 |
| John Watson Hildreth. |
THE SENTENCE
PASSED.
JOHN WATSON
HILDRETH GOES TO PRISON FOR LIFE.
His Pals for
Forty Years for Causing the Deaths of Engineer Hager and
Robert Bond.
ROME,
N. Y., May 8.—Public interest in the case of John Watson Hildreth, the young train
wrecker whom a jury early this morning found guilty of murder in the second
degree in causing the wreck of the New York Central limited mail near here on
November 19 last and the deaths of Engineer Hager and Robert Bond, culminated this
morning when he was arraigned for sentence.
Justice McLennan entered court a few minutes
after 9 o'clock and Hildreth, accompanied by his father and an officer, was
soon ushered into the court room and before the bar. He had been informed of the
jury's verdict and his usual nonchalant demeanor was somewhat subdued. His father,
who is an attorney practicing in New York, evidently fully realized the significance
of the verdict and the sentence that would inevitably follow and appeared troubled
and careworn.
Shortly after the opening of court, District
Attorney Klock addressed the bench and asked that sentence be pronounced upon
the prisoner.
Justice McLennan directed the clerk to call
the defendant and in response to the summons
Hildreth advanced in front of the bar. In answer to the usual questions put to
him by the court the prisoner gave his name as John Watson Hildreth;
birthplace, New York city; age, 17 years; occupation, student; unmarried;
Protestant; temperate in habits; first conviction of any crime; father living,
mother dead.
In response to the question by the court as
to whether he had anything to say why sentence
should not be pronounced upon him, Hildreth simply replied; "No,
sir."
In imposing sentence Justice McLennan told
Hildreth that the jury had dealt leniently
with him, as under the evidence they might have found more severely. He would
not say anything that would add to his trouble, and others nearer and dearer could
advise him. He further told him that the crime of which he stood convicted was the
most terrible that could be committed under our civilization. The court,
he said, had only one duty to perform and that was to pronounce sentence upon
him. "The sentence is," he said, "that you be confined in
state's prison at hard labor during the term of your natural life."
Hildreth received the announcement of his
sentence without apparently moving a
muscle, but after he returned to the seat beside his father the full meaning of
it seemed
to force itself upon his consciousness and tears sprang to his eyes.
Justice McLennan directed that he be removed
from court, and he was taken out,
his father, his aunt and his attorneys, Messrs. Searles and Sayles,
accompanying him.
FATE OF H1BBARD AND PLATO.
When Hildreth elected to be tried separately
for the crime for which he was
indicted
with Theodore Hibbard and Herbert Plato, it was believed that the verdict in
his case would decide the question as to whether Hibbard and Plato would be put
upon trial. The belief was borne out when Justice McLennan, immediately after
sentencing Hildreth, directed that the other defendants be brought into court.
Hibbard and Plato were soon brought before
the bar, and District Attorney Klock read the indictments found against them,
charging them with murder in the first degree in causing the deaths of Hager and
Bond. Upon concluding he asked them if they wished to withdraw the pleas of not
guilty entered by them.
Attorney Sayles answered for them, saying that
he had advised the prisoners to do so and to plead guilty to manslaughter in
the first degree. Justice McLennan asked both boys if they so wished to plead
and both answered yes.
Hibbard was first arraigned and stated that
he was born in Verona, is 18 years old, is a machinist by trade, is unmarried, temperate
in habits, a Protestant in religion, both parents living and that he had never
been convicted of any crime.
Plato was next arraigned and gave his
birthplace as Steuben, Oneida county, his age
as 18 years, bell boy by occupation, temperate, Protestant in religion, father living,
mother dead, first conviction for crime.
In sentencing the defendants, Justice McLennan
said that he had seriously
reflected
upon the crime charged against them and that it did not seem to him that this
was the time for the court to impose a sentence less than the maximum. Their crime,
he said, struck at the very root of the organization of society and it was almost
too terrible to contemplate when the jeopardizing of millions of lives carried on
railroad trains is considered.
After these remarks the court sentenced Hibbard
and Plato to twenty years each in state's prison for causing the death of Engineer
Hager and twenty years each for causing the death of Robert Bond.
LEFT TOWN.
Many Here Who Would
Like to See Photographer Gilman.
Chas.
R. Gilman, who has been running a photograph gallery in the Grand Central block
[in Cortland] since February, and incidentally putting up awnings for the
business men, has apparently left town. He made photographs for 99 cents a
dozen and advertised "we are here to stay" consequently many were on
the lookout for him, but he disappointed even them. There are five chattel
mortgages filed in the County Clerk's office in favor of C. F. Sarson, $26; T.
H. Dowd, $14; Nettie and Mrs. J. B. Gilman, $100; Peck Bros., $50; and P.
Sugerman, $12 respectively.
H. M. Kellogg sold him a $40 range which was
used and damaged, then returned for
storage and about $14 worth of gas pipe for his awnings and other goods. He
received no cash. The Gas Light Co. are out the amount of their bill and the
Electric Light Co. have attached the goods left behind in order to recover
theirs. He also
forgot to pay his rent.
When he came to town his brother-in-law,
Ernest Mead, advanced money to get his goods out of the freight office and help
him to start, he also signed a note with Gilman in payment for a folding bed.
Mr. Mead is out a considerable sum.
Last week Gilman shipped some goods to
Waterloo, but rumor has it that he is now
locating in Groton. He probably drove out of town some time Sunday with his
horse which is mortgaged in payment for his wagon. Some people have an idea he
will return and there are others who would be glad to see him.
Rascally Work.
Last
spring several cows were found dead or mutilated near town, but the perpetrator
of the outrage was never found. He seems to be still in the neighborhood, for
sometime between 2 o'clock P. M., last Thursday, and the following afternoon, a
very fine thoroughbred Jersey heifer belonging to Mr. B. H. Wheeler was tied to
a tree in the pasture about a mile west of town and her throat cut. A neighbor
saw the two heifers in the lot and remarked about them Thursday afternoon.
When Mr. Wheeler went to look after them Friday
afternoon, one was dead and the other missing. The latter had simply strolled through
a broken fence to another pasture. The best one, for which registration papers had
been made out, had been tied to a tree while a long slit was made in her neck,
cutting the windpipe, then the strap was cut and the caress left where Mr. Wheeler
found it. There is some circumstantial evidence pointing to the perpetrator which
the authorities are following closely in hope of bringing him to justice.
Rarely has this community been more suddenly
and sadly shocked than on Tuesday when the news came that Miss Sara E. Collins
was dead. Though in poor health
for the past two years, yet all were hopeful for her ultimate recovery. On Saturday
night gastric fever suddenly seized her and she rapidly sank until Tuesday morning
at 10 o'clock, when the end came.
She was one of the excellent women of the earth.
Few are there who are so fitted by natural ability, culture and true nobility of
character to benefit and bless the world
as was she. In many circles she will be sadly missed. Wise, sagacious, with a
marked degree of executive ability, she was well fitted for each and every
place of responsibility and honor she was called to fill. A christian woman who
loved to see right triumph over wrong, who labored with her whole soul for the
good and the true,
ever ready to help "The cause that lacked assistance, the wrongs that
needed resistance," surely Cortland needed such as she. As has been said
of another, "The place
is dotted all over with marks of her loving philanthropic work."
For the last ten or twelve years her chief
work has been in the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union. The county president for five years, local president three years, her
wise leadership has wrought much for the welfare of the organization. Always enthusiastic,
leading out into larger fields of usefulness until it would seem there were no more
to add. But the end is not yet, she being dead will yet speak through many whose
hearts she has been an inspiration to. Recently her name with the accompanying $100
was sent to the Temperance Temple in Chicago to be wrought in marble in Willard
Hall by Cortland County W. C. T. U., as a fitting testimonial of the confidence
and love for their honored president. Delegates from the county and the local Union
will attend the funeral in a body.
She was a charter member of the Ladies' Literary
club and the Ladies' Library association,
and one of the board of managers who were instrumental in founding the
Old Ladies Home.
Miss Collins was born in Canastota April 30,
1844, and lived there until her parents
moved to Cortland in 1855, since which time Cortland has been her home.
FROM
EVERYWHERE.
Perryville
is shipping large quantities of crushed stone to Elmira.
Afton boasts that it has more people who
attend church, according to its population, than any town in the state.
Under the new constitution of the state the
assembly districts are increased to 150, and Cornell University, in accordance
with this increase, voluntarily agrees to increase the number of state
scholarships from 512 to 600.
A Norwich barber advertises himself as a
"physiognomical hairdresser, cranium manipulator,
capillary abriger, shaving and hair cutting with ambidextrous facility,
shampooning on philological principles."
Melvin Woodworth, a prosperous Fenner farmer,
was the intended victim of bunco sharpers Thursday. The old three-card monte
game was tried without success and the nervy farmer came near getting away with
a $5 bill one of them stuck in his pocket in an effort to get him to bet.
The coroner's jury in the case of Thomas Wilson
alias John Casey, the Leonardsville burglar, rendered a verdict reciting the circumstances
of the shooting and declaring it to be justifiable homicide on the part of C.
Eugene Tully, who shot the burglar while attempting to enter the postoffice.
A new
steel bridge is in course of erection at Sidney Centre, in the shape of a steel
plate girder viaduct across the ravine, to replace the old iron structure.
It
will be ninety-six feet in its highest part, and 1,220 feet in length, with
fifty
two
new masonry piers and two abutments twenty-six feet high. The location is on a
curve containing forty-seven thirty-foot spans. The bridge is the longest and largest
of the many O. & W. bridges. Superintendent Canfield was the designer of
the new structure and it was put up by the Pennsylvania Steel company. The panorama,
which is presented to view as trains pass over it, is pleasing and impressive.—Exchange.
HERE AND THERE.
The new list of telephone
subscribers is being distributed by Supt. Nolan.
Cortland County Agricultural society's fifty-eighth
annual fair, Sept. 8, 9 and 10.
Bennett & Hartwell are making some needed
repairs to the slate on the roof and steeple of the Baptist church.
The Candy Kitchen opened their ice cream
parlors at their new location on
Railroad-st.
Wednesday evening.
The Central Hotel on Court-st. is being thoroughly
overhauled and repaired by the owners, Messrs. Wickwire Bros.
A trolley which lumped from the wire and
struck against the fire alarm wire caused
a stroke of the bell at 11:10 Tuesday night.
Mr. A. J. Goddard is making extensive improvements
in his hotel on Railroad-st. and,
when finished, will have a model house.
The case of Anna McWorter, who charged her
husband with non-support, was adjourned to Monday before Justice Dickinson.
The Loyal Circle of Kings' Daughters will
meet with Mrs. Bouton, corner of Union
and Owego-sts., Friday, May 15th, at 2:30 P. M.
Chas. Nichols leased the Central House in
Homer and is repairing the same. He expects
to take possession about the first of next month.
Mott Rood of Homer, who was charged with
cruelty to animals, was discharged with a
reprimand and caution not to repeat the offense.
The many friends of Mr. Archie LaFevre will
be pleased to learn that he is again at the old stand, the North End meat
market with H. E. Andrews.
Emma Juch, one of the world's greatest
sopranos, will sing at Mahan's Music Festival
on the evening of June 4th at the Cortland Opera House.
Nines from Main st. and Railroad st. will
cross bats on the fair grounds next Wednesday.
The boys ave putting in all their spare time at practice.
The Ladies' Aid society of the Presbyterian church
will give a musicale at the home
of Mrs. C. L. Kinney on Port Watson-st. next Monday evening.
W. H. Hall, proprietor of the Virgil hotel,
will give a Decoration Party on Friday Evening,
May 29. Music by Palmer & Guier's full orchestra. Bill, $1.50.
The Raymond House at Little York is open for
the season and entertainment is promised
to all who call. The boats are in fine condition and the fishing season is fairly
open.
The station known as Perryville on the E. C.
& N. road is changed on the new time
card of the Lehigh Valley to Blakeslee in order not to conflict with Peruville on
another branch of the road.
The East Side base ball nine and their friends
to the number of sixteen chartered a
carryall and went to Truxton last Sunday where they were defeated by a score of 17 to
3.
A "Palace of Sweets" has been
opened in the store formerly occupied by the Candy
Kitchen in the Cortland House block by Mrs. H. E. Ripley & Co. of Rochester.
All members of the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union are requested to meet at
headquarters promptly at 1:30 P. M , on Friday to attend in a body the funeral
of Miss
Sara E. Collins at 2 o'clock.
The supper given by the Ladies' Aid Society
of the Universalist church on
Wednesday
evening afforded all that could be desired by the most delicate appetite and
netted the ladies over $10.
The report that the Forging Co. have decided
to rebuild their shops is unfounded. The matter still hangs in the balance whether
they will resume business or not and it may not be decided before June 1.
Last Thursday morning while H. W. Griffith
was operating a mortiser in the
shops
of the Cortland Door and Window Screen Co., he accidently got his right hand
in the machine. The hand was severely cut.
Saturday forenoon the horse of Dell Antisdel
took french leave while he was delivering
milk on Railway-ave. The wagon and milk cans were left beside an electric
light pole at the post office corner and the horse went home.
The improvements on the Dexter House are
nearly completed and old patrons of the
house will hardly recognize the place when it is finished. It will have all the modern
conveniences and will be second to no hotel of its size in Central New York.
The annual reunion of the One Hundred and
Eighty-fifth regiment, N. Y. S. volunteers will be held at McGrawville, Cortland
county, on June 25. The citizens of
that village are making preparations for elaborate entertainment for their
guests.
Frank Keene was tempting fate and abusing one
of C. B. Peck's horses by fast driving
Tuesday night. He finally turned from Church to Port Watson-st. at full speed
and one of the wheels collapsed. Officer Jackson took him to the cooler and Wednesday
he was fined $5 for public intoxication.
Papers were served on village President
Boyden yesterday in the suit for damages of Mrs. R. A. Pulford against the
village of Marathon, for injuries claimed to have been received through the
negligence of of the village in March, 1895. The claim, as before published, is
for $20,000.—Marathon Independent.
Ed. Matthewson, who won the three first
prizes in the running races at Binghamton Saturday, was protested and barred
from receiving the prizes. It is hoped
to bring about a match between Matthewson and Coville of Syracuse, to take
place at the C. A. A. field day, May 27th. Floyd Stoker won second prize in the
half mile run.
Miss Geraldine Morgan, the eminent violinist,
is the only American who ever had
the honor of winning the grand Mendelssohn prize, offered annually at Berlin.
This she did competing with 40 other artists from all parts of Europe. Miss
Morgan plays at Mahan's Music Festival on the afternoon and evening of Friday,
June 5th.
Howard's
restaurant and cafe on Port Watson-st. is open to the public. The place has
been thoroughly overhauled, painted and papered and is neat and clean enough to
please the most fastidious. The ladies and gents department is distinguished from
the other by an oak front and is entirely separate from it. Ladies with or without
an escort will be served with all the delicacies of the season at reasonable prices.
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