Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/105

Rh a rotary engine driven by electricity, at the Rens- selaer institute in Troy, and the Franklin institute in Philadelphia. Late in the year he constructed a small circular railway driven by an electro-mag- netic engine. Patents were secured, a company formed, and the manufacture of electro-magnetic engines, as a motive power, begun. But in New York city in 1887, by the dishonesty of its agent, the company became embarrassed and was dis- banded. In the prosecution of his experiments he found that a bolt of iron could be drawn with great force into a helix of wire whenever rhe battery cur- rent was suffered to pass through the coil. He im- mediately constructed a small engine on this prin- ciple, which resembled a little steam-engine, the repeated reversal of the magnetic poles producing a movement like that of a piston-rod, instead of the rotary motion hitherto employed. Patents were secured, engines manufactured, and he began the publication of a newspaper, " The Electro- Magnet," which was printed on a press propelled by one of these engines. His experiments were so numerous and costly as to exhaust his resources, and in .1843 he returned with his family to his home in Brandon, Vt., and thence to Salisbury. In 184G he turned his attention to the application of the electric current to the strings of inusical in- struments. As applied by him, the impulsive and evanescent nature of the tone is changed at the will of the player into a full, perfect, and pro- longed vibration. The caveats protecting this in- vention were prepared for filing in the U. S. patent- office, when he was stricken by a fatal illness.

DAVENPORT, William, philanthropist, b. in Culpepper county, Va., 12 Oct., 1770; d. in Walnut Fountain, Caldwell co., N. C, 19 Aug., 1859. About the close of the Revolutionary war he went with his father to what is now Mitchell county, N. C. He repi'esented Burke county in the legislature in 1800, and was state senator in 1802. He was also justice of the peace, county surveyor, and a colonel of militia. Col. Davenport was the chief founder of Davenport female college, at Lenoir, N. C. He married the widow of Maj. Charles Gordon, one of the heroes of King's Mountain.

DAVENPORT, William, soldier, b. in North Carolina; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 12 April, 1858. He was appointed captain in the 16th infantry, 28 Sept., 1812, and distinguished himself at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane in the war with Great Britain. He was brevetted major on 28 Sept., 1822, " for ten years' faithful service," and made major in the Gth infantry, 10 Dec, 1825, lieutenant-colonel in the 1st infantry, 4 April, 1832, and was distinguished at the battle of Bad Axe, under Gen. Atkinson, in the Black Hawk war. He was brevetted colonel " for meritorious service in Florida," 7 July, 1888, was made colonel of the 6th infantry, 14 June, 1842. transferred to the 1st infantry in July, 1843, and resigned on 81 Jan., 1850.

DAVENPORT, William, clergyman, b. in Ken- tucky in 1797; d. in Nebraska City, Neb., 24 June, 1869. He was a slave-holder in early life, but manumitted his slaves before 1834 and removed to Tazewell county, III., where he was pastor of the Christian denomination for over thirty years. In 1848, with his brother, he established a school at Walnut grove, which afterward became Eureka college. He was a Union man during the civil war, and was taken prisoner by Gen. John Morgan's men.

DAVID, Edward (d'ah-veed'), Flemish bucca- neer, lived in the latter part of the 17th century. He enrolled himself in early life in the Brother- hood of the Coast, was soon acknowledged as a leader, and sailed in 1088 with an expedition, consisting of the frigate " Tiger," of 80 guns, and two smaller vessels, with an English crew, for the Pa- cific coast of South America, by way of the strait of Magellan. The Viceroy of Peru, Duke of La Palata, received information, 12 March, 1084, that David's ships had been sighted on the coast of Chili, and in the King's islands, on the northern coast. David was joined by two parties of French filibusters, who had landed in the gulf of Darien and, crossing the isthmus to Panama, had cap- tured some vessels, with which they were devas- tating the coast of Mexico. With this re-enforce- ment, his squadron consisting now of five vessels and a fire-ship, he attacked the Peruvian coast and vessels, and laid waste a number of fertile districts of Peru and Chili. The viceroy fitted out an ex- pedition against the audacious buccaneer, and after many delays the squadron, consisting of four powerful galleons and two fire-ships, sailed, 7 May, 1685, from Callao under the command of the chief admiral of the Pacific coast, Antonio Beas, to- gether with the viceroy's brother-in-law, Tomas Paravicino, Vice-Admiral Santiago Pontejos, and a large number of the nobility of Lima. After landing the government treasure and silver remit- tances of the Lima merchants in the port of Peri- cos, to be transported overland to Porto Bello, he sailed in search of the pirates, whom he met near the King's islands. On 8 June a spirited battle was fought, and the buccaneers were almost de- feated, when the want of united action among the Spanish leaders gave the buccaneers an opportu- nity to escape. The French filibusters now sepa- rated from David, one of their ships sailing for the coast of Mexico, and the other for Chili, in- tending to return to the Atlantic coast of the con- tinent through the straits of Magellan. The Span- ish fleet was also in need of repairs, and anchored in Paita, where, by carelessness, the admiral's ship took fire, and over 400 persons perished in the flames, only a son of the vice-admiral, Pontejos, being saved. Emboldened by this disaster to the Spanish navy, David returned to continue his depredations on the Peruvian coast, and in the latter part of 1685 sacked the cities of Guayaquil, Paita, Santa, and Casma, and in March, 1686, the city of Safia. At Casma he ordered the priest to be killed, as he thought he was concealing his treasures. At Huaura he took prisoner the mayor, Bias de la Carrera, and, a large sum for his ran- som not being delivered promptly, David had the mayor's head cut off and hoisted at the yard-arm of his frigate. He afterward occupied and plun- dered Canete, Pisco, and, on 11 June, after a severe fight, the city of Paracas, taking prisoners the principal persons of the city, whom he released for a ransom of $24,000. Hearing that a new and powerful expedition was fitting out at Callao against his forces, he abandoned the coast of Peru, sailing to the northern shores, where he continued his plundering expeditions against the cities along the coasts of Mexico and Central America. In 1688 he took advantage of an amnesty granted by James II. and returned to England, where he lived in peace to old age, enjoying the riches gathered during his five years' cruise.

DAVID, Jean Baptist, R. C. bishop, b. near Nantes, France, in 1761; d. in Bardstown, Ky., in 1841. At the age of fourteen he was sent to a college conducted by Oratorian priests, after which he entered the diocesan seminary of Nantes. He was ordained deacon in 1783, joined the Sulpitians, and, on the completion of his theological studies in their college of Issy, near Paris, was raised to the priesthood in 1785. Until 1790 he discharged the duties