SEVENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT REUNION, TRUE AMERICAN, VERN PORTER LETTER, AND LOCAL NEWS

 

Lt. Martin Edgcomb.

Semi-Weekly Cortland Standard, Tuesday, October 9, 1900.

REGIMENTAL REUNION.

VETERANS OF THE SEVENTY-SIXTH AT ITHACA.

Had a Good Program and an Enjoyable Day—Ride on the Trolley Line and to Renwick—Guest of the City—Election of Officers—Those Who Were Present.

   The thirty-second annual reunion of the Seventy-sixth Regt., New York Vols., was called to order at Ithaca Thursday by Chairman D. B. Way at 10:30 o’clock. First in order was payment of dues. Thirty-eight members reported. The secretary’s report was read and approved, followed by the reading of the treasurer’s report which was duly approved.

   On motion of Comrade Brooks of Union, seconded by D. C. Beers and W. J. Mantanye, it was decided to hold the next reunion in Union, Broome Co., N. Y.

   Under election of officers Nelson Brooks of Union was made president; C. D. Bouton of Ithaca, first vice-president; George Webb of Union, second vice-president; D. C. Beers of Cortland, third vice-president; Martin Edgcomb of Cortland fourth vice-president; Lucian Davis of Cortland, secretary; and Aaron Sager of Cortland, treasurer.

   The following committee on resolutions was appointed: Aaron Sager, C. D. Bouton and W. J. Mantanye.

   H. H. Miller of Ithaca was duly elected to honorary membership in the association, after which the business meeting was adjourned.

   After the business meeting had adjourned all members of the Seventy-sixth regiment and their families were given a ride to the campus around the loop and to Renwick park by the Ithaca Street Railway Co., the veterans being their guests, which was greatly appreciated by the old soldiers. The veterans were then entertained by the citizens and soldiers of Ithaca at the Clinton House where an excellent dinner was served.

   After dinner the aforesaid meeting was called to order at 3 o’clock in the Aurora-st. Methodist church by President D. B. Way, where the following program was rendered:

 

William Church Davis.

A TRUE AMERICAN.

FORMER SOLON BOY WRITES FROM MANILA.

Lieutenant W. C. Davis, a Former Democrat, Would be Ashamed to be Called an American if the Flag Comes Down from the Philippines.

   Every resident of Solon, N. Y., will remember the pronounced Democracy of the late Samuel Davis of that town and of his son, Lieutenant William C. Davis, a former student of the Cortland Normal school and a graduate of West Point. Lieutenant Davis has been for some time in the Philippine Islands and his letters to friends in this country have been very much enjoyed. We are permitted to make the following extracts from a letter recently received by one of his friends in this city which will be of interest as showing what is the feeling toward those islands and toward the policy of the government by those in a position to appreciate the facts, regardless of politics:

   Office of the Commissary, Sixth U. S. Artillery, Manila, P. I., Aug, 7, 1900.

   Conditions in Manila and around have not much changed since I last wrote. The country is tranquil enough, with occasional brushes with the ladron [thieving], outlaw element; but it is only kept tranquil through a display of force. They are encouraged beyond a doubt in the belief that Bryan is going to be elected and that they will then be granted independence, and our troops withdrawn. When that time comes I shall be ashamed to be called an American! These islands are the finest acquisition that has come to your Uncle Samuel since the Louisiana purchase. Don’t you people back in the States get discouraged over the situation here and give in, but rather show your grit, and teach the world what American pluck is. There were many people who one time thought the Louisiana purchase was not worth what it cost. Our soldiers will do their part over here. Let the nation stand back of the brave men who are doing its fighting; and after so many precious lives have been lost here and the final victory all but won, what true American is there who would show the “chicken heart?”

   I do not know when I shall return home, but when I do I want to see in the last glimpse I catch of these islands the American flag floating where our army and navy have planted and maintained it. I for one am willing to do treble service here, if necessary, to accomplish that end.

   Cordially your friend, WM. C. DAVIS.

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.

Bryan’s New Ally.

   Perhaps it would not be correct to say that Bryan has a new convert, but it cannot be denied that he has a new ally, at least in this country in Sixto Lopez, formerly secretary to Aguinaldo. He has come to this country ostensibly for the purpose of combating the statements of the Philippine commission about the state of things under its observation, but more particularly and in fact to aid in Bryan’s campaign. He represents the dictator who is in rebellion against the authority of the United States government. He speaks solely for the insurgents engaged in killing American soldiers in guerilla warfare. Whether he will be clapped into jail or permitted to join his Bryanite allies as a spellbinder or writer remains to be seen. We do not imagine that even this tolerant administration is prepared to endure everything at the hands of those who delight to furnish aid and comfort to the enemies of the nation. Even Mr. Lincoln was compelled to put in prison some of the more treasonable of the Northern sympathizers with the Southern rebellion, and Mr. McKinley, patient and long suffering as he is, may yet have to restrain the rebels in the United States as well as in the Philippines.

   It is certain that Lopez does not look to the people at large for sympathy in his proposed treason. There is only one party to which he can turn for encouragement under any circumstances, and that is not the Republican. He left the country two years ago fearing arrest for his expressed hostility to the government. He returns now depending upon its forbearance even if he resumes his interrupted occupation of disloyalty. Of course the appearance of this Bryan recruit in our own country to preach treason is another evidence of the imperialistic tendency of the president. It is the habit of emperors, and of those aspiring to that kind of authority to permit the exposure of their conduct in a popular way.

   And yet what brazen impudence this adventurer exhibits. The copperhead Vallandigham was driven out of the country for conduct far less outrageous. But the times are softened under a genial “emperor.”

 

Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler.

DR. CUYLER CALLS NAMES.

Says Bryan Should Protect the Black as Well as the Brown.

   New York, Oct. 5.—William Jennings Bryan was called a “skulking coward” and Richard Croker a “brutal despot,” by Rev. Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler, pastor emeritus of Lafayette-ave. Presbyterian church, Brooklyn, in a speech delivered at eleventh and twelfth districts Brooklyn last night. Dr. Cuyler said that he did not believe Americans had a right to govern the Philippines against the consent of the people and he did not believe that McKinley desired to do so. “I deny that Bryan has a right to stand as a champion of anti-imperialism,” he thundered. “Even that brutal despot Croker a year ago declared himself in favor of imperialism. I desire before this meeting, before this community and before this nation to brand W. J. Bryan as a skulking coward for not standing up for the rights of the colored man while defending the brown man.”

 

MCGRAW, N. Y.

Breezy Items of Corset City Chat.

   In a letter just received from Roger Kelley and dated Bacolor, Philippine Islands, Aug. 3, 1900, he says "This war could be finished in a few weeks at the most, but the Filipinos are receiving just enough encouragement, to keep them on the warpath until after election. There are good points as well as bad ones in a soldier’s life. We are not all drunkards either. Give my regards to all the people and tell them that I am looking well.”

   In a letter just received and dated Fort Mason, San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 26, 1900, Vera Porter writes: "I have changed my boarding place from Presidio to Fort Mason and like the change first rate. Am attached to Co. B of the Eighteenth Infantry and doing guard duty at General Shatter's. I only get about two nights in. Am getting on about as usual, feeling very good for a few days and then just the opposite [malaria—CC editor]. Have been in the post hospital several times since I have been doing duty. I am to get my last examination about the first of next month and that will tell the tale of whether I am to go back. Mason is an artillery fort and a fine place, being on the bay about two miles from Presidio and but a short walk from San Francisco. Give my regards to all my friends.”

 

Wickwire Bros. Factory, Cortland, N. Y.

BIG SCAFFOLD BLOWN DOWN.

It Surrounded the Big Smoke Stack at the Wickwire Mills.

   The octagonal shaped scaffold that was built about the tall and mammoth smokestack being erected at Wickwire’s plant by Beers and Warfield was blown down early Monday morning. The stormy southeast wind Sunday afternoon started the structure and it swayed over against the stack on the southeast side, bulging out in the northwest side, splitting the staylaths and bringing down loose boards from the top. Sunday night the wind changed to nearly the opposite quarter from where it had been blowing, and the scaffold was thrown in turn over against the stack from the west. This time the structure failed to hold together and it fell, making a pile of kindling wood that would gladden the heart of a lazy man. A shute on the east side, which caught the wind and first shoved the scaffold about a little, was accountable for the downfall.

   The stack was nearly completed, lacking but 5 feet of reaching its intended height of 140 feet. It is one of the largest stacks in Central New York. It is 15 feet in diameter at the base, and is 10 ft. and 8 in. across the top. The flue is 7 feet in diameter from top to bottom. The inside wall or core was started 16 inches thick and decreased 4 inches in every 25 feet [sic]. Between this and the outer wall there is an air space. The outer wall was started at 24 inches in width and diminishes the same as does the inner one. This left the walls of the inner and outer part 4 and 8 inches in thickness respectively, where the work had been carried to and the contractors were very much afraid Sunday that the chucking of timbers against it would batter down some of the top.

   The contractors have not yet decided upon their plan for completing the stack. There are yet five feet of mason work to be placed on the top and it is quite probable that this will be done by passing the materials up through the big flue. The scaffold was made of nearly fifteen thousand feet of lumber which is almost a complete loss to the contractors.

   Mr. Beers of the firm of Beers & Warfield who have the contract for building the stack, states that they have put up many such structures with scaffolds not nearly so well built as was this. In Auburn they put up two that were one hundred fifty feet high, completing the last one four weeks after Garfield was elected president. The loss, which is entirely theirs, will be nearly $200.

   The first boards began to fly Sunday afternoon at about 3 o’clock. Messrs. E. L. Pierce and E. H. Hyatt had just been standing near the foot of the stack looking up at it. They had turned to walk away when the first board flew down and landed within a few feet of them. They hurriedly looked up and discovered more coming and they stood not at all upon the order of their going. When they had reached a safe distance they stopped to take an account of stock and see if they were all there.

 

BREVITIES.

   —The Normals defeated the Colgate university team at football at Hamilton Saturday by a score of 11 to 6.

   —Rev. G. A. Shaw of Brooklyn will officiate at Grace Episcopal church on Sunday, both morning and evening.

   —A regular meeting of the Royal Arcanum will be held Tuesday evening, Oct. 9, at G. A. R. hall at 7:30 o’clock.

   —There will be an adjourned meeting of the board of directors of the Tioughnioga club next Wednesday evening at the parlors.

   —Mr. Stephen Dillon opened a dancing school of forty members in Preble last Saturday night. Messrs. Kane and French furnished the music.

   —The Democrats are preparing for a rally at the Opera House on Friday evening, Oct. 12. The speakers will be Hon. George Raines of Rochester and Thomas Carmody of Penn Yan.

   —The painting of the new telephone poles of the Home Telephone Co. was begun Friday morning. The company is experiencing some difficulty in getting poles here to set and the painting was taken up to keep the men busy.

   —At a meeting of the Presbyterian church Thursday night at the close of the preparatory service Mr. H. F. Benton was re-elected elder for the term of four years, Mr. C. W. Collins was re-elected deacon for the term of four years, and Edward D. Blogett was elected an elder for the term of four years to succeed Mr. Seymour M. Ballard, whose term of office had expired and who had moved his residence to New York City.

   —The Smith Realty company’s land sale upon the Fitzgerald tract between Cortland and Homer is attracting a great crowd of people this afternoon. Six carloads of people went from Cortland at 2 o’clock and two cars came from Homer. The City Band furnished the music. The plot had been graded, streets laid out and lots staked out. A settlement between the two places will tend to make the two one for Greater Cortland one of these days.