DEATH OF DANIEL J. SPERRY AND BIRTH OF THE DAILY STANDARD

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, March 11, 1892.

Death of Daniel J. Sperry.

   Daniel J. Sperry, for many years a resident of this county, died at his home in Syracuse last Saturday afternoon aged 76 years. His illness dated from the previous morning, when he was obliged to take to his bed, and his death was caused by apoplexy. For many years he was the successful proprietor of the hotel in Cincinnatus.

   Soon after the [civil] war he purchased the old Central Hotel on Court St. in this village, which he conducted with profit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public. In 1871 or thereabouts he rebuilt the hotel and called it the Sperry House. While rebuilding his customers were forced to patronize other houses and many of them never returned to him. The house was managed by himself and his son-in-law, the late Wm. F. Burdick and was well patronized, but for some reason the business was not successful and Mr. Sperry retired from its management some ten or twelve years ago. Six years ago he moved to Syracuse where he has been engaged in conducting a boarding house with profit to himself.

   "Dan," as he was familiarly called by all of his acquaintances, was a genius in his way and had many warm friends throughout Central New York. He was a capital story teller and entertained his guests with quaint, curious and droll yarns, mostly from his own experience in life, that always proved entertaining and enjoyable. Mr. Sperry was a natural wit and had gained considerable of a reputation as an after dinner speaker. Had he possessed the benefit of an early education he would undoubtedly have been noted in some of the more prominent walks of life.

   He was a genial companion and a sincere friend and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. He leaves a widow, one son and a daughter. The remains were brought to Cortland for interment [in Cortland Rural Cemetery] and the funeral was held on Tuesday afternoon from the Cortland House.

The Daily Standard.

   The Daily Standard made its first appearance last Tuesday afternoon [March 8, 1892]. It is a very cleanly printed sheet and makes a neat appearance. The local news is carefully collected and well-edited and the miscellany is well-selected. The telegraph reports are not quite as full and complete as we expected to see, but this difficulty will undoubtedly be overcome in the near future. We think if the proprietors had changed the heading and in other ways undertaken to make the paper as unlike the weekly as possible, it would have been an improvement. The paper ought to "fill the long felt want" of those of our citizens who have long been crying for a reputable daily in Cortland. The evening Standard is deserving at success as a business venture and the DEMOCRAT hopes it will prove to be a silver mine at least.

Another Brutal Assault.

(Homer Republican, March 3.)

   Last Saturday night an unknown man rapped at the door of John Annewalt, an old gentleman who has lived alone at his home above the pump house on Hudson street since the death of his wife a few months since. Mr. Annewalt opened the door in response to the knock when his guest pushed past him and forced him into a corner of the room. He then blew out the light and was evidently bent on an assault. Mr. Annewalt has plenty of coinage and he seized a butcher knife and stood his ground. His visitor evidently thought discretion the better part of valor and walked out. In some way Mr. Annewalt received a cut on the left side of his head two or three inches long, either from his knife accidentally cutting him during the squabble, or by a blow from some sharp instrument in the hand of his assailant. Mr. Annewalt says another man was waiting outside the house for the man who thus attacked him. After the departure of the brute, who probably was bent on robbery, Mr. Annewalt fainted from the effects of his wound but soon recovered. No clue to the identity of the cowardly assailant was obtained, except Mr. Annewalt’s statement that he was a short man and wore a gray coat.

County Court and Court of Sessions.

   The March term of the County Court and Court of Sessions opened at the Court House in this village last Monday, with Hon. J. E. Eggleston, County Judge presiding, with T. O. Brown and J. B. Hills, Justices of Sessions. The following business was transacted.

   The first civil action tried was an action brought by Henry Felkel against A. B. Frazier. The plaintiff sued to recover for labor. Defendant is the proprietor of the Central meat market on Court street. Felkel claimed that he agreed to work for defendant for $11 per week but was to be paid only $10 per week, the balance to be paid at the end of his term of service. He worked fifty-one weeks and quit. Defendant refused to pay the extra dollar per week on the ground that he was hired for a year and quit before his time was out. Defendant also set up as a counter claim that Felkel had collected $8.38 which he had not turned over. The jury found a verdict of $52.50 for plaintiff. James Dougherty appeared for plaintiff, and Smith & Dickinson for defendant.

   The Standard Fertilizing Co., brought an action against William J. Corcoran of Solon, to recover $213 for goods entrusted to defendant to sell. The Jury found a verdict for plaintiffs for $213.40. Haskell & Coley for plaintiff, and Jas. Dougherty for defendant.

   The case of the People against Hiram Baker, indicted for the abduction of Maggie Sullivan on Dec. 3, 1891, a full account of which appeared exclusively in the DEMOCRAT, published the following morning, was the next case tried. Defendant was found guilty and the court sentenced him to three years and four months in Auburn prison. District Attorney Squires for the People, E. K. Mellon for defendant.

Leap Year Party.

   The leap year party given by the wives of members of Vesta Lodge in the lodge rooms on Friday evening, Feb. 26, was a grand success in every respect. Seventy couples were in the grand march and all took part in the dance which followed to the music of Adams' orchestra. Refreshments were served at eleven o'clock and the festivities were prolonged until a late hour.

   The gentlemen admit that every attention possible was shown them and that the wants of none were in the least respect neglected, which is possibly more than the ladles could say when the gentlemen manage. Mrs. Hitt, Mrs. Hyde, Mrs. Eddy, Mrs. Medes. Mrs. McElbeney and Mrs. Leach had charge of the party.

The Fine Arts.

   Miss Augusta Hyde has been spending the winter in New York, working enthusiastically in her chosen field of art, devoting most of her time to china and tapestry painting. Some of her most valuable pieces have been sold in New York, but she has brought home enough examples to illustrate the wonderful magic of brush and color in the hands of an artist. 

   New York city papers made special mention of Miss Hyde's china and tapestry as shown at a recent art exhibition in that city. She had daily private instructions in china with a teacher who was two years in the Sevres factory in France, and also in Stoke on Trent. She is a charter member if the "Society of New York City Ceramics." In the tapestry, she had daily practice with Madame Dart, the leading tapestry painter in the United States, who has decorated some of the finest interiors in New York and Chicago. A tapestry which has been on exhibition in Sloan's window [in New York City], we understand Miss Hyde will soon place on exhibition in Cortland.

NEIGHBORING COUNTIES.

   TOMPKINS.—The census shows Dryden to have a population of 744.

   Corporation election, Tuesday, March 15th, at Nye's Hall, Groton.

  A bill appropriating $5,000 to dredge Ithaca Inlet has passed the assembly without opposition.

   During the last eight years there have been 1088 deaths in Ithaca, of which 45 were from cancer.

   Patrick Shannon and Collingwood B. Brown have been appointed loan commissioners of Tompkins county.

   The apportionment of school moneys to this county for the school year ending July 25, 1892, is $28,577.43, of which Ithaca’s share is $6,780.69 apportioned as follows: to teachers, $3,700; to population, $2,488.33; library $72.36; supervision, $800.

   The state of affairs between the sophomores and freshmen in Cornell University reached a culmination Friday evening, Feb. 26, when freshmen held their banquet at Clinton Hall. For some little time there had been signs of the coming conflict and warlike preparations had been made. The windows of Clinton had been covered with building paper and the main entrance guarded by policemen, and the banquet was progressing finely when the crowd outside pelted the building with apples, potatoes and stones, breaking window panes on the east side of the hall. The policemen outside could do nothing with the crowd. Officer Miller was rolled in the mud, a club snatched from Officer Shannon, and Officer Clapps' overcoat torn to pieces. Rotten eggs, bottles of … and a live skunk were some of the weapons used to overcome opponents. The authorities are very indignant over the whole matter.