OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (PRIES GAREARD.) 



447 



lishing business of his father, the firm being 

 "cnown as Samuel French & Son. In 1871 the 

 Ider French opened a branch house in London, 

 eaving his son at the head of the New York 

 office. The first play of great importance 

 that the firm published in this country was 

 \ Celebrated Case, which was rented to the 

 lanager of the Union Square Theater at a 

 jyalty of 50 per cent. This venture prov- 

 ag very profitable, Mr. French set about se- 

 n-ing American rights to other successful for- 

 eign plays, and in the course of a few years the 

 inn published in the United States scores of the 

 est European dramas that have been seen in 

 this country. Mr. French's managerial experience 

 began in 1873, when he produced White Lies, 

 a dramatization of Wilkie Collins's novel of that 

 name, at the old Olympic Theater, New York. 

 In 1877 he undertook the management of Mr. and 

 Mrs. J. C. Williamson, in Struck Oil, which was 

 highly successful. In 1878 he took the entire 

 Union Square Theater Company on tour, playing 

 the Sardou drama Mother and Son, which had 

 made a great hit in New York. In 1883 he took 

 the Wallack's Theater Company to San Fran- 

 cisco with The Silver King. In 1889 Mr. French 

 produced Little Lord Fauntleroy, which made a 

 tremendous hit, and, in company with Frank 

 Sanger, he soon had four companies playing this 

 piece in different parts of the country. In 1892 

 Mr. French formed the Lillian Russell Opera Com- 

 pany, and it was regarded as the finest light- 

 opera organization that ever had been seen in 

 the United States. At different times he managed 

 the Broadway Theater, the Madison Square 

 Garden, and the Grand Opera-House, and he 

 built and managed the new American Theater 

 in West Forty-second Street, New York. The last 

 dramatic production under his direction was the 

 Hotel Topsy Turvy, at the Herald Square Thea- 

 ter in 1898. 



Fries, Wulf Christian Julius, violoncellist, 

 born in Germany, 1825; died in Roxbury/ Mass., 

 April 29, 1902. He began his musical career as a 

 member of the orchestra in the theater of Bergen. 

 He came to the United States with Ole Bull, and 

 played the violoncello in the Ole Bull Concert 

 Company in its tours throughout the country. 

 He appeared also in concerts with Rubinstein, the 

 pianist; and after he had settled permanently in 

 the United States he founded the Mendelssohn 

 Quintet Club, of Boston. 



Frost, William Henry, author, born in North 

 Providence, R. I., March 18, 1863; died in New 

 York city, March 21, 1902. He was graduated at 

 Brown University in 1886, and became connected 

 with the New York Tribune as a general reporter 

 in 1887, and as dramatic news reporter in 1889. 

 He was the author of The Wagner Story-Book 

 (1894); The Court of King Arthur (1896); The 

 Knights of the Round Table (1897); and Fairies 

 and Folk of Ireland (1900). 



Frothing-ham, Ellen, translator, born in Bos- 

 ton, Mass., March 25, 1835; died there, March 

 11, 1902. She was a daughter of the Rev. Na- 

 thaniel Frothingham. She inherited the literary 

 tastes of her father, and early turned her at- 

 tention to German literature, her first published 

 work being a translation of Lessing's Nathan 

 der Weise (1868), usually considered the finest 

 English version of Lessing's great drama. This 

 was followed by translations of Goethe's Her- 

 mann und Dorothea (1870); Lessing's Laokoon 

 (1874); Grillparzer's Sappho (1876); and from 

 Marie-Herbert, Poems of Therese (1899). 



Gallaudet, Thomas, clergyman, born in Hart- 

 ford, Conn., June 3, 1822; died in New York 



city, Aug. 17, 1902. He was a non of the Rev. 

 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who introduced into 

 the United States 

 the systematic 

 education of deaf- 

 mutes, and broth- 

 er of Edward 

 Miner Gallaudet, 

 through whose in- 

 strumentality the 

 National Deaf- 

 Mute College in 

 Washington, D.C., 

 was established, of 

 which he became 

 president. He was 

 graduated at Trin- 

 ity College in 

 1842; taught in 

 the New York In- 

 stitution for the 

 Deaf and Dumb in 

 1843-'58; and in the meantime was ordained in 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1852 he 

 founded St. Ann's Church for Deaf-Mutes, serv- 

 ices being held in a room in the old building 

 of the New York University, and later in the 

 hall of the New York Historical Society till 

 1858, when a church and a rectory were se- 

 cured on Eighteenth Street, near Fifth Avenue; 

 and in 1894 this church was consolidated with 

 St. Matthew's Church. In 1892 he resigned 

 his active pastorate to enter into broader mis- 

 sionary work, and became pastor emeritus. Be- 

 sides his other duties he accepted the pastorate 

 of the Sisterhood of the Good Shepherd in 1869, 

 and the chaplaincy of the Midnight Mission in 

 1871. He founded the Church Mission for Deaf- 

 Mutes in 1872, and was its manager till his death. 

 This society was the pioneer of church work 

 among deaf-mutes throughout the country and 

 has established the Gallaudet Home for Aged 

 and Infirm Deaf-Mutes. 



Gardiner, Charles Randolph, theatrical man- 

 ager and agent, died in Milford, Del., Jan. 1, 1902. 

 He opened the first theatrical booking agency in 

 New York city, and managed it successfully for 

 many years, introducing to the public numerous 

 players who are now well known. He was the 

 originator of various forms of theatrical amuse- 

 ment, the most profitable of which was musical 

 farce-comedy, his own play, The Tragedians of 

 Kalamazoo, being the first entertainment of this 

 kind seen on the stage. He was the first to in- 

 troduce music and specialties in Uncle Tom's 

 Cabin, and he also organized the first regular 

 company of traveling variety performers. Prob- 

 ably the most notable of Mr. Gardiner's theat- 

 rical achievements was the building of the first 

 theater in Chicago after the great fire of 1871. 

 He went to that city very soon after the calamity, 

 and found many thousands of people with no 

 place of amusement. He announced that he 

 would have a new theater ready in one month, 

 and in thirty-three days an attractive play- 

 house, 70 X 100 feet in dimensions, completely 

 finished and handsomely furnished, was built and 

 opened, to the public, Lawrence Barrett giving 

 the first performance. A few years ago Mr. Gar- 

 diner retired from theatrical life, and he was at 

 the head of a large mercantile business in Milford 

 up to the time of his death. 



Garrard, Theophilus Toulmin, military offi- 

 cer, born in Manchester. Ky.. June 7, 1812; died 

 there March 14. 1902. He was a member of the 

 Kentucky Legislature in 1843-'44. served in the 

 Mexican War as captain of the 16th United 





