Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/241

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MOORE
MORA
199


library and collections were among the most com- plete in his specialties in the United States.

MOORE, John Bassett, lawyer, b. in Smyrna, Del., 3 Dec, 1860, and received his education at the University of Virginia, from which he was gratliiated in 1880. He entered the U. S. depart- ment of stale under civil service rules in 1885, was third assistant secretary of state from 188t>- '91, and was appointed first assistant in 1808. In 1891, upon resigning his place, he was appointed Hamilton Fish professor of international law and diplomaity in Columbia university, in which ca- pacity he still continues. He is the author of " Extraterritorial Crime " (Washington, 1887) ; "' A Treatise on E.tradition and Interstate Rendition " (2 vols., Boston. 1891); "Report on Extradition made to the International American Conference " (Wa.shington. 1891); and "Notes on American Cas»>.s, accompanying Di'cey's Conflict of Laws" (Lonilon and Boston, 1896). Prof. Moore has con- tributed numerous articles to magazines on legal or historical subjects, and has in press a volumi- nous work on international arbitrations.

MOORE, John Jamison, A. M. E. Zion bishop, b. in Martinsburg, Va. (now V. Va.), 19 Oct., 1814. His mother was a free negro, but was kidnapped at the age of fifteen, in Maryland,and sold into slavery in Virginia.whereshe married aslave named Hodge. I^ter. by a change of owners, the son was given the surname of >l(x)re. When John was seven years old his parents fled with their six children, but were captured, and four of the latter were sold in more southern states. A second attempt was successful, and after many sufferings the family reached Bed- ford county, Pa., where John wa.s fiound out to a farmer, who taught him to read and write. After- ward he worked in Harrisburg, and then was nu'S- scnger in a bartk. He was licensed to preach in 1835, continued his studies, and in 18;s9 united with the Philadelphia conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church. He labored for some time among the fugitive slaves in the Alle- ghanies. and also among the coal and iron miners, walking thirty miles a day and preaching at night. In 1852 he went toCalifornia. where he established several churches and took an active part in con- tending for the rights of his race. He taught in San Francisco three years, and during that time was thrice adelegate to state conventions to secure the aliolition of the so-called "black laws," which disqualified colored persons from giving testimony in criminal cases. He a]iio t(X)k part in the agita- tion for the appropriation of school funds for colored children. He returned to the east in 1868, was elected bishop in that vear, and under- took missions to England and to llritish America. In his journeys Bishop Moore was thrice ship- wrecked. He is the author of a pamphlet on " Universalism " (18:16) and "History of the A. M. K. Zion Church in America" (York. Pa., 1884).

MOORE. Willis Luther. meteorologist, b. near Binghamton. N. Y., 18 Jan., 18-56. He was educated in public .sch(M)ls, and during the civil war was with his father, in 1864-'5, in the Army of the Potomac, engaged in selling newspapers to the sohliers in the field from City Point up the Appo- mattox to Petersburg. Subsequently he studied at the government military school at Fort Myer, near Washington, where he took the scientific course, la-sting over five years. In 1876 he en- tered the U. S. signal-corps, and ten years later was promoted to the grade of observer sergeant in recognition of his skill in devising new mechan- ical appliances. During the next five years he was employed us a meteorological clerk for mak- ing the synoptic charts for the study of the official forecasters. On the organization of the weather bureau on a civil basis in 1891, he was appointed Ifical forecast official in charge of the meteorolog- ical oflice in Milwaukee. Mr. Moore entered & civil service examination for the place of profe.ss- or of meteorology in the U. S. weather bureau, and successfully defeated twenty-three contestants, owing to his ability to make accurate storm warn- ings and weather forecasts. In 1894 Prof. Moore became forecast official for the upper lakes and fifteen western states, with headquarters in Chi- cago, where he remained until July. 189.5, when he was appointed chief of the weather bureau in Washington, which office he now occupies.

MORA, Antonio Maximo, Cuban claimant, b. near Havana. 24 June, 1818 ; d. in New York city, 24 April, 1897. He inherited extensive sugar plan- tations in Cuba, which were the cause of his mem- orable claim against the Spanish government and of international negotiations extending over more than twenty-five years. A Cuban revolt be- gan in 1808, and continued eight years. One of the measures employed by the Spanish govern- ment to crush the insurgents was the embargo of estates in Cuba, the income from which the gov- ernment believetl was used to aid the revolt. The owners of some of these estates claimed to be citizens of the United States, and they called on the U. S. government to demand a release of the embargoes and compensation for damages. The claim of Mr. Mora was the most notable of these because of its size, the value of the .seized property being placed at !^:l,000,000. From the great mass of dtX'uments that accumulated during the negotiations for a settlement, it appears that Mr. Mora came to this comitry and (fcclared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States in 1853. Under a general embargo decree of April, 1869, his property in Cuba was seized, and in 1870 he was sentenced to death for acts alleged to have been done prior to May, 1869. With his brother, Jose Maria, he escaped to New York, and at once laid his case before Hamilton Fish, then secretary of state, declaring that he had in nowise engaged in the rebellion nor aided it. Diplomatic correspondence was immediately openetl with Spain. Under a decree of Septem- Imt, 1873, the Spanish government released the embargoes against all American property in Cuba except the Mora plantations. It was agreed be- tween the two governments that claims for dam- ages by allege<l or de fartn <Mtizeiis of the United States should be submitted to an internal i(.nal commission. In the Mora case the arbitrators dis- agreed on the question of American citizenship, and the umpire, in a decision filed in 1883, dis- missed Moras claim, on the ground that the seiz- ure of his proi)erty was made nine davs before 14 May, 1869, the date of his certificate of naturaliza- tion, and that accordingly at the time of the seiz- ure Mora was a subject of Spain. In May, 1883, Secretary Frelinghuysen asked in a di|iiomatic note for the restoration to Mora of the embargoed estates. The case again dragged till 1886. when the American minister to .Spain concluded an arrangement with the Spanish minister of foreign affairs, that the colonial secretary propose to the cortes that the sum of 11,500.000 be inserted in the ('ul)un bu<lget of 1887-'8 to pay Jlora for his estates. Mr. Mora accepted this comiiromise. but the cortes refused to appropriate the money unless there should be an arrangement between the two governments covering all claims held by either. Protracted corresi)ondence between the two gov-