RANDALL, JAMES RYDER (1839-1908), American journalist and poet, born at Baltimore, Md., Jan. 1, 1839. His academic education was received at Georgetown College, after which he travelled in South America and then became professor of English literature at Poydras College at Pointe-Coupee, La., where he was when the Civil War broke out. The attack made by citizens of Baltimore upon Massachusetts and Pennsylvania troops as they passed through the city was the occasion of his writing "Mary land ! My Maryland!" first published in the New Orleans Delta. The poem was widely copied and a few days later came to the attention of Baltimore people. There it was first sung by Miss Hetty Cary to the classic melody of "Lauriger Horatius." Words and music were happily united and from that time forth the song was heard in all the homes and camps of the South and in time be came a national favourite. After the war Randall became the edi tor of the Georgia Constitutionalist. He was later Washington correspondent for a number of Southern papers. He died at Augusta, Ga., Jan. 15, 1908.
See The Poems of James Ryder Randall (1910), with introduction. RANDALL, SAMUEL JACKSON (1828-1890), Ameri can politician, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., on Oct. io, 1828.
He was educated in the public schools and in the University academy, Philadelphia. In 1858-59 he was a Democratic member of the State senate. During the Civil War he served in the Union army, rising to the rank of captain and playing an impor tant part in the Gettysburg campaign. From 1863 until his death he was a Democratic representative in Congress. During the session of he first gained a national reputation by the masterful manner in which he prevented the Republican majority from passing the Force Bill or Federal Election Law. Under his leadership discipline and party harmony were established among the Democrats for the first time after the Civil War. He was speaker of the House from Dec. 1876 to March 1881, during a period marked by rancorous debates concerning the disputed Hayes-Tilden presidential election. He was noted for his work as chairman of the committee on appropriations and as a member of the committee on banking currency and retrenchment. He was a leader of the Protectionist wing of the party. He died in Wash ington, D.C., on April 13, 1890.