CONGRESS IN SESSION AND EDWARD SHELDON KILLED BY A LEHIGH TRAIN

Thomas Brackett Reed.

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, December 7, 1896.

CONGRESS IN SESSION.

Gavels Fell In Both Houses at Noon Today.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE RECEIVED.

Reading of the Message Occupies the First Day's Session—The Usual Lively Scenes at the Opening of a Session Witnessed.

   WASHINGTON, Dec. 7.—Promptly at the hour of noon today the gavel of Vice President Stevenson called to order the United States senate. Simultaneously the rubicund visage of Speaker Reed was descried in his old familiar place in the house of representatives, his gavel beat a lively tattoo and the national legislature was in session.

   The usual amount of cleaning, furbishing and repairing was apparent about the Capitol, floral tokens of recognition of the popularity of various members were numerous on the desks of both houses, the corridors, committee rooms, lobbies and rotunda were filled with chatting, laughing, hand-shaking men, the galleries were well filled, many of the gentler sex being present and the usual bustle and excitement incident to the opening of a congressional session was once more in evidence.

   Immediately after the opening prayer in the senate, committees were appointed to notify the president and the house of representatives that the senate was organized and ready to receive communications and ready to proceed to business.

   The senate then took a recess until the message of President Cleveland was received, when it was read by the clerk.

   The first work of the session is not expected to be productive of important results in a legislative way. There are many senators who think that but little or nothing should be done beyond the passage of the appropriation bills at this session and as these measures necessarily originate in the house, there will be a disposition to postpone the season of activity until some of them can be received from the other end of the Capitol.

   The probabilities are that the daily sessions at the beginning will be comparatively brief and that the senate will content itself with four days' work in each week.

   The calendar presents a wide range of material for consideration in case the senate shows a disposition to busy itself. In this is included the immigration bill, which is the "unfinished business," the Pacific railroad refunding bill, the statehood bill and the Dingley tariff and bond bills, as well as the Cuban and Hawaiian questions. Senators Lodge and Chandler have announced their determination to press the immigration bill to a vote as speedily as they can. It will be the first regular business to be taken up and cannot be displaced except by vote or unanimous consent. They hope to get the bill through before the holidays. It is also possible that the president's message may suggest subjects for speeches, and there are those who predict that the Cuban question will receive vigorous attention from the beginning of the session.

   It is generally agreed that the Republicans will hold a caucus to determine upon a line of policy, especially with reference to the tariff, and until after the exchange of views which this conference will permit; no step is likely to be taken which will commit the party to any position on any question of political significance.

   The opening week promises to see the house put its shoulder to the wheel of the regular appropriation bills. Chairman Cannon and the committee on appropriations were at work all last week and it is their earnest intention to pass two and possibly three of the bills before Christmas holidays. The pension and legislative appropriation bills are about ready and work on one or the other of those bills will be begun in the house before the week closes.

   The pension bill, although it carries a larger amount of money than any of the other supplies, is very brief, and unless some political discussion is precipitated is not likely to consume much time in its consideration.

   Beyond these two bills nothing is in sight at present. It is, of course, not unlikely that the committee on rules will provide something for the house to do in case the committee on appropriations is not prepared to go ahead with either of these appropriation bills.

   The course of legislation so far as the important measures on the calendar is concerned (like the Pacific railroad funding bill, the Nicaragua canal bill, etc.) will be determined entirely by the rules committee, but it is safe to assume that nothing will be allowed to block the appropriation bills, as they are reported for action. They always have the right of way at the short session.

   Today will probably be devoted entirely to the reading of the president's message.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

Need of Tariff Legislation.

   Representative David F. Wilber of Oneonta is sound on the tariff question. He said in a recent interview:

   The discrimination against farm products in the present tariff law has placed the agriculturist face to face with ruin. If substantial assistance does not soon come in the form of proper tariff legislation to the American farmer, we will pass through the worst financial crisis yet experienced in the country.

   The American farmer for the past two years has been obliged to sell his products below the cost of production, and the country merchant has carried him until the latter has been forced to ask accommodation of the country bank. They, at the present time, have reached or are about to reach the limit of that accommodation.

   I know that many country banks at the present time, on account of the large accommodations to the merchants in their locality, have been obliged to ask for loans in New York and elsewhere in order to accommodate their customers.

   Every business interest demands that the tariff question be dealt with in a prompt and efficient manner. As nothing can be expected of the Cleveland administration, it is the part of wisdom to prepare a tariff bill for immediate consideration after the 4th of March. In the meantime the utmost accommodation consistent with sound business principles should be granted so the interval of three or four months may pass without disturbance.

Some Boston Words.

   Americans mostly know how much they owe to Boston in the way of examples of propriety of behavior and the use of good grammar. Few, however, are aware of what Boston has done for the English language in the way of actually enriching it with new words. Mr. C. W. Ernst instances a number of these in The New England Magazine.

   We find from his paper that the word "commonwealth" as applied to a country and its government was a coinage of the Massachusetts colony in 1634. Afterward Cromwell himself borrowed the word for Great Britain.

   The word "town" as applied to a neighborhood or township is also a Boston idea. So is "rum," meaning an intoxicating drink distilled from molasses. This was first made in Boston in 1653. Boston also borrowed from Gloucester, Mass., and brought into common use the word "schooner," not meaning a large beer glass, but a coasting vessel. There, too, is "coasting," sliding down hill rapidly, now applied to bicycles more often even than as originally to speeding down hill upon a sled over a snow track. Boston likewise invented "lumber," to designate boards, planks and woods prepared for the market. "Caucus" is one of her word coins too.

   Finally we come to Boston's most widespread and illustrious linguistic invention—"paper money." In Boston paper money was first issued and first named July 2, 1692, 204 years ago.

INSTANTLY KILLED.

EDWARD SHELDON STRUCK BY A TRAIN AT MCLEAN.

Riding In a Top Carriage—One Horse Killed, the Other Badly Hurt—The Warning Was Ample as the Whistle Blew Again and Again.

   Edward Sheldon, a resident of the town of Dryden, aged about seventy years, was struck by a Lehigh Valley train at McLean this morning and instantly killed.

   Mr. Sheldon was driving a spirited team attached to a top buggy. He had been to McLean and was just starting back home when the accident occurred. He was killed at the Keenan crossing one-half mile west of McLean, where the highway crosses the track at an angle of about thirty degrees. Mr. Sheldon had just reached the track when passenger train No. 147 came in sight from the west. Engineer Thomas J. Durand blew the whistle at the quarter mile line, as is the custom at all crossings, and continued the whistling as he saw the team was very close to the track. Mr. Sheldon was either deaf and did not hear the approaching train until too late or thought he had time to get across, as the horses were seen to rear just before being struck, as though being suddenly pulled backwards by the reins.

   The train must have hit the rear of the horses for they were hurled into a ditch at the right, while Mr. Sheldon's body was found at the left of the track about seventy-five feet from where he was struck. The carriage was totally demolished. Mr. Sheldon was instantly killed, his head apparently having been hit by the pilot of the engine, as a portion of his brain was noticed there afterward.

   The remains were brought on the train to McLean and a coroner from Ithaca notified. One of the horses was impaled and died at once and it is thought the other horse may live.

   Mr. Sheldon was a widower and resided with his son, Charles Sheldon, about two and one-half miles southwest of McLean in the town of Dryden. He leaves two other sons, Benjamin and Frank Sheldon.

   It seems that no blame can be attached to Engineer Durand, as several persons who were on the train say that the whistle was blown and that the warning was ample.

   The place where the accident occurred was near the place where Mrs. Honora Keenan was killed by a train last summer.

A NARROW ESCAPE.

A Skater Broke Through the Ice Into the Mill Pond.

   Fred Dillon, the fourteen-year-old son of Patrick Dillon of 14 Railway-ave., narrowly escaped drowning on Saturday afternoon. In company with a number of other boys he was skating near the mill dam below the cove where the ice was unsafe and venturing too far went through. The water was deep and the ice was not strong enough to bear his weight so that he could get out. Louie Moul, who was on the ice, saw the accident and as quickly as possible procured a piece of a board and hastened to young Dillon's assistance. The boy seized the end of the board and jerked it out of Moul's hand. He went down twice before Moul got a rail from the fence near by [sic] and succeeded in getting him out. When finally he was brought upon solid ice he was so weak he could not stand.

Vital Statistics.

   [Cortland] Health Officer W. J. Moore has the following vital statistics recorded for the month of November:

   Total deaths 12—males 5, females 7; social condition—married 9, widowed 3; nativity—United States 12; ages—between twenty and thirty 1, between thirty and forty 3, between forty and fifty 2, between fifty and sixty 2, between sixty and seventy 1, between seventy and eighty 2, between eighty and ninety 1; causes of death—consumption 3, cerebral hemorrhage 1, chloroform poisoning 1, diabetes mellitus 1, gastric fever 1, heart disease 3, paralysis 2; total births—9—males 4; females 5; marriages 3.

BREVITIES.

   —John Wood of Norwich swapped horses 559 times in one year. In three days at the Walton fair he traded thirty-four times.—Norwich Sun.

   —By the collision of two wagons near the Catholic church Saturday night a wheel and an axle of a wagon driven by Arthur Knapp of East Homer were broken.

   —The board of supervisors met again this afternoon to complete the business which was left unfinished before their adjournment. They will probably adjourn finally to-morrow. [Board members were paid expenses by the day. Some farmers claimed "they were milking it"—CC editor.]

   —The regular meeting of the Woman's Auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. will be held in the Y. M. C. A. parlor, Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 8, at 3:30 P. M. A large attendance is requested.

   —Mr. Robert Bushby, while in Buffalo last Wednesday, took a fall while trying to get through a large crowd and received a cut on the forehead. He was stunned for a minute, but soon rallied.

   —Over 50,000 bushels of potatoes have been harvested from the Buffalo municipal farms this year. At twenty cents a bushel they represent $10,000, and will help wonderfully in the relief of poor people.

   —Through an oversight the name of Mrs. Frank Beach as treasurer was on

Saturday omitted from the list of officers as published of the Woman's Missionary society of the Congregational church.

   —To-morrow, being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will be a holiday of obligation in the Catholic church. High Mass will be celebrated at St. Mary's at 9 o'clock in the morning.

   —New advertisements to-day are—I. Whiteson, Clothing, page 8; Stowell, The Arrival of Santa Claus, page 6; Bingham Bros. & Miller, House Coats, page 4; Case & Ruggles, Big Sale, page 6; C. F. Brown, Sliver Brushes, page 8; L. S. Hayes, Manufacturers' Sale, page 6.

   —Mr. W. F. Potter of Chadwick's barber shop is to-day greeting his customers with an exceptionally broad smile and before one has the opportunity to inquire as to the cause of this he is inclined to answer mechanically, "It's a girl, born yesterday."

Blacksmith Changes Location.

   Mr. Martin McMahon, who for the past nine months has been associated with Mr. Alex Coon in the blacksmith business in the shop in the rear of Walter's music store on North Main-st., has purchased a half interest in the shop conducted by Thomas F. Nolan on Port Watson-st. and took possession and began work this morning. Mr. McMahon was with John Hodgson for three years before the old shop on Port Watson-st. was burned and was with Mr. Nolan for a year in the new shop. He will be pleased to welcome all his old friends in his new location.

McGRAWVILLE.

Crisp Local Happenings at the Corset City.

   Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Maricle and daughter Goldie and Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Wilcox, daughter Nina and son Ward, spent Sunday at Charles Atkins' in Freetown.

   Miss Minnie Hubbard of Blodgett Mills is the guest of her cousins, Misses Bertha and Cora Haughton.

   Clinton Pratt of Cuyler is visiting relatives here.

   H. N. Doran of DeRuyter was a guest at R. E. Sweet's, Saturday. He is visiting relatives in Freetown at present.

   While skating Friday evening on Frank Burlingham's pond, Johnnie Sly fell and cut quite a gash on one side of his chin. The wound was dressed by some of his fellow skaters.

   Steve Waters had a finger clipped by the cornering machine at the box factory Saturday morning. While not stopping his work, Mr. Waters has a sore finger.

   Vern Porter, who has been spending a few days at John Warren's in Solon, returned Saturday and will assist Charles McLane in pulling a crosscut saw.

   Frank Clegg, who has been here several weeks on account of the illness and death of his brother, left last night for New York, where he will spend a few days with relatives before returning to his duties in New London, Conn., where he holds a position with a jewelry firm.

   The corset factory will during December run eight hours a day except Saturday afternoons. The employees, who have been working on short and uncertain time for some months prior to election, are pleased at the prospects of full winter time.

   The infant son of Mr. and Mrs. John Borthwick died Saturday morning.