USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Warwick's Keystone commonwealth; a review of the history of the great state of Pennsylvania, and a brief record of the growth of its chief city, Philadelphia > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
CHARLES L. BROWN.
to 1893 and one year later was elected to Select Council. In 1806 he was elected to represent the Fifth District, compris- ing the Fifteenth, Twenty-eighth, Twen- ty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth wards, in the State Senate, but declined re-election in 1900. Three years later he was again chosen to represent his ward in Common Council and in 1904 he was again elected to the State Senate by a majority of 27,283 over his Democratic opponent. Mr. Brown has always taken an active interest in Re- publican politics and was a delegate to the State Conventions in 1895, '96, '97, '98, 1900, '02, '03 and 1904. He was Chair- man of the Republican City Campaign Committee in 1906-07, and has been for a number of years one of counsel for the State Pure Food Department and active in prosecuting violations of Pure Food Laws. While Mr. Brown was Chairman of the City Committee, the Hon. John E. Reyburn received the Mayoralty nomina- tion which was largely due to Mr. Brown's friendship for the ex-Congress- man and the work which he did in his behalf.
422
WARWICK'S KEYSTONE COMMONWEALTHI.
JOHN J. MCDEVITT, JR.
Among the most prominent and well known lawyers of the city is John J. Mc- Devitt, who was associated with the edi- tor of this volume in the preparation and trial of mimerons cases of import- ance.
Mr. McDevitt is a native of Philadel- phia, having been born in this city on April 9th, 1870. His paternal ancestors emigrated to this country from County Tyrone, Ireland, and his maternal grand- father from the Province of Alsace, now part of the German Empire. His mater- nal grandmother was a native of Penn- sylvania, being descended from German ancestry.
His early education he derived from private and public schools and also by private tutors. When fifteen years of age he became an assistant in the man- agement of his father's extensive shoe
and grocery business and later assisted in the direction of a large commercial ho- tel in Philadelphia.
He severed his connection with these enterprises to enter the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania Law School, for Justice as guaranteed by law attract- ed and induced him to select as his life work this profession. Having success- fully completed his conrse he was grad- ated from the University in June, 1900.
Since his admission to the Bar, Mr. MeDevitt has met with success and has established a wide and extensive clientele.
In 1903 he married Miss Lillian Pfeif- fer, of Philadelphia. Mr. McDevitt is a member of the American Bar Associa- tion ; the Law Association ; the National Economic League and numerous other social, political and fraternal organiza- tions. In politics he is a Republican.
1
,
429.12
WARWICK'S KEYSTONE COMMONWEALTHI.
as Provost of the University of Pennsyl- vania. He resigned in 1894 and the tablet on the pedestal of his statue tersely tells what he accomplished during these thir- teen years. As Provost he established the following University Departments :
The Wharton School of Finance and Economy, The University Library, The Biological Department, The Graduate
WILLIAM PEPPER, M. D., L.L. D.
Department for Women, The Department of Philosophy, The Department of Hy- giene, The Veterinary Department, The Department of Architecture, The Train- ing School for Nurses, The Wistar In- stitute of Anatomy and Biology, The De- partment of Physical Education, The William Pepper Laboratory of Clinical Medicine, The Department of Archae- ology and Palacontology.
And the following public institutes
were his creations: The Free Library of Philadelphia, The Free Museum of Sci- ence and Art, The Philadelphia Muse- 1111S.
Dr. Pepper held the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1884 until his death in 1898. This chair had been held by his father from 1860 to 1864. Ile also edited in 1885 a five-volume "System of Medicine," to which he was a copious contributor. This work had an international success. was followed in 1893 by "A Text-Book of Medicine by American Teachers."
In 1892 Dr. Pepper was elected presi- dent of the Pan-American Medical Con- gress, which held its first meeting in 1893 in Washington, and in 1896 attended as president, the second meeting in the City of Mexico.
At the suggestion of Dr. Pepper, his uncle, George S. Pepper, bequeathed about $225,000 to found a Free Library in Philadelphia and the credit for found- ing this institution is largely due to Dr. Pepper.
During the latter years of his life Dr. Pepper labored unceasingly for the es- tablishment of the Philadelphia Com- mercial Museum.
An epitome of his public achievements may be found in his biography by Fran- cis Newton Thorpe: "Institutions found- ed: The University Hospital, the Com- mercial Museuns, and the Philadelphia Free Library. Institution reorganized and recreated: The University of Penn- sylvania. Public Reforms : The improve- ment of the city's water supply and an en- tire change in the attitude of the public mind towards education and the ideals of life. To carry out these plans Dr. Pep- per raised above ten million dollars and secured about a hundred acres of land from the municipality, lying near the heart of Philadelphia. To the execution of this task he gave the service of one of the most acute and at the same time the most practical minds ever vouchsafed to man." Dr. Pepper died July 28, 1898, aged 55 years.
1
IN MEMORIAM.
Laboring during periods of acute bod- ily pain, when it would seem impossible for his mental equipment to remain nor- mal Mr. Warwick struggled to complete this, his last work, with a fortitude that was heroic. At times his suffering was so intense that he had to stop dictating, but after a few moments' rest he would resume work with an apology for his seeming weakness. Ile never complain- ed, but preserved the same genial tem- perament that marked his entire life. None of his many friends could possibly realize the intensity of the suffering he bore uncomplainingly for years for his cheer fulness was seldom overcome by his physical ailments and it was only on rare occasions that he let it be known how keenly he felt the blight that sickness had put upon his career. The visit of old friends was greatly appreciated by the pa- tient sufferer and letters from former as- sociates were read eagerly and cheerfully answered. One from Judge John P. EI- kin, of the Supreme Court of the State, brought a reply that shows how stoically Mr. Warwick accepted the situation and how bravely he faced the adverse condi- tions. Judge Elkin's letter was one of sympathy and encouragement and Mr. Warwick replied as follows: "MY DEAR JUDGE :-
"I have received your letter of the 11th inst. I cannot tell you how your kind words touched my heart and gave me courage to face the future. I have tried to be cheerful through my affliction and to keep my colors flying until they fall under the last volley that is discharged. God bless you, my dear Judge, and may your future be bright, prosperous and happy. You may rest assured that I shall ever remember you as an old time friend.'
When death finally relieved him, it bore no sting, but was welcomed, for in its calm repose he found the haven "where the weary are at rest."
Mr. Warwick's death brought tele-
grams of regret and condolence from every quarter, for he possessed a person- ality that attracted and his friends were legion. His funeral was attended by ac- quaintances and friends in every walk of life. Men distinguished in the affairs of the State and city were, in their grief, brought in close contact with the humble laborers who had come to pay their last respects to one whom they loved and re- vered for his kindly nature and thought- ful consideration. The newspapers, the Bench and Bar and various association- with which Mr. Warwick was affiliated, paid tribute to his sterling integrity and worth and expressed deep regret at the loss of a valued friend and co-worker. His death was editorially noted in the "Press" as follows: "Beginning early in life and continuing up to the time when his party and public service were reward- ed by an election to the Mayoralty, Charles F. Warwick had a very large part in the public life of the city. Ilis grace- ful, ready and pleasing oratory was al- ways in demand and his genial, hearty manner and good fellowship made him widely popular. Four times he was chosen City Solicitor and performed the duties of that office acceptably for eleven years. As Mayor he had behind him a divided party and its political dissensions seriously marred the harmony and suc- cess of his administration.
"Among his notable services as Mayor was the part he took so well as master of ceremonies when the city received dis- tinguished visitors. When Li Hung Chang, and his suite visited Philadelphia, Mayor Warwick gave them a great and impressive welcome. When he accom- panied the Liberty Bell to Atlanta in 1895, the entire route was alive with freshly aroused patriotism and the May- or's frequent and most happy speeches quite won the hearts of the Southern peo- ple, keenly appreciative of spontaneous, graceful and appropriate oratory.
"Since his retirement from the May-
4.30
431
WARWICK'S KEYSTONE COMMON WEALTH1.
oralty, Mr. Warwick had been only oc- casionally before the public. Illness, se- vere, protracted and exhausting almost incapacitated him for several years and never altogether left him. In this inter- val his life took on a new interest. Al- ways a reader, the perusal of the French Revolution had received much of his at- tention and in spite of illness he labored over that period and wrote at short inter- vals four volumes of vivid narration which make a valuable popular history of that most exacting and interesting his- torical period.
"Mr. Warwick was a man who made friends and many of them. The public din- ner given to him when it was believed he was finally recovered from his illness bore testimony to the great number of these friends and the strength of their attach- ment. He has died at a relatively early age, but probably his life work was com- pleted and robust health was not perman- ently his portion. His life has been a full one and his memory will long survive."
The "Evening Bulletin" thus expressed its opinion : "By the death of Charles Franklin Warwick, City Solicitor for eleven years and Mayor from 1895 to 1899, Philadelphia loses one of its most attractive public orators. Rarely if ever did Warwick make a speech that was not listened to with keen interest and pleas- ure. Ilis addresses were full of wit and classic allusions, but never tired his listen- ers, being always eloquent and to the point. In the Blaine campaign of 1884, when only thirty-two years of age, he de- livered some of the most notable speeches that were made in Ohio and Indiana."
In the same paper on April 7, 1913, "Penn" under the caption "Men and Things" wrote as follows of Mr. War- wick : "The late Charles F. Warwick was the third Mayor of Philadelphia under the Bullitt Act, and only two citizens who held that office before him are now liv- ing-Edwin S. Stuart and William B. Smith : and Smith is the only survivor of the Mayors under the Consolidation Act, more than a quarter of a century having passed since he went out of office. It has been said that Warwick was the youngest man that has ever served in the Mayor- alty. But this is incorrect, for both
Stuart and Smith, and also Weaver, were each at the time of their election, younger than he was at the time of his election. Since he held the office there have been four successors-Ashbridge, Weaver, Reyburn and Blankenburg-and in the many mutations that have taken place in Philadelphia politics, as well as by reason of the physical infirmities which disabled him, he had almost as much disappeared from public recollection during most of the interval as if he had already ceased to be of and among the living. In this respect-in the cruel blight which befell the exercise of his powers at a time when he was in the fulness of his mental re- sources and when many years of profes- sional and public activity should have been ahead of him-he was unlike any other man that has come out of the office in the meridian of life.
"But when he was in the flush of his ambition, and especially long before he became Mayor of Philadelphia, his genial, enthusiastic and eager nature was like the radiance of crisp and buoyant sun- shine, and no other young man at the bar and in politics had more of a zest and ar- dor in his hopes of a great career. Ile was peculiarly an example of the 'self- made' youth: he worked hard in the studies which he imposed upon himself, and he never had any hesitation in avow- ing his toil or the necessities which spur- red him to exertion. 1 first knew him when he was a Republican stumper in the campaign for Henry M. Hoyt for Gov- ernor against Andrew 11. Dill in 1878, and one Saturday night, when he was sent to an open-air mass-meeting in Ken- sington, in the vicinity of the old 'Nanny Goat' market, he delivered one of the most fiery 'bloody shirt' speeches, as the term then went, that had been heard in the campaign. Ilis glowing picture of the heroism of the Union soldiers was as an electrical charge of vehement, high- pitched diction, and the applause of the crowd was tremendous. Apparently the speech was as spontaneous as it was spir- ited, but after it was all over he laugh- ingly admitted to his friends of the press that he had been laboring for a week on
1
432
WARWICK'S KEYSTONE COMMONWEALTH.
that speech and that he knew it so well that he could repeat it verbatim, et litera- tim et punctatim.
"At no time was he a politician in the sense of being a leader: it was his ora- torical facility that gave him a place in Philadelphia politics, and his relations to political leaders throughout his life were wholly secondary and responsive. Among the junior members of the bar he went to the front very rapidly, first making a reputation in the old Quarter Sessions Court house by trying desertion cases for the Board of Guardians of the Poor when they used to have their office on Seventh street and when his manner of enlivening these proceedings easily facilitated the production of reporters' 'copy.' He was one of the young men who were clustered around George S. Graham when Graham first became District Attorney thirty-two ago : and F. Amadee Bregy, John L. Kin- sey and Charles F. Warwick were fore- most among those who subsequently reached higher distinction. When War- wick about three years afterwards, first ran for City Solicitor -Bill' Smith being on the same ticket for Mayor against the renomination of Mayor King and 'Hon- est' John Hunter for his second term as Receiver of Taxes at a time when George G. Pierie had been fairly entitled to that nomination in point of party regularity, but had been constrained to retire because of Hunter's seemingly exceptional popu- larity -- it was the eloquence of the young candidate that went far to work up a ma- jority for the ticket in the face of what had appeared to be the odds against it when it was first put in the field. The Democrats and the reformers who oppos- ed him had a good deal to say about his comparative youth in aspiring to be the head of the Law Department of the city. But Warwick in his speeches got off a lot of his exuberant talk about the second Pitt and Alexander Hamilton and the cer- tainty that time would cure the fault in him, and then striking one of his energetic attitudes, would call on the voters with flashing eyes and in ringing tones to 'stand by the young men,' to remember that in the nineteenth century a man at thirty could learn as much as his father
did at sixty, and to wake up to Philadel- phia's need of a release from the respect- able tyranny of its nice old fossils. Quick in repartee, a clever story teller, knowing how to quote popular poetry effectively, he was then and long afterwards the best all-around political speaker at campaign meetings in Philadelphia.
"As City Solicitor he was more suc- cessful than some of his own supporters thought he would be or could be, and when he began his fourth term it almost looked as if he was to be permanently booked for the place, as Graham in the District Attorneyship apparently was after he had been holding it for six terms. It might have been well for him if he had been thus continued in the Solicitor- ship, or if his subsequent lines in public life had been in accord with his profes- sional or legal pursuits. But when he was taken up for Mayoralty with scarcely any previous expectation on his part or on the part of anybody else by the Mar- tin-Porter leadership of the Republican organization, with the Pennsylvania Rail- road and the Union Traction interests in the background, he was placed in a situa- tion which he was not qualified to meet in a large or commanding way, and which those who were his sponsors did not ex- pect or want to have met in that way by any candidate whom they might have fa- vored. Still he made an excellent impres- sion on the public in the course of his campaign : he was elected by a heavy ma- jority, and it was thus that he first broke the talismanic reputation which for eigh- teen years had been enjoyed by his oppo- ment at the polls-Robert E. Pattison. Yet it was Warwick's misfortune to be elected in the midst of the rancor and re- sentments which had followed the rejec- tion of Boies Penrose for the Mayoralty by the Martin-Porter interests, and which finally resulted in the bitterest rupture and feud known in the Republican party in Philadelphia: and at no time in the course of the four years of his adminis- tration was he able to restore peace or to gain for his administration the unified support of his party. Threatenings, con- troversy, litigation, obstruction, the cross-
.
433
WARWICK'S KEYSTONE COMMONWEALTH.
purposes of factional strategy, the plots of the anti-Combine against the Com- bine, the strifes over Quay and his bold schemes for establishing the supremacy of his faction under Durham and Mc- Nichol, the Lexowing, the vilification on all sides, the calls for reform uprising, the first contest over the first lease of the Gas Works when Dolan was in the sad- dle, and the storm of unpopularity which it let loose for the time being, all clouded and hampered the Warwick administra- tion and its plans, and made it a failure in many respects. But if the times had been normal in Philadelphia politics, and if the Mayor had received the customary sup- port of his party, it could easily have been a success, for his own instincts and pur- poses were creditable, and outside of the immediate circles of the hostility of his factional opponents he had plenty of the personal good will of the town.
"Not long before his term came to a close he asked me to see him one winter afternoon in his office at the City Hall. He was much disturbed over the gossip that he had been well paid to sign the bill for the gas lease and that the United Gas Improvement Company would 'take care' of him when he should go out of office. HIe said he thought the time might come when it would be in order to do justice to him, and that he wanted it to be re- membered that he had attempted to set himself right. lle then proceeded at length to review all the events of his ad- ministration, to express his disappoint- ment over the extraordinary course of circumstances by which his purposes had been baffled, and to insist that, while he had been grateful to his friends who had put him in office, he had done nothing of which he would feel ashamed, even if he had made mistakes or had been led into follies. He thought, too, that there had never been such a flood of scandal in the politics of Philadelphia as the great factional feud had caused in the revenge- ful tactics of leaders and their followers to blackguard and humiliate foes beyond all the usual limits of personal warfare. But he was most concerned in endeavor- ing to relieve himself of the imputations
that he had been influenced by any act, and especially in the signing of the gas lease, by any venal consideration. He went on to say how he had been pulled and hauled' by each side, how he had lain awake in his bed at night wondering what he ought to do, how he reached con- scientionsly his conclusion that his sig- nature to the lease would be a good thing for this city, and why it was he believed that time would show that his decision was just and proper. Then he laid his hand solemnly on my knee and, with a sort of measured dramatic intensity in his words as he leaned over, he protested that he had never a thought of yielding to an illicit persuasion. "I can assure you,' he said, as nearly as his words can now be recalled, 'that my hands are ab- solutely clean, and God knows it, and I shall go out of this office in the spring a poor man, and I will accept no favor then or thereafter from anybody which 1 do not honestly deserve.
"Warwick was doubtlessly the best- read Mayor that has occupied the office since the time of Morton MeMichael. lle once said in his later years that if he had not been a lawyer he would have pre- ferred to be an editor or author. He wrote with considerable fluency, although in the style of a man whose warmth of temper- ament is under the influence of the ora- torical instinct. His books on Mirabean, Danton, Robespierre and Napoleon are picturesque narratives of the chief char- acters of the French Revolution, and the advent of the foremost figure among mankind in the dawn of the nineteenth century, and their production was associ- ated with his often pathetic hopes and yearnings in his manly struggle to over- come pain and depression when the shad- ow of his lingering fate first began to hang over him. In a few years he had outlived the animosities of his adminis- tration and he came to view the finer am- bitions of political life, as he had seen them, with something of a sense of the insubstantial value of the mere chase and struggle for reputation or applause. 1Te was always charitable in speech for the failings or mistakes of others: indeed,
434
WARWICK'S KEYSTONE COMMON WEALTIL.
there was a sort of almost boyish impulse and candor at times in his thought and conduct even when he was in the May- oralty; and when he was in his prime there was no cheerier son of intellectual and social fellowship in the town-a spirit which often entered into his little writings almost to the last, in the midst of his long battle for strength and a re- turn to the familiar faces of men and the scenes he loved so well.
*
"Even when it used to be in formal order to say 'Mr. Mayor' to him, he would look as if he liked far more to be hailed as 'Charley' Warwick."
The "Inquirer" stated that : "He was regarded as one of the most polished ora- tors of the city, and early in his career won fame as a Republican campaign speaker. Mr. Warwick was a deep stu- dent of French Revolutionary history, and during his illness wrote several books on this subject which won much praise."
From the "North American" came the following tribute: "Charles F. Warwick was one of Philadelphia's ablest orators, one of its cleverest and most popular after dinner speakers and an author of dis- tinction. In his early days he was 'the boy orator,' and in later years he was 'Warwick, the silvertongued Mr. Warwick was a popular after-dinner speaker. fle never attended a Clover Club or a Five O'Clock Club affair that he was not asked to speak and compelled to do so."
The "Record" in its local columns said: "The death of Charles Franklin Warwick, who gained an enviable repu- tation as a lawyer, orator and author, re- moves from Philadelphia one of its most picturesque and notable figures. While incapacitated for business during the last eight years, ex-Mayor Warwick devoted his time to literary work. His published works were received with universal commendation because of their vivacious style."
The same paper in editorially noticing the death of the ex-Mayor, paid him the following tribute :"Ex-Mayor Charles F. Warwick passed out of public life so long ago that to the younger generation
of Philadelphia he has been little more than a name. To older citizens his death will recall memories of a splendid orator and of a political career that contained the possibilities of much higher honors which were never realized. 'Charley' Warwick, as he was familiarly known, had countless friends, who have regret- ted the wasting disease and troubles that have marked his later days. A man of many and unusual gifts, in his time he filled a place in the political and public life of Philadelphia that no one has since claimed."
The Bench and Bar, on April 7. took official notice of the death of Mr. War- wick and appropriate minutes were en- tered on the records of the various Courts. Especially impressive were the proceedings before Judge Staake, in Court No. 5, where the death of Mr. Warwick was announced by ex-Judge William W. Porter. In moving that a minute be entered in the records, he briefly eulogized the dead lawyer, and was seconded by Frank R. Shattuck, who also paid a touching tribute to the ex- Mayor.
In replying, Judge Staake spoke warm- ly of Mr. Warwick, whom he had known intimately from the time of his admission to the Bar. Ile related several touching incidents of his acquaintance with "Char- ley" Warwick and in conclusion said : "Charles F. Warwick was a remarkable man, and it has often been said that if his lot had been cast as a member of Congress at the beginning of his career he would have been a man of great inter- national reputation. As an orator, as an author, even in ordinary conversation, there was always that exhibition of a wonderful command of language, of a degree of elegance that I have never heard excelled by any man no matter what has been his reputation as an ora- tor.
"We know of his efforts as a lawyer, we know of his success in the trial of cases before juries, as well as his remark- able power in addressing the Court in any important argument. He had a very active life, a very successful life, serving the community in so many ways, and I know that it will be the thought not only
0
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.