Jan, iS, igcu.j 
? 7 
Death of Marcellus Hartley. 
The sudden death of Marcellus Hartley on Wednesday of last 
week was a profound shock to his host of friends. It was par- 
ticularly so to the men who are identified with sport of shotgun 
and rifle. Although he was active and powerful m the affairs of 
peace and war, but few had a knowledge of his history or per- 
sonality. The following, taken from the New York Times of Jan. 9. 
gives much information concerning the great financier: 
Marcellus Hartley, financier, millionaire, philanthropist, and 
famous as the incumbent of a unique and responsible Government 
position during the Civil War, died suddenly yesterday afternoon 
in the directors' room of the American Surety Company, at 100 
Broadway, just before the calling of a meeting of the company's 
executive committee, of which Mr. Hartley was a member. He 
passed away in the arms of R. A. C. Smith, one of his fellow 
directors. 
The meeting had been called for 2:30 o'clock. Those in the 
directors' room were: Walter S. Johnston, Chairman; James A. 
Hayden, John J. McCook, William A. Wheelock, Thomas F. 
Ryan ana Secretary Sickles. The members of the committee 
were seated about the long mahogany table in the room. Chairman 
Johnston at one end and Mr. Hartley at the other. The latter 
had taken off his glasses to clean them, and they lay before him on 
the table, when, as Mr. Smith entered, taking a seat beside Mr. 
Hartley, he noticed that his head was drooping lower and lower 
on his chest. 
Mr. Hartley had been chatting gayly only a moment before, and 
those about him did not suspect even a temporary illness. Mr. 
Smith put his arm about Mr. Hartley's chair, and leaning for- 
ward, asked him if he felt faint. The head of the stricken man 
dropped tdTone side. Mr. Smith caught him as he was about to 
fall forward. He bore him to a couch, hastily sent for physicians, 
and with his arm about his shoulders, inquired if he felt ill. Mr. 
Hartley opened his eyes, looked up at Mr. Smith and tried to say 
Hartley & Graham, In 1898 Mr. Graham died, and the firm was 
then incorporated with Mr. Hartley as its president, the name 
being changed to the M. Hartley Company. 
It was early in the days of the Civil War that Mr. Hartley was 
called upon by Edwin M- Stanton to take charge of an important 
service in the Government. The Union troops were sorely in 
need of arms and ammunition of modern make; the Confederates 
were receiving their arms and ammunition from abroad, and it was 
necessary to send to Europe a man who thoroughly understood the 
business of selecting fit weapons and also one who would prevent 
the Confederates getting the arms which foreigners were only too 
willing to sell to them. 
The position was one requiring tact, shrewdness, and the most 
intimate knowledge of firearms, and Mr. Hartley was selected as 
the agent of the Government abroad, and was commissioned a 
Brigadier-General, with plenary power, opening for him an 
unlimited credit with Baring Brothers, of London, the fiscal agents 
of the Government there. 
Mr. Hartley visited many manufacturers in England, France and 
Germany, making contracts with them for all the arms and ammu- 
nition they coula turn out in a year. At the same time surrepti- 
tiously the Southern agents were outbid, making it impossible 
for them to count on the foreign manufactures so necessary to 
their cause. Throughout his service during the war many millions 
of dollars' worth of purchases were made for the Government by 
Brig.-Gen. Hartley, who at great pecuniary sacrifice to himself 
accepted the post, receiving only the salary of his rank. 
But the efforts of the patriot were not limited merely to the 
duties that were expected of him. During his long stay abroad 
he came in contact with many distinguished statesmen and citizens, 
many of whom were in sore need of being converted in their 
views to the side of the North. 
His Meeting with Bright. 
The following account of a meeting with John Bright is from the 
politan Fair, instituted for ^ the benefit of the Sanitary v^ommtesfoa. 
Mr. Hartley married Miss Fran«*s Chester White, daughter of 
the late Dr. S. Pomeroy White of this city. The ceuple had four 
children, but only one, a mar*u-d daughter, the wife of George W. 
Jenkins, president of the American Deposit and Loan Company, 
survives him. The elde t caughter married Norman Dodge, and 
a twin daughter James ilokeE. 
Mr. Hartley was t.'.n busy a man to be lured into politics be- 
yond taking the it\Urcst therein expected of every good citizen. 
Frequently he 140s importuned to become a leader in political 
affairs^ He sVirSecl as a Whig, and an ardent admirer of Henry 
Clay. He r.i 'nud with great zest the pleasure he had in the early 
fifties in calkng upon that distinguished statesman in Kentucky, 
and the warm greeting he received. In the disruption of the Whig 
Party and 'he formation of the Republican, he allied himself to the 
latter, and ever since had given it a loyal and consistent support; 
but party lines never blinded him to a strict adherence to its 
behests. 
By remarkable sagacity, his close attention to business, and by 
his earnestness and an indomitable will, Mr. Hartley added to his 
business interests in the course of time, until he became identified 
as president, director or trustee, with no less than fifteen well- 
known corporations. Among these were the American Deposit and 
Loan Company, the American District Telegraph Company, the 
American Surety Company, the Audit Company of New York, 
the Bridgeport Gun Implement Company, the Equitable Life 
Assurance Society, the Fifth Avenue 'I rust Company, the 
German-American Bank, the Lincoln National Bank, the 
Manhattan Railway Company, the Mercantile Trust Company, 
the Remington Arms Company, the Union Metallic Cartridge 
Company, the Western National Rank, and the Westinghouse 
Electrical Manufacturing Company. The latest great enterprise 
with which Mr. Hartley was identified was in the organization of 
the International Bank, of which he was president. 
Despite Mr. Hartley s many business interests, he found time 
to devote to many charitable institutions, particularly the Hartley 
IN A CAROLINA QUAIL FIELD. 
Mr, Rutledge and his boy. AsheviJle, N, C 
something, but death cut him short, and he fell back, lifeless. 
The messengers dispatched for physicians had hastened to the 
Equitable offices, where they met Dr. W. M. Bross, one of the 
company's staff physicians. Dr. Bross hurried to the directors' 
room, where he found the members of the executive committee 
standing anxiously about the couch whereon lay the body of 
Mr. Hartley. The doctor made a hasty examination and shook 
his head. 
The Coroner's office was notified at once, and for a time the 
telephone of the company was kept busy ringing up friends and 
business associates of Mr. Hartley to tell them of his sudden end. 
Messengers, were sent to the home of Mr. Hartley, at 232 Madison 
avenue, to break the sad news to .his family. By 4 o'clock a per- 
mit of removal had been secured for the body, and at 5 o'clock 
an undertaker took it to the dead financier's late home. 
The news of Mr. Hartley's death spread quickly in Wall street, 
where he had many friends, and throughout the downtown busi- 
ness district, and before long the offices of the company were be- 
sieged with anxious relatives and friends, who refused to believe 
the news over the wire. Among the first callers was George VV. 
Jenkins, the son-in-law of Mr. Hartley. The executive offices of 
the company were kept open until nearly 6 o'clock, and most of 
the officers of the company remained until that hour answering 
numerous inquiries which came from all parts of the financial 
district 
At Mr. Hartley's home it was said last night that death had been 
due to heart disease. Mr. Hartley was not a sufferer from heart 
trouble, so far as is known; but for several days had been com- 
plaining of indigestion. His health had always been excellent, 
and he was remarkably hale and hearty for a man of over seventy- 
three years. His favorite pastime was driving and horseback 
riding, and as late as last Saturday he want for a ride in Central 
Park, 
Career of Mr, Hartley. 
Marcellus Hartley .was born in this city, Sept. 28, 182£, his 
father being the la £ Robert M. Hartley, himself remarkable for 
work among a large number of charitable institutions and move-, 
ments. After receiving his education at one of the classical schools 
in this city, Marcellus entered the counting room of Francis 
Tomes & Sons, leading importers and dealers in guns and fancy 
hardware. It was because of this early training in the handling of 
guns that the young man grasped that knowledge which was 
destined to make him invaluable to the United States Government 
during the Civil War. Also, until the very end he remained 
identified with one of the largest gun and arms establishments in 
the country. 
After acquiring a knowledge of the business in connection with 
T. Rutsen Schuyler and Malcolm Graham, associated with the 
house of Young, Smith & Co., Mr. Hartley established in 1854 
the firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, which continued until 
the retirement of Mr, Schuyler in 1876, when it was known as 
pen of the deceased himself published in 1898 in the New York 
Times' Saturday Review of Books. He wrote: 
"I was in Birmingham one day, and seeing a notice of a meet- 
ing to be held at the Town Hall, at which John Bright was 
scheduled for a speech, I attended it. I was within a few feet of 
the platform, and the hall was crowded to overflowing. Mr. 
Bright commenced his speech by referring to matters in his own 
country, but after a while drifted to the American question and 
England's position. He soon showed how he was going to treat 
the subject; that was, in favor of the North; but before he had 
given full evidence of this there was an uproar seldom heard at a 
meeting, and he was not allowed to proceed. He stood his ground, 
however, until the disturbance hrfd ceased, then started again, with 
the same result; but he was not to be put down. Standing silent, 
resting one hand on the table and the other in the breast of his 
coat, he gazed at the audience. After a while> he was allowed to 
continue. Mr. Bright spoke for over an hour. 
"I listened with wonder and admiration to has eloquence and 
masterly presentation of the cause for which he pleaded. It 
seemed impossible to present the claims of the North more forcibly. 
When he had finished, he had his audience with him, and they 
cheered with the same zest as they previously hissed. If I am 
not mistaken, this was the first speech that had been made in 
Ei- gland in favor of the North, and from that time forward public 
sentiment began to change. 
"When I left the meeting that night I determined, if possible, to 
have the speech printed, and distributed throughout England, so 
as to give it greater publicity than it would receive at the hands 
of the press, which was generaly hostile to the North. Mr. Bright 
was the guest of the Mayor of Birmingham, and the next morning 
I called on him at Edgebaston, reaching there early and while they 
\\ ere at breakfast. I sent in my card, making it known that I was 
from New York. He arose from the breakfast table and came to 
true, inviting me to breakfast. 
"1 had already breakfasted, and thanked him for his kindness. I 
told him that I had listened to his speech the night before, prob- 
ably being the only American in the hall, and had come to ex- 
pit'ss my gratitude and to beg that he allow me to have it printed. 
After some hesitation, he consented to do so, provided I would let 
him correct a copy. He sent me the speech, and I had 10,000 
copies struck off and distributed throughout England, ' where I 
thought they would do the most good. Afterward I had 6,000 more, 
and took some of them myself to Paris, and had a copy placed 
under the plate of every American at the Hotel du Louvre, who 
were mostly from the South," 
His View of the War. 
On his return home to New York, in 1863, Mr. Hartley published, 
at his own expense, a pamphlet on the "Philanthropic Results of 
the War," which he caused to be gratuitously circulated abroad, 
asd a large bound volume of which he presented to the Metro- 
House, organized under the auspices of the New York Association 
for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, and named 
after the father of the deceased financier. Among the other char- 
itable institutions fostered by Mr. Hartley, all of which owe 
their existence in part to the work of a member of the Hartley 
family, are the Society for the Relief of Ruptured and Crippled 
Children, the Presbyterian Hospital, and the Association for the 
Improvement of the Condition of the Poor. 
Mr. Hartley was a member of many clubs and societies, both 
social and scientific. He was one of the early members of the 
Union League Club, and for more than thirty years was a firm 
supporter of that organization. He was also a member of the 
Lawyers' Club, and a patron of the American Museum of Natural 
History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also a 
member of the following: The American Fine Arts Society, the 
Presbyterian Union, the New England Society, the Republican 
Club, and the Essex County Club of Orange, N. J. 
Mr. Hartley's Origin. 
Mr. Hartley traced his origin to some of the best blood in 
England. The family of Hartley is of great antiquity in Yorkshire, 
and there are also distinguished representatives in Dorset, Berk- 
shire, and Cumberland. Robert Mil ham Hartley, the father of Mr. 
Hartley, was born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, in 1796, and he 
v/as the eldest son of Isaac and Isabella (nee Johnson) Hartley. 
The grandfather of Mr. Hartley, Isaac Hartley, was a woolen 
manufacturer at Cockermouth until his removal to America in 
1797, where he continued to conduct his business for several years 
at Schenectady. 
On his mother's side also Mr. Hartley had reason to be proud 
of his descent. She was Miss Catharine Munson, daughter of 
Reuben Munson, of this city, a lienal descendent of Capt. Thomas 
Munson, who came to this country early in the seventeenth century 
and settled in Connecticut. Burke says in his Peerage, that the 
Monson family, so spelled in early days, has an unbroken record 
from 1378 down to the present day. 
A large number of trade representatives met in the office of 
the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, New York, to take 
action on the death of Marcellus Hartley. Of the number were: 
J. H. Lau, of J. H. Lau & Co.; T. V r on Lengerke, of Von Len- 
gerke & Detmold; H. S. Folsom, of H. S. Folsom Arms Company; 
A. H. Funke; H. L. Jespersen, of Jespersen & Hines; K. M. 
Neebitt, of M. W. Robinson Company; Joseph Gales, of Schover- 
ling, Daly & Gales; H. H. Kiffe of H. H. Kiffe Company; VV. P. 
Cornwall; F. J. Purtell, of Iver Johnson Sporting Goods Company; 
George Moore, of Moore, Sons & Co. ; U. T. Hungerford, of 
U. T. Hungerford & Co.; C. J. Godfrey; Wm. M. Odell, Car- 
tridge Commissioner: Julian W. Curtiss, of A. G. Spalding & 
Bros.; W. P. Howell; P, J. Sanford, of Winchester Repeating 
Arms Co. ; Tower & Lyon. 
The meeting Issued the following: 
