The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-18
COL. ABBOTT
 DIES IN SELMA Prominent Citizen Passes
 Away. END CAME AT HOSPITAL He Contributed to Upbuilding of the
 Central City. Promoted First Electric Car System and Was Interested in Railroad
 New Yorker Who Helped Develop south.

Selma. Sept. 17.--tSpecial. )-Francis Marion Abbott. aged 62. one of the best known and most Influential and public spirited citizens Of Selma, died at an infirmary here this morning after an illness of about two weeks.
 Colonel Abbott was taken Ill on the morning of September 3 ,and was con- fined to his rooms at the Hotel Albert until Saturday morning, when he was carried to the infirmary for treatment.
 At the time Colonel Abbott was taken i'll Mrs. Abbott was in Warren, Pa, on visit to relatives. The serious con- dition of her husband caused friends
 his bedside. Miss Mabel Abbott. his
 daughter. was also telegraphed and reached Selma Sunday afternoon. For awhile after he was moved to the inflrmary. the condition of Colonel Abbott improved. but during the last thirty-six hours he has been sinking fast and was kept alive by strong med tcines. That he had been in a critical condition for days previous to his death
 was known by his many friends who never gave up hope that he would fln- ally recover. His death is due to a complication of diseases which was re-
 gently aggravated by nervous prostra-
 tion and fever.
 Tn the death of Colonel Abbott Selma pTOUdDly IOSSS uCE IilO5I puUtAC pPAA ASCa and wide awake citizen. Becoming a resident of the city about ten years ago his investments stimulated citi-
 gems to action and Selma today owes
 her present growth and importance, perhaps, to the progressive spirit which Colonel Abbott, by his acts and deeds,
 imbued into the residents.
 Colonel Abbott was born In Chau. tauQua, N. Y. about 1S46. He was left an orphan when quite young and the most of his earlier life was spent at Warren, Pa, where he married Miss Ger trude Henry of that city. who with daughter survives him.
 When A young man and directly after the war, Colonel Abbott came South and settled in Clay County. Miss, where
 he engaged inJ farming and where at
 his death he owned one of the most
 valuable plantations in the State. Dur
 ing his residence in Mississippi he rep@
 resented his county in the Senate and
 was instrumental in causing the State
 of Mississippi to give State aid to rail- roads which caused the present growth and development of that State.
 The ambition of the life of MT. Ab- holt was reached in Selma soon after he became a resident of this city. His greatest desire was to own a railroad and just before the panic of 1S73 he aecIired A charter from the State of Mississippi and formed company to build what was known as the Memphis and Atlantic Railroad. which road was to have been built from Memphis to west Point and Abbott Station, Miss. and then to Montgomery and to Bruns-
 wick on the Atlantic coast.
 A mile of this road was graded and
 built near Abbott Station, when the panic came on and the project could not be financed. Even after the panic Colonel Abbott could not finance the building of the road.
 Today the line of the Mobile & Ohio passes through Mississippi and enters Montgomery over practically the same route which Colonel Abbott would have built but for the panic.
 It was about the year 1900 that l Colonel Abbott first came to Selma and soon afterwards purchased from Dr. A. W. Jones and associat.s of the city the old Birmingham, Selma & New Or leans Railroad. whicss extended about twenty miles west of Selma to Martin Station.
 The work of extending this road be- gan immediately and later Colonel Ab-