SAVED FROM THE CHAIR

Arthur Mayhew tied to the electric chair, March 12, 1897.

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, November 28, 1896.

SAVED FROM THE CHAIR.

Mayhew Snatched From Death at Sing Sing.

JOHN A. WAYNES' CONFESSION.

Declares That His Testimony, Which Convicted Mayhew of Murder, Was False—Stay of Execution Granted—Both Men Are Negroes.

   NEW YORK, Nov. 28.—Lawyers Charles W. Brooke and W. Temple Emmet have secured a stay of execution in the case of Arthur Mayhew, awaiting death in Sing Sing prison, and an order to show cause why a new trial should not be granted the condemned man. The stay was granted by Judge Keogh of the supreme court in his office, and it is returnable at 10 o'clock next Thursday morning in the supreme court, Brooklyn.

   Mayhew is under sentence to be electrocuted some time during the week commencing Nov. 30, 1896.

   The condemned man, who is a negro, was convicted on April 28, 1896, of the murder of Stephen Powell, a well-to-do storekeeper of Hempstead, L. I., on March…, 1896. Mayhew was tried in Long Island city before Judge Keogh, and his conviction was principally due to an affidavit made by his alleged accomplice, John A. Waynes, also a negro of Hempstead, who swore that he had seen Mayhew strike Powell with a stocking filled with stones, and that after the fatal blow had been struck Mayhew rifled the pockets of the murdered man and divided his spoils with him (Waynes).

   Some time before the trial, it is said, Waynes put his statement in writing.

When he was called to the witness stand during the trial of Mayhew he refused to answer any questions. The district attorney asked for an adjournment of a day that he might confer with the witness, who was also a prisoner.

   Judge Keough granted an hour's adjournment and the witness was taken into a private room, it is alleged, by the district attorney, who had a talk with him. Waynes still refused to say anything when he was put on the stand again and it was not until almost every effort to make him talk had been exhausted that he finally testified to the allegations contained in his written statement. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree and was sentenced to Sing Sing for 15 years.

   Mayhew was represented at his trial by Lawyer John B. Merrall. An appeal was taken, and the court sustained the verdict. The date set for the execution having passed before the appeal was decided, it was necessary for Mayhew to be brought down from Sing Sing and resentenced by Judge Gaynor, who fixed the execution for some day next week.

   It was after the appeal had been decided against Mayhew that Lawyers Brooke and Emmett came into the case. Mayhew told his counsel that he was an innocent man and that he felt sure that Waynes would tell the truth, eventually, without letting him go to the electric chair. He said that Waynes had been frightened into making a false affidavit. The two lawyers visited Waynes in Sing Sing, but he was sullen and refused to have anything to say. They visited him a second time with no better success and finally abandoned hope of saving their client, since all prospects for a new trial depended upon Waynes' confessing that he had sworn falsely.

   They were agreeably surprised, last Wednesday morning however, by learning that Waynes was anxious to see them and make a statement. Lawyer Emmett hurried to Sing Sing, saw the negro and secured an important statement from him which was put in the form of an affidavit and signed by Waynes in Lawyer Emmett's presence and before a notary public.

   In this affidavit John Waynes gives in detail his movements on the night on which Mr. Powell was murdered, practically demonstrating that his evidence at the time of the trial was false. He says in the affidavit:

   "I did not meet Mayhew. I did not see him kill Mr. Powell, as I testified at Mayhew's trial. I have since been informed that Mr. Powell was killed that evening between 10 and 12 o'clock. Mayhew was not with me during these hours."

   After detailing the story of his arrest on the charge of murder, Waynes says:

   "I had been locked up for two or three weeks when I had a conversation with Mr. Dote, the head of the Queens county jail in Long Island City. He told me that he had had a talk with Mayhew, and that Mayhew had 'come up to the front,' as he expressed it, and that Mayhew had confessed to him that he had killed Mr. Powell and had told him that I had kept watch while he did it. He also said that Mayhew would get 'off light' because he had told the truth and he said that I would get off light if I told the same story that Mayhew did; but that otherwise I would be punished very heavily. He said that Mayhew had told him that he and I walked up the street and hid behind the fence, waiting for Mr. Powell and that when Mr. Powell came along he (Mayhew) had run out and struck him and that I had run into the gutter and looked up and down the street to see if anyone was coming.

   "He then said that Mayhew had told him that he said I had run away through Torrace avenue and we were the men Treadwell saw running. He further said that Mayhew said that he had no intention of killing the man. I denied absolutely that any of these things had occurred and was sent back to my cell. A day or two after McDougall, the jailer, came to me. He took me up stairs, three or four flights up. Two other men were there, a detective and a notary public. McDougall took us into a little room and repeated all that Dote had said that Mayhew had said, and McDougall said that Mayhew had owned up to all of these facts.

   "'Now,' he said, 'Waynes, I have known you two or three years, and I want you to get off with a light punishment, too. Now,' he said, 'the only way for you to do is to own up to the same story that Mayhew [made].'

   "Upon this statement of the jailer and in view of what Sheriff Dote had said to me in the same strain, I thereupon made a statement as to the occurrences on the night when Mr. Powell was killed, following as nearly as I could what these men had told me Mayhew had said. My statement was taken down in writing, and I swore to it. I made that statement in the manner I have described because I believed from what was told me by Sheriff Dote and McDougail that it was the only thing for me to do to protect myself. I now declare that that statement was entirely untrue, in so far as it implicated either Mayhew or myself in the killing of Mr. Powell."

   Waynes then described in detail the trial of Mayhew. He said that he at first declined to stand by the statement that Mayhew had committed the murder, but that the lawyers represented to him that he would be in a worse fix than the man who struck the blow if he denied his statement.

   Fearing for his life and believing that he would be put on trial for the murder himself and that he would suffer the extreme penalty, he merely consented to stand by his original statement. He did not go into details as to the manner in which the crime was committed, when placed on the stand; he merely testified that his original statement was true, and this he claims to have done because he feared for his life in case he altered his first statement.

   Lawyer Emmett hurried to New York with this affidavit, and learning that Governor Morton was at his office in this city, he with Mr. Brooke called upon the governor and showed him Waynes' denial of the truth of his evidence at the trial. Governor Morton said he preferred not to interfere in the case until after the courts had been exhausted. He recommended the lawyers to apply at once to the trial judge for a stay, and this was done with the result stated.

Mayhew's Respite Expected.

   SING SING, NOV. 28.—The news that Judge Keogh of the supreme court had granted a stay to Mayhew was not received with any surprise at the prison. Such action had been anticipated and Warden Sage had withheld the invitations for the execution. They were all ready and addressed when the news of the stay reached the prison. The prison officials learned that the argument in the case will take place on Thursday next, probably in Long Island City, where Mayhew was convicted and where Judge Keogh will hold court.

Edwin Mitchell Bannister.

A NEGRO ARTIST.

Edwin M. Bannister Has Achieved Fame With His Brush.

   Edwin M. Bannister is a signature familiar to Boston art critics, for it has appeared on many delightfully painted sketches of the New England coast, as well as upon many canvases picturing Scriptural ideals, some of which hang in prominent Catholic churches in the eastern states. But few of the thousands who have admired the genius of his brush know much about the artist himself.

   An interesting personality is that of the aged New England artist, whose face is so unfamiliar and whose works have such a local fame. In appearance he looks like a full blooded negro, but he is of French, Indian and African origin. Mr. Bannister was born about 63 years ago in St. Andrews, N. B., and spent his boyhood there. Before he was 10 years old he was noted throughout the village for his skill with the pencil and, while he was apprenticed to a cobbler, it was generally believed that he would make a great artist some day. He did finally leave St. Andrews and came to the United States to study art.

   With bitter disappointment, he awakened to the fact that his brown skin made more of a difference in New England than it had in New Brunswick, where he was the social equal of any youth. He did not give up though, and after many trials settled down in Boston to study under Dr. Rimmer. In 1871 he finished his studies and went to Providence, of which city he has been a resident ever since. He became a regular contributor to the Boston Art club, and was cordially received by the members of the Providence Art league. His most notable picture was "Under the Oaks," which received the first gold medal at the Philadelphia Centennial exposition in 1876. Since then Mr. Bannister has been industriously painting, exhibiting in Boston and Providence each year. Some years ago he purchased a fine sailing yacht, and all his leisure hours have been spent in cruising.

   Mrs. Bannister is a woman who was a notable figure in New England during wartime, for it was she who started the movement of protest against giving the gallant colored regiment, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, smaller pay than that received by the white troops. She was known before her marriage as Mme. Carteaux, and she is a descendant of a noted Narragansett chief.

Li Hung Chang.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

An International Affair.

   Its name, as nearly as one can make out, is the English-American-Chinese

Construction company, and it promises to be one of the greatest schemes, even in this age of gigantic enterprises. The company is now ready to begin operations, according to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune.

   The syndicate is organized to manufacture for China everything necessary to put that country on a level with modern nations. It will build railroads, trolley lines and cars, will dredge harbors, put up electric light plants, gas and water works and build houses and roads as well.

   Two Englishmen are the main promoters of the enterprise. The interdependence of nations and people on one another is shown by the fact that the scheme was organized by two Englishmen who, in order to perfect it, went, the one to Shanghai, the other to Chicago, to operate. American capital and manufacturing will be largely represented. The capital of the company is $100,000,000 to begin. Li Hung Chang himself favors the syndicate, which is to begin, it is said, by constructing 2,300 miles of railroad in China. All this apparently means lively business and the amassing of millions by the American-English syndicate at this end and the rapid development of China at the other end of the line. The company will have three headquarters—London, Shanghai and Chicago.

DECREASE IN MORTALITY.

It Would Seem that New York is Growing More Healthy.

   There were 8,676 deaths in the state in October, according to the monthly bulletin of the state board of health which has just been made public at Albany. The decrease in the mortality from all causes which was reported in the last bulletin amounts to 500 fewer deaths than in the corresponding month of last year, has continued during October, the mortality being 600 less than that of October, 1895. There is also a decrease of 800 in the number of deaths reported from the preceding month. The estimated death rate is 16.00 per 1,000 population annually, against 17.50 in September and 17.20 in October, 1895.

   Among zymotic diseases the number of deaths from diarrheal diseases is unusually small and is diminished from 1,077 in September to 338, a saving of 740 deaths; this decrease is distributed over all parts of the state.

   From diphtheria, on the contrary, while compared with the mortality of a year ago, it is less for the month by 100, there is an increase from 294 deaths in September to 361; this increase occurs in all parts of the state, except the central and southern, but is chiefly due to local outbreaks in Ogdensburg, Edgewater, New Brighton, Albany, Hudson and Buffalo, with several other smaller places, its prevalence reported from 35 towns in the northern and eastern part of the state.

   In New York City there were fewer deaths than in September, but it has increased in Brooklyn and Long Island; diphtheria caused less than two per centum of the mortality in rural towns and 4.5 per centum of the urban mortality.

   Scarlet fever is reported as prevalent from twenty-five towns in the southwestern counties; thirty-five deaths occurred which is a slight increase over last month.

   Typhoid fever has slightly decreased. It caused 3.5 per cent of the rural mortality and 2.00 per cent of the urban.

   From acute respiratory diseases the mortality is excessive, the 1,123 deaths reported being 300 more than either that of the preceding month or the corresponding month of last year; no special cause for this disease has been reported. From other local diseases the mortality is diminished.

Accidently Shot.

   Mortimer B. Filzinger, proprietor of the North Main-st. ice-cream parlor and confectionery store, and Harry Schellinger of Mead's Jewelry store were rowing in a canvass boat on the Tioughnioga river Thursday afternoon. They were amusing themselves shooting at the mark, a tin can in the water, with a 22 calibre revolver. Filzinger put some new cartridges in the revolver and was in the act of shutting it up when it was accidentally discharged, the ball entering Mr. Filzinger's left leg above the knee. Drs. Dana and Didama after an examination decided not to remove the ball at present. Mr. Filzinger has been about attending to business as usual, but is somewhat lame.

IMPROVEMENTS ON THE LEHIGH.

New Ties Put In—New Fences to be Built—Better Service in Every Way.

   Ever since the acquisition of the E., C. & N. R. R. by the Lehigh Valley road there has been carried on a systematic line of improvements. Every patron of the road has noted the improvement of the car service and has realized from the added smoothness of the riding that the road bed has been made better. But that improvement has been brought about by continued and steady work. More section men have been employed this year all along the line of this division than ever before. During the past summer 77,000 new ties have been laid. When it is known that 2,640 ties are used to the mile it will be understood that nearly thirty miles of this division have been attended to. A start has been made in the line of taking out the sixty pound rails and replacing them with seventy-six pound rails. New planking has been laid at many of the railroad crossings. At the crossing on Main-st. in Cortland the new planks have just been put in and these are to be followed by the removal of mud and gravel which adjoin them and the substitution of crushed stone.

   The telegraph line along the road is being renewed. A new wire and in many cases new poles have taken the place of the old one all the way from Elmira to Ithaca and the rebuilding process is now being carried on between Cortland and Canastota.

   Twenty carloads of cedar ties are now on hand to use in building snow fences to protect bad places on the road during the coming winter. The ties will be set on posts eight feet apart and a tight board fence five feet high is to be built in points where experience shows a tendency to drift. It is the plan to rebuild the fences in large degree along the whole road next summer, where this may be needed.

BREVITIES.

   —Wheat reached the dollar mark in New York, Friday.

   —New advertisements to-day are—C. F. Brown, After-Dinner Cups and Saucers, page 2.

   —Rev. Edmund B. Gearhart of the Homer-ave. M. E. church will preach in the morning on "Love, the Christian's Motive-power," and will take up a special collection for the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Educational society. In the evening his theme will be, "Harvest Seasons."

   —The D., L. & W. R. R. is preparing to rebuild all the woodwork of the bridges between Cortland and Homer. This railroad always keeps its bridges and trestles in fine condition, taking out all old timbers and replacing them with new timbers before they begin to show any signs of wear and exposure to the weather.

   —The STANDARD is indebted to Mr. J. H. Heckman, general freight agent of the Lehigh Valley R. R., for a handsome wall map showing the entire Lehigh Valley system with its connections. When the whole road is thus spread out before one it gives a pretty good idea of the great extent of territory covered by this energetic and progressive company.

   —Prof. Lewis Swift of the Mount Lowell Observatory, California, discovered a bright comet one night recently just about sunset. The comet was only one degree from the sun. The next evening he observed the comet again, and found that, in consequence of its recession from the sun, it had diminished in brightness. Prof. Swift was a former resident of Marathon and now has relatives there.

A Fine Instrument.

   Dr. F. D. Reese has just received for use in his office a remarkably fine microscope from the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. of Rochester, N. Y. The microscope is fitted with a triple nose piece, two eye pieces, 2/3 inch, 1-6 inch and 1-12 inch oil immersion objectives and Abbe condenser in mounting with iris diaphragm. The mirrors are plane and concave of large size and easily adjusted. It is fitted with both coarse and fine improved adjustments. The whole is provided with a handsome case and forms a valuable addition to the doctor's already well equipped office.