American civil engineer, brother of the Cornelius Conway Felton; born at West Newbury, MA, on the 17th of July 1809; graduated at Harvard in 1834; studied civil-engineering; appointed, in 1843, superintendent and engineer of the Fitchburg railroad, and was president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad from 1851 until 1865. In this position he received information of a plot to capture President Lincoln on his way from Harrisburg to his inaugural at Washington in 1861. The plot included the capture of the capital, the cutting of the telegraph wires, and the prevention of the approach of troops to Washington from the North. Mr. Felton organized guards in the guise of workmen, provided a secret police force, and by delaying an ordinary train for the dispatch of an “important package” conveyed the President in safety to his destination. When communication by way of Baltimore was cut off from Annapolis, Mr. Felton planned the transportation of troops by steamer to Havre de Grace. He died in 1890.
