OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (SWEENEY TAYLOR.) 



041 



Sweeney, John B., composer, born in 1838; 

 died in Chester, Pa., April 10, 1899. For many 

 years he was Professor of Music in the Pennsyl- 

 vania Military College, Chester, and during the 

 civil war was leader of the band of the 3d Dela- 

 ware Regiment. He was much in demand as a 

 leader of the singing at large religious assem- 

 blies; was a familiar figure at Ocean Grove, 

 Round Lake, and the Thousand Islands; and 

 was the editor of more than a score of song books. 

 His best-known compositions are Beulah Land, 

 Calvary, More about Jesus, Showers of Blessing, 

 and Little Ones like Me. 



Synnot, Joseph J., educator, born in Great 

 Neck, Long Island, N. Y., Feb. 6, 1863; died in 

 Montclair, N. J., March 16, 1899. He was gradu- 

 ated at St. Francis Xavier College, New York 

 city, in 1882, and then entered the University of 

 Innsbruck, Austria, where he studied six years. 

 In 1888 he received the degree of D. D. from that 

 university, being the first American to be so 

 honored, and in 1892 Yale gave him the degree 

 of A. M. On his return to the United States he 

 was appointed curate to Dean McNulty in Pater- 

 son, N. J. In the autumn of 1889 he was ap- 

 pointed Professor of the Sacred Scriptures, He- 

 brew, and the Classics in Seton Hall College, 

 South Orange, N. J. Subsequently he taught 

 theology, philosophy, and moral theology there 

 till 1897, when he was chosen president of the 

 college. 



Tabor, Horace Austin Warner, miner, born 

 in Holland, Vt., 'Nov. 30, 1830 ; died in Denver, 

 Col., April 10, 1899. He received a common- 

 school education, learned the stonecutter's trade, 

 and worked in Massachusetts till 1855, when he 

 engaged in farming in Kansas. There he took 

 an active part in the Free-soil movement, and 

 became a member of the Topeka Legislature that 

 was dispersed by order of President Pierce. Im- 

 pressed with the narratives of trappers from the 

 Rocky mountains concerning marvelous discov- 

 eries of gold along Cherry creek, Colorado, he set 

 out with all his possessions in a " prairie schoon- 

 er," and reached the new mining camp in the 

 autumn of 1859. In the following spring he set- 

 tled in California Gulch, afterward named, at his 

 suggestion, Leadville. He worked steadily at 

 mining with only moderate success till 1865, 

 when he became postmaster and opened a small 

 general store. Combining mining and storekeep- 

 ing, he toiled on with no fortune in sight till 

 May, 1878, when he and his two mining partners 

 discovered a rich deposit of silver in what was 

 afterward known as the Little Pittsburg mine. 

 A year later he sold his third interest in this 

 property for $1,000,000. This capital enabled him 

 to engage in many large operations, and for sev- 

 eral years every enterprise he undertook added 

 greatly to his wealth. Within ten years from 

 the discovery of the Little Pittsburg mine 

 his fortune was estimated at $9,000,000, and he 

 was also considered one of the most extensive 

 landowners in the world. In this period he was 

 elected first mayor of Leadville, acquired claims 

 that afterward yielded him several millions, put 

 up an opera house in Leadville when it was but 

 little more than a large mining camp at a cost 

 of $500,000, and, becoming interested in Denver, 

 erected there a grand opera house that cost 

 $1,200,000, a block of office buildings that cost 

 $1,500,000, and a group of suburban residences 

 that cost $1,000,000. With the rapid increase of 

 his wealth came a desire for political preferment. 

 In October, 1878, he was elected Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor of Colorado. He held the office till Jan- 

 uary, 1884. He was elected United States Sen- 

 VOL. xxxix. 41 A 



ator, to fill the unexpired term of Henry M. 

 Teller, who had resigned to become Secretary of 

 the Interior. This service only hinted from l-'cb. 

 2 till March 4, 1885. Soon after this he began 

 to suffer serious losses, was obliged to place hi* 

 great properties under mortgage, and in 1897 he 

 lost the last of his real -estate holdings in fore- 

 closure proceedings. He then hired a tenement 

 in Denver for his family at a rent of $12 ;i month, 

 shouldered a pick, and went oil' prospecting for 

 another fortune. For some time he operated in 

 Boulder County, but from lack of capital h(; met 

 with small success. In 1898 he became [lost- 

 master of Denver. 



Talbot, Israel Tisdale, physician, born in 

 Sharon, Mass., Oct. 29, 1829; died in Hingham, 

 Mass., July 3, 1899. In 1843 he went to Balti- 

 more, where he taught in a private school. He 

 was graduated at the Pennsylvania Homoeopath- 

 ic Medical College in 1853, and at the Harvard 

 Medical College in 1854. From 1854 till 1858 he 

 continued his medical studies in Europe. From 

 1858 he practiced in Boston. He originated the 

 Homoeopathic Medical Dispensary, and acted as 

 its secretary. He was active in organizing the 

 Boston University School of Medicine, of which 

 from its commencement he was dean and Pro- 

 fessor of Surgery. He was vice-president of the 

 International Homoeopathic Congress held in 

 London in 1881, and president of a similar con- 

 gress held in Atlantic City in 1892. He estab- 

 lished and for several years edited the New Eng- 

 land Medical Gazette. 



Taylor, Charles Fayette, surgeon, born in 

 Williston, Vt., April 25, 1827; died in Los An- 

 geles, Cal., Jan. 25, 1899. He was graduated at 

 the medical department of the University of Ver- 

 mont in 1856, and after studying the Swedish 

 movement cure under Dr. Roth in London, set- 

 tled in New York city and applied himself to 

 the treatment of crippled and deformed persons. 

 In 1866 he urged on Howard Potter, James 

 Brown, and other philanthropic citizens the need 

 of an institution where the crippled poor could 

 receive scientific treatment, and his efforts re- 

 sulted in the founding of the New York Ortho- 

 paedic Dispensary and Hospital, which he served 

 as surgeon till 1876. While holding this place 

 he was also appointed consulting orthopaedic sur- 

 geon to St. Luke's Hospital. Dr. Taylor was 

 widely known by his inventions and writings in 

 the line of orthopaedic surgery. The former in- 

 clude an antero-posterior spinal apparatus and 

 other contrivances for the correction of spinal 

 deviations; a long counter-extension hip splint; 

 a jointed supporting splint for secondary use in 

 hip disease; contrivances for correcting deformi- 

 ties in the feet and legs; and an osteoclast and 

 a genuclast. His inventions secured medals at 

 the international expositions at Vienna in 1873 

 and at Philadelphia in 1876. His publications 

 include papers on Synovitis of the Knee Joint, 

 Emotional Prodigality, and Bodily Conditions as 

 Related to Mental States, and volumes on the 

 Theory and Practice of the Movement Cure (Phil- 

 adelphia, 1861); Spinal Irritation, or Causes of 

 Backache in American Women (New York, 

 1864) ; Mechanical Treatment of Angular Curva- 

 ture of the Spine (1864) ; Infantile Paralysis and 

 its Attendant Deformities (Philadelphia, 1867) ; 

 Mechanical Treatment of Disease of the Hip Joint 

 (New York, 1873); and Sensation and Pain 

 (1881). 



Taylor, Henry Augustus, railroad construct- 

 or, born in New York city, April 8, 1839; died 

 there, April 8, 1899. He was educated in his 

 native city, and for some years made his home 



