492 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN'. (GRAS GURKO.) 



labor of the wife supported the family. In 1869 

 he produced the earliest machine with constant 

 current, and took out a patent for it. With this 

 his future was assured. Gramme's discovery con- 

 sisted in the application of the dynamo-electric 

 principle to Pacinotti's circuit, whereby a prac- 

 tical machine could be made giving a strong con- 

 tinuous current without a commutator. His ma- 

 chines that were on exhibition in Philadelphia 

 in 1876 were bought by the United States Govern- 

 ment. He took the first prize at the Paris ex- 

 position of 1878, and with it a reward of 20,000 

 francs from the French Government. The cross 

 of the Legion of Honor was bestowed upon him, 

 but he declined the proffered naturalization as a 

 French citi/en. 



Gras, Basile, a French soldier, born Jan. 2, 

 183(5; died in Chablis, April 14, 1901. He studied 

 in the ficole Poly technique, entered the army, 

 served in the Italian war with distinction, began 

 to experiment on the construction of small arms 

 in 1804 when attached to the manufactory of 

 arms at Tulle, served in the field during the 

 Franco-German War, and then devoted himself 

 once more to designing a weapon to take the 

 place of the heavy and complicated chassepot. 

 The French Government adopted the Gras rifle 

 in 1874 after a competition in which over 100 

 models were tested. In 1886 Gen. Boulanger sent 

 Gen. Gras on a mission to the United States, 

 whence he brought back various inventions which 

 were utilized in designing the Lebel rifle. 



Gras, Felix, a French poet, born in 1845; died 

 in Avignon in March, 1901. He was a police jus- 

 tice in Avignon 

 and one of the 

 school of Mistral 

 and Roumanille, 

 the revivers of 

 Provengal poet- 

 ry ; wrote some 

 noted poems him- 

 self, and was the 

 director of the 

 Provengal Soci- 

 ety after Rou- 

 manille's death. 

 He was the au- 

 thor of a curious 

 book, Rouges du 

 Midi, which had 

 ,the remarkable 



fortune to be published, in an English transla- 

 tion, in an American periodical before the Pro- 

 vencal original appeared. 



Greenaway, Kate, an English artist, born in 

 London in 1846; died there, Nov. 6, 1901. She 

 was the daughter of a noted wood-engraver, and 

 studied in the London art schools. She became 

 a favorite designer of Christmas cards and illus- 

 trations for story-books, in all of which the figures 

 were children arrayed in the fashions of the 

 Directory. In 1879 she produced a book of her 

 own called Under the Window, and in 1881 the 

 Kate Greenaway Birthday Book. Her reputation 

 was spread abroad by the praise of John Ruskin, 

 and the influence of her decorative conceptions 

 affected popular taste and artistic activity as 

 well, not only in England and America, but nota- 

 bly in France. The style of dress reproduced in 

 her drawings became the fashion for children's 

 wear. She produced a series of almanacs and il- 

 lustrated a great number of books for children 

 in which modern methods of color-printing were 

 first successfully applied. 



Grekoff, M., a Bulgarian statesman, born 

 about 1845; died in Sofia. He was president of 



the Chamber in 1883, became a leader of the 

 Conservative party, was Minister of Foreign Af- 

 fairs in more than one Cabinet, and in 1899 was 

 for a short time Prime Minister. He was a 

 jurist of ability, and was well known outside of 

 Bulgaria, having been educated in France. 



Grumbkow Pasha, a Turkish soldier, born 

 in Germany in 1849; died about July 1, 1901. 

 Victor von Grumbkow was an officer in the Prus- 

 sian army, in which he attained the rank of lieu- 

 tenant-colonel. With the approval of the Kaiser 

 he entered the Ottoman service and with Gen. 

 von der Goltz Pasha, who returned to the German 

 service, he elaborated the reforms introduced in 

 the Turkish army, especially in the artillery. In 

 the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 he received the 

 Osmanieh order on the field of battle in recogni- 

 tion of his services in preparing the army for vic- 

 tory. He held the 'rank of lieutenant-general in 

 the Turkish army and was aide-de-camp to the 

 Sultan. Having resigned on account of ill health, 

 he was returning to Germany when he died sud- 

 denly on the railroad train. 



Gurko, Josejph Vladimirovich, a Russian 

 soldier, born Nov. 15, 1828; died on his estate at 

 Sacharow, near Tver, Jan. 29, 1901. He belonged 

 to an ancient Lithuanian family, was educated in 

 the pages' corps at St. Petersburg, received a com- 

 mission in the hussar regiment of the Imperial 

 Guards in 1846, served in the infantry of the line 

 during the Crimean War, then returned to his old 

 regiment, was made aide-de-camp to the Emperor 

 in 1860 and promoted colonel in 1861, and in 1866 

 was assigned to the command of the hussar regi- 

 ment, having distinguished himself by his energy 

 and capability in the Polish insurrection of 1863. 

 He rose steadily, and in 1876 he commanded a 

 division of the Imperial Guard. When the Turk- 

 ish war broke out in 1877 he was placed in com- 

 mand of the vanguard, consisting mainly of cav- 

 alry. He crossed the Balkans with swift marches, 

 having the intention of seizing Adrianople and ad- 

 vancing to Constantinople before the widely scat- 

 tered Turkish forces could be concentrated for its 

 defense. The bold advance, condemned from the 

 first by orthodox strategists, was checked at the 

 Roumelian Railroad by the combined forces of 

 Reuf Pasha and Suleiman Pasha, a powerful 

 Turkish force having been brought round by sea 

 from the Montenegrin frontier and sent up from 

 Dedeagatch by rail. The celerity of the Russians 

 had been admirable, but the Turks developed a 

 mobility of which they were supposed to be in- 

 capable. Having come almost within sight of 

 Adrianople, Gen. Gurko was obliged to fight a 

 pitched battle against superior forces, and at Eski 

 Saghra and Kesanlyk the advanced guard and 

 the troops that had followed them were driven 

 back to the Shipka pass, the occupation of which 

 was the only fruit of the costly initial movement. 

 The lines of communication were threatened by 

 Osman Pasha, whose presence in northwestern 

 Bulgaria had been ignored, but who now appeared 

 on the Russian right flank and took up. % a strong 

 position at Plevna, compelling the Russians to 

 abandon Gen. Gurko's plan of operations al- 

 together. Gen. Gurko was called to St. Peters- 

 burg to superintend the mobilization of the 

 guards, then returned to take part in the siege of 

 Plevna. He displayed good generalship in his 

 later operations, and was only less successful than 

 Gen. Skobeleff. By the taking of Gorny Dubniak 

 he hastened the fall of Plevna, and by advancing 

 Avith the guards and cavalry through Sofia and 

 Philippopolis to Adrianople he ended the war. In 

 Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia he was hailed as 

 a liberator, and after the war he was made a 



