W1IKKLKU, WILLIAM A. 



WISCONSIN. 



801 



Convention, and pledging their undivided support 



to iti* iiiiniiiifVM ; culling them the frien<i.i of honcht 

 labor, uiul not tin- nianipulutora of political intrigues, 



.il lefoniiem and not pretemlerH, htui 

 ami not politicians; and, finally, culling upon all 

 jnen, ol' nil parties, to unite with them in relieving 

 thi' |>fo|>le of this State from the existing evils and 

 in tht rci stublishment of good government. 



The minority report was in favor of submit- 

 ting to a vote of the people the question of 

 removing the capital, and it was adopted, after 

 some modification, as an addition to the plat- 

 form ^ivcn aliove. 



The Greenback party also made nominations 

 for Governor and presidential electors, the can- 

 didate for the former being James M. Laidley. 



The State election occurred on the 10th of 

 October, and resulted in the choice of the Dem- 

 ocratic candidates. The total vote for Gov- 

 ernor was 100,015, of which Matthews received 

 56,206, Goff 43,477, and Laidley 832. Mat- 

 thews's plurality over Goff was 12,729, majori- 

 ty over all 12,397. The largest Democratic 

 majority was that for Attorney-General, Rob- 

 ert White having 57,843 votes, to 42,196 for 

 John A. Hutchinson, and six scattering, making 

 "White's majority 15,641. The total vote cast 

 for presidential electors in November was 99,- 

 939, of which the Democratic candidates had 

 56,565, the Republican candidates 42,001, and 

 the Greenback ticket 1,373. The plurality of 

 Tilden over Hayes was 14,564 ; majority over 

 all, 13,191. Democratic members of Congress 

 were chosen in all of the three districts. The 

 majorities were 1,835 in the first district, 3,773 

 in the second, and 7,576 in the third. The 

 Legislature of 1876-'77 consists of 19 Demo- 

 crats and 5 Republicans in the Senate, and 49 

 Democrats and 16 Republicans in the House, 

 giving the Democrats a majority of 14 in the 

 Senate, 33 in the House, and 47 on a joint bal- 

 lot. Henry Mason Matthews, the new Gov- 

 ernor, is a lawyer, residing in Lewisburg, and 

 had been Attorney-General four years prior to 

 his election to the chief executive office. 



The new Capitol building, constructed by the 

 authority and at the expense of the city of 

 Wheeling, was turned over to the State, and 

 formally accepted, on the 6th of January, 1877. 

 It cost $100.000. 



WHEELER, WILLIAM ALMON, was born at 

 Malone, N. Y., June 30, 1819. At the age of 

 nineteen he entered the University of Vermont, 

 where he continued two years. After four 

 years' study of the law in Malone he began 

 practice. During this time he was made Town 

 Clerk, School Commissioner, and School In- 

 spector, and, soon after the adoption of the 

 State constitution of 1846, was elected District. 

 Attorney for the county. He was elected by 

 the Whigs a Representative in the Legislature 

 of 1849 and 1850. and in 1859 and 1860 he was 

 a member of the State Senate, where he was 

 chosen president pro tempore. He was Cashier 

 of the Malone Bank from 1851 to 1865. In 

 1854 he became a trustee of the second-mort- 

 gage bonds of the old Northern Railroad (af- 



terward merged in the Ogdensburg & Lake 

 Champlain), and, as President of the Bo;: 

 Trustees, was virtual manager of the road for 

 eleven yearn. In 1860 Mr. Wheeler was elected 

 to Congress, and served one term. In 1867 

 he was chosen a member of the State Consti- 

 tutional Convention, and when that body as- 

 sembled he became its president. In 1868 he 

 was again elected to Congress from his native 

 district, and was three times reflected in suc- 

 cession. He served as a member of the Com- 

 mittees on Appropriations and Southern Affaire, 

 and was chairman of the Committees on the 

 Pacific Railroad and Commerce. In 1875 he 

 visited New Orleans, and prepared an adjust- 

 ment for the political difficulties in Louisiana, 

 which became known as the " Wheeler Com- 

 promise." In June, 1876, Mr. Wheeler was 

 nominated for Vice-President of the United 

 States by the National Republican Conven- 

 tion assembled in Cincinnati. (For the re- 

 sults of the election tee UNITED STATES.) Mr. 

 Wheeler has acted with the Republican party 

 since its organization, and was previously a 

 Whig. 



WILLIAMS, BARNEY, died in New York, 

 April 25th. He was born in Cork, Ireland, 

 in 1823. His name was Bernard Flaherty, but 

 he was almost entirely known by his profes- 

 sional name, Barney Williams. As early as 

 1836 he was connected with the old Franklin 

 Theatre in Chatham Square, New York. In 

 1845 he was the manager of the Vauxhall 

 Garden in the Bowery. In 1850 he was mar- 

 ried to Maria Pray, then the widow of Charles 

 Mestayer. His wife was an excellent actress, 

 and subsequently Mr. and Mrs. Williams gen- 

 erally took the leading characters in the same 

 plays. In 1854 they played a very successful 

 engagement in San Francisco. In 1855 they 

 went to England, where Mr. Williams achieved 

 a notable success as Bagged Pat in " Ireland 

 as it was." He subsequently played this part 

 with great success in the chief cities of Eng- 

 land, Ireland, and Scotland. He returned to 

 New York in September, 1859, and fulfilled 

 a long engagement at Niblo's Garden. He 

 afterward appeared in the chief cities of the 

 United States. In 1867 he assumed the man- 

 agement of Wallack's old Broadway Theatre 

 in New York, where he remained for two 

 years. He and his wife subsequently played 

 in the chief cities of Great Britain, the United 

 States, and Canada. Mr. Williams always 

 represented Irish characters, and had a world- 

 wide reputation as an Irish comedian. His 

 wife survives him. He was a brother-in-law 

 of the comedian William J. Florence, Mrs. 

 Florence (who is also a well-known comedi- 

 enne) and Mrs. Williams being sisters. Mr. 

 Williams's mother died in New York Decem- 

 18, 1876, aged 80 years. 



AV ISCONSIN. The Legislature of this State 

 closed its session of 1876 on the 14th of March, 

 after sixty-three days' continnance. A large 

 amount of business was transacted within that 



