been abandoned, and some 
 of bis hardest blows have been aimed at the organiza- 
 tion. His denunciation of Croker was at times severe, 
 and no man has said harder things about some of the 
 shining lights still prominent in the Wigwam. 
 
 Mr. Delany's acceptance of the position of Assistant 
 District Attorney under the administration of Mr. 
 Philbin caused some of the straight Tammany men t.> 
 look at Mr. Delany askance, but be was never openly 
 criticised, and lie came out regularly for lulward M. 
 Shepard when be was nominated and was one of the 
 chief si)eakers in that campaign. When George B. 
 McClellan was chosen Mayor in 1903 he selected Mr. 
 Delany for the office of Corporation Attorney, and he 
 was reappointed on January i of the present year. His 
 qualifications for the duties of the office are considered 
 of the highest order, and his appointment is regarded 
 on all sides as one of tlie strongest made by the present 
 Mayor. 
 
 Mr. Delany's strong ])oints as a ])olilician are his 
 
 power of oratory and his great influence as a Catholic 
 layman. He has always had a distinctly pious turn, 
 and man}- of bis associates as a young man were young 
 men studying for the priesthood. Among his constant 
 companions in college and as a young man, and who 
 afterward liecame well known and prominent among 
 the clergy of the city, were Fathers Curley, Nagle. 
 O'Brien and (juinn. liishop Spaulding of Ohio was 
 one of his youthful friends. He is considered one of 
 the best lay authorities in the city on ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters. He was for a time at the head of the Knights of 
 Columlius, the largest Catholic organization in the 
 country. He is a large, heavily built man, with a full, 
 round, smooth-shaven face, with something of the line- 
 aments of a priest, and his face glows with the benevo- 
 I lence of a liisho]). He has a command.ing influence 
 among the ]ilain jieople. b_\- whom be is regarded as the 
 ideal citizen. He is a profound student of classical 
 literature, and some of bis public addresses ba\'e bee 1 
 pronounced gems of literary merit, notably the oration 
 delivered on the occasion of the memorial to Arch- 
 I bishop Corrigan. He has always taken an active in- 
 j terest in all movements in behalf of the Irish, and in 
 1885 was elected President of tlie Municipal I'ouncil 
 I of the Iri^b League. He has also been active in a num- 
 ber of cliaritable organizations. 
 
 Air. Delany's great abilities as a lawyer are univer- 
 sally recognized, and he has been prominently named 
 m connection with a ]iosition on the Supreme Bench, 
 a |)osition be is eminently qualifled to fill. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 203 
 
 ISIDOR STRAUS 
 
 IsiDOR Strai's, merchant, is a native of Rhenish 
 Bavaria, where lie was Ijorn on Fehrnary 6, 1845. His 
 father's famil}- came to this country in 1852 and settled 
 at Talbotton, Ga. Isidor Straus obtained a common- 
 school education, which he supplemented with a classi- 
 cal course at Collinswortli Institute, an educational in- 
 stitution of some pretensions in his native State. It 
 was his ambition to enter West Point Military Acad- 
 emy, and probably he would have done so had not the 
 war broken out just at llie time that he had prepared 
 himself for this institution, lie was then sixteen years 
 old, and, with the war fever in the air, he wislied to 
 enter the service of the Confederate army. He assisted 
 in the organization of a company of which his com- 
 rades had chosen him Lieutenant. When he offered 
 himself, however, he was informed that the Confed- 
 eracy did not have the gims sufficient to arm its men, 
 and wanted no boys, and the only thing left for him 
 to do was to enter his father's store and take the place 
 of a clerk who had joined the Southern army. Here 
 he remained for two years, when an opportunity came 
 to him to go to England and remain in the employ of 
 a company there until the close of the war. His father 
 had in the meanwhile moved to Columbus, Ga., and 
 
 was seriously thinking of moving to Philadelphia, to 
 start anew in business. The son favored New York 
 instead, and, his advice prevailing, the family came to 
 New York, and the firm of L. Straus & Son was organ- 
 ized and began dealing in earthenware. The success 
 of this \-enture led the firm to Iiranch nut into porce- 
 lains and chinaware, and as the other sons of Lazarus 
 Straus reached the age at which they could enter busi- 
 ness the firm name was changed by making a plural 
 of the second section, b^rom that time the firm of 
 L. Straus & Sons grew in reputation, until it was 
 known not only in this country but throughout the 
 business world. 
 
 In 1874 the firm tuuk charge of the china and glass- 
 ware department of R. II. Macy & Co. This house 
 had been estalilished Iiy R. H. Macy in 1858, and was 
 ah^eady well k'nown in the commercial world. Mr. 
 IMacy was li\ing in 1874, and was devoting his per- 
 sonal attention to a Ijusiness that had already acquired 
 a considerable magnitude. His death occurred in 1877. 
 The business continued to grow, the Messrs. Straus 
 
 ; devoting themselves solely to the cliina and glassware 
 department until 1888, when they were induced to 
 
 [ enter the firm, the jiartners tlien becoming C. B. Web- 
 ster, Isidor Straus and Nathan Straus. Under the 
 new management the various departments of the house 
 were much enlarged, until the gigantic business now 
 flone at Macy's was developed. Isidor Straus has been 
 the oflice member of the firm since the partnership was 
 formed, but, while the details of the office constitute 
 his immediate field, be has a complete mastery of the 
 business, and is always ready, upon occasion, to take 
 in hand the direction of affairs in the store itself. 
 
 While always a student of economic questions, Mr. 
 Straus's interest in political affairs was not thoroughly 
 aroused until Mr. Cleveland became a Presidential pos- 
 sibility. It was then tliat be began to take a decided 
 and acti'.'e part in the legislation relating- to a sound 
 currency and tariff reform. He was one of the com- 
 mittee of fifty who went to Washington in i8go and 
 appeared before the Committee on Finance in opposi- 
 tion to the passage of the McKinley tariff bill. The 
 reputation which he made before this committee estab- 
 lished him also in the favor of the legislators, and an 
 opportunity was readily given liim to appear before 
 the Coinage Committee of the House of Representa- 
 tives to present an argtmient in favor of sound cur- 
 rency when the silver agitation began. The thorough- 
 ness with which Mr. Straus had informed himself upon 
 the currency question, and the ability tliat he displayed 
 in presenting his arguments before the committee in 
 favor of sound money, added greatly to the confidence 
 
204 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 and respect which legislators and merchants alike al- 
 ready felt for him. In 1893, when the condition of 
 business was desperate, and grave doubt was enter- 
 tained as to the position of President Cleveland with 
 reference to the ex])ediency of convening Congress in 
 extra session, Mr. Straus was prevailed upon to visit 
 the President, and while it has never been disclosed 
 what his services were on that occasion, it is a histori- 
 cal fact that th.e proclamation convening Congress was 
 issued on the \cry day that Mr. Straus visited the 
 White TIousc. 'I'lu- result n\ that extra sessinn forms 
 one of tlie most iiu])ortant jiages in the history of this 
 country. 
 
 In the campaign which resuUcl in Air. Cleveland's 
 election to his second term Mr. Straus took an active 
 part, contributing valua1:ile service in the councils of 
 the Democratic leaders. When Mr. Cleveland was 
 forming his Cabinet the name of Mr. Straus came up 
 for the office of Postmaster-General. The prospect of 
 this appoititmcnt met witli wide commendation, but 
 Mr. Straus let it be understoinl that he had no desire 
 to lay aside his business pursuits even for so exalted 
 a station. While the com])linient could not have been 
 other than pleasing, he preferred to continue at service 
 in the cause to which he had c )mmitted himself. He 
 was coiupelicd. howe\cr, to yield to a strong demand! 
 made upon him Ijy a large delegation of his fellow- 
 citizens, and he was elected a lucmlier of the Fifty- 
 tliird Congress. In Washington he lived in an atmos- 
 phere congenial to his tastes, and his familiarity with 
 economic (|uestions made him a valuable acquisitiori 
 to the councils of his partv. While the Committee on 
 
 \\'ays and Means was considering the tariff bill, he lent 
 his hearty support to its chairman, and for this his 
 practical experience as a merchant, combined with bis 
 knowledge of the economic side of the (piestion. par- 
 ticularly iitted him. 
 
 In the field of philanthropy Mr. Straus holds a place 
 equally as prominent as his position in the business 
 world. The Educational Alliance, the "People's Pal- 
 ace" of the congested tenement district of Xew ^drk's 
 East Side, of which he is President, owes its present 
 position as one of the great fact irs in the solution of 
 the socioldwjcal problem among the tenements of the 
 metropolis to his imlon^itable perseverance and intelli 
 gently directed energy. 
 
 Mr. Straus is a director in many, and a sup])orter 
 of almost every philanthropic and charitable instituti 1; 
 in New York, regardless of creed. Pie is a Director in 
 se\eral banking and financial institutions, among which 
 may be mentioned the Hanover National Bank, the New 
 ^'ork Count}- National Bank, and he is Vice-President 
 of the I'.irkbeck Savings and Loan Company. He is 
 a \'ice-I'resident of the Chamlier of Commerce and 
 r.oard of Trade, Vice-President of the J. Hood 
 Wright Memorial Hospital, and is connected with most 
 of the institutions whose sphere covers the fields of 
 science, art, education, charity and jjliilanthropy. He 
 is ])rominently connected with the .Manhattan, the 
 Nineteenth Century, the Reform and the Free Trade 
 clubs. He is the possessor of an excellent library, 
 w bicb is (|uite rich in works bearing on economic ques- 
 tions, a line of reading which h;is .always interested 
 bim more than anv other. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 205 
 
 A. P. GARDIXER 
 
 A. Paul (iARDiNEK, merchant, manufacturer, was 
 born at Dundee, Canada, a small town near Fort Cov- 
 ington, Franklin County, New York, in 1865. He is 
 of Scotch descent, his grandfather having come to 
 America from Kilmaecomb, Scotland, to Canada in 
 1795. Arriving at Montreal, he organized a colony 
 from among a number of those who had accompanied 
 him to the New World, and, proceeding up the St. 
 Lawrence Ri\-er, they iiurchased from the Indians a 
 large tract of land and settled upon it, founding the 
 present town of Dundee. Mr. Gardiner was not only 
 the leading spirit in organizing- this important colony 
 of early settlers, but he retained, by his force of charac- 
 ter and intelligence, a commanding influence in all its 
 subsequent movements. The first public structure was, 
 as may readily be supposed, a church building, and in 
 this for nearly one hundred years the services w ere con- 
 ducted in the Gaelic ti^igue. In this church the pioneer 
 of the family was a deacon, and it was largely through 
 his efforts that it was supported and enabled to exercise 
 its wholesome effect upon the little community. On 
 the maternal side Mr. Gardiner is descended from an- 
 other Scotch family, his mother's maiden name being 
 Leischman. 'fhis familv came to Canada at about the 
 
 same period of the arrival of the Gardiner family. 
 The Leischmans settled on a farm which they pur- 
 chased at the head of the Lachine Rapids, and upon 
 which nnw stands the important town of Lachine, a 
 suburb of Montreal. It was probably during one of 
 the elder (lardiner's many visits to Montreal that he 
 met his fate in the person of Miss Leischman, and they 
 were married a few years after her arrival in America. 
 1^) this couple was born Peter Gardiner, the father of 
 the subject of the present sketch. He inherited in a 
 \'ery large degree the sterling qualities and character- 
 istics of his parents, and maintained throughout all 
 bis li>ng life the eminent standing in the community 
 which ihey had attained. I^ike his father before him, 
 he was a deacon of the church, the ]\Iayor of the towm, 
 the lawyer, the confessor and confidant of the whole 
 community. To him also descended a very consider- 
 : able estate, including a productive farm, and to this 
 he, in time, added largely. On this farm was born, 
 I January ir, iSfi^, A. Paul Ciardiner, the youngest of 
 ' four buys, and here began the formation of that char- 
 acter which was to work out a career crowned with 
 remarkalile success. In one of his little, pulilished 
 volumes, speaking of the surroundings of children, 
 he says : "Some are lu.xurious, others indifferent 
 and neglected, wdiile still others are the homes of the 
 industrious and frugal, watched over by the loving and 
 forgiving mother and the severely upright father." It 
 was in such an atmosjibere and surroundings that 
 young Paul passed his early life. He began his edu- 
 cation at the district school, and in due time reached 
 the dignity of a student in the high school of the vil- 
 lage. It was a momentous e\'ent when he finally left 
 home for the first time to attend the high school of the 
 county, a proud distinction that was not accorded to 
 e\'ery youth in the community. It must not be inferred 
 that during this period the young student was free 1 
 from many of the cares and duties that fall in greater 
 or lesser degree to the lot of every farmer's son. Of 
 these he got his full portion, though they ever prove J 
 irksome, and eventually this aversion to a pastoral life 
 led to his rejection of his father's expressed wish to 
 remain on the farm. He had not long returned from 
 his graduation at the high school when the spirit of 
 aih-enture became so strongly developed that he deter- 
 mined, notwithstanding the life of ease and comfort 
 that awaited him at the homestead, to go out int(.) the 
 world on his own account. After many confidential 
 talks with his father and mother, their consent was ob- 
 tained to his making the venture. Entering the city 
 of Montreal with a capital sufficient for his imme- 
 diate needs, be began his search for empkiymcnt. His 
 
2o6 
 
 MBy OF JI- FAIRS IX XEIF YORK 
 
 first efforts were confined to the smaller establishments, 
 but, meeting with little encouragement here, he con- 
 cluded to look higher uj). About the largest dry goods 
 establishment in the city was chosen for the experi- 
 ment, and it was attended with success. The merchant 
 was attracted by the manly and earnest manner in 
 which he preferred his request for a trial, and he was 
 engaged at a salary that was scarcely equal to his main- 
 tenance; but he was not long in securing an advance, 
 and in a few years he came to be the highest salaried 
 man in the ouiccrn. It was when he had attained a 
 thorough knowledge of the business that he determined 
 to transfer his field of endeavor to Xew York. Ac- 
 cordingly, after a service of three years with the Mon- 
 treal firm, he entered a large dry goods establishment 
 in Brooklyn. He was given an advanced position on 
 account of his jirevious experience, l)ut a few days in 
 this store satisfied him that he had not reached the 
 position where he could use his aljilities to the best 
 advantage. He decided at once upon a change, and, 
 securing a card introduction to the vice-president of 
 a large manufacturing concern, he offered his ser\'ices 
 in such a convincing manner as to secure the necessary 
 trial. His position was that of a traveling salesman, 
 and his first trip was jiroductive of such results as 
 secured him permanent employment with the firm. 
 where he remained for some time, during which he 
 visited every State in the Union. 
 
 .\ftcr a five years' successful career with this manu- 
 facturing concern, Mr. Gardiner originated a magazine 
 on the co-operative plan of publication among retail 
 
 merchants, and soon Modes and Fabrics sprang into 
 prominence as one of the leading home and fashion 
 magazines of the country. The large experience he 
 gained in his sixteen years' publication of this maga- 
 zine encouraged him to interest himself in ])rom iting 
 proprietary remedies, in which he subsequently becam; 
 an investor to a large amount. 
 
 A few years ago Mr. Gardiner saw the large possi- 
 Ijilities in in\estments in the Bronx, and he becam; 
 actively interested in the development of that section, 
 lie accordingly made large in\'estments in acreage 
 ])roperty near the Harlem branch of the Xew York 
 Central Railroad, and also at Croton-on-Hudson. 
 where he has a fine estate, "Hessian Hill I'arm." 
 The enterprising spirit of Air. Gardiner has been fol- 
 lowed by many others, and the consequence has been 
 a wonderful growth in this suljurban section. Mr. 
 Gardiner is spending a large sum in the improvement 
 and l;eautifying of his estate, and it is destined to Iie- 
 come one of the most valuable and attracti\'e on the 
 Ijanks of the Hudson. 
 
 Mr. Gardiner has found time, notwithstanding his 
 life of ceaseless liusiness acti^•ity, to do some Avork in 
 the way of literary productions that are of a high order 
 of merit. He has a graceful style and a keen sense 
 of humi ;r, and these have enabled him to produce som? 
 sketches, mostly of a biographical nature, which have 
 had quite an extended circulation. They include "The 
 House of Cariboo, and Other Tales from Arcadia," 
 'A^acation Incidents," "The Fifth A\-enue Social 
 Trust," "Paid's .\d\cntures to Date." etc. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 CAPTAIN J. W. MILLER 
 
 Jacob W. Miller, formerly an officer in the LTnited 
 States Navy, was born in Middletown, N. J., on June 
 I, 1847. He is the son of Jacob \V. Miller, who was 
 a United States Senator from that State from 1841 to 
 1853. The son received his preliminary education in 
 the public schools of his native town, and when he was 
 sixteen years of ag"e he entered the Naval Academy at 
 Annapolis, the exact date of his entry being September 
 I, 1863. His career at the Academy was characterized 
 by a close application to his studies, and he was grad- 
 uated well up in his class in June, 1867. The Civil 
 War having closed two years previously, the service 
 did not offer the severe and onerous duties that had 
 fallen to the lot of his older companions, but neverthe- 
 less those he was called upon to discharge at all 
 times exacted the highest cjualities of the soldier, and 
 these he performed to the highest satisfaction of his 
 superior officers. His first duty was with the Euro- 
 pean Squadron in the Mediterranean, and this was fol- 
 lowed by cruises on the Pacific and West Indian sta- 
 tions. During this period he developed abilities of a 
 high order, and he was selected for special service in 
 connection with the Nicaragua Inter-Ocean Canal I 
 Survey in 1872. This work brought into service the 
 
 scientific knowledge that he had olrtained at the Acad- 
 emy, more particularly in the higher mathematics, and 
 in this regard the young officer was found to be excep- 
 tionally well equipped. He surveyed a portion of the 
 Western Divide, and had charge of the hydrographic 
 work on the San Juan River. That the work was well 
 and satisfactorily performed is attested Iiy the fact that 
 in the autumn of 1873, having returned to Washington 
 in the meantime to prepare and submit his report, he 
 was again sent to Nicaragua, but this time as secre- 
 tary to the commission appointed 1jy the L'nited States 
 Government to determine which was the best route 
 for a ship canal across the Isthmus. Upon the com- 
 pletion of this work he was engaged for several munths 
 in Washington in the preparation of his report. 
 
 In 1875 Ml"- Miller was ordered for the second time 
 to duty on the ^Mediterranean Station, on board the 
 flagship Franklin. During the years 1877 '^"'^ 1878 
 he was on duty on the sloop Vandalia when General 
 Grant visited the Levant in his memorable trip around 
 the world. Having completed the full term of his 
 cruise in European waters, he returned to the United 
 States, and was assigned to duty at the Naval Academy 
 as Instrtictor of Ordnance and Gunnery, and he re- 
 mained on this duty until 1881, when he was once more 
 ordered to sea duty, anil his last cruise was made in 
 the sloop Jamestown as her navigator from San Fran- 
 cisco when that vessel made the entire voyage under 
 sail. This is pointed to as a memoralile event in the 
 navy, as being the last sailing man-uf-war that went 
 around Cape Horn. 
 
 Upon the conclusion of this voyage, Captain ^filler 
 carried out a decision which he had long had in con- 
 templation, and resigned fmm the na\-y to enter a more 
 active life in civil pursuits. \\'hile retaining the strong- 
 est attachment for the service, he realized the fact that 
 in times of peace it did not offer a satisfying field for 
 an ambitious spirit, and this spirit he possessed in a 
 large degree. His first employment in civil life was 
 as Vice-President and General Manager of the St. 
 Louis, b"(irt Scott and Wichita Railroad. He remained 
 with this and other corporations in the West until May, 
 1886, when he was tendered and accepted the position 
 of General Manager of the Providence and Stonington 
 Steamship Company, and of the New York, Provi- 
 dence and Boston Railroad Company. In May, 1889, 
 he was elected to the presidency of the Providence and 
 Stonington Steamship Company. He was also made 
 President of the Nicaragua Company and the ^\'ick- 
 ford Railroad and Steamboat Company. He has, be- 
 sides, connections with other marine and railroad inter- 
 ests. It will be readily seen that Captain Miller made 
 
20S 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS I.\ ATT//' YORK 
 
 no mistake in changing the field of liis activities, so far 
 as material advancement was concerned. 
 
 When tlie Spanish-American War hroke out Cap- 
 tain Miller promptly offered his services to the Govern- 
 ment, and they were as promptly accepted. He was 
 immediately commissioned and placed in command of 
 the Third Division of the Auxiliary Naval Force. This 
 hranch of the service saw no actual warfare, but in its 
 rapid and tiiorough organization and equipment to 
 meet the emergencies of a prolonged struggle it did 
 much to ]jroduce a feeling of confidence in the minds 
 of the people. It was during this period that the great 
 value to the country of a naval militia as an auxiliary 
 force was demonstrated, and this resulted in the com- 
 plete reorganization of the Xew \'(irk Xa\al Battalion 
 in 1891. In organization Captain Miller t<Hik an active 
 part, and he was made its first cominander, and subse- 
 (|uently he was made Ca])tain of the Naval Militia of 
 the State. Thus it will be seen that, while Captain 
 Miller is no longer in an active sense connected with 
 the military arm of the (lovernment, he is in a position 
 to render it most effective service should the occasion 
 re(|uire. 
 
 Cajjtain .Miller takes a li\ely interest in municipal 
 affairs, and in 1894 he was made a memlier of the 
 Chamber of CiMiimerce, and has rendered valuable serv- 
 ices as a member of the Committee on Docks, and also 
 as a member of the committee having in charge the 
 schoolship for the naval militia. During the visit to 
 this country of Princess Eulalie of Spain, and after- 
 ward of Prince Henry nf Germany. Captain Miller 
 was an active and efficient member of the committees 
 appointed to entertain them, his intercourse with for- 
 eigners during his many voyages eminently qualifying 
 him for the delicate and responsible duties of such a 
 position. 
 
 Captain ]\Iiller"s social ([ualities are well developed, 
 and he is a member of se\eral cluljs, among them the 
 Uni\'ersity, lui the council of which he sen-ed for manv 
 years. He is also a member of the Seawanbaka. the 
 Century, one of the council of the Naval Alumni Asso- 
 ciation of New York, A'ice-Commander of the Na\al 
 Order of the United States, and a member of the So- 
 ciety of Foreign ^^'a^s and of the Spanish-.A.merican 
 War. He is also a iiniminent factor in many charitable 
 organizations. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 2og 
 
 CAPTAIN \\-f[.LlAM I. 
 
 AXAC.AX 
 
 Captain W'ii.ijam Livixgstox I'laxagax, manu- 
 facturer, soldier, was born in New "^'ork City on 
 A'lay 14, 1858. His nacestors on the male side were 
 Irishmen of considerable note. The first to come to 
 America was his great-grandfather, Christopher Flan- 
 agan, who, born and raised to manhood in Dublin, Ire- 
 land, came to this counti-y just before the commence- 
 ment of the Revolutionary War. Being an Irishman, 
 it did not take him long to come to the determination 
 to espouse the cause of the patriots, and not long after 
 his arrival he enlisted on board a privateersman, and 
 in that capacity, on one vessel or another, he served 
 until the close of the war, participating in many naval 
 engagements and earning for himself an enviable name 
 as a soldier. Cpon the termination of the struggle for 
 independence he settled in New York, married, and 
 engaged in the book business. He was especially well 
 equipped for this line of trade, as he was a man of good 
 education, well versed in the literature of the time, and 
 before his death became noted as a great linguist. To 
 him was born a son, James, who became a lawyer of 
 considerable prominence, and who was eventually ele- 
 vated to the bench. James Flanagan was for many 
 years the close friend and intimate of Governor De 
 
 Witt Clinton, and aided him greatly in his project of 
 building the Erie Canal. James Flanagan, his son, and 
 the father of the subject of this sketch, did not inherit 
 the legal bent, but was more inclined to a commercial 
 career. After receiving a liberal education, and l)eing 
 placed in possession of some means, he began in an 
 humble way the establishment of a business which was 
 in time to become the leader of its class in the metropo- 
 lis. The brewery of Flanagan, Nay & Co. was for 
 many years among the largest manufacturers of beer 
 and ale in the country. 
 
 William Livingston Flanagan, the son of James 
 Flanagan, received his education from private instnic- 
 lors, and was at the age of seventeen equipped to enter 
 upon a business career. This he did by entering his 
 father's establishment, where he early developed nat- 
 ural business abilities of a high order, and rapidly rose 
 to positions of trust and responsibility. The heads of 
 tiie firm were not slow in discovering the young man's 
 superior qualifications, and he was but twenty-two 
 years of age when he was admitted to membership in 
 the concern. So thoroughly had he mastered all the 
 details of the immense business, and so masterful were 
 his business qualifications, that soon after becoming a 
 member of the firm the entire management was given 
 into his care. He continued to direct the affairs of the 
 concern until it was consolidated with the H. Clausen 
 & Son Brewing Company, and he cmitinued in the 
 management of the enlarged comi)any during the re- 
 mainder of his life. 
 
 Captain Flanagan was associated with his brother, De 
 Witt Clinton Flanagan, in the enterprise of construct- 
 ing a canal across the Cape Cod Peninsula at the neck 
 between Barnstaljle and l^iuzzards bays. He did not, 
 however, take the initiative or any formative part in 
 that great project, now thought to be measurably near 
 the point of realization, but he gave to it his moral and 
 material support, and was heartily in accord with his 
 brother in his confident belief in the ultimate success 
 and great value of their enterprise. 
 
 Captain Flanagan was possessed of the tnilitary in- 
 stinct in a large measure. As early as 1878 he enlisted as 
 a private in Company B, Seventh Regiment, National 
 Guard of the State of New York, and he became con- 
 spicuous for his efficiency in drill in that crack organi- 
 zation. He continued to serve in the ranks until 1887, 
 when he was honorably mustered out. On the 2d of 
 February, 1891, he was commissioned a Second Lieu- 
 tenant in the Second Battery of the National Guard of 
 the State of New York, and on the i ith of June, 1894, 
 he was promoted to a First Lieutenancy in the same 
 battery. This branch of the service had great attrac- 
 
MUX OF AFFAIRS L\ XFIl' YORK 
 
 tions for him, ami he became tlioroug-lily proficient in 
 its details and requirements. To such a length did he 
 carry his studies, and to such a proficiency did he at- 
 tain, that he became a recognized authority on 
 the artillery branch of the service. While still 
 retaining his membership with the Second Bat- 
 tery he was detailed to accompany the Fifth 
 Battery to the State Camp of Instniction in 1894, 
 which was a marked compliment to his efficiency as an 
 officer. In April, 1898, he was appointed on the 
 board for the examination of non-commissioned officers 
 of the Second Batter}'. On July 15, 1898, he was com- 
 missioned Captain of the Fourth Battery, United 
 States Volunteers, for duty in the war with Spain, and 
 he remained with the battery until November i, 1898, 
 when he returned to duty with his old battery. Cap- 
 tain Flanagan was a pronounced Democrat in his polit- 
 ical beliefs, but this fact did not have any influence 
 with (jovernor Roosevelt when he came td make up his 
 military staff. He appointed him an Aide-de-Camp, 
 with the rank of Colonel, in just recognition of his 
 
 superior qualifications as an officer as well as of his 
 patriotic spirit in offering his services to the Govern- 
 ment. In February, 1891, he was detailed for duty on 
 the board for examining enlisted men for qualified gun- 
 ners of the first and second class. In June, 1901, he 
 was relieved from duty on this board and was ap- 
 pointed on the board for the examination of the appli- 
 cants for non-commissioned officers of the Second Bat- 
 tery. This rather extended space is given to Captain 
 Flanagan's military record in order to properly empha- 
 size the high estimate which was placed upon his abili- 
 ties by those in authority. He was ever foremost in all 
 projects looking to the im]jrovement in the military 
 organizations of the State, and it was this spirit that 
 animated him to offer a prize in the shape of a bronze 
 statue of Napoleon, valued at five hundred dollars, for 
 competition by the five batteries of the State in a target 
 contest. 
 
 Ca])tain Flanagan was the owner of the Hotel Marie 
 Antoinette, sn lung and fa\orably knuwn, at Sixty- 
 sixth St. and the Boulevard. He died januarv 18. 190^. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 W. GRANVILLE-SMITH 
 
 ^^'ALTER Granville-Smith \vas born in Sovith 
 Granville, Washington Connty, New York, Januai^ 
 26, 1870, and is the eldest son of James Ward Smith 
 and Chloe Luthera {nee Day) Smith. Early the fam- 
 ily removed to Newark, N. J., where the lad attended 
 the public schools, which he left for the Newark Acad- 
 emy, a well-known seat of learning in that city, in 
 which he took the higher courses, at an early age de- 
 veloping a strong bent for drawing. This was en- 
 couraged by his parents in every way, and while still 
 at school he took some lessons from an amateur artist 
 of some note, Mr. David McLure, spending all his 
 spare time in the pursuit of painting anil drawing, so 
 that very early he Ijecame proficient in a technical way, 
 overcoming the ])reliminary difficulties of his profes- 
 sion at a time when most young men begin. Indeed, he 
 acquired a remarkable facility that has never left him, 
 and on leaving the academy he entered the office of the 
 architect, Mr. Van Campen Taylor, of Newark, as a 
 draughtsman, being later employed in the same capacity 
 by Mr. William Halsey W^ood, also of the same city. 
 
 His renderings of architectural plans attracted con- 
 siderable attention, and the practice thus obtained has 
 
 been of inestimable advantage to him since in his 
 career. W'ith some of the money saved from his re- 
 muneration in the ofiices of these architects, he deter- 
 mined to take up seriously the study of art. and to this 
 end he entered later the classes of Mr. Walter Satterlee, 
 of New York, an associate of the National Academy of 
 Design and a member of the American Water Color 
 Society, and he subsequently became a member of the 
 Art Students' League. Here his advance was rapid, 
 indeed, and soon he offered illustrative work to the 
 magazines, with immediate success, having all the com- 
 missions he CMuld fill and receiving therefor substan- 
 tial sums. Still amiiitious, however, he made arrange- 
 ments to go abroad, and in 1897 he visited Europe, 
 making his headquarters in Paris, the Mecca of the 
 art student these score of years or more. But he fur- 
 ther visited the art centers of Europe, made many ac- 
 quaintances and imbibed the best from galleries and 
 men, returning to New York later, where he opened 
 a studio at the old building of the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association, on the corner of Twenty-third Street 
 and Fourth Avenue. There he stayed for several years, 
 dividing his time between illustration and the painting 
 of easel pictures, both in oil and water color, being par- 
 I ticularly facile in the management of the latter medium, 
 I and shortly he was elected to membership in the Ameri- 
 can W^ater Color Society, where he has been promi- 
 f nently identified with all its exhibitions for several 
 years. 
 
 ^luch of bis work in water-color has been repro- 
 duced, and he has been much in demand by the pub- 
 lishers. But he soon turned his attention to the more 
 serious medium of oils, finding for some years inspira- 
 tion on the south shore of Long Island, at Bellport, the 
 Great South Bay, with its fisher-life, its marshlands 
 and various maritime happenings attracting him 
 greatly. The old fisher-folk there he has painted at 
 their occupations, and he has given glimpses of village 
 streets and quaint old architecture, all culminating in 
 his envoi to the recent display of the Society of Ameri- 
 can Artists, "The Old Mill," wherein he may be said 
 to ha\e reached the highest point in his artistic career, 
 his large painting attracting the liveliest attention and 
 escaping the main prize narrowly, by a few votes only. 
 This work, wliich was prominently placed on the line 
 at the show, represented an old structure by moonlight. 
 Some willow trees are about the house, and to the right 
 is an old stable, while in front is a group of idlers. It 
 is of the soil, sui generis, and the subtlety of tones is 
 well caught, the technical part of the picture attracting 
 the notice rif bis brother artists. 
 
 That Mr. Granville-Smith is a serious student of 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 nature is never for a moment to be mistaken. It shows 
 in the liglitest toiicli, and he has the ilhistrator's quahty ' 
 of astonisliing obsen-ation, no small detail escaping his i 
 trained eye. Official recognition has happily come to 
 him in these years, some of it arriving early, and, 
 though still well on the right side of forty, he has had 
 more than his share of honors. The William T. Evans 
 prize at the American Water Color Society was ^ 
 awarded him in 1905. and the Tfallgarten prize at the 
 National Academy of Design, while at the Charleston ! 
 Exhibition be was given a bronze medal, and he has 
 been an exhibitor by invitation to the shows at Pitts- 
 burg, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia and at 
 London. Mr. Granville-Smith is also identified with 
 other art organizations, the Illustrators' Society, the 
 Salmagundi Club, and, of athletic inclinations, he is 
 a member of the Fencers' Club, being expert with the 
 foils. In 1894 he married Jessica May Stout, and to 
 them have been born a daughter and a son. His pres- 
 ent studio is at 96 Fifth Avenue, and he has a summer 
 residence at Bellport. \vhere lie is installed in a ram- 
 bling old house fitted up with artistic taste and a de- 
 lightful collection of Colonial furniture. 
 
 Mr. Granville-Smith's range is practically unlim- 
 ited, for he attacks figures, marines and land.scapes 
 with equal facility anil satisfactory results, working 
 always enthusiastically ami with consummate knowl- 
 edge, the result not alone of artistic intuition, but of 
 the most serious study before nature out of doors, and 
 happily he has always enjoyed the best of health and 
 has a powerful physique. Indeed, bis art is his life, and 
 morning, noon and even the night find him at bis 
 easel, ever working at some problem, ever seriously 
 considering new schemes, striving as hard now as when 
 he first began, and, w ith all bis dexterity, securing bis 
 ends by the greatest amount of labor, for be is bis own 
 most severe critic. There is scarcely a publication of 
 artistic standing and dignity to which he has not con- 
 tributed in recent years, and, though his inclinations 
 lead him to the making of serious composition pictures, 
 he is in such demand that he may not call bis time all 
 his own, but has to comply with the too frequent re- 
 (|uesls of the ])ulilis]iers. Yet he has remarkable 
 fecundity, and his application ])crmits him to jjut out 
 much, none of which is unworthv his talent and stand- 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 213 
 
 FRANCIS HOWARD LEGGETT 
 
 Francis Howard Leggett, the leading member of 
 a prominent mercantile firm in Xew York City, where 
 he has long been well known for his business enterprise 
 and as an active and earnest citizen, was bom in this 
 city, March 27, 1840, being derived from an old West- 
 chester County family which came to this country in 
 the seventeenth century, and the history of which may 
 be briefly given as preliminary to that of the subject 
 of our sketch. The family can be traced back to Essex 
 County, England. A\here it dwelt fur many generations, 
 the name being derived fmm a Papal legate who lived 
 far back in the family line and derived his name from 
 his official title. 
 
 The first American of the family came to this coun- 
 try from the English colony of Barbados, in the West 
 Indies. His son married Elizabeth Richardson, daugh- 
 ter of a large landlmkler in Westchester County. New 
 York, and his grandson was for years IMayor of West- 
 chester borough and one of the leading citizens of that 
 district. From this person descended Abraham Leg- 
 gett, father of the suliject of our sketch, and for many 
 years a liighly respected merchant of New York City, 
 where for half a century he carried on a large whole- 
 sale grncer^■ liusiness on Front Street, and where he 
 aided in fnundin"- the Market Bank. 
 
 Francis H. Leggett received a good education in an 
 academic institution, upon the completion of which, in 
 1856, he began his business life, at the age of si.xteen, 
 as clerk in a produce commission house. He continued 
 here until 1862, gaining a thorough acquaintance with 
 business methods, and displaying that industry and in- 
 telligence to which his more recent rapid progress has 
 been due. In the last-named year he went into the 
 wholesale grocery business on his own account, in part- 
 nership with an older brother, and continued thus asso- 
 ciated until 1870, when be withdrew from the firm to 
 engag-e in Inisiness with his }'ounger brother, Theodore 
 (now deceased), the name of the new firm Ijeing 
 Francis H. Leggett & Co. 
 
 The business, while modest in its origin, soon felt the 
 impetus of Mr. Leggett's enterprise and thorough ac- 
 quaintance with its details and necessities, and grew 
 with the most encouraging rapidity, increasing so 
 qnickl)' that from the original establishment it extended 
 in 1873 to occupying three stores on Reade Street. 
 Later it became necessary to add a fourth store on 
 I'hambers Street, to accommodate the large business 
 which had developed. The progress here briefly de- 
 scribed continued until the extended quarters men- 
 tioned became too small for the great trade of the firm, 
 and it became necessary to gain increased room. In 
 1 88 1 the present imposing warehouse on West Broad- 
 way. Franklin and Varick Streets, ten stories in height, 
 was erected and thoroughly ecjuipped with every requi- 
 site for the handling of groceries on the largest scale. 
 
 The house does a large importing business in high- 
 class groceries, cofifees and teas, while many articles 
 are manufactured from the raw material or otherwise 
 prepared for the trade in the King Street premises of 
 the firm, which has thus developed from an importing 
 house into a manufacturing establishment on a large 
 scale, so far as many of the products dealt in are con- 
 cerned. In addition to its large plant in New York, it 
 has an ofiice in Bordeaux, France, while there is not a 
 producing region in the world which is not made tribu- 
 tar}^ to its demands. Since the origin of the firm three 
 other partners have been admitted from the experi- 
 enced and trustworthy employees of the house, the 
 original firm name being retained. Mr. Leggett con- 
 tinues at the head of the concern and is the active man- 
 ager of its great business, o\-er which he keeps an im- 
 mediate and careful oversight. 
 
 We have spoken especially of the immediate com- 
 mercial interests of Mr. Leggett, to which his attention 
 has been largely confined, as a representative of the 
 mercantile interests of New York and of the especial 
 line of trade with which he has been so long and so 
 
214 
 
 MEN OF Al- FAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 prosperously associatcii and in wliicli he is now an ac- 
 knowledged leader. 
 
 Aside from this, his interests ha\e spread into other 
 business connections, and he is a member of various 
 financial and other institutions, being a Director in the 
 Home Insurance Company and in the Washington 
 Trust Comi)any, a Trustee in the Greenwich Savings 
 Bank, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce and 
 of the Produce and IMercantile exchanges. He was 
 formerly a Director of the National Park Bank, which 
 position he held for twelve years. 
 
 Public life has not appealed to him and be has held 
 no political or official position in the city, though an 
 earnest citizen and a strong opponent nf all that threat- 
 ens to detract from its good name or to endanger its 
 interests, or affect the integrity of those to whom they 
 are intrusted. His earnestness in this direction was 
 shown a number of vears ago, when be was selected as 
 
 foreman of a special grand jury, which served for three 
 months in bringing up the police official briliery cases 
 that e.Kcited much attention and indignation at that 
 time. His wrk in this bndy was thoroughly and cnn- 
 scientiiiuslx' ijcrfurmed, and with Sd broad a \'iew of the 
 duties imposed upon him that it brought him the thanks 
 of the Judge and general praise from press and people 
 Aside from his business connections, Mr. Leggett 
 belongs to several social organizations, including the 
 Metropolitan, the Union League, the ^Merchants' and 
 a number of other clubs. He takes a warm interest in 
 the Charity Organization Society, or tlie association of 
 pubHc charities, of this city, being a member of its 
 council and a frequent contributor to its funds. Re 
 ligiously, he is a member of the Fifth Avenue Presby- 
 terian Church. His country seat is at Stone Ridge, 
 Ulster County, New^ York, where he has an extensive 
 estalilishment. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 SIMON STERNE 
 
 The legal profession in the city of New York in- 
 cludes in its ranks many men of fine powers and dis- 
 tinguished ability, men who have not confined them- 
 selves to the practice of the law, but have made their 
 marks in other directions, as in the field of politics or 
 the domain of literature. Among those who have won 
 a reputation for their achievements in the latter direc- 
 tion may be named Simon Sterne, a gentleman who, 
 while winning- a position of prominence in railroad law, 
 has also taken an active part in the movement for 
 reform in New York City, and has won himself a name 
 as an able writer and a reasoner of unusual powers in 
 the field of political economy. 
 
 Mr. Sterne is a native of Philadelphia, where he was 
 born July 23, 1839, the son of Henry and Regina 
 Sterne. He was educated in the Philadelphia public 
 schools, at the University of Pennsylvania and the Uni- 
 versity of Heidelberg. After his graduation from these 
 institutions he studied law under John H. Markland 
 and Judge Sharswood, of Philadelphia, and was grad- 
 uated from the Law Department of the University of 
 Pennsylvania on June 6, 1859, in which year he was 
 admitted to the Philadelphia bar. He remained in 
 practice, however, for only a short time in his native 
 
 city, and then removed to New York, where he was 
 admitted to the bar in June, i860, and where he has 
 since resided and practiced, winning a reputation as 
 an expert in railroad law, which has been the most ac- 
 tive field of his practice. He has represented a large 
 number of railroads, and since 1888 has been general 
 counsel for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway 
 Company. 
 
 As a citizen of New York he took an active part in 
 the revolt against the cornipt political domination of 
 that city led by the notorious William M. Tweed. He 
 entered energetically into the contest for honest munici- 
 l)al go\-ernnient, was a member of the famous Com- 
 mittee of Sevent}'. wliich was prominent in the fight 
 against the Tweed regime in 1870, and also acted as 
 its secretar}'. He drafted the charter known as the 
 Charter of the Committee of Seventy and other legis- 
 lation of that period, and devoted about a year and a 
 half to the work of the committee, continuing his 
 efforts until the election of Mayor Havemeyer and the 
 passage of laws sustaining the cause of reform which 
 drove the ring from power. He was private counsel 
 for Mayor Havemeyer during his incumbency, and 
 also claims the honor of suggesting the law which 
 made Election Day in New York a legal holiday. In 
 fact, during that period of stress and strain in the his- 
 tory of New York as a municipality Mr. Sterne was 
 a power in the cause of honesty in public affairs and 
 one of the strong men among those who lifted the 
 city from the mire of corruption into which it had 
 fallen. 
 
 In 1S76 Mr. Sterne was appointed by Governor 
 Tilden as one of the commission, of which William M. 
 I'lvarts was chairman, to devise a plan for the govern- 
 ment of the cities of this State. This commission sat 
 for two years, without compensation, and reported a 
 series of amendments to the Constitution adapted to 
 prevent a renewal of the reign of fraud which had so 
 long continued in the metropolis. The railway and its 
 interests and operations was also one of the subjects 
 that actively enlisted his attention, and in 1878, at the 
 request of a large number of the leading merchants 
 and bankers, he delivered a lecture on "The Railway 
 and Its Relation to Public and Private Interests" at 
 Steinway Hall, the Mayor of the city presiding. As a 
 result of the interest taken in, and the general discus- 
 sion of, the subject the Legislature appointed a com- 
 mittee to investigate the abuses alleged to exist in the 
 management of the railways of the State, and Mr. 
 Sterne was selected by the Chamber of Commerce and 
 I the New York Board of Trade and Transportation to 
 act as counsel to conduct the investigation, which lasted 
 
2l6 
 
 MILX or Ai-l'.URS IX XJiir YORK 
 
 o\-er eight montlis. Tlie labor of tlie committee was 
 most searching and thorough, and the charges which 
 had been made were fully sustained. The law subse- 
 quently passed to appoint a railroad commission for 
 New York State was drafted l)y iiim. In fact, no other 
 man in the city and State did so much as he to reform 
 the evils which had crept into railroad management 
 and to establish fair and just relations between the 
 railroads and their patrons. 
 
 Mr. Sterne's interest in this suljject extended beyond 
 the boundaries of New York State, and for several 
 successive sessions of Congress be arg-ued before the 
 Committee on Commerce of the House upon the neces- 
 sity of interstate railway legislation. As a consequence, 
 in 1885 the Cullom United States Select Committee on 
 Interstate Commerce requested him to remodel and 
 revise, in conjunction with Mr. Albert Fink and Mr. 
 (ieorge R. Blanchard, leading railroad experts, the 
 bill drafted by the committee. This he did, and the 
 bill which was subsequently passed is now the basis of 
 p.iwer (jf the Interstate Commerce Commission, which 
 has recently become of so much prominence in connec- 
 tion with the railroad rate legislation. 
 
 He had by this time grown to be an acknowledged 
 expert on railroad affairs in general and a power in the 
 movement for their regulation and reform, and in 
 1887. as a result of two successive visits to Europe 
 and a thorough study of the railway situation there, 
 he, on the commission of the President of the United 
 States, made a report to Congress on the relation of 
 the r.overnmcnts nf Western Eurn])e to the railways. 
 
 Mr. Sterne, in connection with his active public du- 
 ties, has made himself well known as a writer of 
 marked ability and as a Ijroad and liberal thinker on 
 subjects demanding deep thoug-ht. In i86r, sliDrtly 
 after bis removal to New York, he limught himself 
 into public notice by a thoughtful lecture on "The 
 Tariff : Its Evils and Their Remedy," and from 1862 
 to 18G4 he was judged suitable by the trustees of the 
 Cooper Union to deliver lectures on political economy 
 in that institution. During part of this period, in 
 1863-64, he was editor of the New York Commercial 
 Advertiser, and he \\as suljsequently editor and pro- 
 prietor of the Social Science Review in 1865-66. We 
 owe to his pen "Representative Government and Per- 
 sonal Representation," written in 1871; "Constitu- 
 tional History and Political Development of the United 
 States," and a number of articles in Lalor's "Cyclo- 
 p?edia of Political Science and L'niled States History," 
 contributions marked by skill in presentation and 
 knowledge of the subjects treated. He is a frecpient 
 contributor to the reviews, has made many addresses 
 before societies and public bodies, is a patron of the 
 arts and a member of many clubs and other societies. 
 As a reformer he was a member of the Committee of 
 Seventy, so prominent in the reform movement of 
 1894, and made himself felt in its councils. 
 
 In 1870 he married Mathilde Elsl^erg, sister of Dr. 
 Louis Elsberg, the celebrated laryngologist. and has 
 one daughter, Alice Sterne. He continues active in 
 legal and reform matters in New York and retains his 
 interest in railroad legislation and general affairs. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 HEXRY LAW^RENCE HORTON 
 
 Among the prominent and able bankers of New 
 York City, the men who have won a reputation and 
 gained the esteem of the community by energy and 
 integrity in business affairs, public spirit and activity 
 in all matters in which the good of the community is 
 concerned, must be named Henry Lawrence Horton, 
 formerly president of the village of New Brighton, 
 Staten Island, and still an active and prominent citizen 
 of the metropolis. 
 
 Mr. Horton is a native of Pennsylvania, being born 
 at Shesquin, in Bradford County, of that State, July 
 17, 1832. The family is an old one in this country, 
 tlie first American ancestor having been Bamabas 
 Horton, who came to America from Mousley, Leices- 
 tershire, England, in 1633. settled at Hampton, Mass., 
 moved to New Haven in 1640, and in the same year set- 
 tled at Southhold, Suffolk County, Long Island, where 
 he built the first frame dwelling in that place. The 
 lineage of the family can be traced back to 1300, to 
 Robert de Horton, and in the line of his ancestry is 
 Lord Horton, whose castle still stands in Northamp- 
 tonshire, England. 
 
 Mr. Horton is the son of William B. Horton and 
 Melinda Blackman Horton, daughter of Colonel 
 
 Franklin Blackman. His early life resembled that of 
 many men who subsequently made their mark in this 
 country, he being brought up on a farm, obtaining such 
 sparse education as was there t() be had, and early in 
 life manifesting an unusual business capacity. At the 
 age of seventeen he left home and went to Towanda, 
 N. Y., a position as clerk having been offered him in 
 a mercantile house in that place. Here, by industr\', 
 business intelligence and faithful attention to the inter- 
 ests of his employers, he won their confidence and 
 esteem, and developed those sterling qualities of integ- 
 rity and enterprise to which the success of his subse- 
 (juent business career is due. 
 
 When twenty-two years of age Mr. Horton left 
 Towanda for the West, settling at Milwaukee, Wis., 
 where he began business on his own account in the 
 produce commission line. In this prosperous W^estern 
 city he remained actively and somewhat successfully 
 engaged for eleven years, the latter part of which in- 
 cluded the period of the Civil War. At the end of this 
 contest, in 1865, moved by various business reasons, 
 he disposed of his establishment in Milwaukee and left 
 the West for New York City, where he felt satisfied 
 there would be opportunities of more rapid progress 
 for one of his enterprise and business activity and 
 ambition. 
 
 It was a good period to seek the great center of 
 business enterprise and to avail himself of the avenues 
 for advancement which the metropolis offered. The 
 great struggle which had so long distracted the country 
 was at an end and the disturbing questions which gave 
 rise to it were definitely settled. War affairs and war 
 interests were in all directions being set aside and the 
 people again turning their undivided attention to busi- 
 ness and seeking to restore the country to that reign of 
 peaceful activity which had so long been interrupted. 
 
 Mr. Horton was prompt to avail himself of the op- 
 portunity, and soon after his arrival in the metropolis 
 connected himself with the Stock and other Exchanges, 
 entering into the banking and brokerage business. 
 Since then he has conducted one of the most successful 
 establishments of that kind in the city, and has won 
 wealth and position by his capacity for business and 
 strict attention to its details. He is now the senior 
 member of the firm of H. L. Horton & Co., which oc- 
 cupies commodious and handsome banking-rooms at 
 No. 66 Broadway, but for over twenty-five years was 
 I located at No. 56 Broadway. His house is one of the 
 few that safely weathered the financial storms which 
 for many years disturbed the business interests of the 
 country, and maintained an uninterrupted prosperity 
 I during that period, passing safely through its several 
 
2l8 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS /.V XEJV YORK 
 
 occasions of severe business revulsion, and it still re- 
 tains its prominence as one of the i)romiuent hanking 
 establishments of the city. 
 
 He is a member of the Stock and Produce Ex- 
 changes, of the Chicago Board of Trade, and of the 
 Union League, Manhattan, Athletic and other clubs; 
 is a lover of horses and keeps a v^ell-filled stable, and 
 is fond of books and a lover of art, his city home, at 
 144 West Fifty-seventh Street, being adorned with a 
 large library and many valuable paintings, in part the 
 fruit of several years spent in Europe. He married 
 Aliss Sarah S. Patten, of New York, their family con- 
 sisting of two daughters, Blanche and Grace. 
 
 Soon after engaging in business in New York Mr. 
 Horton took up his residence at New Brighton, Staten 
 Island, where lie was in possession of a handsome 
 estate, and has made himself a leader by his public 
 spirit. He has taken a very active part in public affairs 
 in this district, having been prominently concerned in 
 every aggressi\e iun\-ement in Richmond County, and 
 is especially entitled to credit for his energy in promot- 
 in<r the development and interests of the Staten Island 
 
 Water Supply and of the Rapid Transit companies. 
 As above stated, he has occupied the position of Presi- 
 dent of New Brighton, and it has no citizen more wide 
 awake to its interests. 
 
 Mr. HortdU has made hosts of warm and useful 
 friends, whose esteem he possesses in the highest de- 
 gree. He is a thorough business man, and of such 
 ripened judgment and experience that his advice and 
 influence are widely sought. Of attractive personal 
 appearance and courteous manners, he has made him- 
 self a favorite alike in social and business life, while 
 his sound judgment makes him a most useful citizen. 
 1 Warmly benevolent in disposition, one of his chief 
 aims in life seems to be to provide for the comfort and 
 happiness of others, and few men have done more un- 
 ostentatious works of charity. In short, he is in every 
 respect a good citizen, taking a wann interest in all 
 the public affairs of the metropolis and making his 
 influence felt in many ways outside the channels of 
 business, one of the men to whom the demands of good 
 citizenship is a duty rather than a burden, and who play 
 their part well in all the details of life. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 219 
 
 EDWARD PAYSON FO\VLER, M.D. 
 
 Among the broadest-minded physicians of New 
 York City, a man of no "school," bnt of all "schools," 
 a man who has broken loose from the narrow conven- 
 tions of his profession and widened his methods to 
 take advantage of the best to be found in any field of 
 practice, is Dr. Edward Payson Fowler, one of the 
 most eminent of present-day practitioners in the metro- 
 politan city. 
 
 Dr. Fowler was born at Coliocton, Steulien County, 
 New York, November 30, 1834, being the youngest son 
 of Judge Horace and Mary Fowler. He is descended 
 from old Puritan stock, being the sixth lineal descend- 
 ant of \A'illiam Fowler, who came to Massachusetts in 
 1630 with the first contingent of the Puritans. 
 His grandfather, Eliphalet Fowler, entered the 
 Revolutionary army as a private, made his mark in the 
 Continental army, and retired with the rank of Major. 
 His mother was the grandniece of ;\Iai-y Phillipse, the 
 first love of George Washington, whom her parents 
 took to Europe to break off the attentions of the young 
 \'irgiuian, then unknown to fame, and with nothing to 
 show that he was likely to rise to eminence. 
 
 As young Fowler grew up his inclinations led him 
 toward the medical profession, in which he was des- 
 
 tined to gain such distinction, and in 1851 he entered 
 the New York Medical College as a student, showing 
 himself one of the most diligent, studious and able of 
 those in his class. Completing a four years' course in 
 1S55, he graduated as first-prize man, having ])assed 
 an exceptionally brilliant college term. The credit 
 which he liad won in his college years and the honors 
 with which he graduated opened to him excellent ad- 
 \-antages for a career, and he immediately entered into 
 jiartnership \\ith Drs. Gray and Hull, who had then 
 perhajis the most extensive and lucrative practice in 
 New York City. In consequence, his practice became 
 unusually large almost from its commencement. 
 
 But, as v.'e have said, there was no narrowness in 
 Dr. Fowler's vicAv of his duties to his patients. He 
 felt that as a i)h}'sician it was incumbent on him to 
 seek the Ijcst in all fields of practice, and, convinced that 
 the "Old School" s}-stem of medicine did not exhaust 
 the domain of medical science, but that the "New 
 .-School" of ]iirn(L'opathy had in it much worthy of 
 knowing, lie a-ain became a student and familiarized 
 himself with the principles of homoeopathic practice. 
 He sul)sc<|ucntly i)racticed this in connection with the 
 former, looking upon the two systems as component 
 parts of a unit. During his many years of practice he 
 has evinced the possession of skill and ability of such 
 high order as to raise him to the highest rank of the 
 profession, his practice being among the best class of 
 New Yorkers, including many of the old Ivnicker- 
 bocker families. 
 
 Dr. Fowler has always been distinctly in opposi- 
 tion to sectarianism in medicine, declaring that medi- 
 cine is a unit and should be dealt with as such. His 
 \'iews in this direction were recog-nized by the thinking 
 part of tb.e "Old School," which in 1878 adopted those 
 rules, for New ^'ork State, known as the "New Code," 
 giving up the stringent conservatism which had long 
 prevailed. Under this new system the only qualifica- 
 tion demanded for a physician is the legally required 
 medical education, and the "Old School" became prac- 
 tically the "Comjirehensive School." This action was 
 not indorsed b\- the homneopathists, and consequently 
 Dr. Fowler withdrew from his former connection with 
 them and joined the "Comprehensive School" of medi- 
 cine — not as indicating a change in his views, but in 
 consistent agreement with his long-expressed doctrine 
 of the unity of medical practice. 
 
 In addition to his private practice. Dr. Fowler has 
 availed himself of the benefits of hijspital practice, 
 having served in the AVard's Island and Hahnemann 
 hospitals. His high standing in his profession was 
 duly recognized in 1887, when there was conferred on 
 
MEX OF AFFAIRS IX XEJV YORK 
 
 him the honorary degree of Doctor of ]\Ie(hcine by the 
 Board of Regents of the State of New York, and he 
 was appointed Examiner of Anatomy in "the first 
 Board of New York State Examiners for conferring 
 medical degrees." He has been connected with the 
 foremost medical societies of the city and State, was 
 one of the founders of the New York Medico-Chirur- 
 gical Society, and served as its President, and is also a 
 member of the New York Academy of Medicine, the 
 New York Neurological Society, the Medical Society 
 of the County of New York and other societies. While 
 Dr. h'owler's attention has been devoted assiduously. to 
 his profession, he is unusually well versed in business 
 affairs. Politically he is an ardent Republican, and is 
 a member of the I'nion League Club, and has taken an 
 active and earnest interest in the movements of the 
 party in New York. 
 
 Dr. Fowler was married in 1873 to Miss M. Louise 
 ^Mumford, now deceased, two children — Edward Mum- 
 ford Fowler and Louise Mumford Fowler — surviving. 
 In 1896 he was married a second tine, his new wife 
 being Miss Mildred Rus.sell. In addition to his city 
 home, he has a delightful summer residence at Coopers- 
 town, N. Y. Personally he is a man of genial manners 
 
 and benevolent disposition. (|ualities which have gained 
 him the respect and esteem of all with wlinni he has 
 come into contact. 
 
 He has passed much time abroad in travel and study, 
 has contributed generously to medical literature, and is 
 the author of valuable medical works, including ", Eti- 
 ology and General History of Scarlet Fever," "Pseudo- 
 Typhoid F'ever," "Certain ^Maladies of the Heart." 
 "Abnormalities of the Cerebral Convolutions," etc. He 
 has also translatetl from the I'rench and German such 
 works as Charcot's "Localization in Diseases of the 
 Brain," Richert's "Physiology and Histology of the 
 Cerebral Convolutions," and Benedikt's "Anatomical 
 Study of the Brains of Criminals." He has in addition 
 delivered many instmctive lectures before medical 
 bodies, his discourses showing deep study of the sub- 
 jects under discussion. 
 
 In short. Dr. F'owler is a thorough master of the 
 medical profession from all points of ^-iew, a volumi- 
 nous reader and a deep thinker, and, aside from 
 his i)ractice, has done much to advance the science of 
 medicine, alike liy his many treatises on the subject antl 
 his al)le,and useful works, which have won a recognized 
 place in the literature of the profession. 
 
MEN OF Af FAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HERSCHEL ADAAIS 
 
 A BRAVE and patriotic soldier of tiie Civil War, a 
 business man of high ability, a gentleman active and 
 earnest in many affairs of public importance, Henry 
 Herschel Adams has won a prominent position among 
 our able and energetic merchants and manufacturers 
 and those engaged in public and i)rivate affairs. Born 
 in Collamer, Ohio, July 9, 1844, he has a distinguished 
 ancestr}' both in England and America, the family, 
 indeed, being traceable in a direct line of descent from 
 William the Conqueror, through his daughter and 
 Sir John ap Adam, from whom came through many 
 generations the original American Adams family which 
 has furnished the country two Presidents. 
 
 The immigrant ancestor \\as Henry Adams, who 
 settled in Braintree. Mass.. in 1634. The son of the 
 latter, Lieutenant Henry Adams, was killed in King 
 Philip's \\'ar. Benoni .\dams, grandfather of the sub- 
 ject of our sketch, was a Revolutionaiy soldier, and his 
 father. Lowell L. Adams, fought in the War of 1812. 
 His mother. Hepzibah Thayer, of Surrey, N. H., was 
 a member of the Anti-.SJavery Society before the war 
 and a correspondent nf the National V.vd on the anti- 
 slavery movement. These particulars are of interest 
 
 I as showing the prominence of the family in this coun- 
 try, especially in military' afifairs, in which Mr. Adams 
 
 ' has well sustained the family traditions. 
 
 He was educated in Shaw Academy, Cleveland, 
 Ohio, but left its classes when the Civil \\'ar broke out 
 to take part in that great contest. Although at that 
 time but seventeen years of age, he was full of the old 
 warlike and patriotic spirit of the family, and after a 
 year's impatient waiting he enlisted in Company G of 
 the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment of Ohio 
 A'olunteer Infantry, in the formation of which he did 
 active recruiting service. 
 
 Delicate in health at that time, he was unable to ac- 
 cept the office of Second Lieutenant tendered him, and 
 was detailed on detached service in the Department of 
 Alilitary Mails. He was, however, with the regiment 
 at intervals, and took part in the battle of Franklin, 
 March 9, 1863. where, as the ofificers of the regiment 
 state, he valiantly led the charge in advance across the 
 Little Harpeth River, which dislodged Van Dorn's 
 forces on the southern bank. He also participated in 
 the battle of Chickamauga, where he acted as aide to 
 
 . General Opdycke, and also in those of Rocky Face 
 Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church and Kenesaw Moun- 
 tain, during Sherman's advance upon Atlanta, doing 
 valuable service in the last two by taking charge of the 
 courier lines of communication with Big Shanty and 
 Kingston, the seats of supplies. This was a service of 
 the greatest danger, as the intervening country was 
 full of Confederate raiders and bushwhackers. 
 
 \Miile in this perilous service he was captured by 
 General Forrest at Athens, Ala., on September 20, 
 T864. together with seventeen of his men, and spent 
 the two succeeding months in the Confederate prison 
 at Cahaba, enduring the severest hardships. He was 
 exchanged in November, and reported for duty on the 
 morning of the battle of Nashville. He was discharged 
 on March 10, 1865, on account of the condition of his 
 health, due to the exposure and hardship of his prison 
 life. His corps comm.ander. General O. O. Howard, 
 and four of the officers of his regiment subsequently 
 joined in recommending him for a medal of honor in 
 recognition of his gallantry on the field. 
 
 After the war Mr. Adams diverted the energ)'' he had 
 shown on the battlefield into the field of business, en- 
 tering it with a boldness and activity which could not 
 fail to bring success. Returning to Cleveland, Ohio, 
 the seat of his school life, he engaged in the iron busi- 
 ness in 1867, and such was the spirit he put into it and 
 the intclh'gcnl stnd\' of its conditions which he made 
 that he wd onl\- achieved success, but in time became 
 known as one of llie ablest iron experts in this country. 
 
MEN OF AFI-AIRS IX AZI/J' YORK 
 
 In addition to conducting an energetic mercantile busi- 
 ness in iron, he became largely interested in shipping, 
 and \vas tlie owner of several vessels engaged in the 
 iron ore and grain transportation on the lake. In this 
 way he won a leading position in the business affairs 
 of Cleveland, and was also prominent in its social cir- 
 cles, his manly qualities winning him hosts of friends. 
 He was made a member of the Board of Education, 
 and took an active part in the promotion of school in- 
 terests ; was also a member of the Board of Trade, and 
 in 1881 was a delegate to the Boston "Free Sliip" Con- 
 vention, and one of the committee to lay the proceed- 
 ings of that convention before the Senate at Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 After being actively engaged in business for fifteen 
 3'ears in Cleveland, he removed in 1882 to New York 
 City, wliere lie became a memlier of one of the most 
 prominent in in concems in the United States, in the 
 affairs of wliicli his thonmgh acquaintance with the 
 business in all its details ]iroved of the utmost value. 
 In 1890 he was elected President of the Columbus 
 and Hocking Coal and Iron Company, and in June, 
 1 89 1, attained the same office in the Henry H. Adams 
 Iron Company, Incorporated, both of which concerns 
 were of national reputation. At a later date he became 
 President of the Colonial Iron Company of Pennsyl- 
 vania and its principal owner, and President or Vice- 
 President of various other business concerns, including 
 the Old Sterling Iron and Mining Company of New 
 York; also Treasurer of and large stockholder in the 
 Greenwich \Vater Company, of Greenwich, Conn. ; 
 Vice-President of the Glenville Power and Water Com- 
 pany, and also President of the Riverside Water Com- 
 ])any. 
 
 Aside from business concerns, Mr. Adams has made 
 
 himself very active in patriotic and militaiy societies. 
 He joined Lafayette Post. (i. A. R.. in 1891. and was 
 delegated by the post to decorate Lafayette's tomb in 
 Paris on Decoration Day, 1893. After his return he 
 was made Commander of the post, and has since been 
 quite prominent in Grand Army affairs. His addresses 
 delivered in Paris. France: Pittsburg and New York 
 City, at the national encampments and the ( irand Army 
 reunions. dis])la_\- fine oratorical skill and ability. 
 
 He was one of the original advocates and promoters 
 of tlie plan to cultivate patriotism among the _\-outli by 
 placing- the Stars and Stripes over every i)ub!ic scliool 
 building; is Vice-President of the Patriotic League of 
 America, a member of the Army and Navy Club of 
 New York City, also American Flag Association of 
 America, and is a member of the Sons of the Revolu- 
 tion, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Army 
 and Navy C1u1j of Hartford, and \-arious others, in 
 addition to a numlier of social clulis. On the 
 Ijreaking out of the Spanish War lie tendered 
 his services to tlie Governors of New \'ork and 
 Connecticut in any capacity in wiiicii he might be 
 alile to serve his country, having raised, at his own 
 expense, a brigade for active service. Mr. Adams is 
 also a member of the Chamber of Commerce of New 
 York City, of the National Committee of One Hun- 
 dred, organized to Innld the I'niversity of the United 
 States at Wasliington as outlined by George Washing- 
 ton, and a Trustee of tlie Lincoln Alemorial L^niversity 
 of Tennessee. In 1867 he married Helen Redington, 
 daughter of a prominent ship-owner of Cleveland, 
 Ohio, and has one son. H. H. Adams, and two daugh- 
 ters, :\Irs. J. D. Barrett and Mrs. A. B. Ashforth. Of 
 late vears he has li\ed much at his country residence at 
 Greenwich, Conn. 
 
MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 BIRD Snr COLER 
 
 Bird Sim Coler, President of tlie Ijorough of 
 Brooklyn, was born in Champaign, 111., on October q, 
 1867, but his parents soon tliereafter moved to Brook- 
 lyn, where he grew up and was educated in the public 
 schools and the Polytechnic Institute, with a supple- 
 mental course at the Phillips Anclover Academy. When 
 nineteen 3^ears old he entered his father's banking 
 house, and developed such an aptitude for the banking 
 business that shortly after reaching his majority he 
 was made a member of the firm. He made a special 
 study of financial and municipal law, and soon became 
 in Wall Street a recognized authority upon these vital 
 and intricate subjects. This gave him a remarkable 
 prestige as the representative of his banking firm and 
 one of the youngest and most active members of the 
 Stock E.\chang-e. so that in a few years he came to be 
 regarded as one of the shrewdest and most far-sighted 
 financiers in the city of New York. 
 
 As a relaxation from the cares of business, he came 
 to take an interest in politics, and in 1891 he became 
 actively identified with the Brooklyn Democracy, re- 
 ceiving the nomination for Alderman-at-large the fol- 
 lowing year. Although he was defeated in his first 
 political \-enture, he ran so far ahead of his ticket in 
 
 the banner Republican district of Brooklyn that the 
 leaders of his party at once recognized that a new and 
 aggressive force had arisen in Brooklyn politics. The 
 game of politics became so interesting that Mr. Coler 
 set about forming an organization, and the Young 
 Men's Democratic Club of the Twenty-third Ward 
 was the result. Ever vigilant in strengthening his 
 lines and adding to his forces, in a few years he had 
 such a following that when the Greater New York was 
 formed and the Democratic ticket for the election of 
 the first officers of the greater city was made known 
 the voters were startled to find named fijr the most 
 important office next to Mayor — that of Controller — 
 a young man only thirty years of age, and, so quietly 
 had his remarkable political work been done, of whom 
 most of them had never heard — Bird S. Coler. The 
 results of the election justified his selection, however, 
 for he swept everything before him and was elected 
 ijy the largest vote given to any candidate on the 
 ticket, carrying the "invincible" Republican Twenty- 
 third Ward by the largest majority ever cast there, thus 
 showing his great popularity among those who knew 
 him best. 
 
 If Mr. Coler was unknown politically before election, 
 he was well known after it, for he introduced such 
 startling methods and displayed such an iconoclastic 
 spirit in dealing with political parasites and grafters 
 that he created consternation in the political headquar- 
 ters of certain politicians, and they were not confined 
 to his own party, either. The culmination of his de- 
 fiance of the "practical politicians" was reached in his 
 obstruction of the Ramapo scheme and his attacks on 
 tlie political methods of Richard Croker in a magazine 
 article entitled "Commercialism in Politics." These 
 two things were the cleverest moves Mr. Coler ever 
 made on the political chessboard, for they were such 
 daring exhibitions of political independence that they 
 attracted the keenest attention throughout the whole 
 country, and Mr. Coler immediately became a national 
 character. 
 
 Mr. Coler's administration of the office of Control- 
 ler, from January i, 1898, to January i. 1902, is now 
 generall)' adnutted to have been one of the best in the 
 history uf the city of New York. The high note of 
 public duty that he struck on assuming the office was 
 continued without wavering throughout his entire ad- 
 ministration, and the eclat he secured by his independ- 
 ence of the bosses, especially of the then leader of Tam- 
 many Hall, Richard Croker, marked him for future 
 lionors at tlie bands of independent Democrats. He 
 had scarcely retiretl to private life and the routine of 
 his banking luisiness than a demand from the people 
 
224 
 
 MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 began to be heard for his return to a public career, and 
 a few montlis later — September, 1902 — he was en- 
 thusiastically nominated by the Democratic party for 
 Governor of the State of New York. Although he 
 failed of election by a very narrow margin, he aroused 
 such enthusiasm among the people that he came nearer 
 election than any other Democratic candidate for Gov- 
 ernor in ten years, only losing the State by somewhat 
 over eight thousand votes, whereas his opponent, 
 Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., had been elected in the previous 
 campaign by over one huntlred and ten thousand ma- 
 jority. In the Greater Xew York Air. Coler received 
 a phenomenal \^ote, sweeping the city by o\'er one hun- 
 dred and twenty-two thousand majority. Three years 
 later, when there was a revolt against the bosses of both 
 the old parties. Mr. Coler was selected to head the 
 Municipal Ownership ticket in Kings County, and was 
 elected Borough President by a surprising majority, 
 drawing over eighty thousand votes from the two old 
 ])arties. He entered u])on the duties of the office of 
 l'>orough President on January i, 1906, and almost im- 
 mediately began a war upon "corporation and munici- 
 pal grafters," asserting that there was a conspiracy 
 between the Democratic Street Cleaning Department 
 and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company whereby the 
 city had lost a million and a half of dollars on a con- 
 
 tract with the railroad corporation for the removal of 
 ashes in the borough of Brooklyn. 
 
 As a member of the banking house of W'. N. Coler 
 & Co., Mr. Coler has traveled all over the country, 
 executing delicate financial and municipal commissions 
 with consummate skill. He was one of the founders 
 and the first President of the Guardian Trust Com- 
 pany, of which he is still a Director. Other large busi- 
 ness interests with which he has been allied as Director 
 are the Medina Sandstone Company, the Brooklyn 
 Bank, the Maiden Lane Savings Bank, the Peckham 
 Manufacturing Company and the Texas Bank and 
 Tnist Company. He is a member of many clubs and 
 social organizations, among which may be named the 
 Democratic, Brooklyn, Lotos and Manhattan. He 
 loves thoroughbred horses, has exhibited at the Horse 
 Show, and last year carried ofif several blue ribbons. 
 All forms of outdoor life appeal strongly to Mr. Coler. 
 and he has indulged his fondness for traxel by several 
 trijjs to foreign lands: 1;ut his hobby is the collectinn 
 of rare linoks. of which he has a library of several 
 thousand. 
 
 Mr. Coler. nn Oct..ber iR, 1888. married Miss Emily 
 Moore, of Br(.)oklyn. and they ha\e one son, to whom 
 both father and mother are dexntedly attached, and 
 who is a lad of great promise. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 •225 
 
 LUIS FENOLLOSA EMILIO 
 
 Captain Luis Fexollosa F.milio, tliDUgh l^earing 
 a name tliat hints at foreign parentage, is a native of 
 the United States. ha\-ino- licen ]>nrn at Salem, ^lass., 
 December 22, 1844. He comes, li;i\\ever. fmni fiireign 
 and soldierly ancestry, his family being natives of 
 Spain, in which country his grandfather served against 
 the Napoleonic invsrsion, gaining- credit and being 
 wounded on the battlefield. His father was also a 
 patriot and soldier, fighting in the Government ranks 
 against Don Carlos, the Pretender, and being- rewarded 
 for his gallant conduct with the cross of Maria Isaloella 
 Louisa, one of the Spanish orders of chivalry. His 
 parents subsecjuently emigrated to the L'nited States 
 and settled at Salem, wliere their snn was liorn in 1844, 
 as above stated. 
 
 The boy received his earl}- education in the schools 
 of Salem and of Beloit, Mich., and afterward studied 
 in the preparatory department of Beloit College. He 
 was thus engaged when the Cixil War broke out. 
 Though not yet seventeen years of age, but moved by 
 the martial instinct inherent in the family, he left the 
 college and enlisted for the three years' ser\-ice on 
 October 19, i86t, as a private in Company F of the 
 Twenty-third Massachusetts Volunteer Lifantry from 
 
 his native city of Salem. His first active service was 
 with the expedition under General Burnside against 
 Roanoke Island, in February, 1862. In the advance 
 of the troops under General Foster through the swarnps 
 of that island and against the Confederate intrench- 
 ments, in \\hich his regiment took part, the young re- 
 cruit showed commendable activity and daring, push- 
 ing boldly to the front and being one of the first to 
 enter the enemy's works. In the later advance against 
 New Berne he and a comrade daringly advanced be- 
 yond the lines and acted as sharpshooters. 
 
 His boldness and courage on these occasions were 
 percei\-ed and appreciated by the regimental command- 
 ers, who rewarded him by placing him on the color 
 guard and promoting him to the rank of Sergeant. 
 In the later engagements in that region, those at King- 
 ston, '\\'hitehall and Goldsborough, the Twenty-third 
 was actively concerned, and lost heavily at Whitehall, 
 where the wounded were left on the field, under the 
 enem}-'s fire. Sergeant Emilio volunteered to com- 
 mand a rescuing party to bring them in, but was not 
 permitted, the ser\ice being considered as one of too 
 great danger. 
 
 Young as Emilio was, still not eighteen years of age, 
 his boldness in battle and his intelligent performance 
 of every duty intrusted to him pointed hiin out as one 
 worthy of higher rank; his good service was noted in 
 the reports, and he was among those selected by the 
 Secretary of War to report for assignment and promo- 
 tion, (lovernor Andrew of Massachusetts thereupon 
 tendered him a commission in the first colored regiment 
 raised in the Xnrtli, under Colonel Robert G. Shaw, 
 v,hile tlie colonel of his own regiment, who did not 
 I wish to part with his gallant young sergeant, assured 
 him of higher rank if he would remain. A personal 
 letter from Colonel Shaw decided his choice. He re- 
 ported at Boston and was made a Captain in the Fifty- 
 fourth Massachusetts (colored) Infantry. 
 
 This rapid promotion from the ranks was high tes- 
 timon\- to the courage and soldierly behavior of the 
 Ijoyish soldier. The regiment was sent South to take 
 ])art in the military operations in the vicinity of 
 Charleston, and had its maiden fight at James Island 
 on July 16, 1863. lUit its most strenuous fighting came 
 two days later in the sanguinary night assault on Fort 
 Wagner, one of the strong outlying defenses of 
 Charleston. In this affair the Fifty- fourth led the 
 stonuing part}', and was frightfully cut up by the hot 
 fire from the fort. Colonel Shaw fell at the head of his 
 men, and Captain Emilio took temporary command of 
 the sur\i\drs. He gallantly rallied the fragments of 
 Ids regiment, added to them many white soldiers, in- 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 spired them by word and example amid the chaos of 
 defeat, led them to the support of the only unbroken 
 brigade, and lield an important ])osition unthnchingly 
 until relieved. I'or his services <mi tliat night of blood- 
 shed and tlisaster he rccci\c(l the thanks of General 
 Thomas G. Stevenson on the field. 
 
 In subsequent operations he was fre(|uently in com- 
 mand of the regiment or large detachments in the 
 trenches before Fort Wagner and with General Gil- 
 more's expedition to Florida, to which the regiment 
 was assigned. During the subsequent operations on 
 the coast he took charge of the exposed outpost of 
 Black Island and at the head of several companies com- 
 manded Fort Green ag^ainst the James Island batteries 
 throughout General Foster's attack upon James Island 
 in 1864. Captain Fmilio took an active part in various 
 other operations, and prominently participated in the 
 hnal march upon Charleston and the fall of that long- 
 defended city. His last engagement was on February 
 7. 1<S65. when with three companies he drove the 
 enemy's force of cavalry and artillery for an entire 
 day before our advancing columns. He accompanied 
 his regiment to Savannah in March, and was mustered 
 out there, after three and a half years of active and 
 honorable service. During the war he had been twice 
 assigned to special duty, as Acting Judge Advocate of 
 the First Division, Tenth Corps, and the Southern Dis- 
 trict, Department of the South, and as Acting Provost 
 
 Marshal of the Coast Division, of the same depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Captain l-'niilio w;is not yet twenty-one years of age 
 when his military career ended. It hail been, as we 
 ma\- sav. an c\ent of his hovhudd. His business career 
 
 :gan 
 
 San h'rancisco. whither he went in 
 
 that }'ear, and where he l)ecaine acti\-ely and promi- 
 nently engaged in real estate and building operations. 
 He resided in that city until 1881, in which year he 
 gave up his business there and removed to New York 
 City. In 1876 he married Mary Belden, daughter of 
 Josiali Belden. of San Jose, Cal.. whose, former home- 
 stead stood on the site now occu])ie(l by tlie Hotel \'en- 
 tlome. He hail hut one child, a son. 
 
 During his period of residence in Xew York. Captain 
 Emilio has become to some extent an author, having 
 published one hook and many papers detailing his ex- 
 periences in the war. His book is entitled "A Brave 
 Black Infantrv." and among his published papers are 
 "The Occu])ation. Defense and Fall of Roanoke Isl- 
 and." "The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry in As- 
 sault of Fort Wagiier," "Siege of Fort Wagner." "The 
 Expedition to Florida," etc. He is a member of the 
 Military Order of the Loyal Legion. Lafayette Post. 
 Grand Army of the Republic : the United Service and 
 Seventh Regiment Veteran clubs, the New York Real 
 Estate Exchange, and other social and business organi- 
 sations. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 227 
 
 RIGNAL THOMAS \\'OOD\\^ARD 
 
 RiGNAL Thomas Woodward, a New York man of 
 business, who may claim to be one of the builders of 
 the "New South" from his activity in seeking to de- 
 velop the cotton manufacturing industry in that section 
 and its general industrial progress, was a native of 
 Maryland, having been born on his father's estate of 
 Abington Farm, at Millersville. in Anne Arundel 
 County, of that State, on the loth of June. 1838. He 
 came from a patriotic old 3ilaryland family, his great- 
 grandfather having been a soldier in the Revolution 
 and his grandfather a captain of volunteers in the War 
 of 1812. Amos Garret, the first Mayor of Annapolis, 
 may be classed among his ancestors, liaving been a 
 brother of the mother of the original W'oodward, in 
 tlie direct liue, that settled in :\larylan(l, Air. Wood- 
 ward was a son of the Hon. Rignal D. Woodward and i 
 Elizabeth Hardesty ^^"oodward. and was himself con- 
 nected by marriage with the Ridgely, Duckett, Boyd 
 and W'illiam families of Marvdand. 
 
 ]\Ir. ^^'oodward spent his childhood and early boy- 
 hood with his parents on Abington Farm, attending 
 school at the "Academy." near Crossroads, about two j 
 miles froiii liis home. In later years he became one of ' 
 the trustees of this school, in which his entire education ' 
 
 was obtained. His father, indeed, had views of giving 
 him the advantages of a superior education, and laid 
 his plans for sending him from home for a college 
 course; but the boy's aspirations turned toward a busi- 
 ness career, rather than to extended study, and at his 
 request his father consented to forego his plans and 
 give him a trial in mercantile life. 
 
 Plis uncle. Mr. William Woodward, was then en- 
 gaged in the dry goods commission business in Balti- 
 more, and agreed to take the boy into his establishment 
 and give him an opportunity to learn the business. He 
 was about sixteen )ears old when he thus began his 
 business education, but he was full of energy and am- 
 bition and was determined to succeed, and soon made 
 himself very useful in the store, showing an ability, 
 aptitude, industry and business judgment unusual in 
 one so young. The result of his earnest and close at- 
 tention to his duties and his marked business talent was 
 that he made him.self indispensable in the establish- 
 ment, and in 18^13. when he was twenty-five years of 
 age. was admitted into the firm as a partner. The busi- 
 ness was at that time conducted imder the firm name of 
 Woodward. P.aldwin & Co., under which title it is still 
 carried on. 
 
 In the year in which the new partner entered the 
 firm its business was found to have become so expanded 
 that it was deemed advisable to open a branch house 
 in New York City, and the energetic new member of 
 the firm was one of those selected to represent it in 
 this city, where youthful activity and energy- were nec- 
 essary in the work of building up a profitable branch 
 establishment. Of the New York house Mr. Wood- 
 ward became the head and soul, pushing the business 
 Iiy all the means at his command, infusing into it his 
 own energetic personality antl making his business abil- 
 ity felt in every detail of the growing concern. 
 
 As the years went on he grew prominent in New 
 York business circles, and his house became widely 
 known as the representative of the largest cotton mills 
 of the South, the products of which it largely handled. 
 Mr. ^^'oodward was always strongly interested in the 
 de\eIo])ment of the manufacturing interests of that 
 section of the country, so Imig confined in its industries 
 to agricultural pursuits. He felt that the South was 
 especially adapted, by its products and the growing 
 enterprise of its people, for cotton manufacture, and 
 warmly advocated the building of mills for the manu- 
 facture of cotton goods in that section, as he believed 
 and contended that the locality in which the staple was 
 produced w as the natural and most advantageous place 
 for its manufacture. It need scarcely be said that the 
 policv he advocated has been carried out, until at pres- 
 
jS 
 
 MEX or Ari-AiRs i\ xi'ir vork 
 
 ent the South has become a dang-erous rival of New 
 England, and even of old England, in tlie ])n)duotion 
 of cotton g-oods. and it may be affirmed tliat Mr. Wood- 
 ward, by his ])olicy of jnitting the goods of the South- 
 ern mills on tlie market and pushing their sale, was an 
 important element in develo])ing this new line of South- 
 ern enterprise, which is now so active and promising. 
 
 Mr. W'ooilward never held any political office and 
 took little more than an ordinary citizen's interest in 
 pohtical affairs. In political faith he was a strong 
 Democrat, and liad great influence in tlic local councils 
 of his party, but tlid not .seek for ])rominence or favor. 
 His m(5st active effort in this direction was made in 
 1883, when he was the originator and leader of the 
 first great parade of business men in the interest of 
 Grover Cleveland, the clmice of tlie Democratic party 
 for the Presidency. 
 
 Mr. Woodward was twice married, his first wife 
 being Miss Mary Raborg. daughter of Dr. Christopher 
 II. Raborg. of Baltimore. This marriage took place 
 
 on January 26, 1864, his wife dying March 5, 1900, 
 lea\-ing eight children, ti\c nf wbnm, four sons 
 and one daughter, sur\i\e their father. The daughter. 
 Mary W, Woodward, is now thewife of Hon. De Wilt 
 C. I'danagan, a sketch of whose career will be found 
 elsewhere in this volume. He married again on Feb- 
 ruary 5. 1902. his .second wife being Mrs. Julia W. 
 Bowling, widow of Joseph liowling and daughter of 
 the late Chief Justice lienjaniin Wincliester, of 
 Louisiana. 
 
 ]\Ir. Woodward was a meniber of a numlier of social 
 clubs and a Director of several corporations, and at one 
 time was a Trustee of the Roman Catholic Oqjhan 
 Asylum of the Dioce.se of Xew "\'ork. He made that 
 city his home for many 3'ears, but later in life resided 
 at Morristown, N, J., and spent much of his time at his 
 boyhood home, Abington Farm, which came to him 
 after the death of his father. Here he died I\Iarch 29, 
 K)n4. death coming to bini in the room in which he 
 was born. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NFAT YORK 
 
 229 
 
 GENERAL JACOB BAIZ 
 
 General Jacob Baiz, a native of Venezuela, Con- 
 sul-General for Honduras, but for nearly all his life a 
 citizen of New York, in which city he has long been 
 extensively engaged in trade with the republics of 
 Central and South America, was horn nf French and 
 American parentage in the X'enezuelan republic in the 
 year 1S43. New York had lung been the home of his 
 family, his grandfather, David Naar, having for a 
 considerable period been engaged in the tobacco busi- 
 ness in this city, where he suffered the misfortune of 
 heing burned out in the disastrous conflagration of 
 1833. The father of General Baiz. after a period of 
 residence in Venezuela, came to New ^'ork when his 
 son was eight years of age. and sulisequcntly made that 
 city his place of residence. 
 
 Young Pjaiz received the good business education 
 olitainabie in. the public schools of New York, and in 
 iS6_', \\hen nineteen years of age, left school and en- 
 gaged in business with commendable ambition and 
 enterprise. Instead of entering an establishment in a 
 minor position to g'ain a business education, he. with 
 hr,ld confidence in his resources, at once entered into 
 business for himself, the line of trade chosen by the 
 enterprising young merchant lieing the shipping of 
 
 American manufactured goods of every description to 
 Spanish and Portuguese sections of the Central and 
 South American States, Mexico and the \Vest Indies, 
 and receiving in return the valualile natural produc- 
 tions of these several countries. 
 
 It was a line of trade which had lieen little developeil 
 in this country, but one which appealed strongly to the 
 youthful Venezuelan, nut so much through patriotic 
 impulses as through business foresight and cjuickness 
 in perceiving alike the needs of the Southern natives 
 and the market that could lie developed in this country 
 for n'any of their [jroducts. His judgment in this 
 direction was not misplaced, and the youthful merchant 
 soon found himself at the head of a profitable line of 
 traffic and one capable of great extension. This he has 
 not failed to perceive and take full ad\antage of, his 
 trade having been actively developed, until at present 
 his business connections are \-ery widely extended over 
 the whole region, of the American continent south of 
 the United States, and his exports of .\merican prod- 
 ucts have bee: me very large. The demand for the 
 manufactures of this country has steadily and rapidly 
 grown during recent years, this country gradually ab- 
 sorbing a fair share of the valuable trade which was 
 formerly monopolized by England and other European 
 countries. General Baiz has been prompt to take ad- 
 vantage of this growing demand, and at present the 
 shipments of such g-oods from his establishment reach 
 the large total value of about one million dollars per 
 annum. 
 
 In return he recei\es large consignments of the va- 
 ried and ^•alual)le agricultural products of the countries 
 named, including such articles as coffee, india-rubber, 
 skins, hides, indigo, and various other of their more 
 ilesirable products. Among these he particularly de- 
 \'otes himself to the importation of coffee, carrying to- 
 day large stocks of this material imported from Brazil 
 and other South American countries and the coffee- 
 growing districts of Central America. He was the 
 first to introduce the valuable coffees of Central Amer- 
 ica into this country to any large extent. General Baiz 
 is an ex])ert in the different grades of coffee, and his 
 iudgment of a sample of the fragrant lierry stands as 
 an authority in the trade. 
 
 ^\'hile thus actively engaged in bringing to this 
 countr\- the highly valuable products of nature which 
 exist in such iirofnsion in the tropic and semi-tropic 
 regions of Latin America, he has Iieen equally active 
 in suiiplving them with the prod.ucts of American 
 workmanshi]). goods which are scarcely at all in those 
 countries. Init f^r which there is a great and growing 
 need in that region. His business is thus as much one 
 
230 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 of barter as of purchase and sale, he practically ex- ^ 
 changing the products of loom and forge of this coun- 
 try for the results of agriculture and forest exploitation 
 of Central and South America. 
 
 In this line of business he is one of tlie largest ex- 
 porters in this country of all kinds of machiner\^ and 
 manufactured products, including carriages, harness, 
 woven fabrics, footwear, and. in short, about ever\^ 
 class of goods in demand by the citizens of our sister 
 republics of the south. He has over three hundred 
 foreign busiuL-ss correspondents in ail parts of tlie civ- 
 ilized world, and particularly in tliu countries to which 
 his trade connections principally extend, and has in his 
 employ a staff of fourteen clerks, many of them culti- 
 vated linguists, the business of the office being carried 
 (m in the English. Spanish. Portuguese and French 
 languages. General Baiz is himself a linguist of un- 
 usual proficiency, speaking all the above-named lan- 
 guages with ease and fluency. 
 
 General Baiz has. by his long-continued and widely 
 extended business connections of the so--tliern nations, 
 come into somewhat intimate relations with many of 
 their leading men of business and officials, and has been 
 enabled to serve them in this country in various ways. 
 For important services thus rendered in 1886 to the 
 republic of Honduras the Government of that country 
 conferred on him the rank of Brigadier-General, a 
 military title nut won nn the battlefield or in military 
 duty, but by equally valuable service. 
 
 He has long added to his business connections with 
 the countries named important services in an official 
 capacity. Thus in the years 1874 and 1875 '^^ ^^'i- 
 appointed Consul-General for the several republics of 
 (Guatemala, San Salvador and Honduras. The first- 
 named two positions he retained for some twenty years, 
 while he still retains the Consul-Generalship for Hon- 
 duras. During the period of his business career he has, 
 iin inii)iirtant occasions, served as confidential agent 
 in this country for President Soto of Honduras, Presi- 
 dent I'.arriiis of (iuatemala. and President Zaldivar of 
 San Salvador, a fact which clearly shows the very high 
 regard in which he is held by the authorities of the 
 countries named. 
 
 General Baiz is personally a courteous and affable 
 gentleman, no man hearing a higher reputation than 
 he for integrity and just dealing in his special line of 
 trade, while his business enterprise reflects credit upon 
 the city of his adoption. Among our citizens of for- 
 eign l)irth he can scarcely be classed as a foreigner, 
 nearly all his life having been passed in New York, and 
 that city ha\ing been the seat of his entire business 
 career. He is ;i member of the Produce and Coffee 
 Exchanges and of the Chamber of Commerce, and is 
 Vice-President of the New York Driving Club. If he 
 has any special weakness, it is in favor of horses, to 
 which he is es])ecially devoted. He was married in 
 1868 to Aliss Seixas. of Charleston. S. C. and has 
 three children. I'lorence. ?^larguerite and Arthur. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 J3T 
 
 REV. MORGAN DIX, D.D. 
 
 Trinity Chlrch, the famous pre-Revolutionary 
 Protestant Episcopal church of New York, has been 
 fortunate in the possession of a rector of distinguished 
 abihty for well nigh half a century, the Rev. Morgan 
 Dix, whose term of service in this important clerical 
 post dates back to the early years of the Civil War. 
 Born in New York City. November i, 1S27, Dr. Dix 
 is the son of the formerly famous General John A. Dix, 
 who played an important part in the past history of 
 New York State and the country at large. He was 
 elected Secretary of State for New York in 1833, and 
 represented that State in the United States Senate in 
 1849. In the early months of 1861 he was Secretary 
 of State in President Buchanan's Cabinet, in JMay was 
 appointed a Major-General and served throug-h the 
 war, was appointed Minister to France in 1867 and 
 elected Governor of New York in 1872. From 1830 
 to 1842 the family resided at Albany, after which they 
 traveled abroad, and it was not until young Dix was 
 seventeen years of age that he was able to begin active 
 preparations for a university education. In 1845 'i^ s"" 
 tered Columbia Colleg-e, from which lie was graduated 
 three years afterward. In accordance with the wish 
 of his father, who had aspirations for a political future 
 
 for his son, due to his having shown fine powers in 
 his college career, he now began the study of law, the 
 acknowledged channel to political prominence. But 
 tlie inclinations of the young student turned in (|uite 
 a different d.irection. Earnest in thought, feeling 
 deeply his duties toward his fellow-men, he felt that 
 the ministry was his true field of effort, and in conse- 
 quence of this predilection he soon gave up his legal 
 studies and entered the General Theological Seminary 
 of New York, in which he took the regular course, 
 graduating in 1852. 
 
 He was ordained during the same year in St. John's 
 Chapel, New York, by Bishop Chase, of New Hamp- 
 shire, and in 1854 was admitted to the priesthood by 
 Bishop Alonzo Potter, in St. Mark's Church, Philadel- 
 lihia. Here he remained for some time as an assistant 
 lo the rector. Rev. Joseph \\'ilmer, who was afterward 
 Bishop of Louisiana. He then went to Europe, where 
 lie spent a year and a half in travel and study. 
 
 Dr. Dix's connection \\ith Trinity began after his 
 return from Europe. Recognized as a theologian of 
 unusual ability, of much learning and energy, and of 
 fine powers as a pulpit orator, he was elected assistant 
 rector of Trinity Parish, and entered upon a line of 
 duties which he has pursued for more than fifty years. 
 His assistant rectorship continued for only about si.x 
 years, when Dr. Berian, the rector, died, on the 7th of 
 November, 1862. Three days afterward, on Xox'em- 
 ber 10, Dr. Dix was elected his successor, and was in- 
 stalled on the following day, in accordance with a pre- 
 Revolutionary form of induction which is only observed 
 in Trinity Parish. He was instituted on the 2gth of 
 the same month in the presence of a large congregation. 
 
 During his incumbency as rector Dr. Dix has done 
 much for the advancement of the parish, which in the 
 interval has grown by the addition of five chapels, with 
 many other buildings needed in the parish work. The 
 old rector)' has been converted into a parish hospital 
 and greatly enlarged for that purpose, and a complete 
 system of parochial schools has been established, in- 
 cluding day and night schools, kindergartens, manual 
 training, cooking and house schools. For these a num- 
 ber of schoolhouses have been erected, and in addition 
 there have been built several parish and other buildings 
 for the extended needs of the parish work. As is well 
 known, the parish holds a large quantity of real estate, 
 which has grown very greatly in value during Dr. 
 Dix's incumbency, and is in a position to greatly de- 
 \-elop its mission work and make itself a power for 
 g(^od. 
 
 In this development Dr. Dix has taken great interest, 
 and has shown his earnestness in the progress of the 
 
232 
 
 MF.X or -IFF.IfRS I.\ A'/Tff YORK 
 
 j)arish in many ways. He lias long been active in pm- 
 nioting the growth of sisterhoods, and was pastor df 
 tlie Order cf St. Mary at its origin. He has also taken 
 great interest in church music and has been \cry suc- 
 cessful in its imijroxenicnt. 'J'liis he tonk in hand early, 
 having been a member of the choral society under Dr. 
 Hodges, and taking part in the first choral service ever 
 held in New York. As rector he has had und.er his 
 immediate direction seven churches and eighteen cler- 
 gymen, entailing on him active duties and much re- 
 sponsibilit}', and yet has found time to fill many other 
 important positions, .\miing these he acted as delegate 
 to six general con\'enti(Mis. in the last three of which 
 lie was President of the Ifnuse of Deijuties. Since 
 1869 he iias been President of the Standing Committee 
 of the Diocese of New N'ork. and is also a Trustee of 
 Columbia College, of .Sailors" Snug Harbor, Leake and 
 Watt's Orphan Asylum, etc. He is Vice-President of 
 the Protestant Public School of New York and of the 
 Societv for the Pre\ention of C'ruelty to Animals. 
 
 'Jdiese are by no means all the multifarious duties 
 which have fallen upon him. but they ha\e not ex- 
 hauste<l his time or bis energies. .\ dee]) theol.igical 
 stuiient an<I a ready writer, he has found an oppor- 
 tunitv. in the miilsl of his v;u-ious labors, to do no small 
 
 amount of literary work. His productions include 
 '■Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans," 
 '■Commentary on the T-lpistle to the Galatians and Co- 
 lossians." '■Lecture on J'antheism," ■■Lecture on the 
 Two Instates: the Wedded in the Lord and the Single 
 for the Lord's Sake": ■'Sermons, Doctrinal ;md Prac- 
 tic.-il": ■■.Memoirs of John A. Dix." "History of Trinity 
 Parish," etc. 
 
 His literary labors and the high standing he has 
 attained in the world of theology ha\e brought him a 
 number of honorary degrees from institutions of learn- 
 ing, including those of S.T.D., from Columbia, 1862: 
 D.D., from Ibiiversity of the South, 1885: D.D,, from 
 Princetori, 18(16: D.D.. from Oxford, luigland, 1900, 
 and D.I)., from Har\ard. 190J. 
 
 As ;i ])reaclier Dr. Dix is forcilile. earnest and cour- 
 ageous. He does not confine himself to general issues, 
 and does not hesitate to denounce any social evil in tlie 
 ])lainest and most \-igorous language. Few ministers 
 or men arc more respected. It mav be said in con- 
 clusion that be has been an ardent collector of rare 
 books, manuscrii)ts, etc., and that his library contains 
 many highly \aluablc examples of medijeval literary 
 treasures, together with an extensive collection of 
 Americana. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IM NEW YORK 
 
 233 
 
 CHARLES IT. TRUAX 
 
 Charles Henry Truax, a Justice <it" llie Supreme 
 Court of the State of New \'iirk, was linrn at Durham- 
 ville, Oneida County, in tins State, on the 30th of 
 Octulier, 184(1, tlie ilescendant nf a fanuly which claims 
 a place among the earliest Dutch settlers of New Am- 
 sterdam. The progenitor of the family in America 
 was Philippe du Trieux, a \Valloon, who came to the 
 Island of Manhattan about 1623. The name in the 
 Dutch records became Truy, and was afterward 
 changed to Truax, Henry P. Truax, one of the de- 
 scendants of the original settlers, being the father of 
 the subject of this sketch. 
 
 Judge Truax was educated at various institutions of 
 learning, including Vernon Academy, Oneida Semi- 
 nary and Plamilton College. He left college in his 
 junior year, but the college afterward, in consequence 
 of his eminence, conferred on him, in 1876, the degree 
 of A.M., and in 1890 that of LL.D. During his period 
 of school life he taught a part of each year — from 
 1862 to 1868. 
 
 An earnest and capable student, he made excellent 
 progress in his school years, but the wish to engage in 
 the study of the law, which he had chosen as a promis- 
 ing field for his life work, led to his cjuitting college be- 
 
 fore his graduating year and coming to New York in 
 1868, where he entered upon a course of legal study in 
 the ofiice of bis uncle, Chauncey W. Shafifer. 
 
 The young aspirant for legal honors had prepared 
 himself in a measure before, and now studied with 
 .such ardor and intelligence and made such rapid prog- 
 ress in this line of study that he was admitted to the 
 bar before the close of that year, and entered at once 
 into practice, at first in association with his uncle, but 
 in the following year by himself. As a lawyer he 
 proved a success from the start, and rapidly gained a 
 large practice on the reputation of great ability and 
 extensive legal knowledge. \\'itliin twehe years of his 
 entering upon practice he had made his mark so thor- 
 oughly that he was deemed a fair subject for high 
 judicial honors, and he was selected by his party, the 
 Democratic, as a suitable candidate for a seat upon the 
 bench of the Superior Court. He was elected on No- 
 \ember 2, 1880, bis term of otfice being for fourteen 
 years. During his incumbency many important de- 
 cisions were given by Judge Truax, a notalile one 
 among them being that in the case of Williams \'s. The 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, in which he af- 
 firmed the right of the companies to consolidate and 
 issue new stock. This decision was appealed from and 
 reversed by the General Term, but was subsec|uently 
 sustained and reafifirmed by the Court of Appeals. 
 
 Another decision given liy Judge Truax, of the 
 greatest importance as regards the rights of private 
 real estate owners, was that declared May 2, 1887, in 
 the case of Abendroth vs. The New York Elevated 
 Railroad Company. In this case he affirmed that 
 "plaintift is entitled to relief by injunction, etc., on the 
 ground that the acts of the defendants complained of 
 are not necessary incidents of the lawful use of the rail- 
 road, and also on the ground that even if they had 
 been necessary incidents, they were, so far as they im- 
 paired the plaintiffs benefit and use of his property 
 and diminished its rental value, either trespasses or a 
 private nuisance, for which he had a right of action 
 to recover damages ; or such acts were a taking of the 
 plaintiff's private property without compensation and 
 without due process of law, which is prohibited by the 
 Constitution of the State." 
 
 The importance of this, as opening the way to dam- 
 ages for many others who had been similarly aggrieved 
 or injured by the operation of the elevated railway, is 
 patent, and led to private settlement of many claims 
 which otlierwise would have been subjects for liti- 
 gation. 
 
 Judge Truax's term in the Superior Court termi- 
 nated in 1S94, but such had been the judicial acumen 
 
234 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 shown by him, and so high was his reputation by this 
 time as a wise, honorable and capable Judge, that he 
 was made the party candidate for the bench of the 
 Supreme Court of the State, and elected to that ele- 
 vated position in January. 1896, for a full term. He 
 still occupies his seat as a Justice of this court, and has 
 added to his reputation by the distinguished ability dis- 
 j)layed by him. 
 
 Judge Truax has taken an active part in social af- 
 fairs. He is President of the Manhattan Club, Presi- 
 dent of the Society of Sons of Oneida, a Trustee of 
 the Holland Society, of which he was President, 1896- 
 97, belongs as a member to the St. Nicholas Society, 
 and is a member of other social organizations. He is 
 a Trustee of the ■\Iott Memorial Libran,-, and for seven 
 years was a Trustee of the Church of the Puritans. 
 He was formerly active in athletic games, and is still 
 a member of the New York Athletic Club. He has 
 been twice married, first to Nancy C. Stone, of Cam- 
 den, N. J., in 1871: second, to Caroline Sanders, of 
 New York City, in 1896. 
 
 Judge Truax's chief pleasure, however, is taken in 
 travel and book collection. He has spent much time 
 in all the principal cities of Europe and has collected 
 hosts of valualile books. His residence contains fully 
 ten thousand volumes, many of them of great value, 
 
 being old and rare editions, or splendidly reprinted and 
 illuminated manuscripts of the old masters of book- 
 making. In addition to these treasures, he has pre- 
 sented to Hamilton College a valuable library of twelve 
 hundred and fifty volumes, which is known as tlie 
 Truax Classical Library. 
 
 This sketch of Judge Truax's career may be fitly 
 completed by a mention of his brother, Chauncey S. 
 Truax, born March 11, 1854, one of the most success- 
 
 \ ful lawyers of New York City, and a member of the 
 1894 Constitutional Convention of the State of Xew 
 York. Shortly after his graduation from the Law 
 
 j School of Columbia College he was appointed to a pro- 
 fessorship in Robert College, Constantinople, an insti- 
 tution founded during the Crimean W^ar, and which 
 
 I has been of much service in adding to the higher edu- 
 cational facilities of that Oriental city. Mr. Truax 
 served there as professor for a year and a half, and 
 took this opportunity to prosecute researches in history 
 and ancient law. in which he was earnestly interested. 
 He \'isited all the classical localities in doing so, and 
 went carefully over the site of Troy while Dr. Schlie- 
 mann was making his celebrated excavations there. 
 Since his return to this country he has been \-ery ac- 
 tively engaged in legal practice, in which he has had 
 great professional success. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 235 
 
 JUDGE \MLLIAM HEXRY ARXOUX 
 
 ^\'ILLIAM Hexry Arxoux, formerly Judge of the 
 Superior Court of the City of New York, is of French 
 descent, his grandfather having come to this country 
 in company with Count de Rochambeau during the 
 Revohitionary War, in which he fought and was 
 wounded. After the war he married a French lady and 
 settled in this country', at Vergennes, Vt. Judge 
 Arnoux's father was born at this place and 
 was brought by his parents to Xew York City 
 while still a child, and in this city the son 
 was born and received his education. The boy was 
 precocious as a scholar, beginning to learn Latin at 
 eight years of age, Greek at ele\en, while at fifteen he 
 was prepared to enter Princeton College. His father, 
 however, preferring to bring him up to a mercantile 
 life, placed him in a cloth house in New York, where 
 he remained for four years, struggling with a field of 
 work for which nature had not adapted him. At the 
 end of that time his father withdrew him from business 
 and placed him to study law, for which he proved much 
 better fitted. Four years afterward he was admitted 
 to the bar. 
 
 In 1855 i\Ir. Horace Holden, in whose office he had 
 studied, having satisfied himself of the young man's 
 
 ability and probable success, offered him a partnership 
 with himself andT. H. Thayer, his son-in-law. This firm 
 continued in existence until 1858, Mr. Arnoux demon- 
 strating his legal knowledge and ability in the many 
 important cases which came into the hands of the firm 
 and gaining a promising practice at the bar. Upon 
 the dissolution of the firm he engaged in practice for 
 himself and continued for ten years without a partner. 
 He then became a member of the firm of Wright, 
 Merrihew & Arnoux, and in 1870 formed the legal part- 
 nershij) of .\rnoux, Ritch & Woodford, a business con- 
 nection which persisted for twelve years subsequently. 
 
 During those many years of acti\'e practice in law 
 cases of g'"eat variety Mr. Arnoux demonstrated the 
 possession of unusual ability and a skill and tact that 
 won him the reputation of unusual acumen in his pro- 
 fession. His practice grew large and profitable, many 
 cases of imp(.)rtance coming into his hands, and in 
 time he came to be looked upon as a lawyer of fine 
 powers, and one well worthy, in respect to knowledge 
 and judgment, of a seat upon the bench. In 1882 
 Governor Cornell, recognizing this, appointed Mr. 
 Arnoux Judge of the Superior Court of the City and 
 County of New York, to succeed Judge Spier, who had 
 resigned his seat. This appointment led to a contest, 
 Richard O'Gorman claiming the seat. It was decided 
 in favor of Judge Arnoux by the decision of the court, 
 which av.-arded him the vacant seat. His term of 
 service as Judge was a short but very active one, in 
 which he made his judicial ability and earnest integrity 
 strongly felt, and established a high reputation for skill 
 in the just interpretation of the law, vigor and deter- 
 mination in sustaining it. and dignity in his adminis- 
 tration of his high office. During his term of office a 
 number of fjuestions of grave importance were brought 
 liefore him, among these being the construction of the 
 newly revised Sunday laws. This was a matter of 
 much public interest, it being a question that affected 
 various classes of the community, and its settlement was 
 eagerly awaited. Judge Arnoux's decisions on these 
 laws were widely approved, the only appeal against 
 them being subsequently abandoned. Brief as was his 
 term of ser\-ice, he won the g-eneral res])ect of his pro- 
 fession and the public, and retired from the bench with 
 a gratifying reputation. 
 
 After his retirement Judge Arnoux rejoined his firm 
 and entered again into legal practice, and in which 
 he has since actively continued, his legal connections 
 having widened and his business greatly grown. With 
 this his reputation as an able barrister has similarly 
 expantled and he has long- been ranked among the lead- 
 ers of the New York bar. No man is a more enthusi- 
 
2.36 
 
 .U/r.V OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 astic lover of his profession or takes a warmer pleasure 
 in lc.s;-al conflicts or in nnra\eling- the knotty (|neslions 
 with which a lawyer often has to contend. It is his 
 nicthiid to stuilv to their depths the prohlems with 
 which he has to deal and as far as possible to settle the 
 question of the law rei^arding these topics. Many im- 
 ])ortant cases have passed through his hands, and have 
 been handled with such critical acumen as to become 
 established precedents in the ourts. .\ notable ele- 
 vated railroad case handled by him involved su careful 
 and tbin-ougb a research into the early Colonial history 
 of the State tli.at it has been [iriiUed and circulated as 
 a very valuable treatise on the settlement of the Dutch 
 in New York. 
 
 While legal duties have absorbed nuich of Jutlge 
 Arnoux's time and attention, he has taken an active 
 interest in the pressing c|uestions of the time and has 
 
 been an earnest advocate of the cause of governmental 
 reform. He has also fle\-otcd much time to matters of 
 charity and to church a^fair^ and has long been an 
 officer and w(M"ker in a number of benevolent and re- 
 ligious societies. He was one of the founders of the 
 Union League Club and the New York Bar Associa- 
 tion, and was President of the State Bar Association 
 in i88t)-90. during which he was very active in the 
 celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the forma- 
 tion of the United States Supreme Court. ( )ne of his 
 earnest literary interests has to do with the liible. of 
 which he is a profound student, making a critical ex- 
 amination of many matters connected with its history 
 and significance, and in connection with this has col- 
 lated numerous unpublished liiblical manuscripts. He 
 is an authority on this study, in which he has few 
 equals in this country. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 n7 
 
 CHARLES L. BUCKINGHAM 
 
 Charles Luman Buckingham, one of the most 
 prominent among the younger ]aw3'ers of New York, 
 traces his descent from Puritan ancestry, being a lineal 
 descendant of Thomas Buckingham, who emigrated to 
 Boston in 1637 and was one of the founders of New 
 Haven and Milford, Conn. ^Ir. Buckingham is in the 
 ninth generation from this original immigrant, and 
 was horn Octoher 14, 1852, at Berlin Heights, Ohio. 
 He recei\ed his early education in the public schools of 
 this locality, after which, at the age of sixteen, he 
 made an extensive journey to the West. On his return 
 home he engaged successfully in some business enter- 
 prises, with the object of obtaining means to aid him 
 in a college career. He then entered the University of 
 Michigan, from which he was graduated with h(^nors 
 in 1875. 
 
 During his college course Mr. Buckingham ])roved 
 unusually proficient in mathematics, mechanics and the 
 principles of civil engineering, a profession in which 
 he would undoubtedly have been successful had he un- 
 dertaken it, and in which he would have found a splen- 
 did field for the exercise of his native talents. His 
 jiowers in this direction were so well known and evi- 
 dent that in 1889-90, when a series of articles on engi- 
 
 neering subjects, contributed by some of the leading 
 engineers of this countiy, were published in Scribner's 
 Magazine, Mr. Buckingham was one of those asked to 
 contribute, and responded with one of the most val- 
 uable in the series of articles. 
 
 Despite his marked powers in this direction and the 
 deep attention he had given the subject in his college 
 years, engineering did not appeal to Mr. Buckingham 
 as a life work. His inclinations turned to the law 
 instead, and, making this his choice of a profession, he 
 entered the Columbia Law School at Washingtor, 
 I). C, in which city, while engageil in his legal studies, 
 he held the ])osition of examiner in the Patent Office, 
 a service which was useful to hiiu in that line of 
 practice in which he afterward became so well known 
 as an expert. 
 
 Mr. Euckingiiam continued in fhe Patent Office 
 after his admission to practice, receiving several pro- 
 motions in this serx'ice, but at length decided to remove 
 to New York as C( )unsel f( ir the W'estern LInion Tele- 
 ! graph Company. Here he entered acti\'ely into legal 
 practice and quickly attracted attention by his wide 
 knowledge as a patent expert and his brilliant powers 
 as a lawyer. He has since conducted some of the mosi 
 important patent cases ever tried, and with remarkable 
 success, winning cases which involved enormous inter- 
 ests, and when opposed by the most eminent patent 
 lawyers and by such distinguished attorneys as Sen- 
 ator Conkling and David Dudley Field. The financial 
 importance of the cases which have been intrusted to 
 Mr. Buckingham frequently amounts to immense sums, 
 and calls for the best legal talent for their proper man- 
 agement. 
 
 Li the wide field of patent litigation, Mr. Bucking- 
 ham's attention has been particularly directed to elec- 
 trical cases, one of the most important and difficult 
 departments of patent law at the present time, and de- 
 manding deep research and a wide special knowledge 
 for tlieir successful handling. Li this department he 
 stands first, his practical experience as an expert, 
 gained from his years of service in the Patent Office, 
 being of the utmost advantage to him. His familiarity 
 with questions involving the use of electrical power, 
 and his expert scientific knowledge in this direction, 
 with his talent for exhaustive and original investiga- 
 tion, are such as give him pre-eminence in this special 
 branch of practice, in which, in addition, the highest 
 legal skill and ability are requisites. 
 
 Mr. Buckingham is notable for his untiring industry, 
 in which- he is equaled by few lawj^ers who have at- 
 tained equal i)rominence in the profession. When in- 
 trusted with a case of leading importance, he familiar- 
 
238 
 
 MEX OF AFFAIRS IN XEl!' YORK 
 
 izes himself with all the patents which hear e\-en re- 
 motely upon the question invnlved, not only those of 
 this country, but those of Europe. His technical and 
 mechanical knowledge also serve him well in this duty 
 as an aid in the examination of witnesses, in which he 
 occasionally solves mechanical i)roblems which the ex- 
 pert witnesses before him had never attempted. Aside 
 from this technical skill, Mr. Buckingham enjoys the 
 reputation of being one of the most skillful cross- 
 e.xaminers at the bar, while his briefs are distinguished 
 for tlie clearness and nriginality with which they are 
 prei^ared. 
 
 He is the leading counsel of the Western Unicm and 
 the American District Telegraph companies, and rep- 
 
 resents various other electrical and kindred corpora- 
 tions. He lias devoted himself so closely t.. his legal 
 duties and the studies rendered necessary by them thai 
 he has kept almif frdin i)i)htical nr public duties, his 
 time and attention being \ery largel}' taken up by the 
 demands of his profession. Vet he finds time to devote 
 to social duties, and his wide culture and fine conver- 
 sational powers make him an attractive figure in so- 
 ciety. He is a member of several clubs of New York 
 and \\'a.'^hington. of the Ohio and Electrical societies 
 of Xew Ycirk. and of ibc American Association for the 
 Ad\;inccnient of Science, the American Academy of 
 Political and Social Science, and the .\merican Insti- 
 tute (d' Electrical Engineers. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NFIJ- YORK 
 
 239 
 
 DE WITT C. FLANAGAN 
 
 Among the notable enterprises which have marked 
 the history of this country there stand liigh the great 
 engineering- triumphs, the tunnels, bridges, dams, 
 canals and other works of the highest type of enter- 
 prise, works which need a daring in conception and a 
 skill in perf(M-mance equaling that of the greatest mili- 
 tary hero. The people of the United States ba\e been 
 benefited by many such stupendous works, and there is 
 one such now under process of completion that prom- 
 ises to be of the highest utility alike to commerce and 
 to the preservation of human life. This is the Boston, 
 New York and Cape Cod Canal, which is now, after 
 nearly two centuries in which its necessity had been 
 recognized, under process i>f constructimi b}- the Hon. 
 De Witt C. Flanagan, late member of Congress from 
 the Fourth Congressional District of New Jersey, and 
 prominent among the merchants, manufacturers and 
 financiers of New York City. 
 
 In a sketch of Mr. Flanagan's career especial ])romi- 
 nence must be given to the great wnrk on which he is 
 now engaged, but before descriliing it more particularly 
 it is important to put on record the remaining incidents 
 of his life. The son of James Flanagan, the founder 
 and conductor of a leading brewery liusiness in New 
 
 York, and of Sarah Jane (Ormsby) Flanagan, he was 
 b(^ni in New ^'ork City, November 28, 1870; was edu- 
 cated at Callison School and Columbia College, where 
 he tiHik a three years' course in applied science, and 
 eventually succeeded to the management of the exten- 
 sive brewery liusiness of Flanagan, Nay & Co.. the 
 product of his father's enterprise and superior liusiness 
 management. 
 
 Referring to Mr. Flanagan's ancestry in this coun- 
 try, it may be stated that his great-grandfather, Chris- 
 tiipher Managan, came from Dublin, Ireland, just be- 
 fiire the Revolutidiiary War, served on a privateer 
 during the struggle for independence, and after the 
 war built up a large book business and became noted 
 as a linguist. His grandfather, Judge James Flana- 
 gan, was long the close friend and adviser of Governor 
 De Witt Clinton, and aided him greatly in the project 
 nf building the Erie Canal. From this friend of his 
 grandfather came Air. Flanagan's name. De Witt 
 Clinton built the Erie Canal, and De Witt Clinton 
 Flanagan is building the Cape Cod Canal. 
 
 As has been said, Mr. Flanagan's business life has 
 been an active one. Manager of his father's brewing 
 business and long- a successful business man of New 
 York City, he is largely identified with impor- 
 tant commercial and financial interests in that 
 city, and has taken an active part in political mat- 
 ters as a prominent member of the Democratic 
 party. As such he was elected to Congress in 
 1900 from the Fourth District of New Jersey and 
 served in the Fifty-seventh Congress. He was 
 defeated for re-election, his district, through a legisla- 
 tive change in its borders, having become overwhelm- 
 ingly Republican, but he had the honor of being sup- 
 ported by ex-President Grover Cleveland in the only 
 political speech made by him since he left the Presi- 
 dential chair. ^Vhile in the House Mr. Flanagan won 
 the confidence and friendship of many of the leaders 
 of his party, especially among the Congressmen from 
 the South, and was able to enlist the support of the 
 Snuthcrn delegates to the standard of Judge Alton B. 
 Parker, and thus materially to aid him in securing his 
 nomination as the Democratic candidate for the Presi- 
 dency. 
 
 In the recently revived project to construct a canal 
 across the Cape Cod peninsula at the neck between 
 Buzzards and Barnstable bays, and thus avoid the 
 lung and dangerous navigation around that peninsula, 
 Mr. Flan_agan has taken an active and prominent part, 
 and now, with the association and support of promi- 
 nent financiers in New A^ork, finds himself at the head 
 of this important commercial and engineering enter- 
 
240 
 
 MF.X Or AFFAIRS LX XFAI' YORK 
 
 prise, one which has been for more than two centuries 
 in contemplation, and ranks aljove the Manchester Ship 
 Canal and in line with the Suez and Panama canals in 
 its promised effect upon our commerce. 
 
 This canal, which will make an island of the Cape 
 Cod section of Massachusetts, owes its great commer- 
 cial importance to the fact that it will, by a safe inland 
 waterway, connect the great commercial metropolis of 
 New "S'ork with the vast manufacturing interests of 
 New England. It will save seventy miles of naviga- 
 tion between New York and Boston (uer the present 
 Vineyard Sound route and one hundred and forty-two 
 miles over the outside route, and, through avoiding the 
 numerous shoals, the persistent fogs and the dangerous 
 storms of the present routes, will go far to eliminate 
 tlie appalling losses of vessels, lives and property which 
 the treacherous Cape Cod sands have long exacted as 
 triliute from the commerce of the F.astern States. In 
 twenty-five years there have been lost here one hundred 
 and si.xty-five vessels, ninety lives, and property valued 
 at almost two million dollars, a repetition ,>i which 
 disasters will be saved by the executi.m of the great 
 work which Mr. Flanagan has in hand. 
 
 The Cape Cod Canal is one of the oldest and prol> 
 ably the longest delayed engineering project connected 
 with the development of this country. As long ago 
 as 1676 Samuel Sewall, a public-spirited citizen of 
 Sandwich, Mass., started an agitation fnr the excava- 
 tion of a canal southward from the headwaters of 
 Mnnument River to the big bodies of water washing 
 the southern o>ast of Massachusetts. This was taken 
 ni) bv the (.eneral Court of Massachusetts in 1697 and 
 
 a committee appointed to consider its feasibility. The 
 report of this committee had been long dust-covered in 
 1776, when-the project was revived and the first survey 
 made by United .States engineers under (ieneral 
 .Machin. Interrujited then by the Revolutionary War, 
 the route was resurveyed in 1825, and the project was 
 revived and abandoned by successive Congresses, Leg- 
 islatures and individuals until the end of the century. 
 In i860 Government surveys were made, in 1875 Gen- 
 eral Foster made the first plan ior a canal without 
 locks, and in 1885 the inventor of a patent dredge 
 started to excavate the canal, but died after a little 
 over a mile had been dug. 
 
 Such has been the history of the enterjjrise until 
 1899, when Mr. Flanagan and eight other incorpo- 
 rators obtained a charter from the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts to construct and operate a ship canal 
 across the Cape Cod ]\'ninsula. .\fter the necessary 
 l)reliminar}- work h;id been accomiilisheil, Mr. Flana- 
 gan enlisted the financial support of prominent Boston, 
 and Xew \nrk capitalists, and it is estimated by the 
 engineers, William Barclay Parsons and F. L. Cor- 
 thell, that tlic canal will be open t(_) the public in 
 1908. 
 
 The c inal, when conipk-tcd, will be eight miles long, 
 one hundred feet wide and twenty-five feet deep at 
 mean low water, and will doubtless greatly develop the 
 commerce between the two great cities of our eastern 
 coast and jjmve one of the grand engineering successes 
 of the day. ?klr. Man.-igan is the man to carry it 
 through to success, .and it will be a monmnent to his 
 energy and enterprise. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 241 
 
 TBIOTHY LESTER \\'OODRUFF 
 
 Timothy Lester Woodruff, tliree times honored 
 as the successful standard-bearer of the RepubHcan 
 party for the office of Lieutenant-Governor of the State 
 of New York, is one of the cleverest and most active 
 members of the younger school of politicians who have 
 already had such a marked influence on the history of 
 the Empire State — an influence that seems destined to 
 grow even still wider and more powerful wnth the ad- 
 vance of time and the passing of the "Elder States- 
 men" who have held such a firm grip on the political 
 machine of the Republican party in the State of New 
 York. Mr. Woodruff comes naturally by his political 
 aspirations and astuteness, for his father was also a 
 man of considerable ability and experience as a poli- 
 tician and considerable of an adept in the ways and 
 means best adapted to bring about political success. 
 
 Contrary to the general impression, "Tim" Wood- 
 ruff, as he is affectionately called by those who have 
 anything more than a bare acquaintance with him, is 
 a New Englander of the real old-fashioned sort, having 
 been born in one of the best and most sacred precincts 
 of all Yankeedom, the State of Connecticut. His 
 fatlier was John Woodruff, another true-blue New 
 Englander, who was born at Hartford, Conn., on Eeb- 
 
 ruary 12, 1826, and, after having received an education 
 in accordance with the standard of his day and sur- 
 roundings, entered into business there and in due time 
 liecame actix'e in politics. He was elected a member 
 of the House of Representatives from Connecticut, to 
 the Thirty-fourth Congress, and was also re-elected to 
 the Thirty-sixth Congress, serving with considerable 
 distinction in both. At the conclusion of his Congres- 
 sional career he became Collector of Liternal Revenue 
 for the Second District of Connecticut, and was always 
 highly honored in the community in which he lived, 
 lie died in New Haven, Conn., on May 20, 1868. 
 
 At the tender age of ten years Timothy L. Woodruff 
 was deprived of both parents by death, and conse- 
 quently missed one of the strongest factors and tender- 
 est influences in a man's life — parental guidance, and 
 especially a mother's love — in his gradual development 
 from boyhood to man's estate. The relatives who be- 
 came the orphan's guardians, however, faithfully ful- 
 lilled their trust, aufl the boy's education was of the 
 very best. After the usual course in the local schools 
 he was sent to Phillips Exeter Academy for his pre- 
 paratory course, on the completion of which he entered 
 Yale College, whence he was graduated in 1879. 
 
 As is so frequently the case, on the completion of his 
 college course there was a brief period of indecision as 
 to his future — whether he should adopt one of the 
 learned professions ( )r take up a businesscareer. Having 
 finally decided on the latter, with characteristic energy 
 he betook himself to Eastman's Business College in 
 Poughkeepsie for a supplemental course in the essen- 
 tials for a thorough business education. Two years 
 later, in 1881, he entered the firm of Nash, Whiton & 
 Co., where he disjilayed such a forcible talent for busi- 
 ness that when later that firm became a corporation, 
 under the title of the Worcester Salt Company, Mr. 
 Woodruff' was made its treasurer, a position which he 
 has ever since held. Mr. Woodruff is also President 
 of the Smith Premier Typewriter Company, which 
 carries on an enormous business and has a large factory 
 for the manufacture of machines in Syracuse, N. Y. 
 At the same time he retains his business connections 
 with Brooklyn, where he is a Director in the Hamilton 
 Tmst Company and in the Merchants' Exchange Bank, 
 two of the foremost financial institutions of the City 
 of Churches. Li 1889 INIr. Woodruff became one of 
 the proprietors of a famous maltine preparation which 
 gained a wide use throughout the country, and to the 
 building up of this business he devoted himself unfal- 
 teringly and skillfully for several years. 
 
 It is with the politics of Brooklyn, however, that the 
 name of i\Ir. W^jodruff is most closely associated in the 
 
jMEN of affairs IX XFAV YORK 
 
 popular mind. Althougii still young in years, he lias 
 been in jwlitics a long time, having beg^un his activities 
 in the Republican party, when only twenty-three years 
 of age, in the Brooklyn Mayoralty campaign of 1881, 
 as a member of the executive committee of the Young 
 Republican Club, an organization which appealed 
 strongly to young men, and especially the first voters, 
 and which two years later, in 1883, enthusiastically 
 supported Seth Low and helped materially to elect him 
 Mayor of Brooklyn. From this Republican success in 
 Brooklyn Mr. Woodruff forged rapidly to the front in 
 Kings County and constantly added to his political fol- 
 lowing, being elected a delegate to the Republican State 
 Convention in 1885, and also representing his party in 
 the National Convention of 1888, which nominated 
 Benjamin Harrison for the Presidency, the following 
 vear becoming a member of the Republican State Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 In 189'') Mr. Woodruff became the Park Commis- 
 sioner for Brooklyn, and introduced in that office the 
 same qualities of enterprise, foresight and skill that 
 had contributed to his success in the business world; 
 but before he had a chance to thoroughly develop his 
 plans in his new office he was called to higher honors 
 by the leaders of the Republican party, and a few 
 months laterwas nominated for the office of Lieutenant- 
 Governor of the State on the ticket headed Ijy l-'rank 
 S. Black, of Troy, for (invernnr. \n the campaign that 
 followed, Mr. Woodruff developed (|ualities as a tac- 
 tician and a speaker that surprised e\'en those who 
 thought they knew him thoroughly, and which were 
 strong factors in the success of the ticket, .^t the ex- 
 piration of his first term, when Theodore Roosevelt 
 returned from tlie Sjianish War cnvercd with glory 
 and was made a popular idol and the candidate for 
 
 Gi)\ernor of New York, Mr. Woodruff was again 
 selected for Lieutenant-Governor, and again did heroic 
 work for the success of his party ticket. And still a 
 third time, in 1900, when Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., of 
 Newburgh,was the candidate for Governor, Mr. Wood- 
 ruff was drafted into the service of his party for Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor as a means of strengthening the ticket 
 in Kings County and "below the Bronx." In all these 
 campaigns he more than fulfilled the expectations of 
 the party managers, all the while adding to his own 
 political prestige and the number of his party admirers 
 and followers. 
 
 Although the cares of business and the tactics of 
 politics have largely engaged Mr. Woodruff's time for 
 many years, there is another side to his life — the social 
 side — the sweet and wholesome influence of which has 
 pro\ed an admirable counterpoise to the excitements 
 and turbulences of those two wearing occupations. The 
 Woodruffs have been an exceedingly important factor 
 in the social life of Brooklyn. Mr. Woodruff has a 
 l)eautiful home close to Prospect Park, where he has 
 always entertained lavishly, and in the heart of the 
 Adirondack Mountains a camp noted for its beauty, 
 and aptly named Kill Kare Kamp, where he enter- 
 tains his more intimate friends. He is a memlier of 
 the leading clubs, social and political, of Brooklyn, and 
 is also the President of .\delphi College. 
 
 Still on the sunny side of the meridian of life. 
 Timothy L. Woodmff has gained a pronounced suc- 
 cess in the three de])artments of human endeavor which 
 call for the keenest efforts and development of the 
 sharpest rivalry anmng men — business, ])olitics and so- 
 ciety — and is entitled to li;ive his name placed in the 
 \-crv forefront of those win on his fellow-men so aptly 
 de-scribe as the "successful men of ouv time." 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJJ' YORK 
 
 243 
 
 GEORCiE JAV (iCU'LD 
 
 George Jay Gould, capitalist, was born in the city 
 of New York, F"ebruary 6, 1864. He is the son of 
 [ay Gdiild, the noted financier, who was descended 
 from twn niitaljle New England families. Major 
 Nathan Gunld. the pioneer, was a man of great force 
 of character, who came from St. Edmundsbury, Eng- 
 land, to Eairfield, Conn., about 1646. His son, Nathan 
 Gould, rose from the position of Town Clerk of Fair- 
 field to that of Deputy Governor in 1706, and Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of the State in 1724. 
 Several of the family were soldiers in the American 
 Revolution. The wife of Colonel Abraham Gold, Jay 
 Gould's great-grandfather, was Elizabeth Burr, whose 
 ancestor was John Burr, an emigrant to America with 
 Governor Winthrop in 1630, and one of the eight 
 founders of Springfield, Mass. Colonel Abraham 
 Gold, the first of his line to spell his name Gould, was 
 killed at the head of his regiment, the Fifth Connecti- 
 cut, at Ridgefield, Conn., while repelling the British raid 
 on Danbury. and his sword is now in possession of one 
 of his descendants in Brooklyn, N. Y. Captain Abra- 
 ham Gould, his son, a "grim, earnest, honest man," 
 settled in 1780 in Roxbuiy, N. Y. His son, John Barr 
 Gould, the first male white child born in Roxbury, was 
 
 a man of sturdy character, and showed his fibre in 
 1844 by his resistance to the fanatics of the anti-rent 
 agitation. While defending his home against the anti- 
 renters he found an enthusiastic supporter in his boy 
 Jay. A well-read man. noted for his public spirit, he 
 helped to found schools and generally to ad\ance the 
 interests of the community. Jay Gould, kiKjwn in 
 childhood as Jason Gould, was born at the himiestead 
 in Ro.xbury. .May 27, 1836, and received his education 
 in the district schools and at Beechwood x\cademy. 
 
 George Jay Gould received his principal education in 
 a private school — Dr. Cornwall's — being accompanied 
 in his studies by his brother, two years younger. The 
 instruction they received was thorough in the practical 
 branches, and when he had concluded his course with 
 Dr. Cornwall the elder bnither was given the opportu- 
 nity of taking a collegiate course. This he declined, 
 and. at the age of eighteen, elected to take up his 
 sch(-K)ling in finance and railroad management, and 
 with that end in view entered his father's office for 
 instruction. Soon afterward he became a clerk in 
 Washington V.. C'onnor's office. Jay Gould was a part- 
 ner in llie Connor house, jjut when, in December, 1885, 
 the father retired, the son was admitted in his place. 
 In Februar}- of that year a Stock Exchange member- 
 ship was purchased for him, and after having been 
 rolled and butted about the floor of that institution, 
 after the approved custom, he became a member in 
 good standing-. 
 
 In tlie spring of 1886 the Connor firm was dissolved, 
 and Ijoth Jay Gould and his son announced their retire- 
 ment from Wall Street, the elder Gould declaring it 
 to be his wish to train his son so thoroughly in the 
 management of his affairs that he would be fully quali- 
 fied to assume control at any time. He found his son 
 an apt pupil, and in a few years we find him holding 
 the responsible position of Vice-President of the West- 
 ern L^nion Telegraph Company and a Director in the 
 Missouri Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the 
 St. Louis and Indianapolis, the Texas Pacific and the 
 Manhattan Elevated Railroad companies. Not many 
 years later he became Vice-President as well as Direc- 
 tor of these companies. In the management of these 
 great interests he was intrusted with a power of attor- 
 ney to act in the name of Jay Gould. He took up the 
 study of telegraiihy and became an expert operator. 
 This knowledge and skill have been of the greatest 
 value to him in emergencies, when an instantaneous 
 question and rejily are of the utmost value. His great- 
 est work in his early career was given to the Missouri 
 Pacific system, of which he was given practical con- 
 trol. Besides overseeing all the regular work of man- 
 
244 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 aging this great railroad, he directed all the work of 
 construction on the new one thousand miles of road- 
 bed. By frequent trips beyond the Mississi])])! he be- 
 came familiar with the Western country. When the 
 elder Gould's healtli gave way under the strain, and 
 relief and travel and new climes were necessary to his 
 recovery, George Jay Gould took his father's desk. an;!. 
 with frequent intercourse by telegraph, he settled every 
 problem and gave every order his father would have 
 given had he been on the ground. When at home the 
 father and son spent some moments or hours every 
 evening talking over their interests and ])rojects. the 
 younger absorbing all his father's ideas and gaining the 
 invaluable knowledge the latter had ac(|nircd by his 
 longer experience. 
 
 The death id Jay G.'uld had only the slightest effect 
 upon the ])ro])erties known by his name or ui)on the 
 money world from which he disappeared, .\nother 
 Gould was already fully equipped to step into his posi- 
 tion as liead of the great house, to conserve the value 
 of the vast estate anrl the fame of the line of Gould. 
 Wall Street felt assured of this, and was satisfied that 
 George Jay Gould liad proved a business man .so like 
 his father that it would hardly be suspected that a new 
 hand was moving the levers which controlled the thou- 
 sands of miles of railway and telegraph lines whose 
 interests were centered in the little office on Broadway. 
 For years Jay Gould had been molding the character 
 
 and the mind of his son, and he felt that when he was 
 compelled to give up work a fit successor was ready 
 to continue in his place, and his associates, friends as 
 well as enemies, al.so felt well assured of this fact. 
 
 (George Jay Gould is a modest man of medium height. 
 i)li\-c-s!cinned, (lark-e_\'ed, and nut nf particularly mlnist 
 liuild. IJke his father, he cares Httle for society, and. 
 like him. he has the strongest domestic tastes. He has 
 a fondness for athletics, and before he became absorbed 
 in his business \vas a fair bo.xer and fencer. Riding 
 is his great .sjjort. and df late years his principal relax- 
 ation has been ihId. in which strenuous game he has 
 become (|uite an expert. In this sport he is almost al- 
 ways joined In- his son. Kingdon (iould, wlio is now a 
 IH'omising student at Columbia College. He has laid 
 out a fine polo field near his palatial residence at Lake- 
 wood, N. J., and here he maintains a fine stud of polo 
 ponies. He is also fond of yachting, and is the owner 
 of se\eral fast sailing craft of this type. He is also the 
 owner of one of the finest ocean-going yachts afloat, in 
 which lie not infrequently makes extended voyages in 
 European waters. He takes great priile in hisT.akewood 
 residence, known as Georgian Court, and lie has done 
 much for the improvement of Lakewood in general. 
 and is a generous contributor to many of its insti- 
 tutions. Mr. Gould was married on September 14. 
 1886, to Edith Kingdon, and tlu'ee sons and four 
 daughters have been bom to them. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 245 
 
 WILLI A.M RANDOLPH HEARST 
 
 William Randolph Hearst, newspaper publisher, 
 was born in San Francisco, Cab. April 29. 1863. He 
 is the son of George Hearst, wlm was a LTnited States 
 Senator from California. The family is of Scotch de- 
 scent, though their residence in the LTnited States dates 
 back several generations. At the time Missouri was 
 regarded as the Far ^^'est, and beyond the range of 
 civilization. Mr. Hearst's grandfather, William G. 
 Hearst, decided to make it his home. He moved from 
 South Carolina to Franklin County, ^Missouri, and pur- 
 chased a considerable tract of land. It was a fine graz- 
 ing country, and Mr. Hearst engaged largely in the 
 raising of cattle, which he disposed of to the trappers 
 and to the communities further East. He had married 
 in Georgia, and two children were born to him, the 
 elder of whom, George, became L'nited States Senator. 
 This son was Imrn in 1820, and remained in ^Missouri 
 until 1S40. when he caught the guld fever and, selling 
 out the farm which he had inherited from his father, 
 started for the new Eldorado. Like most of the pio- 
 neers of that day, he entered the diggings and became 
 an expert miner. To his mining industries he added 
 those of stock-raising, with which he had become thor- 
 DUghh- familiar in Missouri, and farming. Possessed 
 
 of a fine physique and an indomitable energy, his ef- 
 forts in his new field were attended with success. In 
 1861 lie visited the scenes of his early days in Missouri, 
 and before his return to California was married to 
 Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson, famed throughout Frank- 
 lin Countv fi)r her wit and generous disposition. Four 
 vears after his return to California, in 1865, he was 
 elected to the Legislature, representing one of tlie legis- 
 lative districts in which city he located permanently. 
 He was returned to the Legislature for several succes- 
 sive terms, and in 1882 was the Democratic candidate 
 for Governnr, lint was defeated. In 1885 he received 
 the unanimous \nte of the Democratic members of the 
 Legislature for the position of United States Senator. 
 In 1885, a vacancy having occurred in the Senate by 
 the death of Senator J. F. Miller, Governor Stoneman 
 appointed ]\Ir. Hearst to fill out the unexpired term, 
 and he was elected to succeed himself, but did not live 
 out the full term. 
 
 William Ramlnliih Hearst received his preliminary 
 education in the public .schools of San iM-anciscn and 
 from ])ri\ate tutors. He was graduated from these to 
 !Iar\-ard, where he made rapid advances in the higher 
 branches. During his college career he evinced a de- 
 cided taste for journalism, and was prominently con- 
 nected with the Harvard Lampoon, the college journal. 
 By his nervous energy and undoubted ability he in- 
 jected more spirit and vitality into the paper than it 
 had known for a long period. He was graduated well 
 up in his class in 1886. 
 
 In 1880 the senior Hearst had purchased the San 
 Francisco Examiner, not with a view to its becoming 
 a paying investment, but probably as an aid to his polit- 
 ical movements. LTpon the son's return from college 
 he ]Dreferred a request to his father that he should be 
 gi\-en the management of the paper. The proposition 
 did not meet \\\ih a cordial approval, as the paper had 
 n(it theretofore paid any dividends, and its owner saw 
 \-isions of an increased deficit being disclosed by its 
 balance sheet. He finally assented to the son's request, 
 and the Examiner became practically the property of 
 the aspiring young journalist. His expenditures upon 
 the paper were rather appalling to the elder Hearst. 
 Entirely new methods were introduced, new and im- 
 pro\-ed machinery was purchased, and great activity 
 was instilled into all departments of the paper. There 
 were not a few who looked upon the apparently ex- 
 travagant methods of the young man as simply a means 
 of courting disaster. It was, indeed, many months be- 
 fore the great outlay of money and energy began to 
 produce favoral)le results in the counting-room. But 
 the inevitable followed. Mr. Hearst's untiring energy 
 
246 
 
 .ME.\' OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 and fine business qualities brought him and his paper 
 prominently before the public, and the Examiner, from 
 being a non-paying investment, became one of the most 
 valuable newspaper plants on the Pacific Coast. While 
 Mr. Hearst was building up the Examiner he was de- 
 veloping the views and characteristics which have made 
 him popular among the people. When he took charge 
 there was not a single newspaper in San Francisco run 
 ui)on a union basis. He took the initiative in this mat- 
 ter, unionized his office from top to bottom, and by 
 his example and encouragement of the union movement 
 forced the other newspapers to adopt the same policy. 
 This active interest in his employees in his early career 
 has never left him, and to-day he is, in consequence, 
 more highly regarded by the bread-winning class than 
 any other newspaper proprietor in the entire country. 
 
 In the fall of 1895 }ilr. Hearst purchased the New 
 York ^L^rning Journal. The paper was in a some- 
 what moribund condition, but he introduced into the 
 establishment the same methnds which had borne 
 such splendid fruit in his San l-"rancisc.) enterprise, 
 and the result is knnwn tn every one who is familiar 
 with metropolitan joiuMialism. l'"i\c years after the 
 purchase of the Journal he established in Chicago the 
 Chicago American, the initial numlier being issued on 
 July 4, 1900. He has since established two additional 
 newspapers, one in Boston and one in Los Angeles, 
 Cal., so that he is now the owner of five first-class 
 daily newspapers, and he has in contemplation other 
 enterprises of a similar nature. 
 
 In 1904 Mr. Hearst was j^rominently mentioned in 
 many of the leading Democratic journals throughout 
 the country for the office of President, and his name 
 was indorsed by a large number of the delegates at the 
 national con\ention. His candidacy was urged with 
 great unanimity by the labor organizations of all the 
 
 industries. He had taken up his residence in New 
 ''j'ork City at the time of his purchase of the Journal, 
 and he was elected to Congress from the Eleventh Dis- 
 trict to succeed the late Amos J. Cummings. He is 
 still representing the ilistrict, ha\ing been elected to 
 succeed himself. In the fall of 1905 he was nominated 
 by the Municii)al Ownership League for the office of 
 Alayor of New York, which resulted in the most sensa- 
 tional campaign in the history of the metropolis. He 
 was defeated on the face of the returns by a small ma- 
 jority, and has entered into a vigorous contest for the 
 office before the courts and the Legislature, which is 
 still in progress. 
 
 The policy adoi)tetl by all of Mr. Hearst's papers is 
 a strong antagonism to the trusts, and he has spent 
 large sums in furthering these views in a practical wav 
 by carrying numerous alleged violations of the law into 
 the courts. His name appears as plaintiff in several of 
 these cases. 
 
 Mr. Hearst is familiar \\\t\\ every detail of liis nu- 
 merous papers, wliether at home or abroad, and is in 
 constant touch with his various manag"ers. He has 
 traveled extensixely in Europe and Egj^pt. and has 
 collected man}- rare (ireek. Roman and Egyptian an- 
 tiquities. He is especially fond of ancient Greek art. 
 In history, Napoleonic lore and whatever pertains to 
 Thomas Jefferson attract him most. He is intensely 
 ])atriotic, and in the war with Spain he gave to the 
 r,o\-eniment a yacht, which was reconstructed into a 
 gunboat. He a\;is the only ncws])ai)er proprietor who 
 went to the front at that period as a correspondent. He 
 was present on his yacht at the battle of Santiago, and 
 personally took many views with bis camera of that 
 memorable engagement. As a new spa]ier ])ul)lisher 
 '\\r. Hearst stands without a ri\al, and great political 
 possibilities are predicted for him. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 247 
 
 Tc n , : ■ 
 
 Larner slave insurrection led to such harsh decrees 
 against the negroes that the old Quaker refused posi- 
 tively to enforce them. In consequence he found him- 
 self surrounded ])y liitter and threatening enemies and 
 was forced to leave the State when his son was an in- 
 fant not two months old. 
 
 He made his way with his family in a covered wagon 
 to Greene (now Jersey) County, Illinois, near the 
 mouth of the Illinois River, and there became a farmer 
 and miller. The boy, as he grew to proper age, worked 
 j on the farm and in the mill of his father, attending 
 school at interxals antl getting what education was pos- 
 sible. The first money made by the growing lad was 
 gained by trapping, the furs taken being sold to the 
 American Fur Company. In 1849 h^ '^'^'^^ entered at 
 the preparatory school of Knox College, and graduated 
 from the college in 1854, teaching school meanwhile to 
 help pay his expenses. After his graduation he be- 
 came a bookkeeper for Claflin, Allen & Stinde, a St. 
 Louis firm, with whom he remained a year. 
 
 This year of office life cured him of all desire to en- 
 gage in mercantile business, toward which his tastes 
 did not turn, his tendency being rather in the direction 
 of law and literature. To gratify this he entered upon 
 the study of law under the legal firm of Brown & 
 j Kasson, meanwhile writing editorials and reviews for 
 the Missouri Democrat as an aid in paying his way. 
 
 Mr. White \\as admitted to the bar of Missouri in 
 1856, and in the next year located himself at Des 
 Moines, Iowa, soon afterward the capital of the State. 
 Here business came quickly to him, his marked knowl- 
 
 STEPIIEN V. WHITE 
 
 Unblemished integrity and a high sense of business 
 honor form a good stock for a man of affairs to hold, 
 and in some cases these alone lead to .success under the 
 weight of impending disa.ster. Such has been the case edge and ability gaining him many clients and rapidly 
 in the career of Stephen V. White, who was saved from building him up a profitable practice. He remained 
 
 in by the confidence of his friend 
 
 lis integrity, here ior the succeed 
 
 nine years, during which he 
 
 and who proved to them that their trust was not mis- , argued many important cases and gained a high reputa- 
 placed by paying every dollar he owed. The tale is a , tion. Chief among his legal triumphs was the case of 
 refreshing and illuminating one, though but an incident | Gelpke vs. Dubuque, argued by him in December, 1863, 
 in Mr. White's business career. Before relating it, the before the United States Supreme Court, in which he 
 
 obtained a reversal of the decision of the Iowa courts 
 
 1 Chatham and secured to investors many millions of repudiated 
 the son of municipal bonds. In 1864 he served for a time as act- 
 
 events of his earlier life call for description. 
 Stephen Vanleullen White was born in 
 County. North Carolina, August i, 1831, 
 Hiram White, a member of an old Quaker family of ing United States District Attorney for Iowa, the in- 
 Chester County, Pennsylvania, which had removed to cumbent being ill. 
 
 North Carolina shortly after the Revolution. His During these nine years of practice Mr. \\niite grew 
 mother was Julia Brewer, of a North Carolina family greatly in the estimation of the members of his profes- 
 of much respectability, and a lineal descendant of | sion and of the general public as a lawyer of excep- 
 Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of Great Britain. 1 tional skill and erudition, and he had before him the 
 Educated in the strong sentiments of the Quaker sect ' promise of an unusually brilliant legal career. Yet, 
 in opposition to human slavery, Hiram White found ! either from disinclination to the practice of the law or 
 himself in an unfriendly atmosphere as time went on for some other reason, he suddenly gave up his profes- 
 and the hostile feeling of the slave-holders against the sion, left the scene of his triumphs, and in January, 
 abolition agitation increased. In 1831 the noted Nat. 1865, removed to New York, where he engaged in a 
 
248 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 new business, and one in wliicli he was quite without 
 experience, that of banker and l)nii<er. 
 
 Associatino- himself with Captain Charles B. Marvin, 
 Iiusiness was done fm- several years under the tirm 
 name of Marvin iS; White. Mr. .Marvin then withdrew, 
 and Mr. White continued alone until j88i, when the 
 firm of S. \'. White & Co. was formed. It was in 1891 
 that this firm came to an end, in the somewhat disas- 
 trous manner referred U< in the (ipening paragraph of 
 this sketch. Mr. White had until then pursued a safe 
 and conser\-ati\'e course and had won the respect and 
 confidence of the community to an unusual extent. 
 There was no more reputable and apparently no safer 
 firm in New York than that of S. V. White & Co., 
 when, in a moment, through the misuse of his money by 
 his broker, he was plunged into deep financial difiiculty, 
 and, instead of the millions which lie hoped to make. 
 faile<l so liadly that he found himself a million dollars 
 in debt. 
 
 A remarkable result followed. By the rules of the 
 Stock b^xchangc he could not hold membership while 
 he had a legal obligation outstanding. In this emer- 
 gency his three hundred creditors waived their claims, 
 with sole reliance on his word of honor to pay them 
 w hen he could. Their unusual confidence was not mis- 
 lil.'iced. Borrowing fifty thousand dollars from some 
 trusting friends, Mr. White went upon the floor of the 
 
 Exchange again, :uid w ilh the most surprising success. 
 Everything he touched seemed to tiu-n to gold. His 
 progress was steadily ujiward. As fast as he made 
 money he transferred it to the nii^st needy creditors, 
 and within the brief space of eleven months he had 
 paid off the eiuire million dollars of debt and was 
 soundly^ estaljiished in business again. It was an event 
 probably without jjarallel in the history of speculation, 
 ;ind could only have been obtained Iw a man of Mr. 
 White's .-diility and recognized business proliity. For 
 more tlian t\\ ent_\'-li\e years he had been a Trustee ami 
 the Treasurer of I'lynioulh Church, and as a striking 
 evidence of the general confidence felt in him his 
 church associates re-elected him to the post of Treas- 
 urer immediately after the announcement of the failure. 
 There could have been no greater com]ilinient to his 
 business integrit}-. 
 
 A resident of ih-o, klyn. Mr. White has long been 
 one of the most prominent memliers of ]'l}-moutli 
 I'hurch. has been its Tre;isurer since 1869, and is famil- 
 i.arly known as "JVacon" White, in consequence of his 
 activity in that organization. A Repulilican in politics 
 since the Fremont campaign in 1856. be was elected to 
 Congress in 1S87, serving one term in that body. He 
 was for a time Park Commissioner of Brooklyn, and 
 since 1865 has l^een President of the American .Vstro- 
 uomical ;\ssociation. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJV YORK 
 
 249 
 
 STEPHEN FARRELLY 
 
 Stephen Farreli.y, head of the American News 
 Company of New York, is a native of Ireland, in which 
 country he was born in 1843. His father, Owen Far- 
 relly, was the master of a private school in Ireland, 
 and a man of strong convictions and sterling character. 
 ^Vhen his native land was seriously disturbed and the 
 conduct of his business interfered with by the political 
 troubles of 1848 he emigrated with his family to this 
 country and settled at Penn Yan, N. Y., wdiere he him- 
 self educated his sons. After some years he removed 
 with his family to New York City, where, when seven- 
 teen years of age, Stephen entered the service of Dexter 
 & Bro., at that time wholesale news agents, but later 
 prominent members of the great distributing organiza- 
 tion knowm as the American News Company, which 
 was established in 1864. 
 
 An elder son of Owen Farrelly was bookkeeper for 
 Dexter & Bro., and became one of the founders of the 
 American News Company ; but on the formation of 
 this company, Stephen, who had just reached his ma- 
 jority, was not admitted to membership. Not caring 
 to remain with the company on a salary, lie left them 
 to seek his fortune elsewhere. He had gained an excel- 
 lent knowledge of the business, was active and ambi- 
 
 tious, and felt cuntident of making his way through his 
 own energy and exertions. He went to Savannah, Ga., 
 moved by the idea that there would be a wide field for 
 supplying the Snuthern people, depleted by the war, 
 with educational books and other literary material. In 
 that city he entered into a business contract with the old 
 book firm of John M. Cooper & Co., which before the 
 war had been one of the largest book and stationery 
 concerns in the South, but whose business had vanished 
 and its capital been reduced by the effects of the war, 
 while it was largely in debt to the North. Its chance 
 of recuperation seemed vei"y small. 
 
 Mr. IvTrrelly was well aware of the high standing 
 and liDnorable reputation of the house, and suggested 
 that it might compromise with its Northern creditors 
 and resume its business. He undertook to manage this 
 himself, and personally visited the creditors of the 
 tinn and secured their cumpliance. This done, he en- 
 tered iiit(_) partnership with the firm, which now todk 
 the firm name of Cooper, Olcott & Farrelly, and con- 
 ducted so successful a business that in a few years the 
 old debt was paid ofif. 
 
 Mr. Farrelly, however, during his residence in the 
 South retained a strong conviction that the business of 
 newspaper distribution was the one that offered most 
 promise to ambition such as his, and in i86g he sold 
 out his interest in the Savannah firm and returned to 
 New York, where he established the National News 
 Company. This company prospered under his man- 
 agement, as a rival to the American News Company, 
 but after a few years its business was merged with that 
 of the latter concern, in which Mr. l'"arrelly nmv be- 
 came a Director. 
 
 His residence in Philadelphia began in 1878, he hav- 
 ing accepted the position of manager of the Central 
 News Company, a branch house which the American 
 News Company had established in that city in 1869. 
 Since that date he has efficiently managed this concern, 
 whose adaptation to its purpose has greatly developed. 
 The wagon delivery system was inaugiu-ated by him, 
 the method of short credits and quick collections was 
 adopted, and the business developed until now the Cen- 
 tral News Company is one of die most prominent busi- 
 ness concerns in the city. A few years ago handsome 
 structures for the ofifices and warerooms of the com- 
 pany were erected on South \\^ashington Square, the 
 building being one of the ornaments of that section of 
 the city. 
 
 Mr. Farrelly has matle himself prominent in Phila- 
 delphia affairs, and has gained hosts of friends by his 
 frank and genial manner. He is President of the Cath- 
 olic Club, and is a member of the Historical Society 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 of Pennsylvania, the Citizens' Municipal Association 
 of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Horticultural So- 
 ciety and the Penn and Art clubs. He is also a Director 
 of the St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, of the City Trust, 
 Safe Deposit and Surety Company. rui<l of the Bene- 
 ficial Saving-s Fund Society. He s]jeaks French flu- 
 ently, and has on three occasions made extended trips 
 to Europe, one of them in 1871, immeiliately after the 
 
 Franco-Prussian \\'ar, in \\hich he visited all parts of 
 France anrl Ccrmany. Of course, he did not fail to 
 revisit the old home of the family in Ireland. 
 
 In 1902 jSIr. Farrelly was transferred to New York, 
 to become, in succession to his brother, the late Patrick 
 Farrelly, the head of the American News Company, 
 and he has directed the affairs of this great Inisiness 
 with signal success. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 MARTIN \V. LITTLETON 
 
 Martin \\'. Littleton^ who has just retired from 
 the office of President of the Borough of Brooklyn, is 
 a Southerner, having been born in Tennessee, on the 
 Camplaell's Station Battlefield, near Knoxville. His 
 ancestry reaches far back into the history of the liberty- 
 loving mountaineers of Tennessee and the pioneers who 
 contributed to the liuilding u]) of that Southern Com- 
 monwealth. A\'hen the conflict of arms broke over the 
 nation in 1861 and the war among the States began. 
 Martin Littleton's father cast in his lot with the North- 
 erners in the conflict and entered the army, where he 
 served as a Federal officer during the Civil War. 
 
 As a boy. while always a thoughtful lad, Martin 
 Littleton showed an unusually venturesome spirit and 
 a great deal of restlessness with his surroundings, and 
 finally, although only fifteen years of age, he left his 
 father's home and struck out to make his own way in 
 the world. With a fearlessness and a maturity of ob- 
 servation and judgment that seemed odd in a boy of 
 his age, he drifted across the border into the plains of 
 Texas and worked his way u]) into the Panhandle 
 countrv. The railroads \\ere then fighting- their way 
 into the Texas wilderness, and the boy, still in his 
 teens, was doing man's work with the gangs of labor- 
 
 ers who were building the railway. Working on the 
 roads in Parker County when eighteen years of age. 
 after he had acted as "devil" in a printing office for 
 a while, had tried his hand at setting type, and then had 
 learned the trade of baker, he attracted the attention 
 of the Prosecuting Attorney of Parker County, who 
 was so struck by the young man's alert mentality and 
 his native refinement that he determined to rescue him 
 from his uncongenial surroundings. He sent for the 
 stranger who had impressed him so favorably, had a 
 talk with him, and finally oflfered him a position as 
 clerk in the office of the County Prosecuting Attorney. 
 Young Littleton, when he had recovered from his sur- 
 prise, was overjoyed at the opportunity which had so 
 unexpectedly come to him and eagerly accepted the 
 position. This was the turning point in Martin Little- 
 ton's career — the tide taken at the flood which led on 
 to fame and fortune. 
 
 In the Parker County Courthouse he studied law 
 with the same assiduity and perse\'erance that had 
 marked his hitlu-rto mechaincal occupations, and he 
 was admitted to the bar when only twenty years of 
 age, and a short time thereafter was appointed Assist- 
 ant Prosecuting Attorney of the county. In his new 
 office he handled some very important cases and proved 
 a skillful and vigilant county official ; but a few years 
 later, desiring a change of scene, he moved to Dallas. 
 Texas, and began the practice of his profession in a 
 private capacity. He soon became prominent at the 
 bar in Dallas, his success as a pleader to the jury and 
 the eloquence of his appeals Avinning for him fresh 
 I renown in his new surroundings, so that he was again 
 ' prevailed upon to enter public life, and he became 
 Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Dallas, ^^^nle en- 
 gaged in the practice of his profession in Dallas Mr. 
 Littleton made many new and influential friends, and 
 here was begim and consummated the romance of his 
 life, for it was in Dallas that he met and won his bride 
 — Miss Maude AA^ilson. 
 
 Shortly after his marriage the old restless spirit 
 began to assert itself again, the circumscribed oppor- 
 1 tunities of the Southwestern city chafed his ambitious 
 spirit, and he determined to come North, where he was 
 sure he would find a more fitting and wider field for 
 the exercise of his legal talents. As with thousands 
 of other ambitious country lawyers. New York City 
 nroved the lode-star that could not be resisted, and in 
 due time INTartin Littleton and his newly wedded wife 
 decided ui^on the metropolis as their future home. He 
 bep-an here humbly enough, first as a law clerk and a 
 little later as a lawyer in a Brooklyn office. TTe never 
 lost his cheerv confidence in his ultimate success, how- 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ever, and throui^lmut lliis time of lesser opportunities, 
 but of grindinjj; lianl work, he continued liis legal 
 studies unremittingly, and was vigilant and diligent 
 in his 'preparations for the chance which he was sure 
 would conic to make his mark as a menihcr of the bar 
 in the Brooklyn courts. After a time the skill with 
 which he conducted his cases and the elocjuence he dis- 
 played in his appeals to the jury attracted public atten- 
 tion, and Mr. Littleton's name began to appear in the 
 newspapers as ha\ing achieved victories over some of 
 the oldest and most experienced members of the King's 
 Comity liar. His position was now secure, and the 
 success for which he ha<l toiled so patiently and so dili- 
 gently was assured. The Brooklyn Heights Railroad 
 Company's legal department had been keenly watching 
 his struggle to the front — and had likewise been badly 
 defeated when it came in contact with him as an oppo- 
 nent — so the Brooklyn Heights Road now sought his 
 services to defend its damage suits in the courts, and 
 offered him such a handsome remuneration that he 
 could not decline the offer. Leaving the service of the 
 railroad com])any. he went into the otifice of District 
 Attorney John F. Clarke, who made him Assistant 
 District Attorney of Kings County and assigned to his 
 charge the prosecution of the most important criminal 
 cases. He .«uinmed up for the peojjle in the case of the 
 notorious William F. Miller, the five hundred and 
 twenty per cent, syndicate man, who was convicted and 
 sent to Sing Sing. 
 
 Mr. Clarke interested his associate in l'>rooklyn ])oli- 
 tics and induced ]\Ir. Littleton to make several cam- 
 jjaign speeches, and these speeches were so different 
 from those of the ordinary campaign orator that they 
 
 attractetl the attention of the Democratic leaders of 
 Brooklyn. Jn the I'residential campaign of 1890 he 
 followed Da\id 15. Hill in the Academy of Music and 
 made a speech so eloc^uent that ^Ir. Hill warmly con- 
 gratulated him at its close. He had been a delegate 
 to the State convention of that year, and in the follow- 
 ing year he was selected by the Kings County Democ- 
 racy to make the speech nominating Edward M. Shep- 
 ard for .Maxor of New York City. He took a promi- 
 nent part in the following cam])aign. and in 1902 David 
 T). Hill selected him as Chairman of the Democratic 
 State Convention at Saratoga. He toured the State 
 in the campaign that fall, making .speeches with Senator 
 1 lill in all tlie large cities. All this had served to make 
 Mr. Littleton one of the best-known Democrats in the 
 ! State. The next year, 1903, although against his de- 
 sires — for he wanted to get out of active politics and 
 de\i)te himself entirely to his profession — be was nomi- 
 nated for the office of Borough President id' Brooklyn, 
 and was elected o\'er J. Edward Swanstrom, the Fusion 
 candidate. 
 
 It would be a work of su])ererogation to enter into 
 detail in regard to Mr. Littleton's administration oi 
 the office of Borough President of Brooklyn, from 
 which he has recently retired to take up again the 
 pr.'ictice of his profession. Suffice it to say that it was 
 dignified and conservative, free from scandals and 
 equally free from sensationalism, and at the same time 
 it cnrefnlly conserved the interests of the borough, ma- 
 terialb ;id\anced its development, and demonstrated 
 to the i)eople of Brooklyn that IMartin W. Littleton 
 was a-^ cfi'cient in an cxecutixe office as he was eloquent 
 in the public forum. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 253 
 
 REV. LY^IAN ABBOTT 
 
 LvMAN Abbott, clergyman, author and editor, was 
 born in Roxhury, Mass., December 18, 1835. The 
 liead of the family in this country was George Abbott, 
 by tradition a Yorkshire Puritan, who emigrated to 
 New England as early as 1640, and settled in Andover. 
 Mass., in 1643, as one of the original proprietors of 
 that town. In the data gathered relative to the five 
 generations which inter\ene between the Yorkshire 
 Puritan and Dr. Lyman Abbott t_\'pical characteristics 
 are to be noted. It has been well said of them that 
 as a race "they were honest, hard-working and hardy, 
 given to agriculture, faithful in religion, stern and 
 stm^dy of conscience. They bore themselves in the 
 Re\"olutionary struggle with patriotism and valor. 
 They revered the Bible, honored the Saliliath and 
 studied the Catechism." Dr. Abbott's grandfather was 
 born in Milton, N. II., in 1776. In 1800, when the 
 early settlements in ^[aine were the principal New 
 England enterprise, he moved to Hallowell, in that 
 State, and, after a short residence in that place, to 
 Weld, where, seeing great possibilities in the uncleared 
 lands, he took two steps which evidenced the family 
 traits. He made some startlingly ])rogressi\c i)lans, 
 but weighed them cautiouslv, and took counsel with his 
 
 father, who was filling positions of trust in New 
 Hampshire. Father and son in this blood have always 
 been comrades, each showing deference to the opinions 
 of the other. F.\-idently the spirit of progress always 
 stirred the blood of the elder Abbott, for he straight- 
 way gathered together his belongings and journeyed 
 to the wilds of Maine to join his son. From land 
 agents the two developed into proprietors. One of 
 their great achievements was the building of what was 
 known as the "Coos Road," leading from Chesterville. 
 in Maine, to Ando\-er, in New Flampshire, thus estab- 
 lishing a con\enieiil thor; mghfare between the valleys 
 of the Kennebec and Connecticut rivers. The opening 
 of this road caused a considerable increase in the popu- 
 lation of Maine, and some of the towns which the 
 Abbotts were able to aid in settling were Phillips, 
 Weld. ]\Iadrid. Salem and Temple. It was eleven years 
 before his death llial Lyman Abbott's grandfather re- 
 moved to b'armington, where he purchased the estate 
 known a.s "h^wacrcs." b'rom that time imtil the pres- 
 ent (lay the history of that town and the lives of the 
 .'Vbbotts have Iieen closely interwoven. 
 
 Jacob Abbott, father of Lyman, entered Bowdoin 
 College at the age of fourteen, and was graduated in 
 the class of 1820. He prei^ared for the Congregational 
 ministry at Andmer Theological Seminary, and 
 fimnded the Fliot Church in Roxbury in 1834. His 
 literary labors were extensive, covering a period of 
 more than forty years, and resulted in placing to his 
 credit more than two hundred titles, and included the 
 well-known Rollo series for juveniles. 
 
 Jacol) Alibi tt's four '^ons who lived to manhood 
 showed a sint^iilar unity of achievement. All were 
 graduated from the Uni\'ersity of the City of New 
 York; all became authors and editors: all but Edward 
 studied law, and each did years of service as church 
 organist and chorister, Lyman, Austin and Vaughan 
 were in law partnership for some years in New York 
 City, and did a good deal of literary work together, 
 under the pen name of "Benauly." Though Lyman 
 was born in Roxbury, the family reiuoved to Farming- 
 ton when he was scarcely more than an infant. His 
 father settled in New 'S'ork before he reached his tenth 
 year, and here he has spent his life. He married the 
 daughter of Hannibal Llamlin, of Bangor, who was 
 Vice-President during Mr. Lincoln's first administra- 
 tion. Dr. Abbott's first charge after ordination was in 
 Terre Haute, Ind.. and since then he has filled the pas- 
 torate at the New England Church of New York and 
 the Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. 
 
 When Henry \\'ard Beerher died it was predicted 
 that the church made famous through his personality 
 
254 
 
 MEX 01- Al-l-AIRS IX XILW YORK 
 
 would not survive tlie loss. In looking- for a successor 
 to the great Plymouth divine the advisory committee 
 received numerous suggestions from the admirers of 
 popular preachers in all sections of the country. For 
 a considerable period the pulpit was supplied by various 
 eminent men, a number of whom were supposed to be 
 candidates, and finally a regular call was extended to 
 Dr. .Abbott. He had filled the pulpit some months with 
 great satisfaction, and it was the wish of the entire 
 congregation that he should accept the vacancy. But 
 it was not an easy matter to obtain his consent. He 
 was at the time engaged as the editor of the Christian 
 I'nion (now The Outlook), which had been equally 
 with Plymouth Church a part of Mr. P.eecher's great 
 work. In obedience to the general and urgent demand 
 from the church, however, Dr. Abbott was persuaded 
 to accept the call, and in May, iS88, he entered upon 
 the pastorate. Under the inspiration imparted by a 
 great congregation he steadily advanced in oratorical 
 fervor and power, without losing any of the qualities 
 of clear, compact and instructive statement which he 
 already possessed. Without attempting such an imita- 
 tion of Mr. Beecher as would have been not only futile 
 but distasteful, he set forth in his own way, and with 
 the force peculiar to him, the Cospel with which Mr. 
 Beecher had made his flock acquainted, and which he 
 himself had learned as a member of Plymouth Church 
 from tlic great preacher's own lijis. .\nd there never 
 was a time during his ten years' jiastorate when the 
 members of his congregation regretted llic choice they 
 
 had made, although in that time it was found that the 
 learned divine had views far in advance of those of 
 many of his parishioners, and that his utterances on 
 many occasions were so liberal as to in a measure shock 
 not a few of the orthodox members. In this regard he 
 did not escape the criticism of many of his congre- 
 gation ; but he could not be swerved from his duty as he 
 saw it, and even those members who refused to agree 
 with his advanced ideas joined witli his most ardent 
 admirers in regretting his retirement from the pulpit, 
 which took place in No\-ember, 1898. Dr. Rossiter 
 W. Raymond, a member of the advisory committee of 
 the church, voiced this sentiment when he said: "I do 
 not believe there is a single individual in the church or 
 society who does not profoundly, and without qualifica- 
 tion, mourn over the prospect that Dr. Abbott must 
 soon leave us. Nor is there one who is not grateful for 
 the fact that we ba\-e had him so long, and that under 
 his wise and inspiring guidance we have been so trained 
 and disciplined that we may reasonably ex])ect to bear 
 without disaster the loss of a leader so trusted and 
 beloved." 
 
 Dr. Abbott is a lecturer and writer of liigh rei)Ute. 
 and has been honored by his .\lma Mater with the de- 
 gree of Doctor of Divinity. Since he severed his con- 
 nection with Plymoutli Church he has been engaged 
 entirely in editorial and literary work, filling the pul- 
 pits of various churches from time to time, and acting 
 as universitv preacher to Harvard, Cornell and Chicago 
 universities. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 255 
 
 CORNELIUS VANDERBir/r (Third) 
 
 Cornelius Vanderbilt, the fifth in succession to 
 bear the name, was born in the city of New York, Sep- 
 tember 3. 1874. That "Commodore" Cornelius Van- 
 derbilt, the second Curnelius (if the American genera- 
 ti(jn of V'anderbilts, will always be regarded as the real 
 head and founder in prosperity of the family cannot 
 be disputed. The tracing of the Vanderbilt genealogy 
 in the United States will always be found of interest. 
 The first generation, Jan Aertsen Van der Bilt, a Hol- 
 lander, settled in the neigliborhood of Utrecht, Long 
 Island, about 1650. The famous name of Cornelius is 
 derived from one of the three wives of Jan Aertsen, 
 Dierher Cornellis. Jacob Vanderbilt, of the third 
 American generation, settled about New Dorp, Staten 
 Island. His son Jacob, whose mother was Mary 
 Sprague, was born in 1723, and was the father of 
 Cornelius I., who was born in 1764. The first Corne- 
 lius Vanderbilt married Phoebe Hand, and they were 
 the parents of Cornelius II., born at Port Richmond, 
 May 27, 1794, and who became the great Commodore 
 Vanderbilt, the great steamboat owner and railroad 
 magnate. 
 
 The Cornelius Vanderbilt now being considered re- 
 ceived his early education from private tutors and at 
 
 j St. Paul's School. In due time he entered Yale, and 
 was graduated in 1895, receiving the degree of M.E. 
 ' At the university he was known among his chums as 
 I "Neely." He was a faithful, plodding student, and 
 took a special course at the Shefiield Scientific School, 
 where he laid well the foundation upon which he has 
 since built an enviable reputation in the world of me- 
 chanical construction. Shyness was a personal char- 
 acteristic of his youthful days. While acute in per- 
 ception, he was cautious with new acquaintances, but 
 cordial with those of his social class. In person he is 
 tall, graceful and aristocratic in bearing, fine-featured, 
 with the facial characteristics of his mother and the 
 close, curly, dark hair of his uncle, William K. Vander- 
 bilt. His gai'b has always been precise, neat and quiet 
 to the smallest detail. 
 
 L^pon leaving college young Vanderbilt was left by 
 his father, with whrnn he was a prime favorite, to 
 choose his career. It would seem that he had already 
 determined this question when he selected his studies 
 at Yale, for he entered into active railroad life well 
 equipped academically, and he lost no time in acquiring 
 the necessary practical knowledge. He took a desk 
 in the drafting rooms of the motive power department 
 of the New York Central Road, and no clerk in that 
 vast establishment worked with greater diligence. 
 While at the Scientific School at Yale he had made 
 frequent excursions to the Central shops, where, don- 
 ning his overalls and apron, he worked out in a prac- 
 tical way the problems in which he was receiving in- 
 struction. He gave his attention largely to the fuel 
 question, in the solution of which he has shown wisdom 
 and genius. He is possessed of wonderful inventive 
 powers, which have resulted in the production of many 
 improvements in railroad machinery, and the records 
 of the Patent Oflce at Washington show that he has 
 obtained patents for more than thirty improvements 
 in locomotives alone. Among his first and most im- 
 portant improvements was a new style of fire-box, 
 which has been adopted by practically all of the leading 
 railroads. An index to a phase of his character was 
 shown in his rei>l}-, upon being highly complimented 
 for this invention. He said : "The main thing is that 
 the locomotive works, not that I invented it." He has 
 invented a cylindrical tank car, which has been found 
 to be a great improvement over the old method of con- 
 struction. His time is still largely devoted to perfect- 
 ing railroad machinery, and few men in or out of the 
 great railroad shops of the countr)^ will be found better 
 equipped in a knowledge of the requirements of rail- 
 road transportation. 
 
 Part of Mr. Vanderbilt's character became known, 
 
256 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 and created many comments tlattering to his independ- 
 ence and gallantry, when, on Angnst 3. 1S96, at the 
 hunic ul" Richard T. ^\■ilson, he was married to the 
 banker's daughter, Grace Wilson, sister of Mrs. Ogden 
 Goelet and of tlie wife of Sir Michael Henry Herbert, 
 the present Ambassador from Great Britain to the 
 United States, and sister-in-law of the wife of Marshall 
 Orme Wilson, who married Miss Caroline Astor. The 
 world learned that he had married Miss Wilson under 
 l)ain of parental displeasure and practical disinheri- 
 tance. This was found to be confirmed when the 
 father's will was read and it was learned that Cernelius 
 had been cut ofif with a legacy of five hundred thousand 
 dollars and the income of a trust fund of one million 
 dollars. While Alfred Vanderbilt thus took the place 
 of the older brnther as the principal beneficiary under 
 the will, it is creditable to the family that this unjust 
 distinctinu was not permitted to remain in full force, 
 and b\' an amicable arrangement the eldest member of 
 the family was allotted a considerable portion of the 
 estate. 
 
 When .Mr. X'anderbilt first attracted the attention 
 of some of the world's greatest financiers his interests 
 were not sncli as of themselves to bring about his elec- 
 tion to the directorate of a single corporation. Some 
 of his father's best friends, who believed that the 
 young man had not been accorded fair treatment, kept 
 their eyes on him, ami after he had been wearing the 
 jeans of a mechanic in the shops of the New York 
 Central for some time, and had jjroved that he was 
 there for business and not for diversion, they concluded 
 that be had in him the stuff of which men are made, 
 and he was invited to sit at the council board of some 
 
 of the kings of finance. He was his own endorser, and 
 ne\er yet has he failed to make good. The President 
 of one cd' the great corporations recently said of 
 him: "Cornelius X'anderbilt is in most ways the best 
 Director we Iia\ e. When he came among us he said 
 nothing ami kept his ears open. Every now and then 
 he would come around and ask questions, not of a gen- 
 eral but of a special character. He always wanted to 
 know aljout some particular end of the business. He 
 went about the gathering of his knowledge as care- 
 fully and thoroughly as if he were a conscientious sala- 
 ried employee. He mastered one detail after another, 
 until to-day I l;clie\'e he knows as much about the busi- 
 ness as 1 do." .\t thirty-three he is a Director in more 
 than twent\- coi-porations, and in each and every one 
 of them he is an active and not a passive member. He 
 has the faculty of imparting knowledge to others, and 
 has won some distinction as a lecturer l.iefore the 
 .\merican Society of Alechanical Engineers. lUit with 
 all his multifarious duties Mr. \^anderbilt has not 
 failed to respond to the social and civic demands made 
 upon him. He has served as a member of the Civil 
 Service Commission, and also as a member of the 
 Grand Jury. He is a Republican in politics, and has 
 been cho.sen as a delegate to the conventions of the 
 party on se\-eral occasions. He has been an officer of 
 the Twelfth Regiment, National Guard, for several 
 years. He has made frequent trips to Europe, and has 
 received marlced com-tesy from King Edward, Em- 
 peror \'\'illi;nr. and other royal personages. During 
 the visit of Prince Henry of Prussia to America two 
 vears ago the Prince was handsomely entertained by 
 Mr. and .Mrs. \'anderbilt. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NE]V YORK 
 
 257 
 
 GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN 
 
 George Brinton McClellan, now serving his sec- 
 ond term as Mayor of New York, and the only Mayor 
 re-elected since the adoption of the new constitution 
 that welded the five boroughs into the Greater New 
 York, was born in Dresden. Germany, on November 
 23, 1S65, and three years later liis parents returned to 
 the United States that their son might be brought up 
 and educated amid American surroundings. His edu- 
 cation began in Trenton, while his father was Governor 
 of the State of New Jersey, and when fourteen years 
 of age he was sent to a military school at Ossining, 
 N. Y., where he took a three years' course, with the 
 expectation of entering West Point. General Mc- 
 Clellan, however, opposed the ambitions of his son for 
 a military career, and, insisting that he prepare him- 
 self for a profession in civil life, the General sent him 
 to Princeton University, whence he was graduated 
 with honors in 1886. 
 
 General McClellan died the year before his son's 
 graduation from college, and the young man found 
 himself not only deprived of the wise counsel and wide 
 experience of his father in choosing a career, but facing 
 circumstances in connection with his father's estate 
 that demanded that he should immediately assume the 
 
 full burden and responsibility of a man's work in the 
 world. He went to Europe with his mother and sis- 
 ters and on his return to New York took up newspaper 
 work. F"or the encouragement of other young men in 
 like circumstances let it be told that, although college- 
 bred and with numerous friends, he was determined 
 to make liis own way in the world, and went to woi'k 
 for ten dollars a week. After he had "learned the 
 ropes" he went to another paper, where he was assigned 
 to political work and received twenty-five dollars. 
 Later he went to still another, where he also received 
 a substanticd increase of salary, and was assigned to 
 the duty of reporting the antics of the bulls and bears 
 of Wall Street. This was the end of his newspaper 
 career, and he has always said that the training he re- 
 ceived therein was of the greatest benefit to him from 
 an educational point of view. 
 
 In 1889 Mr. McClellan was appointed Treasurer of 
 the r.rooklyn Bridge, and a few weeks later he was 
 ' married to Miss Georgiana Heckscher, a prominent and 
 well-to-do New Yorker. The wedding took place at 
 Newport, and Bishop Potter performed the ceremony, 
 which was one of the social events of the season. 
 Y(jung McClellan was not yet convinced that politics 
 was to be the field of his activity, but he was convinced 
 that if that was to ])e his chosen vocation he needed the 
 law as a foundation, so he entered the Columbia Law 
 School. Most of his studies, however, had to be car- 
 ried on at night, after he had performed his duties as 
 Treasurer of the Brooklyn Bridge. On the completion 
 of his three-vear course at Columbia he read law in the 
 office of Henry and F. A. }*IcCloskey for two years, 
 initil he was adnfitted as a member of the bar. 
 
 In 1892 !\Ir. McClellan was nominated for President 
 of the Board of Aldermen by Tammany Hall. He 
 was the youngest man ever elected to that office, and 
 polled the largest vote ever given up to that time for a 
 candidate on the county ticket — 175,587 votes. Thomas 
 F. Gilroy was the Mayor of the city, and in 1893 and 
 1894 Mr. McClellan was acting executive head of the 
 metropolis whenever Mr. Gilroy was absent. As 
 George B. AlcClellan was then only twenty-eight years 
 old, the sobriquet of "The Boy iNIayor" was naturally 
 conferred upon him. 
 
 Mr. McClellan's personal popularity with the rank 
 and file and with the leaders of Tammany Hall had 
 constantly increased, especially with Richard Croker 
 and Charles F. I\Iur])hy. He took up his residence in 
 the latter's district, and in 1S94 was elected to Con- 
 gress therefrom. Mr. McClellan represented that dis- 
 trict in Congress until he was called to higher responsi- 
 bilities as the Democratic candidate for Mayor of the 
 
MEX OF AFFAIRS LV XEIV YORK 
 
 city of New York — in round numbers alx)ut ten years. | 
 He proved a conscientious, hard-working member of 
 Congress, and paid particular attention to all legisla- 
 tion brought up in Congress which was intended for i 
 the bettemient of the army. He was a keen, logical ; 
 debater, and made a distinct mark in the House, espe- ! 
 cially as his term of service lengthened and his powers 
 became more mature. 
 
 His first campaign for Ma\or of Xcw ^'ork against i 
 Seth Low was brilliantly ])lanned and perfectly exe- 
 cuted, and he was elected by ever sixty thousand votes, 
 a reversal of almost one hundred thousand votes over 
 Mr. Low's previous success as a candidate. Mr. Mc- 
 Clellan's second campaign, with three candidates in the 
 field, and other factors that upset his plans and those 
 of his party associates, is too recent and familiar to 
 call for any comment here. His administration had 
 been clean and cinservative. and it won for him many 
 supporters from the Republican ranks in his second 
 campaign. 
 
 Ever since he became a voter Mr. McClellan has 
 always lieen affiliated with Tammany Hall, and most 
 of the time a member of the General Committee and of 
 the Columbian Order. He is a member of the Loyal 
 Legion, Lafayette Camp, Sons of \'cterans; the .\ztec 
 Club, and the Sons of the Revolution. He is also an 
 honorary member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick 
 and the Irish I'.rigade, and he belongs to the Union 
 and Manhattan clubs. 
 
 It was to be expected that the son of '-Little Mac" 
 would show an interest in military affairs, and before 
 
 he went to Congress he was a member of the Eighth 
 Regiment of the Xew ^'ork National Guard, serving as 
 a first lieutenant in that regiment for three years. His 
 title of Colonel he derixes from his membership on the 
 staff of Governor Hill. 
 
 Mr. McClellan lives in an old-fashioned, comfortaljle 
 house on Washington Square North, formerly occu- 
 pied by I'ishop I'otter. and just around the corner from 
 Fifth .\venue, and he also lias a pew in Bishop Potter's 
 old church — Grace Clnn-cli — at Broadway and Tenth 
 Street, He is \ery fond of walking, and generally 
 tramps from his home to the City Hall, and back again 
 at the end of his day's work. Next to smoking big, 
 black cigars and the game of politics his greatest pleas- 
 ure seems to be derived from books. He is a close 
 student of the l'"rencli, Italian and German languages. 
 and when he "takes the stump" in a political campaign 
 he has no need of an interpreter in addressing meetings 
 in these languages among the newly made .\merican 
 voters — a fact that always delights those audiences. 
 Since entering on the duties of his second term Mr. 
 ilcClellan has taken a country place at his old univer- 
 sity town, and now makes frequent trips with Mrs. 
 McClellan to Princeton, where he escapes somewhat 
 from the ])olitic;il turmoil that has followed the new- 
 lines he lias laid down for his guidance and his politi- 
 cal independence in his present administration. His 
 present tenn of office is four years, and it is well known 
 that his chief ambition is to leave the great city of Xew 
 York permanently bettered I)y the services rendered 
 to the government of which he is the responsible head. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 259 
 
 SAMUEL L. CLEMENS (^LVRK TWAIN) 
 
 When a man reaches seventy and is doing the best 
 work of his hfe, a new theory of the duration of intel- 
 lectual activity, vastl}'' differing from that propounded 
 hy Professor Osier, must be promulgated. Never has 
 an American author — and Artemus Ward cannot be 
 excepted — gdt clrjser to the hearts of the people than 
 has "Mark Twain." Although we seem to have al- 
 ways heard of him, 'Sir. Clemens did not begin to pub- 
 lish in book form until he was thirty-two years old. 
 But he did not spring into national popularity, in 1867, 
 upon "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras," 
 although his head was as well filled with literary prom- | 
 ise as was the frog with shot. He had a long fight for 
 recognition, but he made it valiantly. 
 
 Born at Florida, ]\Io., November 30, 1835, his par- 
 ents removed to Hannibal, on the Mississippi, when the 
 boy was two years old. His father was a \*irginian, 
 and inclined to be severe with the son. The youngster 
 doted on his mother. This period of the American 
 author's life is told in "Tom Sawyer" — the tale is auto- I 
 biographical. Tom's distaste for school was Sam's ; 
 likewise Tom's reverential fondness for the mighty 
 river that flowed past the town. He "hooked jack" 
 many a time that he might boat or swim. Getting 
 
 half-drowned became a habit with him. Every time 
 he was brought home unconscious, after having been 
 fished out of the turgid river, the neig'hbors would say, 
 "That Clemens hoy ne\'er was Ijorn to he drowned, 
 nohow." "Mark Twain" lioasts that his schooling 
 ended with the spelling-book. 
 
 When Samuel had reached the mature age of twelve 
 his father died. Notes that the parent had endorsed 
 for friends had to be paid, and the family was left 
 destitute. Young Samuel hitched ui) his "galluses" 
 and liecame the liread-winner. He applied at the office 
 of tiie Courier, an organ of powerful and distended 
 intellectuality in Hannibal. As a dispenser of intelli- 
 gence and a guardian of public morals, the Courier 
 existed for the ethical purpose of demonstrating how 
 cheaply an editor could li\e. The five hundred 
 "claimed" subscribers paid in ah kinds of produce. 
 Everything was "wampum," from cord-wood to cab- 
 bages. Young Clemens acted simultaneously as assis- 
 tant editor. "de\il," pressman, foreman of the compos- 
 ing room, compositor and, on puljlication day, news- 
 boy. The publication of the Courier involved far more 
 muscular than intellectual ability. It was a hard life, 
 but it kept food in the family larder — did not over- 
 burden it. This lasted three years, when, at the age 
 of fifteen, Samuel desired to come to New Y^ork — • 
 allured by the wonderful tales of the World's Fair, 
 then open. He started with barely enough to land him 
 in tlie metropolis, and actually had less than two dollars 
 when he arrived. After visiting the e.xhibition at what 
 is now Bryant Park, he applied at the first place that 
 displayed a printer's sign, saw John Green, and was 
 "taken on." Thence he went to Philadelphia and got 
 a "sit" on the Puljlic Ledger. Prosperity was with 
 him. Fie earned a man's wages and saved money. 
 But he was homesick for the banks of the Mississippi. 
 He returned to Hannibal, was welcomed as a prodigal, 
 and then ascertained that a ten-dollar bill had been 
 sewed in the lining of his coat for use in emergencies — 
 although his dex'oted mother had forgotten to mention 
 the fact. 
 
 Samuel liecame a steamboat hand, with the one idea 
 of learning to be a pilot. Hannibal owed everything 
 it was to the ri\-er. and its citizens, young arid old, were 
 proud to ser\e it. Finally Clemens attained the sub- 
 lime height of his wildest earthly ambition. He was 
 appointed a river pilot, at the fabulous salary of two 
 hundred and fifty dollars per month. He became a 
 demigod to the people of Hannibal ; men who had ad- 
 vocated l}'nching him, when he wrote saucy "para- 
 graljs" aliout them in the Courier, now begged for a 
 shake of his hand. It is doubtful if Mr. Clemens ever 
 
26o 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX NEW YORK 
 
 has knnwn greater liappiness at any ])eriod of his re- 
 markably successful hfe. 
 
 "Life on the Mississippi," wliicli is alsi) the title of 
 Mark Twain's description of the period, was a thing 
 of ceaseless excitement between 1S55 and i860. The 
 speed of the boats was faster, the races more frequent, 
 the card sharjiers more plentiful, the quarrels over 
 poker more serious, and the revolvers finer hair-trig- 
 gered than at any time in the traffic histdry of the 
 mighty river. But the steamboat men heard with dis- 
 may tliat something in the slia])e of a deadly menace 
 to the aviication was gradually crawling westward, 
 across the Illinois ])rairies. It was made of rails of 
 iron, and equipped with monsters of steel and fire — the 
 railroad. 
 
 The river business was first to feel the attack. At 
 towns where the keels of new boats had been laid down 
 ever}' spring all industry i;)f the kind ceased. By grad- 
 ual elimination, one steamer after another was burned, 
 run upon a snag or tied u}) to rot. \\'hen it became 
 evident to Clemens that the railroad would destroy the 
 river steamboat the Avar broke out and he enlisted in 
 a Confederate infantry regiment. Strong as were his 
 sympathies with the Southern cause, he was allowed 
 to resign at the end of five weeks' service. His brother 
 had been ap])<iinted Lieutenant-Governor of Nevada 
 Territory and offered Samuel the post of ])rivate secre- 
 tary. Tlic salary was not calculatcil to turn the head of 
 a yf)ung man of twenty-six, but it was better than sol- 
 diering. A description of that long trip across the 
 plains will be found in "Roughing It." Every day's 
 journey had its separate niche in Clemens' memory. 
 It sliould be remembered, in this connection, that more 
 than half of tin- entire literary jiroduct of this marvel- 
 ous man ]i;is liecn drawn from e\cnts in his own life 
 iDcfore he had attained his t\\enty-se\cntli year. When 
 he wanted a story or an incident he bail only to open 
 Uj) Some corner of his brain, it was there, ready to 
 han.l. 
 
 Clemens reached the Washoe district at the height 
 of the mining boom. Tales of fabulous wealth in gold 
 and silver dazzled the young Missourian, and, taking 
 for a partner a man named Iliggins, he left Virginia 
 Cit\- for the mines. The two ad\cnturers located and 
 staked out a claim: but the hard-and-fast law of the 
 time was that claims must be "worked" within ten 
 days of registration. Clemens waited for Higgins to 
 begin. Higgins waited for Clemens. Other pro.spec- 
 tors took ]iossession, and the ])roperty turned out to 
 be a "bonanza." Poorer than when he bad left Vir- 
 
 ginia City, Clemens returneil to work on the Enter- 
 prise. He occasionally wrote his reminiscences of days 
 on the Mississippi. The cry of the leadsman at the 
 bow still resounded in his ear: "By the mark, three!" 
 Again, he would hear, echoing across two thousand 
 miles of sagebush : "liy the mark, twain! Shoaling!" 
 \\'hat more natural than to sign as a nom-de-plume, 
 "By Mark Twain"? When his finances were at their 
 lowest ebb, "Twain," as he was already called in the 
 Enterprise, was oiTered the city editorship, at twenty- 
 five dollars per week. In two years he had save.l 
 enough money to make a tri]) to the Sandwich Islands; 
 but he stayed longer than he intended and came back 
 to San Francisco without a dollar. 
 
 Then, in desperation, he took a step that taught him 
 new personal possibilities. He decided to give a lec- 
 ture. His friends ridiculed the idea. Clemens rented 
 the opera hou.se on credit and cleared six hundred dol- 
 lars. This was the end of his ill luck until his failure 
 in the publishing business a few years ago. With that 
 money he came to New York and lectured. When 
 Captain Duncan chartered the "Quaker Cit\" for the 
 first of the "personally conducted" voyages to the Med- 
 iterranean. "Mark Twain." hardly known here, went 
 along. "The Innocents Abroad" was the outgrowth of 
 that trip. "Mark Twain" was made. Success was 
 immediate. Among the fellow-tra\elers he met Miss 
 Langdon, who afterward became Mrs. Clemens. His 
 father-in-law bought "Twain" a house in Buffalo and 
 a third interest in the I'.uffalo Express: but Clemens 
 says he "couldn't li\e in Buffalo because of the fre- 
 r .ivcrcoats." He moved to Hartford. 
 
 quency 
 
 Xew. 
 
 iding ■ 
 
 Tl 
 
 c ( 
 
 il 
 
 le.l 
 
 .\ge," 
 
 Tom S 
 
 1W\ 
 
 er. 
 
 
 \ 
 
 rramp 
 
 he I'au 
 
 pel 
 
 
 •1. 
 
 ife 
 
 .n the 
 
 b'inn." 
 
 
 A 
 
 e' 
 
 mnecticut 
 
 Court, 
 
 
 Th 
 
 e 
 
 .\n 
 
 lericau 
 
 Abn 
 
 Conn., where I 
 his book> were 
 ".Sketches ( )l<l 
 -Mjroad," "The Prince 
 Mississippi," "I lucklel 
 Yankee at King .\i-tl 
 Claimant," "Tom .'^a 
 Wilson" and "jo,an.il.\rc." 
 
 Misloitunes. ;is a member of a ])ul.lishing firm, bank- 
 rui)ted Mr. Clemens, and be started oiU at the age of 
 sixty to ix'trieve his I'iprtnne. I le made a lecturing tour 
 round the world. ;md returned, after several years, 
 with money enough to cancel e\ery obligation. PTc 
 now lives at 2\ Fifth \\enne. and is so wealthy that 
 he spends most of his time in bed. Mr. Clemens re- 
 cently deli\'ered his farewell lecture at Carnegie Hall. 
 on which occasion he made a strong and effective ap- 
 peal in behalf of the San b'rancisco sufferers. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 261 
 
 PERCIVAL H. KUHNE 
 
 Percival H. Ki-nNEj banker, was born in New 
 York City, April 6, iS6t. He is descended from an 
 ancient German family, wlio trace their ancestry back 
 t(j fanK.nis landed proprietors in Magdeburg and the 
 vicinity of that famous city. Among them in the early 
 part of the last century was Johann b'riederich Kuhne. 
 w h(j was an accomplished musician and one of the most 
 noted clarionet players of his day. He was intimately 
 associated with Richard Wagner, the great operatic 
 composer, and with many others of the great Germau 
 musicians of his time, though not in a professional 
 manner, as he did not practice the art otlier than as a 
 means of personal pleasure. His son, Frederick 
 Kuhne, born at Magdeburg in 1824, after founding 
 the banking bouse of Knauth, Xachod & Kuhne in Xew 
 York, was made the Consul-General of all the German 
 States except Prussia. He was a man of superior 
 ability, and he filled the important place with eminent 
 success for more- than sixteen years preceding the for- 
 mation of the German Empire, in 1871, and then re- 
 tired, after having received the approval of his Gov- 
 ernment by formrd acknowledgment and in the shape 
 of decorations of distinction and knighthood. The 
 banking house founded by him early attained a promi- 
 
 nence among the financial institutions of the metropolis 
 that was exceeded by few, and it to-day maintains th.c 
 same enviable position. Its founder, and for many 
 years its aljle director, married Miss Ellen Josephine 
 Miller, a descendant of an ol<l, distinguished family. 
 
 The second son, Percival, was educated in the public 
 schools of the city and at the College of the City of 
 New York. After completing his course at the New 
 York College he proceeded to Leipsic, Germany, where 
 he spent several years in the completion of his educa- 
 tion. It had always been the intention of the younger 
 Kuhne to follow his father's vocation as a banker, and 
 accordingly, not long after his return from his studies 
 in Europe, he entered the banking house of which his 
 father was a member and, in a subordinate capacity, 
 began the study of the details of a business in which 
 he was eventually to become a past master. His nat- 
 ural aptitude for financial affairs, which had l)cen 
 greatly strengthened by bis scholastic training and 
 mental discipline, made his progress not only sure but 
 rapid. He dexoted himself assiduously to the duties 
 of whatever position he was intrusted with, and he 
 was gradually promoted from one important position 
 to another, until he finally became a partner in the 
 firm and an important factor in the direction of its 
 policies. The elder Mr. Kuhne had withdrawn from 
 an acti\'e participation in the management of the af- 
 fairs of the bank, and while on a visit to Paris in 1890 
 he died. He had passed an honorable career, charac- 
 terized by great energy and an unswerving fidelity to 
 his obligations, and his loss was greatly felt in the 
 business and social world. His son was intrusted with 
 the duty of administering the estate, and succeeded to 
 his father's full interest in the banking firm. While his 
 eIe\ation to the more important position of a member 
 of the firm gave him greatly increased responsibilities, 
 it did not change in any degree his habits of industry 
 and close attention to the business that passed over his 
 desk. He gave the same conscientious consideration 
 to all of its details as he had done when he was 
 a mere subordinate learning the rudiments of finance. 
 He had become thoroughly equijiped for the satisfac- 
 tory discharge of the duties which now devolved 
 upon him, and he gave to the concern the l)enefit of his 
 admirable judgment and foresight, which, joined to 
 his unwavering integrity, amply sustained the estab- 
 lished re])utation of the house for probity and fair 
 dealing. But IMr. I\nhne's business activities have not 
 .nlways by any means been confined to his counting- 
 room. He early attained a high standing as a banker, 
 and this caused liim to be eagerly sought after by other 
 financiers to lend strength to their enterprises. It was 
 
262 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 in this way tliat he hecame one of the organizers and 
 is now a Trustee of the Colonial Trust Company. He 
 is a Trustee and a memher of the finance committee of 
 the Citizens' Savings Bank. He is also a Trustee of 
 the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company, a member of the 
 C!iaml)er of Commerce, \'ice-Presidcnt and Director 
 i>f the I\egina Music I'ox Company, Director of the 
 .Etna Indemnity Company, tlie Alutual .\lliance Trust 
 Company, and of the i'alisades Trust and Guarantee 
 Company of Englcuond, X. J. In none of these diver- 
 sified institutions is Mr. Kuinie willing to give a merely 
 nomin.al service. He is one of those who l)elieve that 
 a position of trust carries with it duties that must be 
 strictly observed, and he does not fail to carry this prin- 
 ciple into practice in every position which he holds. 
 
 Mr. Kuhne has always taken the deepest interest in 
 the improvements resulting from the im-entive spirit 
 of the age, and to some of these he has given financial 
 encouragement. One of these was the Pintsch Light 
 
 Company, which jiroduced an illuniinant of great bril- 
 liancy, and which was extensively placed in use. In 
 this com[)any, in wliich he was a Director as well as 
 Secretary, he was greatly interested, and contributed 
 very largely to its success. It was later amalgamated 
 with the Safety Car Heating and Lighting Company. 
 ]Mr. Kuhne has nc\er held a political office, nor has 
 he ever asjjired to one, always being content to dis- 
 charge the duties which fall to his lot as a jirivate citi- 
 ;^en. He is a member of the L'nion. Metropolitan, 
 I'nion League and Calumet clubs, the Metropolitan 
 ^Fuseum of ,\rt. the Xew York Botanical Garden, the 
 Down Town Club and the Xew \i\rk Zoological Gar- 
 den. He has always taken an active interest in the 
 local military organizations, and is a memlier of the 
 Seventh Regiment \'eteran .Association. He is also 
 prominent in Masonic circles. He was married on 
 Januarv ,li. li^'j.v to Aliss Lillian P.. Kerr, daughter 
 of the late Hamilton B. Kerr, of X'ew York. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 263 
 
 EMIL LEOPOLD BOAS 
 
 Emil Leopold Boas, General Manager of the Ham- 
 burg-American line, was born in Goerlitz. Germany, 
 November 15. 1854. He became a student at the Royal 
 Frederick William Gymnasium, at Breslau, and the 
 .Sophia Gymnasium, at Berlin, and was graduated from 
 the latter institution in 1873. His first introduction 
 into the business world was as an employee of the 
 Hamburg-American Steamshii) line, whose office in 
 Hamburg he entered as a clerk. His display of intelli- 
 gence in the discharge of the duties to which he was 
 assigned and his unremitting industry marked him as 
 a suitable object for promotion, and it was not many 
 months after his first entry into the office at Hamburg 
 that he was selected for a more important position in 
 the American office. This change proved highly ac- 
 ceptable to Mr. Boas, as he was already possessed of a 
 strong desire to make his home in the New World. 
 Lie entered upon his duties in the New York office in 
 1873, and began a career which eventuated in his be- 
 coming sole manager of the company's interests in this 
 country. The Hamburg-American is one of the oldest 
 as well as one of the most important of our many Euro- 
 pean steamship lines, and a mastery of the details of its 
 immense freight and passenger business requires the 
 
 exercise of business talents of the highest order. These 
 are possessed by Mr. Boas in an eminent degree, ac- 
 quired by his long and active service in all the subordi- 
 nate positions in the company, and in all of which he 
 gave his best energies to the accjuirement of a complete 
 knowledge of its business. Mr. Boas had long been 
 well and favorably known to most of the leading busi- 
 ness men of New York, particularly among those in 
 the foreign trade, and it was not, therefore, a matter 
 of surprise to them when it was announced, in the early 
 l)art of iX()-\ that he had been selected to fill the posi- 
 lion of American manager of his company. It was a 
 well-earned and well-deser\-ed promotion, upon which 
 he was heartily congratulated Ijy his hosts of Inisiness 
 associates. 
 
 Mr. Boas's views and opinions on public affairs are 
 broad and liberal, and he has always taken an active 
 part in all mo\cments looking to the impro\enient of 
 our trade and traffic facilities, but more particularly 
 those relating to water transportation. The safeguard- 
 ing of the interests of his company naturally led him 
 to a complete familiarity with the piers and docks of 
 New York Harlior, and this knowledge has frequently 
 been of great value to the officials of the city in the 
 changes and improvements which are being made from 
 time to time in these great public utilities. In this con- 
 nection he was an important member of the comnfittee 
 lor the extension of the pierhead lines a few years 
 since. He has very naturally taken a very decided in- 
 terest in every movement looking to the impro\-ement 
 of the harbor of New York, and he was placed on the 
 committee which laid before Congress an appeal for 
 an appropriation for the formation of a new channel 
 to the sea, to be known as the Ambrose Channel. He 
 has also taken a pronfinent part in the movement for 
 the improvement of the Erie Canal, and was Chairman 
 and Treasurer of the Greater New York Canal Asso- 
 ciation, an organization which did efficient work in the 
 successful promotion of that great scheme. But his 
 public spirit has not been manifested alone in these 
 enterprises. He has e\-er lieen alert in all movements 
 looking to the advancement of the interests of his 
 adopted city. 
 
 On the occasion of the visit to this country of Prince 
 Henry of Prussia in 1902 it was manifestly fitting that 
 Mr. Boas should be a member of the committee ap- 
 pointed to receive and entertain him during his stay, 
 a duty which he performed with commendable pride 
 in paying high honors to the distinguished representa- 
 tive of his fatherland. In recognition of his eminent 
 fairness and aliility in safeguarding the interests of 
 ■ their subjects, several of the monarchs of Europe have 
 
264 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 conferred upon him special distinctions. He lias been 
 decorated by the Emperor of (lermany as Knight of 
 the Order of tlie Royal Prussian Crown, and also of 
 the Order of the Red Eagle; by the King of Italy as 
 Chevalier of the Order of St. Mauritius and St. Laza- 
 rus; by the King of Sweden and Norway as Knight 
 of the First Class of the Order of St. Olaf; by the 
 Sultan of Turkey, Commander of the Order of Osman- 
 leh, and also Commander of the Order of Medjidi ; by 
 the King of Cireece as an officer of the Order of the 
 Redeemer, and by the President of \'enezuela as Com- 
 mander of the Order of Bolivar. 
 
 Mr. P)oas. while mainly occupied in directing the 
 affairs of his steamship company, has given much of 
 his time to other important interests. He is a member 
 of the New York Produce Exchange, and a member of 
 its Arbitration and Canal committees : a Trustee of 
 the Legal Aid Society, and also of tlie Germanistic 
 Society of America. He is a member of the Chamber 
 of Commerce of New York, the Board of Trade, and 
 of the Trans])ortation Maritime Association. Besides 
 taking an acti\ e interest in several charitable organiza- 
 tions, Ik- is a member of the .-Kmerican Geographical 
 Societv, the American Statistical Society, the Ameri- 
 can T-lthnological Society, the American Academy of 
 
 Political and Social Science, the American Association 
 for the Advancement of Science, the Society of Naval 
 Architects and Marine Engineers, the New York Zo- 
 ological Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 
 American Museum of Natural History, and the Ameri- 
 can Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. The 
 social side of his character and his love for sports is 
 shown by his membershi]) in the New York Yacht 
 Club, the New \'ork Athletic Club, the St. Andrew's 
 Ciolf Club, besides the Lotos, Richmond County Coun- 
 try, National .Arts, Deutscher Verein, Lawyers', Uni- 
 tarian, Liederkranz and St. Maurice Fish and Game 
 clubs. He married, in New York, on March 20, 1888, 
 Harriet B. Sternfeld, who has attained considerable 
 distinction as a leader in social organizations pertain- 
 ing to women. She is a member of Sorosis, and is also 
 on the Board of Managers of the National Society of 
 New England Women. She is on the Board of Man- 
 agers of the Woman's .\uxiliary of the American 
 Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, and holds 
 a similar position in relation to the Children's Chari- 
 table Union. 
 
 Wr. Boas is the owner of a fine country residence at 
 "Bonniecrest." Grcenwicli. Comiecticnt, where be re- 
 sides durinsj' tlie summer niontlis. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 265 
 
 MORGAN J. O'BRIEN 
 
 Morgan J. O'Brien, Presiding Justice of the Appel- 
 late Division of the Supreme Court of this State for 
 the First Department, was born in the city of New 
 York, on- the 28th day of April, 1852. His father had 
 come to America from the south of Ireland thirty 
 years before, at the time when Daniel O'Connell suc- 
 ceeded Grattan as the Irish leader. The young O'Brien 
 obtained his preliminary education in the public schools 
 of this city, and later attended St. John's College, Ford- 
 ham, now known as Fordham University, from which 
 institution he was graduated in 1872 with the degree 
 of A.B. In the following year he entered the College 
 of St. Francis Xavier, conducted by the Jesuits, in 
 West Sixteenth Street, and secured the degree of A.M. 
 Thereafter he entered the Law School of Columbia 
 College, graduating in two years with the degree of 
 LL.D. Mr. O'Brien's father had gained a conspicuous 
 position in the commercial life of New York, and the 
 future Judge soon built up a very lucrative law prac- 
 tice. From the beginning he was engaged in the intri- 
 cate commercial cases arising from large corporate 
 interests, which are almost peculiar to our time, and 
 which bring at once such laborious work and such 
 large prizes. From the first a consistent Democrat, 
 
 Mr. O'Brien soon made his mark in city and State poli- 
 tics, as well as at the bar. A great part of his time, in 
 addition to his general law practice, having been taken 
 up in litigation affecting the corporate interests of the 
 City of New York, such as the docks, water-fronts and 
 matters before the Sinking Fund Commissioners, he 
 gained a considerable reputation for capacity, and the 
 knowledge thus gained led to his selection as Corpora- 
 tion Counsel of the City of New York by Mayor 
 Hewitt. While supporting the regular Democratic 
 organization, he has Ijeen independent in politics 
 throughout his whole life. He was (ine nf thc:)se who 
 drafted the platform upon which Grover Cleveland was 
 elected Governor of this State. In that platform there 
 was a civil service plank, which, though meeting with 
 little opposition in the State convention, was likely 
 to create trouble in the city. Many men held office in 
 the city departments who might ha\'e found an exami- 
 nation uf the character of the usual ci\il service test 
 fraught with considerable difficulty for them and very 
 ttle to their liking, and to many civil service meant 
 the creation of a "caste" of office-holders. Neverthe- 
 less, Morgan J. O'Brien was perfectly clear in his own 
 mind that the civil service plank should also be intro- 
 duced into the city platform, and he spent a long day 
 with the committee in an attempt to convince them of 
 the wisdom of its insertion. He argued his case so 
 cleverly and stood his ground so well that the orator 
 of the party, who at tlie beginning was a vigorous op- 
 ponent, was finally won over, and made a glowing 
 harangue in favor of the measure, carrying the organi- 
 zation with him triumphantly. Despite the engrossing 
 nature of his private practice, Mr. O'Brien, who was 
 deeply interested in educational matters, accepted a 
 position as Trustee of the public schools of New York. 
 This position he held for many years, and it was with 
 considerable reluctance that he gave it up, the increase 
 in his practice and the great burden of work then upon 
 his shoulders compelling him to do so. A matter of 
 still greater import to him also occupied his attention 
 at this time. The Irish Land League agitation which 
 was initiated in 1879 by Parnell and Davitt received 
 considerable assistance from sympathizers in America, 
 and in the organization of these American forces Mor- 
 gan J. O'Brien took a prominent and leading part. 
 This movement was the turning point of modern Irish 
 histor^^ for to the forces then set in motion we must 
 attribute the series of Irish land laws passed by Glad- 
 stone, Arthur Balfour and George Wyndham, which 
 have changed in a considerable degree and, in fact, 
 have simply revolutionized the condition of land tenure 
 in the Emerald Isle. In 1887, and while still acting 
 
266 
 
 MEN OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 as Corporation Counsel, Mr. O'Brien was elected a 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. At the 
 time of his election he was in his thirty-fifth year, and 
 was u]) to that time the youngest man to receive that 
 judicial honor in the State of Xew York. Shortly 
 after his election he received from St. John's College, 
 I-'ordhani, the degree of Doctor of Laws. For the first 
 five years following his election his work lay in the 
 circuit courts and the Special Term of the Supreme 
 Court. The must critical work which fell to Judge 
 OTirien during those early years on the bench came 
 to him in 1891. Certain election orders which were 
 deemed very favorable to the Republican party had 
 been issued by Justice Kennedy, of the Supreme Court 
 at Syracuse. Justice O'Brien was designated by Gov- 
 ernor Hill to sit as an additional Justice, and it was 
 generally anticipated that the matter would be fought 
 out by the two Justices on party lines. However, those 
 who looked for difficulty were disai)pointed, for Justice 
 O'i'rien met Justice Kennedy and, after a conference 
 with him, a united and harmiMiious plan of action was 
 arranged. Justice O'Brien's opinions in this case were 
 su.stained by the Court of Appeals. In fact, throughout 
 his long judicial career but a small percentage of his 
 opinions have been reversed liy the higher courts. The 
 year following Justice O'Brien's work in the Syracuse 
 election cases Governor Hill appointed him to the Gen- 
 eral Term, and in 1895 he was appointed by a Republi- 
 can Governor, Levi P. Morton, a member of the Appel- 
 late Division. Some time before this Justice O'Brien 
 had married the daughter of the late Mr. Thomas 
 Crimmins, whose son, Hon. John D. Crimnn"ns, occu- 
 l)ies a very prominent place in Catholic circles of this 
 city. The Justice is devoted to his family, and he has 
 been singularly blessed in his home life. He is a man 
 of attractive and winning nature, and quietness and 
 gentleness of speech and action are among his domi- 
 nant characteristics. Partisans of both the great politi- 
 cal parties have recognized his sterling worth and noble 
 
 ' character. He has been described as strong, true, up- 
 right, studious and vigorous, while his candor, kind- 
 ness and thorough excellence have commanded general 
 admiration and respect. An incident is sometimes cited 
 which gives a striking illustration of his qualities. It 
 happened on one occasion in the Second Department 
 that the candidates who liad successfully passed the 
 
 I e.xamination for adnn'ssion to the bar, through death 
 and absence of some of the Judges of the Appellate 
 Division sitting in lirooklyn, which had brought the 
 number of Judges below the needed figure, faced the 
 probability of having to wait many months before being 
 admitted to the practice of their profession, a ven' real 
 hardship and privation. Justice O'Brien learned this, 
 and characteristically set about a plan to relieve the 
 situation. He arranged to resign from the Appellate 
 
 •. Division of the First Department and to be appointed 
 to the same division in the Second Department, thus 
 making it possible to admit the waiting applicants to 
 the bar, which being accomplished, he resigned from 
 the Second Department and was reappointed to the 
 position he had occupied in the First Department. Upon 
 the completion of his first term as Supreme Court Jus- 
 tice he was nominated by acclamation to succeed him- 
 self, both parties joining- in the nomination, and he 
 was elected to serve until the year 19 15. The death 
 of Justice Van Brunt a short time ago opened the way 
 for his promotion to the office of Presiding Justice. 
 He is at present serving as one of the three trustees of 
 the reconstnicted Equitable Life Assurance Society. 
 He is deeply interested in insurance matters and has 
 invested largely in the Equitable Life. Justice O'P.rien 
 during his whole life has been closely associated with, 
 charitable and educational work. For more than 
 twenty-fi\e years he has lieen in acli\'e scr\ice on the 
 boards of the Roman Catholic Orphan .Asylum, the 
 Foundling .Asylum, St. Vincent's Hospital, St. John's 
 University, and is President of the Alumni Association 
 of Columbia Ihiiversity Law School. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 267 
 
 THOMAS FORTUNE RYAN 
 
 Thomas Fortune Ryan, whose purchase of the 
 controlhng interest in the Equitable Life Assurance 
 Society, with its ahnost innumerable ramifications, so 
 recently startled the world by the daring and brilliancy 
 of his coup, and who is now recognized as one of the 
 strongest and most dominant of the modern kings of 
 finance, was born in Nelson County, Virginia, on Oc- 
 tober 17, 1 85 1. He went to Baltimore when seventeen 
 3'ears old to seek his fortune, and, although without 
 either money or influence, and notwithstanding that his 
 early years in that city were marked by a hard struggle 
 against adversity, he never lost confidence in his ulti- 
 mate success, and the proud position which he occupies 
 to-day in the financial world is another triumph of true 
 American grit. 
 
 Flis first employment was in the dry goods commis- 
 sion house of John S. Barry, who ere long discovered 
 his young employee's business capacity and took the 
 keenest interest in watching and guiding his develop- 
 ment into a successful business man. Mr. Ryan did 
 not remain in the dry goods business long, however, as 
 he foresaw for himself a wider field of opportunity in 
 the realms of finance in New York City, to which he 
 came in 1870. Four years later he became a member 
 
 of the New York Stock Exchange, and soon afterward 
 began to pay particular attention to corporation inter- 
 ests and securities, especially to consolidating and ex- 
 tending the street railway and lighting systems of New- 
 York, Chicago and other large cities. The influence 
 of the late William C. Whitney now entered into Mr. 
 Ryan's life, and for the next thirty years their business 
 association was unbroken and yielded enormous re- 
 turns. Mr. Ryan continued in the brokerage business 
 for ten years, in the course of which he accumulated a 
 handsome fortune and successfully matched his brains 
 against the controlling intellects of Wall Street. But 
 his intercourse with ^^^litney was the predominating 
 factor in the new and fruitful field to which he was 
 to turn his activities. 
 
 In 1886, when a combination of capitalists was 
 formed for the consolidation of the various street rail- 
 ways in New York City, Mr. Whitney sought Mr. 
 Ryan's services and to him assigned the gigantic task 
 of putting their plans into successful operation. So 
 well did he accomplish his work that his associates in 
 the street railway syndicate thereafter contented them- 
 selves with following his lead, and he became practi- 
 cally the master of the enormous street railway system 
 of New York, with its attendant enormous financial 
 opportunities. This is said to have been the business 
 enterprise that drew from ^^^i]liam C. Whitney the ad- 
 miring comment that "Thomas F. Ryan was the most 
 adroit, suave and noiseless man he had ever known." 
 
 As a Southerner of keen business instincts, it was 
 natural that Mr. Ryan should early perceive the oppor- 
 tunities of th.e tobacco industry, and he has for many 
 vears devoted much of his time to that interest, and 
 lie himself is said to consider his greatest achievement 
 in business the fact that he gained "the protection of 
 the British (lag in the markets of the world for an 
 American industry," when in 1902 he went to London 
 to take charge of the fight which the American Tobacco 
 Company was then making against the Imperial To- 
 bacco Company for a division of the world territory 
 f()r tlie tobacco trade. In two weeks Mr. Ryan won 
 his figlit comi)letely, established harmonious relations 
 with the English corporation, collected the expenses of 
 the fight, which had Ijeen carried on with the greatest 
 bitterness by the leading spirits of the American To- 
 bacco Company interests in London, and, furthermore, 
 brought l:)ack a block of stock of the British corpora- 
 tion, now worth twenty-five million dollars, for deposit 
 among the American company's assets — this last, of 
 course, being the crowning and most delightful incident 
 in the American capitalist's victory. 
 
 Southern steam railway interests ha\'e also offered 
 
26S. 
 
 MEN Of AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 large opportunities to Mr. Ryan, and he has availed 
 himself of those opportunities tn the full. lie was a 
 leader in the reorganizatinn df the nld Kichnmnd and 
 Danville system into the present Southern Railway, 
 an'! he formed and executed the plans for the reorgan- 
 ization of the Central of Georgia Railroad and Bank- 
 ing Company. These were two of his first and higgest 
 rehabilitation schemes among Southern railroads thai 
 he found in financial difficulties, and his nnnplcte suc- 
 cess therein added to his Wall Street prestige. 
 
 I'nr picturesf|ueness. Iiowever, and an illustration of 
 Air. Kvan's relish for a li.L^ht, and his patience and per- 
 
 severance m carrymg 
 
 ifte 
 
 nice having been 
 
 drawn nito it, we must turn to his battle for the Sea- 
 board Air Line Railway — inie of the bitterest struggles 
 in the annals of railroads for the control of a system. 
 His Southern opponents were foemen worthy of his 
 steel, and they put up a battle royal for the control of 
 the road, resorted to the courts, and developed such 
 .skillful resources in ]>reventing his gaining control of 
 the road's stock that it lor)ked as though the Wall 
 Street man was safely beaten; but he kept on hammer- 
 ing at them all along the line, and at last his turn came 
 — the chance he had been waiting for. The Seaboard's 
 controlling syndicate got into financial difficulties, 
 pledged their stock to tide them o\cr their financial 
 stress, and realized when too late that it was in the pos- 
 session of their old foe. who immediately turned the 
 tables on them, and. after an eight-year contest, secured 
 the road practically on his own terms. 
 
 Lack of s|)ace prevents an enumeration of all the 
 business enterprises with which Mr. Ryan has been 
 associated or the corponitions of which he is a Director, 
 but in the course of his reorgauizatictn of various rail- 
 ways in the South he became interested as well in va- 
 
 rious coal mines in Ohio and West Virginia and rail- 
 ways in Ohio. He is also A^ice-President of the Mor- 
 ton Trust Company, 'J'rustee in the American Surety 
 Company, Director in the Pere Marquette Railroad 
 Company, the Plocking Valley Railway Company, the 
 Consolidated Gas Company of New York, the Con- 
 solidated Tobacco Company, the National Bank of 
 Commerce, the Union Exchange Bank, the Metropoli- 
 ran Securities Company, the Electric Storage Battery 
 Company, and the recent merging of the street rail- 
 ways with the ele\-ated and subway makes the com- 
 bined roads com])lete ma.sters of the rapid transit sys- 
 tem of New York City. 
 
 Mr. Ryan, notwithstanding his multifarious Inisi- 
 ness interests, is domestic in his habits, and enjoys all 
 the good things of life to the full. On November 25, 
 1873, he married Miss Ida M. Barry, of Baltimore, and 
 has five sons. He has a beautiful home, called Oak 
 Ridge, on the site of his birthplace in Virginia, another 
 in Washington, a country place at SutTern. N. Y., and 
 in the winter time lives in his beautiful iyy-covered 
 mansion on lower Fifth Avenue. 
 
 He is a member of the Chamlier of Commerce, and 
 of the Metro|)olitan. IManhattan. L'nion. Lawyers' and 
 New York Athletic clulis. also of the Catholic Club and 
 the Southern Society. He maintains his legal resi- 
 dence in Aurgiuia. and represented that State in the 
 Democratic National Convention of T904, where he 
 was largely instrumental in reconciling the delegates 
 to the acceptance of Air. Parker's telegram declaring 
 for the gold standard. 
 
 Air. Ryan is a ni:ui of widely sympathetic charities, 
 and he and his wife ha\e always been niunilicent in 
 their assistance to any cause that a]>i)ealed to their 
 hearts, and esiiecially to a religious one. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJV YORK 
 
 269 
 
 ARTHUR EL^IORE BOSTWICK 
 
 Arthur Elmore Bostwick, librarian and author, 
 was born in Litchfield, Conn., March 8, i860. He is 
 the son of Dr. David Elmore and Adelaide Bostwick, 
 and the descendant of an English famil}' of consider- 
 able distinction. He is the eighth in direct descent 
 from Arthur Bostock, or Bostwick, who was the first 
 representative of the family in America. The pioneer 
 was of the Bostocks of Bostock Manor, near Chester, 
 England, and he came to this country about the year 
 1640. Like most of the men who found a home in the 
 Western ^\'orld in that period of the country's history, 
 he was possessed of a sturdy and detennined tempera- 
 nient, and this characteristic has descended in large 
 measure to all the succeeding generations. Li Arthur 
 Elmore Bostwick, the representative of the present gen- 
 eration, and the subject of this sketch, is found a 
 worthy exponent of this tradition. Although but yet 
 in middle life, he has made a more than ordinarily con- 
 spicuous record in the literary world. He received the 
 rudiments of his education in the public schools of his 
 native town, Litchfield, and took a preparatory course 
 at the Litchfield Listitute. Upon the conclusion of 
 these latter studies he entered Yale and was graduated 
 with honors, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
 
 in 1 88 1. He was the first Treasurer of the Yale Uni- 
 versity Club. Other distinctions which were conferred 
 upon him were the Silliman Eellowship in Physical 
 Science, of which he was the first incumbent, embrac- 
 ing the years 1881-84. He did not leave the college 
 upon his graduation, but remained as instructor and 
 proctor during the years 1883 and 1884. Ii^ this field 
 he was highly successful, but at the end of the second 
 year he recci\ei! a llattcring iii\itatiim to liecome an 
 
 ! insiructnr in the High ScIkmiI at Alontclair, N. J., 
 ^\•hich he accepted, and w here he remained for the two 
 
 I succeeding years. While in this pusitinn he devoted 
 much of his time to the cultivation of his literary 
 knowledge and to scientific pursuits. This resulted in 
 his being employed by the Appletons in 1886, where he 
 was occupied for several years as one of the principal 
 editors in the preparation of the Cyclopaedia of Ameri- 
 can Biography issued by tliat firm. The great value 
 and popularity of that extensive A\ork are the best evi- 
 dence of the thoroughness with which Mr. Bostwick 
 and his eminent colleagues performed the task allotted 
 to them. During a portion of this period he was as- 
 sistant editor of the Forum, t(T which journal he con- 
 tributed many important articles. Li 1892 he was 
 invited by the Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls to become one 
 of the associate editors in the preparation of the Stand- 
 ard Dictionary, a compliment to his standing as a 
 scholar that was duly appreciated. For several years 
 he was engaged in this important work, having special 
 charge of the department of physics, and his name 
 appears with his distinguished associates on the title 
 page iif that \-aluable work. In 1891 he took charg'e 
 of the science department of the Literary Digest, and 
 it has remained under his supervision ever since. 
 
 It A\as in 1889 that Mr. Bostwick first became per- 
 manently identified with library work. His preceding 
 studies and literary labors had prepared him in an emi- 
 nent degree for such a career, and he decided at this 
 time to make this the field of his life work. His first 
 experience was as librarian of the Brooklyn Public 
 Lilirary, a jmsition which he filled with great accepta- 
 bility until 1895, when he resigned to accept the more 
 important post of chief librarian of the New York Free 
 Circulating Library, which position he has held con- 
 tinuously up to the present time. This office is exact- 
 ing in its requirements, and demands a technical knowd- 
 edge of the greatest variety as well as of the highest 
 order. These qualifications have not been found want- 
 ing in any instance in the present incumbent. The 
 duties are not confined to a library embraced in a single 
 building, but extend to a supervision of all the branch 
 libraries, wliich are at present thirty-six in number, in- 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 eluding those in the buildings erected with Mr. Carne- 
 gie's gift of five million dollars in the boroughs of Man- 
 hattan, the Bronx and Richmond. In this connection 
 Mr. Bostwick has organized about twenty branch 
 libraries and assisted in planning buildings and quarters 
 for about thirty. To accomplish all this work success- 
 fully has required not alone the possession of great 
 literary accomplishments, but of executive ability of a 
 high order, and of untiring industry and perseverance. 
 That he is in the possession of these qualifications in 
 the highest degree is attested by the success which has 
 crowned all his efforts and the position which he has 
 attained. 
 
 Mr. Bostwick has been a mem])er of the Authors' 
 Club since 1892, and was President of the New York 
 City Library Club from 1897 to 1899. He assisted in 
 the organization of the Long Island Literary Club in 
 1900, and was its first President, retaining the position 
 for two years. He has been a Director of the People's 
 Lf^niversity Extension Society since 1898. In 1902 he 
 was selected as the President of the New York State 
 Library Association, and filled the position for two 
 terms. He was also Vice-President of the New Jersey 
 Library Association. He was elected a member of the 
 American Library Association Council in 1904, and 
 still retains the position. He is also its chairman of 
 the committees on library training and on relations 
 with the borik trade. He was selected as a member of 
 
 the advisory committee of the Public Education Asso- 
 ciation and of the Library Council of the New York 
 State University in 1904. He was one of the first 
 forty Fellows of the American Library Institute on its 
 organization, in 1905, and a delegate to the conference 
 called by the Librarian of Congress to prepare and 
 submit to Congress a revision of the copyright laws 
 of the United States. This was a question which had 
 long disturbed the publishers of this country as well 
 as of Europe, and the selection of jNIr. Bostwick as a 
 member of the comnu'ttee was a compliment of the 
 In'ghest order. The labors of the committee extended 
 over several months, and was attended with results of 
 great benefit to the book publishers. 
 
 Mr. Bostvi'ick is the author of "Young Folks' Cyclo- 
 paedia of Games and Sports" (in association with John 
 D. Champlin), and is a frequent contributor to periodi- 
 cals and magazines, chiefly on scientific and literary 
 subjects, and his articles are always eagerly sought for 
 by the higher class of these publications. He is also 
 a fluent speaker, and has delivered many addresses 
 before library associations and literary organizations, 
 of a high order. His position among the brotherhood 
 of librarians of the country is a commanding one, and 
 few movements are made in the direction of improving 
 the conditions of the workings of these institutions in 
 which he is not called upon to impart the benefit of his 
 knowledge and experience. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 271 
 
 JACOB VAN VF.CHTRN OLCOTT 
 
 J. X'an V'echten Olcott, lawyer, jurist, was born 
 in Xew York City, May 17, 1856. He is descended 
 from distinguished Colonial and Knickerbocker stock. 
 The first representative of the Olcott family in this 
 country came to America in the seventeenth century, 
 and his was one of the families which founded the city 
 of Hartford, Conn. John M. Olcott, the father of 
 Van Vechten, was born in Connecticut, but removed 
 to New York with his parents when he was a mere lad. 
 He was possessed of an enterprising spirit, and had 
 hardly passed his majority before he was engaged in 
 active business. His efforts were crowned with suc- 
 cess, and by his great enterprise and thorough business 
 qualities he became in a few years a man of consider- 
 able prommence in the community, and for many years 
 held the position of one of the leading commission mer- 
 chants of the metropolis. He married Euphemia H. 
 Krox, daughter of the Rev. John Knox, who was for 
 many years the pastor of the old Collegiate Dutch 
 Reformed Church, and a man of great prominence and 
 influence in the religious world. The wife of this cele- 
 brated divine was Euphemia ]\Tason. daughter of the 
 Rev. John Mason, who was the son of the Rev. John 
 Mason, chaplain at the West Point Military Academy 
 
 during the American Revolution, and a personal friend 
 of General Washington. 
 
 J. Van Vechten Olcott received his preliminaiy edu- 
 cation in the jnililic schools of New York, and then 
 entered New York College. He took a full course in 
 tin's institution, where he made an enviable record as a 
 close student and was graduated with honors. He soon 
 afterward decided upon making the law his field of 
 endeavor, and accordingly entered the Columbia Law 
 School, from which he was graduated in the class of 
 1877. He was soon after admitted to practice, and at 
 once entered the oflke of Anderson & Mann, a leading 
 firm, as one of its subordinates. Here he early gave 
 evidence of the thoroughness of his preparation, which, 
 accompanied by his zeal and industry, soon placed him 
 in the position of managing clerk for the concern. He 
 was thorough and intelligent in the discharge of the 
 responsible duties assigned to him, and rapidly became 
 well versed in the knowledge necessary to the proper 
 preparation of cases for the various courts, and in the 
 other details which contribute so largely to the success 
 of an attorney. 
 
 On November i, 1881, he resigned his position with 
 Messrs. Anderson & Mann and, in association with 
 Robert A. Livingston, established the firm of Olcott 
 & Livingston. Mr. Livingston was a resident of Put- 
 nam County, which he represented in the State Assem- 
 bly in 1882 and again in 1885. The new firm met with 
 a large share of success from the start, and a lucrative 
 practice was gradually built up. Mr. Olcott remained 
 in association with Mr. Livingston until January i, 
 1889, when the firm was dissolved, and he continued 
 alone in his practice until May, 1891, when the well- 
 known firm of Olcott & Olcott was founded, the junior 
 member being his brother, William M. K. Olcott. The 
 latter has attained prominence in municipal affairs, 
 having been chosen a member of the Board of Alder- 
 men in 1895, District Attorney of New York County 
 in 1896, and Judge of the City Court in 1898. Mr. 
 Olcott for a number of years devoted his attention 
 almost exclusively to civil practice, and he made a spe- 
 cialty of real estate and surrogate matters, in which 
 departments of the law he has long been recognized 
 as one of the most thoroughly versed and practically 
 equipped members of the New York bar. His clientele 
 is of the most desirable character, and includes many of 
 the large real estate and mercantile concerns of the 
 city. 
 
 I Mr. Olcott is a pronounced Republican in politics, 
 am! has for many years held a commanding position 
 in the councils of his party, local. State and national. 
 
 , In all of its campaigns he has been one of the most 
 
272 
 
 MEN' OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 ardent and effective workers for the success of his 
 ticket, and, though frequently urged, he has never until 
 within recent years permitted his name to be associated 
 with a public office. He consented to act as a member 
 of the Civil Service Commission under Mayor Strong's 
 administration in 1895, and in 1904 he was elected to 
 the House of Representatives from the Fifteenth Con- 
 gressional District. He was strongly urged for the 
 office of Mayor at the last municipal election, but de- 
 clined the nomination. While declining to be his 
 partv's leader on that occasion, he took no lukewarm 
 ])art in that memorable campaign, and gave his best 
 efforts to secure the defeat of the Tammany ticket. In 
 the recent movement looking to the reorganization of 
 the Republican State and County committees Mr. 
 Olcott's name has been prominently brought forward 
 in connection with the chairmanship of one of these 
 committees. It was in consequence of this mmement 
 that he was led to make the following statement, which 
 clearly defines his political status : "I have always 
 been a strong organization man. I lielieve in running 
 politics for the good of the country first, and for the 
 partv as a close second. I think it is imperative that 
 
 the Republican party of New York State should be re- 
 I organized and new leaders elected." This statement 
 will give a clear indication of Mr. Olcott's attitude in 
 I the New York Congressional delegation on all strictly 
 j party measures. He is a member of the Committee 
 on the District of Columbia, which has come to be one 
 of the most important of the Congressional committees. 
 ]Mr. Olcott enjoys the respect and esteem of the 
 I bench and bar of New York, and is also popular out- 
 side of professional circles, being a well-known club- 
 man and holding membership in the Union League, 
 Re])ublican, Alpha Delta I'lii, Church and Colonial 
 clubs, of the last of which he was for a long period 
 Secretary. He belongs to the Sons of the American 
 Revolution, and also to the City and State Bar associa- 
 tions. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from 
 Kenyon College in 1905. He is President of the 
 Bridgeport Land and Improvement Company, one of 
 the examining counsel of the Lawyers' Title Insurance 
 Company, and is interested in many important enter- 
 prises. He was married to Miss Laura I. Hoffman, 
 daughter of Rev. Dr. Charles F. Hoffman, the eminent 
 ^ Iqiiscopal divine, in 1882. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 273 
 
 WILLIA^I GIBBS McADOO 
 
 The problem of giving to the city of New York 
 direct rail communication under the mighty river that 
 separates it upon the westward from tlie great territory 
 lying south and west has been solved. It is one that 
 has stirred the ambitions of capitalists and has quick- 
 ened the imaginations of engineers for a generation. 
 Until the right man arrived on the ground the experi- 
 ment was doomed to failure. The depth of the Hud- 
 son, along the thirteen miles of Manhattan's front, pre- 
 cluded the sinking of bridge piers. River navigation 
 could not be hampered by a structure that was lacking 
 in height. The bridge problem would require years, at 
 best, to solve. Meanwhile, William Gibbs McAdoo, a 
 young Southerner, organized a corporation that ac- 
 tually dug a tunnel and knocked all engineering dis- 
 quisition out of countenance. He took hold of an 
 admitted failure and carried it to success. 
 
 A tunnel was begun under the North River many 
 years ago, but its only serious accomplishment was the 
 development of a hero — "a man who was not afraid to 
 die to save others." When the workmen were at the 
 heading one day the water broke through from the 
 river overhead. A gang boss of immortal memory, 
 named Woodruff, saved everv lalmrer under his direc- 
 
 tion by the willing sacrifice of his own life. Hurrying 
 his companions into the air-lock, the suction drew the 
 door shut before he could follow them. There were 
 sixteen men in the lock. The door that led to the 
 shaft could not be opened without drowning Woodrufif, 
 who was upon the outside of the lock. Without hesi- 
 tation, standing in water to his waist, the chivalrous 
 fellow shouted: "Break the glass window, release the 
 door and save yourselves." That command sealed 
 Woodruff's doom. Very unwillingly did these plain 
 men, thinking of wives and children more than them- 
 selves, do as their gang boss commanded. When the 
 tunnel was reopened, years afterward, the hero's bones 
 were found. 
 
 This is only one of many incidents, although the 
 most tragic and romantic, that make the tunneling of 
 the Hudson a part of American literature. Years 
 passed, anil after the project had been abandoned as 
 impossible a young man came from Tennessee and ac- 
 complished the task. He was William Gibbs McAdoo, 
 born at Marietta, Ga., October 31, 1863, in the darkest 
 hour of the Confederacy. The havoc caused to the 
 family finances by the Civil War was such that with 
 difficulty, sixteen years later, young McAdoo entered 
 the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, and need 
 of money induced him to forego a college degree and 
 to accept an appointment in May, 1882, as Deputy 
 Clerk of the United States Circuit Court for the South- 
 ern District of Eastern Tennessee, at Chattanooga. 
 That post gave him the coveted opportunity to study 
 law, and he was admitted to the bar in 1885. 
 
 Surrendering his office, W. G. McAdoo began prac- 
 tice on his own account in the city of Chattanooga, 
 lie showed aptitude as a corporation attorney, 
 and was, for a number of years, counsel in Ten- 
 nessee for the Central Railroad and Banking Com- 
 pany and the Richmond and Danville Railroad Com- 
 pany. He was a resolute, pugnacious lawyer, and soon 
 made a place for himself. 
 
 Pie came to New York in 1892 and was admitted 
 to practice at this bar. He had, for some years, studied 
 transportation problems, and when the New York Sub- 
 way took definite form, the idea of bringing trains into 
 New York under the Hudson took shape in his brain. 
 
 After William McAdoo left the post of Assistant 
 Secretary of the Navy, in 1897, at the end of the second 
 administration of President Cleveland, the two Mc- 
 Adoos formed a partnership and opened offices at the 
 corner of Broad and Wall streets. The men were in 
 j nowise related, but they were warm friends, and, as 
 they said, "the two names looked well upon a door." 
 1 This partnership continued until May, 1902. William 
 
MEX OP AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 McAdoo was, in 190^, appointed Commissioner of 
 Police by Mayor McClellan. 
 
 William G. J^lcAdoo had been successful in organiz- 
 ing his Hudson River Tunnel corporation, and in 1902 
 was elected President of the New York and Jer- 
 sey Railroad Company, under which name the tunnel 
 project was organized and exploited. The "Woodrufif" 
 tunnel, filled with mud and water, had been acquired, 
 and work began with an energy that all the powers of 
 earth could not resist. Mr. Charles M. Jacobs, a well- 
 known engineer, was put in charge of the work, and 
 the latest machinery and the most successful theories 
 for dealing with silt deposits in the river bed were 
 adopted. A tube of steel plates was driven into the 
 stiff silt and men worked under such air pressure that 
 water could not come in upon them. Foot by foot, rod 
 by rod, the tunnel advanced. A short section of tunnel 
 from the Manhattan side, neru" Christopher Street, had 
 Ijeen built in 18S0, with which it was necessary for the 
 tunnels coming from New Jersey to connect. So accu- 
 rate were the engineer's calculations that the two ends 
 joined within one-sixteenth of an inch under the river's 
 bed. Two years passed — months of discouragement 
 at times, but always some progress. Often a mishap 
 would injure the work of weeks, but the burden was 
 taken up again and the tunnels moved toward the meet- 
 ing point with a persistency that nothing could stay. 
 Not only was the President of the company a frequent 
 visitor to the "headings," but by his example he in- 
 spired confidence in all who were interested in the 
 work. The financing of this proposition was not a 
 trivial task. Progress was not always encouraging or 
 satisfactory-, but the money was always ready on pay- 
 day and the work went on. 
 
 So sure was ilr. McAdoo of success at the end of 
 the first year that he organized a second tunnel com- 
 ]:)any (under the name of the Hudson and Manhattan 
 Railroad) to drive another subway under the North 
 River, beginning at Cortlandt Street, in Manhattan, 
 to connect with the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in 
 Jersey City. When the Penns3dvania main station is 
 moved to ]\Ianhattan this tunnel will be valuable for 
 the large traffic which must always have facilities for 
 quick access to the downtown section of New York. 
 There will not be any lack of work for this tunnel to 
 perform. Already an agreement has been made with the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad to handle all of its passengers 
 to and from the financial district. \\'ith characteristic 
 energ}- the second tunnel was started twenty-four hours 
 after the first one was completed. 
 
 At the age of forty-two William G. McAdoo is 
 one of the talkecl-about men in America. He is merely 
 starting upon a great career of railway development, 
 and will have to be reckoned with by financiers of the 
 old school who lack audacity in undertaking the "im- 
 possible," and who, unlike him, have not the modesty to 
 give most of the credit to the men who believed in anil 
 sustained them. This characteristic of Mr. McAdoo is 
 particularly vexatious to his biographer, because the 
 former insists that only a small part of the credit for 
 the Hudson River tunnel belongs to him, and that most 
 of it should go to the capitalists who financed him and 
 to the engineers and men who did the physical 
 work. 
 
 Capital existed, but it was timid. The Hudson 
 might not have been tunneled for many years had Wil- 
 liam Gibbs McAdoo not come out of the South to boss 
 the midertaking. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 275 
 
 JOHN GERARD HECKSCHER 
 
 John Gerard Heckscher, one of the best-known 
 clubmen and society men in the city of New York, was 
 born in this city in 1837, ^"f^ since early manhood has 
 always been a prominent and interesting figure in the 
 society of Manhattan Island. He received his name 
 in honor of his maternal grandfather, John Gerard 
 Coster, who came to New York at abiiut the year 
 1790, and who was for many years one of the fore- 
 most men in the community, respected and highly hon- 
 ored both as a merchant and as a man. As President 
 of the Bank of the Manhattan Company John Gerard 
 Coster was an important factor in the commercial life 
 and banking circles of his day, and the name of Coster 
 has always stood high in the social annals of New 
 York. 
 
 Mr. Riclianl Heckscher took his bride. Miss Coster, 
 to a home in the ultra-fashionable district of the city 
 at that time — on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thir- 
 teenth Street. It was an unusually large, brownstone, 
 double mansion, noticeable for its dignity of appear- 
 ance and the atmosphere of comfort and homelikeness 
 that surrounded it. Here it was that John Heckscher 
 ])assed the flavs nf his boyhood, surrounded by loving, 
 well-to-do relatives, in the very gayest section of the 
 
 city. He was carefully trained, however, and his edu- 
 cation was guided along the lines best adapted for the 
 development of manly qualities as well as intellectual 
 ones. His education had just been completed, and he 
 was fitting himself for a life of activity in business in 
 his native city, when Sumter was fired on, and Presi- 
 dent Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers for the 
 defense of the National Government. Young Heck- 
 scher's blood was fired by the call, and. breaking away 
 from the blandishments of the extremely brilliant so- 
 cial circle in whicli, as a handsome young man, he was 
 a pronounced fa\iirite, he immediately offered himself 
 for enlistment. He served for two years under General 
 McClellan as First Lieutenant in the Twelfth United 
 States Infantry, received his baptism of fire in the ter- 
 rible days attending the battle of the Wilderness, and 
 was highly commended for "gallant conduct on the 
 field of battle." 
 
 Returning home to New York in a cloud of military 
 glnry. Lieutenant Heckscher was received joyfully and 
 with o])en arms liy the fashionable circles in which he 
 had been such a favorite before he went to the war.. 
 The fashionable world, or what is called Society, was 
 infinitely smaller and more exclusive in New York in 
 those days than it is at the present time, and was com- 
 posed almost entirely of old New York families, but 
 it made up in dash and go what it lacked in mere 
 numbers. 
 
 Mr. Heckscher for a time was engaged in business 
 pursuits in his younger manhood, but, there being no 
 real necessity for his devoting himself entirely to a 
 business career, he soon began to pay considerable at- 
 tention to the higher forms of gentlemanly sport. This 
 brought him into the most intimate association with 
 that lirilliant coterie of choice spirits headed by Messrs. 
 Tra\ers. Jerome and Belmont, who established racing 
 in America on a firm foundation, and whose associa- 
 tion therewith made it in those days respected and 
 an attractive object of interest to the very best people 
 in the country. Jerome Park's fashionable attendance 
 grew from year to year, and the quality of sport there 
 presented under the guidance of the founders named 
 abo\'e has ne^•er been surpassed. 
 
 Mr. Fleckscher was also one of the founders of the 
 Coney Island Jockey Club, of which he is now the 
 Vice-President, and to which, since Jerome Park has 
 passed away, he has transferred his principal interest 
 in the "sport of Kings." He has been unfailing in h\\ 
 efforts to further the best interests of the Coney Island 
 lockev Club, to add to the attractiveness of the cards 
 presented on its meeting days, and to constantly widen 
 its circle of friends in the fashionable world, thereby 
 
276 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 adding to its social prestige and tlie brilliancy of its 
 attendance. 
 
 When the foremost horse lovers of America began 
 to entertain the project of a winter exhibition for the 
 education of the public in the multifarious points of 
 interest alx)Ut the animal which the}- understood so 
 thoroughlj' and admired so much, Mr. Heckscher was 
 naturally looked to, to lend his influence and experience 
 in the formation of an organization. He entered 
 heartily into the project, and the now popular National 
 Horse Show Association was the result. This annual 
 exhibition has more than justified the hopes of its 
 founders, and no one worked harder, both as officer 
 and director, for the perfection of its organization and 
 for interesting the world of fashion in the yearly show 
 than its present Secretary, John G. Heckscher. The 
 annua! Horse Show has more than fully justified the 
 hopes of its organizers concerning the influence of its 
 A-early exhibition, and, moreover, it has benefited the 
 breeding of horses throughout the entire country, while 
 it has also been the model par excellence for the in- 
 numerable other horse shows that have sprung up 
 throughout the various parts of the country as a 
 result of the phenomenal success of the parent organi- 
 zation. 
 
 As a sportsman. Mr. Heckscher in his younger days 
 was interested in the big game of the Far West, and he 
 and parties of his friends went with the dashing cavalry 
 officer. General Phil Sheridan, and Buffalo Bill on sev- 
 eral of their now historic buffalo hunts. The wild 
 Indians were plentiful on the \\'estern prairies in those 
 days, and cavalry escorts were needed for the protec- 
 tion of the hunters. The fame of these hunts extended 
 
 to Europe, and they were afterward participated ir. 
 by many distinguished men from the British Isles and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. Heckscher has also been among the more fa- 
 mous of our wing shots, and won many a good pigeon 
 match from the foremost men with the gim in his day, 
 while the rod and reel also found in him an ardent 
 disciple. At the Tuxedo Club, with which he has been 
 associated since its ince])tion, there is a model of a 
 i86~pourid larijon that he killed in Florida waters, and 
 in the mn at I'ort Tampa is presented a spirited sketch 
 of this feat of strength and skill. 
 
 7\Ir. Heckscher has been an enthusiastic bon vivant 
 and clubman all his life. He is a member of the Jockey 
 Club, the New York Yacht Club, the South Side 
 Sportsmen's Club, and the Metropolitan, Union, 
 Racquet and Army and Navy clubs, while he also be- 
 longs to the military Order of the Legion. He is the 
 possessor of a handsome library, a feature of which is 
 its many rare works on sporting matters. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Heckscher married Cornelia T-awrence 
 Whitney, a descendant of Henry Whitney, a man asso- 
 ciated with the Colonial history of Connecticut, having 
 settled in Norwalk in 1673. After her death he mar- 
 ried, in 1892, Mary Travers, daughter of William R. 
 Travers, the Ijanker and wit. She died six years later, 
 and Mv. Heckscher remained a widower several years. 
 Recently he contracted a third marriage with Mrs. 
 Virginia Otis, of New York. 
 
 Mr. Heckscher has two daug'htcrs by his first wife. 
 One is the wife of George Brinton McClellan, Mayor 
 of New York City, and the other is Mrs. Egerton L. 
 Winthrop, Jr. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 277 
 
 OSWALD N. JACOBY 
 
 Oswald N. Jacoby, counselor at law, was born in 
 the city of New York on December 24, 1870. He is 
 descended from a German family, his father having 
 come to this country a short time subsequent to the 
 German revolution of 1848. This stirring period in 
 the history of Germany had inspired the elder Jacoby 
 to seek in the Xew World that freedom of opinion 
 which the efforts of the revolutionists had failed to 
 secure in his nati\-e land. He was possessed of con- 
 siderable means, and in a few years after his arrival 
 in New York he had established the importing and pub- 
 lishing house of Jacoby & Zeller, at 104 and 106 Will- 
 iam Street, which continued to do a prosperous busi- 
 ness at the same locality for nearly fifty years. Mr. 
 Jacoby was married to Eve Jackson, the daughter of an 
 old New Yorker of prominence. 
 
 Oswald N. Jacoby, the son, began his educational 
 career in the private school of Gibbons and Beach, and 
 when fourteen years of age passed his entrance exam- 
 inations for the academic department of Columbia Uni- 
 versity, but did not enter upon his college course until 
 a year and a half later, as a member of the class of 
 ]8qo. \\'hile in cnllcge be attained considerable prom- 
 inence, both as a student and as a member of various 
 
 college societies. In a number of these he held minor 
 offices during the first three years of his course, and 
 in his senior year he was President both of the Chess 
 Club and (if the Shakespeare Society, then the largest 
 and most important literary society at Columbia. In 
 his junior year he won the scholarship in English liter- 
 ature, and was graduated with the highest honors in 
 all his studies. 
 
 For the two years immediately following his gradu- 
 ation Mr. Jacoby, obeying the earnest wishes of his 
 father and sacrificing his personal inclinations, was 
 enii)loyed in his father's Inisiness, it being the evident 
 intention of the parent to make him his successor. 
 This, however, did not coincide with the views of the 
 son, as a mercantile life was not at all to his liking. 
 His tastes and inclinations were in an entirely different 
 direction : and. two years after leaving college, he took 
 up the study of law, entering the New York Law 
 School for that purpose. Here he found himself in 
 a congenial element, and he pursued his studies with 
 an ardor and a satisfaction that portended good re- 
 sults. He was graduated in the class of 1894. At the 
 Law School he won the first prize at his graduation, 
 defeating the best students in a class containing over 
 two hundred members. The subject of the essay writ- 
 ten by Mr. Jacoby as part of the special work demanded 
 of contestants was the "Doctrine of Latent Equities 
 as Afifecting the Rights of Assignees." one of the most 
 abstruse branches of the law, and calculated to tax to 
 the uttermost the abilities of the nrofoundest legal 
 scholars. Despite this fact, the subject was given to 
 the students, and the article submitted by Mr. Jacoby 
 was so profound in its learning, and yet so lucid, as to 
 attract general attention and commendation from the 
 bar, and was published in the leading portion of a legal 
 magazine. The flattering comments elicited thus early 
 in his career ha\'e been well sustained by the achieve- 
 ments of his later life. He lost no time after his grad- 
 uation in securing his admission to the bar, and imme- 
 diately commenced the active practice of his profession 
 as brief clerk and then as managing clerk in a leading 
 law ofiiice. It is in such a position as this that the youth- 
 ful attorney acquires the experience in the rudiments 
 of practice and in the preparation of cases for presenta- 
 tion to the courts which becomes so valuable to him 
 in his later practice. Young Jacoby did not fail to 
 appreciate this fact, and to avail himself of the oppor- 
 tmiity presented to him to the fullest extent. He rap- 
 idly became proficient in all the details of the of^ce 
 work, and was held in the highest estimation by his 
 employers. He had no intention, ho\ve\'er, of remain- 
 ing- in a subordinate position for any considerable 
 
278 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 length of time; in fact, no longer than was necessary made a specialty of fire insurance law. In all his inter- 
 
 for him to become familiar with the practices of the course with his fellow -memliers of the bar he has by 
 
 various courts: and accordingly, we soon find him en- his natural and uniform courtesy and kindness made 
 
 tering the field of legal competition on his own account, himself deservedly popular, and his thorough knowl- 
 
 His efforts, even at a comparatively early stage of his edge of the law, the careful preparation of his cases 
 
 career, were attended with a considerable degree of and the dignified and able manner in which they are 
 
 success. He engaged in general practice, but his great- presented have \\'n\ fi>r him an enviable pnsition before 
 
 est reputation and prominence were attained on account the courts. 
 
 of his skill in the trial of jury cases. He is possessed ]\[r. Jacnby has. ever since he first began his profes- 
 
 of great skill and adroitness in the examination and sional career, been a very laisy man. and has had but 
 
 cross-examination of witnesses, and in presenting his little time to devote to the social requirements of club 
 
 case to the jury in the most fa\-orabIe aspect for his life: hence we do not find his name enrolled among 
 
 client he has few equals at the New York bar. This many such memberships. He is, however, a member 
 
 fact is so well recognized by the legal fraternity that of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, of the Bar Association, 
 
 he is freciuently called in council by its members in and of the Alumni Association of Columbia Univer- 
 
 cases of unusual importance. Such tributes to a lawyer sity. He is in receipt of a large and increasing income 
 
 are testimonials of the highest character as to his from his practice, and his enjoyments are found for 
 
 standing and ability in his profession. But while his the most part in the domestic circle. Six years ago he 
 
 commanding position as a jury lawyer are thus at- married -Sliss Edith Sondheim, daughter of the late 
 
 tested, he enjoys at the same time a large and lucrative Simon N. Sondheim. of Brooklyn, and he resides on 
 
 practice as a general practitioner, in the branch gen- the west side of the city, in the neighborhood of River- 
 
 erally designated as commercial, and he has, besides, side Drive. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 279 
 
 mi ^^ 
 
 LLOYD PHOENLX. 
 
 Lloyd Phoenix, so well and so favorably known 
 in New York society, is an ex-officer of the United 
 States Navy. Born in New York City, he entered the 
 Naval Academy at Annapolis in the year of the break- 
 ing out of the Civil ^A'ar, and, like many others of that 
 period in the history of the Academy, he was called 
 into active service long before the completion of his 
 studies. The exigencies of the Government required 
 that cadets at the Academy should be placed on board 
 ship at the earliest practicable moment, and hence we 
 find yotmg Phoenix serving as a Lieutenant a little 
 more than a year after his entry into the navy. He 
 was just in time to take part in the memorable naval 
 battle in Plampton Roads, precipitated by the attack 
 of the Confederate ram Merrimac on the United States 
 fleet lying there, and which but for the timely arrival 
 of the little iron-clad Monitor, the first of her type, 
 would have resulted most disastrously to the Union 
 Navy. He bore no conspicuous part in this celebrated 
 battle, but it sufficed very well as an introduction into 
 the stern realities of war, and for the ensuing three 
 years Lieutenant Phoenix was engaged in many con- 
 tests which called for the best qualities of the sailor. 
 So lonsf as he was in active service, with the stimulus 
 
 I of having to face an actual foe, he was well content 
 and found a keen enjoyment in the discharge of his 
 duties. But after the war came the beginning of those 
 doldrums which cost the navy nianv officers of fine 
 prominence, such as Nicholson Kane, O. H. P. Bel- 
 mont, Jacob Miller, Butler Duncan and others. So 
 Lieutenant Phoenix resigned his commission, with 
 many others, but not the love he had acquired fur the 
 sea, for if ever a man was by nature and habit wedded 
 to the ocean, such a one was Lieutenant Phoenix. It 
 has been uell said that the New York Yacht Club has 
 ' always been the refuge, the safety-valve, of former 
 ; naval officers who have left the service because they 
 ; found no attractions in a career which gave so little 
 promise in the way of promotion. Thus it was that 
 Mr. Phoenix, soon after his resignation, sought and 
 obtained membership in this famous club. Possessed 
 i)f anii)le means, he has remained an active member 
 C(intinu(jusly to the present time, a pattern, an example 
 of everything a true yachtsman should be in the way 
 of being able to command his own vessel and of doing 
 it; of making long voyages and deep-sea cruises, of 
 maintaining a generous hospitality on board, and of not 
 making a boast of his accomplishments when he is on 
 shore. It was under the impetus of Mr. Phoenix's 
 example that Corinthian yacht racing' was introduced, 
 that so many members of the New Y^ork Yacht Club 
 studied seamanship and navigation, and that the esprit 
 de corps of the club was changed from a very amateur- 
 ish pride in owning a yacht to a wholesome ambition 
 to become an accomplished sailorman. Mr. Phoenix 
 has never shown any ambition to be considered a racing- 
 man, but always a 3'achtsman. To him a boat that can- 
 not go to sea and weather a heavy gale is a hollow 
 mockery, a mere bit of upholstery that ought to be 
 kept away from the damaging effects of water. His 
 ideal and theories of yachting were fairly reproduced 
 in the old schooner Intrepid, which was one of the 
 stanchest and most seaworthy boats ever constructed. 
 These cjualities once thoroughly assured, he is no as- 
 cetic to deny himself all the comforts and luxuries 
 obtainable; on the contrary, his tastes run to the artistic 
 and the beautiful. So the main cabin on the old In- 
 trepid was a gem in the way of quarters, and many a 
 fine lady's boudoir was less elegantly and temptingly 
 equipped. 
 
 One thing that Mr. Phoenix discovered in knocking 
 about half the world oxev in his gallant schooner was 
 that navigation by sail alone was not always reliable 
 and that it often becomes extremely tedious, especially 
 when one had important engagements to keep in va- 
 rious ports and fair eyes were looking over calm seas 
 
28o MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 for tlie sailing craft that could not get out of her own effort lias not so far been attended with any satisfac- 
 
 way. These occasions were conducive to reflective tory results. His manner to women is most deferential 
 
 mootls. He would never yield for a moment to the and courtl}-, and his generosity to the sex has been 
 
 craze for big steam yachts, but modern naval architec- unbounded. 
 
 ture had contriveil .some cunning devices that pre- When not cruising, Mr. Phoenix is very fond of 
 
 vented a yacht from being left entirely to the mercy of driving fast horses, of which he is the owner of several 
 
 fickle winds. This device is comprehensively embraced fine specimens, and he is often seen driving one of these 
 
 in the term auxiliary power. The utility of such a con- on the Speedway. He is a great reader in the higher 
 
 trivance in certain emergencies was manifest. And branches of literature, and is the possessor of a fine 
 
 so it came about that, with the greatest care and fore- liljrary in his residence, and has also a splendid collec- 
 
 thought and scientific knowledge and tried experience, tion of books on his yacht. He is a connoisseur in art, 
 
 a new Intrepid was designed and put on the ways — a and has a valuable collection of paintings, bric-a-brac, 
 
 much longer, larger vessel, rigged as a three-masted etc. Possessed of ample means to gratify his tastes 
 
 schooner, with a most business-like complement of sails, ' in this regard, and with a desire to add to his collec- 
 
 wliich were expected to do their work as on the old , tion, it is not surprising that his many trips to the 
 
 Intrepid, but down below was placed one of those little European capitals should have resulted in his procuring 
 
 engines, and under the tapering stern was hung the , many valuable additions. 
 
 ])owerful little screw : and lo ! the dead calms were no It goes without saying that Mr. Phoenix is an ardent 
 
 more to be dreaded, and no more disappointments on clubman. He has a dozen clubs to choose from, of 
 
 .shore. To those who know Mr. Phoenix well it need which the Union, the Knickerbocker, the University, 
 
 not be told that the new motive power is auxiliary in the Metropolitan and the New York Yacht see him 
 
 fact as well as in name, for it is never called upon ex- most often, and his war record makes him a prominent 
 
 cept in time of emergency. As this noted skipper re- member of the Loyal Legion. 
 
 marked on one occasion, it is like a telephone, or a It was while on one of his cruises that Mr. Phoenix 
 
 burglar alarm, or a fire alarm in your house — you may was enabled to render valuable assistance in rescuing 
 
 seldom need it. but when yiiu d.o you need it badly. the oflicers and crew f)f the wrecked United States 
 
 Mr. Phoenix has remained a bachelor, though he is man-of-war Kearsarge, which had been driven on a 
 
 h\ no means averse to the society of the gentler sex. reef in the West Indies during a storm and had become 
 
 His celibacy has been for long a vexed problem, and a total wreck. For fliis humane act he was thanked by 
 
 though some there are who have tried to solve it, the the aullinrilics. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 281 
 
 F. AUGUSTUS HEINZE 
 
 F. Augustus Heinze, although only thirty-seven 
 years of age, has passed through some of the most 
 remarkable experiences in the annals of American min- 
 ing, and no chapter in the fascinating stoiy of "The 
 Count of Monte Cristo," from the gifted pen of 
 Dumas, or the immortal tales of "The Arabian 
 Nights," contains anything more dramatically interest- 
 ing than the actual facts of this young man's history. 
 
 He was born in Brooklyn in 1869, and was educated 
 in the schools of that city, afterward taking a course in 
 the Columbia College School of Mines, from which 
 he was graduated as a mining engineer. He also took 
 a course in the best scientific schools of Germany, be- 
 fore putting his theoretic and academic training and 
 attainments to practical test in the mining camp. 
 
 In 1890 Mr. Heinze went West, seeking his first 
 business opening in life, and settled in Butte, Mont. 
 Here he found employment with the Boston and Mon- 
 tana Copper Company as a mining engineer, and 
 quickly acquired a thorough practical knowledge of the 
 mining and smelting business. Two years later he saw 
 an opportunity to start a mining- enterprise of his own, 
 and, although the Standard Oil and other monopolists 
 apparently had the copper-producing fields entirely in 
 
 their control, he was confident that his practical knowl- 
 edge as a mining engineer would enable him to offer 
 them keen competition. His first operations were con- 
 fined to mining under leases and concentrating ores so 
 produced in a mill at Meaderville. Later he purchased 
 this mill, and shortly afterward arranged to construct 
 his own smelter. On October 27, 1892, construction 
 was begun, and inside of sixty-eight days the works 
 produced copper matter. His success now assured, 
 capital was readily secured, and the Montana Ore Pur- 
 chasing Company was incorporated in 1893, when F. 
 Augustus Heinze was only twenty-four years of age. 
 This company immediately set the pace for its com- 
 petitors, for it became one of the most progressive and 
 enterprising in the mining regions and among the first 
 to adopt improvements in machinery and mining meth- 
 ods. In 1895, althnugh (uily two years old, Heinze's 
 company paid thirty-two per cent, in dividends on a 
 million dollars of capitalization, and employed sixteen 
 million pounds of copper and six hundred and fifty 
 otmces of silver. Millions of dollars were paid in divi- 
 dends in a few years, the capital stock was greatly in- 
 creased, more than five million dollars were expended 
 for additional mining- properties and improvements, 
 until the company owned one of the most valuable cop- 
 per mines in the world, including both the east and 
 west extensions of the Anaconda lode, and Heinze's 
 interests in mining claims extended over thirty miles. 
 When the claims around Butte got so thick and close 
 to each other that the operators began to clash, Eastern 
 capital interested in the mines and Western operators 
 conceived a plan of amalgamation, and the Copper 
 Trust was formed, under the name of the Amalga- 
 mated Copper Company. The Trust cut the wages of 
 the miners almost fifty per cent, and rearranged and 
 increased their hours of labor. The miners of the 
 whole State were aroused and declared war against the 
 trust and the Standard Oil interests. Heinze mean- 
 while not only obtained the good will of his men by 
 refusing to participate in labor wars, but declared that 
 the miners' request for an eight-hour day was "a rea- 
 sonable one," and granted it to them without any re- 
 duction whatever in wages. Tabulated statements of 
 the workings of the mines later on showed that Mr. 
 Heinze knew what he was about, for his men, working 
 eight hours a day. produced ten per cent, more than 
 the ten-hour shifts had done. 
 
 ! Mr. Heinze's business opponents, finding his prac- 
 ' tical knowledge of mining and his skill in operation too 
 ' great to he beaten down, undertook to curb his opera- 
 tions by litigation in the courts ; but, with rare fore- 
 sight, he had expected this and had prepared for it 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 amply, and most of the suits were decided in his favor. 
 One of the most interesting of tliese lawsuits was that 
 over the Minnie Healy Mine, which he leased from the 
 Daly people, who thought they were getting rid of a 
 worthless piece of property. A month later Heinze 
 had developed the Minnie Healy into one of the great- 
 est and most productive copper mines in the world. 
 Daly and his associates were amazed, and immediately 
 started legal proceedings to annul the transfer; but 
 Heinze defied his opponents, stuck to the mine, and it 
 was soon worth ten million dollars. He had secured 
 it for fifty-four thousand dollars. 
 
 Mr. Heinze has been active in other localities than 
 Montana, erecting in 1895 large smelting works at 
 Trail. British Columliia, and connecting the same with 
 Rossland by the first railroad entering that town. He 
 also connected Trail with Robson by a railway which 
 coiuprises part of the Columbia and Western Railway 
 Company. The erection of his smelting works at Trail 
 and the contract which he made with the Le Roi Min- 
 ing Company for smelting ore made possible the devel- 
 opment of both the Le Roi Mine and the Rossland 
 district. These enterprises were so important and con- 
 tained such potential possibilities that the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway Company took alarm at the American's 
 enterprising activity,- and purchased his entire interest 
 in British Columbia, in i8g8. 
 
 The details of the innumerable cases which Mr. 
 Heinze has been called on to defend in court, in the 
 cour.se of his fight against the Copper Trust, would fill 
 volumes. The war has gone on for ten years, aiid he 
 has proved a most resourceful and .skillful combatant, 
 has won victory after victory over his opponents, and 
 in the meantime has gone on adding to riches almost 
 beyond the dreams of avarice, and becoming more opti- 
 mistic, more aggressive, and more confident that his 
 ability, intellect and youth, together with the enormous 
 wealth he has acquired, will ultimately raise him to a 
 
 position of greater prominence than has heretofore 
 been attaineil liy any other man in the State of Mon- 
 tana. 
 
 Mr. Heinze has had two highly efficient coadjutors 
 in his almost interminable litigation with the Standard 
 Oil and other monopolistic interests in Montana — his 
 brother, Arthur P. Heinze. of Xew York, who has 
 made an especial study of the la\\s pertaining to min- 
 ing and is now looked upon as an e.xpert on this sub- 
 ject, and Stanley Gifford, who as treasurer of Heinze's 
 Montana Ore Purchasing Company proved himself one 
 of the cleverest and most astute of Eastern financiers. 
 
 When in the East Mr. Heinze makes his home with 
 his mother, Airs. Otto Heinze, at 60 Pierrepont Street, 
 Brooklyn, as lie is still a bachelor. In private life he 
 is a delightful companion, and, notwithstanding his 
 ad\enturous career, he has lost none of his early polish 
 in the refinements of life. He is suave, courteous and 
 self-contained in his intercourse with all, at the same 
 time maintaining a truly democratic bearing toward 
 his fellows. He is a tluent writer, and has used his 
 pen with great success in the political contests that have 
 formed so picturesque a feature of the battle going on 
 in Montana for the enormous treasure buried in its 
 soil. He can write a good campaign song, and sing it 
 afterward in a way to arouse the spirits of the most 
 lethargic, or he can go on the stump and talk to the 
 voters and win them as readily as the m:_ist experienced 
 of spellbinders. 
 
 Still young", richly endowed by nature, and with 
 am])lc wealth to finance even the most daring of proj- 
 ects, no one can tell to what heights of prominence, in- 
 dustrial or political. F. .\ugiistus Heinze will rise in 
 die future. The first thirty-seven years of his life have 
 certainly contained exceedingly picturesque and start- 
 lingly dramatic incidents which it would be hard to 
 match in that most interesting of all studies — the story 
 of a real, live, self-made American man. 
 
MRS' OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 283 
 
 REV. PERCY STICKNEY GRANT 
 
 Percy Stickney Grant, rector of the Church of 
 the Ascension (Episcopal), at Fiftli Avenue and Tenth 
 Street, is one of the most modern-minded men in the 
 pulpit of the present day. His seven years' experience 
 among the cotton operatives of Fall River, Mass., be- 
 fore coming to Ascension, gave him the social point 
 of A'iew whereby only could he be enabled to meet the 
 many-sided phases of the work of the Fifth Avenue 
 church, with its broad outlying mission field lying 
 around the Chapel of the Comforter, in Horatio Street. 
 
 Mr. Grant was born in Boston, May 13, i860, and is 
 the son of Stephen Mason and Anna Stickney Grant 
 He was educated in the Boston public schools and at 
 the Roxhury Latin School, and was graduated from 
 Har^-ard in 1883. Having decided to enter the minis- 
 try, he entered the Episcopal Theological School at 
 Cambridge, and was graduated from that institution 
 in 1886. Immediately after his graduation he accepted 
 a call as assistant rector of the Church of the Ascension 
 at Fall River. Here he soon became attracted by the 
 problem presented by the religious and social needs of 
 the cotton operati\es in that great manufacturing city, 
 and he raised the funds and built the Chapel of St. 
 Mark, with a view to putting his views into practical 
 
 operation. He became the rector of the chapel, and 
 labored earnestly and successfully among these people 
 until 1893. During that period he became prominent 
 in Fall River affairs, serving on school committees and 
 furthering various philanthropic and educational 
 \\-orks. 
 
 When Dr. Winchester Donald left the pulpit of the 
 New York Ascension Church vacant by accepting the 
 call to Trinity Church in Boston, it was no doubt, in 
 a certain sense, a bold step for the vestry of the Church 
 of the Ascension to call a young minister from an 
 humble chapel in a New England manufacturing town 
 to take his i)lace ; Imt the situation of the church, so 
 far downtown, with its proximity to a vast population 
 which needed the very sort of assistance and guidance 
 that Mr. Grant was giving to the operatives of Fall 
 River, suggested the selection of the man. A rector 
 with a genius for organization was needed, and the 
 sequel proved that they made no mistake in their choice. 
 Mr. Grant's contact with men of all classes is as little 
 priestly as is ])()ssible to conceive on the part nf a man 
 whose spiritual relation is as direct, intimate and \ital 
 as that of any cure of souls of an earlier day. The 
 object of all the work done under his direction is con- 
 trolled by the spirit of the man himself, radiating reme- 
 dial love and brotherliness upon the most humble as 
 well as those not blessed with humility. During the 
 thirteen years since he was called to succeed Dr. Donald 
 Ascension Church has grown greatly in membership, 
 and has always a large congregation from the floating 
 population in this congested quarter of the city. When 
 he assumed the charge he made it a condition precedent 
 that the pews should be free. This was a rather start- 
 ling proposition to some of the vestrymen, when they 
 considered that its acceptance involved the surrender- 
 ing of se^'enteen thousand dollars in pew rents an- 
 nually ; Ixit they finally yielded, and seats in the church 
 have been free ever since. The result of this change 
 was most encouraging, the increase in the attendance 
 being remarkable. Mr. Grant is an organizer from the 
 ground up. and is not balked at the word institutional. 
 His principle of action is home extension, and the great 
 aim of his work is to remedy the defective conditions 
 of the home life in the closely crowded sections of the 
 city. In the furtherance of this work he has been 
 greatly aided by an endowment secured by his own 
 efforts. It has been remarked of him that he has a 
 most successful faculty of connecting the hearts and 
 the pocketbooks of his wealthy parishioners for use 
 and ser\-ice, and that he has an evident respect for the 
 commodity of fortune as a means to good ends in all 
 church work. 
 
284 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 We are now to speak of Mr. Grant's successful ef- 
 forts in parish work. His work in Fall River was 
 among cotton-mill operatives, wlu) were mostly Lan- 
 cashire Eno-Jish, and here he gained the knowledge and 
 formulated the principles that were of such great value 
 in his future more extensive field. The Ascension 
 parish house is tlie center of the institutional w'ork. 
 Twenty-four separate organizations make use of its 
 rooms. It would be needless to name them all. They 
 are of a missionary, charitable, educational, social, in- 
 dustrial ruid atliletic character, including day nurseries, 
 frc.sli-air funds, parish visitors and pliysicians, kinder- 
 gartens, and classes in many things, from botany and 
 rhetoric to millinery and embroidering. St. Agnes' Day 
 Nursery is an attractive building in Charles Street 
 which has taken care of ten thousand children. The 
 Daisy Memorial Kindergarten of the Chapel of the 
 Comforter is an institution which is doing a remark- 
 able work among children of this section. The Chapel 
 of the Comforter was first located in Abingdon Square, 
 was removed to Greenwich Street, and was opened in 
 its present quarters in Jackson S(|uarc in 1898. The 
 weekly calendar of the chapel includes a ceaseless round 
 of meetings, classes and assemblies of one cheerful sort 
 or another. 
 
 There is probably no deeper student of literature and \ 
 science in the metropolitan puljjit than Mr. Grant. His 
 sympatliy with the advancement of thought in all its 
 branches is keen, direct and radically practical. He 
 has a strong sense of the .sunsliiny humor of life, con- 
 stantly controlled rmd guided by vital responsibility. 
 
 The tales that are told of him in his parish are not un- 
 like some of those related of Phillips Brooks in his 
 human and friendly relations with those most in need. 
 His literary qualities are of a high order, and they are 
 shown not only in his sermons but in his occasional 
 contributions to magazines. His utterances contain 
 a certain spice of audacity, which is all the more charm- 
 ing from the fact that his manner and bearing are the 
 reverse of audacious. He has recently contributed to 
 the literary world a book of poems, entitled "Ad Ma- 
 trem, and Other Poems," which has been favorably 
 reviewed Ijy tlie press. 
 
 Mr. Grant has gained an enxiable standing in New 
 York, and is high in the esteem of Bishop Potter. In 
 the winter of 1899-1900 he was honorary secretary and 
 chaplain to the Bishop in his trip around the world, and 
 on his return wrote several articles on the Pliilippine 
 Islands and the religious conditions in India. He also 
 delivered an address on the same subjects before the 
 People's Institute in Cooper Union. Among his pub- 
 lished papers are "Land Questions in the Philippines," 
 "Church ^Missions in Asia," "Marriage and Divorce." 
 and "Monologues of Robert Browning." 
 
 The Church of the .Xscension is attended by a notable 
 representation of the old and wealthy families of New 
 York, including such names as Howland. Taylor, Bel- 
 mont, Biddle. Fuller, Blagden, Bunker, Haines, Auer- 
 bach, Gawtry, Brown. Hard, and many others of e(|ual 
 note. It must be said in closing that at no period in 
 the history of the church lia^^e its prosperity and useful- 
 ness been at a higher standard. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEJV YORK 
 
 285 
 
 WILLIAM ALBI'RT WOODBURY 
 
 William Albert Woodbury, sociologist, \vas born 
 in the city of New York, April 17. 1866. His father, 
 A. A. Woodbury, was a physician, born in New Hamp- 
 shire, where he resided and practiced his profession 
 for many years. Dr. W^oodbury's mother was Marga- 
 ret Sproule before her marriage, and was born in Scot- 
 land. The Woodburys are of English descent, and 
 Dr. Woodbury traces his ancestry in America to 
 William Woodbury, who, with his brother, John 
 Woodbury, came to this country from England in 15 14 
 and settled in Rhode Island. William A. Woodbury 
 inherited the delicate physique of his father, and on 
 this account he was sent to the country by his parents 
 at an early age, where, by jutlicious exercise in the 
 open air and careful attention to his diet, he succeeded 
 in building up a comparatively robust constitution. The 
 habits then formed have remained with him in his ma- 
 turer years, and he spends a great deal of his time in 
 the open air. He attended several terms of the Maple- 
 wood public school, but most of his early education 
 was given him privately by the late Benjamin Chapin, 
 in whose family he lived during a greater part of his 
 youth. At the age of nineteen he entered the woolen 
 business in New York, on \Vorth Street, and here he 
 
 displayed the energy and business tact which have ever 
 been the chief characteristics of the Woodbury family. 
 He met with no inconsiderable success, but in 1890 he 
 found an opening that was more to his liking, and 
 which induced him to abandon the woolen business. In 
 that year he became associated with his cousin, John 
 N. Woodbury, and the John N. Woodbury Dermato- 
 logical Institute was founded. The neckless head trade- 
 mark of this institute has become known the world 
 over, and for many years it has done a remarkable 
 work in the treatment of all affections and blemishes 
 of the human skin. 
 
 I\Tr. Woodbury is a philanthropist of the eminently 
 liractical kind, and in his comparatively short career 
 has given liberally of his means in the cause of charity. 
 His experience in this direction led to the formation 
 of a unique organization for the relief of the deserving 
 unfortunate. He reflected that there were many busy 
 men who, while not having the time to listen to the 
 long and floleful hard-luck stories Avhich were daily 
 presented to tlicm, would nevertheless be willing to 
 afford relief if it could be done on some systematic and 
 practical basis. He presented his thoughts to some of 
 his business friends, and the result was the organiza- 
 tion a few years ago of a novel scheme. It consists of 
 a loan bureau in New York and a colony in New Jer- 
 sey. Twenty men were associated in the organization 
 of the bureau, and each member contributed one thou- 
 sand dollars as the basis of the enterprise. The object 
 of the association is to furnish relief in the shape of 
 loans of money in small sums at a nominal rate of in- 
 terest to eligible applicants, without security, on one 
 hand, and to furnish work and a home to those who 
 are really in need, on tlie other. To borrow money 
 from this institution, the only requisite, aside from 
 proving the actual need of the aid and evidencing an 
 honest intention of repaying it, was an acquaintance 
 with one of the score of men forming the association. 
 A card from this member to the manager of the bureau 
 placed the applicant in the way of receiving immediate 
 attention to his needs. Mr. Woodbury was the origi- 
 nator and inspirer of this novel institution, and says 
 that it is not by any means a charity, but was con- 
 ceived from motives of selfishness, simply to save the 
 time of himself and his associates. No applicant is to 
 consider himself or herself an object of charity, and 
 negotiations are all conducted on purely business lines. 
 The field of operations of the colony is on a large tract 
 of land near Caldwell, N. J., where work and main- 
 tenance have already been provided for many deserving 
 persons, many of whom have, by this timely aid, been 
 enabled to restore themselves to a self-supporting con- 
 
286 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IX XFAV YORK 
 
 dition. For the success of the enterprise all praise is 
 awarded to Mr. Woodbury by his associates. He has 
 been its President-Manager from the start. 
 
 Mr. Woodbury has never married, and on this sub- 
 ject he has at times displayed something- of a cynical 
 humor. This was notably the case on the occasion of 
 a private dinner at which he was a guest a year or so 
 ago, when, in a .spirit of badinage, he remarked to his 
 friend Joseph Kerr, the poet, that he would present a 
 thousand dollars to any married couple who would de- 
 clare and iirnvc to him that they were perfectly happy 
 in their niarrietl life. This remark was duly reported 
 in the ])ublic prints, and while for the most part it was 
 received in the same spirit of humor in which it was 
 conceived and uttered, there were those who viewed it 
 in a more serious and literal aspect, and these gave to 
 Mr. \\'oodbury the most exciting experience of his 
 life. He was flooded with communications from peo- 
 ])le in all conditions of life vigorously protesting 
 against his views on connubial felicity, and his remark 
 to a friend was that these protestants had furnished 
 him with sufficient fuel to supply his furnace for the 
 
 entire winter. He has expressed a decided determina- 
 tion not to encounter any such ordeal in the future. 
 He has, how e\-er, acquired the title of the champion of 
 bachelors by his efforts to convince the Legislatures of 
 several of the States that it would be unjust to tax 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Woodbury, besides being the President and ac- 
 tive manager of the Dermatological Institute, is Presi- 
 dent of the Woodbury Company, Limited; the Audi- 
 torium Company, the Oak Island Beach Association 
 and the Lauderdale Chemical Company. lie is Treas- 
 urer of the Cheltenham Press, the Facial Cultivating 
 Company, and a member of the Merchants and Manu- 
 facturers' Board of Trade. He is a member of the 
 New York Press Club, the Sphinx Club, the New York 
 Republican Club, the Chicago Athletic Association, the 
 Oak Island Yacht Club and the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association of New York. He is a Trustee and 
 member of tlie executix'e and finance committees of 
 St. Gregory's Free Hospital in New York, and was 
 one of the founders of St. John's Hospital of Long 
 Island City. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 287 
 
 CHARLES AUGUSTUS LEALK. M.D. 
 
 Charles Augustus Leale, pliysician, was Imni in 
 tlie city of New York, March 26, 1842, and is tlie son 
 of Captain W. P. and A. M. Leale. He matriculated 
 m medicine in ]86o. He was a private pupil of Dr. 
 F. H. Hamilton, a physician of great celebrity. He 
 daily attended the clinics of the hospitals of New York 
 City, where he gained great knowledge in his profes- 
 sion. Before completing his collegiate course he ac- 
 cepted an appointment as Medical Cadet in the United 
 States Army during the Civil War. He served a full 
 term in the hospitals and received an honorable dis- 
 charge. He returned to college, and was graduated 
 Doctor of Medicine February, 1865, from the Bellevue 
 Hospital Medical College, his inaugural thesis being 
 "Observations on Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis." He im- 
 mediately accepted an invitation to again enter the 
 United States service, and successfully passed an ex- 
 amination before the United States Army Medical 
 Board at Washington, and pending a vacancy in the 
 Medical Staff was appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon 
 U. S. A., and was assigned to duty as Surgeon-in- 
 Charge of the commissioned officers' ward at the United 
 States Army General Hospital, Armory Scjuare, Wash- 
 ington, D. C. Fie was commissioned an Assistant Sur- 
 geon, United States Volunteers, April 8,1865, andwasat 
 
 once made the executive officer of the largest and most 
 important army general hospital in the United States. 
 During the summer of 1865 he was Acting Surgeon- 
 in-Charge of the United States Army General Hos- 
 pital, Armory Square, Washington. Upon the final 
 closure of this hospital he was appointed Acting Sur- 
 geon-in-Chief of the hospitals at the northern defenses 
 of Washington, where the buildings were saturated 
 with the most septically virulent poisonous germs of 
 fevers, gunshot wounds, hospital gangrene and with 
 intense malarial surroundings. 
 
 i As showing the wide field of duty covered by Dr. 
 Leale while in the army, the following is taken from 
 the record : He was physician and surgeon to United 
 States Army pest-house and smallpox hospitals, wards 
 for wounded soldiers with hosi:)ital gangrene, tents for 
 soldiers with typhoid fever, wards of United States 
 Army general hospitals for gunshot wounds, examina- 
 tion of recruits for United States Army, examination 
 of soldiers for discharge from United States Army, 
 camp of over ten thousand Southern prisoners, Elmira, 
 N. Y. ; sick and wounded soldiers at their homes ; spe- 
 cial wards for gunshot wounds of the heart and lungs ; 
 Surgeon-in-Charge of ward of commissioned officers; 
 executive officer and afterward Acting Surgeon-in- 
 Charge of United States Army General Hospital, Ar- 
 mory Square, Washington, D. C. ; Surgeon-in-Charge 
 of special ward for tetanus at Washington; special 
 duty, by order United States Congress, to examine 
 alleged cruelty to escaping former slaves ; special duty 
 to investigate the origin and cause of cerebro-spinal 
 meningitis in the LTnited States Army; Surgeon in 
 charge of Presitlent Abraham Lincoln upon the occa- 
 sion of his assassination, was the means of pro- 
 longing his life for more than nine hours, remained 
 with him continuously, and held his right hand 
 at the time of his death; Surgeon-in-Chief of the 
 Ambulance Corps at the grand review of over 
 seventy thousand veterans, at the end of the war, 
 
 I in Washington. ]\Iay 24. 1865; physician at the close 
 of the war to dying soldiers liberated from Anderson- 
 ville and Libby prisons, too ill to reach their homes; 
 member Examining Board for commissioned officers of 
 the U^nited States Army. 
 
 j On January 4, 1866, Dr. Leale received the brevet 
 rank of Captain for "faithful services." His arduous 
 
 j duties told on his health, and in January, 1866, he was 
 profoundly ill. Fie received his honorable muster out 
 from the service on January 20, 1866, and immediately 
 afterward proceeded to Europe, where he took a post- 
 graduate course, and at the same time made a thorough 
 investigation of Asiatic cholera. 
 
288 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 The following is a list of the medical, scientific, hu- 
 mane, art and patriotic associations of which Dr. Leale 
 is a member : Fellow of the New York Academy of 
 Aledicine. Fellow of the New York State Medical Asso- 
 ciation, Fellow of the New York County Medical Asso- 
 ciation, member of the London International Medical 
 Congress, the Washington International Medical Con- 
 gress, the American Medical Association, the North- 
 western Medical and Surgical Society, the Pathological 
 Society, the Neurological Society, the Board of Mana- 
 gers of St. John's Guild, Seaside, Floating and City 
 Hospitals for Children, the United States Navy 
 League, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ameri- 
 can Museum of Natural History, the Medical Associa- 
 tion of the Greater City of New York, the Society of 
 r^Iedical Jurisprudence, the Linnsean Society, the Board 
 of Directors of the New York Institution for the In- 
 struction of the Deaf and Dumb. He is a comrade of 
 the Grand Army of the Republic and an original Com- 
 panion of the First Class of the Military Order of the 
 Loyal Legion of the United States. 
 
 Dr. Leale has contributed much gratuitous profes- 
 sional work in New York City, as will be shown by 
 this partial enumeration: Visiting Physician to the 
 homes of the poor stricken with Asiatic cholera during 
 the epidemic of 1866; Physician-in-Charge of class 
 for diseases of children. Northwestern Dispensary, 
 1866-71 ; Physician-in-Charge of class for diseases of 
 the heart and lungs. Central Dispensary, two years; 
 Visiting Physician, Hospital for Epileptics and Ner- 
 vous Diseases, three months ; Visiting Physician, Sea- 
 side Hospital for Sick Children, ten years: Visiting 
 
 Physician for Children's City Hospital of St. John's 
 Guild, five years : Visiting I'hysician, Floating Hospi- 
 tal for Sick Children, five years; organizer and Con- 
 sulting Physician to Aledical Board to visit during the 
 summer the poor of New York in their homes, four 
 months ; Consulting Physician to New York Institution 
 for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, ten years; 
 Consulting Physician to Children's Hospitals of St. 
 John's Guild, fifteen years; Consulting Physician to 
 Bellevue Hospital, ten years ; Consulting Physician to 
 President Garfield during his last illness. He was one 
 of the founders, organizers and officers of the Order of 
 .-Esculapius, 1864; chairman of the first meeting at the 
 organization of tlie Alunmi Association of Bellevue 
 Hospital Medical College ; delegate to the London In- 
 ternational Medical Congress, i88i ; member of Coun- 
 cil. International Medical Congress, Washington, 1887; 
 delegate to the American Medical Association, the New 
 York State JNledical Association and the New York 
 State Medical .Society: chairman of the Seaside Hospi- 
 tal Committee of St. John's ( iuild ; chairman of Build- 
 ing Committee of same. He has been president of 
 many medical and relief assi^ciations. 
 
 Dr. Leale married, in 1867, Miss Rebecca Medwin 
 Copcutt, of New York City. He has had a large pri- 
 vate practice among the nmst prominent and cultured 
 families of New York, and, in addition, has had under 
 his gratuitous professional care and supervision more 
 than five hundred thousand of the poor sick mothers 
 'and diseased children found by visiting physicians in 
 the abodes of misery of this city. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 289 
 
 lm9 
 
 HERMANN J. BOLDT, M.D. 
 
 Hermann Boldt, Professor of Gynecology in the 
 New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hos- 
 pital of New York, and an inventor of many gyneco- 
 logical instruments, was born June 24, 1856, at Neuen- 
 tenipel, near Berlin, Germany, on the estate of his 
 father, who was an agriculturist of considerable 
 prominence. Animated by the love of free institutions 
 which inspires so many of his race, the elder Boldt de- 
 termined to make his home in a country where the air 
 of freedom was a little freer than in his native land, and 
 he emigrated to this country when his son was but a 
 mere child. The youth at the proper age was sent to 
 the public schools, and the instruction he received there 
 was supplemented by that which was imparted by pri- 
 vate tutors, it being the parent's desire to give to his 
 son the best possible education which his means would 
 permit of. His advancement in all of his studies was 
 rapid and thorough, and at an early age he had passed 
 through the primary branches and entered the high 
 school, from which he was graduated in regular course. 
 He had early developed a strong admiration for the 
 medical profession, and it was with a view to even- 
 tually entering this field of science that he became a 
 
 student of pharmacy soon after leaving school. The 
 study possessed a peculiar charm for him, and he made 
 speedy progress in mastering the knowledge and de- 
 tails necessary to his graduation as a thoroughly 
 equipped pharmacist. But this was only the first step 
 in the career which he had marked out for himself. He 
 realized, as have so many of our eminent men in the 
 medical profession, that there is no better foundation 
 upon which to build a thorough and practical knowl- 
 edge of pharmacy, and hence we find him halting in 
 his career long enough to put into actual practice the 
 knowledge he had gained. Obtaining without diffi- 
 culty employment in one of the leading drug stores of 
 the city, he remained there for some time, in the mean- 
 time beginning the foundation work of his college 
 course. While still in the pharmacy he began a course 
 of study, and in due time entered the medical depart- 
 ment of the University of New York. His preliminary 
 work he found to be of great service in advancing him 
 in his studies, and he was graduated with high honors 
 in the class of 1S79, when he was twenty-three years 
 of age. So profound was the impression which his 
 abilities made upon the faculty that upon his gradua- 
 tion he was offered the position of assistant to Pro- 
 fessor Pallen, one of the leading teachers in the uni- 
 versity. This distinct recognition of his attainments 
 was highly appreciated, and he continued to fill the 
 responsible position for some time, and until he was 
 ready to enter upon his regular practice. While he 
 was associated with Professor Pallen he laid more 
 broadly and deeply the foundations of the edifice which 
 was to assume such stately proportions in the years to 
 come. When he became confident that the time had 
 arrived for him to enter upon his regular practice, he 
 did so, and'in a few years he had attained an enviable 
 reputation as a practitioner in one of the most refined 
 and prosperous sections of the city. Dr. Boldt con- 
 tinued in all branches of his profession for about fif- 
 teen years, when, after much thought and deliberation, 
 he determined to abandon his general practice 
 and to henceforth devote himself entirely and 
 exclusivel\- to the gynecological branch of his 
 l)riifession. In his observations in his fifteen 
 }-ears of experience he had become more and more 
 impressed with the idea that he could accomplish 
 great good by making this field a specialty. He ac- 
 cordingly abandoned as rapidly as practicable the lucra- 
 tive practice which he had built up in the general 
 branches of his profession and entered the exclusive 
 field. So great was his energy and so profound his 
 study and research that in a few years his influence was 
 profoundly felt in the community. His studies and 
 
290 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 investigations led to some reniarkaljle results. Dr. 
 Boldt was the first physician known to investigate and 
 determine the physiological action of cocaine, and he 
 was among the first to remove fibromyomatous uteri 
 in toto, and was among the strongest advocates of 
 vaginal hysterectoni}-. He has in\-ented a large num- 
 ber of important instrimients known in surgery, 
 and many of these are exclusively for gynecologi- 
 cal operations. He is also the in\entc>r of an operating 
 table for abdominal surgery, which is now in almost 
 universal use, and which received a medal at the Paris 
 Universal E.xposition. His methotl of treatment of 
 abdominal surgical cases is likely to cause a decided 
 change in the methods of treatment heretofore in 
 vogue. In fact, those who have closely followed his 
 work and watched the patient treated in the way advo- 
 cated by Dr. Boldt have begun to follow in his foot- 
 steps. By his method of treatment patients, after oper- 
 ation, are not in any way restricted in diet or in move- 
 ments, being permitted to leave their bed and walk 
 about, unless there is a special contraindication within 
 twenty-four hours after almost any abdominal opera- 
 tion, and it is claimed for this treatment that the pa- 
 tients are in better condition after the end of two or 
 three weeks than by the contrary treatment, and, fur- 
 ther, that the prognosis is more favorable liy the new 
 treatment. 
 
 Dr. Boldt has done as much or more g\'necolo^ical sur- 
 gery, for his years, than any contemporary surgeon. 
 He spends three months of his life abroad almost every 
 year, visiting the European hospitals and eminent col- 
 leagues, and he has thus become familiar with the 
 methods of nearly every gynecological institution and 
 individual prominent in the world. He is the author 
 of many important papers. " One of these, on "Salpin- 
 
 gitis," is quoted by most authorities of the day. In 
 another, "The Treatment of Suppurative Disease of 
 the Uterine Appendages," he demonstrated the fact, 
 that has since been universally accepted, that idiopathic 
 rupture is no very rare occurrence. Among his other 
 writings are "The Advantage of Doing Intermediate 
 Trachelorrhai)hy," "Cardiac Neurosis Due to Uterine 
 Displacement," "Histology of the Uterine Mucosa," 
 "Exfoliative Cystitis," "The Manual Treatment of 
 Pelvic Diseases," "The Treatment of Posterior Dis- 
 placement of the Uterus," "The Treatment of Inoper- 
 able Cancer of the Uterus," and several other articles 
 of importance. 
 
 Dr. Boldt has risen rapidly to great distinction in his 
 profession, and he is justly entitled to this well-earned 
 reputation. His powers of endurance, his indomitable 
 will-power, that knows no obstacles, and his wonderful 
 working capacity have been observed among his col- 
 leagues in the profession. He is a man who is gen- 
 erous and sincere in his attachments, a charming and 
 interesting friend to those who have the good fortune 
 to know him intimately. As already indicated, he is 
 idling the responsible chair of Professor of Gynecology 
 at the New York Post-Graduate School and Hospital, 
 and is also Gynecologist to the German Poliklinik and 
 St. Mark's Hospital. He is also Consulting Gynecolo- 
 gist to Beth-Israel Hospital and St. Vincent's Hospital. 
 He was formerly chairman of the section of the New 
 York Academy of Medicine, which is devoted to his 
 specialty, and ex-President of the New York Obstetri- 
 cal Society and of the German Medical Society, and 
 a member of the American Gynecological, the British 
 Gynecological, the International Gynecological, the 
 New York Pathological and the Academy of Medi- 
 cine, the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Society. 
 
MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK 
 
 291 
 
 COMMODORE S. NICHOLSON KANE 
 
 S. Nicholson Kane, ex-officer of the United States 
 Na\y, ex-Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, 
 was born in the city of New York. He comes of a 
 distinguished ancestrj^ whose names and deeds would 
 make many pages of interesting reading, and which, 
 indeed, have in very many instances been already re- 
 corded. A reference to the progenitors of the family 
 in Ireland will be of interest here. Up to the time, 
 under Queen Elizabeth and her success(_n-s. when the 
 native families were deprived of their lands, what is 
 now County Londonderry and part of County Antrim, 
 Ireland, was known as the O'Kanes' country', and was 
 held by the ancient noble family of that name. From 
 this possession the Kane family distinguished in Amer- 
 ican records derives its origin. Their ancestry is 
 traced from E\-anne O'Kane. whose son. Bernard, mar- 
 ried Martha O'Hara. daughter of Captain O'Hara and 
 granddaughter of O'Neil of Shane's Castle. County 
 Antrim. Their eldest son, John OT<ane, bom in 1734, 
 came to America in 1752. He appears from concur- 
 rent history to have been a man of more tlian usual 
 prominence among his-contempnraries. and his enter- 
 prising spirit was manifested in his embarking in a 
 new career in the New World. He purchased an estate 
 
 in Dutchess County, this State, which was of quite pre- 
 tentious proportions, and which he named, with true 
 Irish instinct, Sharyvogue. Upon his settlement in 
 America, for some reason which the historian does not 
 explain, but which was undoubtedly entirely honorable, 
 he dropped the prefix from his name and was there- 
 after known as John Kane. He had been settled on 
 his estate for many years, and was in highly prosperous 
 circumstances, when the trouble arose between the Col- 
 onies and the mother country. Kane was a staunch 
 loyalist, as indeed were the other immediate members 
 of his family, one of his brothers being an officer in the 
 British Army, fighting valiantly for "King and coun- 
 try." Jiilm Kane's adherence to the crown brought 
 upon him the fate that was the portion of all those who 
 opposed the cause of the patriots and who were so un- 
 fortunate as to be outside the pale of protection af- 
 forded by the British Army. His estate was included 
 in the confiscation directed against all those who sup- 
 ported the King, and after suffering this loss he re- 
 turned to Ireland at the conclusion of the Revolution- 
 ary struggle, but leaving a number of his descendants, 
 whose names have become distinguished in the annals 
 of the republic. John Kane married, not long after 
 his arri\al in America, Sybil Kent, who was the daugh- 
 ter of the Rev. Elisha Kent, a graduate of Yale 
 in 1729. This eminent divine filled several pulpits in 
 Putnam County. New York, and elsewhere. His wife, 
 Abigail, was the daughter of the Rev. Joseph Morse, 
 of Derby, Conn., who was graduated from Yale in 
 1699, being one of the first five to receive an honorary 
 degree from that institution. He was descended from 
 John Moss, one of the founders of New Haven and a 
 representative in the early Connecticut Legislature. 
 
 The children of John and Sybil (Kent) Kane were 
 six in number. Their eldest son, John Kane, was a 
 famous New York merchant, and his sons were J. 
 Granville Kane, long the secretary of the Union Club. 
 The second son. Elisha Kane, married Alida, daughter 
 of General Robert \'an Rensselaer, and the third son, 
 01i\er Kane, grandfather of Colonel Delancey Astor 
 Kane, married Eliza Clark, daughter of John Green 
 Clark, of Providence. R. I. Elisha Kent Kane, the 
 Arctic explorer, was a member of this distinguished 
 family. On the maternal side Commodore Kane is 
 descended from the Langdons, his mother being a 
 daughter of Walter Langdon and a granddaughter of 
 William B. Astor. 
 
 Commodore Kane's education was obtained in the 
 first instance in the public schools of New York, after 
 wliicli he t(^nk a preparatory course and entered the 
 Naval Academy on September 20, 1862. He was 
 
292 
 
 MEN OF AFFAIRS IN NEIV YORK 
 
 graduated in June, 1866, No. i in his class, receiving 
 the higliest honor that could be conferred by the Acad- 
 emy. Among his associates at the .\cademy were 
 S. M. Ackley, R. "SI. Berry. William T. r.urwcll, James 
 H. Dayton. Daniel Delalianty. J. M. Hemphill and 
 Joiin J. Hunter, all prominent in the navy and rapidly 
 nearing the grade of admiral, .\fter his graduation 
 young Kane entered upon the active duties of the 
 service, and was for a time on the staff of Admiral 
 Farragut, being in the meantime advanced to the grade 
 of ensign. Having decided upon taking a full col- 
 legiate course, he resigned from the navy on Xo- 
 vemljer 30, 1868. and a year later entered Cambridge 
 University, England, from which institution he was 
 graduated in 1873. Upon returning home he took up 
 the study of law at the Albany Law School and was 
 m due time admitted to practice. Possessed of ample 
 means, however, he has never entered upon the prac- 
 tice of his iM'ofession. It was natural, after his educa- 
 tion for a naval career, that he should become a practi- 
 cal and enthusiastic yachtsman. He early took up this 
 royal pastime and, as a member of the New York 
 Yacht Club, was a liberal patron of the sport. He was 
 elected to membership May 21, 1874, and his member- 
 siiip number is 109 on the roster of the club. He was 
 early elected an officer and entered actively into the 
 administration of the affairs of the organization. His 
 work as a committeeman was not only always conscien- 
 tious, but also of a character calculated to make an im- 
 pression upon those associated with him in an official 
 capacity. His e.xecutive ability was so well recognized in 
 New York that he was selected by the Centennial Com- 
 mission to organize and carry out one of the most 
 difficult features of the marine ijaratle. and hv the man- 
 
 agers of the Columbian celebration to take charge of 
 much the same department for the great naval parade. 
 How well he formulated and carried out his plans for 
 Ijoth these and many social features of the events 
 nau'ieil is a matter of history that will redound to his 
 credit for all time. He was elected Commodore of the 
 New York Yacht Club in 1875 and served for fifteen 
 years on the Regatta Committee, retiring in 1904. He 
 was prominent in all the .\merica Cup contests, having 
 been three times chairman of the Cup Committee. On 
 March 23. uynz,, he was presented by the club with a 
 hands: luie cup in ti'ken of the high regard of the mem- 
 bership and in grateful recognition of thirty years of 
 faithful service. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the war between the 
 United States and Spain, Commodore Kane promptly 
 tendered his services to the Government, and he was 
 appointed an aide on the staff of Commodore Sigsbee 
 and remained on active duty until the close of the war. 
 I His brother, Woodbury Kane, made a distinguished 
 1 record as a member of the famous Rough Riders' regi- 
 ment. Delance}' Kane, another brother, was graduated 
 at West Point. 
 
 Commodore Kane has taken an active interest in the 
 work of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
 Animals and in numerous charitable organizations. He 
 lis a member of the Union. Metropolitan, Knicker- 
 bocker. Country and City Coaching clubs, the New 
 York. Kastern, Larchniont Ice and ^'acht clubs, in addi- 
 tion to bis member.shii) in the Xcw York Yacht Clul). 
 He makes his home at the Knickerbocker Club. He is 
 also a member of the I\Ietropolitan .Museum of .\rt and 
 of the (jeographical, Bt)tanical and Historical associa- 
 tions. 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abbott, Rev. Lyman, D.D 253 
 
 Adams, Henry Herschel 221 
 
 Arnoux, Judge William Henry.... 235 
 AsTOR, John Jacob i 
 
 Baiz, Jacob 229 
 
 Barnabee, Henry Clay 159 
 
 Barnes, William 113 
 
 Barrett, Judge George C 59 
 
 Barron, John Conner, M.D 83 
 
 Beck, James M 1 1 1 
 
 Belmont, August 2y 
 
 Bingham, Judson D., Brigadier Gen- 
 eral U. S. A 9 
 
 Bliss, Cornelius Newton 87 
 
 Boas, Emil Leopold 263 
 
 BoLDT, Hermann J., M.D 289 
 
 BosTWicK, Arthur Elmore 269 
 
 Brady, Anthony N 169 
 
 Buckingham, Charles L 237 
 
 Burtis, Arthur, Rear Adm.. U. S. N. 15 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Farrelly, Stephen 249 
 
 Fay, Sigourney W 53 
 
 FisKE, Bradley Allen, Commander 
 
 U. S. N 31 
 
 Flanagan, DeWitt Clinton 239 
 
 Flanagan, William L 209 
 
 Flint, Charles Ranlett 33 
 
 Fowler, Edward Payson, M.D 219 
 
 Canxo.n, Henry White 99 
 
 Carnegie, Andrew 129 
 
 Catlin, Isaac, Brig. Gen. U. S. A... 177 
 
 Chandler, Albert Brown 7 
 
 Choate, Joseph H 41 
 
 Church, William Conant 81 
 
 Claflin, John 47 
 
 Clemens, Samuel L. (Mark Twain) 259 
 
 Clews, Henry 55 
 
 Clothier, Isaac H 165 
 
 CoLER, Bird Sim 223 
 
 CoRTELYOu, George Bruce 161 
 
 Co-K, Palmer 143 
 
 Crimmins, John D 93 
 
 Gage, Lyman J 89 
 
 Gardiner, A. P.aul 205 
 
 Gerry, Elbridge Thomas 51 
 
 GiLDERSLEEVE, JuDGE HeNRY AlGER 65 
 
 Gould, George Jay 243 
 
 Grant, Hugh J 61 
 
 Grant, Rev. Percy S 283 
 
 Hearst, William Randolph 245 
 
 Heckscher, John Gerard 275 
 
 Heinze, Arthur P 173 
 
 Heinze, F. Augustus 281 
 
 Higgins, Frank Wayland 145 
 
 • Hornblower, William Butler 69 
 
 Horton, Henry L 217 
 
 Houghton, Rev. Geo. Clarke, D.D. 67 
 Ho wells, William Dean 127 
 
 : IviNS, William Mills 157 
 
 I Jacoby, Oswald N 277 
 
 Jerome, William Travers 91 
 
 Juhring, John C 57 
 
 I Kane, S. Nicholson 291 
 
 \ Knopf, S. Adolphus, M.D 19 
 
 1 KuiiNE, Percival 261 
 
 Darlington, Tho.mas, M.D 121 Leale, Charles A.. M.D. 
 
 Davies, William Gilbert 49 Leggett, Francis H 
 
 Dayton, Charles W 115 | Levy, Jefferson M 
 
 Delany, John J 
 
 de Peyster, John Watts, Brigadier 
 
 General U. S. V 
 
 Dittenhoefer, Abram Jesse 
 
 Di\, Rev. Morgan. D.D 
 
 Ducey, Rev. Thomas James 
 
 Duryea, Hiram 
 
 287 
 
 ! Littleton, Martin W 251 
 
 j Logan. Walter S 119 
 
 ; Low, Seth 75 
 
 183 
 
 ■McAdoo, William 
 
 M(-.\doo. William Gibbs.... 
 
 , McClellan. George B 
 
 1 Melville. George W., Rt 
 MIRAL U. S. N 
 
 Ad- 
 
 Edison, Thomas A 167 : 
 
 Ely. Smith igg Metz, Herman A 133 
 
 Emilio. Luis Fenollosa 225 Miller, Captain J. W 207 
 
 293 
 
 Mills, Albert Leopold, Brigadier 
 
 General U. S. A log 
 
 Mills, Darius Ogden 13 
 
 Morton, Levi Parsons 5 
 
 Morton, Paul 153 
 
 NissEN, Ludwig 189 
 
 O'Brien, Judge Morgan J 265 
 
 OcHS, Adolph S 191 
 
 Olcott, Jacob Van Vechten 271 
 
 Orr, Ale.xander E 103 
 
 OsBON, Bradley S 85 
 
 Parkhur.st, Rev. Charles H 43 
 
 Peabody, Charles A 141 
 
 Phoenix. Lloyd 279 
 
 PiLCHER, James Evelyn, M.y. U.S.A. 171 
 
 Plympton, Prof. Geo. Washington 123 
 
 Porter, General Horace 35 
 
 Potter, Bishop Henry Codman. 
 
 D.D 17 
 
 Pri.me. Ralph Earl 105 
 
 Pulitzer, Joseph 45 
 
 Reid, Whitelaw 6y, 
 
 Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell 11 
 
 Root, Elihu 107 
 
 RuppERT. Jacob, Jr 187 
 
 Ryan, .Thomas Fortune 267 
 
 See, Horace loi 
 
 ScHiEREN, Charles Adolphus 181 
 
 Schofield. John McAllister, Lieu- 
 tenant General U. S. A 7^ 
 
 ScHURZ. Carl 135 
 
 Sickles. Daniel E., M.vjor General 
 
 U. S. A 79 
 
 Simmons. J. Edward 185 
 
 Smith, W. Gr.\nville 211 
 
 Snow. Elbridge Gerry 139 
 
 Starin, John H 95 
 
 Stedman. Edmund Clarence 97 
 
 Sterne, Simon 215 
 
 Stillman, James 179 
 
 Stokes, James Graham Phelps 15s 
 
 Straus, Isidor 203 
 
 Straits, N.\than 23 
 
 SULZER, WiLLIA.M 1 63 
 
294 
 
 INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 TiLFORD, Fr.\nk 37 
 
 Tracy, Benjamin Franklin 117 
 
 Trvsk, Spencer 39 
 
 Tremain, Henry Edwin i47 
 
 Tryon. James Rufus. Rear Admiral 
 
 U. S. N 3 
 
 Truax, Judge Charles Henry 233 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Vanderbilt, Cornelius 255 
 
 Van Norden, Warner 137 
 
 Van Wyck, Robert Anderson 125 
 
 Vreeland, Herbert Harold 151 
 
 Vrooman, John \V 193 
 
 Wellman, Francis L 7' 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Wheeler, Jerome Byron 195 
 
 White, Stephen V 247 
 
 Wilcox, Reynold Webb, M.D.. LL.D. 197 
 
 Windmuller, Louis 29 
 
 Woodbury, William Albert 285 
 
 Woodruff, Timothy L 241 
 
 Woodward, Rignal T 227