USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 1 > Part 12
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Benjamin H. Charles acquired his early education in a private school and afterward attended Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1885 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was also a student in the law department of Yale University and there won his LL. B. degree in June, 1891. After completing his course at Westminster he taught school for three years in Fulton, Missouri, and then began his law reading in the office of John A. Hockaday, who at one time was attorney general of the state and who was also one of the judges on the cireuit bench of Missouri. Later Mr. Charles continued his reading under the direction of his uncle, Judge William Hartzell, of Chester, Illinois, reading law with him for about a year. Ile next became a law student at Yale University and after completing his course there went to Nashville, Tennessee, with his father, who was at that time president of the Ward Seminary. After a short period in Nashville Benjamin H. Charles then removed to St. Louis and was admitted to the bar in the circuit court of this city in 1892. For
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a few years thereafter he met the usual difficulties and hardships that con- front the professional man as he attempts to establish a practice in competition with old and experienced lawyers. Mr. Charles entered the office of Douglas & Scudder, of which Judge Walter B. Douglas was the senior partner. Their office was situated in the old Third National Bank building on Olive, between Fourth and Broadway, and was afterward removed to the old Continental Bank building at Fourth and Olive streets and still later to the Union Trust building, now the Central National Bank building. Mr. Charles remained with the firm of Douglas & Scudder from 1892 until 1903, at which time he was appointed second associate city counselor by Mayor Wells to work with Charles W. Bates, city counselor. In 1906 he was appointed first associate counselor and was reappointed in 1907, resigning his position in 1910. During these seven years his work was purely municipal and many very important cases were handled by him, among which was the suit against the lighting company for two hundred thousand dollars, the municipal bridge suit, involving three million five hundred thousand dollars of eity bonds and the Tower Grove grade crossing suit. All of these cases required a vast amount of work, much of which fell to the associate counselor, especially the handling of details, which had much to do with the successful prosecution of the cases. Resigning his position as associate city counselor in 1910 Mr. Charles took up the general practice of law, devoting much time, however, to passing on municipal bonds and in this line he has attained marked success. His practice of this character is very extensive and important and he is regarded today as one of the leading municipal bond lawyers of the United States. On the 1st of April, 1917, he formed a partnership with W. T. Rutherford, former assistant attorney general of Missouri, under the firm style of Charles & Rutherford. This firm has been retained by the city of St. Louis in connection with the bond issue of twenty-two million dollars, as special counsel. It may also be mentioned that at a former period for about two years beginning in 1897, Mr. Charles was a law partner of William G. Lackey, who until recently was the vice president of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company. He is recognized as a lawyer of great ability with high regard for the ethics of his profession and at all times careful, prudent, untiring, accurate and loyal to the interests which he espouses.
On the 30th of June, 1903, in Keokuk, Iowa, Mr. Charles was married to Miss Nancy MeCandless Horne, a daughter of the late Robert Gray Horne and a granddaughter of Smith Hamill, member of a well known wholesale grocery firm at Keokuk. Her ancestors were all Scotch and Irish. To Mr. and Mrs. Charles have been born three sons: Benjamin H., III, fourteen years of age; Robert Horne and Smith Hamill, twins, nine years of age. Mr. Charles and his wife are members of the Westminster Presbyterian church of St. Louis and he is serving on the board of trustees of Westminster College. Mr. Charles has also been president of Westminster Alumni Association of St. Louis and is now serving as the president of the Yale Alumni Association of St. Louis. Politically he is a democrat. He belongs to the Beta Theta Pi and the Phi Delta Phi, the former a college fraternity and the latter a law fraternity, and he is also prominently known in the club circles of St. Louis, belonging to the Noonday, University and the Bellerive Country Club.
Geot Drake
George S. Drake
T. LOUIS was just entering upon the second quarter of the S nineteenth century when George S. Drake became a resident of the town and when the period of his boyhood and youth passed he entered upon a business career that made him one of the foremost citizens. In traeing the ancestral line from which he was descended it is learned that through many centuries the Drake family has figured conspicuously in con- nection with the affairs of Great Britain. As early as 1272 John Drake held lands by grant of King Edward 1 and in 1313 John Drake had permission of Edward II "to go beyond the sea." Many distinguished clergymen, martyrs, authors and navigators have horne the name and among the most noted of the last men- tioned elass was Sir Francis Drake, prominent during the reign of Queen Eliza- beth. In the year 1552 Richard Drake, the ancestor of the branch of the family to which George S. Drake belonged, was high sheriff of Dublin, Ireland. This family was also represented by Robert Drake, minister of Thundersly, in Essex, England, who died a martyr at Smithfield during the reign of Queen Mary. When exhorted by Bishop Bonner to renounce his "heresy" he made this remarkable and courageous reply: "As for your Church of Rome, I utterly deny and defy it, with all the works thereof, as 1 deny the devil and all his works." In the year 1630 John Drake, of Devon, England, crossed the Atlantic and established his home in Connecticut, ten years after a landing was first made by the Pilgrims on Plymouth Roek on the completion of the first voyage of the Mayflower. In 1637 he took up his permanent abode at East Windsor, Connecticut, and to that place the ancestral line of the various branches of the family in America is traced. The name has long been a most honored one in various sections of the country for representatives of the family have been recognized as people of strong intellectual attainments and of marked ability in various lines.
It was on the 11th of October, 1825, that George S. Drake was born at Hart- ford, Connecticut, his parents being Silas and Elizabeth (Warburton) Drake, who in 1827 removed westward to Missouri and established their home in St. Louis, at which time George S. Drake was but two years of age. He continued a resident of this eity to the time of his death and after attending the private schools to some extent he continued his education at Kemper College and when sixteen years of age made his initial step in the business world by securing a clerkship in the dry goods house of Warburton & King, one of the oldest estab- lished commercial houses of the city. Ilis fidelity to the interests of his employers, his reliability and his diligence brought him steady promotion and after six years was admitted to a partnership when but twenty-two years of age, under the firm style of Warburton, Rossiter & Drake. His association with the house was eon- tinued until 1852 when he withdrew and became a member of the firm of Manny,
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Drake & Company, dealers in boots and shoes. Thirteen years later he with- drew permanently from mercantile eireles to devote his attention entirely to the management of his invested interests, but according to the statement of a contemporary biographer, "these did not take Mr. Drake out of constant and active relation with the business interests of St. Louis. The value of his opinion in matters of finance and investment was recognized by all who had business relations with him and there were few men-if indeed there were any-who were more minutely familiar with the course of business, banking and money in St. Louis for the last half century than George S. Drake; and there were none who excelled him in legal habit of mind and quick discernment of the equities of questions. It was not strange, therefore, that his services should have been claimed and his counsel desired by institutions with which he was connected. He was one of the men whose long relations with the Boatmen's Bank were so fortunate to that institution-a connection which began in 1859 and continued almost unbroken to the time of his death." For twelve years Mr. Drake served on the directorate of the Boatmen's Bank, after which he became vice president and occupied that position for twenty-four years. He resigned in 1895 but in 1897 was again elected a director and continued to serve in that connection throughout his remaining days. He was also vice president of the Bellefontaine Cemetery Association for many years and did much to make the cemetery a most beautiful place of burial.
Mr. Drake was twice married and was the father of two children-a son, George S. Drake, Jr., and a daughter, Mrs. Henry C. Scott, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work.
When his country needed him Mr. Drake at once responded and served through the Civil war as a member of the Lyon Guards who successfully defended the state against the invasion of Price's army. He was also a member of the board of control in charge of Confederate prisoners. He had a wide acquaintance among men of prominence as the years passed and was a close personal friend of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the northwest. He held membership with the Masonic fraternity, was a devoted member of the Second Presbyterian church, served as an elder thereof and was active in all charitable work. He was made a member of the advisory board of the Home of the Friend- less and was a most liberal contributor to the support of that institution. He was likewise a member of the advisory board of the Protestant Orphans' Asylum, was a member of the Provident Association and belonged to the St. Louis Club, the St. Louis Country Club and the Mercantile Club. His interests were of a comprehensive character and his activities were at all times such as contributed to the welfare and advancement of the community in which he lived. He passed away July 27, 190S, after a residence of eighty-one years in St. Louis. To him had come "the blest accompaniments of age-honor, riches, troops of friends," and the name of George S. Drake is still revered and his memory cherished by all with whom he was associated throughout the long period of an exceedingly active and useful life.
Francis E, Nither.
Francis Cugene Ripher, IL.D.
RANCIS EUGENE NIPHIER, physicist of world-wide reputa- F tion, educator and author in the field of his chosen science, was born at Port Byron, New York, December 10, 1847, his parents being Peter and Roxalana P. (Tilden) Nipher. In the paternal line he is descended from Michael Niver, who came from the kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1756, and settled on Livingston Manor in New York. On his mother's side he traces his ancestry to Nathaniel Tilden, who came from Truter- den, Kent, England, in 1634 and settled in Plymouth colony. His collegiate course was pursued in the State University of Iowa, from which he was graduated with the Ph. B. degree in 1870. Three years later his alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree and in 1905 he received from Washington Uni- versity of St. Louis the degree of Doctor of Laws. Three years after his gradua- tion from the State University of Iowa he was married on the 1st of July, 1873, to Miss Matilda Aikins, of Atalissa, Iowa, and they have become parents of a son and four daughters, the family home being maintained in Kirkwood.
Dr. Nipher has devoted his entire life to physics, largely along the line of research work, although as an educator and as a contributor to scientifie litera- ture his name is widely known. From 1870 until 1874 he was instructor in the physical laboratory of the State University of Iowa and in the latter year became professor of physics in Washington University of St. Louis, occupying that posi- tion until 1914 when he was made professor emeritus. In 1885 he was chosen president of the Academy of Science of St. Louis and continued to occupy the position for five years. He was also president of the Engineers Club of St. Louis in 1890 and became a member of the American Philosophical Society of Phila- delphia, also has membership with the American Philosophical Society, the Societe Francaise de Physique, the Royal Society of Arts and the Authors Club of London.
During the five years from 1878 until 1882 Dr. Nipher made a magnetic survey of Missouri and sections of adjoining states. During the decade ending in 1887 he organized and conducted a state weather service, one of the results of his labors being to show that the total rainfall in cubic feet on the state of Missouri during the ten years was about two per cent greater than the total discharge of the Mississippi river at St. Louis during that interval. The drainage area of the river above St. Louis is more than ten times the area of Missouri. In 1886 he deduced the general equation for surfaces containing points which at any instant have equal effect in changing the motion of the compound penduhun. About this time he also deduced the equation giving the record speed of the trotting horse as a function of time. Later he showed that the same equation which thus represents the evolution of the horse also represents the change in
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speed during the active life of individual horses. In 1898 he devised and tested on railroad trains a method of measuring the pressure due to wind at any point wecany structure. With the same apparatus he showed how to eliminate velocity Heets in pressure measurements of gasses flowing through tubes. In 1903 he Lived th equation for the gravitational contraction of a gaseous nebula, rung it as a form of heat engine. in which the piston face is any concentric sGotical surface. About the same time he showed that over-exposed photo- graphic plates which are to develop as positives should in all cases be developed in the light instead of the dark room. He published reproductions of perfect photographic pictures, in which the most sensitive plates were used. that had been developed immediately in front of a south window into which the sun was shining. He thus obtained a series of pictures whose exposure ranged from normal to over ten million times the normal exposures and which could not be distinguished from normal prints from ordinary negatives.
In 1904. in a paper entitled "Present Problems in Physics," which Dr. Nipher read before a section of the International Congress of Science and Arts he outlined a field of study of the nature of the electric current. He entered upon an experimental study of the subject and in 1910-11 he published three papers on the nature of electric discharge. containing the results of five years' work. In this labor over five thousand photographic plates were used. All of this work was done in air at ordinary pressure. He concluded that the positive streamers in electric discharge in a high potential line are an inflow of negative corpuscles from the surrounding air to the exhaust or positive terminal. This conclusion enabled him to find a rational explanation of several long known phenomena. such as the difference between positive and negative Lichtenberg figures, striae in the positive column and the rumbling sound heard in thunder. the dash of large drops of rain following an overhead peal of thunder, the Faraday dark- space. the Crookes dark-space. the arc-like form of discharges shorter than the critical spark length, the phenomena of the Hittorf tube. canal rays. thermo- electric and Thomson effects. All of this work has been published in the trans- actions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis. He has made an extensive study of the nature of electric discharge. and concludes that the positive discharge is an inflow of electricity from the negative terminal and that there is no positive current. This is essentially the one-fluid theory of Franklin. He has shown that daily and annual variations in the magnetic needle and magnetic storms are due to solar radiation. modified by the earth's shadow. cloud shadows. and wind storms and ra n. His contributions to science have indeed been of a most valuable character. He has written largely for scientific journals and societies and has prepared many articles and reports on physics, magnetic measurements. photo- graphy and other topics, while his published volumes. as previously indicated, are: Theory of Magnetic Measurements, brought out in 1586: Electricity and Magnetism. in 195: Introduction to Graphical Algebra. in 1898: Experimental Studies in Electricity and Magnetism. 1914. He has converted gravitational attraction between small masses into a repulsion and his experiments have attracted world-wide attention.
Dr. Nipher came into prominence in another connection during the two national campaigns involving the silver question, in which he was actively en- caged as a speaker and writer. He prepared a paper discussing the gold question
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as a seientific question but the subject was presented in a way to make it intelligible to the voters and was given a wide circulation by the banking interests of New York. Other interesting papers which he has recently published are "The Elements of Circular Motion." "The Traditions of Our Schools," "The Ma- ehine with Friction," "Simple Lessons from Common Things," "The Man of Science and his Duties," and "An Optical Phenomenon." As a teacher he does not seek for oratorical ability but his remarks are always original and interesting and ofttimes manifest a keen sense of humor. That his interests extend to grave problems concerning the destiny of man is indicated in a pamphlet which he has published on the "Evolution of the Divine Character in Man," which is now being distributed in the third thousand. He has also been several times called upon to occupy the pulpit. IFis writings have indeed covered a wide scope and an article on the "Wireless Transmissions of Messages in the Olden Time," read before the Academy of Science of Illinois, has recently attracted wide attention.
Thomas Pully Ph. D.
Thomas O'Reilly, M.D.
D R. THOMAS O'REILLY, who developed extreme efficiency in the practice of medicine and surgery and was long one of the most distinguished and honored physicians of St. Louis, was born in Virginia, County Cavan, Ireland, on the 11th of February, 1827, and belonged to one of the most prominent families of the Emerald isle, represented in connection with various incidents of the wars under Cromwell.
Dr. O'Reilly was accorded liberal educational advantages and his aptitude was shown in the reading and translation of Ovid, Virgil, Sallust, Horace, Livy and Cicero, before he was twelve years of age. By that time he had also read the New Testament, Lucian, Homer and Xenophon in Greek and had mastered the sciences of algebra and geometry. It was his desire then to enter upon the study of medicine and with eredit he passed the examination before the court of examiners of Apothecary's Hall of Dublin, Ireland, when he was not yet thirteen years of age. He next accepted a position in a drug store and gained thorough knowledge of the composition and uses of all drugs as a preparatory step to the practice of medicine. Some time later he became assistant to Dr. John Francis Purcell, of Carriek-on-Suir, Ireland, and his association with that distinguished physician and surgeon was most helpful. Dr. Purcell accompanied the Earl of Bissborough to Dublin when that nobleman was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland and Dr. O'Reilly followed them. He continued his medical studies in Meath Hospital at Dublin and served as assistant clinical clerk and later as chief elinieal elerk under Dr. Stokes, an eminent member of the profession. At the same time he was pursuing his studies in the Original School of Medicine. His hospital experience eame during the time of the four years of famine in Ireland, from 1845 to 1849. Every hospital of the country was erowded to its utmost capacity and when the French government sent a commission of medical men to Ireland to make researches concerning typhus and typhoid fevers and report to the French Academy of Medieine Dr. O'Reilly was appointed anatomist to this commission. But almost immediately after the visiting Frenchmen had entered upon their research work they were prostrated by typhoid fever and their task was thus brought to a quick termination.
In 1848 Dr. O'Reilly was one of the Dublin students who, enthused by the French revolution, sought to arouse the Irish patriots and induce them to seek the independence of their land. He accordingly abandoned his studies to enter upon this task but after a time recognized the hopelessness of gaining sufficient strength to press the cause. Accordingly he resumed his studies and was gradu- ated from the College of Surgeons of London in 1849.
Soon after the completion of his course Dr. O'Reilly sought the opportunities of the new world. When in midocean cholera developed on shipboard and six
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persons died within eight hours after the appearance of the disease and within ten days one hundred and twenty-five of the steerage passengers had been attacked. Dr. O'Reilly immediately put his professional knowledge to use in saving the lives of his fellow passengers and his work was of untold value. As the ship entered the gulf stream the sickness ceased as suddenly as it had broken out and there was not a case of cholera on board when the vessel reached New York harbor. In appreciation of the service which he had rendered Dr. O'Reilly's fellow passengers presented him with a well filled purse and a most earnest and sincere address of thanks, while the newspapers made prominent mention of what he had done. This would have served as a splendid introduction had he desired to engage in the practice of his profession in New York, but he had already determined to come to the west where one of his relatives, Count Alexander O'Reilly, had previously been governor under Spanish rule when all this section of the country was known as Louisiana. Dr. O'Reilly continued his travels to St. Louis and here entered upon the practice of medicine, in which he continued for many years. His practice was unsurpassed in volume and importance by that of any physician of the Mississippi valley and throughout the entire period of his residence in St. Louis he kept in close touch with the most advanced thought and progressive methods in connection with the practice of both medicine and surgery. He was well known through his contributions to medical literature, many of which attraeted wide attention, including an article entitled "Beneficial Influence of Tobacco as an Antidote for Strychnine Poisoning," and another "The Influence of Rest and Recreation as a Cure for Nervous Prostration."
When the Civil war was in progress Dr. O'Reilly offered his services to the government and was employed on many important missions, being associated with such men as Generals Lyon, Fremont, Frank P. Blair and William MeKee. He was active in organizing the Seventh Missouri Volunteers and was offered a commission as brigadier general by President Lincoln, but could not accept. Through this troublous period he served as a member of the committee of public safety. He was keenly interested in local politics and several times was offered an appointive office but continuously refused to serve in political positions. He was also tendered positions in the various medical schools of the city but these, too, he declined, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his private practice which was most extensive and of a most important character.
Dr. O'Reilly was married twice and at his death left three sons, two born of his first marriage: Andrew J. and Thomas W .; while the son of his second mar- riage is James Archer O'Reilly.
Dr. O'Reilly was intensely American but never forgot the land of his birth, and was a most active worker for home rule for Ireland and numbered among his personal friends such Irish leaders and patriots as Parnell, Dillon, Davitt, T. P. O'Connor and others keenly interested in the Irish cause or the cause of freedom in any land. While residing in St. Louis, Dr. O'Reilly did valuable service for the city in connection with the development of its park system. Almost immediately after the close of the Civil war he began agitating the establishment of a series of publie parks in St. Louis and being an intimate friend of Henry Shaw he used his influence to have him donate to the city Tower Grove Park. He was one of the first commissioners appointed to lay out Forest Park and was on the first board of directors of the Free Library upon which he
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