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| This 1899 photo from Grip's Historical Souvenir of Cortland shows a rebuilt factory. |
The Cortland Democrat, Friday, November
29, 1895.
DISASTROUS FIRE.
THE
COOPER BROS. MACHINE SHOPS AND FOUNDRY BURNED
TO THE
GROUND IN AN HOUR.
A High
Wind Helps the Fire and no Steamer on Hand to Prevent a Clean Sweep.
The foundry and machine shops of Cooper
Bros., located on the river bank a few rods east of River-st., were burned to
the ground last Tuesday morning. The brothers, who reside on the above named
street, were awakened shortly after 5 o'clock by someone pounding on their
doors and before they could reach the shop the fire was under great headway.
When the office door was opened a dense cloud of smoke rushed out making it
impossible to enter the building. The hose companies and the hook and ladder
truck were on hand but there was no work for them as the nearest hydrant is at
the Forging shop, over a quarter of a mile away, and the steamer did not arrive
until 7 o'clock, though repeated alarms and telephone calls were sent in
calling it to the scene.
No arrangement seems to exist to have a regular team to draw
it, and on that morning no team could be found till after 6 o'clock and then
the buildings were all on the ground. Had the steamer arrived when the hook and
ladder truck did the foundry could have been saved, as it stood south of the
burning buildings and the high wind was from the south. Sparks were carried a
long way up the valley and had there been any buildings in their way it would
have been impossible to save them.
When first seen the fire was in a part of the
buildings where there had been no fire of any kind and its origin is a mystery.
The theory of the proprietors is that someone might have been spearing in the
mill race on the east side, where the building overhangs the water, and a torch
would have set fire to cobwebs or the dry flooring. The loss is one that will
affect many of Cortland's large factories as well as those in other places, for
Cooper Bros. have been building machinery for them for many years, and all the patterns
for their machines are destroyed.
The loss on patterns is estimated at $20,000
and the machinery was valued at $17,000. This, with the buildings and tools, bring
the total loss up to nearly $50,000, and there is insurance in nine companies to
the amount of $22,000. Nothing was saved from the three main buildings, and a
large shed filled with many tons of coal and coke was destroyed, but the
steamer arrived in time to save the coal. Cooper Bros. have not decided whether
they will rebuild or not. Quite extensive repairs had just been completed and
new machines set up increasing the capacity and making the loss fall more
heavily on the proprietors.
The machine shop was built of stone many
years ago and was used for a paper mill for many years. Something like sixty years
ago the late James H. Sinclair, of the Chenango Union, worked there with
his father making paper. Asher Wilcox and John Duff also worked there at the same
time and quite a little village surrounded the place and furnished homes for
the employes. These small houses have long since crumbled to dust for lack of
occupancy and repairs. Thirty-five years ago the late Daniel Bradford was proprietor
of the paper mill, but be gave it up three or four years later.
The building stood empty for some years, but
about twenty-five years ago Stephen D. Freer came in possession of it and machinery
was put in for grinding plaster, the stone to be ground being brought here from
Jamesville, but this did not prove to be profitable and machinery for making
linseed oil was put in and the late O. M. Sears conducted the business until
seventeen years ago, when Cooper Bros. purchased the property and turned it
into a machine shop.
Why the powers that be should make arrangements
for a team to draw the Hook and Ladder truck to fires and make no arrangement
for getting the steamer on the ground, is a mystery. It is very seldom that a
truck is needed at the beginning of a fire, while the steamer is required at
the start if it is needed at all. There is a large amount of property within
the corporation that is outside the hydrant limits and there is no protection
for such property except such as the steamer affords. If the team that drew the
truck to the fire on Tuesday morning had taken the steamer instead, much
valuable property might have been saved.
The safe, which was not locked, passed through
the fire without injury and when it was opened a few hours after the books and
papers were found to be uninjured.
The
Appeal Denied.
Last Monday morning W. C. Crombie, attorney
for Frank Bates, who was convicted last week before Justice Bull of selling
liquor without license and sentenced to Onondaga penitentiary for sixty days,
appeared before Judge J. E. Eggleston and made an application for leave to
appeal the case. I. H. Palmer appeared for the people. After hearing argument
on the question Judge Eggleston refused to allow the defendant to appeal.
There is evidently something wrong here;
either with the law or the law officers, or both. Here is a man convicted of a
crime and sentenced to a term of imprisonment without the right or privilege of
having his case reviewed by a higher court. When the county judge refuses to
permit the defendant to appeal, he must serve out his sentence, no matter he
was legally convicted or not.
In a civil action, the defeated party can
appeal to the county court without asking anyone's leave, and if defeated in
that court he can appeal from the decision to the general term of the Supreme
Court. Is a man's liberty of less consequence than a $5 note or the possession
of a tow string worth five cents? The right of appeal exists in every other
court in the state except the court of special sessions and this court is an
inferior court, often presided over by laymen instead of lawyers supposed to be
learned in the law.
It is not to be supposed that such a court
would not make many mistakes, and why so much more power should be vested in an
inferior court that is denied to higher courts no one seems to know. Possibly
the legislature believed that it had taken care of the defendant's rights when
it gave the County Judge the right to grant an appeal. The legislature
undoubtedly supposed that the County Judge would grant leave to appeal as a
matter of course, in every case that was not plainly frivolous, but there are
some Judges who are so manifestly afraid of public opinion—so called—that they
sometimes avoid doing their full duty and in such cases the intention of the
legislature is inoperative.
The DEMOCRAT does not believe that the
legislature ever intended to invest an inferior court with powers that it
refuses to grant to higher courts. A person should not be deprived of his
liberty illegally, and certainly he ought to have the right to have his case reviewed
by a competent tribunal. Good lawyers claim that there were legal questions in
the Bates case that should have entitled him to a review, no matter whether he
was guilty or innocent of the crime charged. Every person charged with a crime
must be legally convicted or the administration of our criminal law will come into
disrepute.
The fear of public opinion should not swerve
our Judges from the plain path of right and justice in any case. It takes a man
of considerable backbone to face the hue and cry of public clamor, even when
his duty is plain, but such men have been found and they are yet in existence.
The Good Government people, flushed with
some recent successes, have become somewhat arrogant, and are liable to become the
most intolerant of bosses. They are doing an excellent work in closing up some
places that are festering sores upon the body politic, but they cannot afford
to use any but legal and proper means. The DEMOCRAT assures them of its hearty
support in all legal and proper measures for reform.
Lynched
the Negro.
WARRENTON, Ga., Nov. 22 —Balam Hancock was
lynched last night by a mob of enraged citizens at Gibson for an attempted
outrage on Miss Dessie Shelton, a white girl 17 years old.
NEIGHBORING
COUNTIES.
MADISON —William Holts, a farmer near
Earlville, harvested 600 bushels of corn from five acres.
One Cazenovia business man is seriously disturbed
by a family of skunks which have taken up their abode under a part of his house
where there is no cellar. On occasions their presence is manifested in a way
that nearly drives the inmates out of the house, and makes life a burden for
the neighbors Two of the ill smelling beasts have been sent hence over the box
trap road, however, and the rest are likely to follow soon.
TOMPKINS —Every town in Tompkins county
except Ithaca went against canal improvement.
The Lehigh railroad will soon place electric
gongs at the crossings on Mill and Spring streets in Groton village.
President Schurman of Cornell University is
in favor of pensioning college professors after they have reached the age of 67
years.
Mr. J. B. Taylor has presented Dr. Wilder of
Cornell with the skin of a male rattlesnake. The length of the skin is 135
centimeters or about 53 inches, and the tail has twelve perfect rattles.
George B. Richardson, who recently came from
Oswego to work in the Dryden Woolen
Mill, had the muscles of his arm badly crushed in the machinery Monday. Dr.
Montgomery dressed the injured member.
The remains of an old sloop have been
discovered in the bay at North Fair Haven. The water has remained over it for
50 years. The nails and spikes that fastened the timbers together are
hand-made. The low water made it possible to see this old wreck.
 |
| Thomas Platt. |
PAGE
FOUR—EDITORIALS.
Broome county had a candidate for state
assessor. The republicans of that county have always done Platt's bidding and
he could always count on having a solid delegation to the state convention from
that county. Chemung county had a candidate for state assessor in the
person of E. L. Adams, editor of the Elmira Advertiser. Adams has always
been opposed to Platt and the delegates from that county were liable to be
opposed to him. The plum went to Adams and now the Broome county republicans
are swearing over what they call the perfidy of Platt. Some politicians have an
idea that it is good politics to reward your enemies and punish your friends.
Platt seems to harbor such a notion.
There is no opposition to Thos. B. Reed of
Maine for speaker of the house of Representatives. He is now in Washington
making up his committees. Hon. Sereno E. Payne of Auburn expects to be chairman
of the Ways and Means committee. Dalzell of Pennsylvania and Dingley of Maine
are also candidates for the place. Besides being one of the principal
committees in Congress, the chairman of the committee is generally leader of
the house. The combination which is said to have been formed by the eastern
members to take all the principal places in the organization of the house has
probably been broken, as the western members say Pennsylvania has had the clerk
for over a half century and Massachusetts and New York have usually taken the
Doorkeeper and Sergeant-at-Arms for a longer time. The western men now say they
propose to have something to say about these fat places themselves.
"Boss" Platt will have the
delegates to the Republican National convention from this state without
question. "Boss" Quay has already demonstrated that the republicans
of Pennsylvania are fond of "bosses" and that he can easily round up
the delegates from that state and that they will do his bidding to a man. The
Presidential candidate who can secure the votes of the states of New York and
Pennsylvania will have a very good start on the road for the nomination, and
the two bosses are said to be in favor of Thos. B. Reed of Maine. Both Quay and
Platt are shrewd and unscrupulous politicians and with such a start, it will
take a pretty strong combination to beat them. Harrison is an uncommonly shrewd
politician and is said to have formed a combination with Allison of Iowa. They
ought to get a lot of western delegates and if they are able to pull the
southern vote they may down Quay and Platt. But where will McKinly [the editor
of the Cortland Democrat consistently omits the ‘e’ in McKinley—CC editor], the apostle
of protection land! He will cut a very small figure in the convention with the
vote of Ohio only behind him.
HERE AND
THERE.
Turkeys are plenty, fat and cheap this year.
The Normals played [football with] the
Oneonta's in that place Thanksgiving day.
Several arrests were made last week for selling
liquor without a license.
Stetson's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in
Cortland Opera House Friday evening.
Officer Smith has been added to the night
force, making three on duty at night and two during the day.
One of the windows in Stoker's grocery has
been fitted up to represent Thanksgiving. It is worth stopping to see.
Bennett & Hartwell, the new plumbing firm,
have moved into the east store in the new Wickwire block on Railroad-st.
There are eleven criminal and two civil
cases pending before Justice Bull and yet to be disposed of for violating the
excise law.
The "Loyal Circle of King's
Daughters" will meet with Mrs. A. M. Johnson, 54 N. Main-st., Friday, Nov.
29th, 1895, at 2:30 P. M.
Over forty couples attended the Manhattan club
dance in Empire hall last Friday evening. McDermott furnished the music.
Bingham Bros. & Miller are now occupying
two handsome stores in the Schermerhorn block and they are chuck full of new goods.
A meeting of the Board of
Managers of the Hospital Association will be held at the hospital Monday
afternoon, Dec. 2d, at 3 o'clock.
A carload of sheep belonging
to Moravia parties was burned between this place and Harford, Saturday. The
fire caught in the straw used for bedding.—Dryden Herald.
Dr. F. W. Higgins assisted by
Drs. Reese and Sornberger removed a cancer from the face of William Wade of
Preble at the hospital last Monday. The patient is doing well.
Mr. John H. Day has leased two
of the stores in the new Wickwire block on Railroad-st. and is having them
fitted up for a first class restaurant. The location is a good one for the
business.
Three mails per day are now
dispatched to and from McGrawville over the Traction Co.'s
road. The first mail reaches McGrawvllle before 8 A. M. The new arrangement
went into effect last Monday.
John Hoyer has withdrawn the
complaint lodged by him in police court last week against Giles Rood and
"Brewery Hill" is quiet again. Hoyer got his watch back and the $5
bill and his anger was mollified.
Because our regular
publication day comes on Thursday which is Thanksgiving day, the DEMOCRAT is this
week issued on Wednesday evening in order to give the employes an opportunity
to observe the day.
A new two-hundred-horse-power
Corliss engine has just been set in the new 60 by 35 foot engine room of the
Cortland Harness and Carriage Goods company which will be used to run the
entire machinery of the factory, together with a new electric plant for forging
and lighting. Four eight hundred pound drop hammers have also been added to the
plant and the working force of the establishment will soon be increased to one
hundred hands. It is expected that the new machinery will enable the company to
double their output.
FROM EVERYWHERE.
The canals will be officially
closed December 5.
It costs Cornell nearly
twenty-seven thousand dollars a month for its corps of instructors.
Claims for damages amounting
to $100,000 are now before the courts against the city of Elmira.
The electoral college next
year will consist of 447 members, rendering 227 votes necessary to elect the
President.
Leonard S. Ashley, a West
Winfield boy of thirteen years, hanged himself the 10th because his schoolmates
pounded him and abused him continually and made life miserable.
Richard Blossom of Elmira has
gone to seed. He was struck by an engine running fifty miles an hour, while
under the influence of liquor, and scattered to the four winds.
Everyone who can sing at all,
has sung with enthusiasm our National Hymn, "America." Dr. S. F. Smith, its author, died suddenly of
heart disease in Newton, Mass., Saturday, Nov. 16.
A big improvement is promised
in bicycles. The rubber tire which contains the air will be covered with
compressed leather, waterproofed on the surface, and so hard that a tack cannot
be forced through it.
A company has been organized
with $125,000 capitol, to improve Pleasant Beach, Onondaga lake, as a pleasure resort. Great improvements will be
made and many attractions provided for next year.
To leave New York Saturday
night and arrive in San Francisco the evening of the Wednesday following and be
enabled to return to New York by the following Monday morning, is the latest
feat in rapid railroading.
The Onondaga County Savings
Bank contemplates the purchase of the old Syracuse House block in Syracuse, and
propose putting up a fine building on that site. The sum of $350,000 is named
as the price to be paid for the property.
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