Deaths
ALUMNI NOTES
Necrology
Class of 1872
CHARLES ALFRED CARSON died after a protracted illness at his home on his fruit ranch near Seattle, Wash., November 24, '934- The son of Rev" J" C' Carson' DD' (Presbyterian), and Julia A. (MacFarland) Carson, he was born at Delmont, Pa., October 4, 1852.
His father's family was identified with that section of Pennsylvania from colonial times. His great-grandfather, John Carson, was an acting captain under Col. Washington at the famous battle of Braddock's Field. John Carson's company numbered sixty, who were recruited at Philadelphia and came from the sections now included in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. They traveled under the direction of Benjamin Franklin, who acted for the provincial government in furnishing supplies to the troops who were gathering in the French and Indian War in 1755 for an attack on Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh). At the ensuing battle (July 9, 1755), as the consequence of Braddock's refusal to adopt the Indian tactics familiar to Col. Washington and urged by him on Braddock, the latter lost not only his own life but 63 out of 86 of his officers and 914 out of 1370 men. Carson returned safely with 37 out of his 60. He lived until 97 years of age and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. After the battle Colonel Washington and his command camped the first night on the site where Carson '72 was born. Markers of marble and granite commemorate the fact.
Charles A. Carson spent his boyhood in that district. His Indian ancestry gave him a taste for trapping the wild animals then abundant there and for fishing in the waters of the rivers adjacent. His success gave him pocket money for several years.
At Delmont also Carson '72 prepared for college under the guidance of William J. Galbraith '57 Dartmouth, who was principal of Delmont Academy and conducted it with conspicuous success until 1861, when he enlisted in the Union troops of the Civil War, with whom he remained until 1865. He then returned to the Delmont Academy, where he continued until 1871, when he was admitted to the bar at Pittsburgh, Pa. Meanwhile Carson '72 was prepared for college.
In June, 1869, he received a state teacher's certificate entitling him to teach in the public schools of Pennsylvania for four years.
In July, 1870, his father died, and the next month his mother (who had considerable experience as school teacher) entered his name as an applicant for admission to Princeton in the junior class, but due to conditions in Homer's Iliad he did not enter Princeton but went to Rutgers, where he entered the junior class of '72. In 1871 his preceptor Galbraith urged a change to Dartmouth, which he made in June, .1871, and therefore passed one college year in Dartmouth and graduated there with the class of 1872.
On July 12, 1929, Carson wrote in a letter: "Just before graduation President Smith asked me to buy a copy of Napheys' 'Physical Life of Man' and read and live it. I did and followed its teachings without deviation or neglect like a fanatic ever since, and it helped me lead a real physical life ever since and it kept me free from all kinds of disease, immoral men and women and drunkenness and habit-forming drugs."
After graduation he returned to his home at Delmont, Pa. On August 15, 1872, he went to St. Louis, Mo., and became an apprentice in a job printing business, acquiring a half interest therein. While so engaged he had an opportunity to speculate in real estate and purchased 160 acres of land lying west of St. Louis, which proved profitable. With ready capital, a fever for adventure seized him. He sold his printingbusiness and in January, 1876, started for the Black Hills in South Dakota. On the way he met Gen. Phil Sheridan, who advised him to change his course to Cheyenne, Wyo., and the general provided him an escort to that place. On arrival there he was induced to change his plans again and proceeded to the Black Hills as he had originally intended. He arrived there June 26, 1876, and established a successful business, and continued it with satisfaction until December 1, 1877.
Carson then became "beset mentally with obsessions" tor change and adventure, and began his "trek" for the West, which finally landed him in Seattle, where he spent the remainder of his life with indulgence in his various "obsessions," in trips to Manila in the Phillipines, where he spent two years, one in military service in the ist Washington Volunteers and the other as a civilian, and two years in Alaska, . three years in Edmonton, Alberta, on the North Saskatchewan River, but always bearing toward the western confines of civilization. Meanwhile he always indulged his Indian instincts by maintaining his Seattle fruit ranch where, he writes, he enjoyed June and July "attending to fruit marketing, manuring, pruning, and spraying and other details of small fruit growing; putting in 10 to 12 hours per day in this labor I have little time left for reading or correspondence, for when I am interested I can put in long hours with pleasure and never seem to grow tired, and then the work takes my mind from many opportunities I have had in bygone years and which I never fully improved as I should have done; but after all I think 'What's the difference if we are living right,' as Cotton, our classmate, sings in his class history
" 'Small matter where our lot is cast, If when the work is done,
In viewing what our hands have wrought The Master says Well Done.' "
This quotation is from a letter written by Carson July 12, 1929, and shows his philosophy of life and his memory of Dartmouth Class Day, 1872.
Class of 1895
WILLIAM HENRY CLAGETT son of William Henry and Adele (Clare) Clagett, was born in Washington, D. C., January 27, 1874, and died in his native city December 7, 1933.
Clagett's entire life was spent in Washington. In 1891, in company with Robert M. Thornburgh, Johnson Hellen, and Horace Burdett, all of Washington, he entered the freshman class. Each of these men made the varsity baseball team in their freshman year, Thornburg and Hellen as pitchers, Clagett shortstop, and Burdett third baseman, and they contributed much to baseball by their skill during their years in Hanover.
Clagett, familiarly known as "Bull," remained three years and made something of a reputation as an actor with the Dramatic Club. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi. He did not return to college for his senior year, but spent the year in Europe. Clagett then attached himself to the Washington Herald, after which he joined the Washington Star, and for many years he conducted a column in that paper, "Dopy Dan," devoted largely to sporting matters, and also wrote humorous articles. In addition he contributed much poetry, and produced a book of light verse.
May 30, 1903, Clagett married Mary Realty, a well-known actress, supporting Stuart Robson, E. H. Sothern, and other prominent stars, and for a time Clagett had good parts in some of the same companies. In the past ten years Clagett had been one of the editors of the Catholic Welfare News, and also invented and patented many games for children.
He had been in indifferent health the last three years of his life, following a severe illness.
Clagett possessed a delightful personality and much charm. His life was devoted to Washington and he had not kept in close touch with the college or many of his classmates.
His wife survives.
Class of 1897
WILLIAM LEWIS O'BRION died at his home in Pelham, N. Y., on October 4, 1934. A serious stomach operation was followed by long periods of alternate good health and illness. In the immediate family the survivors are Mrs. O'Brion and two sons.
O'Brion was born in Portland, Me., on September 25, 1875, and entered college from Newton, Mass. His marriage was to Anna B. Blanchard in 1907. William Lewis Jr. was graduated from Dartmouth in 1930, and John Henry in 1933. Both sons are in business in New York City.
O'Brion received his professional training in Harvard and was a graduate of the Law School. He was for a time in private practice in Boston, and has now for about thirty years been on the legal staff of the Travelers Insurance Company with offices in New York City. He was a member of many professional, political and social organizations. He won many tennis tournaments, was interested in golf, and a director of the Tamarack Club in Portchester. While still at Dartmouth he was one of the small group who started the .Hanover golf course.
His classmates recall him with friendship and affection. He was a member of Psi Upsilon, tennis champion, banjo artist, and player of class baseball and football. He was also a high-grade student, clear and discriminating in his judgment, and with wide interests. It is easy to recall him as a student, well groomed, of friendly yet distinguished bearing, in appearance the class aristocrat, but in kindly co-operation, the most stalwart of friends. So he lived his life, and many beside family and classmates mourn his untimely death.
Class of 1902
ROBERT HENRY ELLIOTT, prominent realtor of Lowell, Mass. died at his home on December 15, 1934, after a brief illness.
Bob was born in Lowell on September 8, 1878, the son of Thomas H. and Arvilla (Shepard) Elliott. On graduating from Lowell High School he entered Dartmouth, taking his degree with Phi Beta Kappa standing. He went into business with his father's firm in Lowell, and became a man of influence in the city.
He was well known in fraternal circles, a member of Kilwinning Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and other bodies of the Masonic order, including the Shrine.
Bob was married on October 19, 1910, to Miss Gertrude Craven of Lowell, who survives him. He also leaves his father, two brothers, Herford N. of the class of 1905 and Richard M. of the class of 1910, and two sisters.
Few men are privileged to have such a kindly and lovable nature as that which Bob Elliott possessed. Intensely loyal to his college, his class, and his friends, nevertheless he considered his own work in their behalf as little in comparison to what they brought to him. The class of 1902 owes much to him, and the memory of his friendship will stay as long as there remains a man of 1903.
Class of 1915
FRANKLIN PERRY COI.LIER, former Boston Herald-Traveller cartoonist and caricaturist, died very suddenly December 23, 1934, at his home, 1824 Beacon St., Brookline, Mass. Frank has just finished decorating a Christmas tree at his home when he was stricken with the fatal heart attack from which he died almost instantly.
He was born in Beverly, Mass., September 8, 1881, and after graduation from the Beverly High School became so interested in cartooning that he decided to make it his life's work. He was first employed by the Boston Globe, later with the EveningTranscript, and in 1919 with the Boston Herald. He was a particular friend of Babe Ruth, and for many years went South every spring to visit the ball clubs in their spring training camps. From these visits he sent back many cartoons for his paper.
While with the Boston Herald he created his famous character "Otto Grow." He was elected an honorary member of the class of 1915 and attended the 15th reunion in Hanover. His hobby was golf.
He is survived by his widow, Alice Daly Collier and two children by a previous marriage, Franklin P. Collier Jr. (Dartmouth 1927) and Joanna Ruth Collier.
Every member of the class who was privileged to know him intimately will deeply mourn his loss.
H. K. Davison
Class of 1924
FRANK PAUL CAVANAUGH died at Reeves Point, N. H., December 13, 1934, of injuries received when his car skidded from the road as he was driving from his home in Manchester to Boston. Tup Tupper, Gordy Richards, Putty Blodgett, Pinky Booth, and Ken Harvey acted as honorary pall bearers at the funeral and presented flowers from the class. Cav, except for a short period with a cigar company, has been with his father and brothers in a lumber company, at Manchester and Bedford, N. H. He is survived by his wife, Mary Atkinson, and two children, a boy seven and a girl five.
Cav was the first class treasurer, a member of the freshman football team, the varsity football squad, Green Key, and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He came to Dartmouth from Allen Military School of West Newton, Mass.
Class of 1932
WILSON HARMON GLASS died as the result of an automobile accident in Pennsylvania in December, 1934, according to word received from the Tulsa, Okla., Tribune.
The son of Archibald and Lucy Glass the former a physician, Wils was born in Booneville, Ky., November 24, 1911. He attended Tulsa High School from 1993 to 1927, and received a diploma from Exeter in 1928.
He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Dartmouth. After being graduated he took up studies at the Cornell Medical School in New York, and was frequently seen at Dartmouth Club gatherings. When the fatal accident occurred he was on his way from New York to Booneville, Ky„ where with his two brothers and two sisters he was to join his mother for Christmas.
Medical School
Class of 1886
DR. THOMAS GILMORE WALLER died at his home in Lowell, Mass., December 9, 1934.
He was born in Franklin, Que., October 5, 1858, and received his academic educa- tion at the University of Chicago. After his medical graduation he was an interne at Bellevue Hospital, New York City, and in 1891 settled in practice in Lowell, where he became prominent in his profession and as a writer on professional subjects.
He was prominently identified with the Masonic Order, and was also an Odd Fellow and a first lieutenant in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston.
June 24, 1880, he was married to Cyrenie O. Johnson of Chateaugay, N. Y., who is not living. A son, Dr. Schuyler R. Waller, a dentist of Lowell, and a daughter, Mrs. Ethel R. Manship of Lowell, survive him.
Class of 1892
DR. EDWARD SMITH WINSLOW died at Harwhich, Mass., December 28, 1934, after an illness of several months.
He was born in Easthampton, Mass., February 2, 1866. His entire medical course was taken at Dartmouth, and after graduation he took further study at the Woman's Hospital in London. He practiced for some years in his native town and served in the Medical Corps during the World War with the rank of major. Since the war he had practiced in Harwich, where he was on the staff of the Cape Cod Hospital.
His first wife, Georgia Manchester of Easthampton, died in 1926, and his second wife, who was Edith Watson, survives him. A son, Edward L. Winslow of Brockton, also survives him.
Class of 1894
In the Necrology of the January number the notice of the death of Dr. William A. Cahill was by an error given among the graduates of the College instead of the Medical School, where it belonged.
