Bloody Bill. (See Force Bill.)

Bloody Shirt. Since the Civil War, politicians of the Republican party have from time to time attempted to draw votes and gain partisan advantages by appeals to the passions raised by that struggle. The phrase, "bloody shirt," is employed in reference to the now dead issues involved in that struggle, and a politician reviving them for partisan purposes is said to "wave the bloody shirt."

Blount, William. One of the signers of the Constitution; Governor of the territory south of the Ohio in 1790; United States Senator from Tennessee 1796, but expelled in 1797 for inciting the Indians to aid the British. Born in North Carolina 1744; died in Knoxville, Tennessee, March 21, 1800.

Bluebacks. A name popularly applied to the Confederate currency by reason of its appearance, and to distinguish it from the greenbacks of the North.

Blue Hen. A name sometimes applied to the State of Delaware, originating, it is said, in a remark of Captain Caldwell, of the First Delaware regiment, that no fighting cock could be truly game whose mother was not a blue hen. The State was once proud of its famous blue hen breed of fighting cocks.

Blue Laws are such as relate to matters that are at present usually left to the private conscience of individuals. Before the Revolution the statute books of the Colonies were full of laws enforcing attendance on church worship, forbidding smoking in the public streets, prohibiting theatres, and the like. Some of the States, the older ones especially, still retain laws forbidding blasphemy and regulating work and travel on Sundays. Connecticut has acquired unpleasant notoriety in this respect. Such Blue Laws as still remain unrepealed in the various States are seldom enforced at the present time.

Blue-Light Federalists. This term was applied to the Federalist opponents of the war of 1812. The harbor of New London was at that time blockaded by the British. Two frigates, with Decatur in command, were in the harbor, and several attempts on their part to get to sea at night failed. Decatur maintained that on each occasion blue lights had been burned at the mouth of the harbor as sig

nals to the British fleet. It was charged that these signals had been given by Federalists opposed to the war-hence the name.

Blue Lodges. A name applied to societies organized in Missouri, after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, for the purpose of taking "possession of Kansas on behalf of slavery.""

Blue Nose.

A name colloquially given to an inhabitant of Nova Scotia, and sometimes extended to apply to any Canadian.

Bluff City. A name given to Hannibal, Missouri, because of its location.

Bobbin Boy, The.

A name applied to Nathaniel P. Banks during the political campaign of 1865.

Bolters. To bolt means to spring out suddenly, and in political parlance it means to leave a political party when it is no longer deemed safe or to one's interest to remain with it. Those that leave a party under these circumstances are called bolters. A bolt is usually only a temporary defection, the bolters generally being the adherents of some man who aspires to nomination for office, and whose desire is not gratified. It is quite common for a determined minority to threaten to bolt a convention unless its desires are humored.

Boodle was originally a vulgarism for money, and more particularly for booty; a phrase used in bar-rooms and at the street corners. Gradually some of the more vulgar and sensational newspapers begun to make use of it in their articles dealing with the classes that were themselves in the habit of employing the term. Among these, the majority of the Aldermen of New York City were at that time numbered, and the bribes that these were supposed to be in the habit of receiving were referred to under that name. The charges of bribery were brought prominently forward by the investigation in 1886 by a committee of the Assembly into the circumstances attending the grant by the Aldermen in the previous year of a charter for a street railroad on Broadway in that city. Jacob Sharp, a man largely interested in New York street railroads, was popularly thought to have bribed the Aldermen to grant the franchise. Much interest in the investigation was manifested by the public, and the terms boodle and boodlers were continually used by

the newspapers. The general use into which the term was thus brought added to the fact that it is a concise term, tended to purge it of its vulgar associations and to give it standing in the vocabulary of the day. The term boodler is now universally applied to bribe-takers, more particularly to those connected with municipal governments, and most accurately to bribed Aldermen. The New York boodlers were indicted on the strength of the revelations made by the Assembly Committee. Of twenty-four members of the Board of Aldermen two were not bribed, as it proved by their voting against the franchise; two are dead; four have fled to foreign countries; three have turned informers; one is insane; three were convicted and sentenced to Sing Sing Prison; in the case of one the jury disagreed on the first trial and he was finally discharged; the proceedings against the others were ultimately dropped. Jacob Sharp was indicted for bribing the Aldermen; he was tried, convicted and imprisoned in the County Jail pending an appeal. The Court of Appeals granted a new trial on the strength of errors in the former, but Sharp died pending the re-hearing. Border Ruffians. A name applied to Missourians that (about 1854) made a practice of crossing into Kansas to drive out the Free-State settlers, or to carry the elections. They took no trouble to conceal their illegal voting; in one case 604 votes were cast, of which but twenty were legal. This is but a sample. Encounters between them and the Free-State settlers were frequent.

Border States. Those of the Slave-States, adjoining the Free-States, were so called; namely: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, although North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas were sometimes included under that name. Their nearness to the Free-States caused frequent attempts on the part of slaves to escape and from them came the most bitter complaints about the non-execution of fugitive slave laws. They objected to making slavery an issue, and political parties that strove to remain neutral on that subject, as the American and Constitutional Union parties, had their support. During the Rebellion, Virginia was the only one of the Border States proper that scceded.

Border War. A name applied to the hostilities that took place between the Free-State emigrants to Kansas and

the slave-holders from Missouri, when, in 1854, the KansasNebraska Bill left the question of slavery in that Territory to be settled by the inhabitants. Bloody encounters were frequent and several pitched battles were fought.

Boss. (See Political Boss.)

Boss Rule is the absolute control of a political organization by one leader or a small set of leaders.

Boston Massacre. An encounter on the streets of Boston, March 5, 1770, between British soldiers and the citizens. Three citizens were killed, five dangerously wounded, and a few slightly hurt.

Boston Mob. A mob of several thousand people endeavored on October 21, 1835, to break up a meeting of the Female Anti-Slavery Society in Boston. The cause of this hostile demonstration was primarily owing to the fact that it was expected that an address would be delivered by a Mr. George Thompson, who was very unpopular-first, because he was an Abolitionist; second, because he was an Englishman; and third, because he was said to use very strong language, even advocating the rising of the slaves against their masters. Thompson, however, had left Boston the day previous to the meeting in order to prevent just what occurred. Notwithstanding the fact that the rioters were informed by the Mayor that Thompson was not in the hall, the excitement continued so great that the ladies were forced to retire. The mob then turned their attention to William Lloyd Garrison, who had intended to address the meeting, but who had, by the solicitation of the ladies, who feared for his personal safety, retired to the office of the Liberator, next door. When the excitement was at its height Garrison escaped from his office through a rear window and made his way into the upper part of a carpenter's shop nearby, where an effort was made to conceal him. He had, however, been seen by the mob, and soon several reffians broke into the room and seized him, with the evident intention of hurling him from the window, but abandoned. that idea in favor of dragging him through the streets by a rope. Before this could be put in practice, fortunately, he was rescued by two powerful men, and eventually reached the Mayor's office in City Hall uninjured, but with his clothing literally torn into shreds. From there he was re

moved for safety to a jail, and the following day left Boston for a time.

Boston News-Letter. The first newspaper in the Colonies; established 1704.

Boston Port Bill. A bill introduced by Lord North, and passed by the British Parliament, March, 1774, closing the port of Boston after the first of the ensuing June.

Bounties. (See Subsidies.)

Bounty Jumping. During the Civil War sums of money were at times offered by the authorities as an inducement to volunteers for the army and navy. A person who received this money and then failed to serve as he had promised, was said to be a "bounty-jumper."

Bourbons. The house of Bourbon is the family of kings that ruled France for over two hundred years, from 1589 to the time of the French revolution, 1791. One of their characteristics was an obstinate refusal to keep pace with events. Experience taught them nothing. This trait in their character has caused their name to be applied (in American political parlance) to any statesman or politician that clings to dead issues and refuses to accommodate himself to changes.

Bowdoin, James. Governor of Massachusetts 1786-87. He suppressed Shay's Rebellion (which see). Born at Boston, Massachusetts, August 8, 1727; died at Boston, Massachusetts, November 6, 1790.

Boys, The. This name is applied to the professional politicians peculiarly common in cities, to whom politics is a business out of which (though seldom holding office themselves) they make a living. By them principally is the politics of cities prostituted, and their efforts to retain control of political matters are frequently successful even in the face of organized opposition, principally because they rally in defense of their livelihood, while honest citizens, though vitally affected, do not have their own interest in the matter brought home to them with the same force, and are consequently less active and less energetic. Moreover, the local organization is almost exclusively in the hands of these political "workers," as they are called, and even reputable party members, though knowing its corruption, recognize its efficiency in gaining votes, and while they would not per