OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



687 



April, 1865, on the retirement of the Messrs. 

 Fair, he established the banking-house of 

 Kidder, Peabody & Co. In the early part of 

 1886 this firm was made the agents in the 

 United States of the Barings in London. Mr. 

 Kidder was one of the board of trustees and 

 also the treasurer of the Boston Museum of 

 Fine Arts from its beginning, and he had been 

 one of the overseers of Harvard College, and 

 for many years was President of the Ameri- 

 can Unitarian Association. 



Kingsbnry, Beojamin, an American lawyer, 

 born in Boston, Mass., in 1813 ; died in Port- 

 land, Me., May 13, 1886. He studied law 

 with Robert Rantoul, Jr., and was for some 

 time editor of "Zion's Herald," of the Detroit 

 "Morning Post," and of the " Portland East- 

 ern Argus." He was Surveyor of the Port of 

 Portland from 1844 till 1848, a representative 

 in the Maine Legislature in 1861-'63, being 

 speaker pro tern, of the House for some time, 

 judge of the Municipal Court in Portland from 

 1863 till 1870, and mayor of the city from 

 1870 till 1873. 



Laidley, Theodore Thaddeus Sobieski, an Ameri- 

 can soldier, born in Guyandotte, Va., April 14, 

 1822 ; died in Palatka, Fla., April 4, 1886. He 

 was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy 

 in 1842, standing sixth in his class, and was 

 appointed second-lieutenant in the Ordnance 

 Corps. From 1842 till 1846 he served at the 

 Watervliet, N. Y., Washington, D. C., and 

 Allegheny, Pa., arsenals, and then participated 

 in the war with Mexico. He was engaged in 

 the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro 

 Gordo, and in the siege of Puebla, becoming 

 first-lieutenant in March, 1847, and received 

 the brevets of captain and major for his con- 

 duct during the war. Subsequently he served 

 successively on ordnance duty in the arsenals 

 at Watervliet, N. Y. ; Fort Monroe, Va. ; and 

 Charleston, S. C., again in Fort Monroe and 

 Watervliet, and in command of the North 

 Carolina Arsenal from 1854 till 1858, becom- 

 ing captain in July, 1856. During the civil 

 war he was inspector of powder in 1861-'62, 

 and then was in command of the Frankford 

 Arsenal until 1864, when he became inspector 

 of ordnance, and was given charge of the 

 Springfield Armory until 1866. Afterward he 

 had command of the New York and later of 

 the Watertown Arsenal, becoming colonel in 

 April, 1875. He served on several boards by 

 wliich scientific tests and experiments were 

 made, principally on that for testing the 

 strength and value of steel and other metals, 

 in 1875. Col. Laidley was retired at his own 

 request in December, 1882, after over forty 

 years of active service. He invented several 

 valuable appliances that are now used in the 

 ordnance department, including an igniter, a 

 laboratory, an artillery forge, and also a cav- 

 alry forge. Besides important Government 

 reports, he was the author of "The Ordnance 

 Manual of 1861 " and of " Instructions in Rifle 

 Practice" (Philadelphia, 1879). 



Lanigan, George Thomas, an American journal- 

 ist, born on St. Charles River, Richelieu, Can- 

 ada, Dec. 10, 1845 ; died in Philadelphia, Pa., 

 Feb. 5, 1886. He received his early education 

 at the Montreal High-School, and then learned 

 telegraphy. For a short time he worked on 

 the Government telegraph lines as an operator, 

 but was soon promoted to the superintendency 

 of an important circuit. During this time he 

 had an intense longing for newspaper work, 

 and the Fenian raid of 1866 gave him an ex- 

 cellent opportunity for beginning work as a 

 correspondent. He pent many long and im- 

 portant dispatches to the New York u Herald " 

 and other papers. Then he went to Montreal, 

 and with Robert Graham and others established 

 the "Free Lance," a satirical and humorous 

 paper, which developed into the "Evening 

 Star," which is still published. After selling 

 out hisinterest in the "Free Lance," Mr. Lani- 

 gan came to the United States, and was engaged 

 on the Chicago "Times." For a few months 

 he wrote bright political paragraphs, and did 

 much to build up the paper and extend its 

 reputation. About. 1873 he removed to St. 

 Louis, and became city editor of the " Globe- 

 Democrat." He remained there but a short 

 time, and after severing his connection with 

 that paper took charge of the general Western 

 correspondence of the New York "World." 

 His ability was soon recognized, and he was 

 invited to join the editorial staff of that paper. 

 He remained in New York eight years, and 

 wrote voluminously on a wide range of sub- 

 jects. His " Fables," which attracted much 

 attention, were published in book-form, " Out 

 of the World" (New York, 1878), and made 

 him famous. On June 18, 1883, he became 

 editor of the Rochester "Post-Express," and 

 in the summer of 1884 he joined the staff of 

 the Philadelphia "Record." Mr. Lanigan was 

 one of the most versatile of American jour- 

 nalists. He handled statistics, politics, foreign 

 affairs, historical questions, and literary mat- 

 ters with surprising readiness and marked 

 ability, and when he chose to write in lighter 

 vein, whether in verse or prose, he was un- 

 usually successful. Among his most success- 

 ful poems are " The Amateur Orlando " and 

 " A Threnody for the Ahkoond of Swat." 



Lea, Isaac, an American naturalist and pub- 

 lisher, born in Wilmington, Del., March 4, 1792 ; 

 died in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 8, 1866. His 

 ancestors, John and Hannah Lea, members of 

 the Society of Friends, and "noted and valua- 

 ble preachers," came from Gloucester, Eng- 

 land, with William Penn on his second visit to 

 America. Mr. Lea was the fifth son of James 

 Lea, a wholesale merchant, and was sent to 

 the academy at Wilmington as a student in the 

 classical course, with a view to his entering 

 the medical profession. But when fifteen years 

 old he was placed in the mercantile house of 

 his eldest brother in Philadelphia. Here he be- 

 came acquainted with the late Prof.Vanuxem, 

 afterward associated in the geological survey of 



