GAYNOR, WILLIAM JAY, an Amer ican lawyer and public official; born at Whitestown, Oneida co., N. Y., in 1851; educated in the local seminary and at the Christian Brothers' College, St. Louis, Mo. Employed for a time as a teacher in Boston, he subsequently removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., became a reporter and studied law. In 1875 he was admitted to practice and quickly identified himself with the reform party in Flatbush. Elected Police Commissioner of that vil lage, his activities against corrupt poli tics soon made him a prominent figure in municipal affairs. After serving two terms as Supreme Court Justice, he was elected Mayor of New York City in 1909, with the support of Tammany Hall. Shot, Aug. 9, 1910, while boarding an ocean liner, he never fully recovered from the wound and succumbed to the strain of his campaign for Sept. 10, 1913.
GAZA (gaiza), one of the five chief cities of the ancient Philistines, situated in the S. W. of Palestine, about 3 miles from the sea, on the borders of the desert which separates Palestine from Egypt. It is often mentioned in the history of Sam son, and was the scene of constant strug gles between the Israelites and the Philis tines. In 333 B. C. it was taken after a five months' siege by Alexander the Great, and from that time down to 1790, when the French under Kleber captured it, it witnessed the victories of the Mac cabees, the Calif Abubekr, the Templars, and the heroic Saladin. Constantine the Great, who rebuilt the town, made it the seat of a bishop. The modern Guzzeh is a collection of mere villages. It was occupied by British forces Nov. 7, 1917, in the advance on Palestine.