DOB/DOD: 1830 (Armagh, Ireland) – October 22, 1885 (Paterson, NJ); 55 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Maria (1842-1919)
CHILDREN: Three sons, John K. (1863-?), Robert R. (1873-?), and Joseph (1880-?). Three daughters, Mary (1865-?), Ellen (1867-?), and Emma J. (1875-?).
ENLISTMENT: April 13, 1861 in Woodstock, Connecticut.
DISCHARGE: May 22, 1863, in Albany, New York.
FAMILY: Parent and sibling information are unknown.
MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING: Civil War
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army
UNIT: Company G, 14th U.S. Infantry
DATE OF ISSUE: November 25, 1869 (5 years later)
AGE ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT: 34
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private Robert Wright, United States Army, for gallantry in action on 1 October 1864, while serving with Company G, 14th U.S. Infantry, in action at Chapel House Farm, Virginia.
From The Morning Call (Paterson, New Jersey) October 23, 1885
SUDDEN DEATH
Was It Opium? Robert Wright, of Beech Street, Dies in a Very Suspicious Manner
Thirty-one years ago, Robert Wright left Armagh, Ireland, and came to this country to make his fortune. At the breaking out of the war, he enlisted in the Union Army and served faithfully until the close, when he was honorably mustered out. Coming to Paterson, he, after some years, was variously employed. He started to work at the Rolling Mill and has been employed there since. His long and faithful service was rewarded by the firm with considerable respect, which has been exhibited during the last few years, by allowing him certain ‘liberties’ which are not enjoyed by the other employees. For instance, he was allowed to go out of the mill during working hours and go and come pretty much just as he felt like doing. More recently, however, he has abused these privileges by continually going out and getting whisky to such an extent that it was noticeable and caused his wife considerable alarm lest he should lose his work. It is asserted, though, that these occasions were infrequent, as he would teetotal for a year or so at a stretch and then go on a big spree, during which, while not actually absenting himself from the works, he would be continually running out for a horn, and so keeping himself in a prolonged muddle, without losing his employment. This was the easier, as his work was neither laborious nor constant but consisted chiefly in giving out the oil and being around the place somewhat in the capacity of a day watchman. On Saturday last, the employees of the works were paid off, and Wright soon after began to drink but, as usual, went to work at the beginning of the week and worked alone until Wednesday, when Mr. John Cooke, Jr., noticing that the man was sick, told him that he had better go home and lie down. At this, Mr. Wright quit work but did not arrive home until about seven o’clock that night, decidedly under the influence of liquor. The deceased, when he reached home, handed his wife a bottle containing about a gill of whisky, at the same time requesting her to send out for another gill, promising that if she would do so, that he would not go out again. As Mrs. Wright preferred that he should he should stay home, she did get another gill of whisky so that her husband drank two gills of whisky after coming home. The house occupied by the Wrights is a two-story frame with a basement and was built by Mr. Wright as a member of the Celtic Building and Loan Association. The basement, which is floored, is used as a kitchen, but the walls are unplastered and of hard stone; leading from it to the rooms above is the ladder contrivance in place of a stair, the steps being wide apart and very dangerous, so much so that any but a nimble person would be liable to make a miss-step and be dashed down against the projecting corners of the stone wall. It was into this basement that the deceased went when he came home, and it was here that he spent the evening. For many years, Wright has complained of terrible pain in his heart, and on occasions when the pain would become unbearable, he would ask his wife to place her ear against his breast and listen to the working of his heart at the same time, saying, “I am sure this will take me off, sudden, someday.” Mrs. Wright described the action of the heart by saying that ‘‘when he would draw a breath a ‘fizzing’ noise was made, and when he expelled the air, it would ‘gurgle’ as though there was a hole in the windpipe” the deceased on such occasions saying, ‘‘Oh, this is killing me.”
As previously described, Wright came home last Wednesday night and drank two gills of whisky, sitting in the basement until quite late, his wife meanwhile frequently coming in and out to keep him company. As the hours grew towards morning, she bestirred herself as to how she should get him upstairs, but eventually had to abandon the idea: as he was simply helpless, and his weight (200 lbs.) and the awkward stair prevented her from attempting such a feat. Accordingly, she fetched a roll of carpets for him to lie on and a pillow for his head, thinking that it would be far safer for him to lie there till morning than to attempt the risk of getting him up the dangerous stairway. During the evening, he complained of ‘‘the old pain,” and his wife had frequently given him hot coffee to soothe and quiet him; but, as the attacks were frequent and hitherto had resulted harmlessly, she never thought of any special danger, and hence, felt no alarm, About three o’clock in the morning, she noticed that her husband had grown worse, and calling her daughter, Minnie, told her to get upstairs and waken a Mr. Falls, a tenant occupying the top floor. When Mr. Falls saw the sick man, he went for Dr. O’Grady, who in a little time was on hand, and promptly assured the family that the man was beyond his skill, being, in fact, dead. The above is the statement of Mrs. Wright, an intelligent, middle-aged woman of perhaps forty-five or six. She indignantly denies that she gave him laudanum or anything else save the hot coffee during the evening. The lady is the mother of eight children, three by her first husband and five by Mr. Wright, the latter being small and helpless. The woman is paralyzed with grief and is certainly honest and thorough in her sorrow, though evidently dazed at the suddenness of her loss. The deceased was a member of the “Redmen” but belonged to no other benevolent organization. The house is but partially paid for so that the five little children, together with the awful suddenness of the death, makes the event one of peculiar sadness.
The statement Doctor O’Grady places the affair in altogether a different light and presents the case as one of fatal carelessness by an overdose of laudanum. The doctor says that when he arrived, he noticed that the man was frothing at the mouth, apparently dying from the effects of an overdose of poison. He did all that was to be done, but it was too late. The doctor left and notified Coroner Hopson, who proceeded to the house and began to investigate the cause. He inquired of Mrs. Wright what she had given her husband, and she replied that she had given him nothing but coffee and was totally unconscious of what had caused his death. Just before this, however, she admitted to Dr. O’Grady that she had given her husband’s dose of laudanum to quiet him. The doctor inquired how large a dose she had given him, whereupon the woman replied: ‘Oh, I don’t know, I did not measure it; I just poured it out in a cup and gave it to him.” The doctor called for the bottle and found that it still contained about an ounce of laudanum.
Mrs. Wright, in reply to further questioning, admitted that she had given her husband about as much as there was in the bottle, which was really enough to kill two men. The Coroner, after learning the above facts, considered an investigation necessary and accordingly empaneled a jury and ordered Drs. Grady and Myers to hold an autopsy, which was done at 10:30 yesterday morning. The result of their examination proved beyond a doubt that the deceased had come to his death through an overdose of laudanum but removed the contents of the stomach for analysis. The jury viewed the body during the afternoon, and the inquest will be held at the Coroner’s office on Monday night.
From The Morning Call (Paterson, New Jersey) November 7, 1885
As was expected, the coroner’s jury in the case of Robert Wright disagreed when they decided to render a verdict. The majority, as well as the minority, were fully convinced that Wright died from an overdose of opium. Five of the jurors were of the opinion that no one was responsible for his death, while three argued that Mrs. Wright was criminally responsible for the death of her husband.
From The Morning Call (Paterson, New Jersey) November 21, 1885
TOO OLD A WARRIOR
TO CLAIM THE BENEFITS OF ACQUACKANONK TRIBE OF RED MEN
New System of Indexing the County Records. Proving to be a Great Benefit to Property Owners
The sad and sudden death of the brave soldier, Robert Wright, is no doubt fresh in the memory of the readers of the Call. There were few men in Paterson who had more warm friends than Robert, and those of his comrades who served with him on the battlefield speak of him as a soldier and one who, in the thickest of the fight, was always anxious for the welfare of his companions in arms. It is now nearly a month since his remains were deposited in their last resting place, and, strange to say, there is still a dispute as to the payment of the funeral expenses. It seems that on the day following his death, some member of Acquackanonk Tribe No. 56 of the Order of Red Men of this city waited upon the wife of the deceased and advised her to give her husband a decent burial; that the society would pay the expenses. Mrs. Wright did as requested and ordered a handsome burial outfit for her beloved husband. It now turns out that Tribe No. 56 refuses to pay any part of the expenses on the grounds that the deceased had made false representations as to his age when he joined the order. Immediately after his death, the Red Men investigated not only the cause of his death but ascertained from his family his exact age and found that his age was something over fifty-five years. They then examined the books and discovered that he was only a member of the Tribe only about four years. According to the by-laws of the society, no person over forty-five years of age can become a member. Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Wright has paid up his dues regularly ever since he joined, his helpless family is now not only debarred from receiving any assistance, but they are obliged to pay the funeral expenses, which amount to over one hundred dollars. Yesterday afternoon, a reporter of the Call interviewed Mrs. Wright as to the stories which were afloat as to the proposal of the society to pay the bill to which the members partly contributed for. The almost broken-hearted widow was inclined not to speak of the matter, saying that there was enough said already in the newspapers about her and her little family’s misfortune and that any further publicity about the sad ending of her husband would but add another pang to her misery. She said, however, that the action of the Tribe was a surprise to her but that she still had hopes that the order would at least pay the funeral expenses, as he was always attentive to the meetings and took particular pride in speaking the praises of the benevolence of that organization. Among the effects found in Mr. Wright’s letter-box was the following, which speaks for itself:
War Department,
ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE
Washington, Nov 29, 1869.
Sir:
Herewith I enclose the Medal of Honor which has been awarded you by the Secretary of War, under the resolution of Congress, approved July 12, 1862, “To provide for the presentation of Medals of Honor to the enlisted men of the army and volunteer forces who have distinguished or may distinguish themselves in battle during the present rebellion.
Please acknowledge its receipt.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. D. Townsend,
Adjutant General.
Private Robert Wright, Battery B, 2nd Artillery, late Private Company G, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry, care of Commanding Officer Battery B, 2nd Artillery, Alcatraz, California.
Buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery; 200 McLean Boulevard, Paterson, New Jersey; Section 13, Block A, Grave 419. Photo by the Jeff DeWitt.
END