THE UNLUCKY YEAR

Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, January 3, 1894.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

The Unlucky Year.

   For a generation, perhaps longer, 1893 will stand in history as the unlucky year. Commercial failures unprecedented in modern times have been thickly sprinkled along its pathway. The depression and hard times have not been confined to the United States alone, but singularly enough have been shared by all English speaking peoples. The largest single bank failure recorded for the year was that of the National Bank of Australasia, which went under in April with liabilities amounting to $37,500,000. Australia and all England's south Pacific colonies were shaken to the center financially. The next largest failure was perhaps that in which the American Erie railway, with a floating debt of $6,000,000, went into the hands of a receiver in July.

   It was a terrible year financially for railroads, with 30 of them at present in the hands of receivers. It was also a year of unparalleled accidents and loss of life on tracks and trains. There were 29 serious accidents and collisions, most of them during the World's fair months. An average of over three persons a day was either killed or badly injured on railway trains in 1893.

   Fire, flood and storm keep pace with the other misfortunes. Certainly not less than $100,000,000 went up in flame and smoke in 1893, mostly in the United States. The most destructive single fire, however, was that which occurred in London, July 17, with a loss of $7,500,000. Large areas in Boston and Chicago were burned out again. In Boston two great fires occurred, one of them destroying $2,500,000 worth of property, sweeping over the identical ground ravaged by the fire of November, 1872.

   March 28 a tornado struck several of the southern states, causing in Mississippi alone a loss of 18 lives and over $2,000,000 worth of property. Aug. 27 a West India cyclone swept up along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, crushing and drowning nearly a thousand people, destroying crops and making thousands of negroes destitute.

   A still more terrific storm visited the gulf coast Oct. 2, involving the loss of 2,000 lives and an incalculable amount of property. Not less disastrous was the great cyclone on the coast of western Europe, Nov. 19. A storm so destructive to shipping has not been known on the British and French coasts in half a century. Even these storms in America and Europe are insignificant, though, when compared with the calamity that overtook the town of Kuchau in the Persian province of Khorassen. There on the 17th of November an earthquake shock caused the loss of 12,000 lives.

   Of lynching horrors and train robberies the melancholy year of 1893 goes down to history laden full. May we make no such unhappy record in these respects for 1894! With so many sickening events crowding one another upon the observation and memory, with the want and bitter hard times all around them, it is scarcely to be wondered at that so many persons lost their mental balance, forgetting themselves sometimes in insanity, sometimes in suicide. In New York city alone there has been an average of a suicide a day during the whole of 1893. The number of thousands taken off by the cholera in Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa there are no means of knowing. It must have been at the lowest 50,000, however.

   Eighteen hundred and ninety-three has given to man its lessons of suffering and terror. It is ended now. If mankind shall learn from the woe and want it uncovered to be just and kindly, then its losses will not be all loss. At any rate it is gone. Whatever comes after can be no worse. We breathe a deep, long drawn breath of relief and turn our faces with new hope and determination to 1894.

RUSSIAN MASSACRE.

DETAILS OF THE SLAUGHTER OF ROMAN CATHOLICS.

Worshipers Hacked to Pieces In Church While Praying For Mercy—Victims Who Escaped the Sword, Lashed With the Knout—Dead and Wounded Thrown Into a Cesspool—Nearly a Hundred Killed—Other Foreign News.

   BERLIN, Jan. 3.—The Codogue VolksZeitung gives the details of the late massacre of Catholics at Krosche, Kowano, Russia, by Cossacks, which seems to confirm the most startling reports circulated and to describe other horrors not hitherto touched upon.

   The VolksZietung says that the Catholics at Krosche took turns to guard the church for eight days previous to the massacre in order to prevent their coreligionists from being surprised by the Cossacks, who were expected to make an attack upon the Catholics.

   In spite of the precautions the Catholics were surprised at 2 o'clock on the morning of Nov. 10 by Prefect Klingenberg, who arrived from Kovno, accompanied by 10 armed Cossacks, who entered the church in which about 70 Catholics were gathered.

   The Cossacks, cursing and yelling, rushed upon the worshippers, knouting them and striking them with their swords until the church echoed with the screams of the wounded.

   Late the same day a detachment of some 800 Cossacks were sent from Kovno to Krosche. The Cossacks were armed with rifles, lances and knouts, a terrible whip, the ends of which were twisted with wire and weighted with pieces of iron.

   Each blow would tear the flesh from the person struck.

   On arriving near the Krosche, the Cossacks were divided into two detachments; one body surrounding the township on all sides and the other rode, at a gallop, toward the Roman Catholic church and dashed, with lances down, into the crowd outside that building, spearing and shooting and lashing with their knouts all who came within their reach. Many were killed and wounded.

   The Cossacks then rode their horses into the Catholic church and a massacre began. The unfortunate Catholics threw themselves on their knees in a corner and prayed to God for help; but the Cossacks shot and speared right and left until, according to the story told by The VolksZeitung, the floor and walls of the church were drenched with blood. The infuriated Cossack cavalrymen are said to have acted like demons, smashing the crucifix, candlesticks and images and then throwing the pieces into a cesspool.

   In the midst of this terrible carnage a Roman Catholic priest was forced, at the point of the lance into the church and was made to carry out the monstrance, a sacred church utensil or frame, generally of gold, used for the purpose of presenting the consecrated host for the adoration. Then they rode over the people right and left and dragged the corpses by their feet to the cesspool and threw them into this horrible hole, until it was choked with the bodies of the dead as well as by a number of those who were only wounded.

   The people, it appears, fled in all directions while the massacre was going on and were pursued and captured or badly wounded by the Cossacks of the second detachment, which was detailed to surround the town and to prevent the escape of any of the inhabitants.

   A number of the latter are said to have been so panic-stricken that they committed suicide, many of them jumping into the swollen river where they were drowned. The rest of the unfortunate inhabitants were surrounded by the Cossacks who, lance in hand, drove them before them to the market place in front of the town hall.

   When this roundup of the inhabitants was completed every man, woman and child of the town was ordered to be flogged with the knout.

   The victims then had their clothes torn off them or were compelled to take them off themselves and were made to lie completely naked, between two rows of Cossacks, who flogged them until many of them were almost dead.

   The number of people killed is not definitely stated, but report places the number at all the way from 70 to 100, with a very large number so severely injured that they have since died of their injuries, or have been maimed for life.

   These are the facts as outlined by the VolksZeitung and in view of the fact that the Cologne Gazette and other papers have, since the story was first officially denied, asserted that the main statements were correct, they are becoming generally believed to be true.

Onahan Made a Roman Count.

   ROME, Jan. 3.—Bishop Spalding of Peoria, Ill., has had an audience with the pope. It is announced that the pope has made the Hon. W. T. Onahan of Chicago, a Roman count for distinguished successes achieved in the work of organizing the great Catholic congress at Chicago.

WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS.

OFFICERS INSTALLED WITH APPROPRIATE CEREMONIES.

The Corps Honored by the Presence of Distinguished Guests—A Delightful Evening Socially.

   The annual installation of officers of Grover Relief corps, No. 96, occurred last evening in Grand Army hall with appropriate ceremonies. The following officers were installed:

   President—Sarah L. Hill.

   Senior-vice—F. Eudell Edgcomb.

   Junior-vice—Mary A. Wright.

   Secretary—Aurelia Gilbert.

   Treasurer—Ellen A. Palmer.

   Chaplain—Ann C. Harmon.

   Conductor—Mary T. Phelps.

   Asst. Conductor—Eliza Corwin.

   Guard—Mary E. Bostwick.

   Asst. Guard—Mary Alexander.

   Delegate—Aurelia Gilbert.

   Alternate—Alice Hoxie.

   Nearly all of the corps were present, as well as a large representation from Grover Post, No. 98, and James H. Kellogg Camp No. 48, Sons of Veterans. The corps was last evening honored by five ladies representing the national and state encampments: Mrs. Sarah C. Mink, national president, W. R. C. of Syracuse; Mrs. Sarah E. Phillips, national secretary, W. R. C. of Syracuse; Mrs. Kate E. Jones, department president, W. R. C. of Ilion, N. Y.; Mrs. Mary E. Seeley, department chief aid of Syracuse; and Mrs. Sarah Alvord of Syracuse.

   At 8:15 o'clock Mrs. Sarah L. Hill, the retiring president, who had been reelected and was about to be reinstalled, called the assemblage to order. At her direction the guard, Mrs. Ella E. Kellogg, looked in the anteroom and found there the national president, Mrs. Sarah C. Mink. The conductor, Mrs. Mary T. Phelps, then escorted Mrs. Mink to the chair, where Mrs. Hill welcomed her as the installing officer and turned over to her the gavel as the symbol of authority. Mrs. Mink received the same and relieved all of the officers from duty. They all deposited upon the table in the center of the room their badges of office and retired to their seats.

   Mrs. Mink then appointed as her aides in the installation the ladies who came with her: Mrs. Jones as chaplain, Mrs. Seeley as conductor, Mrs. Phillips as secretary and Mrs. Alvord as treasurer. The chaplain offered prayer and then the installation began. Mrs. Seeley as conductor escorted each officer-elect in her turn to a place in front of the installing officer, where the oath of office was taken and then the conductor pinned upon the breast of each lady her badge of office, with the sole exception of Mrs. Hill as president, whose badge of office was conferred by the installing officer in person, and who herself escorted the new president to the chair.

   When the installation had been closed and the gavel, as symbol of power, had been returned to Mrs. Hill, this lady, as presiding officer, called upon each of the five guests for short addresses. These were given very gracefully and were full of interest to all. Mrs. Mink's words were rather reminiscent and called to mind a number of incidences by which it appeared that Grover Relief Corps was especially honored: It was nearly seven years ago when this corps was organized. Mrs. Mink was then department president. The first officers of this corps were the first ones which she had ever installed, though she had been in the service nearly ten years. These officers this evening were the first ones she had installed as national president. A new ritual for the installation of officers had lately been prepared, and it was used upon this occasion for the first time.

   Mrs. Jones gave a little description of her invitation to come to Cortland this time and of her visit so far as it had then progressed, and she gave it all in rhyme. This lady frequently at meetings of the Woman's Relief Corps makes her addresses in rhyme. She never writes a word of this in advance. A request was last evening made for this address to be published in The STANDARD and at last Mrs. Jones consented to write it out for publication, making it the same as she delivered it last evening as far as her memory could recall it. It is bright and witty, and we publish it in full below.

   The other ladies responded briefly, and then Mrs. Hill called upon Capt. J. W. Strowbridge, the commandant of Grover Post. The captain was taken by surprise and tried to make a respectable retreat, as he called it, by calling upon Judge A. P. Smith to respond for him. The judge's speech was characteristic. It began and ended with fun, but sandwiched in between were some very earnest words about the Woman's Relief Corps existing in fact long before it did in name, about the sufferings of the wives left at home being often much greater than that of the [civil war] soldiers themselves, through uncertainty and lack of knowledge of what was going on at the front as well as from actual privation and want.

   Mrs. C. H. Bouton, president of the Marathon corps, was in the room and when called upon responded briefly.

   Mrs. Ella E. Kellogg, department inspector, said a few words, and was followed by Department Commander W. H. Robertson and Capt. L. M Alexander of the S. O. V., by Comrade H. M. Kellogg and Rev. L. H. Pearse.

   This ended the formal proceedings of the evening and cake and coffee were then served in the diningroom, the daughters of the veterans and of the corps assisting in the serving. After refreshments an informal reception was tendered to the distinguished guests, and a social time was in order. The evening closed by the singing of war songs in which all joined. Mrs. Phillips of Syracuse, who is possessed of a remarkably full, rich and clear contralto voice, favored the company with "The Sword of Bunker Hill." The evening was a grand success in every respect and was full of enjoyment to all who were there.

   This morning the five guests with Department Inspector Ella E. Kellogg and President Sarah L. Hill were photographed by Butler.

   Mrs. Jones' address was as follows:

   A dear little thought, last Thanksgiving day,

   Strayed forth from the heart of a friend.

   'Twas hid in a letter, superscribed to say,

   That the postmaster should to Ilion send.

   It arrived in due time, was laid on the desk

   Of the one whose address it bore,

   Who sat so weary, and longing for rest,

   Answering letters piled up by the score.

   Like a ray of sunshine, it caught her eye,

   The familiar hand-writing and seal.

   She turned it over, with a glad little cry,

   As it did the postmark, Cortland, reveal.

   It was quickly opened. Like this it read,

   To begin the New Year I have reckoned

   To dine with the state, and nation's head,

   At H. M. Kellogg's, Cortland, January second.

   Come, via Syracuse. One item more—

   Eat nothing beforehand, dinner at four.

   We obeyed directions, arrived hungry on the train,

   And feasted royally, only nothing remain;

   This evening have installed officers of the corps,

   And we mercifully hope to eat nothing more.

   But despite too much feasting and too much rhyme,

   We are having a very delightful time,

   'Tis something fulfilled of a wish long ago,

   Grover Post, Camp and Corps, better to know.

   There is one Grover [Cleveland] known the whole world o'er,

   But he is not related to this Post and Corps.

   Of the men of Grover Post, history will tell,

   They stood for their country and served it well.

   The names that are found on Grover Post roll

   Long ago were inscribed on Liberty's scroll,

   They fought for Freedom with blood, the price paid,

   The other fights pensions, ruins labor with free trade.

   Then, there is Grover Corps, loyal, loving and true,

   Living each day for the good they can do.

   Their ancestral line, we easily fix,

   From the Bunker Hill days of '76,

   Camp Kellogg too, with its bright brave youth,

   That promises rich gifts, of manhood and truth.

   We remember tonight whose name you bear—

   A previous legacy committed to your care

   That in loving remembrance you proudly wear.

   May Heaven bless all, Post, Camp and Corps,

   And bring you again to the one gone before,

   Who is waiting for you, in the Bright Evermore.

Married This Morning.

   Mr. John McGuire and Miss Josephine Dwyer were married at 9:15 o'clock this morning by Rev. J. J. McLoghlin at St. Mary's church in the presence of over one hundred relatives and friends. The bride and groom left on the 10 o'clock train this morning, amid a downpour of rice, for a week's trip to Syracuse and Rome. Both young people have many friends in Cortland, all of whom unite in congratulations. Their future home will be in Cortland.

BREVITIES.

   —A meeting of the directors of the Tioughnioga club will be held this evening.

   —An interesting article on Hawaii appears to-day on our sixth page. No one should miss it.

   —The old Giles foundry in Homer near the foot of Break hill was burned about 9 o'clock last night.

   —The Normal reopens to-morrow morning at 8:45 o'clock after the Holiday recess. All of the teachers and students are expected back to-night.

   —The Misses Hopkins on Groton-ave. yesterday picked upon their lawn a bunch of pansies. They were not as large as the spring pansies, but they certainly were wonderful pansies for a January growth.

   —The display of the aurora borealis was very brilliant in the northern sky about 10 o'clock last evening. Long rays of light shot up nearly to the zenith, and the appearance of the sky was constantly changing.

   —Mr. E. B. Richardson has secured the agency of the famous "Rambler" wheel, which has become noted of late for holding the world's record, as mounted by Michael F. Dirnberger. He expects soon to have the '94 style on exhibition. It is listed at $125 and Mr. Richardson intends to make it one of his leading wheels this season.

   —The report of the committee of the Tioughnioga club upon caring for the needy of Cortland reported last night to the whole club assembled. The committee has raised nearly $300 and with very little effort. It is at work conjointly with a committee from the King's Daughters. About a half dozen very needy and very destitute cases have been relieved. Because of the very delicate nature of these cases the committee did not report the names, and do not care to say very much about it.

A New Trap Company.

   Mr. Thos. H. Donlon of Oneida, N. Y., has been here several weeks getting out patterns for his new inventions, a barb wire stretcher and a wagon jack combined and also an improved steel trap. He has the intention of manufacturing these in one of the shops in Cortland. A number of our business men are interested in this. The company was to be called the Cortland Jack & Trap Co., but there is a little dispute between Mr. Donlon and the Kenwood Trap Co., in regard to calling this the Cortland Trap Co., as the Kenwood company bought out the Cortland company two years ago and now claim that Mr. Donlon has no right to call another company by that name. It will, however, doubtless be settled in a few days.

   It is understood that there is a movement on foot in Homer to have the works located there, as from 50 to 60 hands would be employed. Mr. Donlon is an experienced trapmaker, having been employed by the Kenwood Trap Co. for eighteen years, and four years by the Cortland Trap Co. He has made many improvements on traps and also on machinery for their manufacture.

The Elevator Fell.

   While Mr. Daniel Lee was taking up a small load of bobbins on an elevator at Wickwire's factory this morning, the elevator in some way fell just as it reached the fourth floor, a distance of about twelve feet. As it only ran between the third and fourth floors it stopped as it struck the former. Luckily the load was light, or it would probably have crushed through the floor and seriously injured Mr. Lee. As it was he suffered a very painful strain to the muscles of the right foot. Dr. A. J. White was telephoned for and he made the man as comfortable as possible. Mr. Lee was taken in a cab to his home in the Wickwire building on Main-st. and was this afternoon as comfortable as could be expected.

Died in Groton.

   Mrs. Theodore T. Barrows died at her home in Groton on Dec. 30. The funeral was held Jan. 2, and the services were conducted by Rev. E. A. Baldwin, pastor of the M. E. church of Groton. She was a faithful and devoted member of the Congregational church in Groton. She leaves a husband, a son and four daughters to mourn her loss.