494 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (PHELPS PORTER.) 



an old-time Whig and a proslavery and antiwar 

 Democrat. He was nominated for Governor of 

 Vermont in 1880, and defeated. In 1885 he was 

 appointed by President Cleveland minister to Eng- 

 land, which post he held four years. In 1890 he 

 was defeated as the candidate of the Democrats in 

 the Vermont Legislature for the office of United 

 States Senator. In 1893 he was appointed senior 

 counsel for the United States Government before 

 the court of arbitration to settle the Bering Sea 

 controversy. On his return to this country he re- 

 sumed his chair in Yale College. In 1896 he pub- 

 licly opposed the candidacy of William J. Bryan. 

 He was also a bitter opponent of the war with 

 Spain in 1898, and after the war became a pro- 

 nounced " anti-expansionist." He received the de- 

 gree of LL. D. from Middlebury College in 1870, 

 and from the University of Vermont and from 

 Harvard University in 1887. Among his published 

 writings are The Life and Character of Charles 

 Linsley; a Memoir of the Hon. Isaac F. Redfield 

 (in Vol. XLIX of the Vermont Law Reports) ; 

 and a series of articles on The Constitution of the 

 1'nited States, contributed to the Nineteenth Cen- 

 tury in 1888. 



Phelps, James, jurist, born in Colebrook, 

 Conn., Jan. 12. 1822 ; died in Essex, Conn., Jan. 

 15, 1900. He studied law and was admitted to 

 the bar in 1845. He was elected to the Legislature 

 in 1853, and re-elected in 1854 and 1856. In 

 1858-'59 he served in the State Senate. In 1863 

 he was appointed judge of the Superior Court, 

 resigning ten years later to becorrfe justice of the 

 Supreme Court. In 1875 he was elected to Con- 

 gress, and he served continuously six years. 



Philip. John Woodward, naval officer, born 

 in New York city, Aug. 26, 1840; died in Brook- 

 lyn, N. Y., June 30, 1900. He was appointed 

 midshipman, Jan. 1, 1861; promoted acting master, 

 June 1, 1861; lieutenant, July 16, 1862; lieutenant 

 commander, July 25, 1866; commander, Dec. 18, 

 1874; captain, March 31, 1889; commodore, Aug. 

 10, 1898; and rear-admiral, March 3, 1899. His 

 first active duty was on the frigate Constitution 

 and the Santee. On his promotion to acting mas- 

 ter he was attached to the sloop of war Marion 

 of the Gulf blockading squadron, as executive offi- 

 cer ; later he was assigned to the gunboat Sonoma, 

 of the James river fleet. From September, 1862, 

 till January, 1865, he served on the Chippewa, the 

 Pawnee, and the monitor Montauk ; he took an 

 active part in the siege of Charleston, S. C. While 

 on the Pawnee he was wounded in the leg in an 

 engagement on Stono river. At the close of the 

 war he was sent to the China station as executive 

 officer of the Wachusett, serving from January, 

 1865, till September, 1867; he was transferred to 

 the flagship Hartford, where he served till August, 

 1868. From 1869 till 1871 he served on the Rich- 

 mond, of the European squadron. He was de- 

 tached in November, 1871, returned to the Hart- 

 ford in September, 1872, and was ordered to com- 

 mand the Monocacy in June, 1873. He left the 

 Monocacy in February to take command of one of 

 the Pacific mail steamers running between San 

 Francisco and Hong-Kong. In July, 1876, he was 

 ordered to the command of the Adams, but was 

 again detached in April, 1877, and he received 

 leave to command the Woodruff scientific expedi- 

 tion around the world. In December, 1877, he was 

 placed in command of the Tuscarora, engaged in 

 surveying the western coast of Mexico. He com- 

 manded the Ranger from August, 1880, till Octo- 

 ber, 1883. From April, 1884, till April, 1887, he 

 was lighthouse inspector, and later he became com- 

 mander of the receiving ship Independence, at 

 Mare Island Xavy Yard, serving till May, 1890. 



He was a member of the Board of Inspection at 

 San Francisco early in 1890, in May of that year 

 was ordered to command the Atlanta, and in De- 

 cember, 1891, was detailed to superintend the con- 

 struction of the New York; and when that vessel 

 was finished, Aug. 1, 1893, he was placed in com- 

 mand. He filled that post till August, 1894, when 

 he became captain of Boston Navy Yard. Oct. 18, 

 1897, he was placed in command of the battle ship 

 Texas. In the Spanish-American War he made 

 himself famous for his part in the sea fight at San- 

 tiago, July 3, 1898. It was the Texas that, with 

 the help of the Oregon, ran ashore the Almirante 

 Oquendo of the Spanish admiral's squadron; and 

 it was on that occasion that he uttered the since 

 historic words: "Don't cheer, boys. The poor 

 devils are dying." After the battle was over he 

 called all his men to the quarter-deck and gave 

 thanks to God for the victory. Aug. 30, 1898, he 

 was detached from the Texas and placed in tem- 

 porary command of the second squadron of the 

 North Atlantic fleet, with the New York as his 

 flagship. Jan. 15, 1899, he was placed in charge 

 of Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he was serving at 

 the time of his death. 



Pitkin, Horace T., missionary of the American 

 Board, born in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 28, 1869; 

 killed in Paoting-Fu, Chi-Li province, China, July 

 1, 1900. He was graduated at Y'ale University in 

 1892. and at Union Theological Seminary in 189(5, 

 and he embarked for China, Nov. 11, 1896. Bo- 

 fore going abroad (1894-"95) he was traveling see-, 

 retary of the Student Volunteer movement. 



Platt, Franklin, geologist, born in Philadel- 

 phia, Pa., in 1844; died in Cape May, N. J., July 

 25, 1900. He was educated at the University of 

 Pennsylvania. During the civil war he served in 

 a Pennsylvania regiment. In 1864 he was ap- 

 pointed to the United States Coast Survey, and 

 assigned to work with the North Atlantic squad- 

 ron. Later he was appointed on the staff of Gen. 

 Poe, chief engineer of the military division of the 

 Mississippi. In July, 1874, he was appointed as- 

 sistant geologist of Pennsylvania, which post he 

 held till May, 1881. He then became president 

 of the Rochester and Pittsburg Coal and Iron Com- 

 pany. He was the author of a text-book on min- 

 ing, and of the following volumes of the geological 

 reports of Pennsylvania: On Clearfield and Jeffer- 

 son Counties (1875); Coke Manufacture (1876); 

 On Blair County (1880); and The Causes, Kinds, 

 and Amount of Waste in Mining Anthracite 

 (1881). 



Porter, John Addison, journalist, born in New 

 Haven, Conn., April 17, 1856; died in Putnam, 

 Conn., Dec. 15, 1900. He was graduated at Yale 

 in 1878. He studied law in an office in Cleveland, 

 Ohio, but soon abandoned that profession to en- 

 gage in newspaper work. He was on the staffs 

 of the New Haven Daily Palladium and the Hart- 

 ford Courant, and in 1888 purchased an interest 

 in the Hartford Post. Two years later he secured 

 a controlling interest and became its editor in 

 chief. He represented the town of Pom fret in the 

 Connecticut General Assembly in 1891. and w;i 

 elected a delegate to the Republican National Con- 

 vention in 18!)2. On two occasions he was a <a i- 

 didate for the nomination for the governorship )f 

 Connecticut, and in each instance received a lanre 

 number of votes. He was an earne>t advocate if 

 the nomination of Mr. McKinley in 1S!)<>. and tik 

 an active part in the campaign of that year. Mr. 

 Porter, without solicitation on Ins part, was clmii 

 for secretary to the President in February. ]S!i", 

 and assumed the office. March 4, 1897. H<' r " :1 ' 

 tinned in this capacity till May 1. 1900. when 11 

 health compelled him to resign his office. He \\ is 



