The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. VII, 1907

by Various

Leading Events in the Career of the Society for 1907, or of Special Interest to the Members.

January. Hon. James H. Higgins, mayor of Pawtucket, is this month inaugurated governor of Rhode Island. Hon. Patrick J. McCarthy is inaugurated mayor of Providence, R. I. It is stated that the Rev. Joshua P. L. Bodfish, for the past twenty years rector of St. John’s Church, Canton, Mass., celebrates his seventieth year by resigning his pastorate, with the permission of Archbishop O’Connell. Father Bodfish purposes to devote the rest of his life to literary and charitable work. He is a member of the American-Irish Historical Society, comes of old Puritan stock, and is a veteran of the Civil War. Jan. 3. Gunner Cornelius Cronin (U. S. N.) retired, has been promoted to be a chief gunner on the retired list to rank with, but after, ensign, from June 29, 1906, in accordance with the provisions of the naval appropriation act approved on that date. Jan. 3. Chief Boatswain J. S. Croghan is by naval orders detached from the Franklin and ordered to command the Wasp. Boatswain J. Clancy is detached from the Franklin and ordered to the Wasp. Jan. 8. Capt. D. P. Foley of the revenue cutter service is a member of the board which is announced to meet at Baltimore, Md., today, to consider applications. Jan. 11. Julius L. Foy, a St. Louis (Mo.) member of the society, dies. Jan. 24. Col. John Y. F. Blake, who led an Irish corps against the British army in the Boer War, was found dead today in his home, New York City, from gas asphyxiation. His death is believed to have been the result of accident, as there was no evidence of self destruction. Colonel Blake had served a long period in the United States army. Jan. 24. Annual meeting and dinner of the Society. It was held at the Hotel Brunswick, Boston, Mass. Thomas B. Fitzpatrick of Boston presides. February. This month appears the statement: Colonel Paul St. C. Murphy, a Brooklyn man, has assumed command of the Marine Corps stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Colonel Murphy succeeds Lieutenant-Colonel Mahoney, who has been assigned to the Marine Corps in the Philippine Islands. Colonel Mahoney has been in command of the local barracks for nearly two years. Feb. 2. Death of Rt. Rev. William Stang, D. D., Roman Catholic bishop of Fall River, Mass. Bishop Stang was a member of the Society. Feb. 9. Death in New Bedford, Mass., of John B. Sullivan, a member of the Society. Feb. 21. Hon. John Cunneen, former attorney-general of New York state, dies at his home in Buffalo. March. Mrs. Robert Gould Shaw of Boston, Mass., widow of Colonel Shaw, died this month. She was a daughter of Ogden Haggerty of New York. At the sale of the Doherty estate, New York City, Stephen McPartland, of McPartland & O’Flaherty, paid $382,550 for a plot 100x100, at the southwest corner of 8th Avenue and 43d Street. This was at the rate of over $38 per square foot. March. Brigadier-General Richard Comba (U. S. A.), retired, died in the Presidio, San Francisco, of heart disease. He was seventy years old. He was placed on the retired list when he reached the age limit, after a service of forty-six years. Few officers in the army saw more active service than General Comba. Born in County Limerick, Ireland, he entered the army as a private in 1855, when eighteen years old. For eight years he served as a private and a non-commissioned officer, and received his first commission as second lieutenant in 1863. He served with distinction through the Civil War, and was brevetted for gallantry at Gettysburg. At the close of the war he remained in the army, and served during many Indian campaigns, the promotions coming slowly. He was in command of the Twelfth Infantry in the Santiago campaign, and was later brigadier-general of volunteers. He served in the Philippines, in command of the Fifth Infantry, and until he retired was in command of the Province of Arba, Northern Luzon. General Comba came of good old Gaelic stock (the family being that of a branch of the O’Sullivan clan). March 5. James S. Haley is re-elected mayor of Montpelier, Vt. James W. Ryan is chosen mayor of Vergennes, Vt. March 15. Judge Thomas Maloney, who was private secretary to President Andrew Johnson, died on this date at Ogden, Utah, where he had lived for many years. March 16. Statue in Philadelphia to Commodore John Barry is unveiled today. The exercises were of a very impressive character. March 18. Vice-President Fairbanks addresses the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago. He speaks on the Irish race in America. April. Charles N. Harris, a member of the Society, is this month appointed a city magistrate of New York by Mayor McClellan. April 3. Ex-Congressman Joseph H. Walker, Worcester, Mass., died this morning. He was born in Boston, 1829. His second wife was a daughter of Michael Kelley of New Hampton, N. H. April 8. Hon. John D. Crimmins has sold today a collection of autographs and literary treasures. Letters and documents covering the Revolutionary War period were among this collection. The sale attracted much interest. Death of Col. Frances E. Lacey, a retired officer of the U. S. A., who had been residing with his son in New York City. Colonel Lacey served with distinction throughout the Civil War, with the Second Infantry, and participated in many great battles. He remained in the service at the reorganization in 1866, and was transferred to the Tenth Infantry, in which organization he remained for twenty-seven years, being the ranking officer in point of service in the regiment. He was then a major and assigned to the Seventeenth Infantry, and was at Columbus barracks. Major Lacey was in Columbus for two and one-half years from 1895. He was later made a lieutenant-colonel of the Third Infantry and retired in 1897 as a colonel on pay. Colonel Lacey was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1833. He came to Columbus while a young man in time to join the forces of the Union. He was full of pluck and energy and made a model soldier. His promotions came rapidly. Colonel Lacey leaves three sons and one daughter, George B., who resides in Columbus; R. E., who resides in Columbus; Captain Francis E., of the First Infantry, now in the Philippines; Mrs. F. S. Cuchen, wife of Captain Cuchen of Governor’s Island. Interment was made at the National Cemetery, Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Colonel Lacey was a strong Irish Nationalist, and for many years a member of the Robert Emmet Association of Columbus, O. At a regular meeting of the association appropriate resolutions on his death were adopted. April 9. Osborne Howes, Brookline, Mass., a member of the Society, died today. He was a descendant of David O’Killia, who settled on Cape Cod, Mass., as early as 1657. April 14. The Boston Sunday Herald today has an article, in connection with the coming Jamestown exposition, relative to John Boyle O’Reilly’s visit to the Dismal Swamp in 1888, or thereabouts, in company with Edward A. Moseley, Esq. April 19. The New York Times of this date has the following: “At the instigation of President McGowan, there will be introduced at the meeting of the aldermen on next Tuesday a resolution asking Mayor McClellan to see what can be done through the United States Department of State toward recovering from the British government part of the records of the City Fathers of proceedings in the Revolutionary period, and which the British took with them when they evacuated New York. Mr. McGowan has learned that the aldermanic records for that period are all that are required to make complete the city’s record of the legislative work done by the municipal authorities. There is a record showing that the missing papers were taken away by the English, and Mr. McGowan believes that if the British authorities were asked to return them they would either do so or would at least permit a copy of them to be made.” April 20. At a meeting of the Fitchburg, Mass., Bar Association this morning, Mayor James H. McMahon presiding, resolutions were adopted for presentation to Gov. Curtis Guild, Jr., favoring the appointment of an associate judge of Worcester County probate court from the northern part of the county, and a committee was appointed to present to the governor the names of Thomas F. Gallager, judge of the Fitchburg police court, and Clark A. Batchelder as candidates. April 21. Lieut.-Col. Lewis Smith (U. S. A.), of Washington, retired, died on April 21, aged seventy-three years. He was born in Ireland and enlisted in the army in 1851, serving as private, corporal and sergeant until 1862, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the Third Artillery. In 1898, after forty-seven years’ service, he was retired with the rank of major, but was subsequently promoted to lieutenant-colonel. April 22. A dispatch from Washington, D. C., announces the assignment of Lieut. M. O’Connor to the Fifteenth U. S. Cavalry. Gunner J. F. Carmody is assigned, by naval orders, to the Tacoma. April 23. Annual banquet tonight in New York City of the Veteran Corps of the Sixty-Ninth Regiment. It was the anniversary of the departure of the regiment for the seat of war on April 23, 1861. There were about 250 men in the banquet hall, but it was a matter of comment that the great majority of these were young men. The veterans were there, what are left of them. The first hearty applause of the evening was given when Lieut.Gov. Chanler entered the room. Awaiting him at the guest table were Borough President Patrick F. McGowan, Senator John P. Cohalan, the Rev. Dr. David G. Wylie, Rev. Father Chidwick, Magistrate Matthew P. Breen and his son, Henry J. Breen, Col. Edward Duffy, Justice John Henry McCarthy, Thomas J. Byrne, William F. Baker, president of the civil service board; Thomas E. Crimmins and Magistrates Baker and Walsh. There were others, too. April 27. Hon. William Shepherd, ex-mayor of Lynn, Mass., died late today at the Carney Hospital, Boston. He was a native of Ireland and was born in 1837. He came to this country when a boy. He was mayor of Lynn for several terms. April 30. Governor Higgins of Rhode Island today formally opened the Rhode Island building at the Jamestown Exposition, Virginia. He was introduced by Judge Blodgett of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and chairman of the Rhode Island commission, as the youngest governor of any state in the Union. May. General Peter Leary, Jr., has written to the U. S. war department, on behalf of residents of Baltimore, Md., against the proposition to dismantle Fort McHenry of its guns. An answer has been received stating that if the city would pay for the gun carriages it can have the guns themselves. The war department places a value of about $800 on ten gun carriages, seven of which are at Fort McHenry and three at Fort Delaware. General Leary wrote the department that there is a movement on foot to raise the amount by popular subscription, and asked a month’s grace before the guns are dismantled. May 1. It is announced from Washington, D. C., that James Jeffrey Roche of Massachusetts, U. S. consul at Genoa, has been promoted to be consul at Berne. May 5. Hon. Patrick Keenan, city chamberlain of New York, passed away today, much and deservedly regretted.

MR. JOHN F. DOYLE,
New York City.

MR. JAMES J. PHELAN,
New York City.

MR. M. R. F. McCARTHY,
Binghamton, N. Y.

HON. CORNELIUS HORIGAN,
Biddeford, Me.

JUDGE JOHN J. McDONOUGH,
Fall River, Mass.

FIVE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

May 6. Mayor McClellan of New York City writes as follows: May 6, 1907. To the Honorable, the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York: Gentlemen:—It is my duty to inform your honorable body, for such action as you may deem fitting, of the death of Patrick Keenan, chamberlain of the city of New York. For seven consecutive terms a member of your honorable body, once your presiding officer, once clerk of the county of New York, and thrice chamberlain of the city, Mr. Keenan enjoyed public confidence to an extent attained by few men. He died in the fulness of man’s allotted years, with no tarnish on the honor he prized so much, and with only words of grief and praise from the friends who venerated him and the citizens he faithfully served. It is my privilege thus to express my sorrow at the loss of a friend whose conduct rewarded the trust I twice had the honor to repose in him. Respectfully, Geo. B. McClellan, Mayor. May 11. Admiral McGowan, president-general of the Society, sailed today from New York for Antwerp. May 13. J. Taylor Ellison, lieutenant-governor of Virginia, for the Jamestown Exposition officials, has asked the city of Albany for the loan of the oil portraits of former governors John Jay, Dewitt Clinton and George Clinton, and former Mayor Dirck Tenbroeck, which hang in the common council gallery, and the original Dongan charter of the city of Albany of 1686, as well as the framed bill of expense for the trip of Indian chiefs to England in 1710, which hangs in the mayor’s office. The city authorities are in doubt whether to comply with the request. The portraits asked for were painted by artists from special sittings by the originals and the Dongan charter is priceless. May 15. Information comes from Washington, D. C., that Capt. Michael J. McDonough, Corps of Engineers, is relieved from duty at the West Point Academy and will join his proper station. May 18. A dispatch from Washington, D. C., says that it was announced at the state department today that Thomas J. O’Brien of Michigan, United States minister to Copenhagen, will become ambassador to Japan in September, on the retirement of Luke E. Wright of Tennessee, who has given notice to the department that he wishes to leave the service at that time. A successor to Mr. O’Brien at Copenhagen has not yet been secured. May 23. Word from Washington, D. C., states that Dr. Maurice Francis Egan, professor of English language and literature at the Catholic University of America, today accepted the post of minister to Denmark, offered to him by President Roosevelt. The date on which he will enter upon his duties will be determined by the State department. May 27. Word comes from Copenhagen that King Frederick has given a farewell dinner to the retiring American minister, Mr. O’Brien, and Mrs. O’Brien, Mr. O’Brien having been appointed American ambassador at Tokio. June. Army orders this month at the war department, Washington, D. C., grant leave of absence, from July 15 to August 31, to Major Timothy D. Keleher. Paymaster Capt. Charles G. Dwyer is to report to the paymaster-general of the army for temporary duty at a certain point. June 9. Col. James B. Quinn of the U. S. Engineer Corps is retired. June 13. From Washington, D. C., is announced the appointment of Major Thomas B. Dugan, Twelfth U. S. Cavalry, as a member of a board to meet at Kansas City, Mo., for inspection duty. First Lieutenant John C. Murphy, Fourth U. S. Infantry, having been found incapacitated for active service from disability, is retired about this date. June 14. About this date, First Lieut. Thomas F. Ryan, Eleventh U. S. Cavalry, recruiting officer, Springfield, Mass., is ordered to Bellows Falls, Vt., to secure certain evidence. June 24. President Theodore Roosevelt today appointed Michael E. Bannin of New York a member of the board of Indian commissioners, to succeed Maurice Francis Egan, who resigned to accept a diplomatic post. Mr. Bannin is a member of the American-Irish Historical Society. July 3. An order issued at the war department, Washington, D. C., about this date, provides that Capt. Michael J. Lenihan, of the general staff, will proceed to New London, Ct., and witness and report on joint army and militia post defence exercises to be held July 15 to July 26. Upon the completion of his duties at New London, Captain Lenihan will proceed to the artillery district of Boston and witness and report on the joint army and militia coast defence exercises in that district July 28 to August 3. He will then go to the artillery district of Portland for like duty. July 9. It is announced from Washington, D. C., that Major Daniel E. McCarthy, quartermaster, is relieved from duty in the Philippine division, to take effect upon the arrival of Major Bingham of Manila, and will proceed to San Francisco and report by telegraph to the adjutant-general of the army for instructions. July 17. First Lieut. James Bourke, assistant surgeon, is ordered by the war department to report August 15 to Major William H. Arthur, president of the examining board, Washington, D. C., for examination for advancement. July 17. By orders issued about this date by the war department, Capt. Michael J. McDonough, when relieved at the U. S. Military Academy, will proceed to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and report to the commanding officer for duty with the third battalion of engineers. July 17. Lieut. Peter J. Hennessey, Fifth U. S. Cavalry, by orders from the war department, will accompany the two troops of cavalry and the machine guns, national guard of Rhode Island, on practice march, commencing July 22, and upon the completion of this duty will return to Fort Adams, R. I. August. Information from the war department, Washington, D. C.: William J. O’Loughlin, who has been a second lieutenant in the Second U. S. Infantry, has been promoted to first lieutenant and assigned to the Fourteenth Infantry. John J. Ryan, first lieutenant, Twelfth U. S. Cavalry, has been promoted to captain and assigned to the Tenth Cavalry. First Lieutenant John G. Donovan, Coast Artillery, is allowed about this time, with other officers, ten days’ leave of absence. Second Lieutenant James O’Connor has been assigned to Havana for duty with the Second Battalion of Engineers. August. Death of Peter McDonnell, a member of the American-Irish Historical Society, dies. His death took place aboard the White Star steamer Oceanic, while he was returning from a visit to Ireland. August. David McClure of New York City, a member of the American-Irish Historical Society, participated in the dedication this month of a monument at Fontenoy. The monument commemorates the valor of the Irish brigade in the battle of Fontenoy, 1745. Aug. 18. There is an article in the Boston Sunday Globe today on the library of Dr. M. F. Sullivan, Lawrence, Mass. It is of an appreciative nature and devotes considerable attention to the publications of the American-Irish Historical Society. Aug. 25. Edward A. Kelly died at Cohasset, Mass., about this date. Mr. Kelly was in the eighth generation from John Kelly, one of the early settlers of Newbury, Mass., who is believed to have come to that place about 1635. Sept. 13. A reunion of the McGillicuddys took place today at Glen’s Falls, N. Y. The occasion was one of very great interest to members of this historic old Irish family. An organization was formed and officers were elected. Sept. 28. A despatch from Yokohama states that Secretary Taft arrived there today on board the steamer Minnesota from Seattle, passing all the signal stations without being sighted. The reception committees and the members of the American embassy, who had come there from Tokio to welcome Mr. Taft, were aroused by rumors, the town was soon enlivened and the bay crowded with launches displaying American flags and other colors. Secretary and Mrs. Taft and Thomas J. O’Brien, the new American ambassador to Japan, and Mrs. O’Brien met the visitors from the shore in the main saloon of the Minnesota at 7.30 a. m., while the United States cruiser Chattanooga, anchored in the bay, saluted Secretary Taft’s flag, as secretary of war, which was hoisted at the fore. Oct. 15. William B. Sullivan, Danvers, Mass., reads a paper before the St. Mary’s School Alumni Association, Salem, Mass., on “The Early Catholic Church in Massachusetts.” He later had the paper brought out in pamphlet form. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the American-Irish Historical Society. Oct. 19. A telegram published today states that a turret accident on board the battleship Connecticut, similar to those on the Georgia and several other of the U. S. big fighting ships, was averted by the presence of mind and heroism of Lieut. William Pigott Cronan, has just come to light through the summoning of a board of inquiry at the New York navy yard. According to the story, Lieutenant Cronan was in command of one of the eight-inch guns on the Connecticut during recent target practice off New England. As the powder charge was thrust into the gun, the lieutenant noticed that from a small hole in the bag a quantity of powder had escaped and fallen into the threads into which the breech-block of the gun screws. Realizing that the action of screwing the breach-block back home would ignite the powder before the block could be firmly screwed home, causing the entire charge to explode back into the turret, Lieutenant Cronan shouted an order which stopped every man in the turret, as he stood, except the man who was closing the breech of the gun. He did not hear the shout and continued to swing the block home. Lieutenant Cronan sprang forward and thrust his hand into the breech of the gun. The breech closed on his hand, badly mangling it and cleanly cutting off the first finger, which fell into the grooves and caused the closing mechanism to clog. The sailor at the breech of the gun fainted when he discovered what he had done and what he had narrowly escaped doing. If the breech had been closed it is likely that every man in the turret would have been killed. The board of inquiry was called to determine how the hole came into the powder bag. Cronan is a son of Patrick J. Cronan of New Haven. During the war with Spain, Lieutenant Cronan was highly commended for several acts of bravery. The following is another account: While the battleship Connecticut was engaged in target practice off Cape Cod last week, Lieutenant William P. Cronan undoubtedly prevented a repetition of the fatal explosion on the Georgia by staying the closing of the breech of the eight-inch barker in the after turret by inserting his fingers in the breech grooves just as the heavy butt of metal was swinging into place. When they swung back the breech-block the fragments of his first and second fingers, severed at the first joint, were found ground into the grooves. The Connecticut had joined the rest of the squadron in target practice off Cape Cod last week and all of the eight-inch guns were being worked. The firing was fast, it being a part of the test that the guns should be fired as rapidly and as accurately as possible, and in order to outdo the sailors on the other ships that were engaged in the practice, the Connecticut’s men were working hard to load, train and fire the four big tubes in the starboard and port turrets. The eight men working under command of Lieutenant Cronan in the aft starboard turret were swinging to their task like pieces of mechanism in a single machine. Two men worked the powder hoist from the magazines below, two swabbed out the gun after each shot, two lifted the bags of powder into the breech after the heavy shell had been placed, and one man swung back and locked the breech for the firing. It was bang! and in an instant the breech was open and the men were sucking in the powder fumes while they swabbed and hoisted and charged the big gun for another shot. The gun got so hot that it was difficult to place a hand on the breech without blistering it. The men with the water swabs kept the temperature down to the safety point inside the chamber, but even at that it was almost hot enough to flash powder and a little friction would have been enough to set off any spare grains. Nov. 1. Rt. Rev. Mgr. Thomas H. Wallace, a member of the American-Irish Historical Society, died this evening. He was rector of St. Patrick’s Church, Lewiston, Me. Nov. 5. Hon. James H. Higgins is re-elected governor of Rhode Island. Hon. Patrick J. McCarthy is re-elected mayor of Providence, R. I. Nov. 9. Capt. Dennis E. Nolan, Thirtieth U. S. Infantry, has been ordered to the Philippines as inspector of constabulary. Nov. 9. A dispatch from Durham, N. H., which was published in the Boston Herald today, reads as follows: (Special Dispatch to the Sunday Herald.) Durham, N. H., Nov. 9.—For some years there has been a movement to restore the burial place of Maj.-Gen. John Sullivan, who died in Durham January 23, 1795. This labor of love, shared by many prominent people both in and out of Durham, is now completed. A substantial wall has been erected around the little cemetery, the lot has been cleared and graded, the gravestones reset and iron gates provided at the entrance. As marking the end of this labor, a Sullivan commemoration service has been planned for next Monday afternoon, and an invitation to attend the ceremonies is extended to all who cherish the dead general’s memory. Descendants of General Sullivan, members of the Grand Army posts and various historical societies and many others have already signified their intention of being present. The program will include an oration by the Rev. William Elliot Griffis, D. D., of Ithaca, N. Y., a celebrated authority on matters pertaining to General Sullivan. The faculty of the New Hampshire State College have volunteered to suspend college exercises during the ceremonies, and the student battalion and college brass band will perform escort duty. The procession will start from the Congregational Church at 2.30 o’clock, proceeding to the cemetery, where the exercises will be held. The oration will be delivered at the church immediately afterward. The house General Sullivan occupied will be open for inspection by visitors during the day, also every department of the state college and its work, in which institution patriotism for present day needs is being nurtured. December. Death at Quebec this month of the Hon. Felix Carbray, a member of the Society. Dec. 2. Congressman Wiley of Alabama introduced the following bill in the National House of Representatives today. It was referred to the committee on the library and ordered to be printed: A Bill for the erection of a monument to Jeremiah O’Brien: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of fifty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the erection in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, of a monument to the memory of Jeremiah O’Brien, upon which shall be inscribed the words: Erected to the memory of The heroic Irish-American, JEREMIAH O’BRIEN, Who captured In the first sea fight of The Revolutionary War The British schooner Margaretta. Said sum shall be expended under the direction of the secretary of navy, or such officer as he may designate, and in such sums as the work may require from time to time. Dec. 30. A meeting of the executive council of the Society was held this evening at the Narragansett Hotel, Providence, R. I.

MR. WILLIAM F. CLARE,
New York City.

NATHANIEL DOYLE,
New York City.

HON. D. J. McGILLICUDDY,
Lewiston, Me.

M. B. SULLIVAN. M. D.,
Dover, N. H.

FOUR MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.