442 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (KYLE LEABY.) 



to the rank of colonel. He was military corre- 

 spondent of the New York Tribune throughout 

 the war. 



Kyle, James Henderson, United States Sena- 

 tor, born near Xenia, Ohio. Jan. 24, 1854; died 

 in Aberdeen, S. Dak., July 1, 1901. He studied 

 civil engineering in the University of Illinois, and 

 in 1878 was graduated at Oberlin in the classical 

 course, and at the Western Theological Seminary, 

 Allegheny, Pa., in 1882. While taking his theo- 

 logical course he taught mathematics and en- 

 gineering in Pittsburg. He was three years pas- 

 tor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Salt 

 Lake City, and afterward traveled through Colo- 

 rado and Utah as a home missionary. He 

 preached for a time in Ipswich, S. Dak., and in 

 1888 became pastor of the Congregational church 

 in Aberdeen. A year and a half later he resigned 

 to become the financial agent of Yankton College. 

 On July 4, 1890, he was unexpectedly called upon 

 to deliver an oration before the citizens of Brown 

 County, South Dakota. He spoke about half an 

 hour, advocating the more general distribution of 

 wealth and denouncing the corruption of politics. 

 As the result of this speech he was elected to the 

 State Senate in the autumn of that year. Fol- 

 lowing a deadlock in the Legislature, he was 

 elected as an independent to the United States 

 Senate. He was reelected in 1897. He was a 

 Republican until 1887, but then joined the Demo- 

 cratic party, and, when he was elected to the 

 United States Senate, it was by the votes of the 

 Farmers' Alliance members. He had been a Pro- 

 hibitionist and was known as a sympathizer with 

 the female-suffrage movement. On Dec. 28, 1899, 

 he announced his abandonment of the Populist 

 party. After that time he was classified in the 

 Congressional Directory as a Republican. After 

 March, 1893, Senator Kyle served as chairman 

 of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor. 



Ladue, Joseph, miner, founder of Dawson 

 City, born in Plattsburg, N. Y., in 1853; died in 

 Sehuyler Falls, N. Y., June 26, 1901. When his 

 parents died, in 1874, he determined to become a 

 gold-miner. He appeared in Deadwood, S. Dak., 

 in 1876, with about $100 in his pocket, picked up 

 a job as engineer in the mines, and studied min- 

 ing night and day till he had mastered the 

 business. He went into Alaska on a prospecting 

 tour in the early eighties. He was the first man 

 to hear of the rich Klondike region, and he se- 

 lected 178 acres of Government land, at $1.25 an 

 acre, at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon 

 rivers. On June 23, 1897, he mapped and founded 

 the town of Dawson City on this site, and the 

 town lots, each 50 by 100 feet, brought in many 

 instances $5,000 each. He also organized the 

 Ladue Gold-Mining and Development Company 

 of Dawson. He returned to the United States 

 in the latter part of 1897. He had contracted 

 consumption in Alaska, and after his return to 

 the States spent the greater part of his time in 

 Colorado Springs, Col. 



Laflin, Byron, soldier, born in Lee, Mass., in 

 1829; died in Hudson, N. Y., June 20, 1901. In 

 early life he was a paper manufacturer, operating 

 with his brother the mills that were conducted 

 later by \Varner Miller in Herkimer, N. Y. He 

 enlisted as a captain in the 34th New York Vol- 

 unteers, and was promoted to be its colonel. At 

 the close of the war he was brevetted major- 

 general of volunteers. After the war he was 

 appointed provisional Governor of North Caro- 

 lina, and afterward he served as a member of 

 the Legislature of that State. 



Lambert, Edgar L., engineer, born in Alex- 

 andria, Va., in 1838; died in New Orleans, La., 



Feb. 13, 1901. During the early years of the civil 

 war he served as lieutenant-colonel of the 8th 

 Virginia Regiment, and he was severely wounded 

 in the Shenandoah valley campaign. After his 

 recovery he was appointed lieutenant in the Con- 

 federate navy, and stationed at Mobile. In the 

 battle of M'obile Bay he ran the Selma aground 

 and sank her in order to prevent her capture, 

 and after Farragut's victory he sank the Tusca- 

 loosa in Alabama river. After the war he was 

 appointed to a command under Maximilian in 

 Mexico. He assisted in building the railroad from 

 Mexico to Vera Cruz. When Maximilian was 

 overthrown he returned with the French to 

 France, and remained there till 1870. Returning 

 to the United States as engineer, he assisted in 

 the building of the Texas and Pacific, Missouri, 

 Kansas and Texas, and other Western railroads. 

 After 1893 he was engaged on the survey and 

 plan for the new combination sewerage and 

 drainage system of New Orleans. 



Lankenau,, John D., capitalist and philan- 

 thropist, born in Bremen, Germany, in 1815; died 

 in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 30, 1901. He removed 

 to the United States when nineteen years old, 

 to accept a place with a firm of dry-goods im- 

 porters by whom he had been employed in his 

 native town. He afterward became a member of 

 the firm, and, amassing a fortune, retired in 1865. 

 In 1848 he had married Mary Joanna Drexel, a 

 daughter of Francis M. Drexel. He was named 

 as one of his father-in-law's executors, and the 

 management of the Drexel estate eventually fell 

 entirely into Mr. Lankenau's hands. The work 

 of carrying out the provisions of Francis M. 

 Drexel's will extended over many years, and oc- 

 cupied the executor's attention until his death. 

 Mr. Lankenau succeeded Mr. Drexel on the Board 

 of Trustees of the German Hospital, and was its 

 president after 1869. He was chairman of the 

 commission in charge of the German exhibit at 

 the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and received 

 a decoration from Emperor William I. He estab- 

 lished the Mary J. Drexel Home for Aged and 

 Homeless Patients of the German Hospital, and 

 was a liberal contributor to many institutions 

 and charities. 



Lawson, John, engineer, born in Manchester, 

 England, Aug. 8, 1805; died in St. Louis, Mo., 

 Nov. 21, 1901. When still a boy he was appren- 

 ticed to George Stephenson, the inventor of the 

 locomotive, and under his direction built the first 

 engine. Soon afterward he came to the United 

 States, and for many years he served as a loco- 

 motive engineer on various railroads in the East 

 and South. He later engaged in the steamboat 

 business, residing in Paducah, Ky., for fifty-six 

 years. He made a fortune out of the Cumberland 

 river trade. 



Leary, Richard Phillips, naval officer, born 

 in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 3, 1842; died in Chelsea, 

 Mass., Dec. 27, 1901. He was graduated at the 

 Naval Academy in 1860, and received successive- 

 ly the following commissions: Ensign, Oct. 1, 

 1863; master, May 10, 1866; lieutenant, Feb. 21, 

 1867; lieutenant-commander, March 12, 1868; 

 commander, June 2, 1882; and captain, April 6, 

 1897. He was attached to the blockading squad- 

 ron off Charleston from 1863 to 1865, was aboard 

 the Canandaigua on the European station from 

 1865 to 1868, on the Dictator with the North 

 Atlantic fleet from 1870 to 1873, on the Constella- 

 tion on special service in 1879, on the Pacific 

 station on the Pensacola from 1879 to 1881, and 

 on the Vandalia on the North Atlantic station 

 from 1881 to 1882. After his appointment as 

 commander, in the latter year, he commanded sue- 



