648 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (WILSON WRIGHT.) 



Wilson, John L., philanthropist, born in 

 Charlestown. Mass.; died in St. Augustine. Fla., 

 April 7, 1809. He was the last of Boston s old- 

 time West Indian merchants. He established a 

 free hospital at Cape Haytien, Santo Domingo, 

 where lie had large business interests: built, en- 

 dowed, and equipped a magnificent public library 

 in St. Augustine; endowed a free bed in Framing- 

 ham Hospital; and in 1898 provided a costly 

 clock for the tower of the old cathedral at St. 

 Augustine, recently restored. 



Winthrop, William, military officer, born in 

 New Haven, Conn., Aug. 3. 1831; died in Atlan- 

 tic City, N. J.. April 8. 1899. He was graduated 

 at Yale College in 1851. and at its law school in 

 1853; took a further legal course at Harvard 

 College, and was admitted to the bar in 1854. He 

 began practicing in Boston, but soon removed 

 to New York city. In April. 1801, he enlisted as 

 a private in the 7th New York Regiment, and in 

 Oc-tober he was appointed first lieutenant in the 

 1st United States Regiment of sharpshooters. 

 He was promoted captain, Sept. 22, 1802; major 

 and judge advocate, Sept. 19, 1804; brevetted 

 colonel. March 13. 1805; and transferred to the 

 regular army as major and judge advocate, Feb. 

 25, 1807. In 1884 he was promoted lieutenant 

 colonel and deputy judge-advocate general; on 

 Jan. 3, 1895, became colonel and assistant 

 judge-advocate general; and on Aug. 3 was re- 

 tired. His brevet of colonel was given for faith- 

 ful and meritorious service in the field and in 

 the bureau of military justice. Under the act 

 of Congress of June 0, 1874, he was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Law at West Point, where he served till 

 1890, subsequently being stationed in Washing- 

 ton till his retirement. Col. Winthrop was the 

 author of Digest of Opinions of the Judge- Advo- 

 cates General of the Army (Washington, 1805; 

 enlarged editions, 1800, 1808, and 1880) ; Treatise 

 on Military Law (two vols., 1880; condensed 

 into one volume for a text-book at the Military 

 Academy, under the title of Abridgment of Mili- 

 tary Law, 1887) ; and of a translation of the 

 Military Penal Code of the German Empire 

 (1873). Of his Treatise on Military Law, a late 

 judge-advocate general of the British army testi- 

 fied that it had changed the construction and 

 procedure of English military law. Col. Win- 

 throp was an accomplished linguist, botanist, and 

 contributor to periodicals and scientific reviews. 

 lie was a brother of Theodore Winthrop, who was 

 killed in the battle of Big Bethel in June, 1801. 



Wolff, Christian D., soldier, born in Bavaria 

 in 1822; died in Clayton, Mo., May 21, 1899. He 

 was the son of one of Napoleon's dragoons. He 

 emigrated to America in 1833 and settled on a 

 farm near the home of Ulysses S. Grant. He 

 fought in the Mexican War, and later became a 

 member of Kit Carson's band of scouts. He or- 

 ganized a company of volunteers in the- civil war, 

 was promoted to the colonelcy of his regiment, 

 and in 1804 was promoted brigadier general. 



Wood, Edward Parker, navaJ officer, born in 

 Mansfield, Ohio, Aug. 10, 1848; died in Washing- 

 ton, D. C., Dec. 11, 1899. He was graduated at 

 the Naval Academy in 1807 and assigned to 

 special service on the Minnesota. He was pro- 

 moted ensign in 1808, master in 1870, and lieu- 

 tenant in 1871. His service included special work 

 for the Government in Europe and elsewhere. He 

 also served on the Trenton, the Quinnebaug, the 

 Monongahela, and the Concord. He was at the 

 Naval Academy in 1881-'84, and again in 1880- 

 '90. He was promoted to lieutenant commander 

 in September, 1890, served in the Bureau of Navi- 

 gation from 1893 to 1890, and was commissioned 



commander in July, 1897. He was ordered to the 

 Petrel Dec. 10, 1890, and in that command he 

 earned the highest praise of Admiral Dewey and 

 his brother officers. The Petrel is one of the 

 smallest gunboats in the navy, and without pro- 

 tection except a steel deck. Because of her light 

 draught, he saw his opportunity to run close 

 inshore off the entrance to the harbor at Cavite 

 in the battle of Manila Bay. The Spanish ships 

 that remained afloat had sought shelter under 

 the guns of the fort at Cavite, and Dewey's 

 large ships could not reach them. The little 

 Petrel steamed boldly into the harbor entrance, 

 sank the remaining Spanish boats, and then si- 

 lenced the Spanish forts. The Board of Naval 

 Rewards recommended that " for his eminent and 

 conspicuous conduct in battle " Commander 

 'Wood should be advanced ten numbers in his 

 grade; and although this was a higher measure 

 of reward than was bestowed on any other com- 

 mander, Congress did not withhold it. He was 

 detached from the Asiatic station on Dec. 31, 

 1898, and, coming home, after a short leave of 

 absence was placed in charge of the 5th Light- 

 house District, with his office in Baltimore. 



Woolf, Michael Angelo, artist, born in Lon- 

 don, England, in 1837; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 March 4, 1899. He came to the United States 

 when twelve years old, and entered on a theatri- 

 cal career in Philadelphia, where he ultimately 

 leased the old Chestnut Street Theater. Later he 

 turned his attention to drawing, and developed 

 into a delineator of child life, his favorite sub- 

 jects being the waifs of the streets. For more 

 than thirty years he contributed to periodicals 

 sketches contrasting the children of the poor 

 with those born to luxury. He also did much as 

 a cartoonist in association with Thomas Nast. 

 His drawings of waif life and contrasts were 

 always pathetic and frequently humorous as well. 

 An appreciative sketch of his work, with illustra- 

 tions, appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, 

 of Philadelphia, Dec. 17, 1898. His last literary 

 work, Memories of Barn-storming Days, was pub- 

 lished in that periodical in March and April, 1899. 

 A collection of his contributions to the periodical 

 press was published after his death, under the 

 title of Sketches of Lowly Life in a Great City. 



Worrell, Jennie (Mrs. Jane Wilson), actress, 

 born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1850; died in New 

 York city, Aug. 11, 1899. She was the youngest 

 of three sisters who w r ere very well known as 

 singers, dancers, and comedians. They were at 

 first always seen together on the stage, and w r ere 

 billed as "the Worrell Sisters." Their names 

 were Sophie, Irene, and Jennie. They were chil- 

 dren of William Worrell, a popular circus clown. 

 Their first engagement was in San Francisco in 

 1858. From that city they visi'ted Sacramento 

 and the mining towns of the North and of Ne- 

 vada. For five years they were enthusiastically 

 welcomed, and they repeated the good fortune in 

 Australia. In 1800 they met with a warm wel- 

 come at Wood's Museum, New York. -Here Jen- 

 nie afforded great delight by her performance 

 of Nan the Good-for-Nothing. She first married a 

 gambler, from whom she soon obtained a di- 

 vorce. She then married Alexander Hatfield, 

 with whom she lived very happily, and who left 

 her a small fortune. Her last marriage, with 

 Robert Wilson, was soon ended by a divorce, 

 last appearance in public was in 1884. 



Wright, Horatio Gouverneur, soldier, born 

 in Clinton, Conn., March 6, 1820; died in Wash- 

 ington, D. C., July 2, 1899. He was graduated at 

 West Point in 1841, standing second in his class, 

 and was commissioned second lieutenant of engi- 



