The Washington weekly post., 1900-10-02
Ne us IND GOSSIP
OF OTHER LANDS.

| Through the death Of Capt. Bourks. the
Jonah Of the British nav. Aisy Boarke.
| tie recently bsnkTupied company pro-
inoter. London Times writer. club Or
ganizer. restaurant proprietor. author.
| and stock broker becomes heir 10 his
eldest brothers Earldcn OF Mayo and
Bsrony OF Mas. Lord Mayo and his
charming wife being without children.
Maurice Bourse vas not unknown on this
side OF the Atlantic, for he commanded
during a number Of years the cruiser
Cordelia, forming part Of the Norta
American station Of the British feet. and
subsequently was. as commodore. IN
trusted with the control OF the Newfound-
land fisheries. No man was mere unsJr-
tnnate in connection with his profession.
and his naval record was darkened by a
long succession of naval disasters. any
one Of which would have been sufficient
TO ruin the career Of an officer less In
nuentially connected than the Hon. Aau-
rice He was in command OF the Inflated
BRUSH ironclad Victoria when she found
cred OF The Syrian coast a few years ago.
carrying almost her entire crew OF go
men 10 the bottom OF the sea. He was
second in command. Of the Sultan, anoth-
er ironelad, when she sunk near Malta
He ran another ship which he command
cd onto reef in the West Indies. and
mas had at least tI.ree more similar dis
asters of minor Importance, yet suffi-
eientiy grave to necessitate courts Of in
quiry. TO his credit. Indeed. he had such
reputation for ill-luck that II was diff
cult 10 find either officers or men willing
TO go to sea with him, yet notwithstand-
ing these misfortunes. which would have
driven any other man out Of the service
he remained 10 the last high in favor,
alike In society and at court. and had
he lived few months longer would have
enjoyed the distinction of being the
youngest admiral of the British navy,
being next on the line for promotion TO
flag rank. A messmate and intimate
friend Of Queen Victoria's second son.
the sailor Duke of Coburg and of Edin-
burgh, and his equerry for more than
quarter of century, he contracted at
the dukes funeral the malady 10 which
he succumbed. thus once more lerlon-
strating the truth of the old belief, ac-
cording TO which royal funerals always
prove fatal to a number of people figur-
Ing at the ceremony. He filled the posi-
tion of principal private secretary TO the
first lord Of the admiralty at the time of
his death, being the third private secre-
tary whom old Mr.. Goschen has lost In
this fashion within the last three years.
the other two being Lord Encombe and
Mr. POuter.
Algy Bourke. now next heir to the Earl
dom Of Mayo. is married 10 a daughter of
the once famous beauty. Mrs Shelley
Bontein. who herself is a sister OF
Charles Day Rose, former partner Of ex-
Gov. Levi P. Morton in the latter's Lon
don firm, and who issued challenge for
the Americas Cup, but withdrew IL at
the instance Of the Royal Yacht Squad
ron. Bourke's father was that Lord Mayo
who was assassinated by a native while
viceroy of India, and his mother is a
lady-in-waiting to the Queen. The pres
ent Lord Mayo is a rather eccentric indi-
vidual, who figured in the divorce court
after eloping with the wife of Lori
Zouehe and who has on more than one
occasion been placed under restraint as
iunatic, notably in one instance after a
mysterious disappearance extending over
two months, at the end o. which time he
was found wandering about aimessly in
remote portion of Cornwall without be-
ing able to give any account of himself
or of what he had been doing since his
disappearance.
Before leaving this subject l should add
that Algy Bourke has been in South Af-
rica as war correspondent during the Zulu
war, and was present at the finding of the
body of the French Prince Imperial. He
was employed by the government in Ire
land in connection with the famine relief
work in 1879 and 1880, and for seven years
represented the London Times In the lob
by of the House of Commons.