Justice Kelly, of the New York Supreme Court, orders trial of the suit brought by Hon. W. R. Hearst against the Gas Trust. March 14.—Nineteen persons are killed in a New York tenement house fire. The war in the Equitable Life Assurance Society is settled by the factions agreeing on a plan to mutualize the company. The Mormon Church excommunicates ex-United States Senator Frank J. Cannon, of Utah, because of editorials in the Salt Lake Tribune, of which Mr. Cannon is editor. March 15.—A bull market in cotton is started by Daniel J. Sully, one day after he is released from bankruptcy. Andrew Carnegie declares that a Pan-American railroad would be more effective for defense than all the battleships we can build. March 17.—Secretary of State John Hay sails on a European trip in an impaired state of health. President Roosevelt addresses the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in New York, after the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the history of the city. March 19.—Twenty-four men are killed in a mine explosion near Thurmond, W. Va. The Panama Canal Commission issues a long statement denying charges made against the body relating to the sanitation of the Isthmus. Senator Thomas H. Carter, head of the Government commission, reports charges of wholesale bribery in connection with the giving out of awards by the St. Louis World’s Fair officials. John D. Rockefeller, George J. Gould and other prominent men are reported to be implicated in the Utah coal land frauds. March 20.—Over one hundred workmen are killed and wounded by a boiler explosion in a shoe factory at Brockton, Mass. Three thousand men are thrown out of work by the shut-down of one of the Havemeyer sugar refineries at Brooklyn, N. Y. March 21.—Twenty-seven New England Congregational clergymen enter vigorous protest against the acceptance of a $100,000 gift from John D. Rockefeller to the Board of Missions of that church. March 22.—It is given out at Denver that the strike and contest over the governorship have cost the state of Colorado $2,000,000. More than 11,000 immigrants land at Ellis Island, New York, in two days, thus breaking all former records. March 23.—The Wyoming court decides against granting a decree of divorce to Colonel William F. Cody (“Buffalo Bill”). The ship with which Lieutenant Robert E. Peary will make another attempt to reach the North Pole is launched at Bucksport, Me., and is christened the _Roosevelt_. March 25.—A plan to merge the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Harvard University is made public in Boston. The New York Central Railroad announces that in the near future it will supplant all its steam locomotives with electric motors. March 27.—Mrs. Cassie L. Chadwick is sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.