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| Capt. Alfred Dreyfus. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, August 22, 1899.
PROMINENT POINTS.
Three of Them Displayed in the Dreyfus Trial.
CONTEMPTIBLE WITNESS HEARD.
Captain Junck Repeated Confidences Made to Him as a Comrade by Dreyfus and Had No Relations to the Trial—Dreyfus Replies.
RENNES, Aug. 22.—Three points stood out prominently in the Dreyfus proceedings. They were Colonel Jouast's display of partiality, the new attitude taken up by Dreyfus, and the contemptible conduct of the last witness Junck.
The spontaneous utterance of Joaust of the word "Encore" (again), when Picquart asked to be heard, has been the topic of conversation as Joaust, for the first time, thus openly and candidly revealed his partiality and hoisted the anti-Dreyfusards colors. Throughout the trial neither he nor any of the judges have ever shown particular love for Picquart; but, he has never before committed such a flagrant violation of justice and his duties as a judge as he did.
Colonel Picquart's attitude of manly independence and utter fearlessness when at the witness bar, his refusal to gently murmur evidence in the ears of the judges instead of, as he did, uttering his testimony in a trumpet voice so that not a person in court missed a syllable, irritated the judges, who showed their impatience in the tone of the questions they put to him.
Picquart was perfectly within his rights, even his duty to ask to be heard in the true interest of justice, in order that the fullest light should be shed on the affair; and it is well remembered that when, last week, General Billot and other generals asked to be confronted with Picquart, M. Bertulus and other witnesses, M. Jouast readily accorded permission.
The Dreyfusard press is certain to take up this matter. The only Dreyfusard newspaper at Rennes has already published a protest.
The second point, the change of attitude upon the part of Dreyfus, has given universal satisfaction to his friends. Hitherto he had confined himself, when asked by the judge if he had any reply to make to witnesses, to an impassioned protestation of his innocence. This made an immense impression on his hearers. But it only left a transitory impression.
Moreover, General Roget made the significant remark in court last week, that an innocent man does not merely protest his innocence, but defends himself. This, undoubtedly, stung Dreyfus into the line he adopted, when he rose and replied argumentatively and in a calm voice to the various points raised by the witnesses. It was in response to Captain Junck that he made his longest statement, occupying about 10 minutes.
He used notes he had taken while Junck was speaking and with methodical arrangement of facts and in unequivocal language, effectively discussed the inaccuracies of Junck's testimony. The prisoner punctuated his remarks with moderate, well chosen gestures of his right hand, standing erect, facing his judges, and holding his gold braided kepi in his left hand.
The third point, the conduct of Junck in repeating confidences made to him as a comrade by Dreyfus, disgusted his hearers, and in the mind of any right thinking man must have considerably impaired the value of the remainder of his evidence. He and Dreyfus sat together in the same office, and naturally exchanged confidences regarding their relations with women. But it was pointed out that no one but a contemptible person repeats them in court, especially in the case of a man posing as an officer and a gentleman.
Dreyfus, in replying, scored distinctly when he brought out Junck's utter lack of sense of honor and himself declined to enter into a discussion of the matter.
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| Fernand Labori. |
Labori in Court.
RENNES, Aug. 22.—Maitre Labori, leading counsel for the defense, who was murderously assaulted Aug. 14, was present in court this morning when the second day of the third week of the second trial by court martial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus of the artillery, charged with treason, began.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
The sad news comes from the coast of Maine that the lobster crop is a failure and that the Maine lobster is destined to become extinct unless he is protected by the government. The reason for the decadence of the "cardinal of the seas" is not so much the injury to his feelings caused by the cruelty of restaurateurs in announcing "broiled live lobster" as by the precipitate haste of the Maine fishermen in catching him before he is fit to be broiled at all and submitting him to the humiliation of canning. If this process goes on the lobster is likely to take his place in history along with the canvas back duck and the terrapin, the lost heritages of a generation unfit to appreciate them.
A Kentucky girl recently shot and fatally wounded a young man who persisted in paying attentions to her after she had rejected him. The tradition that a woman's "No" means "Yes" was pretty thoroughly disproved in this instance.
AT THE STATE FAIR.
Some of the Attractions This Year at Syracuse from Sept. 4 to 9.
The vaudeville part of the program provided for the patrons of the fifty-ninth annual state fair, which takes place at Syracuse Sept. 4 to 9, Amusement Director John L. Kerr says will be of a high order of merit, and undoubtedly will exceed anything heretofore offered at these fair exhibitions.
We enumerate some of the salient features, many of which are genuine novelties:
The DeComas, the world's greatest and original bicycle riders and gymnasts extraordinary.
Dubec and his animal actors, dogs, cats, monkeys and rats, Larry LeRoy and champion trick jumper of the world, without weight or artificial aid. Chas. Marsh, the world's most daring trick cyclist and only athlete in the world who rides a bicycle down an incline 100 feet high and making a 70-feet dive off the wheel into a tank of water 75 feet long, 12 feet wide and only 3 feet deep. The latest acrobatic novelties by Rolf, Arras and Alice, new and sensational. The Lundgreens in their sensational revolving ladder act. Carl Myers and his hydrogen balloon making five minute trips 200 feet in the clouds with passengers. Roscoe's trained pigs and roosters in their comical acts and evolutions, the delight of old and young alike. Pain, the original and only firework king, with his nightly displays of marvelous and bedazzling pyrotechnics on a par with the exhibition of the battle of San Juan hill, employing a force of over three hundred soldiers and sailors.
ELEPHANT ON RAMPAGE.
Charlie Terrified People and did Much Damage.
A dispatch from Reading, Pa., says that the big elephant Charlie in Pearl's circus which exhibits in Cortland next Monday made a desperate attack on his keeper James Mackey on Sunday, hurling him into a ditch and broke three of his ribs. Then, with a chain dangling about his neck, the beast went snorting through the streets, terrorizing many persons. He made his way to the city park, plunged into the lake and before a group of terrified women and children could get away spurted a stream of water, mud and gravel at them. The pebbles were thrown with such force as to cut the faces and arms of several children. The elephant then trampled down flower beds, went up the mountain side to the boulevard and over the hills to the vineyard, and after an absence of two hours was captured.
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| Theodore H. Wickwire. |
THE VILLAGE TRUSTEES
Discuss Minor Topics at Monday Evening's Session.
No important matters like the letting of a paving contract came before the village board of trustees at its meeting last evening. Sidewalk repairs, the Madison-st. ditch, the Harrington-ave. sewer, repairs on Maple-ave. and proposed improvements on Reynolds-ave. occupied the attention of the board until 10 o'clock, when the meeting adjourned. Numerous sidewalk repairs were ordered and in a number of cases new walks were ordered built.
The sewer from Madison-st. across the premises owned by B. A. Benedict was one of the matters which received the attention of the trustees, but no official action was taken. Trustee White made the request that all the members of the board meet with Engineer Allen to look over the situation and decide what is best to be done. No special time was set for the meeting and no official action was taken.
Mr. White also called attention to the condition of Maple-ave. from Main-st. to Homer-ave., and recommended that the street commissioner be instructed to do necessary work on that section of the street.
A proposition had been made to the board by Mr. T. H. Wickwire for an improvement on Reynolds-ave. opposite his premises. Mr. Wickwire's proposition was that if the village would pay for excavating the street from Tompkins-st. to the south line of his lot he would, at his own expense, fill the street for that distance with the best quality of crushed stone. The board instructed the engineer to make an estimate of the cost of the proposed excavation and, upon motion, the clerk was authorized to advertise for sealed bids to be opened at the next meeting of the board. It was the sentiment of the board that if the excavation could be done at a satisfactory price the proposition of Mr. Wickwire would be accepted.
Engineer Allen was instructed to draw specifications and make estimates for the sewer on Harrington-ave., the same to be submitted to the sewer commissioners for approval.
Tom Howard appeared before the board in person and presented a request for appointment as special policeman during the Cortland county fair, also at the Dryden fair, the Whitney Point fair and the Summerhill fair. Trustee Wood questioned whether the jurisdiction of the board extended so far as Summerhill, but Mr. Howard thought that the board's authority was unlimited and President Holden informed him that the board would consider his application at the next meeting.
DECISION HANDED DOWN.
New Trial Granted In a Case That Runs Back Many Years.
A decision has been received by Hon. W. J. Mantanye, attorney for defendants, from Justice George F. Lyon of the supreme court in the action of Mary Bradford against Burgess Squires and Theodore L. Corwin, setting aside the verdict of $1,585 rendered against defendants at the May term of 1898 and granting a new trial.
Defendants were sued as sureties for Jane G. Pratt on her appointment in 1882 as committee of her nephew, Wm. M. Bradford, with whom and his mother and son she resided. The lunatic was declared restored in 1890 and an order was entered directing the committee to pay him $1,049, said to be in her hands, of his property. The sureties then held an indemnity bond from the mother of the lunatic, Laura Bradford, who was then good and owned real estate in Marathon worth $4,000 or more, where the family lived. With the assent of the defendants and, as they claimed, upon the agreement that it was to satisfy all claims against the committee and her sureties, the real estate was then conveyed to Bradford by his mother and aunt, reserving for them only a life interest in one-third of their support. Bradford and his attorney, A. P. Smith, then raised money by mortgages on the real estate to pay debts and costs and no claim was made against defendants until six years later when this action was commenced by plaintiff who is the wife of the son of the ex-lunatic and also a member of the family, she claiming that the demand was assigned to her by Bradford a short time before his death. A. P. Smith and M. M. Waters were the attorneys in the proceedings of 1890 and they and Mrs. Pratt and Bradford had all died before the cause came to trial.
The motion for new trial was made on case and exceptions and was argued for defendants by Mr. Mantanye, and for plaintiff by N. L. Miller and A. M. Mathewson in March last. T. E. Courtney was associated with Mr. Mantanye on the trial.
NAMES ARE CHANGED
Of Three of the Public Schools of Cortland—Named from Location.
There was a meeting of the board of education last night at which it was voted to change the names of three of the schools so that they will no longer be known by the street upon which they chance to be built but by the ward in which they are located. The Owego-st. school will hereafter be the First ward school, the Schermerhorn-st. school will be the Second ward school, and the Pomeroy-st. school will be the Third ward school.
The committee on grounds and buildings was instructed to have a suitable sign prepared to place upon each of the schools giving its name.
A resolution was passed to open the schools on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The committee on grounds and buildings reported that the Second ward school (Schermerhorn-st.) would be ready for occupancy on Sept. 5, all the repairs of the summer having been completed by that time.
The kindergarten will also be opened on Sept. 5 in the Second ward school, and all parents who desire to have their children entered in that department should either write to the superintendent or see him before Sept. 5. He will be at his office in the Central school on Railroad-st. each week day forenoon from 10 to 12 o'clock till that date.
A Family Gathering.
On Wednesday last, Aug. 10, about fifty relatives of the Tennant family gathered at Lake View for a picnic. The day was most happily spent in visiting, boat riding and a few indulged in tobogganing. The weather was perfect, and a fine spread was laid beneath the shade of a pretty little grove fronting the lake. Those from away were Mr. and Mrs. A. O. Tennant and family of Cortland and Hon. A. C. Tennant and family of Albany.
BREVITIES.
—A large gang of men and teams is making quick work of the excavation on Port Watson-st.
—A gaily decorated wagon drove through town this morning, advertising the Broome county fair at Whitney Point, Sept. 5, 6, 7, and 8.
—Three gangs of Italians are hustling the mixing of the concrete for the new pavement on Tompkins-st. The concrete is now laid as far as the residence of C. F. Wickwire.
—Announcement is made of the engagement of Mr. John Wilbeck Van Vranken of Syracuse, well known in Cortland, and Miss Mabel Carr Dibble, daughter of Rev. L. A. Dibble of the Troy conference.
—James Cleary, who was arrested last night in the Clinton-ave. doorway of Sager & Jennings' store was before Justice Davis this morning charged with public intoxication. He was given a ten days' suspended sentence.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Gladding & Brown, Laundering, page 6; D. McCarthy & Sons, New dress fabrics for fall, page 7; M. A. Case, Two good articles of merchandise, page 6; C. F. Brown, Paint, page 4; J. A. Jayne, page 4.
—Ed Canfield, night watchman for the Wallace Wallpaper Co., has been appointed a deputy sheriff in recognition of his promptness in helping to drive off the tramps who were endangering the large Keator & Wells carriage factory the other night by a fire close to the wall with which they were planning to roast corn.
—The rain last night was very acceptable, only there was not enough of it, but it cooled the atmosphere in a marked degree. The gale which preceded it caught up the dust and filled the air, and the effect was something terrible.
AN OPEN LETTER.
Lewis S. Hayes Declines the Prohibition Nomination for Assembly.
To: O. A. Norton and Others, County Committee of the Prohibition Party.
GENTLEMEN—I have just learned that at a convention held early this month I was chosen your candidate for member of assembly.
While I appreciate the honor of the nomination I am compelled to decline it. You will not infer from this that I have changed my opinions upon the principles that underlie the Prohibition movement. Years ago, on my way home one evening from a church meeting I passed the open stairway that leads from a basement barroom up to one of our sidewalks. As I approached it a drunken young man staggering up the steps fell at my feet. To my surprise I saw it was one who was occasionally in my employ, and who I supposed until then never drank. Checking the first impulse to pass quickly by I put my arm under his, helped him to his feet, and without a word said by either, led him up the street. The cool night air and a long walk brought him back to his right mind, and then he told me that when he fell he was hurrying home to shoot his wife and child and kill himself.
As I reflected upon the strange story, the causes of his downfall and the little accident that turned it from a terrible tragedy to the promise of a better life, I became convinced that the one business which sends a customer home to brain a helpless woman and child has no right to exist. From that conviction I have never swerved and the passing years only make it more intense.
I admit the right of the party to call upon those who hold its faith to carry its flag. I obeyed your command in 1885, and I have always been proud that more than a thousand votes were given in a campaign that was absolutely clean. A thousand votes were won solely by the manly plea to my fellowmen to vote for what they knew to be right. I recall that campaign because we were met everywhere with a request to wait within the old party organizations and they would do something for temperance. Too many waited and are waiting still. What have they got for the fourteen years of waiting? Bread or a stone? Let me sum up the changes.
First, the Raines law, designed primarily to take the temperance question out of politics, and incidentally, to fortify the liquor traffic behind an immense public revenue. The honest temperance men who first approved it, now admit that, so far as suppressing the drink traffic is concerned, the Raines law is a ghastly failure.
A second change in the situation merits attention. Under the guise of protecting the franchise and regulating primaries, laws have been enacted having for their main object the prevention of independent nominations. To-day the would-be independent voter finds himself bound helplessly to the party machine, and his desire for good government and pure politics crushed beneath it.
Another result has come with the fourteen years of waiting. If we accept published statistics—and I have no reason to doubt their accuracy—more than 100,000 die annually of the drink habit. The fourteen years of waiting have filled more than a million and a half drunkards' graves, billowing the land from Grand Manan to the Golden Gate. A million and a half! That does not tell the whole story. A young man was found one night near the Lackawanna crossing so badly injured that he had but few hours to live. The morning light showed his footprints in the new fallen snow direct from the saloon door. There could be no question as to the cause. He was only one of the million and a half—and it was soon over. But the cry of anguish from that poor old mother as she was brought to his bedside told too truly that hearts are breaking with every drunkard's death. Can we comprehend the human misery for that million and a half! The heart grows sick as we think of it!
But this waiting will not be forever. We shall settle this question long before "the leaves of the judgment book unfold." There will be little call for argument in coming campaigns. The public is already convinced that we are right. The old bitterness has passed away, and the Prohibition party is commended for its steadfastness and devotion to principal. There is no necessity for harsh words against the liquor seller personally. He is mainly the creation of circumstances, and, at most, is only a minor factor in the situation. The real heart of the matter is just this: The whole beverage liquor business, from manufacture to consumption, is a great wrong sanctioned by community. He who would worthily represent our cause must plead it before the people with an eloquence and pathos that will win their hearts, and rouse every conscience to vigorous action.
Such a campaign I cannot make. To me has never come the gift of eloquence, and the burden of this message has not been laid upon me. I cannot hear the imperative call of duty that bids me make the effort because, where duty calls, the means and ability are always given to meet the occasion. This year, at least, my duty is to conserve interests much nearer my home.
I regret that I can not accept your nomination and in thanking you for the honor done me, I desire to convey to you my appreciation of the fact that I have been accounted worthy to stand with you
"For the cause that needs assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance.
For the future in the distance.
And the good that we can do."
Respectfully yours, LEWIS S. HAYES, Cortland, Aug 21, 1899.
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