OBITUARIKS. AMKRICAN. ( NICHOLSON PARROTT.) 



577 



could identify the stream later with the comet of 

 isilii. In 1M14 he ]iiihlished a memoir on sporadic 

 meteors, and of ~t> reenrded publications OI his up 

 to ts'.c!. 29 relate to this or allied subjects. He su- 

 pervised the issue by the Connecticut Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences of a map of the heavens on 

 which observers could mark the apparent paths of 

 meteors, and thus a very large number of observa- 

 tions was obtained. I!eside> this the chief labor 

 of his life Prof. Newton was the author of papers 

 on life insufance and statistics on the metric sys- 

 tem, which at his suggestion was first embodied in 

 American arithmetics in 1864, and on transcenden- 

 tal curves, of the articles on meteors in the " Ency- 

 clopaedia Britannica '' and "Johnson's Cyclopa?dia," 

 and of the definitions in astronomy and mathemat- 

 ics in the " International Dictionary.'' lie was for 

 many years an editor of " The American Journal of 

 '.e'e." Prof. Newton was active in the forma- 

 tion of the National Academy of Science, of which 

 he remained a member till his death, and he served 

 both the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 

 and the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science as president. He received from the Na- 

 tional Academy the Smith gold medal for his re- 

 searches and discoveries regarding meteors. Per- 

 sonally, he was unassuming and genial, and those 

 with whom he came in contact in the classroom 

 could not help being impressed with his mathemat- 

 ical ability. His peculiar smile of triumph as he 

 turned to' his class after a long and intricate dem- 

 onstration on the blackboard was traditional at 

 Yale. He took much interest in the new develop- 

 ment of the material side of the university that be- 

 gan about 1875, and many of the present features 

 of the college quadrangle are due to his suggestions. 

 Besides all this, he took a deep interest in the civic 

 affairs of New Haven. 



Nicholson, Eliza Jane, author and journalist, 

 born on a plantation on Pearl river, Miss., in 1849 : 

 died in New Orleans, La., Feb. 15, 1896. She was 

 the daughter of Capt. J. W. Poitevant, who was 

 descended from an old Huguenot family. Under 

 the pen name of Pearl Rivers she began writing 

 songs and verse at an early age. her first efforts ap- 

 pearing in the ' Home Journal," and her last, the 

 beginning of a projected series of biblical lyrics, in 

 the " Cosmopolitan." Her early compositions at- 

 tracted the attention of Col. A. M. Holbrook, then 

 the proprietor of the New Orleans " Picayune," 

 who offered her a place on the staff of the paper, 

 and soon afterward married her. She made a thor- 

 ough study of the details of journalism, and, on her 

 husband's death, assumed the management of the 

 paper, paid off a debt of $80,000, built new quarters, 

 and brought the property to a successful condition. 

 In this task she was aided by George Nicholson, 

 for a long time the business manager, whom she 

 married in 1878. She took sole control of the edi- 

 torial department, and he of the financial. Mr. and 

 Mrs. Nicholson died within a week of each other. 



Nye. Edsrar ">Vilson, author, born in Shirley. Me., 

 Aug. 25, 1850; died near Asheville. N. ('.. Feb. 22. 

 1896. In youth he accompanied his parents to Wis- 

 consin, where he was brought up on a farm, subse- 

 quently attending school and studying law at River 

 Falls. He removed to Wyoming, and was admitted 

 to the bar in 1876. but found little opportunity for 

 practice. Turning to the newspaper press for a 

 livelihood, he began writing humorous articles, un- 

 der the pen name of Bill Nye for " The Cheyenne 

 Sun." Soon afterward he became a reporter on the 

 4 ' Tribune." of Denver. Col., and thence went to 

 Laramie. Wyo.. where he established " The Boom- 

 erang." While editing the last-named paper he 

 also acted as justice of the peace, superintendent of 

 schools, postmaster, and United States commission- 



VOL. xxxvi. 37 A 



er. UN articles in -'The Boomerang" were exten- 

 sively copied, but the paper did not succeed finan- 

 cially, lie then went to Hudson. \Vi>.. where he 

 engaged in writing weekly letters to variou> news- 

 papers: afterward removed to New York city, con- 

 tinued his humorous writing, and became a popular 

 lecturer: and during the last three years made his 

 home in North Carolina. He published "Bill Ny.- 

 and the Boomerang" (Chicago, 1881); "The Forty 

 Liars" (1888); "Haled Hay" (1884); "Bill Nye's 

 Blossom Rock" (1885) ; " Remarks" (1886) : a series 

 of articles which he named his "Autobiographies" 

 ("The Century," 1892); "A Comic History of the 

 United States'': and. posthumously. "A Comic 

 History of England " (1896). 



Paige, Lucius Robinson, clergyman, born in 

 Hardwick, Mass.. March 8, 1802 ; "died in Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., Sept. 2, 1896. He was educated at 

 Hopkins Academy, Hadley. Mass., and was ordained 

 as a Universalist minister in 1825. He filled suc- 

 cessive pastorates in Massachusetts at Springfield, 

 Gloucester, and Cambridge till 1839. when he re- 

 signed all pastoral care, though continuing to preach 

 for thirty years longer. During his long residence 

 in Cambridge he held many local offices, and was a 

 member of the State Legislature in 1878-'79. Be- 

 sides single sermons and addresses, he published 

 "Selections from Eminent Commentators" (1833); 

 " Questions on Select Portions of the Gospels " 

 (1838); "Commentary on the New Testament," in 

 5 volumes (1844-'67) : "History of Cambridge" 

 (1877): ''History of Hardwick, with Genealogical 

 Register " (1883). 



Park, John Dnane. jurist, born in Preston, 

 Conn., in 1819; died in Norwich, Conn., Aug. 4, 

 l*!Mi. He was graduated at Wilbraham (Mass.) 

 Academy; was admitted to the bar in 1847; was 

 elected judge of the New London county court in 

 1S54, and to the State Legislature in 1855 ; subse- 

 quently became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 

 of Connecticut ; and at the time of his death was 

 State referee. 



Parker. Isaac Charles, jurist, born in Belmont 

 County, Ohio, Oct. 15, 1838 ; died in Fort Smith, 

 Ark.. "Nov. 17, 1896. In 1859 he removed to St. 

 Joseph. Mo., where he became circuit attorney, pro- 

 vost marshal, circuit judge, Attorney-General of 

 the State, and member of Congress. He was ap- 

 pointed judge of the United States Court for the 

 Western District of Arkansas in 1875. and held the 

 office till his death. His enforcement of the laws 

 made his name a terror to the hordes of outlaws 

 and fugitives from justice from other States who 

 overran the Indian Territory and the adjoining 

 States. The records show that up to March, 1896, 

 13,490 criminal cases were docketed in his court, 

 and of this number 9.454 resulted in conviction. 

 It is believed that Judge Parker had sentenced 

 more men to be hanged than any other judge in 

 the country, and he was probably the only subordi- 

 nate judge that ever overruled a decision of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States, which he did 

 in November, 1894. In the official jurisdiction of 

 Judge Parker, during his term, about 75 deputy 

 marshals were killed in the discharge of their duty. 



Parrott. Peter Pearse. manufacturer, born in 

 Portsmouth. N. H., June 18, 1811 ; died in Arden, 

 N. Y., July 30, 1896. He was the youngest son of 

 John F. Parrott. a former United' States Senator 

 from New Hampshire, and a brother of Capt. Rob- 

 ert P. Parrott, U. S. A., the inventor of the rifled 

 cannon bearing his name. On attaining manhood, 

 Peter associated himself with his brother in the 

 manufacture of iron in Orange County. New York. 

 Their furnaces at the Greenwood Iron Works, now 

 known as Arden, made most of the iron from which 

 the Parrott guns and other ordnance were made at the 



