ing the express business in the far west, and he continued an active officer of that company until its management was transferred to western capital- ists after the completion of the Transcontinental railroad. In 1860 the American express company was reorganized with a capital of $1,000,000, and he acted as its president until 1868. He gave $150,000 to found and endow Wells female college at Aurora, N. Y., one of the first collegiate insti- tutions to be established in this country for the higher education of women.
WELLS, Henry Horatio, lawyer, b. in Roches-
ter, N. Y., 17 Sept., 1823. He was educated at
Romeo academy, Mich., studied law in Detroit with
Theodore Romeyn, was admitted to the bar in
1846, and in 1854-'6 was a member of the legisla-
ture. He entered the army in September, 1862, as
colonel of the 26th Michigan infantry, and served
until September, 1866. In February, 1863, he was
made provost-marshal-general of the defences south
of Potomac river, which office he held until the
close of the war. In May, 1865, he received the
brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers, and, set-
tling in Virginia in 1868-'9, was military governor
of that state. He was the Republican candidate
for governor in the latter year, but was defeated
by Gilbert C. Walker. On the assassination of
President Lincoln, he took charge of the investi-
gation in Washington that resulted in the capture
of the conspirators, and afterward he was associate
counsel in the criminal proceedings against Jeffer-
son Davis for treason. In 1870-'l he was counsel,
with Henry A. Wise, in the Chohoon and Ellyson
mayoralty case, during the trial of which he was
almost fatally injured by the falling of a gallery,
crowded with people, in the capitol at Richmond.
In 1871-'2 he was U. S. attorney for the eastern
district of Virginia, and he then removed to Wash-
ington, where, in 1875-'80, he was U. S. attorney
for the District of Columbia.
WELLS, Horace, dentist, b. in Hartford. Vt,
21 Jan., 1815 ; d. in New York city, 24 Jan., 1848.
He was educated at New England academies, and
in 1834 began the study of dentistry in Boston. In
1836 he opened an office in Hartford, Conn., where
he soon gained a lucrative practice. His attention
was early turned to the desirability of preventing
pain during the extraction of teeth. After unsuc-
cessfully experimenting with various narcotics he
expressed his belief in the efficacy of nitrous oxide
in 1840 ; but it was not until 1844, when that agent
had been administered publicly in Hartford to
several persons by Dr. Gardiner Q. Colton in his
lecture on laughing-gas, that he became convinced
of the practicability of its use. On the following
day, 11 Dec, 1844, he had a tooth extracted from
his own mouth without experiencing any pain
while under the influence of the gas. and he at
once began to use it in the extraction of teeth
from other persons. Subsequently other dentists
in Hartford became convinced of its value and used
it. He went to Boston in January, 1845, for the
Eurpose of laying his discovery more prominently
efore the profession, and communicated his ex-
perience to Dr. William T. G. Morton, Dr. Charles
T. Jackson, and Dr. John C. Warren. Dr. Warren
invited him to lecture before his class at the Har-
vard medical school and to administer the gas to
a patient ; but the experiment failed, as the subject
was only partially anaesthetized, and in consequence
Mr. Wells was Kissed by the students, who pro-
nounced him a charlatan and his gas a humbug.
Dr. Morton had been his pupil in Hartford, and by
his aid established himself in Boston. Subse-
quently, when he and Dr. Jackson laid claim to
the discovery of anaesthesia and in 1846 applied for
a patent, Mr. Wells remonstrated, stating the re-
sults of his own experiments and introducing the
testimony of the medical profession in Hartford ;
but to no avail, for a patent was issued to Dr. Mor-
ton in November, 1840. Later, when Dr. Jackson
and Dr. Morton submitted their claims to the In-
stitute of France, Mr. Wells at once sailed for Eu-
rope in order to present his statement before that
body also ; but without success. He removed to
New York city in 1847, where he tried to impress
on the community the validity of his discovery.
Mr. Wells was arrested on a charge of throwing
vitriol on the clothes of women in the street, and
this so aggravated a mental disorder with which
he had been attacked that he committed suicide.
He published a pamphlet entitled " A History of
the Application of Nitrous-Oxide Gas. Ether, and
other Vapors to Surgical Operations" (1847). A
bronze statue by Truman H. Bartlett has been
erected to his memory by the citizens of Hartford
in Bushnell park. Charles T. Jackson, Crawford
W. Long, William T. G. Morton, and Horace Wells
are the claimants for the discovery of anaesthesia.
See " An Examination of the Question of Anaesthe-
sia" (Boston, 1859) and "An Inquiry into the Ori-
gin of Modern Anaesthesia " (Hartford, 1867).
WELLS, John, lawyer, b. in Cherry Valley, Ot-
sego co., N. Y., in 1770; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 7
Sept., 1823. Owing to the massacre of his entire
family by the Indians in Cherry Valley, he was in
1778 placed in charge of his aunt, who took him
to New York city,
and he was gradu-
ated at Princeton in
1788. He then stud-
ied law with Ed-
ward Griswold, was
admitted to the bar
in 1791, and in 1797
was appointed an
associate justice of
the peace by Gov.
John Jay. About
this time James
Cheetham attacked
the Federalists with
vigorin "The Amer-
ican Citizen" and
Mr. Wells replied
in the " Evening
Post." The ability
with which his task
was performed led
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to the belief that Alexander Hamilton was the author, and so well pleased was the latter with their strength that he sought the acquaintance of the younger man. Subsequently Mr. Wells had charge of bringing out the papers known as " The Federalist," although for final revision they passed through the hands of Hamilton. In 1804 Mr. Cheetham attacked the conduct and character of William S. Smith, son-in-law of President John Adams, in his journal, in consequence of which an action for libel was brought against him in the supreme court. Mr. Cheetham secured the services of Mr. Wells as counsel, and, although the latter failed to win the case, his conduct gained for him considerable reputation. After the war of 1812 his argument in the case of Griswold vs. Waddington, in which he took the ground that the war was a dissolution of partnership between the two brothers Waddington, one of whom was a resident of Liverpool and the other of New York, was regarded as one of his best efforts. He was a trustee of the General