Cortland
Evening Standard, Saturday, November 20, 1897.
LONDON'S HOLOCAUST.
Fierce
Battle With the Flames For Supremacy.
$25,000,000
ARE NOW IN ASHES.
Most
Destructive Fire In Two Hundred Years—Many Out of Employment.
One
Hundred Engines at Work—No Lives Lost.
LONDON, Nov. 20.—One of the most disastrous
fires in London's history, since the great fire of 1666, broke out in a large block
of buildings lying eastward of Alders Gate street, and between that
thoroughfare and Red Cross street.
The damage done is estimated to amount to
$25,000,000.
The flames were fanned by a strong wind and
were fed by highly inflammable stocks of fancy goods and flimsy dress materials
of all descriptions, crowding every floor of the 6-story buildings in the old streets,
in view of the coming Christmas trade.
Consequently the conflagration gained
headway with surprising rapidity and was far beyond any possibility of being
checked by the few engines early on the spot.
For four hours and a half the flames had
their own way, and it was only after more than 100 engines had worked an hour
that the chief of the fire brigade sent out the signal that the fire was under
control.
When the good news became generally known,
nearly 50 warehouses and a dozen or more minor structures had either vanished
or remained only in blackened walls, a chaos of fallen girders and smoking
piles of bricks and stone.
Hamsell street was the scene of the outbreak
of the fire, which was due to an explosion in connection with a gas engine on
the premises of Waller, Brown & Co., mantle manufacturers.
Their large factory was crowded with girls
when the fire broke out, and was instantly the scene of a panic, the frightened
operatives, with many screams, rushing to the roof of the building and then
recrossing to other buildings, and so effecting their escape while the flames
were pouring out of the basement.
In less than quarter of an hour the flames
enveloped the adjoining warehouse, and thence they leaped across the street to
an enormous paper warehouse, which was fully alight in less than 10 minutes.
By this time it was evident to the firemen
that they were face to face with a great disaster and a general alarm was sent
out.
Then from all the fire stations, even from
those quite five miles from the scene of the disaster, engines were hurried to
the spot and the police gathered about the neighborhood in great force.
This display of strength upon the part of
the police was required, as the crowd, swelling in size every moment, soon
numbered tens of thousands, and the firemen required every possible freedom of
action, as their fight was one of great difficulty, owing to the narrowness of
the old, crooked streets, which are the feature of that part of London,
combined with the height of the warehouses, which cut off the firemen from all
fair chance of confining the outbreak.
Firemen had repeatedly to be rescued by their
comrades, by the aid of the fire escapes, from buildings which had caught fire
after the firemen had mounted to their roofs to fight the flames in adjoining structures.
The rescue of operatives by the firemen, the
hurrying of hosts of clerks, who were trying to save books and valuable papers
from the fire, and the rushing here and there of many employes [sic] who were
attempting to carry to places of safety costly merchandise or other valuables,
added to the confusion. Then again the heat was so terrific that several
firemen were obliged to direct their operations under showers of water slowly
poured upon them.
But in spite of the exertions of the firemen
the fire crept on very steadily until Nichols Square, which is situated at the
far end of Hamsell street, was reached.
In a short time a dozen hose pipes, with a
12-foot spread, poured water into the blaze from an opposite roof, from the
street below and from the burning premises themselves, but it did not seem to
have any effect. The water rushed out of the windows and from the ground floor
like a waterfall, while the flames leaped higher and higher and, as the floors
fell in, the place still blazed, a gigantic display of fire and smoke, till the
building was completely gutted and the walls heeled over.
Suddenly there was an explosion of gas meters, sounding like
the reports of field guns, followed by a momentary hush.
After that the wild rushing here and there
was resumed with increased energy. Men risked their lives in desperate efforts
to save valuables. One man actually hazarded his life to fetch his hat and
cane, 200 feet of stone work and glass falling as he emerged from the building.
Several firemen were almost buried in burning
ruins, as front after front of the flaming warehouses fell in, hurling tons of
bricks and masonry into the streets, bursting and cutting the fire hose in all directions,
while tons of fiery matter, resembling meteors, were falling m every direction,
making it impossible to foresee where the conflagration would stop.
The first check came in Jewin street by a
tremendous use of water, and in Wall street, where the collapse of a wall on
the right hand side of that thoroughfare was the means of saving the last
building in the street. The width of Red Cross street, a comparatively broad thoroughfare, also formed a barrier
there, and Commander Wells was able to breathe without anxiety, knowing that he
had the upper hand of one of the greatest fires on record. Two acres of
buildings had been ruined.
In spite of numberless narrow escapes, no
casualties have been reported.
The most serious aspect of the disaster,
after the question of the enormous loss incurred, is that over 1,500 employes
have been thrown out of work, and that many of them lost all their belongings.
WILL
LAST FOR DAYS.
Fire Still
Burning Briskly—One Thousand Police on Guard.
LONDON, Nov. 20.—At midnight the fire is
still the scene of great excitement. Fifty engines are playing upon the ruins,
wagons are hurrying up coal and tons of water are pouring into the fiery
debris.
Thousands at people are trying to penetrate
the cordon maintained by 1,000 policemen, reinforcements for whom were hurried
up, when soon after 6 o'clock an increase in the outbreak led Commander Wells
to make a requisition for more engines upon the outlying sections.
The scene must occupy the fire brigade for
several days, especially in view of the grave danger of the collapse of the
shells of buildings, which fall now and again with a loud report.
The latest accounts indicate that nearly 100
warehouses have been destroyed, while the loss will probably exceed
$25,000,000.
The historic church of St. Giles has been
much damaged, the principal damages being to the roof, the old windows, the
baptismal font and Milton's statue.
TAYLOR
ON CUBA.
Greeted
by a Large Audience at Cornell. Freedom Will Come.
ITHACA, N. Y., Nov. 20.—So large were the
crowds which tramped or rode last evening up Great Hill from Ithaca City to
Cornell university that Barnes Hall, where it had been announced the address by
Hon. Hannis Taylor, ex-United States minister to Spain, on "Cuba"
would be delivered, was found inadequate to hold them and the meeting place had
to be changed to Library hall, where about 2,000 people were accommodated.
Mr. Taylor's address was moderate, but
earnest throughout, maintaining that no people ever made a nobler fight for
freedom against greater odds than the Cubans are doing.
In conclusion Mr. Taylor said that events
are moving so rapidly that no man, even the president of the United States,
could stop them.
He said that if the president made the fatal
mistake of attempting to longer muzzle congress by putting his imprimatus upon
fake hopes and empty illusions, before the ink is dry upon his message, events
would discredit his predict ions. He added:
"Let congress but speak the final and
emphatic word—recognition—and in 90 days the long and bloody tragedy will be
over and the whole Christian world will rejoice, for Cuba will be free."
Vasser Addition
Dedicated.
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., Nov. 20.—The new recitation
hall which John D. Rockefeller has just built for Vassar college at a cost of
$100,000 was dedicated. This building has been greatly needed by Vassar for
many years. It occupies a commanding site near the entrance to the college and
is altogether the finest building on the grounds. It is a 3-story structure of
brick with limestone trimmings, and is an adaptation from the English academic style
of architecture. It has entrances on all four sides.
PAGE
TWO—EDITORIALS.
Faith
vs. Science.
In the recently published memoirs of
Tennyson an observation of the great is
reproduced which is a signal demonstration of his clear-sightedness, of
his ability to apply the rule of the survival of the fittest to things of the
gravest importance. "I tell you," said he, "that the nation
without faith is doomed; mere intellectual life, however advanced and howsoever
perfected, cannot fill the void."
A noble admonition this, says the Rochester
Post Express; would that it could sink deep into the hearts of the men and
women of this generation, and be blazoned in letters of gold above the
thresholds of our institutions of learning. For ours is a generation
passionately enamored of science, which evermore insists that things shall be
subjected to what it is fond of styling "the scientific test."
To hear some of our contemporaries express themselves,
one might suppose that "the scientific spirit" was everything and the
spirit of faith less than nothing, and vanity. Tennyson's unclouded and
profound insight prevented him from taking this view. He awarded to science the
respect which was its due, but he realized that science not only was not
everything, but that it was not the chief thing—not one of the three immortals
with which abide—faith, hope and love.
This expression of Tennyson's was to have
been expected from the author of "In Memoriam," the noblest didactic poem
in the language, a poem whose foundations are laid, not in science, but in
faith. "When a man dies shall he live again?" Science is baffled by
that tremendous question, but faith answers it so as to make life worth living.
"I tell you that the nation without
faith is doomed; mere intellectual fife, however advanced and howsoever
perfected, cannot fill the void." It is the testimony of one of the master
intellects of his age, a poet who having sounded the depths of the life
intellectual, bore witness that whatever its potency and charm, it was not able
to satisfy the needs of the soul.
Attention
Comrades!
The inspection of Willoughby Babcock Post,
No. 105, G. A. R. of Homer, N. Y., will occur on Tuesday evening, Nov. 23. All
comrades of Grover Post who can, are requested to attend and thus help to
foster the interests of true comradeship. Column formed in front of H. M.
Kellogg's store in time to take 7 P. M. [street] car. By Order of CORTLAND
COUNTY INSPECTOR.
BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS.
Proceedings
of Cortland County's Lawmakers and Financiers.
FRIDAY
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The board reconvened at 1:30 P. M., and for
a time engaged in committee work. Under a suspension of the rules, Mr. Hammond
offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That when this board adjourn for the day it be until Monday at 1:30 P. M.
The ayes and nays being called for, the
rollcall resulted as follows:
Ayes—Messrs. Smith, Lee, Tuttle, Hammond,
Bingham, DeLong, Greene—7.
Nays—Messrs. Corning, Brown, Surdam, Hunt,
Childs, O'Donnell, Holton, Crane—8.
The resolution was declared lost.
At 3 o'clock P. M. the special order for
that hour having arrived, the opening of proposals for printing the journal of
proceedings, the same was taken from the table, on motion of Mr. Hammond.
The clerk proceeded to open the sealed
proposals, when it appeared that the bid of the Homer Republican for 3,500
copies was $ 2.49
per page, the bid of the Cortland Democrat was $ 2.47 per page, and the bid of
the Cortland STARDARD was $2.40 per page.
On motion of Mr. Childs:
Resolved, That the proposal of the Cortland STANDARD Printing company to print the
journal at $2.40 per page be accepted, and the clerk be authorized to execute a
contract in accordance therewith.
On motion of Mr. Corning, the invitation of
Dr. P. J. Cheney to visit the Normal school was accepted, and the time set for
such visit was the morning of the second day of the adjourned session.
A paper was filed, signed by the Republican
members of the board designating the Cortland STANDARD as the paper fairly
representing the Republican part, to publish the session laws for the ensuing
year, and one from the Democratic members of the board, designating the Cortland
Democrat for the same purpose.
The clerk read the report of the board to
the state comptroller, which he had prepared. The report was authorized.
The bond of Mills G. Frisbie, the
superintendent of the poor-elect, in the sum of $10,000 with O. B. Andrews and
N. A. P. Kinney as sureties, was filed.
The clerk reported the execution of a
contract with the Onondaga penitentiary for the board of prisoners for the
ensuing year at $2.10 per week.
The report of the committee on settling with
the county clerk and sheriff was received. The committee audited bills to the
amount of $3,349.28.
The following supplemental report was
adopted:
While considering the bills of the sheriff,
the attention of the committee was called to the fact of the vast amount of
fuel required to heat the courthouse and jail, presumably owing to the
construction of the heating apparatus, be it therefore
Resolved, That the committee on public buildings investigate the same and report to
the next board of supervisors.
The remainder of the afternoon was devoted
to committee work and the board then adjourned until 9 o'clock Saturday
morning.
Tenth
Day, Saturday, Nov. 20.
The supervisors spent the entire forenoon in
committee work and then adjourned till Monday at 1:30 P. M.
THE
OFFICIAL PAPER.
The
Standard Again Appointed by the Republican Supervisors.
The board of supervisors of Cortland county
yesterday again selected The STANDARD as the official newspaper of the county.
The board thus attested that it knows a first rate newspaper when it sees it,
and that it appreciates the good and faithful service which The STANDARD has
rendered the public and the cause of progressive Republicanism, which is essentially the cause of the people.
We may be permitted to add that this is but
one of very many marks of approval which The STANDARD is constantly receiving.
Our aim is to make a journal which shall be in every respect first-class—up to
the demands of these enlightened, exacting times; and those whose opinions are
entitled to respect keep assuring us that we are succeeding. This approval, of
course, is most gratifying, even as it is an incentive to continuance in well doing,
with the ambition to retain all our old friends and constantly make new ones by
hard work and good work in our important field.
To-day The STANDARD is out of sight the
leading newspaper of Cortland county. It goes without saying that it intends to
hold that proud position.
BREVITIES.
—Mr. A. P. Rowley has received from a friend
a small sack of the '97 crop of Australian wheat. It is a fine sample.
—Students will be interested in the notice of
a most convenient and desirable notebook which will be found in another column.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Opera
House, Clair Tuttle Comedy Co., page 7; L. N. Hopkins, Chrysanthemums, page 6.
—The swing bridge over the canal on
Salina-st., Syracuse, is to be replaced this winter with a new hoist bridge which
will be built at a cost of $30,000.
—The Junior Christian Endeavor society of
the Congregational church gave a very enjoyable Klondike social in the church
parlors last evening, which was largely attended.
—James H. Cole, proprietor of the Grove
hotel, Dryden, died Friday morning, Nov. 19, of heart difficulty. His age was 62
years. The funeral will be held Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock.
—The Presbyterian church in Whitney Point
has engaged Rev. Edward Taylor, D. D., of this city, to supply its pulpit for two
months. He will also conduct the prayer-meeting, which will be held on Saturday
evening.—Binghamton Republican.
—Dougherty & Miller as attorneys for the
mortgagee sold at the courthouse, this morning thirty-three and one-half acres
of land west of Homer, on which there was a mortgage amounting to $1,921. The
place was purchased by Samuel Caughey for $1,950.
—Rev. Frank L. Wilkins has finally
reconsidered his declination of the call of the Second Baptist church of Auburn
and has accepted it. He was the first pastor of the church some years ago, and
is a son of Rev. A. Wilkins at one time pastor of the Cortland Baptist church.
His boyhood days were spent in
Cortland.
—Miss Minnie L. Riley, who has for the past
year been living at the home of her uncle, Mr. P. Dempsey, 173 Homer-are., died
at 7 o'clock this morning of consumption at the age of 31 years. The funeral
will be held from St. Mary's church Monday morning at 9:30 o'clock. Burial will
be made in St. Mary's cemetery.
—The Democratic Press of Lyons, N. Y., says:
"Assemblyman Horton says that when elected state senator he will secure
the passage of a law compelling all political
labor to be paid in love. The act will in a measure do away with the use of
money at the polls and start up love factories in all parts of the
country." Think of the sensation such a law would create in Cortland
county!
THE
CLAIR TUTTLE CO.
To Play
a Repertoire of Comedies All Next Week.
The Clair Tuttle Comedy Co. will next Monday
evening open a week's engagement at the Opera House. There will be six evening entertainments and
matinees on Thursday and Saturday. The play for Monday night will be "The
Power of Diamonds.'' The company is this week playing at Rome, and The Sentinel
of Tuesday said of the first evening's play:
The Clair Tuttle Comedy Co. opened a week's
engagement in Sink's opera house last evening to an audience that so completely
filled the house that standing room was at a premium. The pleasing drama,
"A Child of Nature," was presented with Miss Clair Tuttle in the role
of Sincerity Weeks. Miss Tuttle and her company strove hard to please the
audience and their efforts were successful and received the reward of liberal
applause. The specialties which were introduced between the acts were most
excellent. Brooks and Bowers appeared in illustrated descriptive songs. Fred
Halton, black-faced song and dance artist, did a good turn. F. L. Gregory's
artistic club swinging was a first-class feature, and little Blanche Nisbet in
her specialty brought down the house. The Burroughs in their laughable
creation, "That Husband of Mine," captivated the audience. The Edison
phantograph presenting moving pictures, lent variety to the entertainment.—Rome
Sentinel.
Tickets now on sale at Rood's [Candy Store,
Railroad Street, Cortland].
HOMER.
Gleanings
of News From Our Twin Village.
HOMER, N. Y., Nov. 20.—Mr. Harry Blackman
entertained a few of his friends last evening at his home on Elm-ave. Games,
music and refreshments were the order of the evening, and those present were
Misses Marguerite Hitchcock of Rochester, Virginia Stephenson, Edith Maxson,
Jeanette Fassett and Messrs. Charles Moss of Otisco Valley, Hobart Skinner,
Floyd Landers.
Misses Julia Randall and Katherine Mourin
left this morning for Ithaca, where they will spend Sunday with the former's
sister, Mrs. Putney Conway.
Mrs. W. N. Brockway and daughter, Mrs. Jas.
H. Starin, left this morning for a day's visit in Syracuse.
Mr. Elisha Williams, who has recently bought
the Brunswick cafe, which has been closed for the past week for repairs to
furniture, tables, etc., will have a grand opening of that place this evening
at 7 o'clock. The sideboard and bar in the barroom have been cleaned and
polished and shine like new, while his pool and billiard tables have been
re-covered and re-cushioned and the racks on the wall are full of new cues. He
will also keep a stock of good sandwiches, oysters, etc., on hand and nothing
but light drinks and cigars will be served at his bar. Mr. Williams will serve
free clam chowder this evening.
Will Gilkerson, who was employed during the
summer season in the bakery of F. D. Carpenter on Main-st. and who has been
working in a bakery in Oneida for the past six weeks, has returned home, on
account of his mother's health.
Mr. Eli Lord, traveling salesman for the
Keator, Wells & Co. wagon works of Cortland, is home for a few days.
The Salvation Army corps will serve a supper
this evening in their hall in the Zimmer block at 5:30. There will be an
entertaining progam of music, etc., and also a wholesome and refreshing repast
will be served for the small price of ten cents. Capt. and Mrs. Brice, who have
recently come here, have been working with a will for their cause since their
arrival and are certainly deserving of all and any aid that could be offered.
Everyone is asked to attend the supper and to help along the good work.
There was an unusually large attendance at
the supper served by the ladies of the Baptist church last evening which was
under the supervision of Mrs. Zera T. Nye and Miss Ella Watson. After the
supper the ladies of the church and congregation who were present listened to a
very interesting address on missionary work, delivered by Miss Hyatt of Boston.
Miss Hyatt left this morning for East Wooster, where she will lecture this evening.
Mrs. O. Porter entertained fifty-two of her
lady friends from Homer and Cortland last evening at her home on Main-st. At 6
o'clock supper was served, after which whist was played. First prize was won by
Mrs. Warren of Springfield, Conn., a sister of Mrs. B. A. Benedict of Cortland and
a former resident of this place. The parlors and diningroom were most tastefully
decorated with roses and chrysanthemums, which added pleasantness to the
evening's enjoyment. The ladies departed at an early hour in the evening after
whist, having spent a most enjoyable evening.
Mr. Willard Story, who has been acting as advance
agent and assistant manager to the Josiah's Courtship Dramatic Co., left this
morning with a load of special scenery to be used in Truxton next week and also
a lot of large posters advertising the appearance of "Josiah's Courtship"
in Woodward's hall on the 26th of the month.
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