Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/48

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PINKHAM
PINKNEY

established offices of both agencies in several other cities, and was signally Micec-sful in the discovery and suppiv.-sion of crime. Vhilt 1 ill the employ- ment of the Wilmington and Baltimore railroad company in 1861, he discovered a plan to assassi- nate Abraham Lincoln on his way to his inaugura- tion in Washington. Among the cases in which he successfully traced thieves and recovered money are the robbery of the Carbondale, Pa., bank of $40,000, and that of tin- Adams express company ("if s 700.000, on 6 Jan., 18(56, from a train on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroad, and the taking of $300,000 from an express-car on the Hudson River railroad. He also broke up fangs of thieves at Seymour, Ind., and the " Mollie laguires" in Pennsylvania. He published about lit teen detective stories, the most popular of which are' "The Molly Maguires and the Detectives" (New York, 1877); "Criminal Reminiscences" {1878) ; " The Spy of the Rebellion " (1883) ; and "Thirty Years a Detective" (1884).


PINKHAM, William Cyprian. Canadian Anglican bishop, b. in St. Johns, Newfoundland. 11 Nov., 1*44. He was graduated at St. Augu-tme'- college, Canterbury, England, in l*6!i. <>nlai]ied priest in the established church in 1869. came to Canada, became chief superintendent of the Prot- estant schools of Manitoba in 1871, which office he resigned in 1883, and was appointed archdea- con of Manitoba in 1882. In 1887 he was made bishop of Saskatchewan, and in 1888 he became bishop of Saskatchewan and Calgary.


PINKNEY, William, statesman. l>. in Annapo- lis, lid.. 17 March. 1764; d. in Washing!. m. .'.'. Feb., 1S22. His father wasan Englishman by birth and was a loyalist during the American Revolu- tion. Young Pinkney showed his independ- ent spirit as a boy by joining the patriotic side. Owing to the troubled state of the times, his early edu- cation was imperfect, but he made up for this deficiency by dili- gent application as he approached manhood. He first chose medi- cine as a profession, bm becoming acquaint- ed with Judge Samuel Chase, who offered to take him as a pupil, he began the study of law

at Baltimore in 1783,

and three years afterward was admitted to the bar. He practi-ed successfully in Harford county, lid., I'm 1 a few years, and was sent from that district in 1 7NS to the State convention that ratified the constitution of the United States. In the same year he was elected to the house of delegates, in which he continued to represent Harford county till his return to Annapolis in 1792. His speeches in the legislature by his natural eloquence and his pure and felicitous diction won for him more than a local reputation. From 1792 till 1795 he was a member of the executive council of Maryland. In 1 7!"i President Washington appoi n I id him a commissioner on the part of the United Slates, under Jay's British treaty of 1794, to determine the claim of American merchants to compensation for losses and damages by acts of the English government. This was the beginning of his diplomatic career abroad. The particular service, involving the consideration of many nice questions of admiralty law, gave employment to I'inkney's best powers. He remained in England until 1804, when he returned home and resumed the practice of the law in Baltimore. The next year he was appointed attorney-general of the state of Maryland. In 1806 he was again sent to England as commissioner, jointly with James Monroe, to treat with the English government respecting its continued aggression, in violation of the rights of neutrals. When Mr. Monroe retired in 1807, Pinkney was left as resident minister in London, in which post he remained until President Madison recalled him in 1811, at his own earnest solicitation. On his return to Maryland he was elected a member of the state senate, and at the close of the year President Madison appointed him attorney-general of the United States. He was an earnest advocate of the war of 1812, and defended the policy of the government both by his pen and sword", being wounded at the battle of Bladensburg while leading a company of riflemen. In 18i4 he resigned his post as attorney-general when the law was passed requiring that officer to reside at the seat of government. In 1815 he was elected to congress from Baltimore, but he resigned the next year on being appointed by President Monroe minister to Russia and special envoy to Naples. He remained abroad two years, but. feeling the want ot his legal income, he resigned in 1818, returned to Baltimore, and resumed the practice of his profession. He. was engaged in most of the chief cases in the supreme court of the United States during the next four years. In 1820 he was elected to the U. S. senate and took an active part in the discussion on the admission of Missouri into the Union. He continued also his labors in the supreme court, and while engaged in his double duties at the bar and in the senate he was at tacked by the illness that terminated his life. William's son, Edward Coate, author, b. in London, England, 1 Oct., 1802 ; d. in Baltimore, 11 April, 1828, passed the first nine years of his life in the British metropolis, at the end of which time he was brought by his father to the home of the family in Baltimore. Soon after his arrival, young Pinkney entered college, but before he had completed his studies he was taken away and placed in the U. S. navy. After remaining six years he resigned on account of a quarrel with Com. Ridgely, his superior officer, whom he challenged to fight a duel. The commodore treated I he challenge as the freak of a boy, and declined to notice it. This roused the anger of the young midshipman, and he posted Ridgely in the streets of Baltimore. After leaving the navy, Pinkney began the study of the law, and in 1824 was admitted a member of the Baltimore liar. But he was known to be a poet, a character which the wisdom of the world has decided to be incompatible with those serious studies necessary for eminence at the bar. In 1825 he published his exquisite poems in a thin volume of about sixty pages. They were written between his twentieth and twenty-second year. (If these "The Health "and "The Picture Song" are still popular. Kxtracts from them were circulated throughout the United States, and established his reputation. As an evidence of the estimation in which he was held, it is sufficient to mention that when it was determined to publish biographical sketches of the five greatest poets of the country, with their portraits. Kdward Pinkney was requested to sit for his miniature to be used in t he proposed volume. Tired of the law, which he found even less profitable than poetry, Pinkney in 182.5 embarked for Mexico, with the