SENSATIONAL REPORTING

Cortland Cart & Carriage Co. is number 9 on this 1894 panoramic map.

Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, March 12, 1895.

SENSATIONAL REPORTING.

Hurts a Town, Injures its Business and Misleads the People.

   It is a bad thing for any town or city to have sent out from it sensational reports which are either not founded upon fact or are grossly exaggerated. It hurts its business and its business prospects.  A reporter of any value should have some thought of the welfare of his community and some regard for truth and should not make his sole aim the sending of a highly colored and sensational dispatch.

   The recent fire affords a number of examples of sensational reporting. The Binghamton Republican of Monday, published twenty-four hours after the fire, heads its dispatch ''Acres of Ruins.'' How many acres, would be a very pertinent question to one acquainted with the site of the fire. The loss was estimated in that dispatch at $130,000. Permitting every interested party to estimate his loss as high as he desired, the loss foots up at less than $75,000.  The dispatch estimates the loss of the Cortland Cart and Carriage Co. at $75,000 to $80,000. The president of this company estimates it at $45,000 and told a STANDARD man that it would probably not fall $3,000 either side of this figure when computed accurately. The dispatch estimates the loss upon the livery stable building at $10,000, which is purely ridiculous. The estimate placed upon it is not to exceed $1,700. The dispatch estimates the value of the buildings occupied by the Cortland Cart and Carriage Co. at $50,000. The owners estimate it at $22,500. The dispatch says about 100 men are thrown out of employment. As a matter of fact there are not quite sixty, counting everybody. There was time enough before The Republican was printed for the reporter to have inquired of parties who knew and have obtained some authentic information rather than to have sent such a dispatch as he did send, which was both misleading and injurious to the town.

   The STANDARD sent a dispatch to the United Press at 5 o'clock Sunday morning, before the fire was out, having at that time seen all the parties or having obtained information directly from them and was able to estimate the loss a within $5,000 of what it ultimately proved to be placed at, and the insurance at within $1,800 of what that was proved to be, and this error in the insurance was due to one of the parties interviewed having forgotten a $1,200 policy which he held.

   The reporter for the Syracuse Post on Monday estimated the loss at $200,000.

   Such reporting is without excuse.

Stones in the Hose.

   During the fire Sunday morning two of the fire companies were much troubled with small pebbles appearing in the nozzles of their hose lines and stopping the flow of the water. Water Witch found five of these stones and the Hitchcocks found eight stones. They appeared one at a time and in each case caused trouble. At first the pipemen caused the water to be shut off at the hydrant while the nozzle was unscrewed to get the stones out. Later on as they appeared the pipemen took the nozzles off with the water on and took a drenching while they were removing the stones and screwing up the nozzles again.

   How the stones came there is a mystery. Some who believe that the fire was of incendiary origin think that the stones were put into the hydrants for a purpose. Others suggest that while these hydrants were in use last fall by the sewer people, boys got an opportunity of putting them in for pure mischief. The matter will probably never be cleared up.

Supply of Vinegar Lost.

   Henry Corcoran had $432 worth of vinegar stored in the cellar of the brick building owned by A. M. Schermerhorn before the fire, together with cider barrels and fixtures valued at $600, He had $300 in insurance on this placed in the Williamsburg City Insurance Co. The vinegar was sold and Mr. Corcoran permitted a policy to expire upon this only a day or two ago as he expected to deliver it immediately.

BREVITIES.

   —The Lillian Lewis company of about forty people are stopping at the Messenger [House].

   —The walls which were left standing after the fire are being torn down this afternoon.

   —McDermott's full orchestra played at a dance in Rogers' hall at McGrawville Friday evening.

   —The fact that the marble season has opened with the boys, coupled with the mud, makes one think that spring has at last arrived.

   —The Ladies' Aid society of the Universalist church will serve a ten-cent supper on Wednesday evening. Strangers are cordially invited.

   —A meeting of the managers of the hospital will be held Wednesday, March 13, at 3 P. M. at the hospital on Clayton-ave. A full attendance is desired.

   —Mothers' meeting (west) will be held at the home of Mrs. M. Stevens, 9 Water-st., on Thursday, March 14, at 3 P. M. A cordial invitation is extended to all.

   —An adjourned meeting of the Y. M. C. A. directors will be held in the parlors to-night at 8 o'clock. Every member of the new board is expected to be present.

   —Mr. George C. Murphy's Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar club at DeRuyter of fifteen members are making preparations for a concert to be given in the near future.

   —Mr. C. Fred Thompson will receive 35,000 trout fry on the 3:17 train Monday, March 18, from the Caledonia hatchery. They will be used to stock the streams in this vicinity.

   —The Choral society is progressing very rapidly under the instruction of Mr. B. L. Bentley. Let every lover of music come to the Y. M. C. A. rooms to-night at 7:30 o'clock and join this society.

   —They are still discussing the difference between a journalist and a newspaper man. The best definition we have seen is this: "The newspaper man puts in the waste basket what the journalist writes."

   —Word was received yesterday by Mrs. A. J. Wood of the death at Marathon of her father, Thomas Wood. The deceased leaves besides his daughter, three grandchildren, Mrs. Edwin Robbins and Messrs. Charles S. and W. Herbert Wood of Cortland. He was 89 years of age.

   —The Binghamton Republican says it is rumored in that city that as soon as the mileage books on the D., L. & W. railroad which are now out are used up the regular fare on the whole line of the Lackawanna will be reduced from three to two and one-half cents per mile.

   —A company of young ladies and gentlemen are rehearsing a Quaker drama to be presented in about two weeks for the benefit of James H. Kellogg camp, S. of V. The play deals with episodes attending the breaking out of the Revolutionary war and is said to be intensely interesting and patriotic.

   —The Bloomsburg, Pa., Daily contains a lengthy and highly complementary notice of a very handsome new omnibus recently purchased by a party in that place from the Cortland Omnibus and Carriage Co. The new proprietor is quoted as saying that his omnibus "rivals a Pullman combination sleeper and parlor car."

   —One man who was back in the field to the south of the burning buildings Sunday morning said that the number of skunks and rats which were driven out by the heat from under the livery stalls and the other old buildings and which went scurrying away to other places of refuge was something amazing.

   —Village election is in progress and moving off quietly though every one is working hard. There are indications that a large vote is being polled and that there is much splitting of tickets. It is impossible to forecast the result with any degree of accuracy and an actual count will be the only conclusive evidence of any result.

   —We now have on hand for sale at the STANDARD office quite a number of the woman's papers which have been returned to be sold again by parties who originally took more than they cared for and who returned them in response to the call sent out for them. If any one cares for more copies, they can now be obtained at this office.

   —As the news columns in the newspaper grows in value the editorial columns sink in greater ratio. Forty years ago newspapers made reputation and profit by the editorials. Now many of the best paying papers rely wholly upon news to pay expenses and dividends. The Boston Globe—it of the "largest circulation"—is a conspicuous example. To be sure it prints a column or so of editorials but they are as thin as water and nobody is expected to read them. It is a reading and thinking age, and few individuals are so humble as to regain editorial assistance in forming an opinion.

PATHMASTERS APPOINTED

By Highway Commissioner E. C. Rindge in Cortlandville.

   The following pathmasters have been appointed by Highway Commissioner E. C. Rindge:

   Cortland—John Neary, Zola Dean, Wesley Hinman, Manley W. Kinney, J. L. Kinney, B. F. Weatherwax, William Bell, Will A. Smith, M. L. Conger, Eugene Graham, Thomas Hinds, James Sprague, John Osbeck, Fred Sweetlove, Alfred Stanton, Henry Parker, Charles H. Gaylord, Ezra Eldridge, James White, Elmer Williams, Frank Neely, Curtis R. Harmon, L. F. Eisaman, Thomas Park, George Galpio, John Kane, John Bristol, Cyrus Hatfield, Charles Odell, Harvey Gager, C. H. Gallagher, E. C. Rindge, B. L. Cudworth, Charles Gamel, George W. Proctor, C. E. Baldwin, John Phelps, David Harkness, Cornelius Judd, B. Rounds, T. A. Rose and Howard Reed.

   Blodgett Mills—Henry Dockstater, L. C. Greenwood, Will Johnston, A. B. Freeman, Darius Snell, Edward Shufelt, Frank Burt, O. H. Reynolds, Daniel Burt, Millard Raymond, Lewis Blodgett, Wayland Spencer, W. E. Russell, Isaac Sherman, Harmon Kinney, Irving McUmber and A. Darling.

   Homer—P. L. O'Connor.

   McGrawville—H. D. Haskell, Frank Burlingame, Myron Bingham, Charles Alger, John S. Moore, Roscoe Rowe, Martin McUmber, Edgar N. Owen, Morton Boynton, R. B. Balja, W. L. Bean, Edwin McUmber, H. D. Totman, Merton Harvey and Edward Thayer.

   South Cortland—D. H. Gager, Robert Wilson and John Arnold.

MORE COMMODIOUS QUARTERS.

New Cold Storage Building Being Erected at the E., C. & N.

   Messrs. A. S. Brown of Cortland and T. E. Dye of Cincinnatus are erecting east of the E., C. & N. station [Lehigh Valley Station] a cold storage building for eggs and butter. The mason work, the contract for which has been let to Messrs. Daniel and Charles Geer, is being rapidly pushed along. D. G. Corwin has the contract for the carpenter work. The building is to be 36 by 64 feet in size and three stories high. It is built within a few feet of the track to facilitate shipping. The ice will be unloaded from the car and carried to the third story, where it will be broken, mixed with salt and conveyed by means of pipes to the departments on the first floor, where the eggs and butter are stored. By means of the salt and ice mixture the temperature can be reduced to fifteen degrees above zero and even lower. The building, it is expected, will be completed by May 1.

   Messrs. Brown and Dye have received five hundred tons of ice, which make a mammoth pile. It has been unloaded beside the track and a temporary covering of straw and boards is being built around it.

   The egg and butter business has been rapidly increasing, but the firm expect to do three times as much business in the new building as at the old stand.

THE LAST RALLY.

Supporters of the Citizens' Ticket Meet at the Opera House.

   The citizens' meeting at the Opera House last evening was attended by a large crowd of people. The meeting was called to order by Frank A. Phelps, who nominated as chairman Dr. F. J. Cheney. The latter was unanimously elected. Dr. L. H. Pearse led in prayer, after which a quartet consisting of J. B.  Hunt, C. R. Doolittle, J. E. Briggs and M. De Ver Westcott sang an appropriate selection.

   H. M. Kellogg then moved the nomination of the following vice-presidents, who were unanimously elected:

   First ward—A. E. Buck, W. R. Cole, J. W. Keese, W. H. Dunn, B. B. Morehouse, Benj. Smith, L. C. Homer, John W. Orr, R. J. Lucas, Rev. J. L. Robertson, Dr. S. Himan, W. W. Bennett, John White, Lewis Bouton, L. H. Hayes, B. L. Webb, M. H. Yale, Ira Hatfield, Thos. P. Benjamin, L. I. Hatfield, Adolph Frost, Jr., Dr. F. D. Reese, W. A. Stevens, Prof. E. C. Cleaves, S. N. Holden, H. B. Greenman, Frank Miller, Robert Purvis, O. A. Kinney, Jr.

   Second ward—Rev. H W. Carr, C. P. Walrad, Almon Sanders, J. D. F. Woolston, E. W. Bates, Rev. Mr. Baker, J. H. Osterhout, Ira Watkins, S. E. Curtis, Jas. H. Seeber, H. T. Bushnell, S. S. Stearns, A. H. Watkins, A. Sager, Geo. J. Miller, Porter Bunnell, L. D. C. Hopkins, W. D. Howe, Floyd Miner, A. W. Stevens, Jr., A. Jayne, Rev. Chas. E. Hamilton, Rev. W. B. Pound, M. L. Loope, A. W. Gates, Thos. Bosworth, A. H. Winchell, Dr. E. M. Santee, L. R. Lewis, E. D. Webb, Daniel Kratzer.

   Third ward—F. W. Kingsbury, I. H. Rhodes, Geo. W. Edgcomb, W. F. Dates, Henry Hamlin, W. A. Howard, Job Taft, Wm. McKinney, F. M. Johnston, A. G. Ranney, W. H. Bradt, F. L. Crandall, J. D. Hull, Louis Johnson, B. M. Phelps, A. M. La Due, H. L. Newton, S. A. Jennison, C. B. Hitchcock, C. Van Alstine, Henry Bates, Jered Chaddock, M. L. Wright, F. P. Saunders, Linus Peck, Isaac W. Edgcomb, H. L. Gleason, J. J. Glann.

   Fourth ward—H. F. Benton, H. M. Whitney, E. A. Fish, Dr. A. J. White, Lewis Davis, W. L. Fox, J. F. Wheeler, George Cox, W. S. Hoxie, J. L. Marritt, R. D. Eddy, H. Ranney, Dr. Isaac A. Beach, C. F. Waldo, Jay J. Ogden, S. P. Bulkley, Henry Relyea, Camillus Cotton, N. Middaugh, Edward Kinney, Dr. L. H. Pearce, A. L. Spohn, Frank P. Merchant, Ferris Hollenbeck, Frank H. Phelps, Harry L. Hartwell.

   Dr. F. W. Higgins, after a brief introduction, moved a resolution that a committee be appointed by the chair to meet Wednesday, providing the citizens' ticket is elected, to further the formation of a good government club. It was carried and the chair appointed as such committee Calvin P. Walrad, chairman; H. M. Kellogg, L. B. Lewis, F. W. Collins and Rev. W. H. Pound.

   The first speaker of the evening was F. W. Collins, who stated the case very cogently.

   Commissioner Banta was the next speaker. He was eloquent and forcible.

   Attorney B. T. Wright was the next speaker. He held the attention of the audience from first to last. He was both witty and eloquent.

   A collection to defray the election expenses was taken up while the quartet sang another selection.

   The last speaker of the evening was Dr. H. A. Cordo, who delivered one of the strongest addresses of the evening.