Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-02-12


Norton McGiffin, who commanded the
Chinese ironclad Chen Yuen in the bat
tie OF the Yalu river in September
1894, during the China-Japanese war;
committed suicide early to-day in the
POSTGRADUATE Hospital, to which he
was recently admitted for treatment
He shot himself over the right ear. a
nurse hearing the pistod shot entered
Captain McGifin's room and found him
sitting up in bed with his back propped
I'M by pillows. Blood was streaming
from an ugly wound in the right side OF
his head. On a little table direct
" at the head of the bed was one re-
volver and on the floor near the pea
was another. One chamber had been
DISCHARGED from the pistol on the table.
On the same table with the revolver
was found a note written in lead pencil.
The paper appeared to have been torn
from a note book. In substance the
note said that the captain left his re-
spects to the people and to MS friends
and regretted the act which he was
about to commit.
The captain was taken to the hos
pital about the middle of last month
by his friend ard physician, DR.. I. b:
Robinson. Since being in the hospital
he has been attended by Dr. Ham
mond. About the middle OF January
the captain became insane, and ii was
found necessary to have him confined
-, IL 10 n
room on the second floor of the build
ing with a window in it opening on to
Second avenue. He had had some
trouble for months before it developed
into insanity, and on his being re-
moved to the hospital he was so yio-
lent that it was found necessary to
place him in q strait jacket. At that
time and since then, DR.. Hammond at
tributed his condition to wounds he
received in the battle of Yalu river.
The brother Of the dead man has been
notified at Washington, Pa, aid Will
take charge of the remains.
Philo n. McGiffin was born in Wash
ington. Pa. in 1852 He was q son Of
Capt. Norton McGifin, who served in
the Mexican war with distinction, and
who was colonel OF the Eighty eighth
Pennsylvania Volunteers during the
war Of the rebellion. Philo McGifIln
graduated from the Naval Academy at
Annapolis with honors in 1882.
The personal bravery Of Capt. Nc
Giflin won him admiration long before
the battle of the Yalu river. He was
thrown by an accident of travel into
the midst of the great railroad strike in
Pittsburgh in 1877, and rendered his
services TO the city. They were ac-
Cepted, and during the strike he dis
tinguiahed himself by personal BRAY
cry, running an engine single handed
through mob Of strikers to rescue
some soldiers imprisoned in the round
house. He was awarded a gold medal
and vote of thanks by the city coun-
Gil
While he was a cadet in the Naval
Academy McGifHn received the thanks
of the secretary Of the navy for res
cuing two children from a burning
building. Some two years later Nc
Giffin was complimented in a general
order from the secretary Of the navy
for an act of personal bravery in going
aloft to secure a spar on the Constitu-
tion during a hurricane when the sail
ors W ould not venture into the rigging.
After graduating near the head of his
class. McGiffin was honorably dis
charged in 1884. owing to a reduction
in the number Of midshipmen.
He entered the service of China dur
ing the Franco-Chinese war and was
Il ;r,4f- tel, 10 nj
to England to superintend the con-
struction of ironclads, and at the out
break of hostilities with Japan was
put in command of the Chinese squad
ION. His part in the battle of me Yalu
is well known, and although it was a
defeat for the Chinese fleet, it accom-
plished its desired end in preventing
the landing Of a japanese force in the
rear of the Chinese army.
A special dispatch from Washington,
Pa. says: Philo Norton McGifiin was
born in the Sheriff's building here
while his father. Col Norton. file,
that Office. and was ihirty-six years old.
He was appointed to the Annapolis
naval academy in 1877, and was grad
uated four years later. After short
naval career here he resigned and went
to China about 1885. and secured an
important position under the govern
ment. for which he organized the I'M
perial naval academy, and was at its
head when the Chino-Japanese war
broke out His experiences as COM
mander of the Chen Yuen in the Yalu
river engagement September Il, 1894,
are well known. From those wounds
he never recovered, and only his adj
mirable nerve kept him up these many
months.
After a month or two at home. in
the fall of 1895, he went to Hartford
and managed bicycle factory for
some months His condition finally
compelling him, he went to New York
for treatment. and some six weeks ago
went to the hospital. The last word
received here, about ten days ago. re-
ported him better, so that the news
of his death was great shock to his
aged parents and brothers and sister.
who live here AS a boy he was a
! military enthusiast, and Joined COM
pany H.. n. G. p. that he might go
to Pittsburgh during the riots of II.
AS a civil engineer. he rendered the
Chinese valuable services in the way
of maps.
The remains have been forwarded to
Washington, and will probably arrive
Friday. He is survived by his parents.
| one sister, Mrs Salle Henshaw. of
Washington and three brothers, JOS
eph @. McGiffin, Esq, Washington:
Thomas McGiffin. in the West. and
Rev. Nathaniel McGiffin, at Auburn