OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



613 



literature of that subject by his " Unconstitu- 

 tionally of Slavery" (1845), the tenets of 

 which were supported by Gerritt Smith, 

 Elizur W right, and others of the Liberty 

 party, but were opposed by the Garrisonians. 

 He defended Thomas Drew, who, in 1870, de- 

 clined to take his oath as a witness before a 

 legislative committee on the ground that in the 

 matter they were investigating they had no 

 rightful authority to compel him to testify. 

 The case was adversely decided on the ground 

 of precedent, but the principles of Mr. Spooner's 

 argument were afterward sustained by the 

 United States Supreme Court. His writings 

 include: "A Deistic Reply to the Alleged Super- 

 natural Evidences of Christianity " and '-The 

 Deistic Immortality, and an Essay on Man's 

 Accountability for his Belief" (1836); " Credit, 

 Currency, and Banking" (1843); "Poverty, 

 Causes and Cure" (1846); "A Defense for 

 Fugitive Slaves" (1856) ; " A New System of 

 Paper Currency " (1861) ; '' Considerations- on 

 United States Bonds " (1866) ; ' No Treason" 

 (1867) ; " A New Banking System ; the Need- 

 ful Capital for Rebuilding the Burnt District " 

 (1873); u Our Financiers, their Ignorance, 

 Usurpations, and Frauds" (1877) ; "The Law 

 of Prices ; Demonstration of the Necessity of 

 an Indefinite Use of Money " (1877); "Gold 

 and Silver as Standards of Value" (1878); and 

 " Letter to Grover Cleveland, on his False In- 

 augural Address" (1886). 



Stendeford, EHsha Dt, an American capitalist, 

 born in Jefferson County, Ky., Dec. 28, 1831 ; 

 died in Louisville, Ky., July 26. 1887. He re- 

 ceived a common-school education, studied 

 medicine, and was graduated in 1853. He was 

 by turns a banker, farmer, and manufacturer, 

 and became actively identified with polit- 

 ical and railroad affairs. In 1868-'71 he was 

 elected a State Senator, and in 1872 a represen- 

 tative in Congress, serving through the term on 

 the committee on the Pacific Railroad, and de- 

 clining a re-election. Dr. Standeford ws ex- 

 president of the Louisville and Nashville 

 Railroad, vice-president of the Jeffersonville, 

 Madison, and Indianapolis Bridge Company, a 

 director of the Farmers and Drovers' Bank, and 

 a farmer on a very extensive scale in several 

 counties. His fortune was estimated at up- 

 ward of $3,000.000. 



Stanton, Henry Brewster, an American lawyer 

 and journalist, born in Pachaug, New London 

 County, Conn., June 27, 1805 ; died in New 

 York city Jan. 14, 1887. He was liberally 

 educated, and when twenty-one years old re- 

 moved to Rochester, N. Y., where he began 

 writing for Thurlow Weed's newspaper, "The 

 Monroe Telegraph," which was advocating the 

 election of Henry Clay to the presidency. 

 Attracted by the excitements of political life, 

 he took the stump, making his first political 

 speech in Rochester. Afterward he was ap- 

 pointed deputy-clerk of Monroe County, hold- 

 ing the ottiee three years. In 1832 he re- 

 moved to Cincinnati to complete his studies in 



Lane Theological Seminary. While there he 

 entered upon his anti-slavery career by making 

 a stirring speech on the "Nat Turner insurrec- 

 tion," and at the anniversary of the American 

 Anti-Slavery Society, held in New York city 

 in 1834, he faced the first of the many mobs 

 he encountered in his fearless advocacy of hu- 

 man freedom. In 1840 he married Miss Eliza- 

 beth Cady, and on May 12 sailed with her for 

 London to attend a convention for the promo- 

 tion of the anti-slavery cause. At the close of 

 the convention they extended their tour 

 through the principal cities of England, Scot- 

 land, Ireland, and France, speaking and work- 

 ing for the relief of the slaves at every opportu- 

 nity. In 1847 he established bis home in Seneca 

 Falls, N. Y., was admitted to the bar, and 

 soon acquired reputation as a successful lawyer 

 in patent cases. He was one of the founders 

 of the Republican party, and maintained an 

 active connection with the daily press for 

 nearly half a century, his contributions con- 

 sisting in the main of scholarly articles on 

 current political topics, and of elaborate biog- 

 raphies of public men. Mr. Stanton published 

 " Sketches of Reforms and Reformers in Great 

 Britain and Ireland " soon after his first trip 

 abroad, and at the time of his death was en- 

 gaged on a volume of personal reminiscences. 



Stearns, Charles W., an American physician, 

 born in Springfield, Mass., in 1818; died in 

 Longmeadow, Mass., Sept. 8, 1887. He was 

 graduated at Yale College in 1837, and took 

 his medical degree at the University of Penn- 

 sylvania in 1840. He practiced for a while in 

 Springfield, Mass., and then entered the army 

 as a surgeon. Subsequently he spent several 

 years in travel and study in Europe, re-enter- 

 ing the army at the outbreak of the civil war 

 as surgeon of the Third Regiment of New York 

 Volunteers, and serving at Fort McHenry, Bal- 

 timore, Suffolk, Va., Fortress Monroe, and in 

 the field. Dr. Stearns was most widely known 

 as an enthusiastic Shakespearean , student and 

 writer, although he published several sur- 

 gical and physiological works previous to 1860, 

 and a " Concordance and Classified Index to 

 the Constitution of the United States," which 

 is an authority among lawyers and legislators. 

 The most noted of his later works are 

 "Shakespeare's Medical Knowledge" (New 

 York, 1865), and " The Shakespeare Treasury 

 of Wisdom and Knowledge " (New York, 1869). 



Stevens, Aaron Fletcher, an American lawyer, 

 born in Londonderry, N. H., Aug. 9, 1819; 

 died in Nashua, N. H., May 10, 1887. He was 

 engaged in mechanical pursuits in early life, 

 but was admitted to the bar in 1845. On the 

 outbreak of the civil war he assisted in organ- 

 izing the First Regiment of New Hampshire 

 Volunteers, and went to the field with the rank 

 of major, subsequently attaining that of brevet 

 brigadier-general in recognition of his merito- 

 rious conduct while under fire. Gen. Stevens 

 was well known in political circles. He rep- 

 resented the Whig party in the State Legis- 



