OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (BaucE BUTLER.) 



439 



Bruce, Saunders Dewers, author, born in 

 Lexington, Ky., Aug. 16, 1825; died in New York 

 city, Jan. 31, 1902. He was graduated at Tran- 

 sylvania University in 1846, and two years later 

 engaged in business. When the civil war broke 

 out he enlisted in the National army; became in- 

 spector-general of the Union Home Guards of 

 Kentucky; built fortifications at the mouth of 

 Cumberland river; had command of the 22d Bri- 

 gade in the battle of Shiloh (where he was wound- 

 ed), and of the provisional brigade that opened 

 Cumberland river below Fort Donelson. He re- 

 signed on account of failing health in 1864, and 

 removed to New "York, where he became widely 

 known as an authority on the pedigree of horses. 

 He compiled the American Stud-Book, and wrote 

 The Thoroughbred Horse. 



Bryant, John Howard, poet, born in Cum- 

 lington, Mass., July 22, 1807 ; died in Princeton, 

 11., Jan. 14, 1902. He was the youngest brother 

 William Cullen Bryant, and was educated at 

 ensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. 

 le settled in Jacksonville, 111., in 1831, and a 

 fear later in Princeton, where he lived until his 

 leath. He became a justice of the peace for Put- 

 lam County in 1834; recorder of deeds for Bu- 

 eau County in 1837; was twice a member of the 

 State Legislature ; frequently served on the Board 

 jf Supervisors; and was for fifteen years a mem- 

 er of the Board of Education, during part of this 

 time acting as chairman. He was the author of 

 oems, Life and Poems, and several addresses. 

 Bryant, Neil, actor and minstrel performer, 

 jrn in Keesville, N. Y., in 1835; died in Brook- 

 ?n, N. Y., March 6, 1902. He was the last of the 

 iree Bryant brothers, who at one time were at 

 iie head of the class of entertainment known as 

 icgro minstrels. His two older brothers had 

 an playing some years before he made his first 

 ippearance, in 1845, but within a year after his 

 16but he was acknowledged to be the champion 

 lute-player of America. He traveled for, several 

 easons in the West and the South, and in 1853 

 le entered into partnership with his two brothers, 

 lerry and Dan, in the management of a New 

 ork theater. They organized a minstrel com- 

 my called The Corkonians, and opened at Me- 

 lanics' Hall, No. 472 Broadway, in the autumn 

 if 1857. They remained at that theater ten 

 ears, during which time they gained great popu- 

 larity and a large fortune. In 1867, the oldest 

 brother having died, Neil and Dan Bryant re- 

 moved their company to the Tammany building, 

 inhere Tony Pastor's Theater now stands. Here 

 hey gave minstrel performances until 1870, when 

 they removed again to a hall in Twenty-third 

 treet, near Sixth Avenue. When the building 

 East Fourteenth Street known as Tammany 

 lall was erected, Neil Bryant was chosen to lay 

 ie corner-stone. In 1875 Dan Bryant died, and 

 company was disbanded. In 1877 Neil organ- 

 zed a new company, calling it by the old name 

 if Bryant's Minstrels, and opened at the New 

 ork Theater, on Broadway, near Eighth Street. 

 The venture was unsuccessful, as the public had 

 apparently wearied of that form of entertain- 

 ment, and Bryant lost most of his money and 

 was obliged to close the theater. In 1883 he re- 

 tired from the stage and took a place in the 

 sheriff's office, which he held until he received 

 in appointment in the office of the Coast Survey, 

 where he remained until 1900, when his enfeebled 

 physical condition compelled him to retire. 



Buck, Alfred Eliab, diplomatist, born in Fox- 

 croft, Me., Feb. 7, 1832; died in Tokio, Japan, 

 4, 1902. He received a collegiate education, 

 id became principal of the Lewiston (Me.) High 



School, and later superintendent of the public 

 schools of that city. When the civil war broke 

 out he raised a company for the l-3th Maine 

 Volunteers, of which he became captain. In 1863 

 he recruited a colored regiment, of which he 

 became colonel, and he was present at the cap- 

 ture of Fort Blakely, Mobile. In 1865 he was 

 made inspector-general for western Louisiana, 

 and in June, 1866, was mustered out. After the 

 war he settled in Mobile, Ala., and engaged in 

 the manufacture of turpentine. He was elected 

 to Congress in 1869; was president of the Mo- 

 bile City Council in 1873; and in the latter year 

 removed to Atlanta, Ga., where he was clerk of 

 the United States circuit and district courts 

 in 1873-'87, and United States marshal for Geor- 

 gia in 1889. In 1897 he was appointed minister 

 to Japan by President McKinley, which post he 

 held till his sudden death while hunting with the 

 Emperor. 



Burdett, Charles L., civil engineer, born in 

 Nantucket, Mass., Sept. 3, 1848; died in Hart- 

 ford, Conn., Feb. 21, 1902. He removed to Hart- 

 ford, Conn., in 1882, where he lived until his 

 death. Besides practising as a civil engineer, 

 he was noted as a patent lawyer. He organized 

 the signal corps of the Connecticut National 

 Guard, and was signal officer on the brigade staff 

 for several years. He was appointed colonel of 

 the 1st Regiment of the National Guard of Con- 

 necticut in 1884, and at the outbreak of the war 

 against Spain in 1898 he enlisted with a large 

 part of his regiment, and was stationed first in 

 Maine and later at Camp Alger, near Washing- 

 ton, where he remained till the close of the war. 



Burke, Joseph, violinist, born in Gahvay, Ire- 

 land, about 1816; died in New York city, Jan. 

 19, 1902. He went on the stage when eight years 

 of age, and traveled through Europe as musician 

 and actor. In 1830 he came to the United States, 

 where he acted for a time; later studied law in 

 Albany, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in 

 1840, but never practised. Jenny Lind selected 

 him as her accompanist during her American 

 concert tour in 1850-'51, and he was widely 

 known as an instructor on the violin till his re- 

 tirement in 1880. 



Butler, William. Allen, lawyer and author, 

 born in Albany, N. Y., Feb. 20, 1825; died in 

 Yonkers, N. Y., Sept. 9, 1902. He was the son 

 of Benjamin F. Butler, who was Attorney-General 

 of the United States in the administrations of 

 Jackson and Van Buren. He was graduated at 

 the University of the City of New York in 1843, 

 studied law with his father, and then traveled 

 abroad, contributing to the Literary World a se- 

 ries of sketches entitled Out-of-the-Way Places in 

 Europe. On his return he entered upon active law 

 practise, which he pursued all his life. He con- 

 tributed frequently to periodicals, in prose and in 

 poetry, two of his series being The Cities of Art 

 and The Early Artists and a humorous one en- 

 titled The Colonel's Club. He published The Fu- 

 ture, an academic poem, in 1846. and in ls:>o 

 Barnum's Parnassus, similar to the famous Re- 

 jected Addresses. His great hit was Nothing to 

 Wear, a satirical poem, which appeared first in 

 Harpers Weekly, and then in book-form, ob- 

 tained immediate celebrity, was reprinted in Eng- 

 land, and was translated into French and Ger- 

 man. It was also followed by several imitations 

 Nothing to Say, Nothing to Do, Nothing to 

 Eat, etc. Mr. Butler's poem Two Millions was 

 written for delivery before the Phi Beta Kappa 

 Society of Yale University : his General Average 

 is a satire on mercantile life. In 1860 he deliv- 

 ered before the Bible Society an address on The 



