Henry Baldwin Stone 
 1851 -1897 
 
LAWRENCE J. GUTTER 
 
 Collection of Chicogoono 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 AT CHICAGO 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 
 CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Researcii Libraries in Illinois 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/inmemoryofhenrybOOIawr 
 
\ 
 
 FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY ALFRED COX OF CHICAGO 
 
IN MEMORY 
 
 HENRY BALDWIN STONE 
 
 Born, September 4, 1851. 
 Died July 5, 1897. 
 
 
 
 
 
erui^"^ 
 
PRIVATELY PRINTED, NOT PUBLISHED, 
 BY THE PRESS OF 
 <((| ROGERS & SMITH CO., CHICAGO. 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 'T*HE following pages contain the prin- 
 -■■ cipal articles which appeared in the 
 literary and technical journals about Henry 
 Baldwin Stone, and also some of the resolu- 
 tions and memorials adopted by the organi- 
 zations of which he was a member. They 
 have been brought together, substantially 
 without alteration or correction, because it 
 was felt that they were worthy of preserva- 
 tion as showing the appreciation of Mr. 
 Stone's many sterling qualities by the com- 
 munity at large. Many of the articles which 
 appeared in the daily papers were not con- 
 sidered of sufficient permanent value to 
 include with these. 
 
 When one stops to consider the never- 
 flagging interest in history, biography, and 
 fiction, an interest centered in the study of 
 human character, one must conclude that 
 these brief sketches will be of real and per- 
 
manent interest to Mr. Stone's many friends. 
 Strong characters are so little understood, 
 and, indeed, so often misunderstood, that it 
 must always be a pleasure for us to know 
 what others have found in the character of 
 our friend. It must open our eyes to unap- 
 preciated depths even in a character we have 
 admired. 
 
 We read these pages and say to ourselves 
 Paul's oft quoted words, in his Epistle to the 
 Philippians : " Finally, brethren, whatso- 
 ever things are true, whatsoever things are 
 honorable, whatsoever things are just, what- 
 soever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
 lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; 
 if there be any virtue, and if there be any 
 praise, think on these things." 
 
 F. A. D. 
 
 Chicago, July i, 1898. 
 
An Editorial from the "Chicago Evening Post," 
 July 6, 1897. 
 
 It is difficult to describe the mingled feel- 
 ing of amazement and horror with which this 
 community heard of the shocking death of 
 Henry B. Stone at Nonquitt yesterday. Of 
 all the prominent men in Chicago he was 
 about the most unlikely victim for such a 
 typical Fourth of July catastrophe. It would 
 have been hard to find a cooler, more cau- 
 tious, sagacious man than Mr. Stone. All 
 of the training of his youth and the experi- 
 ence of his manhood would seem to preclude 
 the act which resulted in his instant and 
 terrible death. The lightning of our savage 
 and dangerous method of celebrating our 
 national anniversary struck the one whom, 
 of all that knew him, it would have been 
 insult to warn. 
 
 To those who knew Mr. Stone by reputa- 
 tion only the announcement of his untimely 
 death was almost as bewildering a shock as 
 to his friends and intimates. It was every- 
 where received with awe and regret. Men 
 
who have been accustomed to play with fire- 
 works all their lives, stood aghast at a 
 tragedy which they had time and time again 
 invited themselves. They shuddered as they 
 recalled how often they had put their lives 
 in similar jeopardy against the warnings of 
 reason and undeterred by the instinct that 
 makes an animal suspicious of an extinct 
 squib. To all it seemed a life needlessly 
 and cruelly sacrificed upon the annual altar 
 of patriotism. 
 
 To the entire community, the death of Mr. 
 Stone is the loss of one of its most active 
 and broadly useful citizens. He had been 
 associated for many years with such large 
 affairs as the management of the Chicago, 
 Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and the Chi- 
 cago Telephone Company, and in every 
 relation proved himself a man of singular 
 energy, force, and ability. He took a promi- 
 nent part in the directory of the World's 
 Fair, and his associates in that great under- 
 taking bear universal testimony to his 
 remarkable keenness of insight and readi- 
 ness of resource. Mr. Stone had taken an 
 active interest in the artistic, musical and 
 intellectual development of Chicago. 
 
But the loss of the community cannot com- 
 pare, in its stunned and deep bitterness^ with 
 that of Mr. Stone's immediate family and 
 close friends. To them the blow comes with 
 unrelieved suddenness and horror. The 
 public can only extend to them its full sym- 
 pathy. 
 
From the "Western Electrician," July lo, 1897 
 (published in Chicago). 
 
 On July ist Henry B. Stone, for seven years 
 the most influential exponent of the Bell 
 telephone interests in the West, resigned the 
 presidency of the three companies with which 
 he was connected. He intended to devote 
 some time to travel and recreation before 
 again plunging into that industrial activity 
 for which his talents so conspicuously fitted 
 him for leadership. He journeyed to his 
 summer home in Massachusetts, near New 
 Bedford, to celebrate Independence day with 
 his family and to rest before putting into 
 execution his plan of travel. There, at the 
 seashore, he met death on July 5th, in the 
 full prime of useful manhood, by the unex- 
 pected explosion of a bomb in a fireworks 
 display. 
 
 The manner of death was distressing. The 
 newspapers give the account. Mr. Stone was 
 entertaining a party of friends with a display 
 of fireworks. The principal piece was a mine, 
 which was so devised as to scatter, when ex- 
 
ploded, a number of vari-colored tissue-paper 
 animals and make them fly through the air. 
 Suddenly, without warning, the bomb he 
 was about to set off exploded prematurely, 
 causing instant death. The skull was frac- 
 tured and the face mutilated by the explosion. 
 Mrs. Stone, with the two sons and two 
 daughters of the family, were, with the 
 assembled guests, witnesses of the terrible 
 accident, which occurred late in the fore- 
 noon. The physician who was summoned 
 with horror-stricken haste could do nothing. 
 The funeral services were held in New Bed- 
 ford, Mass., at the home of Mr. Stone's 
 mother, on July 8th. A number of Chicago 
 gentlemen attended. 
 
 Mr. Stone was a man of great energy and 
 ability, and he was remarkably successful in 
 the direction of affairs. Perhaps no man 
 in Chicago had a higher reputation for keen 
 business sagacity, for quick insight, for well- 
 ordered judgment. His career is interesting 
 and instructive. The son of a leading lawyer 
 in his native town, Henry B. Stone was born 
 in 1852 in New Bedford, Mass. He was edu- 
 cated at Exeter Academy and at Harvard 
 University, graduating from the latter insti- 
 
tution with a bachelor's degree in arts. The 
 young collegian had an aptitude for practical 
 affairs^ for mechanics, and he secured em- 
 ployment in a machine shop of the Waltham 
 Watch Company, afteward working in the 
 Boston Ordnance Works. His next step in 
 life proved to be an important one, for by it 
 he entered the railroad business, in which he 
 made a commanding success. He went West 
 and secured a position with the Chicago, 
 Burlington & Quincy Company. He began 
 at the bottom of the ladder, in the machine 
 shops at Aurora. He worked as a mechanic 
 at first, carrying his own dinner-pail, and 
 living in the same manner as his fellow- 
 workmen. But he had an unusual aptitude 
 and applied himself unceasingly. Step by 
 step this college-bred mechanic worked his 
 way up, until he became general manager 
 and second vice-president of the great Bur- 
 lington system. During the important loco- 
 motive engineers' strike of 1888 Mr. Stone 
 fought the men resolutely, and he came out 
 of the grim contest victorious. The struggle 
 engrossed the attention of the entire country, 
 and it made Mr. Stone famous. It is thus 
 
described by a writer in the " Chicago Times- 
 Herald " : 
 
 " As soon as the strike was declared by the 
 engineers Mr. Stone took up the gauntlet 
 and displayed consummate ability in meeting 
 their measures at every point. He at once 
 opened recruiting offices in the eastern states, 
 and secured the services of several hundred 
 engineers formerly in the employment of the 
 road. In order to improve their skill he 
 opened a school, where the use of the air- 
 brake and other similar appliances was taught. 
 So great was his interest in the contest that he 
 was not willing to be out of reach of the dis- 
 patches at night, and for a long time he slept 
 on a cot in his office. It was largely due to his 
 masterly judgment that the final result of the 
 year's fight was a victory for the road — a 
 victory so complete that, when several years 
 later (in 1894) the great railroad strike under 
 Debs was inaugurated, the Brotherhood of 
 Locomotive Engineers showed little inclina- 
 tion to participate." 
 
 Mr. Stone resigned his position with the 
 railroad company soon after the settlement of 
 the strike and spent some time in travel. In 
 1890 he cast his lot with the Bell telephone 
 interests, and up to July ist, as has been 
 stated, his was the commanding figure of the 
 
Bell Company in the West. He was presi- 
 dent of the Chicago Telephone Company, the 
 Central Union Telephone Company and the 
 Bell Telephone Company of Missouri. He is 
 believed to have known more about the inside 
 management and policy of the American Bell 
 Telephone Company than any other man in 
 the West, and his counsel was highly esteemed 
 in the inner circle in Boston. He was not, 
 of course, a telephone pioneer, like the late 
 F. G. Beach, but his marvelous executive abil- 
 ity and far-reaching business generalship 
 made his services of the greatest value to the 
 western telephone companies. When he an- 
 nounced his resignations he was entreated to 
 remain, but he persisted in refusal. Perhaps 
 his retirement may be considered significant 
 of the changed conditions of the telephone 
 industry. At any rate, a gentleman who was 
 on terms of close intimacy with Mr. Stone 
 makes this statement : " He resigned because 
 he felt that he had completed the organiza- 
 tion of this work. He could not bear to be- 
 come a mere operating man. His ambitions, 
 which were about to be gratified, were far 
 higher than such a life could bestow ; and if 
 any one ever had a right to entertain am- 
 
bition, he had, judghig by the marvelous 
 record he had made by his forty-fifth year, 
 when he died." 
 
 Mr. Stone had much to do with the build- 
 ing of the World's Fair. He was the chairman 
 of the committee on grounds and buildings, 
 which was the real body that constructed the 
 exposition, and thus, while he held that place, 
 he was, perhaps, the most important officer of 
 the local directory. He co-operated sym- 
 pathetically and intelligently with Mr. Burn- 
 ham, the chief of construction, and was, 
 indeed, one of the strongest men in the body 
 of notable men that formed the governing 
 board of the Chicago corporation. 
 
 Mr. Stone was a member of the Chicago 
 Club and of several other social and literary 
 organizations. For many years he had made 
 his home in Chicago, and, a type of a high 
 standard of American citizenship, his death 
 is a distinct loss to the community. A wife 
 and four children are left. 
 
From "The Railway and Engineering Review," 
 July 31, 1897 (published in Chicago). 
 
 The readers of the Railway and Engineer- 
 ing Review have been apprised, through the 
 medium of the daily papers, of the sudden 
 and tragic death of Henry B. Stone on July 
 5th. His prominence in the railway world for 
 a number of years, and his influence for 
 good in the community, is such as to warrant 
 us in making a somewhat extended review 
 of his interesting character and brilliant 
 though short career, beginning with his work 
 as a foreman in the Aurora locomotive shops 
 of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
 road in 1877 and ending with his resignation 
 as second vice-president in 1890 to take the 
 presidency of the Chicago & Central Union 
 Telephone Companies, and act as the western 
 representative of the American Bell Tele- 
 phone Company. Even in this compara- 
 tively short career, Mr. Stone had exhibited 
 such qualities of energy, persistence and 
 quick perception of essential details, coupled 
 with courage and moral rectitude, as few men 
 possess. 14 
 
His influence as a railway man was felt 
 throughout the countrj', and this is attested 
 by the men who met him in meetings and 
 conventions. He took an important part in 
 the General Time Convention, and in the 
 subsequent meetings of the American Rail- 
 way Association in their work of adopting 
 the "standard code" of rules. The men 
 who came in contact with him, whether in the 
 committee room or the general assembly, 
 bear testimony to the immense influence 
 which he carried with him in deciding vital 
 questions by the sheer force of his clear 
 comprehension of important details and his 
 determined insistence upon them. 
 
 As a railway officer, he was a strict discip- 
 linarian, and though exacting in his require- 
 ments from others, was no less exacting with 
 himself, but, on the contrary, set a high 
 example of devotion to duty, and, for that 
 reason, with all who were ready to render 
 energetic and faithful service, he was a man 
 looked up to as little short of a " hero." In 
 the struggle of the Burlington Road with the 
 Brotherhoods of Locomotive Engineers and 
 Firemen he was brought prominently before 
 the eyes of the public. Those who were 
 15 
 
familiar with tlie conditions which led up to 
 that conflict, know that the struggle was 
 inevitable, because the men, led by false 
 prophets, headstrong leaders, had made 
 demands which the officers of the company 
 could not concede. On Mr. Stone fell the 
 brunt of resisting the fight which was waged 
 with intense bitterness for many weeks. The 
 body of the engineers and firemen who 
 struck, had admired Mr. Stone, and he had 
 done much for them in the past, but they 
 found themselves arrayed against him simply 
 because they feared to resist the strength of 
 the organization they had themselves created. 
 Every one knows the result of that conflict, 
 but every one does not know and cannot 
 realize the strain on the man who, fighting 
 for his employers and for a principle, got 
 little sympathy even where he had a right to 
 expect it. Soon after the termination of the 
 strike in 1888, Mr. Stone was made second 
 vice-president of the Burlington system, but 
 in 1890 resigned his position, quitting the 
 profession in which he had shown a remark- 
 able capacity, for what seemed to him, an 
 even larger field of usefulness — that of elec- 
 tricity. His versatility and persistence in 
 
mastering complex and intricate details 
 quickly made him the most important man 
 connected with the Bell telephone interests 
 in the West. 
 
 During this conection with the telephone 
 companies he became a director of the 
 World's Fair, and, with characteristic energy, 
 threw himself into the work, taking a very 
 active part as chairman of one of the most 
 important committees. On July i last, his 
 resignation as president of the telephone 
 companies took effect, and he was ready (as 
 few men ever are) for such new work and 
 responsibilities as might come to him. Hence 
 it is not strange that his friends should feel 
 that, in the remarkable fatality which over- 
 took him so shortly after, he was called by 
 the Great Master for work more important. 
 
 Mr. Stone carried into railroad work a 
 mind singularly well trained to the intricate 
 necessities of the period of development in 
 which he lived. Born in New Bedford, 
 Mass., in 1852, he went as a boy to Phillips' 
 Exeter Academy where he was fitted for 
 college. In 1873 he graduated at Havard 
 University and took a year's course in 
 mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts 
 
Institute of Technology. With a remark- 
 able aptitude for mechanics and mathematics, 
 he plunged into actual shop work, spending 
 a year in a large cotton mill at Waltham, 
 Mass., then upwards of a year in the gun 
 foundry of the South Boston Iron Works, 
 and from there he went to the shops of the 
 Burlington road at Aurora. Entering as a 
 thoroughly equipped mechanic, he quickly 
 rose to an important foremanship, and subse- 
 quently became master mechanic, then super- 
 intendent of motive power. 
 
 To the hosts of friends and acquaintances 
 who can no longer look into his keen and 
 penetrating eyes and never again feel the 
 pressure of his cordial and straight-forward 
 grasp of the hand, Mr. Stone's death, in the 
 very mid-day of useful manhood, will be a 
 great loss, but to friends and the community 
 as a whole, the feeling of personal loss is 
 absorbed in the feeling of sympathy for the 
 terrible shock to the family and relatives on 
 whom the blow falls with greatest force. 
 
From the "Railroad Gazette," August 13, 1897 
 (published in New York). 
 
 Mr. Stone's influence in railroad affairs 
 was very great, and, as you doubtless know, 
 he took a prominent part in the General 
 Time Convention, later in the adoption of the 
 Standard Code and in the advocacy of signals 
 and safety appliances — for example, air- 
 brakes. He was a man of much force and 
 energy, of remarkable quickness of percep- 
 tion of essential details in complicated mat- 
 ters, of singular and unquestioned courage 
 and moral rectitude. 
 
 He was one of the early railroad men of 
 the new school, and carried into railroad 
 work, at an important period of its develop- 
 ment, a mind singularly well trained to the 
 intricate necessities of that period. 
 
 He was born in 1852, went as a boy to 
 Phillips' Exeter Academy, graduated at Har- 
 vard University in 1873, took a year's course 
 in mechanical engineering, mathematics and 
 shop work at the Massachusetts Institute of 
 Technology in Boston, then a year in a large 
 
machine shop at Waltham, and upward of a 
 year in the gun foundry of the South Boston 
 Iron Works. From the latter place he came 
 early in 1877 to the Aurora locomotive shops 
 of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, enter- 
 ing as a trained mechanic and in the position 
 of a foreman (not general foreman). His 
 rise in the motive-power department you are 
 familiar with, and also his resignation in 1890 
 of his position as second vice-president to 
 take the presidency of the telephone com- 
 panies. 
 
 His connection with the strike of the engi- 
 neers in 1888 is not generally understood. It 
 is supposed by some that he brought it on by 
 being too arbitrary, or on account of his un- 
 popularity. Any such view is wrong. Mr. 
 Stone was very popular with the enginemen 
 and shopmen. He was their hero and cham- 
 pion, and had done much for them in the 
 past. As students of the labor question 
 must know, the storm had been brewing some 
 time, the brotherhoods felt themselves irre- 
 sistible. A few men holding influential 
 places had little by little made greater and 
 greater demands until the final one which 
 brought on the fight with the Chicago, Bur- 
 
lington and Quinc3^ Henry Stone bore the 
 brunt of that fight most manfully, against 
 heavy odds, and with scant sympathy from 
 those from whom he had some right to 
 expect it. He fought a good fight in the in- 
 terests of his employers, toward whom he at 
 all times felt a high sense of duty, and he 
 fought, too, for a principle, and settled for 
 many years the question of whether the 
 owners of a railroad or the employes shall 
 dictate its policy. 
 
 We have said nothing of Mr. Stone's con- 
 nection with the telephone interests, nor of 
 his energetic work as a World's Fair director, 
 because other journals have dwelt upon that. 
 
From the " Railway Master Mechanic," for August, 
 1897 (pubHshed in Chicago). 
 
 Mr. H. B. Stone died at Nonquitt, Mass., 
 July 5, from the results of injuries caused 
 by the explosion of a piece of fire- 
 works. It is difficult to become reconciled 
 to the passing away of such a man, at such a 
 time, and in such a manner as he was called. 
 Mr. Stone was one of those rare men who 
 are brought into the world with a mission, 
 and his mission was evidently to promote all 
 that was good and true in life. He was young 
 at the time of his death, only forty-five, but 
 he had already made his way in the world 
 with most remarkable strides, and on all 
 sides, as he worked his way up from small 
 beginnings, he left the impress of his noble 
 character. His associates vie with each 
 other in relating instances in which some act 
 of his, some earnest word from him, had led 
 them to higher aspirations. Mr. Stone's 
 most notable work, perhaps, was that which 
 he gave so enthusiastically to the service of 
 the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway. 
 
No greater testimony could be given of the 
 completeness with which he identified himself 
 with that property than to say that up to the 
 day of his death he was constantly talked 
 about on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 road. Even since his death questions per- 
 taining to that road and its management can 
 hardly be discussed without bringing up Mr. 
 Stone's name. This was very strikingly 
 shown on an inspection trip recently made 
 over the line, when, in discussing various 
 physical conditions of the road, Mr. Stone's 
 name was constantly brought into the dis- 
 cussion. This shows how closely he identi- 
 fied himself with everything with which he 
 was connected. An old-time associate, in 
 v/riting to us of Mr. Stone, says : " Mr. 
 Stone was a very unusual man, and had he 
 lived, would doubtless have made his mark 
 in history. When the American Railway 
 Association was eking out a precarious exis- 
 tence at various times, it was Mr. Stone's 
 practical arguments and convincing talk that 
 held the association together. When he 
 retired from railroad work we all knew how 
 impossible it was for him to remain inactive. 
 He soon became one of the directors of the 
 
 .^ 
 
World's Fair, and was one of the most active 
 men on the board. He was vice-president of 
 the Commercial Club of Chicago, and it was 
 only because he directly opposed it that he 
 was not made president of the club. Mr. 
 Stone's reason for not wishing to be presi- 
 dent of the club was that he was not finan- 
 cially fixed to meet the demands of such a 
 position. It must have been very flattering, 
 however, to think that among so many broad- 
 minded, progressive, successful men, as are 
 collected in the Commercial Club, that a 
 young man like Mr. Stone should be selected 
 and almost urged against his judgment to 
 preside over them. I could tell you a good 
 deal about Mr. Stone's railroad work and the 
 talents for generalship that cropped out with 
 him when great difficulties arose. Myself 
 and others were with him through three or 
 four strikes. By with him I do not mean 
 sitting in the office, but with him in the yards 
 and depots, and where the men were making 
 trouble. We always felt very sure that what 
 Mr. Stone said and did would be right. In 
 anything you write you cannot praise him 
 too much on this score." When he first came 
 to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, about 
 
the year 1878, he went to work in the Aurora 
 shops as a journeyman machinist. He soon 
 was promoted to be gang foreman, and 
 always took great interest in one engine that 
 was built under his supervision. After that 
 he was employed by Mr. Challender, superin- 
 tendent of motive power, on the special duty 
 of investigating devices and methods that 
 were being looked into and tested on the 
 engines. His next promotion was to be 
 division master mechanic at Aurora. When 
 Mr. Challender resigned, Mr. Stone succeeded 
 him as superintendent of motive power, 
 January i, 1880. He was made general 
 superintendent in the fall of 1881, and sub- 
 sequently he was made assistant general man- 
 ager, and May i, 1885, he was made general 
 manager. When Mr. Ripley was made 
 general manager, November i, 1888, Mr. 
 Stone was made vice-president. When Mr. 
 Stone left the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 in 1890, he became president of the Chicago 
 and Central Union Telephone companies, 
 and resigned just before his death to go 
 abroad for a rest. His career in this tele- 
 phone work was one of brilliant success. 
 Mr. Stone's handling of labor troubles on 
 
his road attracted wide-spread attention to 
 him as a man of rare courage, executive 
 ability and untiring industry. The general- 
 ship here displayed was of the highest order ; 
 and in the troublous times, when violence 
 was resorted to, he shone at his brightest. 
 No labor was too great, no fatigue too 
 oppressing, no danger too formidable, for 
 him to meet. The stories told of his bear- 
 ing and effective personal work in the thick 
 of the fray — right on the ground among the 
 tracks — reveals the true greatness of his 
 ability and the nobility of his character. In 
 Mr. Stone's death the world loses a truly 
 remarkable man. A complete story of his 
 active, tireless, brilliantly successful life — a 
 life that was not only terribly earnest, but 
 notably sweet — would form a most excel- 
 lent pocket companion for ambitious young 
 men. 
 
From the "American Engineer, Car Builder and 
 Railroad Journal " for August, 1897 (published in 
 New York). 
 
 The death of Henry B. Stone, formerly 
 vice-president of the Chicago, Burlington and 
 Quincy Railroad, which resulted from an 
 accident at Nonquitt, Mass., July 5, removed 
 one of the men of whom any country might 
 be justly proud. He was but forty-five years 
 old, and his life was so full of promise that, 
 had he lived a few years longer, he would, 
 without doubt, have made his name still more 
 favorably and widely known. A friend who 
 was close to him for nineteen years says that 
 he had come to regard him more and more 
 as a man of exceptional ability. He was 
 energetic, courageous, ambitious and indus- 
 trious, and, withal, his was an uncommon in- 
 tegrity ; in short, he was a type of the very 
 highest standard of American citizenship. 
 His railroad work, wherein his ability as an 
 organizer and executive was brought out, 
 was, perhaps, his greatest success, although 
 he showed the same keenness and command 
 
of difficult situations in his later undertakings. 
 His remarkable ability as an executive was 
 seen in the conduct of the great Chicago, 
 Burlington & Quincy strikes of 1888, when 
 he was general manager of that road. There 
 are differences of opinion as to the wisdom of 
 the policy which was then followed by him, 
 but there can be no doubt of the fact that he 
 put the wishes of his superiors into effect, 
 and in so doing he made use in a masterly 
 way of every factor which could be employed 
 to carry out the purpose in hand. It must 
 be conceded that there are few positions as 
 trying as was his at that time, and the fact 
 that in the past nine years railroad strikes 
 have been so few in number must in a large 
 part be credited to him. It is significant that 
 one of the men who stood under him at that 
 time now says : " We always felt very 
 sure that what Mr. Stone said and did 
 would be right." He was conscientious, 
 and had the respect and confidence of 
 his staff in all that trouble. His death 
 cast a gloom over the employes of that 
 road, though he had not been connected 
 with it for seven years. The American Rail- 
 way Association owes much of its present 
 
successful standing to Mr. Stone, and his 
 assistance in carrying through the project of 
 the World's Fair in Chicago contributed 
 materially to the ultimate success of that 
 undertaking. He was highly honored by 
 the Commercial Club of Chicago, in being 
 sought, among many broad-minded, progres- 
 sive, successful men, as its president, but 
 declined. 
 
 Mr. Stone was graduated at Harvard 
 University, but subsequently took a course 
 in mechanical engineering at the Massa- 
 chusetts Institute of Technology. After 
 graduation he became connected with an 
 ordnance concern in Boston, and, while suc- 
 cessful in that line, he found that the field 
 was not in every way suited to his ambition, 
 and in 1878 he resigned a position which was 
 lucrative in order to take a position as 
 journeyman machinist in the mechanical 
 department of the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy Railroad at Aurora. He was soon 
 promoted to the position of gang foreman, 
 and always took great interest in an engine 
 that was built under his supervision. After 
 that he was employed by Mr. Challender, 
 then superintendent of motive power, on the 
 
special duty of investigating devices and 
 methods that were being looked into and 
 tested on the engines. His next promotion 
 was to the position of division master 
 mechanic at Aurora. When Mr. Challender 
 resigned, Mr. Stone succeeded him as superin- 
 tendent of motive power, January i, 1880, and 
 was made general superintendent in the fall 
 of 1881. Subsequently he was made assistant 
 general manager, and May i, 1885, general 
 manager. November i, 1888, Mr. Stone was 
 appointed vice-president, and in 1890 he re- 
 signed to take the presidency of the Chicago 
 and United Telephone companies. Mr. 
 Stone was a rare man, and of his life the 
 chief lesson for young men appears to be the 
 value of preparation by education and con- 
 tinuous study, coupled with indomitable per- 
 severance and energy in fulfilling the trusts 
 which were reposed in him. His selection of 
 subordinates was wise, and his treatment 
 of them was such as to bring out all their 
 best capabilities, and these are now among 
 his greatest admirers and sincerest mourners. 
 
Resolutions adopted by the Commercial Club of 
 Chicago at a Special Meeting held July 8, 1897. 
 
 The joy and exultation with which the 
 American people hail and commemorate 
 their national anniversary have rarely been 
 more demonstrative than they were on the 
 Fourth of July which has just passed, but 
 never has that celebration been marred for 
 the citizens of Chicago and for the members 
 of the Commercial Club by so sad an event 
 as the death of Henry Baldwin Stone at 
 Nonquitt, Mass., where, with a patriotic 
 enthusiasm characteristic of him, he was 
 joining with his family and friends in the 
 celebration of the day. 
 
 In common with his friends and the citi- 
 zens of Chicago generally, the members of 
 the Commercial Club feel that a sad public 
 loss has been sustained, and they desire to 
 place upon record, in the best words at their 
 command, their high estimate of Mr, Stone 
 as an unusually wise, capable and public- 
 spirited citizen, an honorable and high- 
 
minded man^ an accomplished gentleman, 
 and a genial and lovable companion. 
 
 Mr. Stone was a fine example of the young 
 man reared in an eastern home to ideas of 
 refinement and probity, and liberally edu- 
 cated at one of our highest universities, who 
 afterwards turns his attention to affairs of 
 the most practical nature, and, by simple 
 industry, honesty and devotion to duty, so 
 impresses his character and capacity upon 
 his associates that he is successively chosen 
 to one position after another of large respon- 
 sibility and authority in important corpor- 
 ations composed of ambitious and capable 
 men. He was chosen because of his charac- 
 ter and ability, and not because influential 
 friends made places for him. 
 
 Placed in many trying positions, he was 
 always found firm, resourceful and courage- 
 ous, but also just, charitable and considerate. 
 Those who differed from him were always 
 compelled to respect his motives ; and where 
 he was brought into active and acrimonious 
 conflict with individuals and with organiza- 
 tions (as he frequently was, and especially on 
 one great occasion), his evident firmness and 
 justice were such that no permanent animos- 
 32 
 
ity toward him personally was ever left in 
 the minds or hearts of his antagonists. He 
 was a man of great independence of con- 
 viction and of great tenacity of purpose, 
 because his convictions were founded upon 
 high moral grounds and upon careful 
 thought, and yet in all controversies his 
 habitual bearing towards his fellows and 
 associates was always so tempered by for- 
 bearance and courtesy, that all with whom 
 he was brought into contact, not only came 
 thoroughly to respect him, but became his 
 warm friends and admirers. His loss seems 
 the harder to bear for the reason that he was 
 still a comparatively young man, and, 
 although he had accomplished much for him- 
 self, his friends and the public, it was to be 
 expected that the future had in store for him 
 still greater usefulness and fuller achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 What might have been expected of Henry 
 B. Stone in the future it is impossible to 
 estimate ; he is gone, and all that remains 
 possible to us who survive him, inasmuch as 
 we cannot in a body attend his funeral, is to 
 put upon record, in the simplest and plainest 
 way, our high estimate of the companion 
 
and friend we have lost, our heartfelt sorrow 
 and our deep sympathy for those friends and 
 relatives whose pangs of loss and bereave- 
 ment must be so much more keen than our 
 
Resolutions adopted by the Harvard Club of 
 Chicago. 
 
 Henry Baldwin Stone, Class of 1873. 
 1851—1897. 
 
 The college graduate for the past score of 
 years has had the advantage of a living 
 example of a man achieving success and high 
 standing through clean methods and earnest- 
 ness of purpose. This example has been 
 Henry Baldwin Stone. His life, too short for 
 the career he had mapped out for himself, 
 and far too short for the needs of the com- 
 munity, was complete in achievement and de- 
 votion to principles. The conscientiousness 
 with which he marked out the straightest 
 course and then "hewed to the line" makes 
 him a model for all men. He stood firmly for 
 the ideals of Harvard teachings. " Veritas " — 
 the truth, the whole truth, unvarnished, with- 
 out duplicity — was his principle, and no son of 
 Harvard was ever more faithful to it. Never 
 can we forget the many manly qualities which 
 marked him among men, his courage, his de- 
 
termination, his quick perception, his tireless 
 energy ; therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, By us, the members of the Har- 
 vard Club of Chicago, that in the death of 
 Henry Baldwin Stone, of the class of '73, 
 Harvard men in general, and the Harvard 
 Club of Chicago in particular, have lost a 
 comrade and leader whose memory we should 
 honor by keeping his life ever before us ; 
 and be it further 
 
 Resolved^ That these resolutions be spread 
 upon the minutes of our Club, there to tes- 
 tify to the high appreciation in which we 
 held our comrade. 
 
MEMORIAL OF 
 
 HENRY BALDWIN STONE 
 
 Read at the Chicago Literary Club, at a Meeting 
 held April 4, 1898 
 
 TTENRY BALDWIN STONE was born 
 -'■-'• in New Bedford, Mass., on September 
 4, 185 1, and died in Nonquit, Mass., July 5, 
 1897. In him were united strains of Puri- 
 tan and Quaker blood, which combined to 
 intensify qualities common to both. The 
 Puritan, like the Quaker, was strenuous and 
 firm, apt to consider everything in relation to 
 large systems of thought and conduct, and 
 hence to magnify what others might deem 
 trifles into affairs of moment ; consequently 
 each was ready, even on seemingly insignifi- 
 cant occasions, to sacrifice upon the altar of 
 principle, much that tender souls count 
 precious. These traits, characteristic of 
 
both Puritan and Quaker, were dominant in 
 Henry Stone. 
 
 On the last day which Mr. Stone spent in 
 Chicago — June 30, 1897 — one of his most 
 intimate friends dined with him by invitation 
 at the Chicago Club. " When we had lighted 
 our cigars," writes his friend, " breaking his 
 previous habit of entire reticence concerning 
 himself and his career, he said : ' Now, I 
 want to tell you about myself,' and then he 
 gave a brief sketch of his life up to that mo- 
 ment. He said he felt that it had all been a 
 consistent training, and all for an object, 
 too ; that he was forty-five years of age, able 
 and hearty in mind and body. ' And now,' 
 said he, 'I want to begin the real work of 
 my life. I have ten or fifteen years of ac- 
 tivity before me, and I want to use them to 
 the greatest advantage. I resigned from the 
 telephone presidency because I can't bear to 
 go on merely administrating a completed 
 thing. I must have occupation that will give 
 me all I can do in the way of organization ; 
 it must be a machine having large move- 
 ments. I have two things that have been 
 offered to me — one in finance and the other 
 in railroading ; the latter is the one that will 
 38 
 
open up the broadest field for usefulness to 
 me, and when I return, in about four or five 
 months, I think I will shy my beaver into 
 that ring.' He said much more to the same 
 effect, and ended, when about to step on 
 the car at Twelfth Street Station : ' Well, 
 old fellow ! what do you say about it all ? I 
 have been giving you a good deal about my- 
 self because you appreciate that I don't want 
 money but do want work. Do you think I 
 have done well in leaving the Telephone 
 Company ? ' I answered as I deeply felt : 
 ' Any ambition you entertain you have a 
 perfect right to follow ; your whole past 
 proves that you will reach the mark, and that 
 nothing can stop you.' His eyes filled with 
 tears, and he grasped my hand and stepped 
 aboard, and that was the last glimpse I had 
 of his noble face." 
 
 Both Mr. Stone and his friend judged 
 wisely. His career up to that time had been 
 a process of education which had prepared 
 him for large enterprises and brilliant 
 achievements. He had enjoyed exceptional 
 opportunities of education in the formal and 
 accepted use of the term, having been pre- 
 pared for college at Phillips Academy, Exe- 
 
ter, and graduated from Harvard in the class 
 of '73. But his real training came through 
 the experiences of actual life. After gradu- 
 ation, he determined to study practical me- 
 chanics, and to this end entered the machine 
 repair shop of the Boston (cotton) Manufac- 
 turing Company at Waltham, Massachusetts. 
 He continued at the work patiently and per- 
 sistently for two years, and was then 
 promoted to a foremanship, leaving, how- 
 ever, in the spring of 1876, to grasp what 
 seemed to him a better opportunity in the 
 gun foundry of the South Boston Iron 
 Works. The work here interested him very 
 much, but he soon found that business was 
 dull and would not keep him occupied. 
 Notwithstanding family ties, for, in Septem- 
 ber, 1874, he had married Miss Elizabeth 
 Mandell of New Bedford, he determined, 
 with characteristic energy and foresight, 
 to embrace the opportunity of a year's 
 technical training, and entered the Massa- 
 chusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, 
 completing the mechanical engineers course 
 of two years in one year. Throughout 
 this year of close study, he kept in touch 
 with the progress of the work in the gun 
 
foundry, watching, and in a great measure 
 actually superintending, the construction of 
 what was at that time the most formidable 
 piece of ordnance (an 8o-ton steel tubed 
 gun) which had ever been built in this coun- 
 try. However, despite his interest in the 
 work, the prospects did not seem sufficiently 
 bright to warrant his continuance there, and 
 with no little disappointment he decided, in 
 December, 1877, to strike out into a new 
 field. He went at once to Aurora, 111., enter- 
 ing the shops of the Chicago, Burlington and 
 Quincy Railroad Company. 
 
 His rise with the Railroad Company was 
 very rapid. A man of just his tireless en- 
 ergy and quickness of perception was^needed, 
 and because he proved himself so well fitted 
 to the work, his superiors pressed him for- 
 ward into positions of more and more respon- 
 sibility. Beginning as a gang foreman in the 
 locomotive erecting shops, he was soon made 
 assistant to the Superintendent of Motive 
 Power ; then Master Mechanic of the Divi- 
 sion, Superintendent of Motive Power, and, 
 in the fall of 1881, General Superintendent. 
 In less than five years he was again promoted 
 to the position of General Manager, 
 
While General Superintendent, and subse- 
 quently as General Manager, he exercised 
 great influence on railway affairs throughout 
 the country. He was soon recognized as a 
 leader among railroad men, and took a very 
 prominent part in the General Time Conven- 
 tion which fixed the " zone " system of time 
 for the United States. Subsequently, when 
 the General Time Convention, under its 
 present name of the American Railway Asso- 
 ciation, considered such problems as the 
 " Uniform Code of Rules," " Rules for Sig- 
 nals and Interlocking," etc., he took an active 
 part and carried great weight in the deciding 
 of intricate questions by the sheer force of 
 his clear comprehension of important details 
 and his determined insistence upon them. 
 During this period he was obliged to take 
 part in settling conflicts which brought out 
 the sturdy qualities of the man. In 1886, 
 when St. Louis and East St. Louis were the 
 centers of riots, and the entire population 
 seemed to be at the mercy of a band of reck- 
 less communists, he did more than any other 
 one man to restore order and start again the 
 wheels of commerce and industry. The re- 
 markable courage and determination which 
 
he showed at that time proved clearly that 
 he had the coolness, fearlessness and mag- 
 netic power which stamp successful military 
 leaders. Quickly realizing the helplessness 
 of the situation, he made the bold move of 
 purchasing sixty Winchester repeating rifles, 
 with about a hundred rounds of ball cart- 
 ridges for each rifle. He then summoned 
 some twenty or thirty of the most reliable 
 men on the St. Louis Division, organized a 
 little company, with a commander, first and 
 second lieutenants, etc., which established 
 itself on the " Q." property in East St. Louis, 
 keeping off from it all trespassers. The 
 Company's property was located on the river 
 front, the plan of it being a triangle, which 
 was approached by railroads on a steep em- 
 bankment. The river front was the base of 
 the triangle, and the approach of the other 
 roads was at the apex. At the apex a tem- 
 porary fort was thrown up with ties, the men 
 afterward dubbing this Fort Stone. An 
 officer of the regular army subsequently re- 
 marked that the position was impreg- 
 nable, and that it would have required artil- 
 lery to have dislodged even the small force 
 of thirty men. These men, headed by 
 
Mr. Stone, constantly drove the mob back 
 from the levee, which was the principal place 
 of attack. Often before starting out on one 
 of these expeditions, he would make a short 
 address to the men, repeatedly urging those 
 who had any fear not to feel obliged to go 
 with him. On one occasion, having driven 
 off a mob of several hundred men, and 
 noticing the Superintendent of the Chicago 
 and Alton railroad surrounded by a crowd 
 at the Alton freight house, and apparently 
 at their mercy, he shouted out, in the flush 
 of his success, " Do you want me to drive 
 that mob off?" The Alton Superintendent 
 begged him to do so, whereupon the thirty 
 "Q." Winchesters advanced and the mob, 
 with corresponding quickness, retired. After 
 Mr. Stone's management of affairs had be- 
 come known, a message came from the Louis- 
 ville & Nashville people, begging him to 
 come to their assistance, as their quarters 
 were hemmed in by a howling mob. This 
 was a serious call, as, owing to the shooting 
 of innocent citizens in the fusilade made by 
 the representatives of the law, there had 
 arisen a most intense feeling against the 
 police or any who were doing the work of 
 
the police. In this emergency, instead of 
 ordering his men out as he had done before, 
 Mr. Stone called for volunteers. Everyman 
 but one stepped to the front, offering his ser- 
 vices. The men, armed with rifles, got on a 
 flat car, and Mr. Stone, with an engineer and 
 a fireman, boarded the engine. While they 
 were going along one of the mob ran to 
 throw a switch. Mr. Stone at once leveled 
 his rifle, but the engineer cautioned him not 
 to shoot, saying that he did not believe the 
 fellow would throw the switch. The man 
 subsequently backed away without disturb- 
 ing anything, and so saved his life. Later 
 the Louisville &: Nashville quarters were 
 reached, all the besieged embarked on the 
 flat car and were brought to the Chicago, 
 Burlington & Quincy quarters in safety. 
 Mr. Stone's account of one of these scrim- 
 mages, given in a letter to a friend, reveals 
 the character of the man as well as his power 
 to handle a difficult situation : 
 
 East St. Louis, io April, '86, 
 
 I got here a week ago yesterday; the monkey 
 
 and parrot never had such a time as we've been 
 
 through. I mailed you to-day's Globe- Democrat, 
 
 with a full and remarkably accurate account of yes- 
 
terday — you had better look it up at P. O. if you 
 don't get it with this. 
 
 Thursday afternoon, with five deputies and 
 drawn revolvers, backed up at thirty paces by a 
 squad of ten in line with Winchester rifles, I drove 
 a crowd of eighty or more from the levee in front 
 of the ferry boat. Our revolvers were double - 
 action (self-cockers), and we had to use them as 
 clubs, always being ready to shoot on the instant. 
 1 never bounced men around so in my life, or got in 
 such a heat. We would shove a man along, hit 
 him over the shoulders with the revolver, and when 
 he swore he would shoot us if we touched him 
 again, just up and hit him harder than ever. I had 
 a good lot of men, all in our service, who knew me, 
 many of them old soldiers. I drilled them con- 
 stantly, and could depend on their steadiness and 
 not shooting too soon. We did not fire a shot, but 
 were driving and clubbing for fifteen to twenty 
 minutes. Fine work for a General Manager ! But 
 it had to be done, and I had to take the lead. This 
 was our worst scrimmage. The militia are now in 
 full control and things look better, and I have had 
 an-ogs-perience." y^^^.^^ 
 
 H. B. S. 
 
 Later in the same year came the freight 
 handlers' strike in Chicago, an account of 
 which, furnished by one of Mr. Stone's 
 friends and associates on the road, shows 
 vividly the make-up of the man : 
 45 
 
" He established his headquarters at the 
 Harrison Street depot. We had a number 
 of men at work, principally shopmen from 
 Aurora, and some stragglers that were occa- 
 sionally hired. At that time police protection 
 was not very good. The Haymarket dyna- 
 mite disaster had not taken place, and the 
 authorities generally discredited the extent 
 to which the strikers and those associated 
 with them would carry matters. That ca- 
 lamity, however, made it evident that a ter- 
 rible crisis was already upon us, and Mr. 
 Stone rose to the occasion, although at a 
 fearful personal sacrifice. We had learned, 
 with a good deal of distress, that his son, 
 Malcolm, was very seriously ill. Mr. Stone, 
 however, was on duty every morning with 
 the rest of us. I recollect especially the 
 mingled feeling of horror at the extent to 
 which the strikers and their associates were 
 violating law and order, and distress over 
 the fact that our General Manager was likely 
 that day to lose a son who we knew had al- 
 ways claimed a very large share of his affec- 
 tion. I went into the freight house during 
 the morning to get some instructions, and 
 found Mr. Stone seated on a box in the 
 
middle of the freight house. He was not 
 looking about much, but I could see he was 
 thinking a great deal — whether it was about 
 the strike or his sick and distressed family- 
 he alone knew. As soon as I came up he at 
 once talked about the Haymarket disaster, 
 and that now was the time for each of us to 
 do all we could to push the work, encourage 
 the men who felt weak, and add to our forces 
 wherever opportunity offered, retiring gradu- 
 ally the shopmen. He talked to me in a 
 rapid way for what seemed three or four 
 minutes, giving me suggestion after sugges- 
 tion, which I could elaborate on with the 
 men. He did the same thing with each of 
 his assistants, the results of which beyond 
 any doubt were invaluable. On being urged 
 to go home, he said that he could do nothing 
 there, that his boy was in the best of care 
 and had everything that physicians and 
 nurses could do. He remained with us the 
 entire day. His son died that evening. I 
 think there are few railroad men who have 
 ever shown such devotion to duty and the 
 service as this." 
 
 To leave wife and child in the very pres- 
 ence of Death was a frightful ordeal, but in 
 48 
 
war-time a soldier, much more a commander, 
 must often subordinate personal interests to 
 the demands of the service, and the Puritan- 
 Quaker, discerning the importance of the 
 issue, was faithful to his trust. 
 
 In February, 1888, he was obliged to con- 
 duct a very bitter fight begun by the Brother- 
 hoods of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. 
 These organizations, which had been treated 
 with great consideration by all the railway 
 companies and with actual servility by some, 
 had become so powerful that they were ready 
 to dictate, and in some cases did dictate, to 
 the railroads many details of management. 
 The officers of the Burlington Road and its 
 directors decided that they could not meet 
 the demands formulated by the Brotherhoods 
 of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, and 
 compromise being impossible, Mr. Stone took 
 charge of the bitterest fight which has ever 
 been waged in this country between intelli- 
 gent labor and a considerate employer. It 
 has been thought by those not familiar with 
 the subject that Mr. Stone was unpopular 
 with the men, and that personal dislike had 
 something to do with this strike. Such, how- 
 ever, is very far from the truth, for Mr. Stone 
 
was really exceedingly popular with the very 
 men who struck, and a large majority of them 
 were adverse to a strike, but left their en- 
 gines because they feared the power of their 
 own organization. Stone, on the other hand, 
 was not fighting a personal conflict, but a 
 conflict of principle. The aspect of the case 
 which presented itself to him was simply 
 that he held a position of trust requiring him 
 to look after the interests of the stockholders 
 of the Company as represented by their 
 directors and officers. He saw only too 
 clearly the eifect of considering the demands 
 of the Brotherhood leaders, who had selected 
 the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad 
 for their test battle. After the strike began 
 and as the fight grew more desperate, the 
 men, who saw their chances slipping away 
 from them, became more and more vin- 
 dictive, threatening, in their rage, to reach 
 even the extremes of violence. The 
 result of the conflict is too well known 
 to need repetition, and while it is not pos- 
 sible to calculate just the effect of this hard- 
 fought battle, certain it is that it was far- 
 reaching on the railroads, on the employes 
 and on the community. Stone was just the 
 
man needed for the emergency ; he could 
 not only say to the men, " Stop ! you have 
 gone far enough," but he could prove to 
 them that he meant it. The men learned 
 that demands exceeding the bounds of rea- 
 son could be successfully resisted — in other 
 words, that they were not, as they had sup- 
 posed, invincible. The community at large 
 learned that labor leaders were made of the 
 same clay as ordinary mortals, and that there 
 were among them men utterly devoid of 
 character, despicable, treacherous, self-seek- 
 ing, and unscrupulous in the extreme. But 
 for the experience of the Burlington Road in 
 1888, the railroads might not have stood to- 
 gether in 1894, and the violence of that con- 
 flict might have been much more wide- 
 spread. It is generally conceded by railway 
 men in this country that Henry Stone settled 
 the question for many years to come in this 
 country, whether the railways shall be dic- 
 tated to by any organization, however praise- 
 worthy its general object. 
 
 In September, 1888, six months after the 
 strike, Mr. Stone was appointed Second Vice- 
 President of the Chicago, Burlington and 
 Quincy Railroad Company, and held that 
 
position until May, 1890, when he left the 
 railroad to take the presidency of the Chi- 
 cago and Central Union Telephone Compa- 
 nies. He had for a number of years been 
 increasingly interested in electrical work, and 
 took hold of his new position with much zeal. 
 Although the work was so entirely different 
 from anything he had done before, he de- 
 voted himself to it with such application that 
 he was soon recognized as an authority on 
 telephone construction, maintenance and op- 
 eration. 
 
 In October, 1891, Mr. Stone was elected a 
 Director and a member of the Grounds and 
 Buildings Committee of the World's Colum- 
 bian Exposition. Mr. E. T. Jeffery resigned 
 the chairmanship of the committee in the fol- 
 lowing spring, and Mr. Stone was elected to 
 fill his place. He was also a member of the 
 Committee on Transportation and of the 
 'Committee on Reference and Control. The 
 latter was a court of last resort, where were 
 settled all disputes between the national and 
 the local commissions. The Council of Ad- 
 ministration was organized late in the sum- 
 mer of 1892, and then became the governing 
 body of the Exposition. Upon it devolved 
 
the work of the committee of which Mr. 
 Stone was a member, leaving him little to 
 do ofificialh^ His influence in the Exposi- 
 tion was strongly felt as soon as he became a 
 director. From the beginning, his confreres 
 sought his counsel and were guided by his 
 decisions. There were only two men in the 
 local organization whose opinions had the 
 weight of his, but neither was strong in quite 
 the same direction. He was a remarkable 
 organizer and administrator; luminous, ex- 
 haustive and convincing in analysis and 
 summing-up, but at the same time crisp and 
 terse in all he had to say or write. He 
 grasped conditions surrounding the national 
 commission, the local organization and his 
 committees, with celerity and clearness ; and 
 he, more than any other man, managed to 
 knit them together into final working shape. 
 The Grounds and Buildings Committee 
 controlled the organization and design of 
 the landscape, water supply and sewers, elec- 
 tric and steam power, transportation, build- 
 ings, the guard, fire department, janitors, and 
 many other functions, including the final 
 placing and caring for all of the exhibits. 
 As head of the Grounds and Buildings Com- 
 
mittee, his knowledge and experience were 
 of the utmost value. Nearly all of the ac- 
 tivities in the Exposition were in his depart- 
 ment ; and it was during his administration 
 that they were systematized and brought 
 into order. This committee was much be- 
 hind in its work when he became chairman ; 
 so much so that the Chief of Construction 
 and his forces were nearly discouraged, but 
 difificulties disappeared like magic under Mr, 
 Stone, and while he remained chairman busi- 
 ness was dispatched with comprehensive 
 firmness and decision. His idea of subordi- 
 nation was that a man must fill his place 
 and not get out of it, and that the officers over 
 him must not interfere with his functions ; 
 consequently, during the period when the Ex- 
 position was being designed and built, he 
 never made himself known in Jackson Park as 
 an officer, but was careful to keep in the back- 
 ground, and to work through the executive 
 officer who had command in that place. 
 Many efforts were made to go over the head 
 of the latter, but those who tried were inva- 
 riably met with the remark : " I can't take 
 up your case except through the Chief of 
 Construction himself. If you have any com- 
 
plaints to make or suggestions to offer, state 
 them in writing to him, and he will bring 
 them to the committee." He was a wise 
 counselor and a steady backer. He felt his 
 responsibility, but never unloaded it upon 
 other people. His admonitions were few, his 
 encouragements many and strong. He was 
 in deep sympathy with the fine-art side of 
 the work ; and the sculptors, painters and 
 architects admired and loved him as a man 
 not less than as an officer of the Exposition. 
 The Chief of Construction expressly wishes 
 his opinion to go on record that very much 
 of the credit for the effectiveness of the or- 
 ganization in Jackson Park is due to Henry 
 Stone because of his wise counsel and un- 
 wavering support, and that, in the retrospect 
 of the Columbian Exposition, of the three 
 figures looming above the rest, Henry Stone 
 is chief. 
 
 Such had been his education — exercising 
 and so strengthening the qualities which 
 were doubly his by heredity. His mind had 
 become an instrument of precision, with a 
 comprehensive grasp upon minute details 
 and unusual ability to group them along the 
 lines of fundamental principles. It may be 
 
that his sense of the importance of minutiae 
 sometimes led him into undue punctilious- 
 ness. A man with his power of bringing 
 things to pass is apt to become careless, 
 even contemptuous, of the niceties of social 
 usage, but Mr. Stone came to be an admirer 
 of conventionalities, scrupulousl)' exact in 
 all matters of social form, taking delight in 
 planning all the details of an occasion which, 
 in itself, was comparatively unimportant. 
 Yet this tendency also led him to new 
 sources of enjoyment and culture. He first 
 became interested in the symphony concerts, 
 not so much because he loved music as be- 
 cause he reveled in the power of the con- 
 ductor to subordinate and command instru- 
 ments and men for the production of 
 harmonious effect, and he grew enthusiastic 
 over French literature because of its mar- 
 velous perfection of form and grace of 
 expression. Yet polish only brought out 
 the beauty of the heart of oak ; the 
 manner of a Frenchman was but a velvet 
 glove on the iron hand of an English- 
 man. He would do his duty regardless of 
 consequences to himself or others, and noth- 
 ing could swerve him by so much as a hair's 
 56 
 
breadth from what he believed to be the 
 right path. Thus prepared, having learned 
 to convert his indomitable and apparently 
 inexhaustible energy into effective force, he 
 was looking forward to a task which, as he 
 confidently believed, would enlist all his 
 strength, give scope to all his powers, and 
 prove to be the real work of his life, when, 
 without an instant's warning, the end came 
 to all his hopes and plans, and he was gone, 
 " leaving behind him the fame of the valiant 
 and true soldier that has done his duty as he 
 was bound to do." 
 
 In his pocket-book, after his death, were 
 found the familiar lines of Browning, which 
 he liked undoubtedly because they set forth 
 his own ideals, made actual, so his friends 
 attest, in his consistent attitude toward life 
 and duty : 
 
 One who never turned his back, but marched breast 
 
 forward, 
 Never doubted clouds would break, 
 Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong 
 
 would triumph. 
 Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 
 Sleep to wake. 
 
FAVORITE LINES 
 From an Old Scrap-book. 
 
 i^The author is not known.) 
 
 For all of us who have communed truly with the 
 
 past, 
 Have many friends upon the farther shore 
 We wot not of, and when we land, it is 
 'Mongst older, more familiar, ones we stand 
 Than those, the weeping ones, we leave behind. 
 
CT