OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (MURRAY NEWELL.) 



45S 



Murray, Randolph, actor, born in England 

 about 1840; died in New York city, Aug. 23, 1901. 

 He was brought to the United States by his 

 parents, and when twenty years of age went upon 

 the stage. He acted chiefly in melodrama, appear- 

 ing in later years as Charles Creston in The Sleep- 

 ing City, George Marston in The Derby Mascot, 

 and Uncle Cesaire in Sapho. He served as a 

 gunner in the United States navy in the civil war, 

 and during the Spanish-American War he was 

 an officer in the Rough Riders, and was severely 

 wounded in the Santiago campaign. 



Musick, John Boy, author, born in St. Louis 

 County, Missouri, Feb. 28, 1849; died in Omaha, 

 Neb., April 14, 1901. He was graduated at the 

 Northern Missouri State Normal School in 1874, 

 was admitted to the bar in 1877, and practised 

 law, chiefly in Kirksville, Mo., till 1882, when he 

 devoted his time to journalism and authorship. 

 His first story was Justice Courts, printed in 

 Potter's American Monthly in 1878. He was the 

 author of The Banker of Bedford; History Series 

 of Missouri; Calamity Row; Brother against 

 Brother; The Mysterious Mr. Howard; Hawaii: 

 Our New Possessions; The War with Spain; 

 Lights and Shadows of the War with Spain; His 

 Brother's Crime; Cuba Libre; and the Columbian 

 novels (Columbia, Estevan, St. Augustine, Poca- 

 hontas, The Pilgrims, A Century too Soon: A 

 Story of Bacon's Rebellion, The Witch of Salem, 

 Braddock, Independence, Sustained Honor, Hum- 

 bled Pride, Union), a series of 12 novels in which 

 he attempted to cover the history of the United 

 States. These were written in about twenty-four 

 months, in 1891 to 1893, in order to complete the 

 series before the closing of the Columbian Expo- 

 sition in Chicago. The newspapers gave Mr. 

 Musick considerable notoriety through the pub- 

 lication of supposed plagiarisms of Dickens and 

 St. Pierre that they said were to be found in 

 these novels. 



Negley, James Scott, soldier, born in East 

 Liberty (now East End, Pittsburg), Pa., Dec. 22, 

 1826; died in Plainfield, N. J., Aug. 7, 1901. He 

 was educated in the public schools and at the 

 Western University of Pennsylvania. He served 

 with the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment through the 

 Mexican War. He then engaged in manufactur- 

 ing and railroad building. At the outbreak of 

 the civil war he was brigadier-general of the 18th 

 Division of Pennsylvania militia. In ten days, in 

 April, 1861, he organized, clothed, and equipped a 

 brigade for three months' service. He was com- 

 missioned brigadier-general of volunteers in April, 

 1861, and served with distinction until mustered 

 out, Jan. 19, 1865. At Lavergne, Oct. 7, 1862, he 

 defeated the Confederates under Anderson and 

 Forrest. For gallantry in action at the battle of 

 Stone River he was made major-general and 

 placed in command of the 18th Division, 14th 

 Army Corps. He led the forward movement upon 

 Tullahoma, and in the battle of Chickamauga he 

 held Owen's Gap. After the war he engaged in 

 business in Pittsburg, was president and vice- 

 president of several railways, and was connected 

 with many large enterprises. He was a member 

 of Congress (elected as a Republican) from 1869 

 to 1873, from 1875 to 1877, and from 1885 to 1887. 

 He was for fifteen years a member of the Board 

 of Managers of the National Home for Volun- 

 teers; and was president of the National Union 

 League of America. 



Nevin, Ethelbert, composer, born in Edge- 

 worth, Pa., Nov. 25, 1862; died in New Haven, 

 Conn., Feb. 17, 1901. He was a son of Robert P. 

 Nevin, the author, who early recognized his son's 

 artistic taste and permitted him to devote his life 



to music. He studied first in Pittsburg, and in 

 1884 went to Berlin to study under Karl Klind- 

 worth. He also studied under Mans von I'.iilow, 

 and in 1887 he returned to the United States. Me 

 had his studio in Boston, and from lime to time 

 appeared in public, though he was be.^t known 

 through the popularity of his songs. In 1H ! .)2 

 he spent a year in Paris coaching opera-singers. 

 The following year he traveled in Algiers and 

 Italy, and for some time afterward he resided in 

 Florence and Venice. His last appearance in 

 New York was in 1897, when, with Mrs. Julie 

 Wyman, he gave a recital of his songs at the 

 Carnegie Lyceum. In 1900 he removed to New 

 Haven, Conn. When eleven years old Mr. Nevin 

 composed a polka; The Rosary, and his serenade,, 

 Good-night, Good-night, Beloved, were written 

 when he was thirteen; and two of his best-known 

 pieces, Narcissus, and Oh, that we Two were May- 

 ing, when he was but fifteen. May in Tuscany 

 and A Day in Venice were composed in Italy.. 

 Among his many popular songs are: Bedtime 

 Song; Cradle Song; I once had a Sweet Little 

 Doll; and Milkmaid's Song. His songs are more 

 popular than those written by any other American 

 composer. Narcissus, one of a series of ' water 

 sketches, always regarded by Mr. Nevin as one 

 of his most trivial compositions, is played in al- 

 most every country of the world, and has sold 

 more than 125,000 copies. 



Newell, Robert Henry (Orpheus C. Kerr) r 

 author and humorist, born in New York city r 

 Dec. 13, 1836; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., about 

 July 1, 1901. After receiving an academic edu- 

 cation he engaged in newspaper work. He was 

 literary editor of the New York Mercury from 

 1858 to 1862; was on the staff of the New York 

 World from 1869 to 1874, in which he edited a 

 column of social studies; and was editor of a 

 weekly paper, Hearth and Home, from 1874 to 

 1876. He wrote the Orpheus C. Kerr letters on 

 the civil war, which were published in 4 volumes 

 (1862-'68), and were a great success. He was also 

 for a time war correspondent of the New York 

 Herald. In recent years he had lived quietly in 

 New York city, where he took an active interest 

 in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 

 Animals. He attracted considerable unpleasant 

 public attention by his marriage in July, 1863, to 

 Adah Isaacs Mencken (Dolores Adios Fuertes),. 

 the author of Indigine and Infelicia, who had 

 been divorced from her second husband, John C. 

 Heenan, the prize-fighter, the year before, and 

 from whom Mr. Newell was divorced in 1865. Mr, 

 Newell was the author of The Palace Beautiful 

 and Other Poems (1865); Avery Glibun, or Be- 

 tween Two Fires, an American romance (1867); 

 The Cloven Foot, an adaptation of Edwin Drood 

 to American scenes and American readers 

 (1870); Versatilities, poems (1871); The Walk- 

 ing Doll, a novel of New York life (1872) ; Stud- 

 ies in Stanzas (1882); There was once a Man 

 (1884); Smoked Glass; and another volume of 

 poems. 



Newell, William Augustus, ex-Governor of 

 New Jersey, born in Franklin, Ohio, Sept, 5, 1817; 

 died in Allentown, N. J., Aug. 8, 1901. He was 

 graduated at Rutgers College in 1836, and in 

 medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in. 

 1839. He received the degree of LL. D. from 

 Rutgers in 1871. He was elected as a Whig to 

 Congress in 1846, and was reelected in 1848, and 

 served a third time from 1865 to 1867. While in 

 Congress he formed a friendship with Abraham 

 Lincoln, and was family physician to the Presi- 

 dent during his occupancy of the White House. 

 Dr. Newell was the founder of the Government 



