OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (Brno BOLTER.) 



1840, immediately after his admission to the bar. 

 In 1854 he was elected to Congress from the 21st 

 (later the 10th) Ohio District. He was returned 

 to Congress until 18(53, and won fame as an 

 orator. He was the friend and adviser of 

 President Lincoln, who in 1864 appointed him 

 Judge-Advocate General, and later in the same 

 year solicitor of the United States Court of 

 Claims. The day after the President's assas- 

 sination he was called from his home in Cadiz 

 by a message from Secretary Stanton, and with- 

 in twenty-four hours after his arrival in Wash- 

 ington he had opened an office and formu- 

 lated plans that resulted in the arrest, trial, 

 and conviction of the conspirators. He was ap- 

 pointed Special Judge Advocate by President 

 Johnson, and a member of the military commis- 

 sion, and the work of examining and cross-exam- 

 ining the witnesses fell largely to him. He also 

 made the principal argument for the prosecution, 

 requiring nine hours for its delivery. Mr. Bing- 

 ham was a member of the committee to which 

 was intrusted the important duty of drawing up 

 the articles of impeachment against President 

 Johnson; and he acted as chairman in the im- 

 peachment proceedings before the Senate. He be- 

 gan the closing argument on Monday, May 4, 

 1868, and for three days occupied the attention 

 of the Senate and a vast audience. He was in 

 Congress for eight years after 1865, and he held 

 the Japanese mission from 1873 till 1885. Mr. 

 Bingham, as chairman of the House committee 

 to which it was referred, was largely responsible 

 for the wording of the fourteenth amendment to 

 the Constitution. He left office as poor as when 

 he entered it, and in 1898, by special act of Con- 

 gress, he was granted a Government pension. 



Bird, Rowena, missionary, American Board of 

 Foreign Missions, born in Sandoval, 111., July 31, 

 1865; killed in Taku, Shensi province, China, 

 July 31, 1900. She studied at Oberlin College; 

 sailed for China in September, 1890, and since that 

 time had been stationed in Taku. 



Blanchard, George Roberts, railway expert, 

 born in Rochester, N. Y., June 15, 1841 ; died in 

 New York city, Oct. 8, 1900. He entered the 

 offices of the old Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad 

 in 1858, and in 1860 began a four years' service 

 as clerk, chief freight clerk, and general freight 

 agent with the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad 

 Company. From May, 1864, till October, 1867, 

 he was general freight agent of the Central 

 Ohio Railroad, and from that time till October, 

 1872, filled the corresponding office with the Bal- 

 timore and Ohio Railroad Company. Two years 

 later he left the Baltimore and Ohio to serve in 

 the same capacity with the Erie Railway Com- 

 pany, and in July, 1874, was appointed vice- 

 president of that company, discharging the duties 

 of that office until October, 1884. In February, 

 1886, he was chosen a commissioner of the Cen- 

 tral Traffic Association, with headquarters in 

 Chicago, and in the following spring was made its 

 chairman. He severed his connection with the 

 Central Traffic Association at the close of 1895 

 to become commissioner of the Joint Traffic As- 

 sociation, holding that office till the dissolution 

 of the association, in November, 1898. After that 

 time Mr. Blanchard devoted himself to work as 

 a railway expert, and was considered pne of the 

 foremost authorities in the country. His fatal ill- 

 ness was brought on by overwork while preparing, 

 in the interest of several railroads, an argument 

 against the Cullom bill enlarging the powers of 

 the Interstate Railroad Commission and against 

 the bill introduced in Congress providing for a 

 reduction of the compensation to railroads for 





the carrying of the mails. He was a director of 

 the United States Express Company, the Stand- 

 ard Coupler Company, and the Safety Car Heat- 

 ing and Lighting Company, and was president of 

 the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. 

 He wrote much in both prose and poetry, and 

 composed many pieces of music. His house con- 

 tained many examples of the best work of mod- 

 ern artists in painting and sculpture. 



Bliss, Zenas Randall, soldier, born in John- 

 ston, R. I., April 17, 1835; died in Washington, 

 D. C., Jan. 2, 1900. He was graduated at West 

 Point in 1854, and joined his regiment, the 1st 

 Infantry, at Fort Duncan, Texas, as brevet sec- 

 ond lieutenant July 1 of that year. On March 



3, 1855, he was promoted to be second lieutenant 

 of the 8th Infantry, and he served on the Texas 

 frontier till 1861, most of the time in command 

 of a detachment of mounted infantry scouting 

 against hostile Indians. He was promoted to be 

 first lieutenant Oct. 17, 1860, and to the cap- 

 taincy May 14, 1861. In March, 1861, while in 

 command of Fort Quitman, Texas, garrisoned by 

 a company of the 8th Infantry, he received orders 

 to join the command under Capt. Reeve, 8th In- 

 fantry, then under instruction to march with 6 

 companies of the regiment o San Antonio, Texas, 

 with a view of transferring the command to the 

 North. After a march of 600 miles Reeve was 

 met at Adams Hill, near San Antonio, by the 

 Confederate Gen. Earl Van Dorn with more than 

 2,000 men, and after a reconnoissance surrendered, 

 May 9, 1861. Capt. Bliss was held as a prisoner 

 of war in San Antonio till February, 1862, when 

 he was transferred to Richmond, Va., and on 

 April 5 was exchanged. May 26, 1862, he was ap- 

 pointed colonel of the 10th Rhode Island Volun- 

 teers, and on Aug. 17 was transferred to the 

 colonelcy of the 7th Rhode Island Volunteers, 

 and he held that commission until mustered out 

 of the volunteer service, June 9, 1865. He took 

 part in many important battles, and was recom- 

 mended several times for promotion to brigadier 

 general on account of his gallantry and his skill- 

 ful handling of troops under fire; but the honor 

 was deferred. He commanded the 1st Brigade, 

 2d Division, 9th Army Corps, in the battle of the 

 Wilderness, and was brevetted lieutenant colonel, 

 May 7, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services. 

 After the war he commanded at the Schuylkill 

 Arsenal; at Fort Porter, N. Y.; and in the dis- 

 trict of Chester, S. C., where he acted as assist- 

 ant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, 

 provost marshal, and provost judge, and also 

 transacted all the civil business of the dis- 

 trict. He commanded with distinction in Texas 

 in 1871-'72, during the Mexican revolution, and 

 was credited with preventing war between that 

 country and the United States. He was made 

 major of the 39th Infantry, Aug. 6, 1867; trans- 

 ferred to the 25th Infantry, March 15, 1869; 

 made lieutenant colonel, 19th Infantry, March 



4, 1879; and colonel, 24th Infantry, April 20, 

 1886. April 25, 1895, he was appointed briga- 

 dier general, and on May 14, 1897, major general. 

 Gen. Bliss was retired, at his own request, May 

 22, 1897. 



Bolter, Andrew, entomologist, born in Sig- 

 maringen, Prussia, in 1820; died in Chicago, 

 March 18, 1900. He left Germany on account of 

 his supposed connection with the revolution of 

 1848, and resided in Chicago forty-five years. 

 Although regarded as a high authority, Mr. Bol- 

 ter contributed no books to scientific literature. 

 He frequently, however, in response to requests 

 for information from instructors and students of 

 insect life, wrote long letters on various phases 



