RIPLEY, JAMKS \V. 



RITCHIE, ANNA C. M. 



of the State where females are imprisoned, met 

 \\iih jrreat favor; the- ladies entered upon and 

 1'ullilled their duties with zeal, and an earnest 

 tle-iro to benefit the unfortunate class. Com- 

 i, nt UTS wore appointed to visit once a fortnight 

 tin- State Prison, State Farm, and Reform 

 School. In the prison the number of women 

 is small, rarely above fifteen, and sentenced 

 TV short periods, and every comfort their 

 condition admits is afforded them ; but on the 

 State Farm defective arrangements render the 

 institution the reverse of reformatory, and im- 

 provements are recommended calculated to 

 produce better results. High praise is given 

 to the managers of the Reform School, but, 

 as the system is a somewhat severe one, slight 

 changes indejails might be made to render the 

 inmates more hopeful and happy, without in- 

 terfering with the needful discipline. Among 

 the appropriations for State beneficiaries was, 

 for the indigent insane, the sum of $2,000. 

 The Federal census of the State is as follows : 



The different railroad companies have effect- 

 ed some improvements ; work was commenced 

 on the Wickford Railroad ; petitions were pre- 

 sented to the General Assembly for leave to 

 construct a railroad from East Attleboro' to 

 Woonsocket, to connect with the road under 

 construction from Taunton, through Norton, to 

 Attleboro' ; and for the passage of an act to 

 incorporate the Taunton and Providence Rail- 

 road Company. The new Mansfield and Fra- 

 mingham Road is in complete running order. 

 It is 21 miles in length, and extends through a 

 very fertile and pleasant portion of Massachu- 

 setts ; by its aid, a direct route is opened be- 

 tween Providence and Fitchburg, as well as 

 between. Fitchburg and Newport ; it is really 

 the connecting link between the northern and 

 southern portions of New England, connecting 

 also with Saratoga, Rutland, Burlington, and 

 Montreal. Contracts have also been awarded 

 for dredging the Providence and Pawtucket 

 Rivers. 



RIPLEY, JAMES W., Brevet Major-General 

 U. S. A., born in Windhaui, Conn., December 

 10. 1794; died in Hartford, Conn., March 5, 

 1870. * lie commenced his military career 

 as a cadet at the Military Academy, May 8, 

 1813, and was graduated and promoted 

 second lieutenant of the Corps of Artillery, 

 Juno 1, 1814. He was advanced through 

 the grades of first lieutenant and captain. 

 Having been retained in the reorganization 

 of the army, in 1821, ho was transferred, 

 upon its formation in 1832, to the Ordnance 

 Department, and promoted as major and 

 lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed Act- 



ing Chief of Ordnance, April 23, 1801, and 



ln-if/aiiier-general and chief, Augusts, 1801, in 

 v\ hirli capacity he continued until September 

 15, 1863, when he was honorably retired from 

 active service, having been borne on the army 

 register more than forty-five years. He i-> 

 in tlio war with Great Britain in 1814 and 

 1815 ; against the Seminole Indians, in 1817 

 and 1818, and for meritorious conduct, particu- 

 larly in the performance of his duty in the 

 prosecution of the war with Mexico, he wa?, 

 May 80, 1848, breveted lieutenant-colonel. 

 July 2, 1861, he was breveted brigadier-gen- 

 eral. In 1860 and 1861 he was sent on special 

 duty to Japan. He served during the war 

 with the seceding States, as Chief of Ord- 

 nance, U. S. A., and was in charge of the Ord- 

 nance Bureau at Washington, D. C., until 1863, 

 and afterward as inspector of the armament 

 of fortifications on the New-England coast. 

 March 13, 1865, he was brevetted Major-General 

 U. S. A., for long and faithful services in the 

 army. 



RITCHIE, Mrs. ANTJA CORA MOWATT, an 

 American actress and authoress, born in Bor- 

 deaux, France, about 1821 ; died in England, 

 July 26, 1870. She was the daughter of Sam- 

 uel G. Ogden, a New-York merchant, who 

 was established in business in France, being 

 herself the tenth of a family of seventeen chil- 

 dren When six years of age her family re- 

 turned to New York, where in the intervals of 

 study she devoted much time to reading and 

 private dramatic entertainments. At the age 

 of fifteen she was married to James Mowatt, a 

 young lawyer of New York. During the first 

 two years of her married life she continued 

 her studies with great diligence, and published 

 also two poems, "Pelayo, or the Cavern of 

 Covadonga," an epic in five cantos ; and the 

 " Reviewers Reviewed," a satire directed 

 against the critics of the former poem. About 

 this time her health began to fail, and she spent 

 a year and a half in Europe, during which she 

 wrote, for private performance, a play entitled 

 "Gulzora, or the Persian Slave," afterward 

 published. Soon after her return to this country 

 her husband became involved in financial diffi- 

 culties, and, with the brav.e determination to 

 provide for her own support, she began a series 

 of public dramatic readings in Boston, Provi- 

 dence, New York, and other cities, and, though 

 successful in winning the favor of her audi- 

 ences, her health was so much affected by her 

 exertions that for the two following years she 

 was a confirmed invalid. Nevertheless her pen 

 was not idle, and during this interval she con- 

 tributed to several magazines, under the pseu- 

 donyme of Helen Berkley, and also wrote a 

 five-act comedy entitled " Fashion," produced 

 at the Park Theatre, New York, in March, 1845, 

 with considerable success. Having been 

 strongly urged by her friends to appear upon 

 the stage, she made her d^but at the Park 

 theatre, Juno 13, 1845, in the character of 

 Pauline in the "Lady of Lyons." The pres- 



