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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Death of Col Gdward Lyman Bill
It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the
death of Edward Lyman Bill, editor and publisher of The
Music Trade Review and The Talking Machine World,
which occurred suddenly at his home, 21 Broadview avenue.
New Rochelle, N. Y., on January T. On Friday night lie
extended his usually cheery "good night" supplemented by
felicitations on the near arrival of the New Year to the
members of The Review staff, being apparently in the best
of health and spirits. On Saturday, New Year's Day,
after dinner, he visited the Wykagyl Country Club, return-
ing home at 4.30 p. m. He went to the music room on
the second floor, where he was talking with Mrs. Bill over
plans for a short vacation some time this month, when he
suddenly became ill. A trained nurse was called from a
residence opposite, and_Df.~ Albert H. Moore and a phy-
sician from the New Rochelle Hospital arrived quickly,
.but.CoL.Bill was beyond their aid. He had been attacked
by a cerebral hemorrhage.
'•-'- Cot.~Bill was born in Hyme, Conn., June 5, 1862, and
was the son of Judge John Wight Bill and Prudence Gallup.
He was a blood descendant of William Bill, first Dean of
Westminster Abbey and Provost of Eton, and was also
descended from Elder Brewster, who came over in the
Mayflower in 1620. He was the eighth direct descendant
of John Bill, who came to America in 1630. He was edu-
cated at the State Normal School of Connecticut and
Weslevan University. After leaving college, he spent
several years in teaching and in elocutionary work. Then
going West, he became an officer in the first military organi-
zation in Dakota Territory, and saw active service on the
plains. Later he was elected a police justice and entered
business life at Fargo, N. D. During this time he corre-
sponded regularly with several Eastern newspapers. This
gave him the newspaper experience that began to shape
his career toward journalism. Mercantile business soon
became distasteful to him and, returning East, he pur-
chased a part interest in The Music Trade Review, which
had been established in 1879 a s a semi-monthly. In 1891
he became the sole proprietor of this publication and
changed it to a weekly, and from that time its growth and
influence have been materially augmented.
In 1905 he established The Talking Machine World,
which is the only trade paper in America devoted exclu-
sively to this industry—a publication which has steadily
grown in influence and prestige throughout the world. He
was an honorary member of the National Talking Machine
Jobbers' Association, and actively interested in this organi-
zation's welfare. At the last convention held in San
Francisco, he was the Association's guest of honor at the
Panama-Pacific Exposition festivities.
For some time he was president of the New York
Press Club. He was also, at one time, president of the
Republican Club of New Rochelle. For many years he
had been a member of the New Rochelle Yacht Club, and
was at one time vice-president of the Rochelle Park Asso-
ciation. He held membership in the Huguenot Association
of New Rochelle, Society of Mayflower Descendants, Sons
of the Revolution, the Reform and Wykagyl clubs, the
Luther Burbank Society and the Tolland Fish and Game
Association. He was a member of every Masonic body
in both the York and Scottish rite work, holding member-
ship in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and the Consistory. He
was also a member of Bethlehem Commandery, Knights
Templar, and was a Shriner, belonging to Mecca Tempte;
Col. -Bill was very popular with the people of New
Rochelle, and time and time again refused to be a candidate
for mayor of that city. He was, however, a member of
the local Board of Education, a former police commissioner
and actively interested in the Fire Department. He was
also treasurer of the New York State Commission for the
St. Louis Exposition in 1904, being the only representative
of a trade paper on that board.
He was appointed as a colonel by President William
McKinley on his military staff, and was a personal aide to
the President in the McKinley and Roosevelt inaugural
parade.
On February 12, 1889, he was married to Caroline
Lee, daughter of Senator James L. Raymond, at Lyme,
Conn. Mrs. Bill, with her two sons, James Raymond, a
senior at Wisconsin University, and Edward Lyman, Jr.,
and her daughter, Hester, survive him. He also leaves a
brother, J. Nelson Bill, who resides in Lyme, Conn.
Col. Bill's home life was an ideal one. He spent most
of his leisure time with his .family, all of whom possess
marked musical and literary inclinations.
* * * *
When a life work is clone, when long years of toil have
gone unrewarded and a man is patiently awaiting the hour
when the scythe shall cut him down, thereby ending his
labors and his struggles, it may be in a certain sense rea-
sonable to reckon with death as with a power which steals
away that which has been cruel and harsh. It may be
possible to feel that Pity has taken a hand and that the
Eternal Sleep in its kindness has called to rest one more
creature upon whom the burdens of life rested too heavily.
But when in the fulness of his life, in the glory of a work
which was steadily in its ascendancy, in the possession of
mental strength which was the pride of all who loved him
and the admiration of all who knew him, Edward Lyman
Bill was taken away, the bravest and the most trusting, in
their bitter grief, can but question why.
His last words, as he left his office on the last day of
the year, to those who had been closely related to him
through his long and honorable business life, were spoken
with all the genial affection and confidence that on the
following Monday morning together they should again meet
and pursue the regular tenor of their life. He spoke of the
new year which would dawn upon the offices where he had
spent such happy days and he had bright hopes for his
work and for the work of those whom he had made his
associates throughout his beautiful and valuable business
career.
None dreamed that already the King of Shadows had
selected one of the most brilliant of its vaunted "shining
marks" and that never again the master would radiate his
splendid intellect, his sympathy, his wisdom and his warmth
upon those assembled in the great work of journalism
which he had built up, and that he would be seen in his
daily haunts no more, snatched as he was without one
moment of warning, into another life.
There is some small degree of gratification in the reali-
zation that here was one who did not have to receive at his
death honors which were denied the living, for no man
ever received more glowing tributes to his brain and char-
acter, to his feeling for mankind and to his understanding
of great subjects than Mr. Bill, who was honored by the
greatest individuals and political parties as well as by the
music trades and allied industries in which he was for
many years one of the most potent factors.
Col. Bill plied his oars steadily through a sea of com-