New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-12-03
v. P. LETCHWORTH DEAD
He Gave Famous Park Bearing
His Name to the State.
NOTED AS PHILANTHR0PlST
Large Part Of Life Devoted TO
Work for Prisoners and In
mates of Asylums.

Buffalo. Dec. William Pryor Letch-
worth the .yiver of Letchworth PARK 10 ehe
State of New York died at his home. Gien
Iris in Letchworth Park. near portage
last evening. He was efghty-seven years
old He had been in feeble health for sew
eraJ wears hut was present at the dedics
ton of the statue to Mary Jemison winch
he erected in Letchworth Park 10 memory
OF the white woman OF the Genesee on
September 1e last.
Mr. Ietchvortf was born in Brownsville.
Jefferson County y. Y. in 1923. Both his
parents were members Of the Society OF
Friends While their son was still a child
the parents moved to Auburn \. Y. where
the father acquired some property and won
considerable reputation as public spirited
citizen. The son, after completing his edu-
cation, went into the hardware business IN
Auburn and prospered In 1s4s he went to
Buffalo and formed a partnership with
Samuel F. and Pascal P. Pratt carrying
on a wholesale importing and manufact-
uring business. He founded the big MALE
able iron works at Black Rock.
Following his fathers lead. Mr.. Letch-
worth interested himself in philanthropy
Studying the Erie County penitentiary with
the idea Of seeking a remedy from the
demoralizing results Of enforced idleness
he conceived the plan OF employing the
prisoners in making goods hitherto i'm
ported.
In 1871 he was elected president Of the
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, holding that
office for three years.
Retires Because Of III Health
Mr.. Letchworth retired from business in
1873 because of i'll health In that year he
was appointed a member OF the State
Board Of Charities, and for twenty-five
years gave his time. services and incidental
expenses to the board. most of the time
as its president, without putting IN a
bill 10 the state His Investigations led to
many radical reforms in the management
of charitable institutions OF the state and
his works on the care of the insane and
epilepticS have been regarded as standards.
In 1880 and 1881 Mr.. Letchworth travelled
extensively in Europe, studying this sub
Ject and, as result, wrote a volume
titled The Insane in Foreign Countries
1t was in 1907 that he gave Letchworth
Park TO the state 1t was turned over to
the custody OF the American Scenic and
Historic Preservation Society.
Glen Iris. as. Mr. Letchworth called it,
lies along either side Of the Genesee River,
extending norIhUard from Portage Bridge
for more than three miles It includes the
three falls, which. therefore, can never be
stripped Of their water for power purposes.
The well known Portage Bridge, the
Erie Railroad. 500 feet long and 234 feet
high, spans the gorge on the property.
Not all of the 350-foot gorge through
which the river runs in passing from the
southern TO the northern part of the west
ern end of the Empire State. and in the
course of which II changes It's name from
Upper 10 Lower Genesee River, is IN Mr..
Letchworth's possession The canyon is
about twenty miles long. 1t extends from
Portage north through an almost horizontal
series Of layers of rock. which once appar-
entity lay beneath the surface OF the ocean
and which consist Of deposits from the sea
The three falls at the northern end includ-
ed in Glen Iris show how the cutting was
done At the lower falls one can still
the table rock and a pinnacle of rock ris-
ing to the top of the canyon, indicating the
manner in which the rivers course has
been changed in recent epochs-
The first cataract, or Upper Falls is three
hundred feet north Of the great railroad
bridge Here the stream plunses over
precipice seventy-one feet high A short
half mile below, and opposite MI Letch-
worth's home. is the second cataract.
known as Middle Falls It Is 101 feet nigh,
and suggests Niagara On small scale
Ing. below Middle Falls the vertical wall OF
nc canyon is $50 feet high, twenty feet
higher than the Palisades al Fort Lee
TIE Lower Falls are one and one-haf
miles further downstream. At these falls
-ha table rock and Sugar Loaf Pinnacle are
80 The circuitous route which the
river has chosen in saving its way through
the ledge adds TO the picturesQueness OF the
scenery in Glen Iris Park
Name Duo to Rainbow.
Mr. Letchworth in his search Tor site
-or a country home, upward OF max d
century ago, visited that part OF the STATE
| Although the crcsts of the gorge hao peeh
ha-ett of their trees and there we're lumber
caI,os and debris lying all about anu =
sau-Tnill in the foreground. he saw the op-
-.-.,,,i-ies presented for making besuti-
g., ,.-l In the mist of the fall, he sa"
! ee,,en-coiored band and II Immediately
r,,gees.ed the name, Glen Iris. "nfch ap-
,.ars on the national surveys TO-DAY
Nv Tetcbwor,h added to the ATTRACTIVE
ness of the place for visitors oF CONS
| ing q Hrep-oof museum. in which ne pia0
! thousands OF Indian relics Among theni "
| = fossil mastodon head found III the H-e
borhood said TO be one OF the oesI -
| served which have ever Deen oisco'e
He also caused 10 be Transported u oU
re-erected on MS place the old lnolaii oouh
iii house which formerly STOOD IN NA"
ades and was threa tened with oeo'i w '..
| 7, ,s-a survivors of the IroQuois Confed-
.-ocz- met ON Mr.. Ietchworth's place ano
held in this old log house the last ihoiah
council In the Genesee Valley In recosn'
ZION of his devotion TO the Indians MI
Istcoworth was then adopted into the Sen
sca Nation, and the name of HA1-~a-Se-is
rah. which signifies the man VINO always
| does the right thing" was oes'o"eo Oh
/ him .,. -,.,, ,.arlv
| half a million dollars OF the PARK, iafse
| n-o,or,ion Of the earnings OF his relatively
| saw years OF mercantile life
BISHOP CLAIMING NJ WiII'Amo'
| -,.ot-,o,6 Va Dec. Bishop Claiming
- ,r-;IJ,aros died here to-day after an