The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-06-01
4 REuINYSCEYCE

OF the Late @. s. Bushnell and the Victory
of the Monitor over the Merrimae-A
Former Fair Havener Also Recalled.
Another of those identified with the
building of the Monitor, which sank
the Merrimac, has passed away in the
death of Robert Groat Eunson, ninety
years old, who died in New York Sat
urday. He was well known to the late
c. S. Bushnell of this city, who was so
prominently and splendidly Identified
with the history of the Monitor, Our
Fair Haven townsman, DR.. H. ]. Stew
ems, the dentist, we'll recalls an incident
of the late c. S. Bushnell in the Monitor
days Mr., Bushnell was in DIR. Stevens
office few days before that great test
of the Monitor occurred, and said to
DR.. Stevens, well, the Monitor is built
and the crucial test upon which will
depend her acceptance is at hand. We
shall know in few days whether we
sink or swim, but j have every conf
dence that the Monitor will be sue
cess. -" But" said Dr. Stevens in speak
| ing of the matter day or two ago, the
supreme test came Unexpectedly. The
| government was confronted by the ugly
| fact that the Merrimac was about to
| start out on q mission of destruction
| which threatened immense damage to
| commerce along our coast and even to
the port of New York, and there was
no time to be lost and the order went
out to put the Monitor into service at
\ W. oil hnv rAcIlltn6
IT," continued Dr. Stevens, 'the Merri
mac had not had the Monitor to oppose
her, which Mr.. Bushnell had risked so
much to build and equip, the destruc-
ton she might have wrought and the
damage to the Union cause by the eff
feet on foreign powers cannot be esti-
mated. The country owes a great debt
of gratitude to Mr.. Bushnell as an i'm
portant factor in preventing all this"
| The writer of this well remembers an
incident concerning Mr.. Bushnell in
| this connection. He was one of the
first, If not the first, to give the con-
4 f1rmation of the news to Mr.. Bushnell
| of the victory of the Monitor over the
Merrimac The writer was sitting at
his desk in his Office as he impaired the
news. Mr. Bushnell's giant form had
| but moment before doomed in the
| doorway. Mr. Bushnell, eXultant and
| beaming, brought his ponderous fist
down upon the table with such a smash
that pens and inkstand flew up in the
| air about a foot, owing to the concus-
sion and he exclaimed: II knew it;
/ felt it in my bones. Glory" And every
| body shouted in joy with the big-heart-
| i L. a.. ;,,,x>o
satisfaction.
The late Robert Groat Eunson. spok-
en- of above. was constructing engin-
eer whose life work appears in the inn
provement made in marine engines. He
was native of the Orkney Islands,
and came to this country sixty-five
years ago. Since that time he had re-
sided almost continuously in New
York
/ When Ericsson conceived the monitor
Eunson made the model for it. 1t is
| about three feet in length, and is to be
seen at the home of the younger son of
| the deceased, Eugene S. Eunson, 1928
| West Twelfth street Mr.. Eunson was
also consulting engineer in the con-
struction of the monitor, and, with
1 Almon Sinners, the engineer of the
new vessel, arranged the machinery in
| it.
/ improvements and inventions that
are the work of Mr. Eunson are to be
4 found aboard every ship that uses a
marine engine-improved surface con
| densers, cut-offs, couplings, and gov
erning valves are among them.
Mr.. Eunson was, like the late G. S.
Bushnell, a large man with a powerful
physique. A photograph of him at the
age of eighty-five years shows a
bright-eyed, erect, stalwart man, with
bushy hair and beard His last inven-
ton, which has not yet come into gen.
eral use, was patented seven years ago.
An elder brother of the deceased,
John Eunson, was the engineer who in
troduced gas in London, England.
The deceased leaves wife, Hannah,
eighty-five years old, and two sons,
Robert g. and Eugene s., and several
grandchildren There will be private
funeral service at 2S West Sixty-fourth
street this morning, the Rev. DR.. Henry
/ C. Dunnell, chaplain of the Twenty sec
ond regiment officiating. Burial will
be in the family plot in Greenwood
cemetery.
At one time Robert Groat Eunson was
a member of many societies, but the
only one to which he belonged at the
time of his death was the Naval Insti-
tute of Annapolis.
Speaking of DIX Stevens recalls the
fact that his brother, Benjamin II. Ste
vens, D. d. s., who died recently in Es-
sex, aged eighty-four years and six
months was forty years ago a practice
ing dentist in Fair Haven He is still
remembered by many of the oldest res
idents of Fair Haven. Three Of the
Stevens brothers became dentists Ben
jamin H, another who lived in New
| York, now deceased, and our towns
man, DIR. H Stevens. The late B. H.
Stevens of Essex had been in failing
health for the past two years with
paresis. The immediate cause of his
death was a severe fall few weeks
ago. DR.. Stevens practiced dentistry
for some fifty years in Essex, retiring
from the business some ten years ago.
He was also engaged for many years in
cranberry culture and owned an eX-
| tensive farm in the western section OF
Essex. He was a prominent member
of the Baptist church there for many
| wears. FIe leaves a. wife, one son and
two daughters-Captain Edgar Stew
ems. Mrs. Fannie Hayden and Miss
Mary Stevens, also brother, Henry j.
Stevens, D. D. S., of New Haven. The
L.