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| Rear Admiral William T. Sampson. |
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| Infanta Maria Teresa. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, October 12, 1898.
ONE OF HOBSON'S MEN
TO RELATE HIS EXPERIENCES IN THE CUBAN WAR.
May Come to Cortland at an Early Date—Was Chief Gunner's Mate on the Flagship New York—Was with Hobson on the Merrimac Upon the First Attempt to Enter Santiago Harbor, but Lost His Chance to be a Spanish Prisoner on the Flip of a Cent—First American to Hoist a Flag on Morro Castle on July 18—Fine Stereopticon Views to be Shown, and an Interesting Description.
Mr. Edward Marion Crawford, a nephew of Marion Crawford, the popular novelist, and chief gunner's mate on Admiral Sampson's flagship New York during the Cuban war, has been in Cortland to-day making preliminary arrangements for giving a talk at an early date upon what he saw and that of which he was a part in the war. This talk will be illustrated by over 100 stereopticon views taken on the spot by Mr. Crawford himself and cannot fail to interest every one who can by any chance see and hear it. Mr. Crawford was one of the volunteers who sought to go with Lieutenant Hobson into Santiago harbor to sink the Merrimac to prevent the escape of Admiral Cervera's fleet. And he was indeed chosen and did go upon the Merrimac to the entrance to the bay the night before the deed was actually performed, but the night had then so far advanced that Admiral Sampson imperatively ordered the vessel recalled as daylight would have arrived before it could possibly reach its destination. During the day following several changes were made in the personnel of the daring volunteers and Mr. Crawford by the fly of a cent lost his place on the Merrimac to another volunteer from the New York who eagerly sought to go and who won the toss.
Mr. Crawford is a modest young man of 23 years who does not approve of hero worship, but said to a Cortland man who to-day congratulated him in the hearing of a STANDARD reporter that "the jackies only did their duty, and that all they wanted from the outset was merely a chance to get at the enemy." He has been in the service almost continuously for nearly ten years, having first enlisted from Ogden, Utah, in the spring of 1889, and having completed his second enlistment and received his second honorable discharge on Aug. 1, 1898. When he first enlisted he was but 13 years and 10 months of age, was only 5 feet, l 1/4 inches tall and weighed but 96 3/4 pounds. Now he is a sturdily built young man of nearly six feet in height and looks as though he would be a hard man to handle.
He entered as an apprentice from the training school at Newport, R. I. Among the documents which he to-day showed the STANDARD man was his government certificate of service, and this he prizes very highly. It is written upon parchment and when folded up is enclosed in a leather binding, to which it is attached and which is of convenient size for the pocket. It was noticed that Mr. Crawford took particular pains to slip that book into the inner pocket of his coat after he was through exhibiting it, as there was quite a large crowd standing about at his hotel looking at his souvenirs and he apparently didn't want that to get torn or mislaid. This gives a complete record of his service and of the transfers made from vessel to vessel.
His first vessel was the St. Louis, and his entrance date of service there was April 9, 1889. On June 26, 1889, he was transferred to the New Hampshire; on Oct. 25, 1889, to the Richmond; on Oct. 29, 1890, to the Jamestown; on Dec. 23, 1890 to the Franklin; on March 18, 1891, to the Lancaster. On this vessel he took a cruise of upwards of three years in the Southern Pacific, bringing up on the coast of China. On Sept. 23, 1893, he was transferred to the Thetis; on Sept. 28, 1893, to the San Francisco; on Feb. 1, 1895, to the Chicago, and on this vessel he completed his first term of enlistment of six years and received his honorable discharge on April 9, 1895.
On June 28, 1895 he re-enlisted and was assigned to the Vermont. On July 14, 1895, he was transferred to the navy yard at Washington for land duty. On Feb. 1, 1896, he was returned to the Vermont. On April 21, 1896, he was transferred to the Indiana; on Sept. 30, 1896, to the New York, on which he served during the Cuban war till July 26, 1898, when] he was transferred for a third time to the Vermont, and on Aug. 1, 1898, received his second honorable discharge.
This certificate of service bears the autograph signatures of the captains under whom he served. Among the names of note are Capt. R. D. Evans of the Indiana while Mr. Crawford was on that battleship; Capt. F. E. Chadwick of the flagship New York, and Capt. F. A. Cook of the Chicago, in command of the Brooklyn during the Santiago campaign.
Mr. Crawford does not yet know whether he shall remain long on the land. He says all his training and education has been on the water. He presumes he shall re-enlist, and if he returns before Nov. 1, he can draw pay for every day on shore since his discharge. It will then be considered that this is merely a kind of furlough, and he can step right back to his former rank of chief gunner's mate. In the meantime he is earning a little money by these talks throughout the country. One evening last week he had the theatre at Binghamton filled to the doors.
Mr. Crawford has with him a considerable number of very interesting relics and souvenirs of the war, which he this morning showed to the STANDARD man. Among them was a revolver which he picked up on the Vizcaya. This went through the fire which destroyed the vessel, but it is in perfect condition.
When he went inside the forward turret of the Almirante Oquendo after it had been run ashore he found a silver watch hanging up on the inside of the turret left there by one of the gunners. A shell had struck the turret and had killed every man inside. The watch was still running, and Mr. Crawford took it with him. It is a very old style timepiece, but it still keeps fairly correct time.
Hanging on a peg near the watch on the inside of the turret was an Eastman camera capable of taking 8 by 10 inch photographs. Mr. Crawford examined the camera and found it contained a film only partly used. He at once appropriated it and photographed the interior of the turret with the gunners lying dead, and also took everything else in sight that he cared to as long as the film lasted. The part of the film which had been previously used by some Spaniard when developed by Mr. Crawford gave an interesting series of photographs from the other side of the war.
Mr. Crawford has a bronze plate taken from a 4-inch gun on the Oquendo. It bears the name of the makers, "Astilleros del Nervion, Bilbao, 1894." He has a piece of the Spanish flag of the Pedro, one of the first prizes of the war.
A large silver tray taken from the wardrobe of the Cristobal Colon makes a valuable as well as interesting souvenir. Mr. Crawford accompanied the court of inquiry that visited the Colon after it had been run ashore to see if it could be saved, and this gave him a fine opportunity to secure relics. He has a quantity of silver forks and spoons all bearing the Spanish crest and the special monogram marking of the Colon. He has too a spoon and a fork that went through the fire on the Vizcaya, and these have lost their stiffness, but look like lead and seem as soft as that.
With three others Mr. Crawford was on the Maria Teresa, and helped pry open the safe of the flagship, after the fire, with the barrel of a Mauser rifle. They supposed the safe contained money, but thought it was probably in drawers inside. Instead it proved to have been in bags before the fire, and the heat of the fire was great enough to destroy the cloth bags though it did not melt the coin. When the door came open, the safe being pitched a little forward, to their utter surprise a stream of yellow gold flowed out of the door and down into the hold of the ship amid a pile of wreckage, the deck having been burned away. Mr. Crawford made a grab at it and got eight of the five-peseta pieces, each about the size of a $10 gold piece in our money. That was all he could save. Later when the wreckers and divers cleared up the wreck they gathered together from the hole nearly the value of $24,000 of that gold. So great was the pile of wreckage due to the fire and to the explosion of the magazines that Mr. Crawford and his friends could not get at the money down below at the time. Mr. Crawford says he can still see in his mind's eye that yellow stream of gold as it flowed out of the safe door, but it is all in his mind.
Admiral Cervera's badge was also found in the safe at that time. It was a five pointed star with a diamond in each point and a wonderfully beautiful affair, but that was lost on the way back to the flagship. In fact, they had to throw over board two large gunny sacks full of silver plate and valuables from the Colon, or sink themselves. A great sea struck them and nearly swamped their small boat on the way back. Among the articles thrown overboard was the elegant silver punchbowl from the Colon. It was very large, gold lined and beautifully engraved. It had been presented to the vessel by some society in Spain, but they could not save it.
Mr. Crawford had the ensign of the Colon, but that he returned to the government a few weeks ago and it is now at Washington. This gentleman was the one assigned to hoist the first American flag on Morro Castle at the entrance of Santiago bay, and it went up on July 18.
He has with him a great number of remarkably fine photographs which he has himself taken at different times and places through the war, and all of these and many others have been photographed upon glass and form the slides for a stereopticon. His pictures on canvass can be 18 feet square.
When The STANDARD went to press to-day definite announcement could not be made as to the time and place of his lecture, but it will be a rich treat for all privileged to hear it. His pictures will give a realism to the war that will be new to many and his descriptions in private conversation are very interesting, and cannot fail to be so in a public lecture.
TOSSED BY A BULL.
Hallock Martin of Harford, N. Y., Narrowly Escapes Very Serious Injuries.
Mr. Hallock Martin, who resides on the Virgil road nearly two miles north of Harford, met with a serious accident last Sunday morning. While turning out from the stable a 2-year-old bull the animal suddenly turned upon Mr. Martin and caught him in the left abdomen with his horns tossing him in the air and throwing him over the fence into the adjoining field a distance of 15 feet. Mr. Martin was removed to the house and Dr. E. Davis Allen of Dryden was hastily summoned upon examination it was found that the unfortunate man had sustained a severe gash in the left abdomen about 4 inches in length which required three stitches to be taken. He was also thoroughly shaken up and bruised in all parts of his body. Fortunately the flesh wound will probably not prove fatal, as it did not penetrate into the lining of the bowels.
PRISON-MADE GOODS.
The Law Requiring Them Labeled Declared Unconstitutional.
ALBANY, Oct. 12.—The prevailing opinion in Hawins prison made goods case decided by the Court of Appeals was written by Justice O'Brien. He declares that the act, passed by the legislature in 1896, providing that all prison-made goods sold in this state shall be labeled as such is in violation of both the state and the national constitutions. He also declared that the state constitution does not prohibit the sale of convict-made goods manufactured in the prisons of this state to the general public, but that it only prevents the services of the convicts from being farmed out to private contractors.
The opinion was concurred in by Judges Martin, Gray and Vann. Judge Bartlett wrote an opinion for reversal. Chief Judge Parker concurred with him in a brief memorandum.
THE PEACE COMMISSION.
Spain Wants Us to Take the Cuban Debt and Give Back Arms.
PARIS, Oct. 12.—The sitting yesterday of the joint peace commissions of the United States and Spain were devoted, according to the Gaulois, to an examination of the solution which it is possible to give to two questions in the protocol. The Philippine question, the Gaulois adds, was discussed incidentally, the United States commissioners seeking to impose a system of compensation for claims connected with the entire group by assuming the debt, provided Spain guarantees the Cuban debt.
The Spaniards, it further appears, wish the United States to assume the Cuban debt and to hand over to Spain all the war material in Cuba and Porto Rico.
The discussion still according to The Gaulois, was very animated. Judge Day, the president of the American commission, and Senor Montero Rios, the president of the Spanish commission, having received precise instructions from their respective governments, the Americans consider that they cannot discuss the principles forming the base of the protocol, to which the Spaniards reply that the protocol was signed at a critical moment and under so pressing a necessity that it cannot be considered as expressing the sovereign will of a free nation.
WHAT SPAIN ASKS FOR.
Cuban Debt to Be Assumed by the United States.
EVEN TO SPAIN'S WAR DEBT.
No Final Conclusions Have Yet Been Reached at the Four Joint Sessions Held—Thus Far No Disposition Has Developed to Delay the Ultimate Conclusions.
PARIS, Oct 12.—After a further joint session lasting over two hours the American and Spanish peace commissions adjourned without having reached a final conclusion as to any point in the protocol. Thus far there has been no joint formulation or crystalization of views to be returned by each commission to its government for embodying in the final treaty.
The question of the Philippines has not yet been considered in joint session, though the Americans at their separate sessions have acquired information from persons who have lived in the Philippine islands and done business there. They are now, therefore, well equipped to discuss the subject when it comes up.
The Spanish commissioners have presented written views, expressions and propositions to which there have been written rejoinders. These, in the original and in translations, have been read at the joint sessions; while during the recesses they have been respectively digested and responses formulated to them, rendered into both English and Spanish for the next joint session.
The Spanish, it is believed, have asked to have the Cuban debt assumed by the United States urging that the debt should pass with the sovereignty. The debt so presented for American assumption covers the expense of the ten years' insurrection, the recent insurrection and the war with the United States so far as Spain's outlay in the war can be classified against Cuba.
The Americans probably have replied that if indeed any part of the so-called Cuban debt is allowable, the part incurred in suppressing insurrections or in the war with the United States is not allowable.
The Spanish will doubtless also urge equities in stocks, water front betterments, public buildings and perhaps war material. It is possible that this contention will receive consideration on the basis of equities between mortgager and mortgagee.
Thus far no disposition has developed on either side to delay the ultimate conclusions and the end of the work in hand.
The American commissioners are anxious to conclude as soon as possible and on recess days they are devoting from three to five hours to discussion and details. Both commissions have accepted an invitation to a reception given by Figaro.
POSSESSION OF CUBA.
December 1 the Date When We Become Masters of the Island.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12.—When the attention of the officials of the war department was called to the statement made in Madrid that a strong force of Spanish troops would be kept in Cuba until the treaty of peace had been signed, it was simply stated that there had been and would be no change in the orders of the United States troops and that the instructions given to the American military commission in Havana to take possession of the island on Dec. 1, irrespective of the presence or absence of the Spanish officials would be rigorously adhered to.
The Spanish troops may stay in Cuba for a time after that date if evacuation is not complete, but they will be no longer the masters of the island and United Stales officials will administer all of its affairs.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
The United States Senate.
By the recent election in Oregon the Republican party has gained one United States senator, giving it forty-four members of the senate. There are ninety senators in all at present, so that the Republicans have still two less than a majority.
The senate as at present constituted consists of forty-four Republicans, thirty-four Democrats, eight Populists and four silver Republicans. There will be a hard struggle at the coming election in every state in the Union where a United States senator is to be chosen, between the Republicans and Democrats, to secure a majority of the legislature and thereby elect their candidate for senator and aid in getting control of the upper branch of congress.
At the end of the short session, beginning in December and ending March 4, the terms of one third of the present senators will expire. Fifteen of those whose terms expire at that time arc Democrats, eleven are Republicans and four are Populists. It is the hope of the Republican party to make a gain of at least two, so that the party in favor of sound money, protection, and territorial and commercial expansion will be able to support the administration of William McKinley by a working majority in the senate. Heretofore the present administration has been seriously embarrassed in making beneficial laws by hostile elements in the senate.
The legislature of this state, which will be chosen Nov. 8, will elect a senator to succeed Edward Murphy, Jr. It is of great importance that each Republican senatorial and assembly district return a straight Republican to the legislature this winter, not only that Gov. Roosevelt shall have a majority in sympathy with him but that there shall be a sufficient number of straight Republicans on joint ballot to elect a Republican United States senator who will hold office for the next six years.
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| Main Street, Cortland, N. Y., 1899 photo. |
CORTLAND'S NEW PAVEMENT.
No Other Town of Its Size in the State Can Compare With It.
North Main-st. between the hospital corner and the Cortland House is to-day being swept and cleaned preparatory to the laying of the "binder" course and the asphalt for the new pavement. The asphalt plant near the Lehigh Valley station is nearly in shape to begin operations. The several smokestacks about the plant give it the appearance of being a busy place when set in operation and indeed it will for it is a plant of double the capacity usually used, and in the neighborhood of 2,000 square yards of asphalt can be laid in a day from it. This means from 400 to 500 linear feet of street. The finishing touches are being put on the curb in the way of completing driveway entrances, etc., and it can safely be said that a week's time will see considerable asphalt pavement laid in Cortland, and when completed Engineer Allen says that there will not be a town in New York state of Cortland's size that will have a street that can compare with it, and committees from other towns may be expected to visit Cortland when they want to pave.
The "binder" course spoken of above is a course one inch in thickness laid on the concrete under the asphalt itself. This course is composed of clean, broken stone of such size as will pass through a one inch ring, and asphaltic cement composed of 100 parts by weight of refined asphalt and about eighteen parts by weight of heavy oil. The broken stone are to be heated and thoroughly mixed with the hot cement in such proportions as shall thoroughly coat the particles of stone. This material is to be spread on the street and rolled with a five-ton steam roller.
The theory advanced by some in favor of this "binder" course is that it takes tight hold of the concrete below, and of the asphalt above, and thus prevents the "creeping" of the pavement. Another theory is that the great amount of oil in the course will in time find its way up into the pavement itself and revivify it, as it were.
The bricklayers on the railroad strip have to-day nearly reached Clinton-ave.
A COMMUNICATION.
Paving Contractors Urged to Rush the Work to a Finish.
To the Editor of the STANDARD:
SIR—The people of this village heartily approve the action of the board of trustees on Monday night in refusing to act upon the application of the contractors who are laying our asphalt pavement for an extension of time. The business men on Main-st. have suffered heavy loss during the last two months from the almost impassable condition of the street from the Messenger House to the Cortland House. So long as there was a reasonable excuse for this condition they submitted in silence and without complaint as they recognized the importance of affording every facility for a quick completion of the work. But as the work on that portion of the street is at a standstill they are impatient and would resent any action of the trustees giving the contractors more time. Very likely an excuse will be made on the part of the contractors that the work has been stopped because the sluiceway and gutter stones are not yet completed. The reason they are not completed is due, it is to be presumed, to the blundering in the management of the job in allowing work that ought to have been done two or three weeks ago to lay over until now and thereby hold back the completion of the job. Should the contractors "get a gait" on themselves and complete the work to the Messenger House promptly and thus relieve the business of the town, public opinion would doubtless sanction an extension of time for the completion of the balance of the work. But if they do not complete this part of the work as promptly as possible under the stress of "rush orders," they should be held rigidly to their penalty of $25 per day for every day after the 30th inst.
ONE OF THE SUFFERING PUBLIC.
AT THE RELIEF CORPS HOME.
Mr. and Mrs. George Bewley Have Gone to Oxford, Chenango County.
Through the efforts of Grover Post, No. 98, G. A. R., a place has been secured in the Woman's Relief Corps Home at Oxford, N. Y., for Comrade George Bewley, late of Co. K., Fiftieth N. Y. Engineers, and his wife. They left Cortland for their new home to-day. The old veteran is something of a fisherman and took his rod along with him and will investigate the streams of Chenango county somewhat to pass away his time. He is a blacksmith by trade and has rendered faithful service for eighteen years at the Cortland Wagon Co., the officers of whom looked upon him as one of their best and most reliable employees.
He has become too feeble to work on account of advanced age and his friends all rejoice that, through the patriotic efforts of that grand organization, the Woman's Relief corps, such a beautiful home has been provided for the aged comrade and his devoted wife.
BREVITIES.
—A regular rehearsal of the Choral society will be held at the Conservatory of Music at 7:30 o'clock to-night sharp.
—A new glass factory in which forty operatives will be employed at the outset is about to be started in Ithaca. It is located on the Renwick tract near the lake.
—Mrs. Ann Corcoran of 58 East Court-st. has also succeeded in raising delicious peaches on her place in this northern climate. She had over a bushel this year. In previous years, she has had some from the tree, but never before so many and never before have they so completely ripened.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Model Clothing Co,, men's suits and overcoats, page 4; McGraw & Osgood, shoe repairing, page 5; H. M. Kellogg, Garland stoves, etc., page 6; The Perfection Truss Co., rupture, page 7; McKinney & Doubleday, decorate your homes, page 6; Wallace & Gilmore, "Black Patti," page 5.
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