Saturday, June 14, 2014

Another Fire in Cortland



The Cortland News, Friday, December 7, 1883.
Another Fire.
   About 2 P. M. Tuesday, the family of W. D. Lord, who occupy a house in rear of the Normal School building, discovered a fire in progress in their upper rooms, and sent a little girl to the school building, who informed Mr. Gooding, the janitor, and he, finding that it promised to be serious, sent one of the students to strike the fire alarm. The firemen and citizens were soon at work, the steamer throwing water and the fire soon under control, but the house was much damaged from water, fire, and the cutting of the outside and roof in order to reach the flames, which had spread in all directions. The furniture on the lower floor was mostly saved but damaged, but a good deal in the chambers was lost.
   The fire originated in a room on the second floor occupied by Miss Fannie Spaulding, a Normal student, and is supposed to have caught from a spark thrown out by the stove and communicated with the woodwork of a door by means of the carpet. Miss Spaulding was at school, at the time, and we learn lost her clothing. There was no insurance on the furniture, but the house, owned by Mrs. S. M. Byram, of East River, was insured for $1,000, which covers the loss.

Settlement of Losses.
   The adjusters of the companies in which the sufferers by the Cortland House fire were insured, have been in Cortland the past week and paid Mr. D. E. Kinney his own figures as appraised at by a carpenter—$643.01; Dorr C. Smith, eleven dollars more than he claimed, or $100; R. Beard & Son, full insurance, $4,000; R. B. Fletcher, $400, damage on goods; Mrs. Porter, $175, damage on goods; J. S. Barber, $6,000, full amount of insurance.

Corporation Proceedings.
   Regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees held at Firemen's Hall, Monday evening, December 3, 1883. Present—A. Mahan, President; D. E. Smith, G. W. Bradford, T. Stevenson, Trustees.
   The following bills were allowed and ordered paid:
James [Keefer?], lighting lamps, $6.25
Steven Simmons,    "                    $4.00
Homer & Cortland Gas Co.,
coal for engine,                            $24.97
Homer & Cortland Gas Co.,
gas for fire engine house,               $9.00
Homer & Cortland Gas Co.,
gas for streets,                               $93.00
Clifton Halcomb, lighting lamps,  $5.83
E. H. Brewer, labor and material
for H. & L. Co.,                              $4.48
K. M. Stanton, watchman at fire,   $2.00
John Dalton,                                 $2.00
S. A. Williams, breakfast for
Homer firemen and others ,            [?]
John Garrity, taking Homer hose
cart to Homer,                               $3.00
Jay Baker, lighting lamps,           $12.50
Dr. C. E. Bennett, sanitary,            $3.25
Sager & Jennings, materials
for department,                              $5.48
Fred E. Knight, engineer,
fixing grades of streets,                $11.00
John Heber, engineer,                  $50.00
          material bought for steamer $.50
O. Delevan, carting coal,                $1.50
G. H. Nottingham, repairing ladder $.75
J. J. Davern, street commissioner $40.25
                    labor on wells,           $5.25
Patrick Kane, labor on Streets,     $20.62
             "         labor on wells,         $4.50
John Quinlan, labor on streets,     $21.75
             "          labor on wells,        $4.50
William Nash, labor on streets,    $23.25
                "       labor on wells,        $3.00
Andrew Stout and team, labor on streets, $11.12
Patrick Garrity,                      "                  $23.62
John Kane,                             "                  $25.13
Smith & Kingsbury, materials and labor
for fire department,                                   $41.00.
   It was moved and carried that Corporation Engineer Fred E. Knight be authorized to make a survey of the proposed Street, Graham avenue (so-called).
   On motion it was
   Resolved, That the Fire Department of Homer village be requested to present to this Board for audit and payment their bill for their valuable services rendered at the recent [Cortland House] fire in this village, and that the Clerk of this Board forward a copy of this resolution to the President and Trustees of said village of Homer.
   On motion it was ordered that the warrant of the corporation collector for the collection of taxes be extended until the close of the next meeting of this Board, on the first Monday in January next.
   It was moved and carried that Messrs. Smith and Wells, of this Board, be appointed a committee to adjust with Messrs. Smith & Snyder, in the matter of a claim presented by them against the village for stone in the crossing at the east end of Arthur avenue, recently accepted by the village.
   On motion it was
   Resolved, That the revisers of the village charter present a rough draft of the new proposed charter of the village at the next regular meeting of the Board of Trustees, on the first Monday in January next.
   On motion, meeting adjourned.
F. HATCH, Clerk.
Cortland, N. Y., Dec. 3, 1883.

CORTLAND AND VICINITY.
   The Board of Supervisors adjourned Wednesday morning, until next week Wednesday.
   The firm of A. P. and D. E. Smith will, on the first of January, remove their office to rooms in the Moore building, adjoining the offices of Smith & Eggleston.
   Business bids fair to boom at the U. I. & E. R. R. shops. Fifty-five workmen are already employed there and fourteen families have taken up their residence in Cortland.
   Mr. R. B. Fletcher desires to express his sincere thanks to the firemen of Homer and Cortland, and to the citizens, for the zealous aid afforded him on the occasion of the recent fire.
   Subscribers to the fund for the removal of the U. I. & E. R'y [Utica, Ithaca & Elmira Railway] repair shops to Cortland may now pay their subscription to Mr. E. A. Fish, at his office in Schermerhorn block.
   Mr. Jacob Grassman, barber, who occupied the basement of the Cortland House previous to the fire, has entered the employ of Seaman & St. Peters in the Squires building, where his friends will hereafter find him.
   The ladies of the Presbyterian church will hold a sale of dolls in the church parlors, on Wednesday afternoon and evening, Dec. 12. A novel feature of the entertainment will be the exhibition of a singing doll. Supper will be served from 5:30 o'clock through the evening. Admission, 10 cents.
   Mr. R. B. Fletcher, undertaker, who was compelled by the Barber block fire to change his location, has moved into D. E. Kinney's building on Groton avenue, where he may be found during business hours. Mr. Fletcher has on hand a large lot of tables and chairs to rent for parties, suppers, etc.
   Mr. Delos Sanders, on the first of January, will take possession of the rooms now occupied by S. S. Knox, Esq., the County Judge elect, in which he will establish a first-class watch and jewelry store. Mr. Sanders is well known to our people as an honorable, reliable dealer, and a fine workman.
   Warren & Tanner are having a large carpet room fitted up over their store, so that hereafter they will occupy the same space on the second floor that they do on the first. This will add much needed facilities, as the immense stock of goods they carry has been confined in too narrow limits for their own needs and the convenience of their customers.
   The Tempest Hose boys, of Homer, N. Y., drew their cart from Homer to Cortland last Wednesday morning to assist their brother firemen in Cortland in subduing the large conflagration [Cortland House] that had broken out in that village. Although this distance is nearly three miles and they carried 550 feet of hose, the run was made in a very short space of time.—Bing. Rep. And they worked like heroes after they arrived. Oh, they are the boys to tie to. [Dated autographs of Tempest Hose decorate the ticket booth of the old Keator Opera House on the second floor of the Keator block in Homer--CC editor.]
   It is expected that trains will be running between Syracuse and Buffalo on the West Shore Road by December 15.
   It is something of a sight to look at the great piles of goods in Mr. I. Whiteson's large store in the Calvert Block, and this winter weather makes a person feel like doing just what Mr. W. wants him to do—buy and wear. The magnificent and varied stock makes it almost an impossibility for a man to fail in finding suits to suit him, as the prices certainly will, and the inducements offered at the Philadelphia Clothing House of I. Whiteson in his advertisement elsewhere are such as must cause his store to be filled with customers.
   A telegram having been received by District-Attorney Palmer that H. J. Fox, the Willett incendiary, had been found in Atlanta, Ga., the Board of Supervisors authorized Mr. Palmer to offer a reward for his recovery and to pay expenses for bringing Fox to Cortland, and Sheriff Borthwick left last Friday for Atlanta, requisition papers having in the meantime been obtained from Gov. Cleveland. A dispatch from Atlanta, published elsewhere in this paper, tells how Fox was discovered. Later—Sheriff Borthwick arrived with Fox this morning, having left Atlanta Tuesday evening.

Joseph Cook’s Lecture.
   It has been a long time since Cortland people have had the opportunity of listening to a thoroughly good lecture. We learn with pleasure, therefore, that on Friday evening, Dec. 21. 1883, Joseph Cook, of Boston, will deliver, in Taylor Hall, his celebrated lecture, "Does Death End All?" The public are indebted for this intellectual treat to the Young Men's Debating Club, under whose management the lecture will be given. Mr. Cook is too well known to need the encomiums showered upon him by the press or the unlimited praise given him by eminent men. He is truly a wonderful man, and as a lecturer and orator has no superior if any equals, on the American platform. His subject is in his special line—the relations of science to religion, and every one who hears it will be benefited, as well as interested.
   Opening sale of tickets, Saturday evening, Dec. 8, in the Presbyterian chapel. Price of reserved seats, 75 cents. General admission, 50 cents.

No comments:

Post a Comment