Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 67

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 800

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simultaneously with the financial panic of 1893, and the subsequent business depres- sion. During this period, however, these companies met all demands for extensions of both light and power lines, introduced the inclosed long-burning arc lamp and a new power system distributing curent at five hun- dred volts for operating the more widely scattered elevators and machine shops, and extended the alternating current system of incandescent lighting throughout many resi- dent districts, and even to a distance of some five miles into the suburbs. Electricity of all kinds, both continuous and alternating, was now served, and was put to many novel uses, such as ironing, soldering, cooking, surgery, currying and clipping, electro- magnetic couches, baths and other thera- peutic purposes, as well as for all known kinds of arc and incandescent lighting, and hundreds of applications of motor power. In fact, in Kansas City could be obtained all kinds of electric service, at the rate of twenty cents per thousand watts per hour by meter, subject to liberal discounts, which were com- parable with those of other cities having twice the population, many of which also had great advantages in cost of fuel and oper- ating expenses. Most inventions of great commercial value in mechanics supplement some form of industry, and often throw many out of employment, and render worthless a large amount of costly apparatus. The gas interest at first felt that the electric light was such an invader, but this has been disproven. Since the introduction of electricity the con- sumers of gas in Kansas City have increased from less than two thousand to over twenty thousand, showing that the fears that the electric light would be the deathblow of gas were without foundation. It is a fact grow- ing into general recognition that, while gas is losing its position as the leading illumi- nant, it will be the fuel of the future. A his- tory of electric light and power in Kansas City will not be complete without reference to another pioneer work conducted by the Kansas City Electric Light Company. The Gramme Society (which see), which it or- ganized among its employes, attracted inter- national attention, and was the model for many similar societies in other countries. The liberal and progresssive policy of the management of the Kansas City companies also found expression in their attitude to-

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ward the public. Customers, as well as em- ployes, were their friends; their dealings with them were. straightforward and honest, while the service rendered was always the best pos- sible under existing conditions, and compared not unfavorably with that of other cities. Thus, in the last quarter of the past century, was established in Kansas City an entirely new industry, furnishing lucrative and ele- vating employment to hundreds of persons, exerting a quickening influence upon all branches of mechanics, and contributing much to the development of science and the advancement of those interests which make for the highest civilization and the best up- building of a great city.

Prior to January 1, 1900, the Edison Elec- tric Light and Power Company had never passed a dividend, having paid to its share- holders an aggregate of over 140 per cent on their investment, while the Kansas City Electric Light Company had paid to its shareholders dividends amounting to more than 200 per cent, and the properties of these companies had meantime been so well kept up that the management effected a sale of their securities at figures highly satisfactory to the holders, many of whom had held their shares or bonds from the beginning. April 1, 1900, the aggregate investments in these properties were $1,012,505.18, and January I, 1900, including current generated in isolated plants, electricity was being used in Kansas City to operate no less than 100,000 incan- descent lamps, 3,000 arc lamps, and 4,300 horse power in motors, exclusive of street railways, the greater number of which were now operated by electricity, and plans for transforming a few remaining lines were be- ing rapidly executed. In June, 1900, Edwin R. Weeks, vice president and general man- ager of the companies, and the last of the old directors, retired from the management, and the representatives of the new purchas- ers, Armour & Co., of Chicago, assumed full control. The retiring directors were J. S. Chick, O. H. Dean, F. K. Hoover, C. A. Braley, J. S. Ford, W. N. Coler, Charles E. Small, C. F. Morse, James Scammon, J. H. North, W. P. Hix and Edwin R. Weeks. The incoming directors were P. A. Valentine, L. C. Krauthoff, L. E. James, C. S. Pitkin, W. E. Kirkpatrick, W. H. Holmes, C. F. Holmes and R. L. Gregory.

EDWIN R. WEEKS.

Electric Lighting in St. Louis .- Electricity came so rapidly into use as a mo- tor and for lighting after the year 1880 that it is sometimes thought we knew nothing of electrical lighting, and but little of electricity, before that time. But the arc light was ex- hibited in lecture rooms in 1802, and in 1821 Sir Humphrey Davie exhibited his electric light-a magnificent four-inch arc, fed by 2,000 cells of battery. There the matter was allowed to rest, and Faraday, with all his knowledge of electricity and skill in using it, died an old man before the electric arc came to be a street light in London. About the year 1879 the electric arc light began to make its appearance and found the world ready for it-and front that year began the general commercial introduction and devel- opment of electric lighting. In 1887 there were in the United States alone 140,000 arc lights in the all-night service of street light- ing, and 650,000 glow or incandescent lamps ; and two years later, in 1889, the arc lamps had increased to 225,000, and the glow lamps to 3,000,000. The arc light consists of two points or pencils of graphite carbon, placed in line with one another, with a common axis, and with the tips nearly together. These, with the intervening air space between their points, form part of an electric circuit. As long as the air between the points remains cold it is a poor conductor, and it must, therefore, be heated to enable it to do its part in the circuit. This is done by drawing the points together till they are in contact, and then, as the air at the point of contact becomes heated, gradually separating them. There is a clock-work arrangement by which the double movement of the carbon points toward and from one another is automatic- ally regulated.

The incandescent or glow lamp consists of a filament of carbon in an exhausted bulb of glass. This filament may be brought to a white heat in the exhausted bulb, where there is no oxygen, without combustion, and without being consumed. The light of an incandescent lamp is due to a carbon surface, all at one temperature, which temperature varies with the electrical energy expended in the lamp, while the light of a gas or petro- leum flame is made up of radiation from a great number of separate carbon particles, the temperature of which depends on their position within the flame. Electric lighting

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is well adapted to marine uses, and was in- troduced on board ships even before it be- came general in large cities. The man-of-war "Trenton" was lighted with electricity in 1882, and since then all fighting ships and all passenger steamers have an electric plant as an indispensable part of their outfit. The great value of the electric searchlight was strikingly demonstrated in the war with Spain, in 1898, in lighting up a hostile harbor and coast, and illuminating the space be- tween the blockading squadron and the shore, so that not even the smallest boat could approach without being seen and be- coming a target for our guns. The first elec- tric lights made their appearance in St. Louis in 1880, and were regarded with curious in- terest. They gradually increased in number until electrical illumination had made such progress and found such favor in hotels, rail- road depots, theaters and other public places, and was so clearly being recognized as the coming method, that the city of St. Louis, without giving up its gas lighting, made ar- rangements in 1889 for the introduction of it into the system-and it was only a few years before it had nearly superseded gas. The re- port of the supervisor of city lighting for the year ending April 12, 1897, shows that there were 500.79 miles of street and 94.36 miles of alleys lighted by electricity ; 31.97 miles of street lighted by gas, and 5.53 miles of street lighted by gasoline. There were 2,307 arc and 3,916 incandescent lamps, 1,057 gas and 169 gasoline lamps in use. There were in the various public city buildings 4,578 incandescent lamps of the first class, and 521 of the second class. The cost of city lighting for the year was $336,078, and of this sum $271.069 was paid for electric lights, $38,875 for ga's and $4,617 for gasoline. Of the $271,- 069 paid for electric lights $214,892 was for streets, alleys and parks, and $55,954 for pub- lic buildings. The accidents reported to the department were four persons and six horses killed by contact with wires, thirty-two per- sons shocked by contact with wires, three persons injured by falling from poles, two persons asphyxiated by illuminating gas and one person killed by gas explosion. There were 178 miles of street occupied by railway tracks and 301 miles of tracks strung with trolley wires. The comparative cost of light- ing the streets and public buildings for the eight years ending April 27, 1897, was, for

1890, $341,117; for 1891, $242,790; for 1892, $246,718 ; for 1893, $257,766; for 1894, $275,- 979; for 1895, $293,506; for 1896, $313,948; for 1897, $314,339.

D. M. GRISSOM.

Eliot Society .- In the fall of 1887 all of the interests in which the women of the Church of the Messiah were, as members, engaged, were, at the suggestion of the pas- tor, Rev. John Snyder, consolidated into one organization called the Eliot Society. While the purpose of this society is effective and systematic church work, it has exerted an influence extending far beyond the limits of the church and denomination. The officers are a president, three vice presidents, a sec- retary and a treasurer. These officers, with the addition of two members elected by the society, form the executive board. The va- rious interests are looked after by no fewer then eleven standing committees, whose chairmen are appointed by the executive board. Each chairman selects her associates, three or four in number, who are confirmed by the board, after which each committee is free to develop its policy untrammeled, though always in touch with the board and reporting monthly at the regular meetings of the society. The eleven departments are considered almost equal in importance, but from the nature of their work, the associated charities, the mission Sunday school and the literary are those best known to the general public. During the first four years, 1887- 1891, the literary committee, Mrs. C. H. Stone, chairman, took up the study of "such questions of social interest as are found most persistently illustrated in modern novels"; and the semimonthly evening meetings awakened wide-spread interest. The dramas of Shakespeare were studied in 1891-2, Mrs. J. K. Hosmer, chairman. The program has since then been eclectic in character. Of the various opportunities for culture enjoyed by the women of this congregation none lias been more greatly appreciated than the "Course of Study in Christian History," which was conducted by the pastor, the class meeting fortnightly on Tuesday afternoons for four years. The membership of the Eliot Society numbers over one hundred women. Mrs. Eben Richards was the first president, in which office she has been succeeded by Mrs. J. W. Goddard, Mrs. Chester Krum, Mrs. J. E. McKeighan, Mrs. E. A. DeWolf

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and Mrs. Charles Dexter. Among others who have led in the work of the various com- mittees are Mrs. Charles Le Roy Moss, Mrs. J. K. Hosmer, now of Minneapolis; Mrs. Hugh McKittrick, Mrs. W. G. Eliot, Mrs. John Snyder, Mrs. W. H. Hargadine, Mrs. W. L. Huse, Mrs. L. L. Culver, the Misses Glover, Mrs. Walter D. Heron, Mrs. D. R. Powell and Mrs. Otto von Schraeder.

MARTHA S. KAYSER.

Eliot, William Greenleaf, clergyman and educator, was born August 5, 1811, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and died at Pass Christian, Mississippi, January 23, 1887. His great-grandfather was brother to the great-grandfather of Charles William Eliot, president of Harvard College, and his father was for many years in the government serv- ice. After graduating from Columbian Col- lege, of Washington, D. C., in 1831, he went to Harvard Divinity School, from which in- stitution he was graduated in 1834. The same year he came to St. Louis and estab- lished the First Congregational (Unitarian) Church of that city. He was ordained pastor of this church, which became known as the Church of the Messiah, and retained that po- sition until 1871, when he resigned his pasto- rate to become chancellor of Washington University, of which he was also president. His connection with the university in these capacities continued until his death. During the war he was a member of the Western sanitary commission, and was connected also thereafter with many of the charitable organ- izations of St. Louis. He was among the small band of resolute men who assisted General Nathaniel Lyon and Francis P. Blair in preserving Missouri to the Union. A man of untiring energy and rare administrative ability, he was engaged in all sorts of public and philanthropic enterprises, and did much for the intellectual advancement of St. Louis and the Southwest. He was the author of a "Manual of Prayer," "Discourses on the Doctrines of Christianity," "Lectures to Young Men," "Lectures to Young Women," "Home Life and Influence," and numerous other works.

Elizabeth Aull Seminary .- This educational institution was established in Lexington in 1859, and, until it ceased to exist, in 1898, maintained a reputation com-

mensurate with the munificence of its founder. It was conducted under the aus- pices of the Orthodox Southern Presby- terians, of whose church Miss Aull was a devoted member. Elizabeth Aull was born in Delaware in 1790. In 1858 she made a large bequest for the founding of a seminary at Lexington, and along the lines of her ex- pressed desires the school was conducted for forty years, becoming one of the best known institutions of its kind in the United States.

Elkhorn, Battle of .- See "Pea Ridge, Battle of."

Elkland .- A hamlet in Jackson Town- ship, Webster County, eleven miles north- west of Marshfield. It was founded about 1880. It has two churches, a school and three stores. It is surrounded by a rich farming district. Population, 1899 (esti- mated), 150.

Elk River is the extreme soutliwest- ern river of the State. It rises in Barry County, and flows west, through McDonald County five miles, and empties into the Neo- sho, in Kansas.

Elks, Order of .- The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks had its origin in New York City, February 16, 1868. Orig- inally it was composed mainly of members of the dramatic profession, and was modeled after the analogous order of Buffaloes in En- gland. Business meetings were followed by a social session, and at precisely II o'clock a toast was always drunk to "our absent brothers." There was much of good fellow- ship in the parent organization, and it at- tracted many bright and genial spirits. Its successors have been like unto it in this re- spect wherever they have been established, and representatives of all the professions and higher callings in life are now to be found among its members. March 10, 1871, the Legislature of New York State granted a charter for a grand lodge, and subsequently lodges were established in all the larger cities of the country. St. Louis Lodge No. 9 was founded in June of 1878, and chartered De- cember following. Its earliest meetings were held in the Olympic Theater and Druids' Hall, and its first exalted ruler was Thomas E. Garrett, then dramatic editor of the "Re-

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publican." The order has an attractive ritual. practices true benevolence in caring for needy members, cultivates the feeling of brotherhood and promotes good cheer through its "social sessions." Its member- ship in St. Louis was something more than five hundred in 1898.

"Elks' Rest."-A plat of ground in Bellefontaine Cemetery designed as a place of burial for members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in St. Louis. It was donated to the order by John A. Cock- erill.

Elkton .- See "Otterville."

Ellendale .- A suburban town, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, in St. Louis County, just outside the limits of St. Louis. It takes its name from the eldest daughter of Mr. William L. Thomas, publisher of the "School and Home" of St. Louis, who laid off a subdivision of thirty-three acres in the vicinity, and who, with his wife, deeded the ground on which the beautiful stone station- house stands, to the railroad company.

Elliff, Joseph Dolliver, superintend- ent of the public schools of Joplin, was born December 31, 1863, at Council Grove, Morris County, Kansas. His parents were Constant Powell and Mary J. (Potter) Elliff, both of Virginia descent. The Elliff family were among the early settlers of middle Tennes- see; the Potters were early settlers in Vir- ginia, and were noted for rugged physical strength and longevity. Constant Powell El- liff was a resident of Lawrence County, Kan- sas, in the border difficulty days, and during the greater portion of the Civil War, and lost the greater part of his property at the hands of marauding bands. In 1864 he removed his family to Lawrence County, Missouri, and in 1866 to McDonald County ; he served four years in the Union service as a soldier in the Fifteenth Regiment of Missouri Infantry Volunteers, and died from the effects of in- juries received in the line of duty. He was the father of thirteen children, two of whom, Michael G. and Alvin C., are Baptist ministers. Joseph Dolliver Elliff was reared on a farm in McDonald County, Missouri, doing hard labor. His educational opportunities were pitifully

poor, being limited to a few months in the year in the inefficient country schools of that day. His intense desire for learning led him to read every book accessible-not many, and little to his purpose, but from some he derived benefit, as well as an ad- ditional incentive to advancement. At the age of eighteen years he was engaged to teach in a country school, and for several years afterward he was so engaged, devoting all his spare time to reading, attending school as a pupil during vacations of his own, and suspending teaching, as his means would permit, to pursue his studies in vari- ous institutions. In this way he managed to take a one-term course of instruction in the Pea Ridge Academy. Later he entered the State Normal School at Warrensburg, from which he was graduated in 1893, and in 1897 he attended the University of Chi- cago. His work as an instructor has cov- ered all departments belonging to the teach- er, and from the beginning he has been constantly advancing to higher position in the profession. His service in various coun- try schools was followed by his appointment to the principalship of the Southwest City public schools, in which position he served two years, when he removed to Indian Springs, where he was principal for four years. In 1893-4 he was principal of the Cen- tral school of Carthage, resigning in the latter year to accept the superintendency of the United States Indian school at Ponca, Oklahoma. In 1895 he resigned this last named position in order to accept the prin- cipalship of the Joplin high school, and after three years' service in this position was ad- vanced in 1898 to that of superintendent of the Joplin city schools, which he holds at the present time. In all this long period of serv- ice his worth as a teacher is attested by the fact that he has never left a position but voluntarily, and then to enter upon larger and more useful fields of labor. In no edu- cational board employing him has a single adverse vote been cast. In politics he ap- proves of Democratic principles as now as- serted, but he would advocate a broader public ownership in concerns of public util- ·ity, and he has always regarded principles and men as of greater importance than party names and partisan policies. He is a mem- ber of the First Baptist Church of Joplin; of the subordinate lodge and encampment in

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Odd-Fellowship, and of the Masonic frater- nity. In the latter he is king of Joplin Royal Arch Chapter, No. 91. Professor Elliff was married at Carthage, Missouri, December 25, 1893, to Miss Jean Scott Cumming, whose parents were of Scotch descent. Born of this marriage have been two children, Mary and Joseph, aged respectively four years and two years. Professor Elliff is among those who are fitted by natural disposition, experience and education to adorn the highly important profession of teacher. His conscientiousness in his calling is attested by his arduous strug- gle, under almost insuperable difficulties, to fit himself for it, and that fitness finds ac- knowledgement in the various important schools whose conduct has been committed to him. The educational establishment of the State affords no higher place for teacher to occupy than the superintendency of the Joplin school, with its comprehensive cur- riculum, laboratory and library equipments, commodious and beautiful buildings, and a large and heterogeneous school attendance. His conduct toward his associate and sub- ordinate teachers is affable and kindly; with his pupils he is considerate, but firm ; while those whose tasks are borne under diffi- culties find in him a helper and sympathizing friend whose heart is warm out of recol- lection of his own burdens and struggles. While devoting all effort of heart and brain to the labors imposed upon him, his active mind is yet busied with his own further im- provement.

Elliott, Charles E., merchant, was born December 28, 1833, at Morwinstow, Devonshire, England. His parents were John and Mary (Trick) Elliott, farm people. His education was limited to such as was af- forded by a small pay school in the home neighborhood. He was brought up to the trades of shoe and harness maker and tanner. At the age of nineteen years he emigrated to Canada, and worked for some years in Ontario. In 1856 he came to the United States, locating in St. Charles, Missouri, where he was engaged in a boot and shoe store. In 1857 he made a prospecting trip into Jasper County, and visited Carthage, go- ing thence to Neosho, where he remained until 1861, engaging in the manufacture of footwear and harness, and afterward pur- chasing and operating a tannery. He had

made himself obnoxious as one of seven men in the county who voted for Lincoln in 1860, and when the war began he removed to Kansas, and enlisted in the Sixth Cav- alry Regiment of that State, in which he served faithfully and gallantly for three years and seven months. He took part in many engagements, among them being those of Prairie Grove, Cane Hill, Port Gibson, Newtonia and Saline River; in the latter ac- tion he was slightly wounded. After the close of the war he settled in Springfield, where he opened a grocery store, which he conducted but a few months. He then removed to Gran- by, where he built the first house after peace was restored and civil order re-established. This was a log building, which he used as a store. In 1867 he went to what is now known as Oronogo, then called Minersville, and en- gaged in a general country store business, which he successfully carried on until 1893, when he sold out; to that time he was the oldest continuously engaged merchant in Jasper County. During this period, and while making his home and conducting his business in Oronogo, he was a prime mover in the founding of the city of Joplin, being one of the five proprietors who platted the original town in July, 1871-when the few people on the ground dwelt in tents-and all the old deeds bear his signature. The first mine pump, operated by Moffett & Sergeant, was worked by a horse which he sold on time to the persons named, and he marketed in St. Louis the first carload of lead taken from their mines. His association with these and others who conducted the early mining oper- ations there, was intimate, but he took little active part, preferring to give his personal attention to his Oronogo concerns. During these and succeeding years he was called upon to serve the people in various im- portant but generally unremunerative po- sitions. He was for several terms a member of the Oronogo board of school direc- tors, and during his period of service was built the first schoolhouse in that town. He also was elected to the town council on several occasions, and for twenty years-from Grant to Cleveland -he was postmaster, his affiliations having always been with the Republican party. In 1895 he became presiding judge of the coun- ty court, and served the full four-year term. Although strictly moral and of deeply rev-

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 67

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 800

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 800