COAL MINERS TESTIFY

Deputies firing on unarmed miners near Lattimer, Pa.

Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, September 24, 1897.

MINERS ON THE STAND.

Swear They Were Unarmed When Halted by Sheriff Martin.

   HAZLETON, Pa., Sept. 24.—Coroner McKee began the inquest into the deaths of the score of striking miners who were shot by a posse of sheriff's deputies at Lattimer. A two-hour session was held, during which a score of witnesses were examined.

   There were present quite an array of attorneys and they occasionally suggested questions to the coroner, who carried on the examination. District Attorney D. A. Fell of Luzerne county was there, and H. A. Fuller of Wilkes- Barre appeared for the coroner; State Chairman Carman, John McGaheren and B. F. Loughran for the prosecution, and George H. Troutman of Hazleton for the deputies. Dr. Thodorovich, secretary to the Austro-Hungarian consulate at Philadelphia, and R. D. Coxe, attorney for the consulate, were also present.

   Nearly all the testimony adduced was a repetition of that brought out at the hearing of the deputies in Wilkes-Barre. Most of the witnesses were foreign strikers who were in the march halted by the deputies' deadly fusillade.

   They gave the details of the affray as already published, and all declared that none of the strikers were armed; that Sheriff Martin pulled a revolver on them, but no one attempted to take it from him; that no violence had been offered that official, and that the miners had no intention of making an unlawful demonstration.

   The strike situation remains unchanged, except for the return to work of those Harwood miners who were afraid to go back before. Every colliery in the region worked and there was not the slightest disorder anywhere. The question of the withdrawal of the military remains undetermined, but that it will begin before the end of the week is felt by those at headquarters to be almost a certainty.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

Fashion's New Autocrat.

   The Troy Times calls attention to the new rules in fashions which the bicycle has established and which will be more permanent than any of their predecessors as the wheel has "come to stay."

   Once Paris was the capital of the mode makers. But now the king is in the saddle. The bicycle is the new throne of fashion, and the wheelmen and wheelwomen are the gentlemen and ladies of the court.

   As is usual, recent reforms in social custom have come not directly, but by indirection. Many a writer of either sex, with an eye for the picturesque, has sighed for a return to the knee breeches in which the men of previous centuries were attired. But outside of fancy dress balls or some ecclesiastical accoutrements there was no rivalry to the fashion of trousers. But the bicycle wheel spun the new garment out of the frayed remnants of the old. The man in knickerbockers, on or off the wheel, is too common a sight to excite curiosity, and he stalks the streets where the stocking has ceased to be shocking.

   The autocracy of the bicycle is even more pronounced in the department of woman's clothing, where conservatism might be expected to have a stronger hold. Rainy day clubs and writers on health and cleanliness for decades have been launching their sarcastic or compassionate advice and appeals to women to desist from wearing on the public walks dresses whose skirts were sweeping trails. Rut these appeals were unheeded even by the writers thereof. It was easier to use the argument of indoor preaching than that of outdoor practice.

   Custom is a stone wall. But here indirection again lent its aid. The bicycle came. First a few women rode the wheel. Then only a few did not ride. The skirts gradually retired, until the feet which "like little mice stole in and out" stayed out and nobody cried "Rats!" Once the lessened skirt was established on the wheel, it was a short step to the sidewalk. Now the dress that refuses the familiar touch of the pavement is so frequent among pedestrians, either in the intervals of bicycling or when the bicycle is forgotten, that the untrammeled feet excite neither criticism nor attention, except such as beauty or size would naturally inspire.

   Fashion no longer sits spinning at the wheel of an invisible fate, but spinning on the wheel of perfectly visible feet. Thence she sends her decrees into all the walks of life. And the only comment is: "What next?"

   ◘ A St. Louis man claims to have solved several problems in connection with the bicycle. His wheel is chainless. The sprocket wheel is not toothed, but works on a pin. The feature which will commend his machine to wheelmen, however, if it will work, is the changeable gear. The bicycle is geared up to 100, but when the rider comes to a hill he can pull a little bolt under his saddle and produce a 28 gear, making the hill climbing easy. The inventor's application for a patent is based on the claim that he has reduced friction and increased speed. But there is no particular need of increasing the speed of bicyclers, considering how many of them are already killed or hurt daily.

Haviland pattern, English porcelain.

SPECIAL PRIZES

And Their Winners at the Dryden Fair—Some Warm Contests.

   Among the special prizes offered for special contests at the Dryden fair were several in which Cortland firms and business men were particularly interested.

   George P. Yager of the Fair store of Cortland and Yager & Crandall of the Fair store of Homer offered a new Haviland pattern, English porcelain 110-piece dinner and tea set as a first prize to the handsomest baby. It was won by Sadie Wilcox of Harford.

   F. Lincoln Harris, the photographer, offered one dozen carbonette photographs as a second prize. It was won by a little girl by the name of King of Dryden. We could not learn her given name.

   There were forty-four entries in this contest, and forty-one competed. This is about double the number last year.

   L. R. Lewis offered a Perfection milk cooler and aerator worth $8 for the best dairy butter on exhibition. It was won by John Slights of Etna.

   H. C. Harrington offered a violin worth $10 for the best song rendered by a Miss under 18 years of age. One of the terms of the offer was that there must be five entries to make the offer good. There were not five entries and the contest was declared off.

   M. L. Decker offered a $50 sewing machine for the best handmade dress and kitchen apron, handmade with the exception of the seams. It was won by Mrs. S. E. Knettles of McLean.

   D. E. Shepard offered a prize of one of the handsomest hats exhibited in his booth that the fair to the teacher receiving the largest number of votes during the fair. There was no limitation as to where the teacher should come from and whole schools set at work to induce their friends in attendance to vote for their favorites. The result was a perfect crush about the booth the most of the time and two boxes were packed full of votes. So many were cast that there has not yet been time to count them and determine who is the fortunate individual.

BREVITIES.

   —The Marathon football team comes to Cortland to-morrow to play the Normals on the fair grounds.

   —Those who attended the Dryden fair yesterday afternoon found they had encountered the equinoctial storm.

   —New display advertisements to-day are—F. Daehler, Umbrellas, page 6; McKinney & Doubleday, Bibles, page 8.

   —The newest idea of a Cortland business man is to utilize his rubber window scraper to remove the water from his sidewalk.

   —Binghamton papers are finding it necessary to remind the women of that village that "hats off" is the proper caper during the theatrical season.

   —There was a small audience at the Opera House last night to see "The

Strange Adventures of Miss Brown," but every one had the opportunity for a hearty good laugh.

   —Overseer of the Poor Capt. J. W. Strowbridge assisted Mr. and Mrs. John Clark and children, who were stranded in Cortland, to Binghamton this morning. Mrs. Clark was ill.

   —Teachers' examinations for second and third grade certificates are to-day and to-morrow being held at Marathon and Truxton for the First and Second commissioner districts respectively.

   —Tompkins county will be well represented at the twenty-fourth annual state convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union to be held at Cortland, Oct. 5 to 8, inclusive.—Ithaca Democrat.

   —Several residents of Port Watson-st. have reported the theft of their washings recently while the clothes were drying upon the lines. The thieves evidently are not persons having a family as children's clothing is not taken.

   —Hydrophobia has broken out in a valuable herd of Jersey cows at Chatham, N. Y., proceeding from a bite by a mad dog. Prof. Moore of Cornell university was summoned to Chatham to see if he could do anything to save the rest of the herd.

MARATHON.

   MARATHON, N. Y., Sept. 23.—Rev. R. H. Merrill attended and took part in Binghamton Presbytery held at Nichols, and then left to visit his people near Hackettstown, N. J.

   Lieut. Clark Pierce of the New York custom house is in town to attend the reunion of his regiment.

   Mr. Melvin Samson of Cortland was in town yesterday.

   Mrs. E. Davis of Cortland is visiting friends here.

   Mrs. Harmon Sheear, Mrs. W. A. Holton, Mrs. D. Elster of Virgil and Miss

Emma Brooks of Cortland visited Mrs. Burgess Saturday.

   Mrs. C. K. Turner of Brooklyn who has been enjoying the past month at Lake Pleasant in the Adirondacks arrived at Messrs. Waterbury and Talmadge's on Friday and left yesterday for a week's stay at the Delevan [sic] Water Gap.

   Arthur G. Brink has gone to Syracuse, where he is to enter the law school at Syracuse university.

   "Florida on Wheels'' [train] visited our town on Monday and was well patronized. The exhibit was grand and worth attending. They went from here to Groton, DeRuyter and Cazenovia.

   Miss Helen Mabel Wood gave a very pleasing musical and literary entertainment at the Presbyterian church last evening.

   A fine literary and musical program will be given at the social of the Ladies' Aid society at the Presbyterian church on the evening of Oct. 6.

   The reunion of the One Hundred Fifty-seventh regiment was held here on Tuesday. A great many from Cortland and other towns were in attendance. Besides the business meeting of the regiment, the Ladies Auxiliary was held in the forenoon at G. A. R. hall, which was presided over by the president, Mrs. Carmichael of Cortland. A fine dinner was served in the parlors of the church which Marathon was not alone in contributing, as Freetown, Galatia, Texas Valley and other towns sent in a generous supply. A public meeting was held in the afternoon at the hall which was very interesting.