The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-07-03
NO. 496.
OBITUARY.

1t is with great sorrow that we hear of the
death of the Hon. JoHN MHTON NILES, OF
Hartford, Connecticut-an event which took
place in that city on Saturday afternoon, in the
sixty-ninth year of his age. Mr.. Niles was
one of the most upright disinterested, consist
ent, and clear headed politicians of the coun
try, and his public life was principally passed
in association with q class Of great men, who
have within a few years been summoned from
the stage Of life, and Of whom he was either
the houored friend, or the worthy and able an.
tagonist. Mr.. Niles was q native of Windsor
in Connecticut; he was bred TO the BAR and in
1916 came to Hartford, as a practitioner of law
Here he was concerned in establishing q Demo.
cratic newspaper, the Hartford Times, in the
editorial management of which he took the
principal share, and which ne conducted with
decided ability and with great success in mould
ing public opinion. In 1920 he received the
commission of Judge of the county court. He
afterwards represented the city of Hartford in the
Legislature Of the State. Soon after General
Jackson entered upon the duties of his office
as President, he gave Mr.. Niles the place oil
Postmaster which he held till he was appoint
ed United States Senator, in 1885. Mr.. Van
Buren, gave him the place of Postmaster Gen
eral in 1910, and never bestowed an appoint
duties. He regarded the Post Office Depart
ment neither as a Government monopoly nor
as a continuance for the distribution of patron.
age and the exercise of influence, but simply
as an institution for the public accommodation.
and no further TO be tolerated than as it served
that purpose. He performed its duties with
great industry and efficiency, but only for a
short time. The popular tide having turned
against the party to which he belonged, he and
his associates were swept out of office, and a
series of postmasters of different character
succeeded him.
Mr.. Niles was again returned, in 1912, to the
Senate, in which he remained to the close OF
his six years, when he went back to private
life. He continued, however, to take a strong
interest in public affairs, respecting which his
opinions were such as became pupil of Jefer
son and friend of human rights.
Deathof Hon. James Tda Horn.-To-day, the
remains of the Hon. JAMES VAN Horn, of New.
fame, in this county, whose death was noticed in
our daily issue, day before Yesterday, Tuesday
20th,) were committed to the grave. The fu.
neral solemnites took place at Charlotte, near
his late residence. He was one of the Oldest
citizens of this county, and ranked among the
most respectable pioneers Of Western New
York. He lived to great age. and has de
parted from US to his final home after life ful
of usefulness and of phlanthropic and Christian
benevolence. Identified as he has been with
the earliest settlement of this county, and with
the great changes which have been wrought III
this region since the advent of the first settlers
into the unbroken wilderness in this vicinity
his memory is entitled, at our hands, to the
tribute of more than an ordinary obituary. Nc
eulogy is necessary TO set forth his claims to
our espect.-Lockport, IN ~ Journal.
Died at Harmar, Ohio, on the 3lst of March
DAVID PUTNAM, Esq, aged 81. He was born
in Pomfret, Conn. February "a, 1869, and was
the only survivor Of the family of the late Col
Israel Putnam, Of Belpre, and grandson of Ma.
jor General Israel Putnam. He graduated at
Yale College in 1893, and removed to Marietta
in 1898, where he commenced the practice OF
the law, from which he retired about thirty
years since. He was understood to be the
Oldest member of the bar in Ohio. He was a
firm and constantiriendo Of morals, education, and
religlon-was a member of the Congregational
Church in Marietta, and in period of physical
iniirmity protracted through the later years of
his life, he maintained calm trust OF saliva.
ticn in the Redeemer.