EULOGY OF CAPTAIN BYRAM

Colors, Seventy-Sixth Regiment, N. Y. Volunteers.

Captain S. M. Byram

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, January 26, 1895.

EULOGY OF CAPT. BYRAM.

By W. J. Mantanye Before Union Veteran Legion, Jan. 24.

   Colonel, Comrades of the Legion, Friends:

   We are assembled according to the custom of our order to honor the memory of one of our comrades, the second charter member of our encampment to be mustered out by death since our muster in in 1893. He was my friend and a true comrade. All loved and honored him and he loved the legion and its noble objects of strengthening the bonds of comradeship that came from our long service at the front when we were young soldiers, to glorify the flag and our country, to extend sympathy and aid to the loved ones of our comrades and to cheer their souls and our own with remembrance of the noble life and death of these comrades as one by one they go from us.

   Our comrade, Samuel M. Byram, lieutenant colonel of the Union Veteran legion, was born at Virgil, N. Y., Aug. 13, 1837; died Dec. 30, 1894, and therefore was 57 years of age at his death—not old—only in middle life, but the long service soldiers of the legion do not live to be old men. Years of hardship and wounds shorten life. In his death we are warned of the early date at which the legion must cease to exist, for with the death of those now eligible to it by reason of long and faithful service, it must cease to exist, for as has been well said here, it can have no successor—no charter can perpetuate it.

   Our comrade's father was a business man of Virgil from 1825 to 1842, honored by his neighbors and was a colonel of the old state militia that contributed so much to the picturesqueness of early American life by its general trainings and musters—a man great in the hearts of the people.

   Our comrade was the eighth of a large family of children. He had a liberal education for those days, in common schools and also in select schools and the academy at Cortland and was himself a teacher. Later on he became a carpenter and miller, as his industrious habits and mechanical aptitude desired more continuous activity.

   On Sept. 19, 1861, when the war had ceased to have the appearance of a brilliant or exciting adventure and the first 75,000 men who went gaily to the front in knightly plumes and colors to end the war in ninety days, had been driven back to Washington in tumultuous route and the grim cannon of victorious rebels were pointed at the Capitol—when war had become a stern reality which meant hardship and the doubtful chance of battle—then our comrade enlisted as a private of Co. A, Seventy-sixth N. Y. Infantry. On the organization of the regiment he was made first orderly sergeant of the company. There he was loved and respected by the rank and file for his courtesy and commended by the higher officers for the fidelity and careful, painstaking way in which he performed the onerous duties of that position.

   At Fort DeBussey, near Washington, he was promoted to second lieutenant, March 16, 1862, and in the field Sept. 1, 1862, the next day after the second battle of Bull Run, he was promoted to first lieutenant, Dec. 19, 1862. In the field near Fredericksburg he was again promoted to be captain of Company D, and at once assumed command of that company.

   In February, 1864, after a year of his command and comradeship, about three-fourths of the company re-enlisted as veteran volunteers for the war and with their officers were granted a furlough of thirty days to visit home, from which all returned to the front to remain until the war closed.

   Capt. Byram continued in command of the company from Dec. 19, 1862, until the wounding of Col. Cook on the Wilderness bloody field, May 6, 1864, when the command of the regiment devolved upon him. He remained in command of the regiment until June 13, 1864, when he fell dangerously, and as was thought mortally, wounded in the first assault on Petersburg. His suffering from this wound was long and great, and by reason of it he was finally discharged on Nov. 29, 1864, after having been in the service three years, two and one-half months, but he never fully recovered from the injury of the wound.

   His was a most honorable service in which every duty and hardship was met unshrinkingly and heroically. He was with his regiment in all the bloody battles of the Rappahannock, Gainesville, second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomay, Coal Harbor and Petersburg. There was no braver soldier than Capt. Byram—none more unassuming. Kind he was always to the rank and file of his command, always ready with cheering words to encourage them as comrades; yet on duty he was firm and full of dignity, without arrogance or assumption, and therefore he was both loved and respected by all who had to do with him.

   He was rigid in discipline and the performance of duty, and yet withal so kindly, so brave, so noble, that he was at once the idol and the ideal of his company. His sense of right and wrong was acute and his modesty in not claiming honor for himself, but preferring only to share it with his command, was often remarked. It was instanced by his refusal to use or have attached to his name the empty honor of a brevet rank above his real rank. For, he said, he did not wish to appear greater than he was, or to take to himself honors won by the soldiers of his command.

   That was Capt. Byram. Yet his service deserved the greatest rewards and honors. In action he was brave, yet cool and well balanced. At bloody Wilderness' field, the flag went down, its bearer, brave George Hawley, having fallen dying upon it from a rebel bullet and his blood leaving stains which even now it bears with honor. Capt. Byram saw it go down and the men being overwhelmed by numbers and driven back, but be stepped to the front under fire and assisted our comrade, Nelson Smith, to recover the flag, removing the dying Hawley from it and saving it from loss in the change of the line then made.

   But his soldierly acts are too numerous to detail here. Brave, kind and true the records of chivalry tell of no better soldier, no worthier comrade, no knightlier gentleman than Samuel M. Byram.

   He was my friend and I know and love his noble life. With the close of the war he returned to civil duties, married and settled down in his native town for many years, and these, his fellow citizens, did themselves honor and showed their respect for him by choosing him to the chief office of the town. He was a worthy citizen whose advice and aid was always sought in public matters, a model husband and father, and with his soldierly record was an exemplary comrade of the legion—a Bayard of the nineteenth century, without fear and without reproach. He loved this old flag of the Seventy-sixth now here, and it is meet that it be here, torn as it is by shot and shell of many battles—stained with the blood of its bearers—to bear its silent witness of comradeship for its savior. He, who in the fiery baptism of Gainesville and Bull Run passed unscathed and lived through the death dealing hail of Gettysburg when only nine officers out of twenty-seven remained unwounded, and lived to see the war could pass away and peace and prosperity return again to the nation, has at last fallen before the dread archer in the peaceful quiet of home. We mourn our dead. Yet he has only preceded us by a few days on the way to the Great Bivouac where all true comrades must be gathered. The glory of his life may bring brightness into our lives and to the memory of his loved ones, with whom we join in mourning a common bereavement.

   May we emulate his courage and noble life, and hold it before those who are to come after us as an incentive to noble effort on their part, so that even in his death it may be said that as in life, he served his country well. It is well therefore that his chair now vacant be crowned with the emblems of the victory won by him—the greatest success of a pure and noble life.

Lost A Pet.

   The many friends of Miss Grace Warren, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Warren, unite with her in sympathy for the loss of her pet pony, Flossie, which died last night. Flossie was petted and admired by all who knew her. She has been the property of Miss Warren for the past two years.

   Mr. Warren was offered $200 for the little animal at one time, but refused on account of his daughter's attachment.

THE ELECTRIC ROAD.

The Trolley Car Speeds Back and Forth Well Loaded.

   Fires were last night kept up thawing out the ground on the north side of the D., L. & W. tracks at the crossing between the villages and to-day the tracks of the electric railroad have been built close up to the D., L. & W. tracks so that the transfer will be only a matter of a few feet. It is expected that a trolley car will be run over on a temporary track on Monday and then trolley cars will be run on each end of the road.

   The trolley car on the Cortland end of the road has to-day made two trips to every one trip of the horse car on the north end. A horse car well warmed has been left at the crossing to serve as depot for through passengers who made the trip from Cortland on the car that did not connect through. The trolley car has been well patronized, many people taking advantage of it to ride short distances who would never have thought of doing so in a horse car.

WERE SNOWED IN.

Went to a Party and Had to Stay All Night.

   A party of sixteen young people, all of them residents of McGrawville except Mr. Floyd Smith of Cortland, were last night invited to spend the evening at Miss Nellie Freeman's, north of McGrawville. The hours sped rapidly and no attention was paid to the weather outside and when they got ready to start for home the blizzard was on in force. The highway is not a well traveled one and the snow had piled itself into drifts filling the whole road. It was unusually dark and it proved to be impossible to get down to the village. The consequence was that the whole party spent the night at their host's. They had a merry time.

   This morning it took four of the cutters three hours to get down to McGrawville and they had to get the assistance of some of the heavy teams in the neighborhood to help them break the road. Mr. Smith was somewhat later than usual in getting to his counter at the store of Warren, Tanner & Co.

A COASTING PARTY.

A Fine Night to go, but a Horrible Night to Come Home.

   A party consisting of Misses Cornelia L. Brown, Belle Atkinson and Clara Keator and Messrs. Edward R. Beach, O. A. Kinney and H. J. Woodmansee drove to McGrawville last night, taking a double runner with them for coasting on South hill. It was as fine a night to go as could be imagined, and it was about as bad a night to come back as could be found in a lifetime. The coasting was all that could be desired. "Horace" managed the steering apparatus and must have thought the pleasure of the evening would not be complete without a nice little upset, so he managed to bring that about. "Orson" thought a pair of bobs ran altogether too fast for him and he knew that there was nothing like that little blue sled in his father's attic upon which he used to ride when a boy. And so he went over to the house, hunted it up and took a coast or two, but the toes of his shoes and the knees of his trousers suffered in consequence.

   Coming home the blizzard was on in full force and none of the party care to repeat the ride. One member said that one who was not out in it could get no idea of the force of the wind and the way the hail cut.

Weather Forecasts Correct.

   Rev. I. B. Hicks' forecasts of weather in his almanac have hit the weather almost exactly throughout the whole of this month. He said the most severe storm disturbance of the month would occur about the 25th and 26th. Cold weather will follow up to about the 29th. The storm of last night would certainly fall under his forecast as being severe and a weather dispatch announcing a cold wave before to-morrow morning, arrived at about 2 o'clock this afternoon.

Thomas PLatt.

PLATT TALKS BACK.

THE TIOGA COUNTY MAN ANSWERS HIS CRITICS.

His Statement Aimed Principally at Dr. Parkhurst, on Whom He Makes a Sarcastic Attack—He Explains His Attitude on the Reform Bills and Tells Why He Opposes the Single-Headed Commission.

   NEW YORK, Jan. 26.—Ex-Senator Thomas C. Platt returned from a trip to Washington and gave out the following statement:

   "With the indulgence of the newspapers, I should like to call attention to certain views on certain interesting matters.

   "I know with what impatience the mere fact of my venturing to express an occasional opinion is received by some kind friends and how they fling up their hands and cry out, 'Who is this man? Why, Heaven save us, he's a hayseeder. He comes from Tioga county. Is thy servant a dog, that he should hearken unto the words of a man from Tioga county? Not on thy life.' And they bite one another and proceed to have a fit on the highway.

   "Out of consideration for these gentlemen I shall be brief. Immediately after the November elections it was viciously charged that I should be found opposing reform legislation; that I had been more or less in collusion with Tammany, and that in order to secure results in the legislature, of personal, partisan or factional advantages to me, I had been generally willing to see the cause of good government sacrificed in New York city.

   "These charges are utterly and abominably false, and in the hope of disposing of them once and for all, I made a distinct settlement of my position with regard to the reform bills contemplated.

   "I said I was in favor of a power of removal bill, of ballot reform, according to the Massachusetts system, with the addition of a party emblem, of the radical reorganization of the [New York City] police department and of further legislative investigation into the municipal government here, and of single-headed commissions, except in the board of police commissioners.

   "This statement ought to have reassured anybody who was afraid that the ship of reform would be scuttled by me. But it did not stop the clamor. That went noisily on, Dr. Parkhurst leading the discordant orchestra.

   "The scheme to make the police board a single-headed commission in its final fruition is a scheme to cheat and oppose Republican voters. For my part, I am opposed to it. Dr. Parkhurst can call me a miserable, cowardly cur as often as he thinks becoming. The committee of 70, the City club, the Good Government clubs and other bodies of citizens, good, bad and indifferent, well-meaning and otherwise can get up as many massmeetings [sic] as they like, but I shall continue to be opposed to any such scheme which, without in any way promoting good municipal government, has the effect of menacing free elections. If this is bossism, those who think so can make the most of it. I think it is good citizenship."

NEW FIRE APPARATUS.

McGrawville Exceptionally Well Prepared for Fighting Fire.

   The people of McGrawville are very enthusiastic over the arrival of their new hand fire engine and hose cart and they have good reason for rejoicing, as their property has for years been unprotected from fire, so far as suitable fire apparatus or fire company is concerned. With the arrival of the new fire engine and hose cart they now have the finest fire apparatus ever purchased by a village of one thousand inhabitants, and with the wide awake Active Fire company and the ambitious W. J. Buchanan Hose company the people of McGrawville can rest assured that if a conflagration is started everything within man's power will be brought to bear for the preservation of the property.

   The engine is one of the largest, finest and best made by the Gleason & Bailey Manufactory company of Seneca Falls. It is of the crane neck pattern; 8 1/2 inch brass cylinders capable of throwing one or two streams over a five story building; has black walnut body, piano cased, finished in natural wood; brass waterways, etc; brass trimmings all elegantly nickel-plated. On either side of the body appears the words Active Fire Co., No. 1, while on the suction hose sheath which runs along the top of the engine are the words, McGrawville, N. Y,

   The hose cart is a model of its kind, capable of holding 500 feet of hose; painted white with gold trimmings, and has white drag rope; the arch over reel bears the words, W. J. Buchanan Hose Co. in neat gold letters. The cart is also provided with bells, torches, etc., and is the private property of the hose boys who purchased it with money raised by entertainments and subscriptions, Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont making a handsome donation toward the purchase.

LAST NIGHT'S STORM.

Wind Blew A Hurricane and Snow Piled Up.

   The storm of last night was a surprise to nearly every one. The day was beautiful and the early evening gave promise of another fair day to-day. But about 9 o'clock the wind began to come up and before midnight a gale was blowing from the southeast that has hardly been equaled within the recollection of the oldest inhabitant. It rattled windows and doors, banged blinds, and shook houses. A slight rain fell which was followed by sleet and finally by a remarkably heavy snow. The wind piled this up in a marvelous fashion.  But the wind, strange to say, had all gone down by daylight. There was a bank almost as high as the fence along the Randall flats on Main-st. Mr. A. L. Cole is quoted as saying that within his recollection there has never been such a bank of snow there before. Every one had heavy shoveling to do this morning.

   The railroads had their trains all on time, but some of them had two engines. The electric road had a large force of men and several scrapers at work at an early hour and the cars are running as usual. Many of the streets leading into town are badly blocked. In some respects the storms of this winter have been very unusual.