USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 7
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The character of the gentlemen who have served in these several capacities at past commencements is proof that Professor Peirce has strictly adhered to his self-imposed but exacting programme. Frederick Fraley, the first and only Pres- ident of the National Board of Trade, presided at the first; Hon. John Welsh, ex-Minister to England, and the "foremost citizen of Philadelphia," at the sec- ond; John Wanamaker, whom it is not invidious to term "the most enterpris- ing merchant of Philadelphia," at the third; George H. Stuart, ex-President of the Sanitary Commission, and at that time President of the Merchants' Bank, at the fourth; Thomas Cochran, President of the Guarantee Trust and Safe De- posit Company and a public-spirited citizen, at the fifth; Governor James A. Beaver, of Pennsylvania, assisted by Governor Biggs, of Delaware, at the sixth ; and ex-Governor Robert E. Pattison, President of the Chestnut Street National Bank and of the Chestnut Street Trust Company, at the last one held. Among the clergymen who have been present and contributed their countenance to the event were Bishop Simpson, Rev. George Dana Boardman, D. D., Rev. W. C. Cattell,
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D. D., ex-President of Lafayette College, Rev. Dr. Chapman, and others equally eminent in the church.
The educators who have delivered the annual addresses at the several com- mencements of the college are of the highest character. On the first occasion Dr. George B. Loring, a representative New England educator, ex-member of Congress, and now United States Minister to Portugal, was the orator. Sub- sequently in turn General Eaton, United States Commissioner of Education, Dr. E. E. Higbee, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Pennsylvania, Dr. Charles J. Little, then of Dickinson College and now of Syracuse Univer- sity, Dr. John Hall, Chancellor of the University of New York, Sam. W. Small, editor of the Southern Evangelist, and Rev. Russell H. Conwell, President of Temple College, Philadelphia, have officiated. Those who have delivered addresses to graduates have been equally eminent. Beginning with Dr. Buckley, of the New York Christian Advocate, General Clinton B. Fiske, late Prohibition candidate for the Presidency, Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D., John B. Gough, Rev. Dr. J. O. Peck, at present one of the missionary secretaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Sam. P. Jones, the evangelist, and Robert J. Burdette, in the order named, performed that important duty.
Aside from his reputation as a business educator and a public-spirited citizen, Mr. Peirce has other claims to distinction. He served the State creditably as a bank assessor, and has participated in the political discussions of the country, as well as contributed to the advancement of all progressive public questions. An accomplished orator, his services have always been in active demand in impor- tant political contests, and in 1880 he stumped the States of Ohio, Indiana and Maryland in the interest of the candidates of his party under the direction of the National Committee. He has also acquired a high standing as an expert ac- countant and the reputation of being the best authority on disputed handwriting in this part of the United States, having been frequently called into the courts as an expert in forgery cases on trial, as well as in cases involving disputed ac- counts. To become a court expert of recognized ability in this line requires the possession of patience, perseverance, keen analytical powers and well-developed faculties of observation and comparison. Such an expert holds vast responsibil- ities in questions involving property rights and personal liberty. The value placed upon such services may be inferred from the statement of the fact that Mr. Peirce has received a fee'as high as $3,500 for expert testimony in a single difficult and delicate case, while he has been paid $2,500 for expert testimony in this line upon different occasions. Mr. Peirce's employment as an expert in handwriting, however, was chiefly the result of chance, although, as it has proved, it was the sequence of a logical conclusion. In 1869 or 1870 the Penn-Middle- ton case was before the late Judge Ludlow in the Common Pleas Court. Mr. George Middleton, one of the aggrieved legatees under the will in dispute, called upon Mr. Peirce one day at the business college, assuming that, in his capacity as principal of such an institution, he was experienced in judging business hand-
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writing, and therefore submitted for his inspection the signature in dispute, and asked his opinion. After mature and careful consideration of the subject, Mr. Peirce concluded that the signature was a forgery, and gave his reasons for that opinion with such clearness and perspicuity that he was called in as a witness in the case. This was his first appearance in court as an expert on handwriting, and though he was put through a severe course of examination by George W. Biddle, Esq., the Nestor of the bar, his testimony was unshaken and his reputa- tion as an expert was established.
One of the most notable cases in which he was subsequently engaged was the well-known suit which involved the extradition of Joseph Brompton, of Great Grimsby, Eng., a dangerous criminal who had resisted extradition for more than a year. By tracing an identity between the handwriting of the signatures by which he had defrauded the prosecutors in the case and that of those to letters which he signed in the presence of the magistrate, judgment was obtained against him, and extradition followed. Another important case in which Mr. Peirce's evidence assisted materially in the triumph of justice was one involving a bogus claim for insurance on a British bark which was scuttled in 1882. The bark had been cleared from Vera Cruz to Cardiff, Wales, and abandoned in the Gulf Stream, off the coast of Georgia. The master and mate had come to Phil- adelphia to collect the insurance money on the cargo, and the underwriters sus- pecting fraud, their counsel employed Mr. Peirce to examine the log of the vessel, which was the only manifest that the officers had put in evidence. Mr. Peirce demonstrated beyond a doubt that the log had been tampered with, and that the figures showing the amount of cargo had been altered. In consequence of his testimony a tug was sent to the Gulf Stream, and picked up the abandoned vessel, when it was discovered that instead of the valuable cargo of eight hun- dred bags of vanilla beans, as claimed by the officers and apparently shown by the log, the vessel contained only three hundred bags of worthless refuse, and had been deliberately scuttled. The master and mate of the bark at once be- came fugitives from justice, and the suit has never been pressed. Other cases in which he appeared and rendered important service in the interest of justice were the famous " Gaul " case, tried in 1882, and several forgery cases, some of which involved a great deal of hard work and patient investigation, notably the Whita- ker will case; but the frauds were proved and the criminals convicted.
In the line of detecting fraudulent entries and dishonest bookkeeping, Mr. Peirce's services as an expert have been equally in demand, and his success no less marked. A notable case was that of the treasurer of the borough of West Chester. He had so concealed his transactions by skilful misrepresentations of the accounts that the prosecuting officers were unable to get at the truth. Mr. Peirce was called in finally, and he conducted his examination with such success that the delinquent official pleaded guilty. Another case of equal importance, but much wider interest, was that of the assets and accounts of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, the result of which investigation was as gratifying to him-
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self as it was satisfactory to those concerned. The General Assembly of the church had appointed a committee to make the examination, among the mem- bers of which were Justice James P. Sterrett, of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania, Judge Nixon, of the United States District Court, just deceased, and Rev. Dr. Eaton, of Franklin, Pa., as chairman. Mr. Peirce was selected as the ex- pert, and performed his work so well and made the facts so clear that confidence in the integrity of the management of that vast enterprise was not only assured, but strengthened as the result of his lucid and favorable report. More than a year was spent in diligent search through the accounts, and the affairs of the concern were found absolutely above suspicion.
Authorship is not in his line, but in the pursuit of his business he has con- tributed some valuable features to the class literature of the country, though in this line, as in all others, his work has been in relation to his own profession. His first work was "Test Business Problems," a most valuable little volume, the pages of which are radiant with excellent maxims. Later, "Peirce College Manual of Bookkeeping " was issued, which is a work, though not intended for sale, so full of merit that it has brought out the most enthusiastic commendation from eminent business men and teachers. A contribution to the Pocket Manual, a class publication, on "How to Become a Bookkeeper," is likewise liberally endorsed by persons interested in the question. Later he has issued a collec- tion of specimens entitled "Peirce College Writing Slips," which are valua- ble object-lessons in penmanship and business.
In 1880 Mr. Peirce was elected President of the " Business-Educators' Asso- ciation of America," and presided at the third annual meeting, held in Chicago. The association was received at the Palmer House on behalf of the city by the Mayor, to whose address Mr. Peirce responded in a most happy and appropri- ate manner. He has served as toast-master at all the banquets of the associa- tion which he has attended, and proved so apt and happy in that capacity that the association has refrained from giving banquets when he was not present to officiate. He is also skilful as a presiding officer, and his services have been much in demand in this respect. He has presided over thirteen entertainments at the Academy of Music and other places in this city, and is widely known as a prompt, active and impartial officer. In 1875, when the " spelling-bee " craze was running through the country, he conducted the greatest event of the kind ever held, as well as thirty-five others for churches and charitable organizations. He delivered the Alumni address at the annual commencement of the High School in 1864 at Musical Fund Hall, and still retains his active interest in the work and progress of the public schools. He recalls that, when as a teacher during the progress of the war, $75,000 was raised by the schools to aid the work of the Sanitary Commission. This event was a feature of the sanitary fair held in Logan Square in 1863. The managers of the enterprise had offered a flag to the section which would raise the largest fund, and the prize was awarded to the section in which he taught, and largely as the result of his energetic efforts,
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For several years Mr. Peirce's duties as principal of a business college have been so exacting as to require his undivided time and attention. The course of instruction is constantly enlarging. During the past year a shorthand and type- writing department has been added, and it has proved so popular that the neces- sity of enlarging is already apparent. The college now occupies portions of the second and third floors, and the whole of the fourth floor of the Record build- ing, and is equipped with every modern convenience and requirement, and pro- vided with the best instructors the country affords. In consequence of this rapid development of the establishment and the consequent tax upon his time and energies, Mr. Peirce has been obliged to withdraw from all engagements as a professional expert.
Mr. Peirce was married December 21, 1861, to Emma Louisa, daughter of Robert and Mary Bisbing, of Springfield township, Montgomery county, Pa. She died in the early part of 1870, leaving three children. On October 4, 1871, he was married the second time to Ruth, daughter of William and Maria Stong, of Willistown township, Chester county, formerly of Montgomery county. Of the two marriages nine children were born, six of whom are living.
Mr. Peirce is an active worker in the church, and has also given liberal and effective aid in the promotion of Sunday-school and benevolent work. In 1887 he was licensed to preach by the Presiding Elder of the Northwest District of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, on the rec- ommendation of the Quarterly Conference of Grace Church, Broad and Master streets, of which he has long been a prominent and active member. Though the examination was passed and the certificate made out, Mr. Peirce has not taken the parchment, for the reason that he feels that he can better serve the cause of religion in a non-ecclesiastical capacity. While fully appreciating the compliment implied in this mark of distinction by his fellow church-members, he prefers his present mode of work. M. P. H.
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HILFIN I.
EDWIN B. BYINGTON
EDWIN BYRON BYINGTON.
E DWIN B. BYINGTON, General Passenger Agent of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and one of the most popular and widely known railroad men in the coun- try, was born at Elyria, Ohio, June 14, 1837. He is in the best and broadest sense of the term a self-made man. He has learned his lesson by reading the book of human nature, and by close and intimate contact with the elements of human life in all its phases. Although he received a good rudimentary education in the public schools and academies of his native State, his practical education has been the world at large, and he has forced from it a grudging recognition of his merits. His entire life, since he has attained his majority, has been spent in railroad work, mostly in connection with Pennsylvania corporations, although the scope of his labors has extended from the Mississippi to the tide water and over a wide degree of latitude. It may be said of him, what can be said truly of but few men, that in all the years of his close contact with the public in his official positions, North, South, East and West, he has not left an enemy behind him at any of the places where he has been located. It would be hard to decide whether Mr. Byington excels in his knowledge of railroad matters, or in his knowledge of the human animal, man; whether he is a better railroad man or diplomat. Certain it is that he is superior in both capacities.
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Mr. Byington's active railroad life began in 1858, when he was barely twenty- one years of age, as Northwestern Passenger Agent of the Erie Railway. After a three years' service in that capacity he resigned the position to become General Agent for the Vermont Central and the Grand Trunk Railroads. His occupancy of this post extended from 1861 to 1865, when he became General Southern Agent for the Chicago and Alton Railroad, and General Passenger Agent of the Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company, which post he held from ยท 1866 to 1872, when he became Ticket Agent for all roads centring in St. Louis and in the territory south of that city. In 1875 he became connected with the Lehigh Valley Railroad, as Northern Agent, with head-quarters at Buffalo, N. Y., and on March 9, 1880, he was appointed General Passenger Agent, or rather that office was created for him, and he has held and filled it ever since. Everywhere that his executive power has been exercised he has displayed a talent for organization and detail amounting to real genius.
In Chicago, St. Louis, and elsewhere in the West, he left traces of his execu- tive ability, being among the very first to introduce the ticket-office system for the sale of railroad and steamboat tickets. In St. Louis he did an enormous business, and was as well known to the people of that city as their principal thoroughfare. When he entered the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, with head-quarters at Buffalo, it was given up almost entirely to the coal traffic, but Mr. Byington saw that there was a splendid opportunity for the company to
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compete successfully for passenger traffic with its formidable rivals, and he urged such a course. The office of General Passenger Agent was created, and Mr. Byington was installed at Mauch Chunk, and surrounded by a full staff of competent assistants, with a branch office at No. 235 Broadway, New York. He put on fast passenger trains, including the celebrated "Comet" express. He started projects for picnic groves at. reasonable intervals along the entire route. On top of one of the highest mountains a mammoth hotel arose, at a place called Glen Summit. A beautiful hotel, called the "Wanetah," was erected opposite the favorite excursion grounds at Glen Onoko and all along the Lehigh Valley the company has become distinguished as a civilizer and earnest advocate and promoter of local improvements.
Mr. Byington is a Knight Templar Mason, and is regarded as one of the most popular men in the order. He is a regular member of the Keystone Lodge of Perfection of Scranton, the "Mystic Shrine," Lu Lu Temple, Philadelphia, and " Ye Hostile Quaker Club " of Philadelphia. At every place in which he has lived he has known almost every man, woman and child, and always had a pleasant word and greeting for them. Among the officers and stockholders of the roads with which he has been connected his ability as a passenger agent has invariably been well known and appreciated, and his rare qualities as a man and citizen are universally acknowledged. Mr. Byington has been complimented by the election to probably more honorary memberships in Masonic Lodges and Knight Templar Commanderies, and as the recipient of more emblematic badges and jewels, than any other Free Mason in the State, and the fact that he wears these " blushing honors thick upon him" with such manly modesty, and stands ready to requite the courtesies whenever opportunity offers, proves that fortune in this case has not chosen her favorite blindly. Among the hosts of friends that he has made and bound to him with links of steel he has no warmer adherents than the members of the press throughout the country, but especially in those localities where he has resided, and with whom daily necessary contact has strengthened and brightened the ties that join in ordinary friendships. He possesses, to an extreme degree, that subtle, undefinable force which for want of a better name people are wont to call personal magnetism, and that makes his presence felt in a room, and invites confidence and regard silently and cogently. He is enabled to get through a marvellous quantity of hard work every day- work requiring the minutest personal attention to the most trifling detail, involv- ing as it does the lives of thousands of travellers and the safety of millions of dollars of property-and yet to spare time to his family, his friends, his lodges, his private and public duties ; but he accomplishes it by the strictest system and hard, methodical work. If such a man is popular, is it not because he has earned his popularity, and the world is compelled to pay its just dues for once without formal process ? I. L. V.
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r. GUTPALN3T.
CLEMENT A. GRISCOM.
CLEMENT ACTON GRISCOM.
C LEMENT A. GRISCOM, President of the International Navigation Company and one of the most prominent merchants of Philadelphia, was born in that city on the 15th of March, 1841. He is descended from a long line of Griscoms-a name that fills many pages of Philadelphia history since its earliest settlement. The founder of the family in America came to this country in 1680, and was one of the sturdy settlers-co-laborers with William Penn-who left their impress upon the character and customs of all succeeding generations ; an impression of such an abiding nature that all the hurry and mutations of a busy life in a new and rapidly growing country, the bustle of peace and the struggle of war, have never been able to obliterate. Andrew Griscom, the contemporary of William Penn, was a member of the first grand jury Pennsylvania ever had, Samuel Carpenter being a member of the same body, over which Penn, himself, presided. Clement A. is the son of Dr. John D. Griscom and Margaret Acton Griscom. Upon the mother's side of the house he is a scion of the Lloyd family, descended in a direct line from Thomas Lloyd, who was Deputy Gov- ernor and President of the Council of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1684 to 1693.
Like many, if not the majority of successful men, Mr. Griscom's most useful school has been the world at large and his school-life a continued one. His rudimentary education, however, was carefully and intelligently directed by his parents and teachers at home and at a Friends' school, then at the public schools, including two years in the Central High School, completing his studies at an academical school under the auspices of the Society of Friends, of which sect his family had been prominent members for all the generations since Pennsyl- vania was first settled.
Young Griscom's predilections led in the direction of mercantile affairs, and his family wisely did not interfere to control his natural bent nor attempt to direct him into literary or professional lines. When he left school he almost immediately buckled on the harness and went to work with a will as a clerk in the great house of Peter Wright & Sons. He rose in the house and in the mercan- tile world with a rapidity that has had few parallels. When but twenty-two years of age, in 1863, he was admitted to a partnership in the firm, and has ever since continued a member thereof, growing into more responsible positions year by year as the older members, little by little, allowed the load to slip from their shoulders upon his. His attention has been largely directed to the steamship enterprises in which the firm so extensively figures, and in keeping the affairs of the solid and honorable old house fully abreast with the enterprises of the times. He is an active man outside as well as inside the firm with which he is connected, and his comprehensive grasp and mastery of detail enable him to successfully and
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profitably accomplish more business in a day than many other men could get through with in a week. For instance, Mr. Griscom is President of the National Transit Company, a corporation of the State of Pennsylvania, which owns and controls the most extensive system of transportation and storage of petroleum in pipes and tanks that exists anywhere in the world. He is President of the International Navigation Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, which owns and controls the Red Star Steamship line, the Inman and International Steamship Company, Limited [Inman Line], and the American line of steamships. Mr. Griscom was the Vice-President of the International Navigation Company from 1871 until the beginning of 1888, when, upon the resignation of President James A. Wright, he was chosen to succeed him. Mr. Griscom is likewise one of the most useful and active Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He is also a director of the Bank of North America, a Director of the Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company, a Director of the Insurance Company of North America and of the Western Savings Fund Society, and fills the same position in other transportation and industrial companies. He held for a number of years the position of Trustee of the City Ice Boats, and was much of the time President of that trust.
While Mr. Griscom has been thus active in many trusts and in the manage- ment of other great corporations yet the affairs of his own firm have had the greatest share of his devotion and enlisted his liveliest interest. And, as has been heretofore said, it was to the establishment and development of the great steamship service of the house in the affairs of the International Navigation Company that he has devoted himself with most energy, constancy and en- thusiasm. He has been the active life-principle of this company for the past fifteen years and has made the subject of steam navigation a matter of exhaustive study, research and experiment until now the company over which he presides controls and operates more steam tonnage in the transatlantic trade than any other existing company, and is constantly adding to its fleet and its facilities. The company has steadily grown in wealth and importance from its moderate beginning in 1871, and now controls and operates more tonnage in the transat- lantic trade than any of its competitors, and is still adding to its facilities. It owns practically all the capital stock of the Belgian corporation known as the "Red Star Line," as well as the majority of the stock of the Inman Line Inter- national Steamship Company (Limited), an English corporation. The four steamers constituting the American Line are also among the firm's holdings, having been purchased by the International Navigation Company from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1884; the consideration being stock in the company, a small share of the entire capital. The Inman and International Steamship Company was organized October 23, 1886, and its original Board of Directors included Benjamin Brewster, of New York, A. J. Cassatt, C. A. Gris- com, H. H. Houston and Joseph D. Potts, of Philadelphia, and James Spence and Edmund Taylor, of Liverpool, England. These gentlemen have been re-elected annually, and continue to serve the company in that capacity. The
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