Putnam patriot., 1917-04-06
PUTNAM. CONN., FRIDAY, APRIL 1917
P. G. WRIGHT SS
Has Lived in Woodstock and Putnam
 50 Years
Enjoys Relating Stores of Old Days

Phineas Gardner Wright, known to | every man, woman and child in Put | nam and its contiguous towns as "Guard" Wright, passed his SSth
 birthday at his home in Putnam Tues day. There was no observance of the event in ti.e little one and a half story
 house on School street where the old settler makes bis home. Mr Wright is one of the three oldest residents of the town and and says that Ashsei
 Battey and Dr. William H. Sharpe are the only other citizens now living that were in Pomfret Factory, now Put nam, when he came here.
 It was twelve years ago that the name of Phineas Gardner N right WIS
 heralded from NJ sine to California. At that time he caused to be erected upon
 his lot in the Grove Street cemetery,
 Putnam, large monument. There
 was nothing out of the ordinary in this but when the monument was un- covered it was found to contain bust
 of Mir. Wright himself, chin whiskers and all, and the fol owing epitaph: "Going But Know Not Where.'
 Within a few days after the erection of this unusual monument with it's un-
 usual snd unique inscription news
 paper men from all parts of the coun- try, camera tiends and curious people by hundreds came to Putnam to look
 at the monument and the man for
 whom and by whom it was erected. l The Wright home was besieged by in.
 reviewers, by GU rious people and
 there was heavy influx of mail mat ter by people wanting autographs. i The quiet of the ce metery was broken
 by the tramp of many feet as one after
 another filed in and out to see If the
 monument was really there.
 But the monument WAS disappoint- 1 ing to Mir Wright. The Worcester scul ptor who carved the bust had part. l ed the whiskers. MT. Wright said this made him look like a D. D. Id dude) and it was not at all satisfactory So the work had to be done over again
 with the part left out of the chin or nament and the change gave the feat ures more lifelike appearance. It wAs rumored at the time that MT. Wright had planted several bottles of 1 spirits that might be used by the grave digger as he became fatigued
 with his task but this MT. Wright has since branded as untrue.
 And so with the erection of the mon- 1 ument came notoriety that has made
 MT. Wright the most widely known
 man in Putnam. He said Monday that even now there are more people
 visiting his monument each year than call upon the president of the United 1 States.
 MT. Wright was born in Fitzwilliam, N. H April 8, 1929. He was but two years old when his father removed to l the neighboTing town of Woodstock. 1 MT. Wright often visited Pomfret Factory before 1t took the present name of the illustrious general who
 left his blow in the field and entered l the Continental army and fought at l Bunker Hill; who entered the historic
 wolf den at Pomfret and shot the wolf 1 that was killing the farmers lambs
 Gen. Israel Putnam. There was no
 railroad in those, his boyhood days. l He says he well remembers the first
 train, 1S49, run over the road now run
 ming between New London and Wor. cester and he himself had charge of a
 gang of men when the old New En- gland road between Putnam and Will
 limantic was put through, 1863. It is
 his delight at the present day to recall
 these old days and to tell the younger
 generation about them.
 MT. Wright was a labor contractor l furnishing men for the building of l mills and business blocks. He amassed
 6 small fortune and is reputed to be
 one of Putnam's wealthiest citizens. l He drives about with little old horse
 and spends part Of nearly every day in 1 the Putnam Inn relating stories of the old days. He does not like automobiles
 and modern styles do not appeal to 1 him-in fact in the summer time he is
 seen riding out with his feet as bare as
 the day he was born with his shoes
 tucked away under the wagon seat. | Although he has lived in this sec. ton since 1881 it was not until 1855 ] that he came to Putnam to make his home. The town had then been in-
 corporated five years. His knowledge
 of the place before that was gained by frequent trips from Woodstock three miles away. Mir. Wright is in good
 health for one of his years but says he has "aches and pains.