The Press., 1888-07-26
REV. E. P. ROE.

Rev. Edward Payson Roe, the we'll known author, died suddenly last Friday night, of neuralgia of the heart, at his home at Oornwall-on-the-H Hudson. He was in New York on Tuesday, apparently in good health, and was expecting to go to the seaside the next day. MT. Roe was born in New Windsor, N. Y., in 1839 He graduated at Williams College, and having decided to enter the ministry he spent a year at Auburn Theological Seminary. In 1882 he became chaplain of the Second N Y. ", Harris Light Cavalry, and was in 8 number of engagements In 1864 he took part in the raid on Richmond, in which Col. Dahfgren was killed, and was after ward chaplain at Fortress Munroe. At the close of the war he became the pastor of the Presbyterian church at Highland Falls, N. r., where he remained until 1874, when he removed to Cornwall. Here he began the cultivation of small fruits, for which vocation he seemed to have a special aptitude, and his success was such as to give him wide reputation and to furnish him with ike practical knowledge of the subject which hefafterward utilized in his writings.
 In the preface to his novel "Without a Home," he tells how he came to be an author. The burning of Chicago made a powerful impression on him, and after spending several days among the ruins and studying the striking features of the catastrophe, he wrote his first novel, "Bar- riers Burned Away" a work which had a large sale and which gave him a reputation as a writer. He has since devoted himself to authorship, and the sixteen works, mostly novels, have had an aggregate sale of about 50,OO0 copies. Of Barriers Burned Away 69,0O0 copies have been sold of "Opening Chestnut Bur-" 68, GOO; "Without Home," 6O,OOO; "From Jest to Earnest" 6O,OOO; "Near to Ma ture's Heart," B, ,OOO; t'A Knight of the XIX Century" 53, 900; ''A Day of Fate, :" 50, 900; and the sales of other works from his pen range from 25, 900 to 45,0O0. MT. Roe's latest novel, Miss Lou," is in the printers hand. The figures here given justify the statement that MT. Roe's works have larger number of readers than those of any living American novelist.
 Although not remarkable for literary ex- cellence from a critical point of view, MT. Roe's works have qualities that are calcu- lated to give them strong hold upon pub lie favor. The facility of invention and of vivid description, as well as the knowledge of human nature which characterize MT. AOOO oc 0 WAAVCAS unO G4O WoLu AuA"A sympathy which pervades his pages, have made his novels welcome to large circle of readers who also appreciate the unex- ceptionable moral tone of everything that came from his pen. His methods of prep aration for his work as novelist were like Zola's- -diametrically opposite ill many re- spects, as were their results. He studied carefully all classes of society; he visited the police courts and the prisons, the great retail shops, in which he could take notice of the employers and the employed, and the homes in which he could find the char acters for his books, and aimed to give a faithful picture of the different phases of life which came under his observation. The result Sl-ae esives4 .aarniess entefia1il- ment to thousands of delighted readers, although it may not have afforded exam ples of high standard of literary produc- tion.
 MT. Roe was man of peculiarly amiable disposition, and his quick sympathies and genial manner endeared him to his fellow workers in literature as we'll as to his oth. CT friends.