WILLIAM T. THORNTON, who died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 16th, was a native born Missourian who, starting nearly fifty years ago as a young country lawyer in Clinton, Henry county, Missouri, rose to be territorial governor of New Mexico. At the time of Mr. Thornton's appointment as chief executive by President Cleveland, lawlessness and disorder were rampant in New Mexico. The laxness of law enforcement during the preceding administration had encouraged all sorts of political fraud, corruption and violence.    Delinquency in the care of public money was not unusual; carelessness and default was common among territorial officials and political assassinations were frequent. In the midst of such disorder, to even suggest reform required courage, yet so insistent was Gov. Thornton's demand for law enforcement that one historian writes of him: "The result of his crusade against crime, and against financial delinquency which he inaugurated and carried out with much vigor of purpose and action signalized his administration and gave him a distinguished place in the history of this territory as the most executive and useful governor New Mexico ever had."     Born in Calhoun, Henry county, Missouri, February 9, 1843, Mr. Thornton was educated in a private school near Sedalia. In 1861 he left school to enlist in the Confederate army and for two years he served in the bodyguard of Gen. Sterling Price. Later he became a member of Company C, Wood's battalion, under the command of his brother, Capt. Paul F. Thornton. In the retreat from Springfield, Mo., he was captured and confined in the military prison at Alton.    Following an unsuccessful attempt to escape, he was placed in close confinement for twenty-eight days. Later he assisted Col. Magoffin and fifty-six Confederates to escape, was himself exchanged and served to the end of the war.    Soon after his graduation in 1868 from the law department at the University of Kentucky, Mr. Thornton began the practice of law in Clinton, Mo. In 1876 he was elected to represent his county in the Missouri legislature, but resigned the following year to go to New Mexico for the benefit of his health. Upon his arrival in Santa Fe he became associated with United States Senator Thomas B. Catron in the practice of law.    In 1880 he became a member of the territorial council and in 1891 was chosen first mayor of Santa Fe. Becoming interested in ranching and mining he closed his law office in 1885 in order to devote more time to his new ventures. Soon after his appointment as governor of New Mexico, he acquired control of the Santa Fe New Mexican, a daily newspaper, which he continued to edit for a number of years. Following the inauguration of President McKinley and the appointment of Miguel A. Otero to succeed him as chief executive, Gov. Thornton went to Guadalajara, Mexico, where he engaged in extensive mining operations. During the last years of his life Gov. Thornton devoted his attention to his mining and ranching interests, spending his winters in Redlands and other points in southern California. MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. VOLUME XI, October, I9i6-July, 1917