MARION MILLS DEAD

                  

                    The Cortland Democrat, Friday, September 2, 1898.

MARION MILLS DEAD.

Fell at County Fair and Never Rose—Died Saturday Night.

   Marion Mills, the guideless pacer with a record for a mile, unaccompanied, of 2:04 3/4, owned by estate of G. W. Athearn of Oshkosh, Wis., fell on the second lap of her mile at the county fair last Friday afternoon and concussion of the brain, resulting in her death, was the result. Her trainer had refused to let her go on the two previous days owing to the poor condition of the track and many had been heartless enough to pronounce the attraction a fake in consequence.

   Friday the track was in very fair condition and the mare started about 2 o'clock. Her first lap was certainly a pretty sight, barring twice when she stumbled. The first stumble was on the curve just before reaching the back stretch on the first lap, and the second in the home stretch of the same lap. The third time she stumbled was on the second lap in exactly the same place as the first one and within twenty feet of where the writer stood. Many stories and excuses are given for the accident and any of them may be right but the following is our version as we saw it, and by the way, we never again wish to a horse race wearing hopples [hobbles] to make them pace, as that seems to us to have been the cause of the death of the "guideless wonder."

   As she neared the place of her first stumble a strange horseman, who had just taken a position near the rail, shouted to her with a  cluck, "Go on." No sooner had the words left his mouth than the mare stumbled, all four feet seeming to come slightly together under her and the hopple forward and back to slip down ever so little but enough to prevent recovery and avoid a fall. The next instant she went forward, striking nearly on top of her head and turning a complete summersault. Where she struck she laid with head pointing back the way she had come. There was no struggle and repeated efforts failed to get her on her feet. Several veterinaries and her trainers were soon working over her but to no avail. She continued to live and was placed on blankets and then on a stoneboat and drawn to her stable where she lay until her death Saturday evening.

   We are glad to learn that after Jan. 1, 1899, no horse will be allowed to wear hopples in this state.

   Some people think the track was rough and the cause of the fall and it is true that much work had been required in the forenoon to get that section in shape but there did not appear to be any extra roughness there. [The previous day it had rained and the track was wet—CC editor.]

   Another theory is as follows: It is known that she paced alone because she was so headstrong and at times obstinate that it was impossible to drive her with success to a sulky, where she had a … record. We were unable to verify the statement but others claim that to overcome the nervous disposition she was sometimes given opiates in small portions and that this day she was given too much. This was not the first time she had stumbled and several times she had fallen.

   Dr. J. C. Stevens reached the mare very soon after her fall and was retained by her manager to care for her. He never left her, except for meals, from the time of her fall till she died. He discredits the idea that her owners used any opiates with the mare to quiet her. His explanation of the fall coincides with ours as above but he goes farther and thinks she saw  a small rough spot ahead and would have crossed it all right had not the stranger called to her. This, he thinks, made her lose her calculation, and being checked very tight, she could not see exactly where she was stepping. Her manager, Mr. Joslyn, spoke in the highest terms of the effort made by Dr. Stevens to save his pet but realized almost from the first that the case was hopeless.

   Marion Mills earned her owner a little more than $7,500 net in 1896 and he had been offered $20,000 in cash for her. Her bookings this season would have put a net sum of $10,000 in her owner's pocket. Stories of her having earned $20,000 last season are erroneous. She usually appeared for a guarantee and $100 each mile exhibition. Last season she went 56 exhibition miles and did 38 of them in 2:10 or better. She was not insured, as many suppose. She would score with the bell from the judges' stand until given the word "go." Then upon completing her mile a ring of the bell would bring her to stop and she would come back and lay her head on her trainers' shoulder.

   She died Saturday evening about 6 o'clock and her manager and two trainers left for home at 11:20. Sunday morning Dr. Baker attended to the burial which was made just inside the race track at the east end. The body was not mutilated in any way and she was laid upon a bed of straw with a copy of the book, "Black Beauty" under her head. Then she was covered with blankets and the earth filled over the remains of one of the best known horses the world has ever seen. Her manager did not buy Dorinda who finished a race here without a driver and he has no other horse in training for a guideless wonder. He is of the opinion that no other horse will ever go alone in anything like the time Marion Mills made and he will never train another.

 

Opera House all Next Week.

   One of the most amusing feats that Flint performs in his hypnotic entertainments, in which he appears next week, is the suggestion to a subject that he is "Dr. Bull, the great Corn Doctor," and that his passion in life is to sell corn salve. The fun is further heightened by suggestion to another subject that he has at some former time been treated by the Doctor and ruined, so far as walking is concerned. The manner in which the Doctor puffs his wares and the way in which the other demands redress is very comical and it never fails to convulse the house. The entertainments are pure but uproarously funny, far exceeding in the capacity to provoke laughter the efforts of the ordinary comic performance. The prices are 15, 25, 35 and 50 cents. The first night one free ladies' ticket will be given with every paid 35 or 50 cent ticket.

 

TOOK HIS OWN LIFE.

FRED I. STEVENS DIED WEDNESDAY FROM POISON.

Told His Wife and Others His Intentions and Then look Strychnine—Had Been Out of Work and Thought He Was a Hindrance to His Wife.

   Fred I. Stevens, a young man 32 years of age, took his own life Wednesday forenoon by drinking a quantity of water in which he had placed strychnine which he procured by saying he wanted to kill rats.

   He was a painter by trade but when not employed at that he had always shown a disposition to do any odd jobs and had always been industrious. Till two years ago he had been somewhat intemperate, but at that time he joined the Homer-ave. M. E. church and under those influences he for a long time almost totally abstained.

   Tuesday morning he purchased the poison and on Wednesday morning while in a market buying some meat he told the proprietor he was going to kill himself and showed the package. It was taken by the listener as a joke, but the young man kept his word. He went home and placed part of the poison in a cup of water and drank it. He then told his wife what he had done and that he did not think he had been a very good husband to her. She sent for Dr. Didama, and Dr. Reese who was passing called in. The unfortunate man took the antidotes with reluctance, insisting that he wanted to die. It was impossible to save his life and he died about 11 o'clock.

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.

   The battle of New Orleans, fought after the war of 1812 had ended, made General Jackson President. Dewey's bombardment after peace was declared under similar circumstances, in connection with his brilliant record from the opening of hostilities, may continue the analogy with Old Hickory's career. And like the latter, Dewey is a Democrat.—Ontario Messenger.

   Is it not surprising how quickly that Manila cable was put in working order after the war was declared to be ended? Dewey wanted no assistance from Washington, hence his success. It was the same way in our civil war. No headway could be made against Richmond until the general commanding was allowed to direct affairs without any interference from Washington.

   No doubt the War Department encountered great difficulties in the Santiago campaign in the adverse climatic conditions, but the fact that the soldiers encamped at various places in the United States within easy reach of great cities, where all sorts of supplies could be readily obtained, were neglected, and suffered for common necessities, justifies the belief that much of the hardship suffered by the army in Cuba might have been averted had the War Department been efficiently managed. Hence the current criticism of Secretary Alger and his chosen subordinates.

   Never did a successful war have a sadder ending than that which marks the close of our war with Spain. As the troops come home—those who are, able to come—the story is everywhere the same: a story of official neglect,  incompetence and blundering, with the natural results of sickness, starvation, debility and every form of suffering among the men. It is the same story from every camp—from Camp Thomas and Camp Alger and Camp Wikoff, from Fernandina and Tampa—and from the floating pest holes in which the sick and wounded were crowded like cattle to get home as best they could. The regiments that answered to the call of patriotism only four months ago with full ranks and every man sound and healthy in the flush of youth are coming back wasted and haggard and wan, pinched with hunger, burning with fever, starving on the way and dying on the threshold of home. Who is to blame?

   There is harmony in the Democratic party of this state, much to the chagrin of the Republican press, that tried to prevent it.—Ithaca Democrat.

   Speaking of the canal steal, Harper's Weekly says: "The officials responsible for the waste and thieving are men for whom both Black and Platt are responsible."

   The Democratic party of this state can win this year on the canal issue alone. The enormous amount of $9,000,000 has been spent on them and $9,000,000 more will be required before they are in as good shape as when the Republicans took hold of the job.—Mt. Vernon Argus.

   The Buffalo Times makes the following suggestion for the Republican state ticket: "Ted" Roosevelt for governor, Tim Woodruff for lieutenant governor, Tim Ellsworth for comptroller. With Tom Platt as chaperon and general guardian this would make a fine aggregation of Teds, Tims and Toms, says the Times.

 

HERE AND THERE.

   If you are oppressed with care and devoured by woe, go to the Great Flint and be cured. The great hypnotist guarantees to heal every person of the troubles of life, real or imaginary, and most of our woes are imaginary, by showing the afflicted how much fun there is in the ordinary incidents of life when performed by people under the hypnotic influence. One good laugh is worth a world of drugs, and this laugh Flint will agree to give and he does give it. At Cortland opera house all next week.

   An exchange says that alcohol will remove grass stains from summer clothes. The exchange is right. It will also remove the summer clothes and also the spring and autumn and winter clothes, not only from the one who drinks it but also from his wife and family. It will also remove the household furniture from the house, the eatables from the pantry, the smiles from the face of the wife and the happiness from the home. As a remover of things alcohol has few equals.—Ex.

   Sullivan A. Carr, supervisor of the town of Tully, N. Y., who lived about four miles west of the village, while returning from Little York with a large load of fence posts last Friday, stopped for a few moments to do some trading at the store of Mr. Cummings at Preble. In attempting to remount the load from the front, he slipped, striking the whiffletrees, which frightened the team, throwing Mr. Carr in front of the wheels. Both wheels on one side passed over the neck and lower part of the face, crushing out his life instantly.

   A letter from Rev. G. W Dunbar, formerly of this village, tells us that his son is surgeon on the San Francisco, the flagship of the blockading fleet off Havana, that his vessel was hit Aug. 10th by the last Spanish shot fired from Cuban shores, that the projectile struck and exploded in the Admiral's cabin only six feet above the doctor's own room, and that the Doctor says that whoever says Spaniards cannot shoot straight should have seen how close the score or more of shots came to the vessel.—Moravia Republican.

   One of the heroes from Santiago, Chauncey Robertson, has been visiting his brother Al in this village the past week. He is home on a furlough after having the malarial fever, which has left him quite weak. He was in the thick of the fighting and talks entertainingly of his experiences.—Marathon Independent.

   The new boot and shoe firm of McGraw & Osgood will have their opening day on Wednesday Sept. 7. See their adv. next week.

   Cortland people are attending the state fair in large numbers.

   J. B. Kellogg opens another 10 days' sale this morning. See prices on this page.

   The annual picnic of the Cortland Beekeepers' Union will be held at Riverside park, Freeville, next Thursday, Sept. 8.

   M. S. Nye of Preble was awarded first prize and diploma for best herd of Holstein cattle at the Cortland County fair.

   Mr. David H. Brown has purchased the premises formerly belonging to and long known as the Robert Winters place on Tompkins-st.

   John Fitzgerald, Thomas Garvey and Will Brown were in police court Monday charged with public intoxication. They each plead not guilty and the case was adjourned to Sept. 6th.

   The Woman's Riverside Home has been closed and Mrs. E. M. Moore and family have moved to their farm west of the village where the three inmates were taken. Here the Woman's Country home of past years will be again conducted.