The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-08-04
DIED SUDDENLY
Uncle of II. A. Parmelee
Falls Dead at His Home.
Was One of the Oldest Engineers
in United States-Noted
for Generous Acts.

lister Drug Company, received word by
the last Moana of the death of his I'M
Gle, Leander Wright, at his home in
Rochester, New York. Mr.. Wright was
one of the best-known locomotive en-
gineers in the United States.
"Leander Wright, one of the Oldest
engineers of the Central-Hudson Rail-
road, died suddenly in the front yard
of his residence, No. Is Joiner street,
yesterday, says the Rochester Demo
crat and Chronicle. Mr.. Wright and
his wife were sitting on the lawn in
front of the house at about 4 O'Clock
yesterday afternoon, endeaVoring to
make themselves as comfortable as
possible. On account of Mr.. Wright's
great weight, more than three hum
dred pounds, he had felt the heat for
several days past to a great extent
Mrs. Wright noticed her husband give
start and grow pale, and she has
tened to his side and threw her arms
about him, asking him if he felt i'll.
He evidently tried to answer, but died
| in her arms without speaking. The
startled woman called to some neigh
bors, who were in their front yards,
and everything possible was done for
the stricken man to save his life, but
| without avail. In the meantime the
| family physician had been sent for,
but he came too late to be of any avail
in prolonging the life of the veteran
| engineer.
- VI
| reached the Centra1-HudSOn station
there were words of sorrow on the lips
| of all the railroad men, and all had
only expressions of the kindest for the
deceased and his grief-stricken rela-
tives.
'"The immediate cause of death was
apoplexy, although Mr.. Wright had
taken a lay-off for the past two weeks
| in the hopes of recovering his usual
| health. He had been suffering from
dropsy for some time.
"The immediate surviving relatives
| are widow, two sons, Charles OF But
| falo and Howard of New York city;
two daughter, Mrs. Lee Bivington or
| Chicago and Mrs. Frank Tucker OF LIE
Roy; and one brother, James, also OF
LIE Roy. The funeral will be held from
the house Monday morning and inter
ment will be at Riverside Cemetery.
| The local branch of the Brotherhood
| Railroad Engineers, Division No. Is,
| of which the deceased was member
will have charge of the burial.
"Leander Wright was born IN LIE
Roy 72 years ago last March, and his
career of railroading dates back nearly
so years. when he went to Ohio and be-
gan work there. He afterwards re-
hoe at-
tached to what is now the Central
Hudson road, remaining with the road
ever since He was one of the oldest
railroad men in this section of the
country and it is with difficulty that
one who knew him when he began rail-
reading can be found.
''Mr Wright was a man who was
universally liked; in fact, was great
favorite among all his associates, and
his friends are legion. He was whole
| souled sort of man, as one of his as
sociates expressed it and his many
| good qualities shown out very strong.
| it is related that scarcely five minutes
before he died he was waving his hand
| to some of the railroad men who were
passing the house on the elevated
tracks of the Central-Hudson. 1t was
his last salute of friendship.
For the past few years he had
made the run from Canandaigua to
| this city on a passenger train, and
worked up until about two weeks ago.
His DEATH although not entirely uneX-
| pected. came as a shock to his aSso-
ciates by its suddenness, and but little
else was discussed along the road after
the first announcement of it. He had
ALWAYS been very fortunate in not hav
! ing any accidents of any Importance
and never had any trouble that called
for a censure from the officials of the
road with which he had been connected
for nearly half century.
Wright had run passenger trains
for something over 40 years, and when
| this is taken into consideration and
also the fact that he worked up until
about two weeks ago, dying at the ad-
vanced age of 70 years, it shows his
record to have indeed been a noble
one. There are but few that will equal
this one. Since his promotion many
wears ago he had been one Of the most
trusted employees of the road, and had
been intrusted with some OF the best
runs on the road.
He began growing stout about Is
years ago, and, as stated, at the time
of his death was very large. His heart
was as large propOrtionately and many
are the stories told of his kind acts.
He will be universally missed among
the railroading men of this section of
! the Central-Hudson. He was a good
husband. a kind father and neighbor
who was respected by all.
Mr. Wright had always successfully
/ passed the engineers examinations
which Central-Hudson engineers are
required to pass, and his advanced age
did not throw him out. His eyesight
was good and his weight and size was
his only handicap. He was so large
though. that it was with some difficulty
| that he was able to get in and out OF
his cab, and sometime ago, when he
met with a slight accident at East