HILDRETH TRIAL DRAWING TO A CLOSE AND SCORCHING AT NIGHT

J. Watson Hildreth.

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, May 7, 1896.

DRAWING TO A CLOSE.

Trial of Hildreth at Rome About Finished.

THE DEFENSE RESTS ITS CASE.

Many Witnesses Testily to the Alleged Train Wrecker's Previous Good Character—Disposition Evinced to Lay the Blame on the Dead Bristol.

   ROME, N. Y., May 7.—The defense in the trial of Hildreth, the alleged boy train wrecker, opened its case with a powerful appeal to the jury by Counsel Searle. It was thought possible that he may seek to fix all blame on Bristol, who is dead, and who, according to all reports, took an active part in the wrecking of the train. Hildreth's lawyers blame him for all that took place and, according to the confession of Hildreth and read by Miss Rougot, Bristol was given the credit by Hildreth for doing all the heavy work.

   Frederick Grant was the first witness called after recess. The night before the wreck he was at the Liberty street Methodist Episcopal church. He saw Theodore Hibbard enter the church alone at 8:30. He sat beside the witness and remained until church was out and went with Hibbard to the Temperance hotel. They went into the dining room and got a drink of water. He left Hibbard at 9:30.

   Cyrus Green of Green's Corners, where Hildreth first landed when he left New York, said the defendant resided with him off and on about six months during two years. He knew him to be gentle and kind of heart while living with him. To Mr. Klock the witness said he did not know the defendant before he came to his house. The witness called himself 14 years old then, that was four years ago.

   Mrs. Green said that while the defendant lived with her he worked in a canning factory here, going and coming by train. She said he was kind, gentle and of good conduct while with her. She never heard him use obscene language or swear.

   Milton Green knew the defendant since 1892. He testified to his good character, so far as he knew.

   William T. Baker, publisher of the Utica Saturday Globe, was shown a copy of that paper issued on Nov. 23 containing sketches of the boys pulling spikes on the railroad, also where the boys were fleeing through the woods. He was asked if he knew of anyone seeing this being done, and the witness said "No."

   Mrs. Hodgett of Thompson's business college, New York, said that the defendant attended school there three months in 1891 and missed three days. She knew him well and said he was a good, obedient boy. She never had any trouble with him and never heard him use any bad language. To questions asked by the district attorney, the witness said she only taught the defendant telegraphy.

   Mrs. Perrine of Red Hook said that the defendant was the only child of her deceased sister and was 16 months old when his mother died. The defendant will be 18 years old next month. The defendant lived with witness' mother in Connecticut from the time he was 16 months old till he was 8 years old, when he moved with his grandparents to Red Hook.

   Attorney Sayles here attempted to show that during the year 1890 the defendant had an ailment of the head; that his body ceased to grow, but the head continued to grow in size.

   An objection was entered by the prosecution which was sustained.

   The witness, Mrs. Perrine, said the defendant had head trouble and appeared as though he was insane. Later he had a running sore on his leg and walked with crutches. He was always gentle, kind.

   Mr. and Mrs. Bowman, with whom the defendant also lived, were called but were not present.

   Attorney Sayles said the defense would rest as soon as they could be secured.

   The court then ordered witnesses sworn in rebuttal.

Another Boy Train Wrecker.

   SARATOGA, May 7.—George H. Allen, 14 years old, son of George Allen of Caldwell, has been arrested on the charge of having derailed a train on the Delaware and Hudson railroad near Caldwell. Young Allen admits having placed a coupling pin on the rails.

Ben Brush Wins the Kentucky Derby.

   LOUISVILLE, May 7.—To Willie Sims rather than Ben Brush belongs the credit of victory in the 22d Kentucky Derby. The great son of Bramble was not fit for a bruising race, such as he had, but under the careful guidance of Sims he landed the coveted prize and the first Kentucky Derby ever ran at the shortened distance of one mile and a quarter. All the honor and the $5,000 which went to Ben Brush properly belonged to Ben Eder, and had it not been for the stable boy, who essayed to pilot the son of Fonso, there would have been several lengths of daylight between Ben Brush and the colt which should have showed the way under the wire.

Czar Nicolas II.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

A Great Show.

   The most splendid pageant of the closing years of this century will be the coronation of young Nicholas II as the czar of all the Russias. The meaning of this phrase is that all the provinces belonging to the czar's empire are called Russias of one grade and another, and as there is something like a hundred of them, the expression "czar of all the Russias" implies more than even the title of "empress of the Indies."

   Hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans will be in the ancient city of Moscow to witness the event of May 26. They are said to be well liked in Russia because they are so rich. Probably the Russians do not know how many poor Americans there are at home.

   The Kremlin at Moscow is really a hill in the center of the town. It is heavily walled and guarded and entered through gates in the walls. Upon the top of the hill is a little church and in that church all the czars of Russia have been crowned for the past 350 years. In the little church will be present at the coronation, besides the royalties, representatives of the nations, from Li Hung Chang to modest Mr. Breckinridge, the American minister. The heads of all the provinces subject to Russia will also be there in their rainbow hued native robes. The coronation ceremonies will last 24 hours. May 18 Nicholas II will be 38 years old. If he has any strength of character of his own, it has not yet been discovered.

   There are more millionaires in New York and Brooklyn than in all the other parts of the Union. These two cities now have more than 1,000 men worth over $1,000,000 each. New York is not a great manufacturing city. It is not in the heart of a heavy agricultural district. These millionaires have simply got rich off the rise in real estate and off the toil of the rest of the country.

   It was the Wilson tariff bill that repealed the reciprocity treaties this government had with other nations. It would have been well for the country if the reciprocity treaties had been allowed to stand.

  

Wanted, Reciprocity.

   While our reciprocity treaties were in operation live American beeves were shipped to Europe in enormous numbers. They brought in England $2 a hundredweight more than the quarters of dressed beef did. English feeders bought the American cattle, fattened them and in every case put them upon the market as "prime English beef."

   Since the abrogation of the reciprocity treaties the export of live cattle from this country to Great Britain alone has fallen off over 73,000 a year. Great Britain now proposes to make meat dealers mark all beef distinctly, specifying which is home grown and which is foreign. Germany excludes our live cattle altogether, and all dressed meat that has not been inspected by our government. The authorities at Freiburg, Germany, even went so far as to require dealers to place upon American meats placards declaring that these meats were only superficially inspected and no guarantee as to their wholesomeness could be given, and the United States has put up with this indignity. France excludes American cattle altogether and will only admit dressed pork when it has been inspected and certified. Denmark and Belgium have similar regulations to those of Germany, while Russia will admit no American pork at all.

   Now, every one of these nations sends millions of dollars' worth of imports into the United States annually. While American meat growers are being ruined, foreign merchants and manufacturers are growing rich off our money. We owe it to our rural population to inaugurate reciprocity once more. If the nations named will not negotiate reciprocity treaties, then let us have retaliation.

A WORD TO WHEELMEN.

They Must Ride Slower or Trouble Will Follow.

   Village President Benton has asked us to say a serious word to wheelmen of Cortland and it will be well for all riders to give it attention and to profit by it.

   On account of the bad condition of the streets through a large portion of the year wheelmen are permitted by sufferance to ride their machines upon the sidewalks of most of the streets of Cortland. If a village ordinance were passed forbidding this it would be a great hardship to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in Cortland, for it would mean that through many weeks in each year where they now ride they would have to walk. Working men who by the hundred live far from their places of employment and go to and fro on their wheels would largely be affected. Where they now go home to dinner, they would have to take a cold dinner in a pail or make some other arrangement.

   With the multiplicity of wheels greater care should to taken by each rider to guard against accident. Pedestrians have rights on the sidewalks superior to those of wheels, and teams have rights in the streets as well as bicycles, and wheelmen themselves have rights of protection against other wheelmen. We are glad to say that a very large percentage of Cortland riders do take great care not to interfere with the rights or privileges of any one, even going far out of their way in granting courtesies to others, and very few accidents happen. But a few persons in any class often bring a large majority into disrepute and cause the careful and painstaking and the innocent to suffer with the careless and the guilty. In nothing can the possibility of this be more true and more likely to happen than in the matter of wheeling. If riders will be careless or indifferent or discourteous, complaints will follow and the trustees will be compelled, much against their wishes, to take some action which will be a hardship to many.

   Two accidents occurred last night which make this matter very emphatic—one was a collision of wheelman and pedestrian on the walk, and the other was a collision of two wheelmen in the street. In the former case a wheelman on the walk at about 9 o'clock was riding at breakneck speed trying to keep up with a companion in the street. He carried no lantern. He met four gentlemen walking two and two and dodged around them all right, but because of their presence he failed to see another gentleman walking by himself about a rod behind the others. He dashed around the four and plunged full into the one throwing him against the fence and bruising and laming him considerably. The rider himself was thrown headlong, but picked himself up and hurried off without a word of apology.

   The gentleman who was struck has called upon us to-day and stated the circumstances. He is not a wheelman himself but he has regard for wheelmen. He says he shall not enter any complaint because he knows how helpless wheelmen would be for many months in a year if they could not ride upon the walks, and he wishes to make no one trouble, but he thinks if ever any one had ground for complaint he has—a man riding at full speed at night on the walk without a lantern. We are glad to say that we believe very few riders in Cortland would be so careless as this fellow was, and we fear on the other hand that there are not many men in Cortland, particularly who do not ride a wheel, who would have so large charity for wheelmen under the circumstances as has our friend who was run into.

   The other accident last night was on Main-st. at about the same time in the evening. A rider going south on his own side of the car track at a moderate pace met a wheelman riding north in the same path as fast as he could go. The scorcher did not turn out for the other who had a right to the road. The other at length turned further to the right and then the scorcher turned to his left. The result was almost a broadside collision, two men badly shaken up, two wheels bent and otherwise injured. Neither carried lights.

   Scorching in the night ought to be stopped on street or walk and lanterns should be carried. The wheelmen have the matter in their own hands. If they will be careful and ride as they should, no harm will be done to any one, pedestrians or wheelmen. If they are careless and rude and indifferent, President Benton informs us that the village board of trustees will have to do something, hurt where it will or injure whom it must. The responsibility rests on every member of the wheeling fraternity and every one should recognize the fact.

BREVITIES.

   —The Cortland & Homer Traction Co. car barn was connected with the telephone exchange to-day.

   —A meeting of Central school alumni will be held at the school building tomorrow night at 7:30 o'clock.

   —The annual reunion of the One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Regt. N. Y. Vols. will be held in McGrawville on Thursday, June 25.

   —The C. A. A. will put up a fine lot of tires as prizes at the race meet May

27. Yesterday they received a pair of Vim single tube tires donated by the Boston Woven Hose & Rubber company.

   —New advertisements to-day are—Bingham Bros. & Miller, charms strike the sight but merit wins the trade, page 4; Mager & Co., comparison courted, page 6; Fred I. Graham, removal, page 5; C. F. Brown, paint, page 2.

   —The Congregational Church Cycle club will hold its first club run tomorrow, Friday evening, leaving the church at 7 o'clock and running to Homer and return. It is desired that all members and friends join in the run.

   —The next regular meeting of the Ladies' sewing circle of the East Side mission will be held in the Stevenson block Friday, May 8, at 2:30 P. M. At this meeting will occur the semi-annual election of officers of the society. Let every member keep this meeting in mind and be present.

   —Lynn Atwood was thrown from a wagon in which he was riding on Hubbard-st. last night striking on his head and shoulders and receiving several cuts and bruises about the head. He claims that eight boys were throwing stones at the horse which frightened it. The horse ran some distance, but did no injury.

   —Grover Post, G. A. R., held a meeting last night and drilled in preparation for Memorial Day, the arrangements for which are not fully completed. The address of the day will be delivered by Rev. J. A. Hungate of Homer. The committee of arrangements will meet Saturday night to further perfect the plans.

   —Passengers on the Lehigh Valley, either east or westbound, with tickets reading over the Grand Trunk railway, will hereafter be given the privilege of a stop-over at Niagara Falls. Stop-overs, except on continuous trains, will also be granted for Mauch Chunk, the Switzerland of America, Glen Onoko and Glen Summit.

   —There has been no farther examination of little Grace Santee in the matter of her being whipped last Sunday and no farther proceedings have been taken. The Syracuse Standard this morning published a statement of Dr. Santee's in the case and a disavowal of any intention on its part yesterday of telling anything other than the truth.