Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday,
January 8, 1895.
JAPAN'S
BARBARISM.
TURNED A
GLORIOUS VICTORY INTO AWFUL CARNAGE.
English
and American Correspondents Unite In Denouncing the Butchery of Helpless
Captives—The Atrocities of Port Arthur Retold.
LONDON, Jan. 8.—The Times today publishes a
letter from Kobe, Japan, describing the Port Arthur atrocities. The writer says:
"The English and American military attaches
witnessed the scene from Boulder hill and were equally amazed and horrified as
myself at what they described as a gratuitous ebullition of barbarism.
"The atrocities were not confined to
Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent by the soldiery
from dawn to dark in murder and pillage, in mutilation of every conceivable
kind, and in nameless atrocities until the town became a ghastly inferno, to be
remembered with a fearsome shudder until one's dying day.
"The corpses of women, children and men
were strewn in the streets in hundreds, perhaps thousands, for we could not
count them, some with not a limb unsevered; some with heads hacked, cut crosswise
or split lengthwise; some ripped open, not by chance but with careful
precision, down and across, disemboweled and dismembered, with occasionally a dagger
or bayonet thrust into the lower part of the trunk.
"I saw groups of prisoners tied
together in a bunch with their hands behind their backs, riddled with bullets
for five minutes and then hewn to pieces.
"I saw a junk stranded on the beach, filled
with fugitives of both sexes and all ages, struck by volley after volley, until
I can say no more of all the awful sights of those four days. Why repeat them
all in painful detail?"
Events in
China.
PARIS, Jan. 8.—A dispatch from Shanghai states
that the Chinese envoys appointed to negotiate peace with Japan are instructed
to accede to no demands for the surrender of Chinese territory. They will treat
only on the basis of granting independence to Corea and paying an indemnity to
Japan.
The dispatch adds that the two Chinese generals,
Chiang and Chen, who were reported by Li Hung Chang as having died heroically while
facing the enemy at Port Arthur, have turned up unscratched.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
It would be interesting to know what sort of
a pull the great armor plate manufacturing companies have with the United
States government. The public wondered that the investigation of armor plate scandals of a year ago practically ended in nothing, and now when a batch of
plating has been accepted by the government, although the specimen tested was
penetrated by a ball, it would once more like to be able to understand what the
pull is. In accepting the armor the secretary of the navy decided that the
ballistic test was unusually severe, and at the same time the plate tried was
unusually weak; therefore he would lump the difference and take the lot.
But how will this decision affect the
reputation abroad of our armor plate, now recognized to be the best in the
world? It will not be so considered long under the ballistic strain of such
decisions as this. At any time in a naval battle an enemy's shelling might be
just as severe as that in the test; likewise a section of armor plate might
easily "happen" to be just as weak as that one recently tried.
What a fool it must make of a man to be an
emperor! William of Germany wrote a common little bit of verse called "A
Song to Aegir,'' the pagan lord of fruits. Immediately his subjects
flattered him as though he had been greater than Goethe or Schiller, and 17
toadies in one week named their newly born sons "Aegir."
WOULD
NOT CHEER FOR WILLIAM.
Herr
Singer, the Socialist Who Recently Created a Sensation in the Reichstag.
Herr Paul Singer, the socialist leader in
the German reichstag, who recently refused to cheer Emperor William, has long
been a successful business man in Berlin.
When President von Levetzow of the reichstag sternly censured the socialists because
they did not rise to their feet in company with the other members and cheer the
monarch who seems even at this late day to believe that the king can do no
wrong, Herr Singer promptly retorted that he would never join in cheering for a
man who told his soldiers that at his command they must fire upon their fellow
citizens. This declaration caused a great uproar, and the prosecution of Herr
Singer for lese majestie, or high treason, is within the possibilities.
Herr Singer has represented one of the
Berlin doctoral districts as a socialist since 1884 and has been "agin the
government" for many years. He is described as being very successful in business,
very obstinate, very shrewd, very charitable and very courageous. He is a
Hebrew and has made a fortune in the manufacturing business, which he followed
until his temporary expulsion from Berlin eight years ago. Since then he has
devoted himself to political affairs and has been a thorn in the side of the
government.
A few years ago he became interested in the
founding of a refuge for the homeless people of Berlin. This place provided
shelter for all comers and did not require a certificate of good character on
the part of the applicant. The refuge was a great success until the Berlin
police began searching it frequently for suspicious characters. This procedure
caused a decided falling off in the patronage, and Herr Singer informed the
chief of police that the officers of the refuge would no longer tolerate the
visits of his officers. "If you do not give me your pledge that their surveillance
will cease, we shall close the refuge at once," he said. As the refuge was
doing a great deal of good in Berlin, the chief was compelled to give the
required pledge.
THE
POWER HOUSE.
Work
Being Pushed Hard to Complete the Electric Railroad.
A STANDARD reporter, in company with
Superintendent L. D. Garrison, this morning took a trip to the new power house
of the Cortland & Homer Traction Co. It is a very busy place and
work is being pushed forward with all speed for the completion of the building
and its equipments. The house is located beside the Tioughnioga river and
adjoining the D., L. & W.
R. R. at the second railroad bridge between Cortland and Homer. The house
itself is of brick, one story high with an iron truss frame and a slate roof.
It consists of two buildings joined together in the form of a letter T. The
main building which forms the top of the letter T is 50 by 80 feet in size and
will be the engine room. The wing is 40 by 67 feet in size. Adjoining the
engine room is the condensing room 12 by 40 feet in size. The east end of this
building adjacent to the railroads tracks is used for a boiler room, which is
47 by 40 feet in size.
The foundations are laid for all the machinery
which is to be used in the plant. Two of the large boilers are already in place
and work will begin to-morrow upon setting the other two, all of which are
125-horse power. They are to be run under a forced draught and will carry a
pressure of 150 pounds to the square inch. They are manufactured by the Watertown
Steam Engine Co. of Watertown, N. Y. The McClave grates with which all these
boilers are fitted are a special feature of them and will greatly aid in
economy of fuel.
In the condensing room are two Worthington
compound condensing engines. The water which is used is pumped up from a well
which has been dug on the south side of the building. This is seven feet in
diameter. It is dug lower than the bed of the river, which is only a few rods
away and receives its water from the river. It is connected with the river by
an eight-inch pipe and the water
flows from the river into the well by force of gravity.
None of the engines have yet been located in
the engine room, but everything is ready for them, There are to be four new
tandem, compound condensing engines of 150-horse power each and the two engines
of 63-horse power each which are now used at the electric light station will be
transferred to the new engine house as soon as possible. The new engines are
also to be furnished by the Watertown Steam Engine Co. The new engines will be
fitted with high pressure cylinders eleven inches in diameter and low pressure
cylinders twenty inches in diameter. The stroke will be fourteen inches. It is expected
that the new engines will arrive in about two weeks. Everything looks now as
though it would be possible to get the electric cars in operation about Feb. 1.
In case other things are ready and a delay
would be likely to be caused by the failure of the new engines to appear, the
Watertown company have an engine that they can and will ship to Cortland on two
days notice. It will take but a few days to set it up and it can be used
temporarily until the regular engines are ready.
The work of setting up the machinery is
being conducted under the supervision of Mr. C. N. Walsh, a representative of the
Watertown company. This gentleman kindly took especial pains to explain to the
reporter the plans for the operation of all the machinery. Mr. Walsh says that
when completed the plant will be one of the finest in the country for one of
its size and it will be fitted with everything needed for economical and
effective service.
The buildings present a fine appearance from
the outside. They are handsomely constructed, all the trimmings being of yellow
Milwaukee brick. The large smokestack, 110 feet high, is a conspicuous object
for a long distance away. The D., L & W. R. R. have put in a switch which
runs to the door of the boiler room.
At the old car barn various repairs are in
progress to fit them for the reception of the electric cars. It is necessary to
be able to get under the cars, so that in the car shed all the dirt to a depth
of three feet has been removed. The tracks are now placed upon a kind of
trestle. It has also been necessary to raise the roof of this building and to
cut the doors higher to admit the trolleys which extend to the wires above the
cars.
Stretching
the Trolley Wires.
A gang of men is to-day engaged in putting
up the trolley wires for the new electric railroad. It is done very rapidly. A
start was made at the E., C. & N. station this morning and about three-fourths
of a mile will be up before night. A huge derrick and platform mounted on a
wagon forms a place for the men to work upon who are attaching it to the cross
wires. A pair of horses moves this along as rapidly as is desired. A second
team with the reel of copper wire precedes the derrick and furnishes the wire
as fast as it is needed. A great crowd of spectators is all the time watching
the work with interest.
Workmen are to-day engaged in laying a
railroad track in the yards of the Cortland
Omnibus and Cab Co. upon which to run out the new electric cars that are to be
delivered in a day or two to the Cortland and Homer Traction Co. The car tracks
on Railroad and Church-sts. and Clinton-ave. which have not yet been used and
which will be put into use very soon are being cleared from snow.
A mail and baggage car that has been used
for a short time at Ithaca this morning arrived in town on a flat car on the E.,
C. & N. R. R. and
was this afternoon run up to the car barns.
Sleighride
to Higginsville.
Thirty-two couples left Cortland at 5:30
o'clock yesterday afternoon in three large sleighs and a number of private rigs
for Higginsville, where they arrived at 6:30 o'clock and found a fine supper awaiting
them, Daniels' orchestra furnished music for dancing, which was indulged in
till 11 o'clock, when the party left for home, arriving here after a most
delightful ride at midnight.
BREVITIES.
—The coal business on the D., L. & W. is
showing quite an increase.
—Geneva wants to be a city. They will make
application to the present legislature.
—The Empire club will meet this evening to
make arrangements for its entertainment.
—Sheriff Hilsinger made his first arrest last
night in placing P. J. Collins in the jail to sober up. Justice Bull sentenced him
to three days or three dollars and, not having the latter, he is serving the
former.
—At the annual meeting of the C. A. A. last
evening an amount of routine business was disposed of. Messrs. Harry Lucas, C.
E Rowley and F. B. Lampman were appointed a finance committee for the ensuing
year.
—The monthly bulletin of the New York state
board of health, for November 1894, just issued, gives only five villages or
cities in the state a lower death rate for that month than Cortland. Either our
climate must be very healthful, or our citizens very tough, or our doctors very
good—or perhaps all these three agencies combine to make Cortland one of the
most healthful as well as one of the most beautiful villages in the state.
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