New-York tribune., 1910-07-12
HENRY DEXTER DIES At q
Founder and Head of American
News Company Ends Busy Life.
ACTIVE IN MANY FIELDS
His Closing Years Were En-
bittered by Sons Myste-
Tious Murder.

Henry Dexter. head or the American
! News Company, died at his home. No. Z
West 56th street, last night. in his ninety
eighth year. after brief fitness. One
/ daughter who is in q private sanatorium,
I survives him.
Threescore years and ten, one Is con-
stantly reminded. are the allotted portion
! Of mortal life. Yet Henry Dexter, founder
/ of the American News Company, had En-
! ic-yed mans estate and an active and pros
porous business career for more years than
! that There was a sensation in court one
day a year ago. when this hearty looking
gentleman, apparently in the sixties. was
asked how many years he had been in
business
ooh, about seventy-three," was the mat
ter OF fact reply
And his ,ninety-seventh birthday.
March Il. found him active as ever and at
/ tending business regularly still scorning the
use of eyeglasses and personally attending
to the many practical charities and insti-
tutions partly supported by his generous
gifts. which IN recent years had totalled
| over $1,000. 600.
! 4 really see nothing wonderful or even
remarkable" he said on that birthday oc-
casion, lin the fact that / have lived twenty
years longer than most other men in my
! generation.
L think it is due to plain, temperate nv
| ing more than anything else. 1 am enjoy
! ing fairly good health for an old fellow,
/ but I begin to feel I am getting old. Still,
1 know of others who are older than I.
The mistake most people make these
| days Is in living too rapidly. The rich men
are not satisfied with their riches but al
! ways want to get more. l know of one
! IN,
Wall Street and lost them both. He is
poor man TO-DAY. I know another man who
made $50, 600, 600 tried TO swell it TO $50
! 100000. and quit 100000 in debt.
Sometimes The newspapers speak of me
as Millionaire Henry Dexter I am not a
millionaire and never expect TO be. I quiz
/ Wall Street years ago, when I considered
that I had made enough to live on com
fortably. Since then l have travelled in
/ every civilized country in the world and
some that were not civilized. and 1 have
from time 10 Tine lived in london, Paris
and nearly all the capitals of the Old
World, including Jerusalem, Constantinopie,
and Cairo. If I had tied myself down 10
Wall Street 10 make more money should
have missed all this
Yet the last years of this remarkable
mans life were harassed by a great grief
caused by the brutal and mysterious nlur
der of his son. Orlando Perry Dexter. The
younger man had an estate of about ten
thousand acres in the heart of the Adiron-
! Gacks. On September 19 1868, he started
10 drive from his home. on Dexter Lake,
to the postofhce at Santa Clara Within
few hundred feet of his stable he was shot
by some person concealed in the woods.
Although the crime was committed in broad
I n fc-l7t ir7Ia tad Tiro- h2
10 this day remained mystery.
Since that time the punishment of his
sons slayer had been the chief purpose in
the life Of the aged father. An investiga-
ton was made by the local authorities,
/ aided by the Pinkertons, but nothing
tangible was learned. The Franklin Coun-
ty grand jury. after examining a score of
witnesses, dropped the case. Mr.. Dexter
offered q reward OF $1,000 fer the capture
OF the murderer. and by q codicil 10 his
viIl continued the offer after his death.
Many stories were told to account for the
I crime. One said il was committed by q
rich neighbor in a quarrel over a girl.
A year ago Mr.. Dexter sued John P
Badger, a Malone lawyer to recover stock
he said he gave the lawyer on the latter's
representation that he could track the
murderer. The father said conclusive evi-
/
pressed
In 1904 Mr.. Dexter gave S550, ,005 toward
the building Of d new home for the New
York Historical Society, with the intention
that the building should be a memorial to
his dead son. This led to friction between
the giver and the trustees Of the society
The money was accepted and the building
constructed but the trustees refused to
call it a memorial building, as Mr. Dexter.
they maintained had not contributed the
entire cost of the building. On the very
day that the building was opened a
memorial volume issued by MI Dexter was
suppressed by the society's trustees.
Mr.. Dexter's early life was spent in his
native town Of West Cambridge. Mass.
Y here he was educated In the public
schools. Until 1885 he worked in Cambridge
and Boston publishing houses. Then he
. took up the hardware business for half 2
dozen years. But the handling of publica-
tions proved the permanent lure. and he
returned to IT to stay in 1872 He organized
the American News Company IN 1854. and
remained with It actively till his death.
He never was interested in politics, de-
spite his great pubic spirit. as he consid-
cred that form Of activity too fraught with
corruption
They wanted me 10 be an alderman
once. about seventy years ago. but l would
not agree TO it, he said on his last birth
DAY.
In 1853 he married Lucretia Marquand
Perry, of Easton Conn.
Nj Dexter was a life member and di-
rector Of the American Bible Society ana
Of the American Tract Society; a life mem
Der and one Of the founders of the Metro
pcntan Museum of Art; life fellow Of the
czeographicaI Society; life member and pa
tron of the New York Historical Society,
the Christian Home for Inebriates and Sea
mans Mission Of the Protestant Episcopal
church: life member OF the New York So
c5e+z for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chill
6ren ST IIuke's Hospital the Midnight
Mission. the Young Mems Christian Asso-
e;a+iau. the Chiidren's Aid Society, the
Horne for Incurables, the Charity OTgani-
va+io77 Society. the New York Association
Ca, Tr,nroving the Condition of the Poor
and 4be Home for aged Married Couples,
.n5 a member of tle American Museum of
Natural History.
JOHN e BORNE.