Obituary for Franklin Leonard Pope

Obituary

FRANKLIN L. POPE

Franklin L. Pope.

It is with the deepest regret that we announce the death, by accident, of Franklin Leonard Pope, at his home in Great Barrington, Mass., on Oct. 13th. Mr. Pope met his death by coming in contact with a circuit carrying a potential of 2,000 volts, which fed a pair of converters placed in the cellar of his residence. While the exact manner of conjecture, a thorough investigation of all the circumstances surrounding this most unfortunate occurrence made by Mr. Edward Weton, Mr. William Stanley, and Mr. George A. Hamilton, point to the fact that Mr. Pope met his death through no carelessness of his own. Pending the publication of the detailed report, which is now being drawn up by these gentlemen, we may say that the only marks left by the current on the body of the deceased are on the back of the hand and finger, thus indicating conclusively that the contact was not obtained by grasping any part of the circuit.

The events that led up to the accident were as follows: It seems that a member of Mr. Pope's family in turning on one of the lamps received a shock from the fixture, and upon informing Mr. Pope, the latter, with lamp in hand, descended to the cellar to investigate the trouble which he rightfully laid to a defect in the converter. The wires leading into the cellar passed through a swinging sash, and with a strong wind blowing at the time, it is conjectured that Mr. Pope raised his hand to shield the lamp, and in doing so touched one of the converter cases. As investigation subsequently showed, the primary and secondary of one of the converters were crossed and the line and converter box grounded. The result was that Mr. Pope received a fatal shock.

The funeral which took place on Oct. 16th, was largely attended, many having traveled from long distances to pay their last respects to the memory of the deceased. Mr. Pope leaves a widow, two daughters and a son to mourn their loss.

The eldest of a number of brothers, all of whom have devoted their attention to electrical work, Franklin Leonard Pope was born on December 2d, 1840, at Great Barrington, Mass. His early education was secured at the District School and the Academy of his native town, which was supplemented later by a term at the Academy at Amherst, Mass. From his earliest childhood he displayed great fondness for drawing, scientific and mechanical pursuits, and indeed the first money earned by him was that obtained for a drawing of an engine on the Housatonic Railroad, for which young Pope received the munificent sum of twenty-five cents from the engineer.

The first electrical work undertaken by Mr. Pope followed his appointment as operator at Great Barrington, on the American Telegraph line between that point and Pittsfield, which was opened in 1857, and which position he held for two years, when he was appointed circuit manager of the Boston and Albany Railway wires at Springfield. Finding the field of his operations too limited for his ambition, Mr. Pope determined to seek his fortune in New York, where he readily secured a position as draughtsman in the Patent Bureau of the Scientific American, in which position he also had an opportunity of acquiring much useful knowledge of patent law, which stood him in such good stead later on in life. The great demand for telegraph operators created by the war of the Rebellion led Mr. Pope to reenter the telegraph service in 1861. He was stationed at Providence, R. I., where he attracted the attention of Gen'l Marshall Lefferts of the American Telegraph Co., who later on commissioned him to make a complete, detailed report on the Company's lines covering thousands of miles from Maine to Virginia, a work which occupied Mr. Pope's attention for nearly two years; and the result of which led to the standardizing of the Company's apparatus. At that period the Atlantic cable had not yet been successfully operated, and in order to obtain communication with Europe a line was projected by the Russo-American Telegraph Company to make connection between the Eastern and Western Hemisphere via Behring Strait, passing up through the coast from California to Alaska, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles. Mr. Pope was the chief of one of the exploring and locating parties, the story of whose work and hardships would alone fill an interesting volume. Mr. George Kennan, the Siberian traveler, was one of his associates.

The completion of the Atlantic cable in 1866 naturally caused the abandonment of this enterprise and Mr. Pope returned to his home. Upon his return Mr. Pope devoted himself to journalistic work for a short while as editor of the Telegrapher, but soon abandoned it to take up the construction of printing telegraph and private line instruments, his inventions finally passing into the hands of the Gold & Stock Telegraph Co., of New York.

Electric railway signaling apparatus next claimed Mr. Pope's attention, and to him some of the fundamental ideas embodied in modern railway signaling apparatus are due. Patents and patent law had always proved fascinating to Mr. Pope, and by his various previous work he had kept in close touch with the subject, so that in the law suits which arose in connection with the printing telegraph system he was able to render valuable assistance in the sustaining of the patents belonging to the Gold & Stock Telegraph Co. This led in 1875, to his being placed in charge of the patent interests of the Company, and later on of those of the Western Union Telegraph Co.

The advent of the electric light naturally attracted Mr. Pope's attention, and in order to devote himself to this growing field, he established the firm of Pope, Edgecomb & Terry, of which he was the senior member. Through his hands some of the most important electrical patent work of this country has passed. When in 1885 Mr. Westinghouse was contemplating the introduction of the alternating system he commissioned Mr. Pope to investigate and report upon the same, and it is largely through a favorable report given by Mr. Pope of this system that Mr. Westinghouse took up the exploitation of the alternating system which has obtained such enormous dimensions in the United States.

It was before this time that Mr. Pope, recognizing the growing importance of electrical work, foresaw the opportunities opened to a journal devoted to the electrical sciences and industry, and to gratify also an inborn taste for journalism and literary work, Mr. Pope aided in the publication of the Electrician, issued in 1882, the title of which a few years afterwards was changed to that of The Electrical Engineer. Mr. Pope acted as editor-in-chief of this journal until its taking over by the present management in 1890. Though he did not have active part of late in its editorial work, its pages have frequently contained articles from his pen. Mr. Pope was the author of a number of works, perhaps the best known of which is his "Modern Practice of the Electric Telegraph," which was published in the early seventies, has passed through many editions with recent revisions made by the author, and still remains a standard work on the subject. Mr. Pope also contributed to the Century and other magazines, and of late with great impartiality had edited the department reviewing current electrical events in the Engineering Magazine.

During his career, Mr. Pope held many positions of honor and trust, among them being the presidency of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, to which he was elected its second president in 1886, in succession to Dr. Norvin Green.

The latest professional work undertaken by Mr. Pope was the reorganization of the Great Barrington Electric Light Co., a work which was most graphically and minutely described in the paper presented by Mr. Pope before the last meeting of its kind.

Those who were privileged to know Mr. Pope personally will regret the untimely ending of one of such great ability, accompanied by notable amiability of character and modesty.