 |
| Benjamin Odell, Jr. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, December 4, 1900.
ODELL'S INAUGURATION.
Announcement. That It Would Be Unpretentious Somewhat Premature.
ALBANY, Nov. 4.—The announcement by Secretary of State McDonough that the ceremonies attending the inauguration of Governor-elect Odell would be the most unpretentious in years, appears to be rather premature and before complete arrangements could be made. The facts are that there will be at least a thousand men in line to escort the new governor to the Capitol, 500 of whom will be in the uniform of the National Guard, of which the governor-elect was a member.
The Tenth battalion here will turn out at least 275 men and the three companies from Orange county, almost as many. In addition there will be the Governor's Guard of Newburg under the command of Captain Joseph M. Dickey. This organization is composed of the comrades-in-arms of Mr. Odell and they are to have the honor of acting as his personal escort. They are 200 strong, with 40 pieces in the band. It is even possible at this writing that there will be still more than these organizations in line for the Washington Steamer company of Newburg has hired the West Point band and signifies its intention to be in the procession. Mr. Odell, who likes to be quiet, has rather intimated that he would prefer not to have much display, but the insistence of his neighbors may carry the day.
One interesting announcement made is to the effect that Mr. Odell will not continue the proceeding inaugurated by Governor Roosevelt of seeing the newspaper reporters in a body twice a day. He is quoted as saying: "I have always believed that a newspaper man's time is as valuable as mine, if not more so, and I will see any of them at once, when they call on any business, if it is possible. I made that rule when I was in the state committee and I found that it worked to their advantage and mine."
 |
| Mark Twain. |
Concerning Mark Twain.
One day recently Mark Twain got home from Europe. He said that he had been gone nine years, which seems improbable, but he accounted for all the intervening time, admitting that he passed through this country in 1895 on his way to Australia and lectured every night from New York to San Francisco. Half of 1891 he spent in France and Germany, 1892 in Florence, 1893 and 1894 in France, and 1896 on his travels, 1897, 1898 and 1899 in London and Vienna and Sweden, and now he comes from England. It was in 1895 that he formally began the labor of paying $80,000 of the debts of Charles L. Webster & Co. He accomplished it in a little more than two years. He may be a rich man again by this time. He admitted that he was rich enough to decline an offer of $50,000 for 100 lectures.
Rich or poor, Mr. Clemens is a very much respected man and is mightily welcome home. He means to spend the winter in New York and to go to Hartford when he gets ready in the spring and to go to work at his trade as the spirit moves him. He is a man of sentiment, and a remarkably durable, sturdy and well disciplined sentiment it is. The only sad thing about him is that he has become almost too exalted and exemplary a person to joke about. But he can joke about himself still, and that's a comfort.—E. S. Martin in Harper's Weekly.
POMONA GRANGE.
Program for To-day—Officers Elected for Ensuing Year.
The Cortland county Pomona grange met this morning at 10 o'clock and followed out this program: Opening prayer in fifth degree; reading minutes of Pomona grange; appointment of committee on application; report of officers of Pomona grange; financial report of chairman of executive committee; reports from subordinate granges.
The election of officers resulted as follows:
Worthy Master—N. P. Webb.
Worthy Overseer—B. B. Knapp.
Worthy Lecturer— G. H. Hyde.
Worthy Steward—M. S. Nye.
Worthy Assistant Steward—Lynn C. Greenwood.
Worthy Chaplin—Mrs. Mary E. Couch.
Worthy Treasurer—Mrs. B. R. Knapp.
Worthy Secretary—J. D. F. Woolston.
Worthy Gate Keeper—G. A. Sherman.
Pomona—Mrs. C. H. Hall.
Flora—Miss Kittie Day.
Ceres—Mrs. John L. Atkins.
Lady Assistant Steward—Miss Nellie Byram.
Member of Executive Committee, three years—W. L. Bean.
Three delegates to the State grange are being elected as we go to press. These will be given in to-morrow's STANDARD.
 |
| Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan. |
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.
Shelley knew whereof he sang when he wrote that "our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught." This truth was aptly illustrated by an incident in the life of the late Sir Arthur Sullivan. He wrote the merry and bubbling music of "Pinafore," which was thought to be so spontaneous, while he was suffering agonies from a cruel illness. He would compose a few bars and then lie almost insensible from pain. When the paroxysm was past, he would write a little more until the pain overwhelmed him again. Never was music written under such distressing conditions, and rarely has music been written which produced in its hearers such wholesome and overflowing merriment.
Speaking of the versatility of Sir Arthur Sullivan's musical genius, it is recalled that the best of the hymns of the exultant church militant, "Onward, Christian Soldiers," and one of the more successful voicings of the Anglo-Saxon emotions of mysticism, "The Lost Chord," came from the same pen that wrote the merry melodies of "I've Got Them on the List," "Sweet Little Buttercup" and "Tit Willow."
Grover Post Election.
At a meeting of Grover Post, No. 98, G. A. R. last evening, the following officers were elected:
Commander—H. R. Burroughs.
Senior Vice-Commander—O. P. Miner.
Junior Vice-Commander— H. T. Bushnell.
Quartermaster—M. E. Corwin.
Chaplain—H. M. Kellogg.
Officer of the Day—Geo. W. Edgcomb.
Surgeon—D. N. Geer.
Officer of the Guard—Norman Thompson.
Trustee—M. L. Alexander.
Mr. H. B. Greenman was chosen as delegate to and the department encampment, and Mr. M. E. Corwin alternative.
PECK BROS.' SAWMILL.
Work Progressing—Will Soon Be Ready for Business.
Work is being pushed forward as rapidly as possible on the buildings and machinery for the new sawmill and planing mill which are being erected by Peck Bros. at the rear of their premises on South Main-st. The buildings are already enclosed and the new machinery for the saw mill from the Moravia Manufacturing Co. arrived Saturday. The building for the mill proper is 20 by 60 feet in size with an annex for the 40-horse power boiler and 35-horse power engine. Another building, 24 by 36 feet in size will be used for a planing mill and a second engine of 35-horse power will run the machinery in this part of the plant. Both mills will be equipped with the most approved machinery. The new outfit for the sawmill has a capacity of 25,000 feet of lumber per day, but it is expected that it will be run at the rate of about 15,000 per day. Five men will be required to get the logs to the saw and handle the lumber as it comes from the mill.
A large number of logs have already been contracted for and active work will begin just as soon as it is possible to get the logs to the mill.
THE COUNTY JAIL.
ANNUAL INSPECTION OF PRISON. COMMISSIONER MANTANYE.
Recommendations for Improvements and Changes—Marathon May Issue Bonds—Superintendent Bockes' Bond Approved by Board of Supervisors—No County Prisoners to Be Sent to Penitentiaries Hereafter.
The board of supervisors had a busy day yesterday straightening out the affairs of the county. At 11 o'clock Chairman Hammond called for order, and roll call showed all present but Mr. Wavle of Harford.
The clerk rend a petition from the highway commissioner and the town board of Marathon, asking that money might be borrowed by the proper town officers on bonds in the amount of $6,500. Said bonds to be of the par value of $650 and ten in number, maturing one each year for ten years. The bonds asked for are to be issued immediately after the completion of the bridge, which is being built by the Owego Bridge Co., across the Tioughnioga river at Marathon. The petition was signed by E. R. Miner, highway commissioner; M. T. Wooster, town clerk; J. H. Hammond, supervisor; and John J. Hickey, Cecil D. Meacham, Duane Burgess, John B. Miller and George W. DeLand, justices of the peace. The petition also had the approval of the board of trustees of the village of Marathon.
After Dr. Kinyon had been called to the chair, Mr. Hammond moved that the prayer of the petitions be granted and that the town board of Marathon be empowered to issue bonds as asked for. This motion prevailed.
A petition of George L. Cass of the town of Cortlandville concerning a double assessment of one hundred thirty-seven acres of land situated in the town of Cortlandville and assessed in said town, and also assessed in the town of Solon, was read by the clerk and, on motion of Mr. Bennett, the same was made a special order of business for 1:30 P. M.
A report of William J. Mantanye, of the state commission of prisons upon the examination of the Cortland county jail, was read by the clerk and, on motion of Mr. Bennett, was received and placed on file. The report follows:
To the State Commission of Prisons:
The report of Commissioner William J. Mantanye respectfully shows that on the 19th day of November, 1900, he visited the county jail of Cortland county at Cortland, N. Y. He was attended by the sheriff, Arthur E. Brainard, and by Supervisors N. F. Webb, D. C. Johnson, and F. A. Crosley, the committee of the board on courthouse and jail.
There were four prisoners at the time of the inspection, one under sentence for sixty days for assault; one awaiting the grand jury on a charge of assault in the second degree; one awaiting trial under indictment for violation of the excise law; and one girl, 18 years of age, awaiting examination on charge of grand larceny. The one under sentence and the one awaiting the action of grand jury were playing cards. The other two were each in separate rooms on the second floor.
Attention was called to the irregularity of having convicted and unconvicted prisoners together in the same room and in association, and to the provision of law forbidding it, as has been done each year without avail.
The average number of prisoners in this jail during the year has been six, and at some times the number was us high as twenty-five, and all classes of prisoners were allowed to be together.
The jail is of a plan of construction well adapted to the separation of prisoners, as there are two outside corridors with a row of cells opening on each corridor—the two rows abutting together at the rear. Each corridor within the row of cells opening upon it is, therefore, a separate room. However, the doors from each of the corridors into the transverse or jailer's corridor are left open so that the prisoners have the run of the whole lower floor.
The law forbidding such admixture is a good one, and should be regarded by the sheriff or some one may make complaint to the governor of the disregard of the law.
Men who are awaiting trial or grand jury are presumed to be innocent and should not be put in association with those already convicted. Neither should those convicted of minor offences, like intoxication or simple assaults, be compelled to associate with old offenders who have perhaps already served in prison for felonies. Imprisonment should be deterrent, and so managed as to lessen the number of criminals rather than to increase the number.
There has, as yet, been no employment given to prisoners under sentence, but they have been kept in idleness, warm and well fed, with plenty of amusement to encourage them to return and become habitual criminals. Such treatment is not punishment, and while it adds to the fees of the officers by increasing the number of arrests and incarcerations, it also adds to the danger of the community by increasing the number of petty criminals and vagrants. Those who advocate the return to the barbaric methods of the whipping posts and stocks, which tended to brutalize the officers and spectators more even than the culprits, base their argument on the fact that idleness and viciousness are increased and encouraged by the present modes of managing many jails. Good, wholesome work on roads, or in preparing road material, is better. It teaches the lazy and thriftless that they must work for their maintenance as honest people not in jail must do, and which when the sentence expires the man is better fitted for industry that if enervated by confinement in idleness.
The result in other counties of the employment of convicts in jail shows that it decreases the number of convictions and shortens the term of sentence necessary for punishment.
Cortland county, however, is taking steps towards an improved management, and the board of supervisors is now considering and will doubtless adopt resolutions providing employment for the prisoners in jail under sentence.
The excuse for allowing the different classes of prisoners to be together in the jail is, that the cell corridors are so dark that they cannot be used without artificial lights. The windows are large and numerous, but the light is shut out by a cast iron screen of coarse mesh in each window. This commissioner has recommended heretofore that those screens be removed and replaced by steel bars that will be equally secure and more modern, and will not obstruct the light. The last grand jury in the county made a similar recommendation. The recommendation is now repeated, and also that the sheriff separate the prisoners as required by law, confining the different classes in the different cell corridors, using the artificial light for which the county must pay of course, until the proper improvement is made in the windows.
The board of supervisors has heretofore contracted to send all prisoners sentenced for sixty days or more to a penitentiary, to be boarded at the charge of the county at an expense largely in excess of the cost of the board, and also giving to the penitentiary the fines paid by those prisoners who are sentenced to pay fines in addition to penitentiary imprisonment, or in the alternative. Such contracts seem improvident and should not be made. The law permits supervisors to contract with penitentiaries for the board of prisoners, but does not specify what the contract shall be, leaving the terms to the business judgment of the contracting parties. If employment is provided at home for the convicts, there is no occasion for a contract unless it is for such as the county may choose to have sent to the penitentiary by reason of their viciousness or insubordination, leaving the discretion of the magistrate to regulate the sentence.
WM. J. MANTANYE, Commissioner.
On motion of Mr. Hammond, it was voted that the clerk be authorized to add to the abstract of the town of Marathon the bills of Dougherty & Miller, $100 and $200 respectively, for legal services, also one of John H. Miller of $100 , and Wm. Davidson $4, all of which are properly verified.
On motion of Mr. Hammond:
Resolved, That the clerk be authorized to notify the judge and justices of the peace of the county of Cortland that on and after the first day of January, 1901, no prisoner can legally be sentenced to Onondaga penitentiary, as no contract has been made with that institution to receive prisoners.
The bond of Edwin J. Bockes, superintendent-elect of poor of Cortland county, was presented, the same being duly executed, in the sum of $10,000 with Robert J. Watson, William J. Watson, Thomas Knoble and Chas. H. Danes as sureties. The same being read by the clerk was, on motion of Mr. Bennett, received and approved and the clerk to file the same with the county clerk.
POPULATION OF CORTLAND.
A Gain In Ten Years of 424—The County Has Decreased.
A dispatch from Washington this afternoon says that the census bureau gives the population of the city of Cortland as 9,014. Ten years ago the village of Cortland contained 8,590 people. This is a gain of 424.
The population of the county, however, as stated a couple of weeks ago, is this year 27,576 as compared with 28,657 ten years ago—a loss of 1,081. Thus while the county as a whole has decreased in population during the decade 1,081, the city of Cortland has increased 424.
The Raines law enumerators on April 19 of this year gave the population of Cortland as 9,282, and many were distressed believing that this was too low, but it is higher than this official census by 268. There is little doubt of the accuracy of this national census as it was taken with great care.
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.
Matter of Accepting Groton-ave. Paving Held up for Short Time.
The regular monthly meeting of the board of public works was held last evening. But little business came before the board. It was expected that the final accounting of the Warren-Scharf Asphalt Co., would be considered, but on account of city Attorney O. U. Kellogg not having examined the bond of the company, it was put over till to-morrow night, to which time the board adjourned.
The following bills were audited:
Payroll for November, $286.59
Graham & Green, sand, 15.48
H. T. Bushnell, search, 11.25
H. T. Bushnell, search, 18.40
F. D. Smith, supplies, 4.80
H. F. Benton Lumber Co., 18.96
H. O. Allen, balance, 137.00
A bridge in the eastern part of the city on the road to Mr. O. U. Kellogg's farm was reported by Superintendent Becker to be in a dangerous condition. He was instructed to make it safe for winter use.
BREVITIES.
—Mrs. O. A. Houghton lies very low at the Cortland hospital, and her death is expected at any time.
—A special meeting of the Orris Hose company will be held at 8:30 o'clock this evening at the parlors.
—Miss Adelaide Lowerre of 23 Arthur-ave. gave a turkey dinner last Saturday to a few of her school friends.
—The Fortnightly club will meet with Mrs. B. L. Webb, 14 Monroe Heights to-morrow afternoon at 3:30 o'clock.
—The annual election of officers of the C. M. B. A. will be held at their rooms in Empire hall at 8 o'clock this evening.
—Manager Wallace has booked Mildred Holland in "The Power Behind the Throne" for Monday evening, Dec. 24. This is another one of the choice entertainments of the season.
—The business meeting and social of the Christian Endeavor society of the First Baptist church will be held at the home of Miss Lucy Moses, 37 Union-st., on Wednesday evening at 7:30.
—Mr. Silas R. Lawrence died yesterday at the residence of Samuel Canfield on Canfield-ave. in Cortland after an illness from pneumonia. His age was 75 years. The funeral will be held at the house on Wednesday at 2 o'clock, and the burial will be in the Cortland Rural cemetery.
No comments:
Post a Comment