secretly removed, so that when measured the next day (Sunday) no discrepancy was found to exist between the two measurements.'

The secretary of the Royal Yacht Squadron replied that in the judgment of the squadron these questions were a personal matter between Lord Dunraven and the New York Yacht Club, and that it was not the wish of either the earl or the members that the squadron should participate in the investigation.

The article in the London Field contained, besides the charges quoted above, an account of the circumstances which led Lord Dunraven to become suspicious as to the load water line of the Defender. These were as follows: On the morning of September 7 the City of Bridgeport, with Lord Dunraven on board, lay near enough to the Defender to allow him to observe closely the depth to which she sank in the water. She appeared more deeply immersed than when he saw her in the Erie basin some days before, or on the day she was measured. A pipe hole an inch and a-half in diameter was visible above the water on the previous day, and on the morning of the race was submerged. The whole appearance of the vessel indicated that she was more heavily ballasted. Again, the neglect of the cup committee to put a representative on each boat, and their failure to remeasure the Defender until the morning after the race, aroused his suspicion. Moreover the Defender's tender, the Hattie Palmer, had been beside her until one o'clock of the morning after the race, and there was great activity observable on both boats. The transfer of ballast could easily have taken place then.

From the evidence furnished by Lord Dunraven and his witnesses, the committee decided that his charge was based solely on opinions formed by looking at the vessel as she lay in the water on two successive days.

On the part of the American yacht, the following facts were established to the satisfaction of the committee: The Defender was designed with a view to sailing without any loose ballast, whatsoever. When Valkyrie III. arrived, it was found that her fittings, water tanks, and bulkheads had been removed, and would be hard to replace. Hence the rule of the New York Yacht Club requiring a yacht to sail with these equipments was waived. The tanks and bulkheads were removed from the Defender and were found to weigh 7,000 pounds. This weight was replaced by two tons of lead, consisting of forty-two pigs, placed in the hold. At this time Defender was at New Rochelle. The weight of the fittings which had been removed, proving to be greater than was anticipated, it was decided to add another ton; and for this purpose twenty-one pigs were sent to her when she was in the Erie basin, and were placed temporarily on the deck. On the evening of September 6 these pigs were transferred to the Hattie Palmer, cut in two, and brought back and stowed in the Defender's hold. This was the action which had roused the earl's suspicion. There were on board the Defender no tanks into which water could be introduced as ballast. It was clearly proved that no weight or ballast of any kind was put on the Defender after the official measurement of September 6 and before the race of September 7, or taken out of her after the race of September 7 and before the remeasurement of September 8. The pipe hole, instead of being one and one-half inches in diameter, was two and one-eighth inches, and would not be visible above the load water line when the yacht was fully trimmed and ballasted. The design and structure of the boat were such as to make any additional ballast undesirable, as it would retard rather than in

crease her speed. As ta the request of Lord Dunraven through Mr. Fish to the cup committee, that they place a representative on each yacht, evidence was produced proving satisfactorily that such a request was never made. With regard to the exception taken by Lord Dunraven because the Defender was not remeasured and marked on the day of the race rather than the next morning, the evidence showed that the request was received too late to allow the boat to be taken to the Erie basin before dark, and that such a measurement could not be made by artificial light.

In closing its report the committee state that the evidence completely and emphatically exonerates Mr. Iselin and his associates; and add that they are willing to believe that if Lord Dunraven had remained to hear all the evidence, he would voluntarily have withdrawn charges reflecting so seriously on the integrity of honorable competitors in a noble sport.

The Passing of Pugilism.-In the first week in February congress passed, and the president signed, a bill prohibiting prize fighting in any territory of the United States or in any strip of country under federal control (p. 123). The last fight of any note took place February 21, in Mexico, just across the border from Langtry, Texas, and was between Fitzsimmons and Maher. Fitzsimmons won in one round.

International Chess Tournament.-The first international chess match played by cable was decided March 14. The contest was between Englishmen and Americans. The American players won, gaining four and onehalf games to three and one-half won by the English team.

On January 27 Emanuel Lasker won the world's championship in chess. He won eleven and one-half games. Steinitz stands second with nine and one-half games to his credit.

Oxford-Cambridge Race.-The annual boat race between the Cambridge and Oxford crews was won by Oxford March 26. This was the fifty-third annual race. Of these contests Oxford has now won thirty-one, and Cambridge twenty-two. The time this year was 20 minutes 4 seconds.

NOTABLE CRIMES.

After a most remarkable legal contest, and after extraordinary means had been exhausted in his behalf, Bartholomew Shea was executed by electricity at Dannemora, N. Y., on February 11, for the murder of Robert Ross in Troy, N. Y., March 6, 1894 (Vol. 4, p. 157). Shea was first sentenced to die in August, 1894 (Vol. 4, p. 593), but an appeal was made. The court of appeals, however, upheld the decision of the lower court, and Shea was resen

tenced to die during the week beginning December 23, 1895 (Vol. 5, p. 897). Upon the petition of Shea's counsel, Governor Morton postponed the execution until January 7, 1896. On January 5 Governor Morton received a statement, signed by John McGough (Vol. 4, p. 593), alleging that it was he who killed Robert Ross. Governor Morton granted another reprieve until February 4, pending examination into McGough's alleged confession. The statements of McGough were found to be conflicting. Motion for a new trial was made, and again a reprieve was granted until February 11. On February 7 Judge Mayham denied the motion for a new trial, and Governor Morton declined to interfere again.

The murder of Pearl Bryan, whose decapitated body was found in a lonely spot on the premises of John Locks at Fort Thomas, Ky., on the morning of February 1, was a most shocking and revolting crime. The developments in the case thus far have been highly sensational, and have led to the arrest of Scott Jackson, Alonzo Walling, and one Wood, who were given over by the Ohio authorities to those of Kentucky on requisition papers served by Governor Bradley. The coroner's jury on February 12 found that cocaine had been administered to Pearl Bryan, and that decapitation took place while she was alive. Also that she was last seen in company with Jackson and Walling. Damaging testimony was given by a colored cabdriver, who states that, at the point of a revolver, he was compelled to drive Walling and Jackson with the girl to the place where the murder was committed.

On March 29, in the village of Tallmadge, O., at one o'clock in the morning, Alvin Stone and wife were murdered outright, and two daughters and a hired man named Stillson were fatally injured. Anson B. Strong, a former employé of Mr. Stone, was arrested, charged with the crime.

In Ransomville, N. Y., January 10, an aged farmer, Robert Clapsaddle, was murdered by his son-in-law, George H. Smith. A posse lead by a deputy sheriff pursued the murderer to a house where he had taken refuge. Here, from a window, Smith shot Elmer Clapsaddle, breaking his arm. The deputy sheriff commanded him to surrender, but receiving no reply ordered the posse to fire. Smith fell wounded in a dozen places, and died in a few hours.

On January 13 the bodies of Peter Hougaard, a milkdealer, his wife, and five children, of Englewood, Ill., were found in their home asphyxiated. Hougaard sent a letter

to the police, stating that when they received it he and his family would all be dead. Every gas jet in the house was turned on, and all but the father had evidently died while asleep. Financial troubles are supposed to have caused the crime.

At Buffalo, N. Y., on January 12, Sergeant of Police Timothy Cantlin was fatally shot by Patrolman Michael Sammon, whom Cantlin had found off his beat, and had suspended.

During 1895, 171 persons were killed by mobs in the United States (161 men and ten women). One hundred and forty-four of these lynchings occurred in the South, twenty-seven in the North. Of the total number killed, 112 were negroes. Legal executions during the year numbered 132, eighty-nine of which were in the South.

AFFAIRS IN VARIOUS STATES.

Iowa. At the republican state convention, which met in Des Moines on March 11, the candidacy of Senator W. B. Allison for presidential nomination was formally inaugurated. The platform dealt exhaustively with Mr. Allison's public record, and presented him formally to the nation as a candidate.

Kentucky. The attempted election of a United States senator to succeed Mr. J. C. S. Blackburn (dem.), whose term will expire March 3, 1897, was the occasion of one of the bitterest contests in the history of the country. Throughout the session of the state legislature, which expired by limitation of time on March 17, a deadlock continued; and the session closed without a choice having been made. Moreover, none of the ordinary appropriation bills was passed.

As a result of the election in November last, the state senate consisted of 22 democrats and 16 republicans. In the house there were 52 republicans, 46 democrats, and 2 populists. On joint ballot the two old parties were thus ties, with 68 votes each, the balance of power being held by the two populists, one of whom had republican, the other democratic, proclivities. Seventy votes were necessary to elect. Senator Blackburn was the democratic candidate, to succeed himself. The first republican candidate, Dr. W. Godfrey Hunter, withdrew from the contest; and his successor, St. John Boyle, was not a sufficiently strong "sound-money man to command the support of sound-money democrats, who scattered their votes.

the "

The republican house attempted to seat a republican (W. G. Dunlap) who contested the seat of a democrat (Mr. Kaufman); and, in spite of Dunlap's formal withdrawal from the contest, declared him elected, the democrats having withdrawn from the house. This, with the aid of one of the populists, would have insured the election of Mr. Boyle, the republican candidate, had nothing else happened. But the democratic senate at once proceeded to unseat two republican senators (James and Walton), who refused to be unseated.

The bitter partisan feelings of the rival factions culminated in several violent scenes which threatened bloodshed, and the situation became so serious that on March 15 the Lexington company of the state guard was ordered to Frankfort, and the following day Governor Bradley called out also several hundred men of the 1st and 2d regiments to preserve the peace. The presence of the troops about the capitol averted further disturbances; but the deadlock remained unbroken, and the session closed, as stated, with the vacancy in the federal senate unfilled.

Massachusetts.-The republican state convention of Massachusetts, which met in Boston on March 27, adopted a platform favoring, besides other things, protection, "sound money," and the nomination of Thomas B. Reed of Maine for the presidency. The financial plank was as follows:

"We are entirely opposed to the free and unlimited coinage of silver, and to any change in the existing gold standard, except by international agreement. Each dollar must be kept as good as every other dollar. The credit of the United States must be maintained at the highest point, so that it cannot be questioned anywhere, either at home or abroad. Every promise must be rigidly kept, and every obligation redeemable in coin must be paid in gold."

Minnesota. The republican state convention met at Minneapolis March 24. The platform emphasized the Monroe doctrine, called for the restoration of the principle of reciprocity, and indorsed the nomination of Governor McKinley for the presidency. The financial plank was as follows:

We favor the use of both gold and silver to the extent to which they can be maintained in circulation at the parity in purchasing and debt-paying powers; we are earnestly opposed, under the present re strictions, to the free and unlimited coinage of silver, for the manifest reason that it would destroy such parity, enormously contract the volume of currency by forcing gold out of circulation, and immediately place us on a silver basis. Believing that it is a self-evident fact that the effect of the international demonetization of silver can be. overcome only by international remonetization of that metal, the re‹