LESLIE, FRANK. 



427 



over a million of dollars. The following year 

 he gave lots on Seventy-third Street, assessed 

 at $61,000, to the Presbyterian Home for Aged 

 Women. In 1874 he gave the site of the Pres- 

 byterian Church on Seventy-third Street, esti- 

 mated at $100,000. On March 17, 1870, he 

 conveyed the ten lots on the crest of the hill 

 between Seventieth and Seventy-fifth Street, 

 overlooking Central Park, for the erection of 

 Lenox Library. The ground was valued at 

 $100,000. The building cost him $450,000. 

 The collection of books and works of art 

 which it contains, the accumulation of a half 

 century of assiduous labor, are beyond value. 

 Mr. Lenox was almost a recluse in his habits. 

 He was a member of the Chamber of Com- 

 merce, having been elected in 1830. He served 

 as president of the Presbyterian Home, and 

 was a member and regular attendant of the 

 Presbyterian Church. But he was singularly 

 reserved and retired in his habits. He was 

 never seen in that older society of New York 

 to which, by birth and connection, he belonged. 

 He was never married. Of his seven sisters, 

 two only survive him. His special request to 

 his family and attendants was that no details 

 of his life should be given for publication. 

 But he was of that class of men who " do good 

 by stealth, and blush to find it fame." His 

 charity was unostentatious, but the magnifi- 

 cence of his gifts brought them before the 

 world. They must preserve the memory of a 

 public b3nefa3tor. 



LESLIE, FRANK. This well-known publisher 

 of numerous periodicals, illustrated ones es- 

 pecially, died at his residence in New York 

 City on January 10, 1830, he being then fifty- 

 nine years old. He had been for some time 

 sick of a cancer, as the attending physicians 

 pronounced it; but its deadly character was 

 so little apprehended that, as late as one hour 

 before he expired, the members of his family 

 believed he was growing better, approaching 

 convalescence. His real name was Henry Car- 

 ter, born at Ipswich, England, in 1821, the son 

 of Joseph Carter, a glove manufacturer of 

 that place. Frank Leslie was assumed ; a nom 

 d*art it might perhaps be termed, as we call that 

 a norn de plume under which many a writer 

 gives his or her literary productions to the 

 world. He passed his boyhood in his father's 

 factory to learn the glove-making business ; 

 and, that he might perfect himself in it, he was 

 sent to London at seventeen years of age, rec- 

 ommended to his uncle, who had an exten- 

 sive dry-goods establishment in the capital, and 

 who employed him as clerk in the glove de- 

 partment. Both at Ipswich, however, and 

 more in London, he indulged his naturally 

 predominant passion for drawing, sketching, 

 and engraving, particularly on wood, devoting 

 to knowledge and proficiency in art all of his 

 free hours, and much also of the time which 

 he should have given to duty as a trader's ap- 

 prentice. His father and uncle, who destined 

 him for trade, reproved him for his wander- 



ing after art ; and it was chiefly to escape de- 

 tection and reproach from those to whom he 

 naturally owed respect and deference that he 

 sought to hide himself under the name of 

 Frank Leslie. In his twentieth year he chose, 

 and actually began to practice, art as his only 

 pursuit in life. At that age he also married, 

 and three sons have been born to him Henry, 

 Alfred, and Scipio, all of whom grew up to 

 man's estate, the last named one having died 

 in 1879. As to happiness in domestic life, how- 

 ever, his marriage proved an unfortunate one 

 from the beginning; and, after nearly twenty 

 years' continuance, ended in separation in 1860. 

 In his career as an artist he started from the es- 

 tablishment of the u Illustrated London News," 

 whose engraving department he took in charge. 

 It was during his connection with that jour- 

 nal that he mastered the details and minutim 

 relating to an illustrated paper, which knowl- 

 edge he turned to good account in after-life. 

 In 1848 he emigrated from his native coun- 

 try and settled himself in New York City, 

 and shortly after arrival had his family name, 

 Henry Carter, formally changed into Frank 

 Leslie by a special act of the Legislature. His 

 first business connection in America was with 

 the New York " Gleason's Pictorial." Some 

 time later, when Phirieas T. Barnum, with the 

 Messrs. Beach, started their illustrated paper, 

 Mr. Leslie was treated with to superintend the 

 engravings. Mr. Barnum had so favorable an 

 opinion of the young engraver's abilities that 

 in a consultation with his associates he offered 

 to double the twenty thousand dollars which he 

 had already invested in the concern, on condi- 

 tion that its management should be placed in 

 Frank Leslie's hands, which proposal was not 

 accepted. Journalistic records attest that pa- 

 per to have been short-lived. In 1854 Mr. Les- 

 lie embarked in the publishing business on his 

 own account. He began with the " Gazette of 

 Fashion," which was soon after followed by 

 the "New York Journal." He purchased the 

 "Journal" cheaply, as its gradually decreasing 

 circulation in the hands of its former owner 

 had been at that time run down to the lowest 

 figure. Under Mr. Leslie's skillful management 

 it very speedily became profitable. On De- 

 cember 14, 1855, he issued the first number of 

 "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper," the 

 most noteworthy of his periodicals. The events 

 regarded most stirring and important by the 

 people of this country are found chronicled 

 and illustrated in this paper as they success- 

 ively occurred during the interval intervening 

 between that date and Mr. Leslie's death a 

 quarter of a century ; among others, the Bur- 

 dell murder in Bond Street; the inauguration 

 of President Buchanan, the first event of that 

 kind ever illustrated in North America ; the 

 swill-milk horrors, for his action in exposing 

 which Mr. Leslie received public recognition, 

 and a public testimonial ; the execution of 

 John Brown ; the great Lynn strike ; the Jap- 

 anese Commission ; the first laying of the At- 



