Deaths
ALUMNI NOTES
Necrology
Class of 1864
WILLIAM TENNEY GAGE, the last survivor of this class, died at his home at Grosse lie, Mich., February 7, 1935, after a two weeks' illness following a heart attack.
The son of William and Eleanor (Kimball) Gage, he was born in LeRoy, N. Y., March 16, 1843. He prepared for college at the high school of Concord, N. H., and entered the class in March, 1861. He was a member of Kappa Kappa Kappa.
In June, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, 7th Squadron, Rhode Island Cavalry, the unit known as the College Cavaliers, and served four months in Virginia, being captured and paroled while in service.
For two years after graduation he was principal of the graded schools of Anamosa, lowa. He then went to Highland, Kans., to take charge of a new enterprise which developed under his management into Highland University. In 1873 he resigned to become professor of English literature and history in the University of Kansas, and remained there two years. In 1875 he went to Hartford, Conn., to become principal of Hartford Female Seminary, and continued in this position until March, 1883.
At the last date he left the work of education and became general agent for the Aetna Life Insurance Cos. for the state of Michigan, with headquarters at Detroit. There he continued until his retirement in 1925. He was a charter member and past president of the Life Underwriters' Association of Detroit, and director and vicepresident of the Central Savings Bank. In 1889 he was commander of Detroit Post, G. A. R., and in 1893 chief of staff of that order for the state. He was a Mason and a member of the Detroit Club and the Grosse He Country Club.
January 9, 1868, he was married to Elizabeth Godwin of Gloversville, N. Y. After her death he was again married, and his second wife, Mrs. Julia Bury Gage, survives him, as also do three sons, William H. and Alexander K. Gage of Detroit and Lt. Col. Philip Stearns Gage of Atlanta. A daughter died in girlhood.
Class of 1869
JAMES MCEWEN DRAKE died at his winter home in Orlando, Fla., December 7, 1934.
The son of Cotton and Martha (Parsons) Drake, he was born in Rye, N. H., February 19, 1846. His early schooling was in the schools of his native town, and .his special preparation for college was. at the Boston Latin School. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi.
For the first two years after graduation he was principal of the high school at Franklin, Mass., then for one year at Framingham, Mass., and for two years at Westerly, R. I. From 1876 to 1880 he was supervising principal of the southern school district of Hartford, Conn. He then became a member of the firm of Perry Mason Company, publishers of the Youth's Companion, and was connected with that paper for forty years, until its absorption by the American Boy. During this time his home was in Boston, and he had a summer home at Sharon, Mass., where he devoted much attention to his flower garden and the study of wild flowers, his garden being somewhat widely known.
He was fond of the out-of-doors, being active in the Appalachian Mountain Club for thirty years, and walking from five to eight miles every Saturday afternoon. With advancing years he changed to the Field and Forest Club, taking easier walks. He traveled much in later years, and gave many illustrated lectures on his travels. He was a member of the Old South church in Boston.
July 2, 1874, Mr. Drake was married to Eliza Maria, daughter of Rev. Willard Upham of Framingham, Mass., who died September 16, 1920. Two of their children died in infancy. A son, Prof. Durant Drake of Vassar College, died November 21, 1933. The only survivor is a daughter, Miss Dorothy Drake, whose home is in Brookline, Mass.
Class of 1876
Word has just been received of the death of EDWARD PAYSON SANBORN at his home in St. Paul, Minn., May 29, 1934.
He was born in Epsom, N. H., May 19, 1853, the son of Henry Frederick and Eunice (Davis) Sanborn. His father was a non-graduate member of the class of 1843 and fudge Walter H. Sanborn '67 was a brother. He prepared for college at Penacook and New London, N. H. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa.
After graduation he taught successively in the high school of Medford, Mass., and at South Abington, Mas.s., and then read law in St. Paul, where he was admitted to the bar in 1879 and where he practiced the profession during the rest of his active life. He was a member of the board of aldermen of the city in 1898, and of city charter commissions in 1903 and 1915. He was prominent in Masonry, and had been grand commander of the Knights Templar of Minnesota.
November 21, 1884, he was married to Susie E. Dana of St. Paul. They had no children.
DR. JOHN EDWARD PRATT died at his home in Dumont, N. J., February 5, 1935.
He was born in Freeport, Me., November li, 1850, and prepared for college at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H. He was a member of Kappa Kappa Kappa. After two years he left the class, and soon after began the study of medicine, obtaining his medical degree at Dartmouth in the class of 1878.
He began practice at Auburn, N. H., but removed to Sandwich, Mass., in 1880. In 1895 he removed to New Jersey, and was for many years in active practice at Dumont.
While at Sandwich he was active in town affairs and popular as a public speaker. He was president of Barnstable County Medical Society in Massachusetts and of Bergen County Medical Society in New Jersey. He was up to the time of his death physician for the public schools of Dumont and for the West Shore Railroad. He retired from private practice fifteen years ago, but was at his office attending to his public health work the day before his death. He was a member of the medical staff of Hackensack Hospital.
Dr. Pratt was an elder of the North Reformed church in Dumont for forty years, and was formerly choir director there. He was a member of the Masonic order.
October 8, 1878, he was married to Sara L. Cornish of Centerville, Mass., who died in 1903. Three daughters survive them, Mrs. Alfred J. Strickland of Dumont and Mrs. Charles N. Osborn and Miss Eva A. Pratt of Hackensack, N. J.
Class of 1883
WILLIAM WHITE NILES died at his home, 5264 Independence Ave., Riverdale, Borough of Bronx, New York City, January 12, 1-935.
His death was the ultimate result of an accident which occurred about the middle of last December. He was on his way home, accompanied by a lady, and while crossing the street, two automobiles were seen rapidly approaching. He pushed the lady ahead to get out of their way. They stopped and then a third automobile, which no one had seen, turned out to the left past the first two and ran into him. He was badly bruised and one knee was seriously injured, but no bones were found to be broken. He appeared to be recovering well from his injuries, but early in January he began to complain about his heart, which had apparently become affected by the accident, and finally he died through failure of the muscles operating the valves of his heart to function.
He was born in Wacerford, N. Y., July as, 1860, the son of William Watson (Dartmouth 1845) and Isabel (White) Niles. He attended the Selleck School at Norwalk, Conn., and Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, N. H., and graduated from Dartmouth College in the class of 1883, with the A.B. degree, and three years later received the A.M. degree. In 1886 he was graduated from Albany Law School and was admitted to the bar, and five years later became the senior member of the law firm of Niles & Johnson, 56 Pine St., New York City, with which he had remained to the time of his death.
Mr. Niles had been active in projects designed to beautify and improve New York City and its environs for more than forty years. He helped draft important sections of the city charter, represented the public on the directorate of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company from 1923 to 1930, and conceived by general concession the idea of a model parkway to run through the Bronx River valley into Westchester county.
He drafted the law which created the Bronx River Parkway Commission in 1907, and was appointed vice-president and one of the three original members by Charles Evans Hughes, then governor of the state. He remained in that capacity until the dissolution of the commission in 1925, when the $16,500,000 parkway was opened with dedicatory exercises, at which Mr, Niles himself snipped the rope across the road and waved the first motorists over the new highway into Westchester county. The Westchester County Park Commission assumed responsibility for carrying on the work of the parkway.
Mr. Niles became a member of the Taconic State Park Commission as soon as the Bronx Parkway was completed in 1927, and in 1930 became head of the commission's work in developing new parks and parkways in Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia, and Rensselaer counties. For his work on the Bronx project he received the gold medal of the New York Society of Arts and Sciences, and for his achievements on both park groups he was awarded on October 30 last the Cornelius Amory Pugsley gold medals for 1934 by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society.
He became secretary of the New York Zoological Society in 1926, after having served previously for thirty-one years as a member of the organization's board of governors and executive committee. He was also a member of the City Plan Commission of New York and for several years was a member of the Municipal Art Society and chairman of its committee on parks. At his death he was also president of the Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences. Parts of the city charters which he had helped to draw included the chapter on borough government, giving local selfgovernment for the most part to each of the city's five boroughs. This he drew in 1900 as counsel to the New York City Charter Revision Commission. He also was a member of the Ivins City Charter Commission in 1908 and 1909, and formulated its chapters on education, charities, and correction.
Mr. Niles served one term in the New York Assembly in 1895. He was a Republican in politics, and in 1924 was the unsuccessful candidate of his party for one of the justices of the Supreme Court.
He was a member of the charter committee of the New York bar and former chairman of the judiciary committee of the Bronx County Bar Association. He was a past president of the Bronx Board of Trade. His other memberships in civic organizations included the various bar associations, the Citizens Union, the Tree Planting Association, of which he was past vice-president, and the University, National Republican, and Riverdale Country Clubs.
In 191 a Mr. Niles married Miss Florence M. Brown, who has recently been acting chairman of the Bronx Community Committee of Girl Scouts, who survives him, together with three children,—Charlotte, aged 21 years: Roma S., aged 19 years; and William W., aged 12 years.
Class of 1896
JOSIAH WINSLOW EDGERLY, M.D., died at his late residence, 418 E. 136 th St., New York City, January 14, 1935, of lymphatic leukemia. He is survived by his widow, Lillian (Swett) Edgerly, and his three children, Winslow S. Edgerly, M.D., of New Rochelle, N. Y. (Dartmouth College 1926, M.D. College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, 1929), Mrs. Albert Dale Gantz (Atilla S. Edgerly, Smith 1927), Sherburn E. Edgerly (Brown 1932), a student at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City. At the funeral services, which occurred on Wednesday evening, January 16, from his residence, the class was represented by T. C. Ham. The class secretary sent an appropriate floral offering, as did Mr. H. E. Eldred. Numerous messages were received from intimate friends of the class of '96 and other classes, and from his professional associates. The attendance was an eloquent testimony to the esteem in which he was held in the immediate community.
Edgerly was the son of Rev. David Leighton and Atilla J. (Winslow) Edgerly. He was born at New Durham Ride, N. H., August 8, 1872. He prepared for college at New Hampton (N. H.) Literary Institute, from which he graduated in 189 a. He entered Dartmouth from Pittsfield, N. H., in the fall of that year. Because of his modesty and helpful spirit and his sterling qualities of mind and character coupled with an ability for hard work, he speedily gained for himself the affections of his classmates and the respect of the general student body. Shortly after entering college he became a member of Theta Delta Chi, and throughout his college course "Edg," or "Josh," as his close friends called him, was a loyal supporter of college activities and a welcome companion in the few social activities then open to the Dartmouth undergraduate. Like many others of his day, he supplemented the college courses with personal teaching experience, for he looked forward to further years in the classroom before taking up formal professional training. Fate decided otherwise, and in the fall of 1896 he entered the medical department of New York University, and three years later obtained his M.D. degree.
Boyhood experiences and college associations would, it seems, call him to prac- tice in New Hampshire. Instead Edgerly selected a city environment for his lifework and general practice for his definite occupation. The upper east side of New York was then beginning to spill over into the Bronx, and there Edgerly established himself after his interneship and began to lay the foundations for a career that in time gained both professional and community recognition. Edgerly selected for himself the role of general practitionerall too rare in these days of specialization. He early gained recognition as a skilled diagnostician. Never an alarmist, his optimism, his quiet manner, his careful guarding of secrets inspired confidence in his patients while his generous expenditure of time and energy in their service gained their lasting esteem. Yet he was firm with them, as he was with all in essential details. In due course of years he became a charter member of the Bronx County Medical Society, and he was also a member of the American Medical Association and of New York State Medical Society. Among his fellow physicians "Pop" Edgerly speedily became a well-known figure. His courtesy and kindliness made him a useful member of his professional organizations and his ability to advise those to whom he ministered made lifelong friends of his patients. To them he was conscientious and untiring in his devotion, and to those who could not pay for his services he gave unstintedly of his time and medical skill. Their sincere grief at his demise bears strong testimony to his reputation both as a man and as a practitioner.
With him religion was no mere pretense. His was a practical working Christianity, based on the fundamental beliefs that he never cared to outgrow and expressed in daily service. Despite his professional duties and the handicap of deafness which increased with the years, Dr. Edgerly found time to serve the neighboring Bethany Presbyterian church as deacon, trustee, and elder. During the World War he acted as, examining physician on the local draft board. He and the members of his family were connected with the later development of the Stony Brook Conference on Long Island. No worthy cause which affected the community in which he lived and organizations with which he was connected called upon him in vain. In his life, however, he emphasized above all things his devotion to his children, whom he sought to prepare efficiently for service. In their ministrations during his last days he felt his greatest reward.
Edgerly met the end with courage. For months his family knew and he himself must have known that the struggle was a hopeless one, yet he carried on with fortitude and remained conscious to the last. It was the writer's privilege some months before the end to revisit his old classmate. Although unequal to the demands of his earlier practice, he still busied himself with calls upon long-standing patients, still took an interest in current events and in class and college gossip, still showed the same cheery hospitality and the same eagerness to contribute to the comfort and pleasure of his guest, still responded to the affectionate tie that marked the intimate asociation of more than forty years. In his last days he took pleasure in editing the diary kept by his father for fifty years, and in writing up for the benefit of his family his own boyhood experiences. Active in body until the last few weeks and keen-minded to the end, he was the same patient, whole-souled man whom his friends had learned to respect and admire.
Class of 1899
PHILIP WORCESTER CARSON died in the Bradford, Pa., Hospital, January 5, 1935, of pneumonia, having been removed a few days before from the Bay State Hotel, where he resided in that city. He was 62 years old.
Kit Carson, as he was called by his college contemporaries after the famous hunter, Indian fighter, and scout, entered Dartmouth in the third term of Freshman year. There are no registration records in existence to tell from what college he transferred to Dartmouth, from which he graduated with the class of 1899. His brother, the late Dr. Paul Carson, graduated from Dartmouth in 1891 and from the Dartmouth Medical School in 1894. Dr. Carson was port physician of Boston and a lecturer on contagious diseases at Boston University.
In his undergraduate days Kit was an interesting companion and conversationalist, inclined to intellectual pursuits and content to take life easy with respect to physical activities. He was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity. After graduating, he attended Harvard Law School for a year and then went to Port Allegany, Pa., where he was associated with the Allegany Window Glass Company. Later he became interested in oil and gas, and dealt in leases in the Bradford field and the Allegany and Cattaraugus county fields.
On June x, 1911, he married Mabel F. Gerrish of Winthrop, Mass., and engaged >n the real estate business with offices at 18 Tremont St., Boston. Some time later he returned to his native town of Randolph, N. Y., and engaged in various lines °£ business from time to time. For several years prior to his death he represented a tombstone company of Buffalo, N. Y. He had been successful in this work until the depression. During the last few months he was making better progress.
In recent years he lived at the Bay State Hotel at Bradford. A report from the editor of the Bradford Evening Star states:
"He had the confidence and respect ofBradford folks, many of whom were amongthe leading residents. He was of a retiringdisposition, but had a small circle of loyalfriends and was recognized by all as a manof culture, education, and business ability.During the past two years he had beenmuch reduced in circumstances, but alxuayslived within his income and preferredpersonal sacrifice and self-denial to a lotof debts."
Kit was born at Randolph, N. Y., and was one of four children, three sons and one daughter, of the late Mr. and Mrs. Robert Carson. His father was interested in taking bark and timber from a large area, now embraced within the limits of Allegany State Park, and later conducted general stores at Red House and at Steamburg. His brothers were Dr. Paul Carson, mentioned above, and Dr. Artell Carson, who lived at Gowanda, N. Y. His sister was Miss Blanche Carson. At the time of his death not a single relative was known to be alive. The family home at 62 Jamestown St., Randolph, was sold after the death of his mother and sister, and Philip made his home in hotels.
Funeral services were conducted at Meyer's Funeral Home at Randolph, Tuesday, January 8, and interment was in the Randolph Cemetery near his deceased kin.
Class of 1901
WALTER HIBBERD CURTIS, a member of the class of 1901 during sophomore and junior years, passed away at his home in West Springfield, Mass., August 15, 1933. He had been a sufferer from acute arthritis, combined with heart trouble, which diseases he had had for many years, and which seemingly were incurable.
Curtis was born in West Stockbridge, Mass., April 6, 1875, the son of Rev. Gilbert A. and Elbertina L. (Fuller) Curtis. He attended the schools of that town and later entered Kimball Union Academy, graduating from that institution in 1898. He then came to Dartmouth, and became a member of the class of 1901, of which his younger brother, Harlan F. Curtis, was a member. The two brothers lived together in Old Dartmouth, and were usually seen in each others' company. Curtis left college after junior year, and entered the employ of the Springfield (Mass.) Street Railway, and was with them for over 35 years, retiring some two years before his death. On October 6, 1909, he married Lois M. Griswold, of West Springfield, who survives him, with one son, Robert M. Curtis. Class of 1902
Word has just reached the MAGAZINE of the death of John H. Maley in Danbury, Conn., on May 22, 1933.
JOHN HENRY MALEY was born in Newport, N. H., August 9, 1878. From the high school in Newport he entered Dartmouth with the class of 1902. He stayed only one year, and then seemed to keep very much to himself. We have had occasional word of him, though little more than an address. Yet he did not give us during freshman year the impression that he was of a retiring sort. We remember him as a rather active and restless individual, but not at all an unfriendly one.
Class of 1903
KINGSLEY ALLAN BURNHAM died in Boston, \Mass., on January 21, 1935. In college he was a member of Tri Kappa and Sphinx senior society.
"Kink," as he was generally known, had been seen infrequently at Dartmouth gatherings or by fellow alumni and classmates in recent years. Increasing deafness, already noticed in his college days, and ill health had resulted in a super-sensitiveness which made him reluctant to seek the comradeship of others.
A native of Boston, where he was born December 13, 1880, he was a descendant of prominent New England families. He attended the Boston Latin School, but com- pleted his preparation for college at Thayer Academy, Braintree, Mass., under the mastership of Dr. William Gallagher.
Loyalty to the college reached unusual heights in "Kink," his uncle, Charles Theodore Gallagher, and his cousin, Morrill Allen Gallagher. These three are all gone. It was not given to many to know "Kink" so intimately nor for so long a period as the writer. Back in the Boston Latin days and then on summer vacation in the White Mountains we had played together and become fast friends even before entering Dartmouth. It was during one of these early summers that we met for the first time Harry Goodall and Henry Crowley, both 'gBers, and a lasting friendship started between college graduates and "paenes," which has continued down through these many years.
"Kink" had a keen mind, almost a brilliant one. He early decided upon chemistry as his lifework, though he had originally been inclined towards law, but, realizing the probability of an increasing deafness, decided upon work which would be more individual. He took his master's degree in chemistry at Dartmouth, and was enrolled for a short time in further postgraduate work at Harvard.
It was during this latter period that he became extremely interested in military affairs. Despite his physical handicaps he proved his worth and advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On attaining the rank of major he gave up active business and devoted his entire time to the service. Giving unselfishly of his time during those days when the Massachusetts state militia was being recruited into national service, at the time of the Villa raid in 1914, "Kink" overtaxed his strength, and his first break in health came during that period. His recovery was slow, and it was some three or four years before he was sufficiently recovered to take up again active work. For several years (1920-3) he was engaged in special laboratory work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Never fitted physically for indoor work, he gradually failed, and his passing was not entirely unexpected.
Burnham was married December 5, 1904, to Anna Louise Fornham.
Class of 1905
The body of FREDERICK FRANKLIN PRIEST was found January 20 in the woods in Winchester, N. H. Priest had been dead several weeks, from a bullet wound in his head. His body was strapped to a tree.
Suspicion that he was murdered was set at rest when police and medical examiners found a revolver buried in the snow near the body. They were satisfied that it, was a case of suicide.
The body was found near an old farm where the Priest family lived more than 20 years ago. Nobody lived there in recent years. Near-by was a suitcase, and a strap from the suitcase was passed around the bQdy and held it to the trunk of a tree. A rabbit hunter found the body, and identification was made from letters and a Dartmouth diploma found in the suitcase.
Fred Priest entered Dartmouth with the class of 1905, coming to Hanover from Holyoke, Mass. His college course was interrupted several times while he earned funds with which to continue. He graduated in 1908. During his college years he worked for the American Express Company, and after graduation continued in the employ of the Express Company, with some interruptions. From 1918 until last October he worked in the express offices in the North and South Stations in Boston. In October, 1934, he resigned, without giving any reason, and his friends lost track of him. He lived in Watertown, Mass., with his mother until she died about a year ago.
Fred never married, and so far as is known he leaves no near relatives. He was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
He was born March 11, 1881, in Holyoke, the son of Frank M. and Katie (McGrath) Priest. His father was a patrolman on the Holyoke police force, and later in Northampton, Mass. Young Priest worked at odd jobs, finished high school, and then with little except his own ambition and the encouragement of his mother he entered
Dartmouth. He believed he was going into a new world, one where everyone was a gentleman in the best Horatio Alger manner. He found human nature in Hanover about what it was in Holyoke, and some rough experiences during his first months at Dartmouth were a severe shock to a nature which was essentially fine. This led Fred to a somewhat cynical attitude and affectation o£ an air of indifference which deceived all but a few intimate friends. A very few enjoyed his real friendship, and no more loyal friend than Fred Priest ever lived. His effort to armor a curiously sensitive nature with an appearance of cynical indifference was pathetic, to those who really knew and loved him. It was a great handicap all his life.
That he had real courage was attested by his persistence in pursuit of his degree. Hard work in vacations and rigorous selfdenial in college gave him enough money to earn a few more hours toward his degree. Then he would have to leave Hanover and work at anything he could find, until he could get together a few more dollars. It took him several years to win his diploma. Some, for whom money was not a serious problem, laughed at his slow progress through Dartmouth.
What disappointment and discouragement led him to end his life may never be known. It is believed his health was broken and no doubt his mind was affected. In recent years his old friends have seen little of him. They will remember Fred as a fine, loyal, sensitive, courageous son of the small-city policeman, to whom Dartmouth meant hard work and sacrifice, and whose love for the college never wavered.
Class of 1906
JOSEPH MARION STORY died very suddenly from a heart attack on the evening o£ October 30, 1934, at his home, 1401 Columbia Road N. W., Washington, D. C. He was born in Somerville, Mass., August 12, 1883, the son of Isaac M. and Adeline (Sanderson) Story, and prepared for college in the Somerville Latin High School.
In college he was a member of the freshman football and basketball teams, and in his sophomore year of the varsity track and basketball teams. He withdrew from college at the end of sophomore year, but retained a great love for Dartmouth throughout his life. He returned to the twenty-fifth reunion in 1931, and evinced great pleasure in renewing at that time acquaintanceships that had, in many cases, suffered the complete interruption of a quarter of a century. He was a member of the Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, and of the Dartmouth Bowling League of Washington.
Upon leaving college, he served for a short time as an assistant engineer on the construction of the Charles River Dam at Boston; then from 1906 to 1908 he was an assistant engineer on the construction of the Catskill Aqueduct, New York. From 1908 to 19x9 he held the position of assistant engineer of water supply for the New York City Fire Department. He was employed for two years as a construction engineer by T. W. Stemmler, Inc., New York City, and in 1921 went to Washington in a similar position with the George A. Fuller Company. In 1936 he entered: government employ, as architectural engineer in the office of the supervising architect of " the Treasury Department. At the time of his death he held the position of architectural engineer for the Public Works Board of the federal government.
While a resident of New York, Joe became a member of the famous 7th New York Infantry, National Guard, and as supply sergeant of Company A of that regiment saw service on the border at McAllen, Texas, in 1916-17. During the World War he was a captain in the Construction Division of the National Army, with service at Washington, Camp Eustis, Va., and Camp Humphreys, Va., 1917-1919.
He was married at Cornwall-on-Hud-son, N. Y., June 5, 1907, to Miss Ruth B. Cleland, who survives him, with four daughters, Mrs. Byron Neilson, Mrs. George L. Cole, Priscilla M. Story, and Dixie C. Story, and one grandson, George L. Cole, Jr.
Class of 1921
Word has belatedly reached the secretary of the sudden death on Nov. go, 1934, in New York City of John J. Benjamin, a member of the class during freshman year.
Jack was born in Denver, Colo., July 8, 1899, the son of Maurice C. and Caroline Shevelson Benjamin, but prior to his entering Dartmouth his parents had moved to New York City. He prepared for College at the Cheshire School of Cheshire,
At the time of his death Jack was a sales executive with the New York Stock Exchange firm of Saloman Bros. & Hutzler of 60 Wall Street, New York City. He had been connected with this firm since February, 1921, when he entered its services as an assistant statistician.
Jack is survived by his widow, Edla; a son, John J. Benjamin Jr.; his mother, Caroline S. Benjamin, and two brothers, Maurice S. and Barets O. Benjamin.
Although he was only with the class one year, he had never lost his interest in Dartmouth and was one of the 1921 delegation at the Yale game at New Haven just a few weeks before his death.
Class of 1889
DR. GEORGE MOSES DAVIS died at his home in Manchester, N. H., January 14 1935, having received an apoplectic stroke while driving in his automobile a few hours earlier.
The son of Dr. Ira and Lucy (Crary) Davis, he was born in Norwich, Vt., January 30, 1864. He received his preliminary education in the public schools of Manchester, and studied medicine with Dr. George G. Hoitt (D.M.S. 1882) of Manchester and at Dartmouth, obtaining his degree in November, 1888.
He was assistant physician at Massachusetts State Hospital, Tewksbury, for a year, and in 1889 began practice at Bedford, N. H. He removed to Merrimack in 1893 and to Manchester in 1895, continuing in active and successful practice until his death.
He was on the staff of the Sacred Heart Hospital for 35 years, was for several terms medical referee for Hillsborough county, and was long surgeon for the Amoskeag Corporation and physician at the State Industrial School.
February 24, 1891, Dr. Davis was married to Mabel L. Davis of Norwich, Vt., who died in the fall of 1933. Two children survive their parents, Harold I. Davis of Pembroke, a sometime member of Dartmouth 1916, and Hilda L. Davis, a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and now a teacher in Manchester Central High School. There are four grandchildren.
JAMES MACKAYE, professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College, died in Boston, January 22, at the Baker Memorial unit of the Massachusetts General Hospital, following an illness of three months. Funeral services were conducted on January 24 in the Memorial Church in the Harvard Yard, Cambridge, by the Rev. Allen W. Clark, formerly rector at St. Thomas' Church in Hanover.
James MacKaye came of a notable family. 'One of his ancestors was the first President of Norwich University. His father, James Steele MacKaye, and his mother, Mary Keith (Medbury) MacKaye were prominent in the theatrical profession. One of his two brothers is Percy MacKaye, the poet and dramatist, and the other, Benton MacKaye, is one of the executives connected with the Tennessee Valley project. His sister, Hazel MacKaye, is well known in dramatic art circles. James MacKaye was born in New York City in 1872, where he received his early education and prepared for college. While at Harvard, where he graduated in 1895, in addition to scientific studies, he attended lectures in philosophy by William James and Josiah Royce. From 1895 to 1924 he was a research engineer in Boston.
In 1906 he married Mary de Veber Morse, who survives him. The same year he published his first two books, The Economy ofHappiness and The Politics of Utility. He had by then become convinced that the times required a technique for the attack of social problems that would be as accurate as engineering. He believed that he found such a technique in a modification of the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham and the inductive logic of John Stuart Mill, which he adapted to twentieth century problems. In 1915 appeared TheHappiness of Nations, in 1918 Americanized Socialism, and in 1924 The Logicof Conduct.
Philosophical problems of a practical character having now become his dominant interest, he accepted a visiting lectureship at Dartmouth in the fall of 1924. During the year 1931-1932, while on leave of absence, he taught philosophy at Rollins College. He returned as a full professor in the fall of 1932. While at Dartmouth he was free from the ordinary routine of departmental instruction, and at liberty to teach subjects of his own choosing. He confined himself to two courses, respectively entitled "Applied Utilitarianism" and "The Philosophy of the Reasoning Process." These he repeated each semester and constantly improved. He expected ultimately to publish the material in these courses, and it is a deep regret to all interested in the philosophy of social engineering that his life ended before this task could be brought to completion.
His interest was not confined to social problems. In an address before the American Philosophical Association at Columbia University in December 1939, and shortly afterwards published in full in the NewYork World, as well as in the Journal ofPhilosophy, he proposed an original theory of the universe as an alternative to that of Einstein. MacKaye's theory at once attracted wide attention. He set it forth in expanded form in The Dynamic Universe, which appeared in 1931. The previous year he had found time to publish Thoreau—Philosopher of Freedom, a carefully chosen collection of Thoreau's writings on liberty, for which he wrote an introduction.
His STUDENTS BECAME DISCIPLES
As a teacher, MacKaye was noteworthy for systematic organization of thought, clarity of exposition, dry humor, and unbounded enthusiasm. His two courses at Dartmouth were devoted to the presentation of his own philosophy. He deliberately selected unpopular afternoon and evening hours so that his classes would be small, and confined principally to the more seriously minded students. Among these were some of the ablest men in the undergraduate body, and upon them he made a profound impression. Some of them became his disciples, and they will in time give to the world the message that he imparted to them. What this will prove to be, except as it can be inferred from his published books, we must wait for them to tell us. It is known, however, to include methods for inductive observation, close analysis, precision in the definition of terms, precautions against the coloring of reasoning by emotional preferences ("convictionism"), and probably a logical technique for investigating social problems' rather than a prescribed program of social reconstruction.
MacKaye was a man of rare personal charm. He was tall and commanding in presence, with a firm step, erect posture, keen eyes, and abundant ungreyed hair. At sixty he was taken by many to be a man still in his forties. In spirit he was always a young man. We of the department of philosophy have lost an eminent colleague, a wise counsellor and a close friend. Of the many tributes that have been written since his death, perhaps the most discriminating is that by Professor Stearns Morse of the English department who says of him: "His mind was both subtle andrelentlessly logical; it was profoundlyradical in that it cut through to the rootsof things as all great minds do. But Ishould know that he was great if I hadnever heard him discuss ideas. I shouldknow it from the truth and simplicity ofhis personality. I should know it from hissilent passion for the earth; for his greatknowledge and love of birds; from his feeling for the sharp line of a mountain againstthe sky; from his Socratic humor, impatient with trivia; from his zest for sunpie things like sugaring-off in spring;from his affection and respect for the'originals' as he called them, one finds onour hill farms in New England. In asophisticated age which, I fear, makes aromantic fetish of complexity and needlessly elaborate solutions for its troubleshe was refreshingly child-like and elemental, such a man as our world can illafford to lose."
—WILLIAM KELLEY WRIGHT,
Professor of Philosophy.
Prof. James MacKaye
Medical School
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