The New International Encyclopædia/Russell, William Eustis

RUSSELL, (1857-96). An American lawyer and Governor, born in Cambridge, Mass. He was educated at Harvard and at the Boston University Law School. In 1880 he became a member of the Boston law firm of Russell & Russell, of which his father and two brothers were already members. In 1885 he was chosen Mayor of his native city, and for two succeeding years was reëlected with no opposition. His effective administration of the city's affairs, particularly in the enforcement of the local-option law, attracted wide attention. At his third nomination for the office of Governor in 1890 he was elected, and was rëelected in 1891 and 1892, in each ease his victory being largely a personal one. His administration was marked by impartiality and lack of partisanship. In 1893 he resumed his law practice. Early in 1896 a strong movement became apparent in the Eastern States to nominate him for the Presidency, but his strong and freely expressed views in favor of a gold standard rendered its success impossible. A movement to name him for the Presidency on a Democratic gold-standard platform was checked by his sudden death in his camp in the Nova Scotia woods a week after the Chicago convention of that year.