Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/760

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LAFARGE. 686 LAFAYETTE. LAFARGE, JLujie Chai'elle (1816-52). A Ireuch woman who was a victim of circuuistan- lial evidence. Her conviction as a poisoner (1830) was a public scandal for the virulence of the prosecution, the contradiction of expert testimony, the prejudice of tlic judge, and the failure of the police to arrest a proved knave, who alone could have profited by the death. La- farge was sentenced to imprisonment for life. In prison she wrote J/e/Houes (1841). She wrote also Hcures de prison and Vne fcnniie perdue, a drama, both in a .si)irit of nu'lancholy resigna- tion. She was pardoned in 1852, but soon died of the effects of her imprisonment. LA FARINA, la fare'na, Guseppe (181.5- C3). An Italian statesman and historical writer, born at Messina, July 20, 1815. He displayed great precocity in his youth and received the degree of doctor of laws from the University of Catania at the age of nineteen. Trained for the law, he gave much of his time to literature, and became active in the secret revolutionary movement. In 1837 he was implicated in revolu- tionary disturbances in his native city and fled from Sicily. In 1838 he returned, began prac- tice as a lawyer, and started several political journals, which were all successively suppressed. In 1841 he removed to Florence, where he pub- lished several historical works. In 1848 La Farina took a prominent part in the movement in Tuscany, where he edited the first democratic and anti-Pajial journal, the Alba. He then re- turned to Sicily, and was elected a member of Parliament, and on the deposition of the Bour- bons was dispatched by the Provisional Govern- ment on a mission to Rome, Florence, and Turin. On his return to Palermo he discharged the duties of Minister of Public Instruction, of Pub- lic Works, and of the Interior. After the sup- pression of the Sicilian revolution in 1849, La Farina lived in France and Turin, and returned only when Garibaldi's famous expedition liber- ated Sicily from the Bourbon rule (18G0). In the intervening time he advocated union under the House of Savoy, and was the secretary of the Kational Italian Society, of which Pallavicino was president and Garibaldi vice-president. When the war of 1859 gave the propaganda of the society over to the Sardinian Government, La Farina was enii)loyed by Cavoiir as a royal commissioner in the provinces. After the peace of Villafranca he reorganized the Xational Soci- ety, at first with Garibaldi as president, and then with himself in the chief place. Like Garibaldi and Manin, he was a republican by conviction, but he regarded the unity of Italy as more im- portant than the particular form of government. In 18C0 he was sent to Palermo by Cavour as the representative of Victor Emmanuel. There he antagonized Crispi and the republicans. From 1861 till his death he represented Messina in the Italian Parliament. He died in Turin. September 5. 1863. Of his works the most important is .S'fon'o d'ltaUa dal 1815 al 1S50 (1851-52, 2d ed. 1860). Others deserving mention are: Sttidi sul secolo Z///. (1841); Storia d'ltnlia. drlla discesa del Langobardi, narrata al popolo (1841 et seq.) ; Storia della riroiuzione siriliann nel JS'/S e Jf9 (1851). He also Avrote dramas and tales. His Epistolario (1869) and f^eritti poliiiei (1870) were edited and published at Milan, by Ansonio Franehi. LAFAYETTE, li-fS-yet'. A town and the county-scat of Chambers County, Ala,, 85 miles east by north of Montgomery; on the Central of Georgia Kaihvay (Map: Alabama, U 3). Lafay- ette College was opened here in 1885, The town is of importance as a distributing centre, and has a considerable trade in cotton. Population, in 1890, 1369; in 1900, 1629. LAFAYETTE. A city and the county-seat of Tippecaiinc County, Ind., 64 miles northwest of Iiidiana|)olis; on the Wabash River, and on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis, the Lake Erie and Western, the Louisville. New .lbany and Chicago, and the Wabash railroads (Map: Indiana, C 2). It is the scat of Purdue University (q.v. ), and has a public library, a fine high school, court-house. Saint Elizabeth Hospital, Saint Joseph's Orphan Asylum, and several handsome church edifices. The city is supplied with natural gas. There are foundries and machine-shops, breweries, soap-factories, lumber-mills, carriage-works, carpet-mills, flour- mills, an agricultural implement plant, and many otiier industrial establishments. The government is administered by a mayor, elected every four years, and a unicameral council, which elects the majority of the subordinate officials. The city clerk, treasurer, and water-works commissioners are chosen by popular election. The water-works are owned and operated by the municipalitv. Po])ulation, in 1890, 16,243; in 1900, 18,116. La- fayette stands on or near the site of the old French fort. Post Oniatanon, built in 1720, the first military post established in the Wabash Valley, or probably in Indiana, It was sur- rendered to the English in 1760, and in the same year (.lune 1) was captured by the Indians. Seven miles north of Lafayette General Harrison defeated the Indians on November 7, 1811, in the famous battle of Tippecanoe (q.v.). First permanently settled in 1820, Lafayette was laid out in 1826, and was incorporated in 1854. LAFAYETTE. A fish. ( 1 ) The harvest-fish (q.v.). (2) The spot (q.v.). This name was applied to this fish in the neighborhood of New York, l>ecause it first became well known about the time of the visit (1824) of the Marquis de Lafayette, but has long disappeared from popu- lar use. LAFAYETTE, or LA FAYETTE, JIauie Je.x Pail Roch V'ES Gilhert JIotiee, Marquis de (1757-1834). A French general and states- man, and one of Washington's most faithful offi- cers during the American Revolution. He was descended from an ancient familv of Auvergne, and was born September 6, 1757, in the Castle of Chavagnac, in the Department of Haute- Loire. His father was killed at Minden in 1759, and in 1770 his mother also died, leaving him in possession of large family estates. In 1774 Lafayette married, and in the same year entered the army. At the first news of the American Revolution, Lafayette was seized with enthu- siasm for the cause of the colonists. Evading the vigilance of the Government oflicials. he fitted out a ship, and, sailing from Pasages. in Spain, landed on April 24. 1777, at Georgetown. S. C, with eleven companions, among them Baron De Kalb, His arrival in America did much to give new hope to the supporters of the Revolutionary cause, whom the ill success of the preceding campaign had greatly discouraged. On July 31, 1777, Congress bestowed on him the