 |
| Frederick Douglass. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday,
February 21, 1895.
FREED FROM
ALL BONDS.
Fred
Douglass, the Ex-Slave, Is Dead.
DEATH
GAVE NO WARNING SIGN.
The Aged
Freedman Seized With Sudden Illness While Conversing With His
Wife and
Expires In a Few Moments. Sketch of the Dead Man's Career From
Slavery
to High Social and Political Position.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21.—Frederick Douglass, the
noted freedman, orator and diplomat, died a few minutes before 7 o'clock last
night at his residence in Anacostia, a suburb of this city, of heart failure.
His death was entirely unexpected, as he had been enjoying the best of health.
During the afternoon he attended the convention of the Women of the United
States, now in progress in this city, and chatted with Miss Susan B. Anthony
and others of the leading members with whom he had been on intimate terms for
many years.
When he returned home he said nothing of any
feeling of illness, though he appeared to be a little exhausted from the climb
up the steep flights of steps leading from the street to the house, which is on
a high terrace. He sat down and chatted with his wife about the women at the
convention, telling of various things that had been said and done.
Suddenly he gasped, clapped his hand to his
heart and fell back unconscious. A doctor was hastily summoned and arrived
within a very few moments, but his efforts to revive Mr. Douglass were hopeless
from the first. Within 20 minutes after the attack the faint motion of the heart
ceased entirely, and the great ex-slave statesman was dead.
Mr. Douglass leaves two sons and a daughter,
the children of his first wife. His second
wife, who is a white woman, survives him.
The story of his second marriage was a
romantic one. Miss Helen Pitts, whom he married, was a New England woman of
middle age, a clerk in the office of the recorder of deeds in the District of
Columbia when Mr. Douglass was appointed to that office. She was also a member
of a literary society to which he belonged.
They were thrown much together and finally
became engaged. Her relatives opposed the match bitterly on account of his
color, but finally yielded to force of circumstances.
Some of them have for some time been living
at the Douglass home on Anacostia Heights.
Frederick Douglass was born near Easton,
Talbot county, Maryland, in February, 1817. His mother was a negro slave and
his father a white man. At the age of 10 he was sent to Baltimore where he
learned to read and write. His master allowed him to hire his own time for $3 a
week and he was employed in a shipyard.
In September, 1838, he fled from Baltimore
and made his way to New York. Hence he
went to New Bedford, Mass., where he married and lived for two or three years,
supporting himself by day labor on the wharves and in various workshops. While
there he changed his name to Douglass. He had previously been called Lloyd,
from the name of his old master. He was aided in his efforts for self-education
by William Lloyd Garrison.
In the summer of 1841 he attended an
antislavery convention at Nantucket and made a speech which was so well
received that he was offered the agency of the Massachusetts Antislavery
society.
In this capacity he travelled and lectured
through the New England states for four years. Large audiences were attracted
by his graphic descriptions of slavery and his eloquent appeals. At this time
he published his first book, entitled, "Narrative
of My Experience In Slavery."
In 1845 he went to Europe and lectured on
slavery to enthusiastic audiences in nearly all of the large towns of Great
Britain. In 1846 his friends in England raised a purse of $750 to purchase his
freedom in due form of law.
He remained two years in Great Britain and
in 1847 began at Rochester, N. Y., the publication of Frederick Douglass' Paper, whose title was afterwards changed to The North Star. In 1856 he published "My Bondage and My Freedom."
In 1859 the John Brown riots took place in
Virginia. He was supposed to be implicated in these, and Governor Wise of Virginia
made requisition for his arrest upon the governor of Michigan, in which state
he then was. To avoid difficulty Mr. Douglass went to England, where he remained
for six or eight months. He then returned to Rochester and continued the
publication of his paper.
When the civil war began in 1861 he urged
upon President Lincoln the employment of colored troops and the issuance of a
proclamation of emancipation. In 1863, when it was at last decided to employ
such troops, he gave his assistance in enlisting men for such regiments, especially
in the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Massachusetts.
After the abolition of slavery he
discontinued the publication of his paper and applied himself to the
preparation and delivery of lyceum lectures.
In September, 1870, be became editor of The New National Era in Washington. This
was afterwards continued by his sons, Lewis and Frederick.
In 1871 he was appointed assistant secretary
to the commission to San Domingo. On his return President Grant appointed him one
of the territorial council for the District of Columbia.
In 1872 he was elected presidential elector
at large for the state of New York and was appointed to carry the electoral
vote of the state to Washington.
In 1876 he was appointed United States
Marshal for the District of Columbia. After this he became recorder of deeds
for the District of Columbia, from which office he was removed by President
Cleveland in 1886.
In the autumn of that year he revisited
England to inform the friends whom he had made while a fugitive slave of the
progress of the African race in the United States.
After his return to the United States he was
appointed minister to Hayti by President Harrison in 1889. He was sent to Hayti
in a United States man-of-war. He arrived in Hayti on Oct. 8, 1889, just as the
country was emerging from one of the most exciting revolutions that it had witnessed
for years.
The government existing upon his arrival was
simply provisional and even after the new president took office, there was some
delay in the arrival and presentation of his credentials.
These circumstances gave rise in the United
States to persistent rumors that the Haytian government had refused to receive
Mr. Douglass on account of his color. This was authoritatively denied, however,
and Mr. Douglass was finally received.
The Haytian ministry was the last position in
the gift of the United States held by Mr. Douglass.
In 1892, Hayti made an appropriation of
money for the Columbian exposition at Chicago and appointed Mr. Douglass the senior
of her two commissioners to the exposition.
Since the close of the exposition Mr.
Douglass has lived quietly in Washington without engaging in any special
business. His wealth is variously estimated at from $100,000 to $200,000.
FOREIGN
EVENTS.
Doings
of the Day In Various Lands Beyond the Waters.
YOKOHAMA, Feb. 21.—The bill which it was
announced yesterday the government would submit to parliament, asking for a
fresh appropriation on account of the war with China, was presented to the
house. The amount asked for is 100,000,000 yen.
If this sum should be voted by parliament it
would make the total amount already appropriated 250,000,000 yen.
It is officially announced that the entire
Japanese fleet entered the harbor of Wei Hai Wei on Sunday. The forts, the
torpedo boats, the garrison and 10 warships have been handed over to the
Japanese.
After their surrender, the warship Kwang Chi
was disarmed by the Japanese and tendered to the Chinese for the conveyance to
Chefoo of the body of Admiral Ting, the Chinese naval commander, who committed
suicide when he found that the surrender of Wei Hal Wei was inevitable.
THE WOMAN'S PAPER.
TO-MORROW
IS THE EVENTFUL DAY OP PUBLICATION.
Everything
Points to a Great Success—Furnish News to the Woman Reporters To-morrow.
To-morrow is the eventful day when the
Ladies' Auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. are to publish the sixteen-page edition of
the Cortland daily STANDARD. They
have worked hard and faithfully and success seems about to crown their efforts.
The copy is all in, except the local and telegraphic news of the day. The
editor-in-chief, Mrs. C. C. Darby, who has worked steadily and constantly from
the beginning, has taken time by the forelock and has her editorial work all
done. And fortunate it is, for it appears true that even editors are not proof
against attacks of the grip. To-day she is confined to her bed with this
uncomfortable epidemic and has the unpleasant thought that she cannot be on
hand to-morrow and see the first copy of the woman's paper fall from the press.
She can, however, have the consolation of knowing that she is not alone in her
editorial trouble and that the editor-in-chief of The STANDARD (as published on
other days) is similarly afflicted in another part of the town. But so well has
she done her work that the paper will appear just as expected and just as she
had arranged, under the direction of the efficient managing editor, Mrs. J. W.
Keese.
To-morrow the woman reporters will cover the
news of the village and everyone who has an "item" or can find one
will confer a favor by remembering it and giving it to them as they appear at
the various sources of news.
The edition will be 7,000 copies and over
6,000 of these are already spoken and paid for.
The one thing unfavorable to The STANDARD
about this woman's edition is that the woman editors will to-morrow set the
pace so brisk that it will hereafter put the regular staff to shame in its
efforts to keep up with them.
CITIZENS'
MEETING.
Resolutions
Looking Toward the Enforcement of Law.
There was a meeting of citizens of Cortland
in the Y. M. C. A. parlor yesterday afternoon held to consider the best means
of securing an enforcement of the law. Prof D. L. Bardwell was chairman and B.
T. Wright secretary. There was a large attendance. Speeches were made by a
number of gentlemen. The following resolutions were unanimously adopted:
WHEREAS, It is of the highest importance to
the welfare of this community that the illegal sale of intoxicating
drinks should be suppressed and the prevailing immorality and drunkenness
should be abated, and
WHEREAS, About two years ago a determined
but unsuccessful attempt to enforce the law was made by private citizens, in
which they expended a large amount of money and by which they suffered personal
loss and great inconvenience unjust to require of private individuals, and
WHEREAS, The village charter declares it
shall be the duty of the president "to
see that the laws of the state, applicable to this village * * * * are
faithfully and impartially executed, to institute prosecutions in the corporate
name for violations thereof;" and
WHEREAS, It is clear that the only just,
proper and certain way to attain the result desired would be to secure a
village administration in full sympathy with this object and definitely pledged
to use every lawful and reasonable effort to secure it; and
WHEREAS, A committee of well-known and
highly esteemed citizens waited upon the Republican league of Cortland and in
the most respectful and urgent way attempted to secure from them, as the
leaders of the dominant party in the village, assurances that they would use
their influence to secure the nomination of Republican candidates for president
and trustees at the approaching charter election who would be expected, if
elected, to enforce the excise laws; and
WHEREAS, The Republican league definitely
and positively refused to give any such assurances; and
WHEREAS, There is no Democratic organization
in the village before whom a similar request could be made, therefore
Resolved, That a call is hereby made for the people of Cortland irrespective of
party affiliations to assemble in convention, at a time and place to be
hereafter fixed to take the proper and legal course for putting in nomination a
citizens' ticket of men who shall be thoroughly identified with all the
business interests of the community, fully competent to carry forward the
important improvements now in progress and who, if elected, will impartially
enforce the law, said ticket to be voted on at the village election to be held
March 12, 1895.
BREVITIES.
—The Alpha C. L. S. C. will meet at Mrs. J.
O. Reid's, 128 Main-st., Monday evening, Feb. 25.
—The King's Daughters will meet with Mrs. A.
M. Johnson, 54 N. Main-st., Friday, Feb. 22, at 2:30 P. M.
—Last evening Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Doubleday
entertained a number of their friends at an elaborate 6 o'clock tea, after
which the evening was spent in a pleasant social way.
—The postoffice will be open to-morrow,
Washington's birthday, from 7 to 10 A. M. and from 5:30 to 7 P. M. The carriers
will make one complete delivery in the morning and the evening the mail will
close at 7 o'clock.
—A military social will be held in
Hulbert's hall to-morrow afternoon and evening. Supper will be served from 5:30
to 8 o'clock. The children's program will begin at 3 o'clock and a beautiful
drill will be given by the little girls at 4 o'clock.
—The Salvation Army will open their work in
Cortland Saturday evening in Collins'
hall at 31 1/2 Main-st., the former headquarters of the W. C. T. U. Adj. J. C.
Smith of Syracuse, Capt. George Humphreys and wife and Cadet Myrtle Hayes
assisted by a few others will be present.
—Mahan's twenty-first music festival will
be held at the Cortland Opera House June 3 to 7 inclusive. Dr. H. R. Palmer
will conduct, and some of the world's greatest artists will assist at the
concerts, of which full particulars will be announced, when all the engagements
are completed.
—The breaking of one of the large belts at
the electric light station on Elm-st. about half past 10 o'clock last night was
the cause of the arc lights in the central part of the town going out earlier
than usual. One end of the broken belt struck a window in the east side of the
building and demolished nearly every pane of glass, No further damage was done.
—All the engines and nearly all the machinery
for running the electric lights have been removed from the electric light
station on Elm-st. to the power house. The Homer circuit, the arc lights in the
north part of Cortland and the incandescent lights are now run from the central
station. The remaining machinery will be removed during the next few days.
—George C. Hubbard's gray horse got tired of
waiting this morning while Mr. Hubbard was in the postoffice and started down
Tompkins-st. at a rapid rate. The covered cutter bounded around in a lively
manner. Near the corner of Reynolds-ave. Cassius Westgate rushed out from the
walk and stopped the animal. No damage of any kind was done.
CORTLAND COUNTY NEWS.
INTERESTING
FACTS FROM OUR CORRESPONDENCE.
Things
Seen and Heard In Villages and Hamlets About Us, and Items From All Over the
County.
Virgil.
VIRGIL, Feb 19. —Died, at the home of her
son-in-law in Virgil, N. Y., Feb. 6, 1895, Mrs. Catherine Reese Van Hoesen,
widow of the late Peter Van Hoesen, aged 88 years, 9 months, 19 days. Mrs. Van Hoesen
was born in the year 1806, was the daughter of Abraham and Jane Collier Spore
of Canajoharie, Montgomery Co., N. Y., being the sixth child of eleven
children.
In the
year 1825, she married Jacob Reese of Tribes Hill, N. Y. At the age of 21 she
united with the Dutch Reformed church of Tribes Hill, and was a member of this
church eight years. In the year 1839 her husband removed to Syracuse, N. Y.,
after which she united with the First Ward Presbyterian church of Salina of
which she was an exemplary member up to the time of her death. She was the
mother of three children, two of whom survive her: Mrs. David Shults of Virgil,
N. Y., and Abraham Reese of Syracuse, N. Y. The funeral services were held in
Oakwood chapel, at Syracuse, N. Y. on Tuesday, Feb. 18, conducted by the Rev.
Mr. Fawnstock, pastor of the First Ward Presbyterian church of Syracuse, N. Y.
In a brief acquaintance with
Mrs. Van
Hoesen we found her a woman of much more than average intelligence retaining
her faculties in a marked degree.
The annual meeting of the patrons of the
Virgil spring cheese factory will be held at Crain's hall on Saturday of this week
at 1 o'clock P. M. A special invitation is extended to all dairymen.
Quarterly meeting at the M. E. church last
Friday evening. Presiding Elder Blakeslee
preached an excellent sermon and held quarterly conference.
Rev. Mr. Reeves baptized Mrs. C. V. Rease
and Mrs. Seely Smith at the M. E. church Sunday morning, both uniting with the
class.
Born, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lewis of Herkimer
county, Feb. 1, a son. Mrs. Lewis will be remembered as Mrs. Jerome B. Rease.
Mr. Allan Smith has sold his farm to Mr.
Devillo Verreau.
Mr. Dudley Bays will set up housekeeping on
his place on the state road.
Mrs. Pearl Sprague Green who has been very
sick at Syracuse has recovered sufficiently to be able to be brought to her home
on the A. D. Rease place.
Mr. George Seamans will move into Mrs. Myron
Ballou's farm house and work Mr. J. B. Hutchings' farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Baum of Dryden, Mr. and Mrs.
Seveny and daughter and Mr. and Mrs. Hogg of Binghamton were guests of Mr. and
Mrs. Geo. P. Dann last week.
The sick list as reported last week are all
doing well with addition of Mr. Jay Ballou, Mrs. Geo. Dearman, Mrs. Frank Davis,
a little child of Mr. Duvinnie and a little child of Mr. Marvin.
Mrs. Byron Sherman is very dangerously ill
Mrs. Harvey Yager is not able to be around.
Mr. Martin Dann, who has been sick for a
long time, attended church on Sunday for the first [sic].
Thursday evening, Feb. 14, proved a very
enjoyable one for the younger element of our village, it being the occasion of
a surprise given by Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Stillman in honor of their two sons,
Edward G. and Fred E. Mr. Stillman furnished means to convey the children from
the village to his house and the short ride through the snow drifts was
thoroughly enjoyed by the young people. An excellent supper was served at about
9:30 and after the tables were removed the young people were given control of
the spacious rooms. For over two hours they were busily engaged in all games in
which children delight. Then the sleigh was at the door, the guests were loaded
in and driven to their respective homes. Those present were Misses Frances Tyler,
Anna Barnes, Grace Wilcox, Pearl Rounds, Maud Reas, Maud Overton, Messrs. Orris
Winslow, Neil Price, Leo Tyler, Fred Reas, Floyd Reas, Arch Stewart and Rannie
Muncey.
Fred E. Boyce is visiting is his aunt, Mrs. D.
E. Call, of Cortland.
At the dance at the hall on Thursday evening
sixty-five numbers were sold. Chrisman
& Lang's orchestra furnished excellent music and everything passed off very
pleasantly.
Truxton.
TRUXTON, Feb. 20.— Town meeting passed off
very quietly. A very high vote was polled. The entire Democrat ticket was
elected by small majorities with the exception of Mr. Wm. Youngs, Rep., who was
tied for the office of assessor with Wm. Miller, Dem. Chas. W. Beattie, Rep.,
was elected excise commissioner and Daniel Twentyman, Rep., constable.
We had the pleasure one day last week of
visiting the Truxton furniture factory, one of the largest manufacturing establishments
in Cortland county. Connected with it is one of the finest sawmills in the state,
which has been running ever since the factory was started and between 8,000 and
9,000 feet are sawed every day. The yard is full of logs and they will be kept
busy for some time. Mr. Luther Stanton is head sawyer. In the furniture
department everything works like clock work. Mr. A. G. Kenney is the superintendent.
He is a fine fellow and a worker and nothing can fail to work all right where
he is. The factory is run by two 40-horse power engines and a 100-horse power
boiler. Mr. Fred Schellinger is the engineer. About 20 hands are employed in
the factory. Large orders are received every day.
Miss Julia Baldwin leaves to-morrow morning
for Lincklaen where she will be the pleasant guest of her cousin.
Rev. James Fish of Marathon is in town
assisting in the revival meetings that are being held.
CRAZY PAT.
Elm
Stump.
ELM STUMP, Feb. 20.—Quarterly meeting services
were held last Saturday and Sunday at this church. Presiding Elder Wellington
was present and administered the sacrament.
Mrs. George Dearman is very sick. Dr. Bruce
of Virgil is in attendance.
Mr. and Mrs. Dolph Skinner visited her
parents at Slaterville last Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Mr. Marvin Hulslander of Slaterville has been
the guest of his sister, Mrs. Dolph Skinner, for a couple of weeks.
Mrs. Frank Gallagher who has been quite sick
is reported better.
Mr. Charles Sherman of Vesper is a guest of
his brother, Mr. George Sherman.
Mrs. Lovina Spencer is moving her household
effects to Groton to-day.
