Popular Science Monthly/Volume 47/June 1895/Obituary Notes
General John Newton, a distinguished officer, Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, and an eminent engineer, best known, perhaps, from his services in clearing the channel of Hell Gate from its dangerous rocks, died at his home in this city, May 1st, after an illness of a few weeks, from chronic rheumatism. A portrait of him and a sketch of his life up to his appointment as Commissioner of Public Works of the City of New York were given in The Popular Science Monthly for October, 1886. A detailed account, with maps and illustrations, of the improvement of the East River and Hell Gate, furnished by him, was published in the Monthly for February, 1886. His appointment as Superintendent of Public Works of this city was an ideal one, of the fittest man for that highly responsible position to be found. In it he executed some of the most important works the city has undertaken, and his administration is described as having been notably able and having resulted in great public good. Since April, 1888, he had been President of the Panama Railway Company, the Panama Steamship Company, and the Columbian Steamship Line.
Dr. George A. Rex, of Philadelphia, whose sudden death was recently announced, was an earnest student of the lower orders of fungi, an authority of the highest repute on myxomycetes, an ardent microscopist, and a discoverer of many new species in his special province.