COMSTOCK, ANTHONY (1844-1915), American anti vice crusader, was born at New Canaan, Conn., on March 7, He received a high school education, and served (1863-65) with the 17th Connecticut Regiment in the Civil War. In 1872 he became an active worker with the Young Men's Christian Asso ciation in New York city and devoted himself chiefly to the suppression of salacious literature. He was instrumental in organ izing the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1873, and was appointed chief special agent of the Society. In the same year he was able to secure the passage of the so-called Com stock Laws of 1873 through the Federal Congress, and was ap pointed special agent of the Post Office Department. For many years he carried on an energetic prosecution of such establish ments, literature and practices as he deemed immoral and in jurious to the public. He died in New York city on Sept. 2I, 1915.
See H. Broun and M. Leech, Anthony Comstock, Roundsman of the Lord (1927).