USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 57
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the vacancy created by the sale of the "State of California." Mr. Cramp's health began to fail about 1877, but although ailing he never wholly withdrew his attention from business until confined to his bed. At the time of his death, in the summer of 1879, the vessel being constructed at his yards was No. 225, that being the number of vessels of all de- scriptions he had built from the time he first en- tered business on his own account. Mr. William Cramp was a man of the highest character, rigidly honest, aud noted for the promptness with which he met every obligation. The demands made upon him by his business duties were often extraordinary, but, notwithstanding this, he never neglected other duties which grew out of his citizenship, and his prominence in the community, in which he spent his whole life and whose interests he always had earn- estly at heart. For several years he was one of the Commissioners of the old Kensington District, and he was also for a time a member of the Board of Port Wardens. He was one of the originators of the Union League, and was a liberal supporter of the Federal and State Governments during the Civil War. He was a sincere Christian, a regular attend- ant at worship, and for twenty years or more was a Trustee of the church of which he was a member. The immediate cause of his death, which occurred about five years subsequent to that of his esteemed wife, was the peculiar and rare disease known as ossification of the blood vessels of the brain. Mr. Cramp's death was sincerely mourned in a large circle, where he was admired for his many excellent qualities aud pure life. By the business world in which he had figured so honorably and prominently for nearly half a century, it was regarded as an al- most irreparable loss. Since Mr. William Cramp's death the business has been continued under the able management of his five sons, and has grown to immense proportions. These gentlemen, trained to every detail of ship construction under the eye of their accomplished and energetic father, have proved themselves worthy successors of their saga- cious, able and untiring master, and their conduct of the business is directly in a line with the pro- gressive spirit which ever actuated its distinguished founder. The business is now incorporated under the name of The William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, and is known through- out the world, with a reputation second to no other in its liue. The eldest son, Charles H. Cramp, is President of the company; W. M. Cramp, Vice- President ; Samuel H. Cramp, Treasurer ; J. C. Cramp, Vice-President, and Henry W. Cramp, Sec- retary. No better illustration of the enterprise and activity of the company could be given than by
.
R . M . Sheer .
277
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
here enumerating the steamships built since Jan- uary 1, 1880, with their names, tonnage and horse- power :
NAME. TONNAGE.
HORSEPOWER.
Steam Yacht Corsair 247.40
750
750
Steamship Caracas .1589. 1000
Steamboat Cetus
857.
1200
66
Perseus
848.
1200
6
Pegasus 848.
1200
66 Taurus 917.
1300
Steamship Berkshire. 2014.42 1200
66
Alleghany 2014.42
1200
Steamship City of ) Peubla,
2590.16
2400
Steamship Queen?
of the Pacific, S 2727.80
3000
Steamship Valencia. .1598.49
1198
Tacoma. .3119.02
2000
San Pedro .. . . 3119.02
2000
Steam Tug George? W. Pride,
88.65
350
Steamship Mariposa .3158.23
2000
Alameda 3158.23
2000
Steam Yacht Atalanta 741.69
1000
Steamship Kinau. 993.23
750
66 San Pablo 3119.02
2000
Steam Tug Hinton
90.67
250
Steamship H. F. Dimock. 2625.93
1000
Steam Tug Relief 204.27
450
Steamship Eureka.
.3531.32
1800
El Paso.
.3531.32
1800
66
El Dorado .... 3531.32
1800
66
Wilmington .. 161. 250
66
Philadelphia .. 2098.52
1000
Steam Yacht Peerless .... 227.60
900
Steamship Mascotte .. 884.09
1000
U. S. Steamer Terror .... 3815.
1600
Steam Ferry Boat)
800.
600
Steamship El Monte .. .3531.32 1800
66 Cherokee. 2556.73 1300
Seminole .2556.73
1300
66
Herman .2625.93 2000
Winter,
Steamship Olivette 1611.42
1500
Monmouth 1440.34
2024.54
Iroquois. 2943.64
1600
El Mar. .3531.32
2300
66
Venezuela .... 2842.90
1900
U. S. Steamer Yorktown. 1720.
3398.25
66
Baltimore. 4400. 10064.418
66
Vesuvius .. 811.
4366
Engines for
Hutchinson )
Steamers Connecticut 7000
Dessoug
Totals to January 1, 1890,
88,743.60
83,651.208
To this should be added the vessels now building, all of which will be completed in 1890 :
NAME. TONNAGE. HORSEPOWER.
U. S. Steamer
Philadelphia .4400. 10000
U. S. Steamer Newark .. .. 4016. 9000 Steamship H. M. Whitney.2800. 2800
Steamship for Clyde)
Steamship Company 2750. 1500
Steamship for Mer-)
chants and Miners 2600. 1500
Transportation Co.)
Steamship El Sol. 4300 3500
Totals. 20,866.
28,300
ROBERT M. SPEER.
ROBERT MILTON SPEER was born at Cass- ville, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1838, and died in New York City, January 17, 1890. Mr. Speer was of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestry. His great-grandfather, John Speer, was a lieutenant in Colonel Harmer's Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, and died at Valley Forge in 1778. His grandfather, John Speer, died in Ireland in 1834. His father, Robert Speer, who was born in County Antrim in 1803, settled in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He had married Agnes Cowan on January 17, 1822. At first he lived at Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, where he taught school. He removed to Cassville about 1826, where he went into business and started one of the first furnaces in Central Pennsylvania and was also postmaster. He died at Fairfield, Iowa, in 1852, while paying a visit to his mother. His wife, the mother of Robert Milton Speer, died in Cassville, also aged forty-nine years, in 1851. Robert Speer was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic projectors of the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad. These two par- ents had ten children, six boys and four girls, seven of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, to wit : Agnes, married to James McIlduff; George W., who was Lieutenant-Colonel in the Pennsylvania Volun- teers and died in 1864 from exposure in the Wilder- ness ; Isabella, married to J. H. Baker : Dorothy Campbell ; John ; Margaret, and Robert Milton, the latter being the youngest. The only members of the family now living are Mrs. Mellduff and Mrs.
John King,
Ivanhoe 90.67
250
HORSEPOWER.
Stranger. 247.40
Caracas .2584.38 1900
278
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Baker, both of whom live at Dwight, Illinois. Robert Milton Speer received his early education at the Cassville Seminary in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. While a lad in school he was noted for his quick perception and aptitude at his studies and for his excellent memory. Ilis mind was evi- dently bright and active, and he advanced easily through all the branches of learning which he at- tempted. Ile taught school and read law at the same time. Ile was in the office of Wilson & Petrikin of Huntingdon, and continued with them until November 14, 1859, when he was ad- mitted to the bar. In the following spring Mr. Speer opened an office in Huntingdon, and from that time until within a few weeks of his death, he continued in the active practice of his profession in that town. At the time of his entrance upon the practice of the law, Mr. Speer was twenty-one years of age. For twenty-five years he was associated with his brother-in-law, E. S. McMurtrie. Mr. Speer was married on April 26, 1864, to Martha Ellen McMurtrie, eldest daughter of William E. and Margaret McMurtrie of Huntingdon. His wife died in November, 1876. To them were born six children, three boys and three girls : William McM., Robert E., Victor, Mary C., Margaret A., and Martha. All are. still living except Martha, who died in infancy. In his earliest professional expe- rience Mr. Speer showed the possession of indefat- igable perseverence and superior talents. He speed- ily attained a high rank at a bar which was then, as now, noted for the ability of its leading mem- bers. Among these able associates he soon became recognized as a man of unusual native capacity, and speedily gained and thereafter held a lucrative practice in both the civil and criminal courts. Growing constantly in capacity and in the public recognition, for more than twenty years he was the acknowledged leader of the Huntingdon bar, during that period being concerned in the trial of nearly all the more important cases. His practice, however, was not by any means confined to his own immedi- ate locality or to Huntingdon County. His promi- nence in important litigations soon made him known throughout the State, and his professional services became in demand in other and distant counties. Mr. Speer was gifted with qualities of he utmost importance and the greatest advantage to himself and to his clients. In the preparation of his cases he was deemed among his associates to be almost without an equal. In the delicate duty of the examination of witnesses his extraordinary tact was recognized and his success in this department of his profession was remarkable. But not less was he an eloquent orator, gifted with power of influ-
eneing and leading a jury, whose sympathies were easily enlisted and before whom he laid the strong points of his case with masterly and convincing ' skill. Clear in statement, logical in reasoning, un- answerable in argument and eloquent in delivery, it was rare indeed for him to be defeated in his cases and his services were consequently greatly in demand. This was especially so in the matter of criminal cases, in which he was eminently success- ful. It is stated that in every important homicide case tried in Huntingdon County during twenty years, Mr. Speer was engaged as counsel for the de- fense. Endowed with brilliant intellect and tireless energy, Mr. Speer threw his entire force, backed up by all his knowledge of law and his ability in argu- ment, into such cases, and with almost certain de- feat for the prosecution. Among criminal cases which are well-known in Huntingdon County may be mentioned the Crewitt case, the Reese case, the Gardner case and the La Porte case, in each of which the Commonwealth through able counsel pressed for conviction of murder in the first degree, and in each failed of conviction in the first degree. In regard to his connection with such cases empha- sis should be laid upon the belief which Mr. Speer had that a lawyer never rose to greater dignity in the practice of his profession than when, without fee or hope therefor, he defended the accused and friendless. Such was the case in a number of in- stances and particularly in that of Gardner, who was on trial for his life and was absolutely penni- less. Mr. Speer undertook this case, well knowing the arduous labor that it would involve and for which he would receive no compensation. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speer's sympathies were always with the accused and he was never on the side of the prosecution in a homicide case in his county. He was, however, leading counsel in the case against McClain, who was tried in Mifflin County for the killing of Smearman, in which case the pris- oner was convicted of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to be hanged. At the meeting of members of the bar in the County Court House of Huntingdon County, after the death of Mr. Speer, almost all the lawyers from all the surrounding counties and the whole bar of Huntingdon County were present. Judge Dean of Hollidaysburg, in re- ferring to Mr. Speer's professional experience and ability, said :
" As a reasoner he was clear, at times profound. All the zeal that could be given to a client's case Mr. Speer gave. He tried a case involving five dollars with the same amount of earnestness and the same intellectual vigor as one involving thirty thousand dollars. All he had of physical and men- tal force his client got. If his fee was but a trifle,
ATLant .. Et ato 3 Entradas CP NN
Christopher Hinayana 5
279
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
his client got all Mr. Speer had to give. He was the soul of truth with the court. True, his zeal for his client and the earnestness with which he en- gaged in the cause perhaps led him at times to give more weight to his legal propositions and more force to the evidence than either should have, but when he said before me that such and such a prop- osition was the law, I felt perfectly sure that Mr. Speer had given to that subject all the thought and attention that his great ability enabled him to give and that he stated his conscientions conclusions."
Judge Furst said :
" He rose above his client and seemed to be con- tending for principle as though he were writing it into law. There were times when the very heart of this bar rose at his appeals. There were times wlien his impassioned personal appeals brought tears to jurors and spectators, and I have known more than one man to go out of this court room free when he could thank Mr. Speer alone for his freedom. But I have never known an innocent man to suffer when he was defended by Mr. Speer. I know as a citizen in your midst that there was not a public enterprise which he did not promote or a public duty that he did not perform whilst he had life and strength, and I know that no appeal for charity ever came to his threshold or a request for help, either from the lone wandering tramp on the street or the man who had seen better days, there never was an appeal made to him, to which he did not respond, because it was his nature to do so and it would have been contrary to liis princi- ples if he had not."
Mr. William P. Orbison, of Huntingdon, said in regard to Mr. Speer :
"Before a jury he was tempestuous aud, like the waves of the sea, he bore down all opposition. Some jurors were carried away by a kind of fear of him and others were tenderly tonched to tears. As a lawyer he was above the ordinary. Very few eqnalled him. He is gone in the meridian of life."
Mr. Speer was always a Democrat. In August, 1859, he began the publication of The Union, the Democratic organ in Huntingdon Connty. In June, 1861, it was merged in the Monitor, of which Mr. Speer was a half owner. Mr. Speer went into politics before he was a voter. He stumped the county before he was of age. For more than half his life he was the Democratic leader of Hunting- don County and his leadership was unquestioned. He was repeatedly elected Chairman of the County Committee and Delegate to State Conventions. In 1878 he was Chairman of the State Committee. He presided over two important State Democratic Con- ventions, at Pittsburgh in 1878, and at Allentown in 1884. In 1872 he was a district delegate to the National Democratic Convention in Baltimore; in 1880 he was one of the Delegates-at-Large to the National Convention at Cincinnati, where he was one of the managers of General Hancock's canvass, and in 1888 he was one of the two Electors-at-Large. In 1870 Mr. Speer, when thirty-two years of age,
was elected to the Forty-second Congress over Congressman Daniel J. Morrell, President of the Cambria Coal and Iron Company, in the Eighteenth District, which comprises the counties of Hunting- don, Mifflin, Blair, and Cambria, -a strong Republi- can district. He was elected through his personal strength. In Huntingdon County, with less thau seven thousand voters, he reversed a Republican majority of a thousand. In 1872 he was re-elected over A. A. Barker in the same district, with an increased majority. A Republican Legislature changed the district, and when Mr. Speer again ran in 1880, in the counties of Huntingdon, Franklin, Fulton, Juniata, Snyder and Perry, a district 3000 Republican, he was defeated. Though his opponent lived in Huntingdon, Mr. Speer again reversed the majority of his own town and ran ahead of General Hancock. He filled several borough offices, being elected to them by citizens irrespective of party. Of Mr. Speer's political strength and influence it was said by Mr. Johu M. Bailey, at a meeting of the Huntingdon bar :
" In 1870 he was elected to Congress in a district with a large adverse majority, over a gentleman who was able, popular and wealthy. He was then thirty-two years of age. He was again elected, as you know, in 1872, and the management of his cam- paign by a man witli as little experience as he tlien had, drew attention to him from all over the Com- monwealthı. It was not long until the connsel of Mr. Speer was souglit in politics by elder and more experienced managers of his party. My recollec- tion is that during the four years of his Congres- sional career he did not neglect the profession or the practice of law, and I believe that during that time he did not miss a single session of this court, and while actively and energetically engaged in his Congressional dnties, he seemed to try his cases as well coming from Washingtou as if he had sat in his office for months."
Mr. Speer died from lead poisoning caused by drinking water which had stood over night in lead pipes. The cause of his sickness was not discov- ered in time to apply the proper remedies. He was brought to New York too late to recover and died while under treatment which, if begun earlier, would have been successful. He was a warm- hearted, generous, truthful aud honest man, 'a public-spirited citizen and an earnest, practical Christian.
CHRISTOPHER L. MAGEE.
CHRISTOPHER LYMAN MAGEE, measured by his accomplishments, either as a business man or a political leader, stands as an admirable type of the successful Pennsylvanian. Beginning life poor, and
280
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
without family influence, he has earned wealth for himself and proved his capacity to conceive and ex- ecute large and varied enterprises. In politics he has been the undisputed leader of the Republican party in his section for years, he has more than once dictated the candidates and policy of his party in the State, and has sat as a delegate in four suc- cessive National Conventions. At this time he is President and editorial director of a prosperous daily newspaper, which in six years lic has de- veloped from a wreck into a success ; President of two street railway companies, both of which he or- ganized and one of which controls thirty-two miles of tracks, and Director in nine other important cor- porations, including two banks and the leading in- surance company of his city. He was born in Pitts- burgh, on Good Friday, April 14, 1848, and educated in the public schools, Prof. Barry's private school, and the Western University. His knack of finding or making a way to whatever he wanted to accom- plish had an early illustration. When his elder brother left the private school to enter the High school, the younger was two years back of that pro- motion. Going to school by himself didn't suit him and he went to Prof. Barry with this proposition : "You give me an hour a day extra in recitations on the studies I would have to take next year. I think I can get along with them besides keeping up this year's studies. I want to do two years work in one and get into the High school along with Fred. If I succeed father will be so proud of it that he will be glad to pay you for the extra time. If I fail, don't you say anything to him about it, and as soon as I can earn the money I'll pay you." The bargain was made, the double work was done and the boy suc- ceeded-succeeded so notably in his examinations that his teacher and his father almost quarreled over the question of payment for the extra time, the warm-hearted old Irish pedagogue closing the con- troversy with the declaration : "Don't insult me ! Do you suppose I'm not as proud of the boy as ye are yerself?" Like energy and like success have marked his career ever since. His father died in '63, leaving a widow and five children, of whom three were younger than the subject of this sketch. They were poor, and he at once left the University and took a clerkship in the office of City Controller John McCargo. His mother was a notable woman, of broad mind, kind heart and rare judgment. To the day of her death, in March, 1889, in poverty and in wealth, in struggle and success, she was his most trusted and beloved adviser and sympathizer. He honored her above all earthly beings, and was never so engrossed in any enterprise, however momentous, nor in any contest, however high the stake, that he
would not turn aside from it instantly to minister to her comfort or contentment. In 1869 he became Cashier of the City Treasury, and in 1871, at the age of twenty-three, at the first elcetion for City Treas- lirer after he had reached his inajority, he was elected to that office by eleven hundred majority, thoughi the head of the ticket-the Mayor-was bcaten fifteen hundred. Of his gain, nine hundred and six was made in the ward in which he was born and raised. He was again elected City Treas- urer in '74, running eighteen hundred votes ahead of his ticket. This was the end of his holding or seeking salaried office. For ten years following he was a member, and latterly President of the Fire Commission, until it was abolished by the new city charter, in 1887. The leading features of this in- strument were designed by him, including a note- worthy clause providing that the city debt can only be increased by a vote of the people. In the years in which he has been the ruling power in the muni- cipal affairs of Pittsburgh, the city debt has been re- duced from $15,000,000 to $10,000,000. He twice served as Secretary of the Republican State Com- mittee, and has been a delegate in every Republi- can State Convention since '72, save one, and in every Republican National Convention since '76. In 1876 he voted for Hartranft until the last ballot, and then for Hayes. In 1880, he was one of the three hundred and six supporters of General Grant. In 1884 he went down with the Arthur colors flying, and in 1888 he led the break in Pennsylvania from Sherman to Harrison, swinging off at the head of the five Allegheny County votes on the ballot before the decisive onc. He is always a liberal contributor to Republican campaign funds in his county, which, in 1888, gave Harrison a larger majority than any other in the Union, 20,400 plurality. In State affairs he is a loyal and unswerving friend of Senator Cam- eron, as he was of his father before him. "There is a fascination and excitement about politics " he said recently, " whether you win or lose, that is to be found in nothing else. Of course, I mean when you don't want office yourself, but take a hand in making platforms, engineering candidacies and managing party affairs. It is a diversion that you cannot find the like of in any other pursuit." He is slow to seek a political conflict, daring and tireless in pursuing it, unruffled by defeat and generous to the point of weakness in his hour of triumph. The bitterest enemy he ever had in city politics, subse- quently becoming desperately poor, lie put into a position at twenty-five hundred dollars a year. Another who liad fought liim with intense virulence, and whom he had defeated, he afterwards saved from disgrace and has never even permitted the
Bayard Taylor
281
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
man, his enemy still, to know of it. He rules with the warm hand rather than the strong hand, and his power with his followers comes largely from their affection for him, and their knowledge that at what- ever cost he always keeps his word with them, and fulfils his promises if it is possible to do so. The generosity of his political methods may be well il- lustrated by two incidents : A trusted associate re- cently said, with some impatience : "Magee and I have a battle royal with some fellow and get him down. I want to feel sure he is'nt going to get up and come at us again, so I spike him to the floor and go to sleep contented. Then after I am sleeping Magee comes back and forgives him, and pulls the nails. That's Chris's way !" Not many weeks ago a correspondent of a New York news- paper went to him for some damaging information concerning an active and powerful political enemy of his, and got this answer: "If I know anything about him that would injure him if it were pub- lished, I could only have found it out in the confi- dence of our association when we were friends, and I would not be dishonorable enough to use it against him now that we have parted company." He has lately given less attention to politics and more to business. He made money in the early de- velopment of natural gas, and got out of it in safe time, turning his gains over and over by shrewd in- vestments in real estate, during the wonderful rise in values which has followed the introduction of that fuel into Pittsburgh. He is at present the owner of some of the most valuable real estate in the city. On one piece, which he recently bought for one hun- dred and sixty-five thousand dollars, The Times- which he bought in '84 when it had but fifteen hun- dred circulation and was ready to die, and has built up to a circulation of thirty-five thousand-is about to build a ten-story office building. The newspaper business was new to him, but he went into it as he goes into everything else, and besides di- recting the business affairs of his paper he personally supervises its policy, and sees every editorial before it is printed. He writes occasionally only, but al- ways with vigor and directness. Besides his news- paper he is the organizer and President of the Du- quesne Traction Company, controlling thirty-two miles of street railways, and of the Transverse Pas- senger Railway Company, and an active Director in the Citizens Traction Company, the Central Trac- tion Company, the Allegheny Traction Company, the Pittsburgh, Allegheny & Manchester Traction Company, the Pittsburgh, Allegheny & Manchester Passenger Railway Company, the Freehold Bank, the Fidelity Title and Trust Company, the Western Insurance Company, and the Allegheny County
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