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| Elmira Reformatory, Elmira, N. Y. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Wednesday, August 17, 1896.
REFORMATORY
REVOLT.
Elmira
Prisoners Planned a Wholesale Escape.
ATTACKED
TWO OF THE GUARDS.
Prompt
and Courageous Action Prevented the Convicts Carrying Out Their Design—Desperate Fight and Two of Them Hurt.
ELMIRA, N. Y., Aug. 12.—Seventy of the lower
second grade inmates of the state reformatory were taken out on to the large
parade ground to drill under charge of Principal Keeper Sample and Captain Adams.
After the exercises were over and as the inmates
were returning to the building, some of the men pitched upon Sample and Adams,
assaulting them with iron buckets. Both were borne to the ground, but Sample
shot one of the convicts in the leg, and in response to a general alarm 25 guards,
armed with Winchester rifles, appeared on the scene and succeeded in quelling
the riot.
Sample and the wounded convict are in the
hospital. Adams was also badly injured. The rioters have been placed in solitary
confinement.
It appears evident that a plot had been laid
to escape, and had the convicts succeeded in getting Sample and Adams out of
the way, they would have made a dash for the walls, and some of them might have
got over.
Had it not been for the prompt action of the
guards the attempted wholesale jail delivery would have been successful. The men
implicated are the worst in the institution, having been reduced for some violation
of the rules.
These 70 men marched out into the drill yard
in three squads in charge of Principal Keeper Sample. Captain Adams, after an
hour of marching and running, sent the men to the end of the parade ground, where
they deposited the wooden guns and returned lockstep to the door leading through
the bucket house to the prison hall.
The convicts evidently had formulated a plan
of attack, for no sooner had they passed the door in the bucket house when half
a dozen of them attacked Captain Adams, while about the same number assaulted Keeper
Sample.
Adams was thrown to the floor and pounded
without mercy, while Sample, who is large and powerful, was felled to the floor
with a heavy iron bucket by a convict named Decker, who seemed to be the leader
of the rioters.
Blood flowed profusely from the keeper's
head. He did not lose his presence of mind, but pulled his revolver and shot one
of the rioters, who fell to the floor. The ball passed through the leg just
under the skin above the knee.
A general alarm was then sounded and the 25
officers rushed out armed with Winchester rifles.
By this time the convicts had reached the
hospital yard. The rifles pointed at them, and being commanded to halt or be shot,
they had no alternative but surrender.
All were put in solitary confinement and
will probably be transferred to Sing Sing or Auburn.
Decker, the leader, was received from New
York in 1891 and would have been released in three weeks.
REBELLION
IN FORMOSA.
Natives
Revolt Against the Cruelties of the Japanese.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 12.—Mail advices from
the Orient tell of a rebellion which has broken out in the center of the island
of Formosa. Hoonim, the camphor center, was attacked on June 27. It is supposed
the few Japanese there, numbering about a dozen, including the gendarmes, were
killed, and it is feared that D. D. Ollia, an European, has also fallen a
victim. The town
is supposed to have been sacked and the loss to foreigners will be considerable.
This state of affairs is said to be due to
the cruelties committed by the Japanese in the country and to the arrogance and
the general misconduct of officials.
SITUATION
IN CUBA.
One-Fourth
of Spain's Soldiers on the Sick List.
LONDON, Aug. 12.— The Times today publishes
a letter from Havana which gives the evidence of a high military officer there
that 25 per cent of the Spanish troops in Cuba are on the sick list or are unfit
for duty.
Discussing the desperate state of the sugar
industry the letter states:
"Much misery on this account might be avoided
if Cuba, by purchase or otherwise, became a state of the American Union. Under
a stable government, a free market in the United States, and assisted by American
capital, Cuba would easily produce a sufficient sugar supply for all the requirements
of America."
Aged
Horse Thief Arrested.
NEWBURG,
N. Y., Aug. 12.—Henry Barnes was taken into custody here for the alleged
offense of horse stealing. Barnes is 77 years old and is charged with having
stolen a horse and wagon owned by B. F. Writer of Otisville, in April last. He
is said to be an old offender.
THE
GREAT SHOW COMING.
Barnum & Bailey's Circus to Exhibit Here Soon.
Most of the wonders to be
exhibited in Barnum & Bailey's show when it comes here [Cortland] on
Saturday, Sept. 5, will be new and the same as shown in Madison Square Garden,
New York, this spring, comprised in circus, menagerie, hippodrome and the
Ethnic Entertainment called Oriental India. The whole organization is conducted
with a view to presenting the best and most that money and energy can bring
together. The horses are sleek, finely kept and strong, the ladies are nearly
all young and pretty, the animals are splendid specimens of their respective
classes, and full arrangements are made for the accommodation and comfort of
visitors.
Among the more notable
specimens of animals in the double menageries are twenty-four elephants, a
giraffe, a whole flock of giant ostriches, an addis, eland, water bok, wart
hog, a nylghau, Malay tapir of the kind known as saddle-back, several guibs,
harnessed antelopes, hairless horse, giant and pigmy creatures, fifty cages of
wild beasts, a giant gorilla—Johanna, Chicko's widow—the fame of which has
extended all over the world, and without doubt the greatest living attraction
ever seen with an exhibition.
The circus exhibition has
three rings and three stages, and racing track, and the number of performers
is largely in excess of those ever seen before. Many of them are European
celebrities, and their acts are novel and original. The most graceful and difficult
of all equestrian acts are performed by young and handsome women, and only
champions appear in all of the 100 circus acts.
The ring exhibition of the
trained animals and elephants is a marvelous one. One herd contains a dozen huge beasts, one of which only a few inches
less in height than Jumbo.
Everything in and about the Barnum
& Bailey Show is on a scale of magnitude which implies a wonderful amount
of executive ability and thorough discipline to manage successfully. The
million dollar street parade will take place in the morning.
New Engines on the Lehigh.
The Lehigh Valley's new
engines from the Baldwin locomotive works have arrived at Easton. There are
twenty-nine altogether, five with the six-foot driving wheel for passenger
service, and twenty-four with the five-foot wheel for freight trains. Fifteen
will be taken to Sayre, one will be stationed at East Mauch Chunk to draw fast
freights and the others will be used on the lower divisions. Engine No. 655 has
two driving wheels and a large poney truck behind them, also a large tank to
hold water enough to run from Sayre to Wilkesbarre without stopping, and it is
to be used on the Black Diamond express.—Elmira Advertiser.
A Bonded Loan.
A trust mortgage was filed for
record in the county clerk's office Monday forenoon from the Cortland Wagon company
to Norman H. Becker of Seneca Falls, N. Y., as trustee, to secure the payment
of $225,000 of the corporate bonds of the company just issued. Upon inquiry of
the officers of the company, we were informed that its business runs from
$800,000 to $900,000 a year; that its assets foot up between $850,000 and
$900,000; that its liabilities are now smaller in proportion to its assets than
at any time in the last three years; that it has always been a large borrower
of money, usually borrowing in the fall to purchase stock and finish its products
in the winter, and paying the same from spring sales.
Last winter the company ran
all winter and manufactured a large quantity of work. Sales have been unusually
light and the company has in consequence a large stock of manufactured goods on
hand unsold. Its collections have been slow, and owing to the general
inclination among banks to curtail their loans and decline discounts until the financial
issue involved in the present political contest has been decided, and anticipating
that there might be difficulty in obtaining loans later in the season, the
company decided to avail itself of an opportunity presented to it of making
this loan of $225,000, through parties out of town, to secure the payment of
all the present bank indebtedness of the company, and to enable it to continue
manufacturing and to carry its present stock until trade shall open up again,
and in order that it may realize upon its accounts and bills receivable without
inconvenience to its customers.
Only a small portion of the
bank business of the company has ever been done in Cortland, the greater
portion of its business having been done in New York City and other places.
The officers of the company in
making this loan have exhibited the good business judgment for which they are
noted. The fact that at this time they are able to place such a loan shows the
stability of the company and the standing of its officers with financial
institutions.
The factory has been shut down
for some weeks for the completion of the usual annual inventory. We are informed
that work will soon be resumed and the usual number of cutters made for the winter
trade.
[Cortland] Vital Statistics of July.
Health Officer W. J. Moore
reports the following record of vital statistics for the month of July. Total
deaths 9—males 5, females 4; social condition—married 4, single 1, widowed 4;
nativity—United States 7, Ireland 2; ages—under five years 1, between thirty
and forty 1, between fifty and sixty, 1, between sixty and seventy 1, between
seventy and eighty 3, between eighty and ninety 1, between ninety and one
hundred 1; causes of death—old age 3, paralysis 2, disease of the brain 2,
gastroenteritis 1; consumption 1; births 10—males 4, females 6; marriages 2.
A Watermelon Snapshot.
Mail carrier George T. Lester
took a snapshot with his camera yesterday at the postoffice at something which
was largely made up of watermelon. Deputy Postmaster Seymour S. Jones, Money Order Clerk James H. Turner, Stamp Clerk R. H. Miller and Carrier Dewitt Howard had a large melon which
they had divided into its four quarters and they were making frantic efforts to
get outside of the pieces in the shortest possible time. It looked as though
there was money upon the result.
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