686 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



recall the time when Lafayette, during his visit 

 to New Orleans, called to see her at her home, 

 and at parting left her a kiss. She remem- 

 bered the old French General Humbert, and 

 was one of the few who escorted to the tomb 

 the remains of the hero of Castelbar. During 

 the hits war she was active in aiding those 

 who suffered, whenever an opportunity of- 

 fered. 



MoGRATH, H. PRICE, born in Versailles, 

 "Woodford County, Kentucky, in 1813 ; died 

 July, 1881, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 

 Mr. McGrath's reputation as a sporting-man 

 commenced at a very early age. His father 

 was a tailor, and taught his son that trade, but 

 he had selected one more in accordance with 

 his tastes, and was an adept in all games of 

 cards. Leaving the paternal roof, he roamed 

 over the South and West, fluctuating between 

 affluence and poverty, after the manner of his 

 kind. In 1852 he opened the first gambling- 

 house in the South, at New Orleans. It was 

 there that he conceived the idea, original 

 with himself, of selling pools. At the outset 

 McGrath and his partners merely acted as a 

 depository for stakes made hand in hand, and 

 charged no commissions. The patronage of 

 the house grew to such an extent that it was 

 found necessary to issue tickets of invitation, 

 charging ten dollars for the same. One even- 

 ing McGrath proposed selling choices upon a 

 race, he acting as auctioneer, and his partners 

 as pool-writers, and thus the business was be- 

 gan. The house was at the height of its suc- 

 cess when the war commenced, and McGrath 

 went to New York, where he formed a copart- 

 nership with Morrissey and Chamberlain in 



1863. He remained there until the spring of 



1864, when, drawing $250,000 out of the game, 

 he returned to the South, and purchased five 

 hundred acres of land in the blue-grass region, 

 near Lexington. This he converted into one 

 of the grandest stock farms, which he christ- 

 ened " McGrathiana." Here he entertained 

 his friends on every Sunday preceding the 

 spring and fall meeting of the Kentucky Asso- 

 ciation. His viands and wines were of the 

 choicest, and his hospitality genial and liberal. 

 To his stables belonged some of the best racers 

 that ever graced the American turf, including 

 Endorser, Rhynodine, Calvin, Aaron Penning- 

 ton, Bob Woolly, Leonard, Aristides, Tom 

 Bowling, and others. Upon the turf McGrath 

 was regarded as strictly honorable, always 

 backing his own horses heavily, and making 

 no concealments. His good impulses and keen 

 insight into character no doubt contributed 

 much to his success ; and his generous dispo- 

 sition, which prompted him to large and active 

 charity, made him much beloved by his family, 

 friends, and the numerous pensioners on his 

 bounty, whom his death has sorely bereaved. 

 His estate was worth $200,000. 



NTJTT, GEORGE WASHINGTON MORRISON, born 

 April 1, 1844, at Manchester, New Hampshire ; 

 died April 25, 1881, in New York. "Commo- 



dore Nutt," as this celebrated dwarf was known 

 to the public, was the son of a New Hampshire 

 farmer, who held the position of city marshal 

 in Manchester. Both of his parents were large, 

 hearty folk, the father weighing upward of 

 two hundred and fifty pounds. In a family of 

 five, his brother, "Major" Rodney Nutt, and 

 the "Commodore," were of diminutive stature ; 

 these two maintained through life the most 

 affectionate relations. Until he was fifteen 

 years of age the Liliputian size of George 

 Washington Morrison had not spread beyond 

 his native town, but some time during 1859 P. 

 T. Barnum heard of the Manchester phenome- 

 non, and soon made his parents so tempting 

 an offer for his services that, in 1860, he was 

 first presented to the New York public at 

 Barnum's Museum, Broadway and Ann Streets, 

 which then occupied the site of the present 

 " Herald " building. Here he was for a long 

 time a great attraction, not only because of 

 his being forty-three inches in height, but 

 by reason of his pleasing manners, lively an- 

 tics, and unfailing good-humor. Unlike most 

 dwarfs, he had a pleasant countenance, and 

 a figure in perfect proportion to his height. 

 In 1869, at the suggestion of Mr. Barnum, a 

 troupe of midgets was organized for a tour 

 around the world. The party consisted of Tom 

 Thumb, his wife, Commodore Nutt, and Min- 

 nie Warren. During the following three years 

 this quartet of little people visited almost 

 every important part of the habitable globe. 

 The inhabitants of Japan, China, Australia, 

 India, Arabia, Egypt, France, England, Ireland, 

 and Scotland were astonished and amused by 

 the sight of this condensed form of humanity, 

 and after one of the longest and most success- 

 ful starring tours on record the tiny folk ar- 

 rived off Sandy Hook just three years and a 

 day after their departure from New York. 

 The Commodore subsequently joined a com- 

 pany of artists styled the Deakin Liliputian 

 Opera Troupe, to which his musical and dra- 

 matic talent lent luster; he then went into 

 management, and, with his brother, the " Ma- 

 jor," opened a variety show at Portland, Ore- 

 gon ; but, this venture not proving successful, 

 he sold out, and went to San Francisco, where 

 he started an entertainment of a similar nature. 

 Before a year had passed he tired of this, and 

 organized a theatrical company, which did not 

 reward his enterprise with much success ; he 

 abandoned it, and entered business in Sixth 

 Avenue, New York. Afterward he acted as 

 superintendent at the Rockaway Pier, and 

 still later resumed his wandering life as a 

 showman, with a combination known as the 

 " Tally-ho." Commodore Nutt was distin- 

 guished for large-hearted virtues that are often 

 lacking in bigger men ; his genial temper was 

 allied to constancy and generosity that entitle 

 his memory to the highest respect. It is 

 stated by his cousin and manager, Mr. D. C. 

 Purdy, that, of the $30,000 paid him by Bar- 

 num for a three years' engagement, one half 



