512 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



were rescued, 41 being burned to death. As 

 soon as the watchman discovered the fire the 

 locks of the cells were broken ; but so great was 

 the confusion and bewilderment of the inmates 

 that they only hindered one another in the at- 

 tempt to escape. 



A bill to establish a State asylum for the in- 

 digent insane, so as to remove them from 

 county control, was introduced into the Legisla- 

 ture, but it failed. 



The report of the Centennial Home for the 

 Aged shows the presence of 19 inmates at the 

 end of the year. 



The Orphans' Home, in Franklin, has now a 

 farm of 205 acres. A new nursery building was 

 dedicated in October. It is of brick, 40 by 56 

 feet, and three stories high, with an annex 10 by 

 20 feet, two stories high. 



Cattle. The State Board of Cattle Commis- 

 sioners reported that during the year the herds 

 in 221 stables were inspected, and 115 cattle 

 from them were condemned and killed. A post- 

 mortem examination was made in every in- 

 stance, and without a single exception it veri- 

 fied the diagnosis and revealed the existence of 

 tuberculosis. 



Education. The Agricultural College re- 

 ceived a bequest of $400,000 from Benjamin 

 Thompson, of Durham, on condition that the 

 college should be moved from Hanover to his 

 farm in Durham, Strafford County. The gift 

 was accepted, and the State appropriated $100,- 

 000 for new buildings, and at the session of 

 1893 an additional $35,000. The work of build- 

 ing has been in progress for two years, and the 

 new college was dedicated Aug. 30. There are 

 5 buildings. On the same day Rev. Dr. Charles 

 S. Murkland was inaugurated president. 



Much dissatisfaction has been felt with the 

 work of the college heretofore, in that it seemed 

 to fit its students for anything else rather than 

 for farming. After nearly twenty-five years of 

 existence it has graduated 143 students, only 30 

 of whom, according to the catalogue, are in any 

 way connected with agriculture. The location 

 of the college beside Dartmouth at Hanover 

 was believed to be in part responsible, and its re- 

 moval was proposed long before the bequest 

 with that condition was made. Consequently 

 the inaugural address of the new president was 

 looked for with interest, as it was expected that 

 the intended character of the policy to be pur- 

 sued in future would be outlined. Hence the 

 friends of agricultural education were greatly 

 disappointed when they understood from the 

 address that the course in agriculture was in- 

 tended to be one of five courses of equal im- 

 portance. The State Board of Agriculture sent 

 a letter to the president and trustees protesting 

 against such a course and such instruction as 

 would tend to lead away from the farm rather 

 than to it. and the State Grange, at its meeting 

 in December, adopted resolutions condemnatory 

 of the policy. 



Dartmouth College inaugurated a new presi- 

 dent at the commencement, in June, Rev. Dr. 

 William J. Tucker, D. D., from Andover Theo- 

 logical Seminary. Sixty-eight students were 

 graduated. At the opening of the collegiate 

 year, in September, the entering class numbered 

 about 125. 



The graduating class of the normal school in 

 Plymouth numbered 19. 

 Banks and Insurance Companies. The 



savings banks and trust companies paid a tax 

 this year amounting to $770,242.80. This is all 

 divided among the towns and cities, the tax on 

 resident depositors going directly to the towns 

 where they live, and the tax on the nonresident 

 depositors and those whose residence is unknown 

 constituting the literary fund. Five banks failed 

 during the financial depression of this year, be- 

 fore Sept. 1. 



The twenty-fourth annual report of the In- 

 surance Commissioner gives the following infor- 

 mation : The number of companies organized 

 under the laws of New Hampshire and author- 

 ized to transact business in the State on Dec. 31, 

 1892, was 38. The number of domestic compa- 

 nies transacting business in 1892 was the same as 

 that reported for 1891. The aggregate of busi- 

 ness transacted by all authorized domestic and 

 foreign companies, 83 in number, for the year 

 ending Dec. 31, 1892, is as follows : Risks writ- 

 ten. $84,222,246.18 ; premiums received, $1,026,- 

 593.27 ; losses paid, $595,6(55.70. 



Of the fraternal beneficiary associations, the 

 aggregate membership of the 21 reporting was 

 621,000, a net gain over the membership of 

 1891 of 15,460. The death roll for the year was 

 7,743. 



The Bank of the Commonwealth, Manchester, 

 failed July 24, Dr. Joseph C. Moore, its presi- 

 dent, being its largest debtor. Involved with its 

 failure were those of the Derryfield Savings 

 Bank and the People's Fire Insurance Company, 

 to which Dr. Moore was also heavily in debt. 

 Charles F. Merrill, cashier of the Commonwealth 

 Bank and treasurer of the People's Insurance 

 Company, disappeared when the failures were 

 made public. The president's indebtedness to 

 the Bank of the Commonwealth was stated to 

 be $100,000', and to the Derryfield Bank $25,000. 

 On the day of the failure he made transfers of 

 his property. The receiver was directed to begin 

 insolvency proceedings, and did so, but they were 

 afterward" discontinued by order of the Comp- 

 troller of the Currency. The court, however, 

 decided that the proceedings should not be dis- 

 missed by this withdrawal, but that public notice 

 of the motion to dismiss should be given in order 

 that other creditors might come in and prosecute 

 if they should choose. The last $5,000 of the 

 money appropriated for the World's Fair exhibit 

 was placed m the bank July 12. It was not 

 credited to the World's P^ir Commission, but, 

 as it appears, to the Halifax Hosiery Mills, of 

 which company the president of the bank was 

 also president, which owed the bank about 

 $31,000. July 12 was the date for the bank to 

 return a sworn report to the Comptroller of the 

 Currency. A certificate of the indebtedness was 

 returned to the commission after the failure. 



The President of the National Granite State 

 Bank of Exeter, which went into the hands of a 

 receiver Sept. 23, was arrested in November on a 

 charge of embezzling $30.000. 



Railroads. The report of the Railroad Com- 

 mission for the year ending June 30, 1893, re- 

 views the development during the decade of the 

 five great systems that now include practically 

 all the railways of the State. During that 



