COLLINS, HON. PATRICK A., mayor of Boston, Mass. He was born in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland, March 12, 1844, died at Hot Springs, Va., Sept. 14, 1905. His mother brought him to this country when he was but four years of age. They settled in Chelsea, Mass. In the course of time, Patrick entered the law school of Harvard University and was graduated therefrom in 1871. He had gone into political affairs while he was a student and had been elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1868. He served two terms there and one in the State Senate. When he was admitted to the bar, in 1871, Mr. Collins made public announcement of his determination not to hold public office again in ten years. He kept to the resolution, but he stayed in politics. He became chairman of the Boston Democratic Committee in 1873 and held the responsibilities of the place for two years. He served as judge advocate-general on the staff of Governor Gaston of Massachusetts. While in the Legislature, Collins was identified with the passage of such liberal and reformatory legislation as freedom of worship for Catholics in penal, correctional and charitable institutions, the abolition of a distinct oath for Catholics, the ten-hour law, and legislation looking towards equal rights for foreign-born citizens. He was married in 1873 to Mary E. Cary. They had three children, Paul, Agnes and Marie. After serving two terms as congressman from the fourth Massachusetts district, he declined a third term, but was forced in his party’s interest to reconsider his decision. During his three terms in Congress he served on the Committee on the Judiciary, and sometimes in addition on the Committees on Pacific Railroads, French Spoliation Claims and other important bodies. He was delegateat-large to the National Democratic Conventions of 1876, 1880, 1884 and 1892. He was permanent chairman of the 1888 convention and made an address which attracted admiring attention from the whole country, as did his speech seconding the nomination of Grover Cleveland four years later. It was generally understood that Mr. Cleveland offered Mr. Collins a cabinet office, but Mr. Collins declined to take such office. Mr. Cleveland gave him instead one of the highest-paid government posts, that of consul-general at London, where the salary is $5,000 a year, and the fees in Mr. Collins’ time amounted to about $25,000 a year or more. Mr. Collins resigned from the chairmanship of the Democratic State Committee and went to London. When he was consul-general Mr. Cleveland again asked him to come into the cabinet as secretary of war. Mr. Collins refused. He was quoted as saying that he refused because he “didn’t care for second-hand clothes.” He never denied the remark. At the opening ceremonies of the Hotel Cecil, Mr. Collins’ remarks