OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



56V 



in "Washington, D. C., aged 44 years. He was 

 formerly engaged in Indian affairs in Kansas, 

 and subsequently found favor with President 

 Johnson, who appointed him Collector of New 

 Orleans. He proved an active agent in sup- 

 porting the President, and in securing his ac- 

 quittal at the impeachment trial. 



Jan. 15. COLWELL, STEPHEN, an eminent 

 merchant, political economist, and philanthro- 

 pist, of Philadelphia; died in that city, aged VI 

 years. He was a native of Virginia, and, on 

 leaving college, entered the legal profession, 

 but subsequently engaged in the iron busi- 

 ness. He wrote a number of pamphlets 

 on political, financial, religious, and other 

 subjects, and contributed frequently to the 

 magazines and reviews. He accumulated a 

 valuable library, which it is believed has 

 been bequeathed to the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, with provision for the endowment of a 

 Professorship of Social Science. Twenty years 

 ago, he published, under an anonymous name, 

 a valuable essay on "Protection." But his 

 most famous literary work was the "New 

 Themes for the Protestant Clergy," printed in 

 1851, and in answer to reviews of it he wrote 

 "Hints to a Layman," and " Charity and the 

 Clergy," in 1853. His philanthropy was broad 

 and generous. During the late war he was an 

 active participator in the labors of the Sanitary 

 Commission, to which he contributed largely ; 

 and in 1862, in consequence of his thorough 

 knowledge of all matters of taxation, revenue, 

 and tariff, he was appointed one of the special 

 commissioners on the organization of the In- 

 ternal revenue system. 



Jan. 16. BIBBINS, WILLIAM B., M. D., an 

 eminent and philanthropic physician of New 

 York City ; died there, aged 47 years. He was 

 a native of New England, and graduated at 

 Yale College, with honor. Having chosen the 

 medical profession, he gave all his energies to 

 his studies, and, in order to prepare himself 

 more thoroughly for his profession, gave sev- 

 eral years of faithful service to the Bellevue 

 Hospital, the Nursery Hospital on Randall's 

 Island, and the Demilt Dispensary. He was a 

 man of unswerving integrity, great simplicity 

 and unselfishness of character, and of manifold 

 and exhausting labors, without pecuniary re- 

 ward, in medical societies, as Secretary of the 

 Third Avenue Savings-Bank, and as the helper 

 and counsellor of the poor. 



Jan. 17. PAINE, BYRON, Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court of Wisconsin ; died at Milwau- 

 kee, Wis. He was an eminent jurist, and fa- 

 mous for a decision conflicting with the Uni- 

 ted States Government. 



Jan. 18. RICHINGS, PETER (Peter Richings 

 Puget), a humorous actor; died in Media, Pen n., 

 aged 74 years. He was born in London, May 

 19, 1797, was the son of a vice-admiral of the 

 British Navy, was intended for a clergyman, 

 and received a university education ; he was 

 then successively a clerk in the India service, 

 an officer in the British Army, and a student for 



the bar, at Lincoln's Inn ; but, having theatri- 

 cal tastes, he determined to gratify them, and 

 came to this country, where he became con- 

 nected with the Park Theatre company, and 

 made himself a permanent place. Of late 

 years he had been associated with his daugh- 

 ter, Mrs, Caroline Riehings Bernard, in Eng- 

 lish opera. 



Jan. 19. Bt/RDESf, HNR, an eminent ifl- 

 ventor and iron manufacturer ; died in "Wood- 1 

 side, Troy, N. Y., aged 80 years. He was born 

 at Dunblane, in Scotland, in 1791. His father 

 was a farmer, and it was when a youth en- 

 gaged on the farm that the son gave evidence 

 of inventive genius, by making with his own 

 hands labor-saving machinery from the rough- 

 est materials, and with but few tools and no 

 models. His first marked success was in con- 

 structing a threshing-machine. He afterward 

 engaged in erecting grist-mills and making 

 various farm-implements. During this period 

 he attended the school of William Hawley, an 

 accomplished arithmetician; and afterward, 

 having resolved to try his fortunes in America 

 as a machinist and inventor, he went to Edin- 

 burgh and entered upon a course of studies, 

 embracing mathematics, engineering, and 

 drawing. Arriving in this country in 1819, he 

 devoted himself to the improvement of agri- 

 cultural implements. His first effort was in 

 making an improved plough, which took the 

 first premium at three county fairs. In 1820 

 he invented the first cultivator in the country. 

 In 1825 he received a patent for his machine 

 for making the wrought spike, and in 1835 for 

 a machine for making horseshoes. In 1840 he 

 invented a machine for making the hook- 

 headed spike, an article which is used on 

 every railroad in the United States. In the 

 same year he patented a self-acting machine 

 for reducing iron into blooms after puddling. 

 In 1843 he patented an improvement in his 

 horseshoe machinery. In 1849 he patented a 

 self-acting machine for rolling iron into bars. 

 In June, 1857, he devised a new machine for 

 making horseshoes. This may be considered 

 his greatest triumph in mechanics : it is self- 

 acting, and produces from the iron bars sixty 

 shoes per minute. He had obtained patents 

 for this machine from every prominent gov- 

 ernment in Europe. Mr. Burden's suspension 

 water-wheel is another of his inventions. In 

 1833 he built a steamboat 300 feet long, with 

 paddle-wheels 30 feet in diameter; from its 

 shape it was called the "cigar-boat." It was 

 lost through the mismanagement of the pilot. 

 In 1836 Mr. Burden warmly advocated the 

 construction of a line of ocean-steamers, of 

 18,000 tons burden. In 1845 ,when the steamer 

 Great Britain was crippled by breaking one 

 of her screw-blades, Mr. Burden went to Eng- 

 land for the especial purpose of inducing her 

 owners to adopt the side-wheel, but was un- 

 successful. From that time to the period of 

 his death, Mr. Burden was one of the most 

 extensive manufacturers in the United States, 



