Omaha daily bee., 1897-03-28

Has Entertained Youthful Readers
for Moro Thnn Gencrntion.

Has Entertained Youthful Readers
for More Than "a Generation.
BOSTON, March 27.-William T. Adams,
the well known writer, who, under the pen
name of "Oliver Optic" has entertained boy
readers for more than a generation, died at
his home in this city today. He was rs
years of age. He had been i'll for some time
with fatty degeneration of the heart.
He recer tly took a trip to Jamaica. He
was veteran traveller, and time never was
when he was afraid of the water On his
return he fell sick and has been in bed ever
Since. His heart was weak, and so serious
was his condition that his daughter, Mrs
Sol Smith Russell, wife Of the actor, was
sent for and remained at her fathers bed
side. II
Great, grown men with big whiskers know
and love Oliver Optic through his books, for
Mr.. Adams has been writing stories for boys
for more than a generation. His success at
that style Of literature has been simply mar
vellous. He has sold more than 1000 0C0
copies of his books and the gale for these
stories is in nowise abating. He and Cap
tain Mayne Reid divide the loves of small
boys who have not yet outgrGwn their de-
sires for caves, outdoor life, rafting on riv
ers, fishing and hunting. But to give the
venerable author of the boating series credit
he never portrayed pirate as the prince
of noble fellows. Indeed, IT Is doubtful if he
ever wrote at all about pirates, as he might
have written, for re was familiar with the
sea and ships and sailing. Mr! Adams WAS
a very good Christian and ever paid attention
to moral matters, and the marvel Of it is
that his works have captured the fancy of
boys. His heroes are always good, never
tell lies, go to Sunday school whenever they
can, and never take advantage of other boys
not as strong as they. Perhaps it was the
absolute novelty of a good boy in boys
Down the, River"
Mr.. Adams was never pretentious. He
never aspired to literary excellence and he
never achieved it by accident. He ground
out story after story out of a mill He
was perhaps the only automatic story writer
that ever was heard of. His custom has
been to write four stories at once. They
were usually printed in small octavos, with
large type and generous space between the
lines The style Of Optics writing was In no
sense elegant but it was such as never to
trouble the boy who read 1t with reference
to the meaning. Mr.. Adams once said that
he did not care to rank with literary people.
II have task to PERFORM, he would say,
land | perform it, And he did. 1t Is true
that the effort required to turn out these
books was not a great one, but the work is
there, anyway, and gauged by the standard
of manual labor it is worthy. or recent
years NJ. Adams suffered with writer's cramp
and used a typewriter.
His ancestors were English and the first rep
resentative of the family to come to America
was Henry Adams, who settled at Quincy,
Mass. in 1880. Young Adams attended the
public schools OF Boston in his childhood
and in 1898 the family settled in Roxbury,
then suburb of Boston. 1t was there that
he made his first efforts at writing. His
first piece was eight pages long, his second
twenty-five and his thiry eighty pages. His
sosa s 'rnHd article e sis M M hdams @ wns ns
chosen principal of what is now the Harvard
school, and he was associated with the public
schools of Boston as a teacher for upward or
a score Of years. He had saved much of his
salary and determined to make a trip to
Europe. Resigning from his position as
podagogue he visited Europe, spending some
time in almost all the principal countries of
the continent.
"Oliver Optics" first book for boys ap-
peared In 1850 His pen name was suggested
by play produced about that time in Boston,
in which was a DR.. Optic. The name took
his fancy and when be cast about for a
nom de plume he simply added the Oliver
to the name already in his mind and he had
1t. A friend of his had embarked in the
publishing business and asked Mr. Adams to
write boys story for the publication. The
teacher and editor-for he was also an editor
-demurred, but his friend insisted. and he
tried his hand at 1t. When the story was
half finished the manuscript was submitted
to good judges, who PRONOUNCED 1t excellent,
and Mr.. Adams name was made. Since that
time he has written scores OF stories for
boys. Girls were never interested in his
books. go
His great popularity with boys has been
attributed to the fact OF his thorough under
standing OF the boy charaGter-his likes and
dlsiikes, his enjoyments, ibopes, fears and
ambitions q ~
NEW YORK, March 27e-General William
Cutting, member of the well known Cut
ting family, died in this city last night He
was member OF the Union and the founder
OF the Knckerbocker club General Cut
ting's name was most prominently before the
public about twenty years ago, when he was
involved In long litigation over his man
agement as one Of the executors of his |
fathers estate and that OF his brother, |
Hayward. The father OF General Cutting |
was Francis b. Cutting. in his time one of |
the most eminent lawyers OF this city. |
Francis b. Cutting died in June, 1870, leav- |
ing an estate of more than $4000O0O.
SIOUX CITY, March 27.-(special Tele- |
Desparios one OF the wealthiest |
men in this city, died suddenly today. He |
was stricken with apoplexy while sitting in |
his Office in the Metropolitan block which he |
built and owned, and died ten minutes after |
ne was discovered. Mr.. Desparios was born |
In Montreal and came to Sioux City in 1867 |
and engaged in bridge building. He built |
the bridges on the Sioux City a. Pacific rail |
road and other lines built into Sioux City, !
He built the Metropolitan block the first
arge office building In the city, and owned |
4 large amount OF property. He was presi-
lent OF the Sioux City. Chicago e. Baltimore
railroad, which had long been pet scheme
With him, and he still had hopes OF being |
ible to make some connection with the Bal
.imOre & Ohio railroad for this part Of the |
country. He was also one OF the leading |
men in the Citizens and Taxpayers league. |
He leaves wife and four children.