Dow, Neal

layman; b. of Quaker parents at Portland, Me., March 20, 1804; educated at Friends' Academy, New Bedford, Ma .; was chief engineer of the Portland Fire Department 1839-44, mayor of the city 1851-54; and in 1851 drew up the bill " for the suppre ion of drinking houses and tippling-shops," since widely known as the "Maine Law." He presented it in a public hearing before the committee of the legislature, •" which unanimously adopted it, without change. It was printed during the night; and the next day, Saturday, May 31, 1851, being the last day of the se ion, it was pa ed without change through all its stages; and on Monday, June 2, it was approved by the governor, and took effect by special provision from that day." It has since been upheld as the settled policy of the State. He was subsequently, for two terms, a member of the Maine Legislature, 1858-59. "In September, 1884, by a popular vote, the prohibition of the liquor traffic was incorporated into the Constitution of the State by a very large majority, the affirmative vote being nearly three times larger than the negative." He has been three times in Great Britain as the guest of the United-Kingdom Alliance, the largest and most influential temperance society in the world, and has advocated the cause in all parts of the kingdom. He was commi ioned by Gov. Washburn colonel of the Thirteenth Maine Volunteers in September, 1861 went immediately to the Department of the Gulf, where he had three separate commands at different times, having been commi ioned brigadier general by President Lincoln soon after his arrival at the Gulf of Mexico, April, 1862. He was twice wounded at Port Hudson, and, being taken to a plantation-house in the rear of the army, was captured in the night by a detachment of Logan's cavalry (June 30, 1863), and was taken by many succe ive stages to Richmond, Va., where he was confined six months in Libby Prison. He was also confined two months at Mobile, being exchanged afterwards for Fitz Henry Lee, March 14, 1864. His health was so far broken down by his experiences at Richmond, that he was not able to resume his duties in the field until the war was practically closed. Since the war he has advocated publicly all over the country " the policy of prohibition of the liquor-traffic as a political nece ity and a public duty."