CHEROKEE BILL HANGED

Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, March 18, 1896.

CHEROKEE BILL HANGED.

The Notorious Desperado Pays the Penalty.

DIED WITHOUT SIGN OF FEAR.

The Offense For Which He Was Hanged Was the Deliberate Murder of a

Merchant But, Though Young, His Crimes Were Legion.

   FORT SMITH, Ark., March 18—Crawford Goldsby, alias Cherokee Bill, was hanged in the United States jail yard. He made a will, giving his mother his farm and worldly goods. His body was shipped to his old home in the Indian Territory. He was cool and apparently cheerful when he ascended the scaffold. Two thousand persons assembled around the jail to get a glimpse of the noted desperado as he was being taken to the scaffold.

   Cherokee bill was but 23 years old. He was born at Fort Concho, Tex., and his father was a white skinned negro and his mother a half breed Indian. Many murders and robberies were charged against him. His first crime was committed three years ago.

   The particular crime for which he was hanged was the murder of Ernest Melton, a white man, at Lenapah, Cherokee nation, on Nov. 8, 1894. On that day the desperado, in company with another outlaw known as the "Verdigras Kid," rode into Lenapah and held up a store. After they had ransacked the store Bill saw Melton standing at the window of a restaurant some 50 feet away. He leveled his Winchester and shot him dead.

   The "Verdigras Kid" was afterward killed in an attempt to rob Tragg, Cherokee nation.

CAPTIVATED BY ASHEVILLE IN THE LAND OF THE SKY.

Secretary Morton Spends a Week with George Vanderbilt. He Says There Is Nothing In the World, Owned by Sovereign or Subject, that Will Compare with the Famous Estate—An  Object Lesson in Agriculture and Art.

   WASHINGTON, March 14.—Secretary of Agriculture Morton returned this morning from Asheville, N. C., where he has been spending a week or so investigating Biltmore, the famous estate of George Vanderbilt, and he told his colleagues at the cabinet meeting to-day that there is nothing in the world,

owned by sovereign or subject, that will compare with it, either as a residence or as an object lesson in the agricultural arts.

   "It is a grand idea," said Mr. Morton to-day, "that young Mr. Vanderbilt is trying to carry out. It is unique, and none but a man of his enormous wealth could undertake it. Few kings have either funds or the good of their people at heart sufficient to conceive and carry out what Mr. Vanderbilt has successfully demonstrated. I do not know how much money he has spent there, nor how much more he intends to invest, but it is one of the grandest undertakings that individual enterprise ever attempted, and I understand that it is the owner's intention to leave it as a legacy to the public when he can no longer enjoy it himself.

   "As an exhibition of landscape gardening it is without an equal. Frederick

Law Olmstead has had charge of that branch of the work, and the late Richard M. Hunt was the architect of all the buildings, which, for their several uses, surpass any that exist on the earth. There are no palaces in Europe that can equal Mr. Vanderbilt's for elegance, comfort and convenience, and he is gathering there a collection of works of art that would make it famous if it had no other attraction. His stables, his barns, his dairies, his propagating houses, his henneries, and other features of his establishment are all on the same grand scale. He has undertaken to furnish the highest possible example of the science of food culture in every one of its branches."

TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION.

Two Important Measures to Be Favorably Reported to the House.

   WASHINGTON, March 18.—The house committee on immigration has decided to favorably report two important restrictive measures introduced by Mr. McCall of Massachusetts and W. A. Stone of Pennsylvania.

   The Stone bill establishes as a requisite for admission to the United States that the immigrant shall he provided with a certificate from the United States consular or authorized representative of the United States at the place nearest his last residence, that he is eligible to admission to the United States under the existing laws.

   The McCall bill, as amended by the committee, excludes all males between the ages of 16 and 31 who are not able to read and write English and some other language. The original bill placed the age limits at 14 and 60 and applied to both sexes. The omission of females from its provisions was decided upon to prevent the separation of families.

Four New Battleships.

   WASHINGTON, March 18.—The house committee on naval affairs decided to provide in its appropriation bill for four new battleships and 13 torpedo boats, These battleships are to be 11,000 tons and cost not more than $3,750,000 each, exclusive of armor and armament. Ten of the torpedo boats are to cost $800,000 each and five of them $850,000 each. The proposition to build six battleships was lost by a vote of of 6 to 7, only one Republican voting for that number.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

Piling Up the Navies.

   The various civilized nations of the world continue adding new ships to their navies as though they expected to really use them, which is not likely. Improvements and changes are made so rapidly that a vessel of most approved pattern becomes old fashioned in five years' time.

   England's navy is certainly six times as powerful as that of the United States, yet last year she added to it three first class battleships, besides smaller vessels. She has now under construction 10 first class battleships and 21 cruisers. England's navy could undoubtedly knock out those of any other two nations put together, even of France and Russia.

   France has the second most powerful navy after Great Britain, while Russia comes third, yet the two together are not equal to England. But Russia and France are working with great vigor and hustle to increase their water fighting power. They are only less active than England. The United States spends only $15,000,000 a year on its navy, exclusive of building new ships, while England spends $55,000,000. If we spent as much money as England does every year on new ships, it would take us five years to catch up to where she is now.

   The United States is only a little naval power, being the fifth. Up to 1890 she was the sixth, but since then she has passed Germany. What we are doing in the way of additions, compared to the nations of the old world, may be judged from the fact that we have now under construction only five battleships, one cruiser and a number of smaller fry gunboats and torpedo boats.

   From being the eighth power on the seas in 1890, China got knocked down by the war with Japan into the nineteenth place. She has literally nothing left in the way of a navy.

ANOTHER BATTLESHIP.

Oregon One of the Most Powerful Marine Fighters in the World.

   SAN FRANCISCO, March 18.—The battleship Oregon is practically complete and ready to be turned over to the government. The ship's guns are in place, and everything is in order for a trial trip. The Oregon is the largest warship ever constructed on the Pacific coast. She is a vessel of the type of Indiana and is one of the most powerful marine fighters in the world. On her builders' trial trip she made twenty knots of speed. The official trial trip of the Oregon may be set for May according to advices received at navy headquarters.

RETALIATORY BILL.

Two-thirds of Inheritance Taxes to be for Local Use.

   ALBANY, March 18. —Mr. Kempner introduced a bill to-day with which he proposes to retaliate in a measure for what he terms the rural raid upon the cities as contemplated by the Raines bill. It provides for the division of the taxes collected from gifts, legacies and collateral inheritance among the counties of the state on the same basis as the liquor tax is divided—two-thirds to be retained by the counties for local purposes and one-third to be appropriated for state uses. Hitherto the entire collateral inheritance tax was allowed to go to the state.

BREVITIES.

   —The Tioughnioga club rooms were connected with the telephone exchange to-day.

   —The social which Lincoln lodge gave last evening was attended and enjoyed by a large number.

   —Yager & Marshall have rented the Hakes block in Homer into which to move their Homer branch.

   —The annual meeting and election of officers of the Woman's Auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. will be held in the association parlor to-morrow afternoon at 3:30 o'clock.

   —New advertisements to-day are—A. S. Burgess, spring hats, spring overcoats, page 7; Kellogg & Curtis, special sale, page 6; G. I. Watson, Orient wheels, page 6.

  

County Court Adjourned.

   When The STANDARD went to press yesterday, the case of The People vs. Calvin House of Cuyler was on trial in county court. The defendant was charged with the sale of liquor without a license. After the evidence for the prosecution had been submitted the defendant's attorneys made a notion for the dismissal of the indictment on the ground that the evidence was not sufficient to convict. The motion was granted. District Attorney Burlingame appeared for The People and W. J. Mantanye and John Courtney, Jr., for the defendant. No other business appearing, court adjourned.