February 16.—James W. Alexander, former President of the Equitable Life Insurance Co., is operated on. The physicians refuse to tell the nature of the operation, but give hopes of Alexander’s recovery. Reports from Memphis, Tenn., state that more than fifty per cent of the Southern peach crop has been killed and the other fifty per cent is commercially worthless. State Senator James Minton, of New Jersey, invites Thomas W. Lawson, Ida Tarbell and Attorney-General Hadley, of Missouri, to attend a public hearing on his resolution calling on Attorney-General McCarter, of New Jersey, to bring proceedings to annul the charter of the Standard Oil Company. Stuyvesant Fish, a member of the “housecleaning” committee of the Mutual Life Insurance Co., resigns because Standard Oil interests obstruct a thorough investigation of the company’s affairs. On account of the illness of Senator Tillman, the Senate postpones the vote on the railroad rate bill until February 23. February 17.—Miss Alice Roosevelt, the daughter of the President, is married, in the White House, to Congressman Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati. Justice Rufus W. Peckham, of the United States Supreme Court, advises the “housecleaning” committee of the Mutual Life Insurance Co. to bring action against Richard A. McCurdy, ex-president of the company, before he leaves this country. Fire destroys $1,000,000 worth of wheat at Duluth, Minnesota. President Peabody, of the Mutual Life Insurance Co., refuses to give his consent for an investigation of the company’s board of trustees by the “housecleaning” committee. February 18.—John A. McCall, late president of the New York Life Insurance Co., dies at Lakewood, N. J. His death was hastened by the recent insurance scandals. The New York _World_ sums up the result of the insurance investigation as follows: John A. McCall, dead, fortune shattered; J. W. Alexander, mental and physical wreck; James H. Hyde, self-expatriated in Paris; Robert A. McCurdy, preparing to follow Hyde; Robert H. McCurdy, preparing to follow his father; Judge Andy Hamilton, on the Riviera; Thomas D. Jordan, in seclusion; Andrew Fields, in seclusion; Louis Thebaud, going to Paris; W. H. McIntyre, in seclusion; George W. Perkins, reputation smirched; Chauncey M. Depew, damaged in reputation. John B. Stetson, the millionaire hat manufacturer of Philadelphia, dies at Gillen, Florida. John Mitchell and his associates, representing the anthracite miners, complete their demands to the coal operators. They will be presented in a day or two. President Roosevelt prepares to have the frauds in connection with the Indian affairs in Indian Territory investigated.