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| Harriet Beecher Stowe. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Saturday, December 5, 1896.
The Uncle Tom Parade.
The
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" company made a fine street parade at noon to-day.
There were three bands, two bloodhounds and a variety of special features. It
was noticed that the brass drum used in one of the bands bore a local inscription.
That was accounted for by the fact that the special baggage car of the company
was partly burned at Norwich Wednesday night after the show while it was being
loaded. Only a little of the baggage had been removed from the opera house, but
the band instruments were all loaded and several of them including the brass
drum were injured before they could be rescued. The fire is supposed to have
started from the explosion of a lantern which was left hanging on a hook in the
car while the men went back to the opera house after another load.
Nothing
was lost however, which will in any way interfere with the presenting of the
play to-night with all its special features and all of its effectiveness.
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| Cortland Opera House. |
The
attraction at the Opera House this evening will be Stowe's colossal "Uncle
Tom's Cabin." A well attended matinee was held this afternoon. The company
is a large one, numbering fifty people, thirty white and twenty colored artists
and comes direct from a season's run in New York City. Of their appearance in Reading, a leading daily has the following to say:
The engagement
of the well known and highly successful southern drama entitled, "Uncle
Tom's Cabin," commenced at the academy this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. There
was a big audience and all present heartily enjoyed the show. The indications
are that the house will be crowded to-night. The play is a good one and is deserving
of liberal patronage. To-night's prices are 25, 35 and 50c. A parade was given
at noon in which many of the members of t he company, the pickaninnies, dogs
and donkeys participated. The parade was a very creditable affair.
DESERVING OF PITY.
Victim
of the Morphine Habit Gets into Trouble in Syracuse.
At about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon The STANDARD
received a news dispatch from Syracuse giving full details of the arrest and
detention in that city of Mrs. Emma Potter of Cortland. Mrs. Potter was charged
with shoplifting from several of the leading dry goods stores in the city.
An inquiry was at once made regarding the lady
here in Cortland and from every circumstance in connection with the case she
seemed far more deserving of pity than of condemnation. There was probably not
a doubt of her guilt, but it was learned that she is one of those poor
unfortunates who have grown to be so numerous in recent years who have become
so addicted to the morphine habit that her mind is affected and that she is
rarely ever in a condition to be strictly responsible for all her acts.
She is a lady past middle age who knowing it
has always borne an excellent reputation. Her husband has been a respected citizen
of Cortland for nearly thirty years. He has looked with horror upon this growing
habit of his wife, but has been powerless to stay it. Failing in that line, he
has tried in every way to shield her from the public eye and to prevent a
knowledge of it from coining to the public ear. The habit is of long standing.
Years ago Mrs. Potter was a dreadful sufferer from acute neuralgia and under
the advice of a physician took chloral to relieve her sufferings.
From chloral to morphine was an easy step,
and when once the habit was formed it seemed impossible to break it, but on the
other hand it grew in strength and in its power over its unhappy victim.
Knowing all these facts The STANDARD believed
that it was one of those cases which so often arise in the experience of every
newspaper Where it is better to be silent rather than to parade to the world
the trouble of innocent and sorrowing friends, and especially where no one
would be the gainer by its publication. Accordingly
it was determined to say nothing about it yesterday and see if in the light of
the extenuating circumstances the Syracuse papers might not also be silent and
no word of this get spread abroad.
But these facts were not known there and the
papers of last night published the report without a word of explanation. The papers
of this morning however, had learned the cause of this act and of the dreadful
habit of the poor woman and were inclined to treat the matter in a kindly
spirit. We publish this explanation to-day, along with the facts, believing
that it is only just and due, both to Mrs. Potter, and to her relatives who are
held in highest esteem here.
It appears that Mrs. Potter went to Syracuse
Thursday morning to visit a relative for two days. That very afternoon she went
to the store of D. McCarthy & Co. and was observed by Mrs. Jennie
Dada, a female detective, to take an article from one of the counters. Shortly
afterward she left the store, followed by the detective, and visited several
other stores, securing a number of other articles. She was soon placed under
arrest. Though the articles taken were quite numerous it is said that their
value will not aggregate a large sum.
Chief of Police Charles R. Wright of that
city said to a reporter of the Syracuse Standard
in regard to Mrs. Potter:
"Such as she don't count. It is those
clever people who work in pairs and make a living out of shoplifting who usually
make their presence felt. Some of the slick ones can enter a dry goods store
and carry off the clerk without his ever knowing it. But the woman you have just
seen, she is deserving of pity.''
The Standard said further in regard to this
case:
Chief Wright had not taken a good look at
her, so at 6 o'clock last evening when the woman's husband came the chief sent
for her and it did not take him long to make up his mind. Mrs. Potter is over
50 years old and not very rugged. In fact she keeled over on the couch and was
asked what ailed her. She said she wanted morphine and would have to get it or
die. She pointed to a small package on the chief's desk and identified it as
belonging to her.
"How many doses are there in
there?" asked Chief Wright.
"About two," was Mrs. Potter's
reply.
The chief, to make sure, divided the morphine
into three parts, and with a sigh of satisfaction the "dope fiend" swallowed
the potion.
As a matter of fact, in refutation of any
theories that the woman is an expert, it may be said that she has a comfortable
home in Cortland. Morphine has got in its deadly work until the woman's mind is
not what it should be. Mr. Potter is a hard working man and is to be pitied.
Mr. Potter knew very little about the
trouble in Syracuse yesterday afternoon when the STANDARD man saw him. He had
just heard that his wife was in difficulty up there and was on his way up
street to find out more about it. He seemed almost heart broken when the
reporter showed him the news dispatch. He went to
Syracuse in the hopes that the matter might be adjusted without his wife
suffering the penalty of the law. He had not returned this afternoon.
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| Rebuilt Cooper Bros. factory near River Street. |
COOPER
BROS.
Just
Starting Their New and Well Appointed Foundry.
The foundry and machine shop of Cooper
Brothers, which was destroyed by fire Nov. 26, 1895, has been rebuilt on a much
finer and larger scale and they are just about beginning operations. The plant
is one of the most complete and convenient of its kind and the business bids
fair to assume even larger proportions than formerly. The lathes, drills,
planers and other machinery are of the latest and most improved design and are
nearly all in place. It is expected that fourteen men will be employed next
week, but the force will be increased as necessity demands. In the west side of
the main room will be located the office, which will be on a raised platform
and will have glass sides, so that all parts of the room may be seen from the
desk.
A few orders are arriving and in addition to
the manufacture of any size whatever of cold drawn and turned iron and steel
shafting, also couplings and hangers of any description. They are agents for the
celebrated Reeves woodsplit pulley and for Hoyt's pure oak tanned short lap
leather belting.
The members of the firm, Messrs. Lester and
George F. Cooper, are among Cortland's
most substantial business men and their thrift and industry in putting up the
excellent plant that they have is something in which residents of the town as
well as the proprietors themselves may well take pride.
DR.
LAFFIN RELEASED.
Denies
Having Abused His Wife and Alleges a Conspiracy.
NEW YORK, Dec. 5.—Dr. C. J. Laffin, who was
removed from his home to Bellevue hospital some days ago and placed in the
insane pavilion for observation, has been discharged from that institution.
Drs. Fitch and Wildman, the state experts, examined
Dr. Laffin and decided that he was not insane. Dr. Laffin said that his
commitment to Bellevue was the result of a conspiracy. He emphatically denied
the report that he had ill-treated his wife, and added: "1 shall probably have
a full statement to make concerning my case soon."
Dr. Laffin's wife was not at home when he
returned there. She had gone to Canada with her brother, according to Dr. Laffin's
statement.
FIRE
TRUCKS COLLIDE.
One
Fireman Killed and a Number Hurt at Syracuse.
SYRACUSE, Dec. 5.—The hook and ladder truck
and hose cart of Company No. 1 of the first department collided at the corner of
West Fayette and Franklin streets, just opposite the New York Central depot in
this city, while responding to an alarm. James H. Murphy, driver for the truck,
was almost instantly killed. Michael D. Gleason had his right leg broken and Laurence
Schemel, Abraham Rousche, William P. Shaunessey and Adam Group, all firemen,
were more or less seriously injured. The horse which drew the hose cart was
killed. Murphy's neck was broken.
The two pieces of apparatus were going at a
high rate of speed on a down grade, and both came to the corner diagonally at
the same time. Gongs on both the apparatus were ringing, but neither driver
knew of the presence of the other until it was too late.
 |
| Gen. Nelson Miles. |
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
◘
General Miles, being a man of
war, thinks the United States regular army should be increased so as to make
one soldier to every 2,000 inhabitants of the country. That would bring the
army up to 35,000. But this country does not need a standing army. That is
something which belongs to hereditary monarchies and military despotisms. What
we do need is to bring up the citizen soldiery, the national guard in the
different states, to the highest point of efficiency in drill, discipline,
evolution, marksmanship and good looks. Then, if unfortunately a war should
come, the young men could be called from their peaceful occupations at three
days notice and range themselves into an army of patriot citizens that could
whip any other army on the globe. The common people of our country would never
come to look on such soldiers as these as a menace to their rights and
liberties.
BREVITIES.
—New advertisements to-day are— J. C.
Seager, Coal, page 6; A. Mahan, Pianos, page 8; McKinney & Doubleday, A New
Departure, page 6; Graham & Chatterton, Closing Out Sale, page 8.
—The funeral of Reuben B. Smith, who was
killed by a Central train near Syracuse yesterday morning, will be held from
the residence of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. T. Smith, 189 Railroad-st.,
Monday morning at 9:30. Burial will be made at Marathon.
—The Gillette Skirt Co. has now begun full
operations and the outlook is very flattering. Orders are coming in every day
and inquiries from the trade are very numerous. It seems as though the plant
might have to be enlarged almost before it gets fairly under way.
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