The Cortland Democrat, Friday, November 16, 1900.
TERRIBLE EXPLOSION.
Frank E. Trapp's Residence Near McLean Blown Up by Dynamite.
About 1:30 Monday morning an attempt was made to blow up the farm residence of Frank E. Trapp. who lives about seven miles from this city [Cortland] and over a mile from McLean. The attempt is supposed to have been made by Dr. H. L. Gleason, father-in-law of Mr. Trapp, who had been partially insane and who was killed by the explosion.
For nearly ten years Mr. Gleason, who has been an itinerant dentist and spectacle peddler, has been insane and has not permitted his wife and daughter to live with him for some time, claiming that they were crazy. During this time he lived in a little house near the village of McLean. Mr. Trapp furnished the entire means of support.
Last Saturday Mrs. Bassett, his daughter, who is a widow, went to McLean with her young son and tried to persuade her father to allow her to come and live with him. He refused and Mrs. Bassett went to the home of Mr. Trapp to make a visit.
About 8 o'clock Sunday evening Mr. Gleason called at the home of E. M. Knettles, who lives near Mr. Trapp, and remained there until after 10 o'clock, when he started for home.
About 1:30 a terrific explosion was heard throughout the entire neighborhood and it was learned that Mr. Trapp's house was badly wrecked, the kitchen being blown to atoms and every door and window in the house completely demolished.
As soon as Mr. Trapp was able he came out of the house and with a neighbor, Mr. Morrisey, went around back of the house and there in the driveway they found Dr. Gleason gasping for breath and with his clothing on fire. The fire was quickly extinguished but the old man never spoke. The body was not mangled, death being evidently caused by the concussion which followed the explosion.
There were in the house at the time of the explosion, Mr. and Mrs. Trapp with their 4-months-old baby, Mrs. Gleason, the old man's wife, Mrs. Bassett and her young son, none of whom were injured.
BURNED TO DEATH.
MRS. JANE ALBRIDGE OF McGRAWVILLE HORRIBLY BURNED.
Explosion of a Lamp Sets Her Clothing on Fire—She Rushes Out of Doors Engulfed in Flame—Her Son Byron Works in This City.
A very distressing affair occurred at McGrawville Wednesday evening by which Mrs. Jane Albright met a horrible death. Mrs. Albright lived on North-st. with her son Byron Albright, who works in Cortland, and at about 6 o'clock, while preparing the evening meal in anticipation of the return of her son from his day's labor, a lamp exploded. There were no eyewitnesses to the affair but it is evident that the force of the explosion threw the burning oil over Mrs. Albright's clothing, as a lady who was passing at the time saw the flames in the house, and almost instantly Mrs. Albridge rushed out of doors completely enveloped in flames.
Help was hastily summoned, but before the flames could be subdued the unfortunate woman's clothing was entirely burned, and her body blistered from head to foot. She lived but a few moments.
Besides her son Byron, she leaves another son, Fred Albridge of Omaha, Neb., and a daughter, Mrs. Frank Webster of McGrawville. A brother, Levi Woolsey of Syracuse, also survives her.
Mrs. Albridge was 73 years old and she was highly respected in McGrawville, where she had resided many years.
To Be or Not to Be.
The matter of policemen for the city of Cortland is one which bids fair to embarrass the incoming board of police commissioners.
At Tuesday night's meeting of the common council, bills were audited to pay the salary of the recently appointed officers, under the protest of Alderman Thompson. The latter gentleman and Mr. Skeele who voted with him against the payment, acted on the ground that the old officers, Parker, Corcoran and Nix, were made city officers when they began drawing salary as prescribed in the city charter and that they cannot then be removed without charges being filed against them and after a hearing has been given. They were further protecting themselves from liability as provided in section 32 of the charter, which makes any officer of the city '"liable to a penalty of $100" and "guilty of a misdemeanor" who "shall vote for any appropriation or for the payment or expenditure of any moneys not authorized by or in pursuance of law."
It is certain that no charges have been preferred against any of the three men. It will also be remembered that the matter of being city officers under the charter was brought up by Acting Chief Smith when he appeared before the common council in support of bills of the entire police force, last spring, at the increased salaries named in the charter. He contended that the old force were city officers and this the common council conceded when the bills were audited at the increased rate.
The removal of the three old officers was done without excuse or authority, simply by right of might, or majority. We admit that the majority should rule, but they should keep within certain prescribed limits, viz: the city charter and the laws of the state. In their acts in the police matter, the majority of the common council are said to have been taking the advice of others than the city attorney, and if this is true, they are personally liable for the salaries due, and not the city. As a result of the action taken, the police board, when appointed by the next mayor, will be at the outset embarrassed by a law suit brought by officers Parker, Corcoran and Nix, when they should start their duties with a clean sheet. If the officers were capable and competent to serve the city six months and a half, they were all right for the balance of the year, till January 1, 1901, and no motives other than selfish ones can be assigned for creating the trouble which is sure to accrue.
WIRES UP TO CINCINNATUS, N. Y.
Home Telephone Company Will Soon Have Them up Here.
The long poles for Main-st., [Cortland], for which the Home Telephone company have been waiting some six weeks will be here this week and will soon be in position.
A switchboard which will accommodate four hundred phones is in position in their office and cables will soon be run out on the Main-st. poles.
The instruments which will be used are the very latest. There will be no ringing to call ''central'' or when through talking. The simple taking of the receiver from the hook gives the signal to the ''hello girl'' that you want her attention and when you hang it up she knows you are through.
The line to Cincinnatus is a already complete, the wires running along the E. & C. N. Y. railway and all that is lacking is the wire from the [railroad] Junction to central to make Cincinnatus accessible for talk. Several phones will be put in at that place.
NEIGHBORING COUNTIES.
Interesting News Gathered from Our Exchanges.
The Binghamton Board of Health fumigated one of the city schools to destroy diphtheria germs. An inspector took 100 pounds of sulfur and set it on fire. When the fumigation was over, it was found that all the furniture was ruined. The desks, piano and seats were covered with a thick gummy coating of sulfur deposited from the fumes which adhered so closely that it was impossible to remove it. Most of the furniture was new and had just been put in at the cost of several hundred dollars. The Board of Education will call on the Board of Health to pay for the damage.
While an O. & W. freight train was going south last Friday at the speed of twenty miles an hour, the engineer, Archer Weeden, noticed near North Bay a small calf standing on the track in apparent bewilderment. The engineer blew the whistle and Fireman Martin rang the bell vigorously, but the calf didn't move and the engine struck it with full force. After running forty or fifty rods the train was brought to a standstill and the crew made an investigation. They were surprised to find the animal sitting on the pilot as if nothing unusual had happened. One of the slats of the pilot had been knocked out and the calf sat wedged in the opening. The crew of the train extricated the animal and he ran away apparently unhurt.
Lestershire had an exciting time at the polls last Tuesday. The village has only one election district, and the population has increased so since it was districted that 1,319 voters were registered in one district. The Town Board had been appealed to, to make suitable provision to receive all the votes, but failed to do so and as a result only 876 could be voted and when the polls closed over 300 men were crowded about the polling place clamoring for admission. The local option question was voted upon and the temperance people won by a majority of 88. The license men claim there was trickery on the part of the temperance people to get admission first for voters opposed to license and they are preparing to take action to nullify the result.
The town of Lisle voted last week against license by 33 majority, and thus C. W. Theleman, the genial hotel keeper at Lisle village, must suffer for the indiscretions of another landlord.
Only one pensioner who served in the war of 1812 is left. His name is Hiram Cronk. He is 100 years old, and lives in Oneida county, N. Y. About 3,000 widows of 1812 are on the rolls.
The Beach Oswego property recently purchased by Orville Dean, now seems destined to become a great pleasure resort. It is said the D. L. & W. Railroad Company has obtained an option on the property. If such is the case and the property is improved it will become a formidable rival to Ontario Beach, as it is far more pleasantly located.
A genuine devil fish was caught one night last week on a night line in Wood creek. Oneida county. It measured 22 inches from tip to tip of the suckers, but the body was only about four inches in diameter. It is supposed that the animal must have made its way from salt water to the place where it was found by the way of the St. Lawrence.
Many Lestershire people would like to know the whereabouts of W. H. Tyler. Tyler appeared at Lestershire about ten days ago and talked of starting a paper to be called the Lestershire News. It is alleged that he collected for subscriptions and advertisements. The paper is not in evidence; neither is Tyler.
The Niagara Falls Power company and its allied companies paid $31,045.91 taxes this year. This is one-seventh of the total amount of taxes collected in Niagara Falls.
A fox at the Morris fair got out of his cage and chewed off the head of a $14 chicken. The owner of the chicken is now trying to recover half price for it from the society.
Canandaigua lake is so low that no attempts are made by steamboat captains to effect many of the midway landings.
The Onondaga salt springs have experienced a revival. They paid well this year for the first in a long time.
Over one thousand bushels of potatoes have been bought for use in Auburn prison, and 1500 bushels more will be purchased. The price paid is thirty-five cents.
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
Shall the Democratic Party be Reorganized by Wise Leaders?
Since election ninth attention has been given in certain Democratic newspapers to the necessity of the reorganization of the Democratic party, and the enunciation of the dominant Democratic doctrines of the coming Democracy.
The widespread interest aroused in the discussion of these subjects on the very heels of national defeat is evidence of the vitality and resiliency of the Democratic party. Discouraged in no wise by defeat, disheartened in no respect at the decision of the people on issues that were temporary in their nature, and now by the very logic of events are practically extinct, the party is hopeful, full of activity, buoyant and confident.
By the very elimination of temporary issues the party, to a certain extent, is reorganized. Some New York newspapers are rampant for an immediate reorganization of all parts of the machinery, and a fresh enunciation of essential Democratic doctrines. To that end it is said a meeting has been held, where Grover Cleveland, Don M. Dickinson, William C. Whitney and Abram Hewitt were among the conspicuous stellar luminaries. Heaven forbid that Democracy be reorganized by deserters!
Grover Cleveland, a man for whom the Democratic party has done more than for any other man in the century, certainly has done more to the deadly hurt of his party than any other man in its history. A man who disrupted the party organize it? A seceder from Democracy be the leader of Democracy? Never! Never! Never! Let seceders return and be given welcome, but let them not be crowned to insure their return. If the party is to be reorganized, let it be around a nucleus of the tried and true. Let the representatives be men great in statesmanship, or wise in political craft, or sagacious in leadership and unswerving in their Democracy. Let New York state be represented by such men as Hill, and Murphy, and Shepard among the veterans, and let Stanchfield be the representative of the young, the aggressive, the hopeful element of the party. Let like types of representative men be chosen for conference, and let a constructive national policy be projected, but let such policy rest on firm Democratic foundations, be in accord with sound Democratic principles, and in full harmony with the best Democratic traditions. To such a reorganization all true Democrats will give hearty assent. And while reorganization is going on let ways and means be provided for the exclusion of the following classes of so-called Democrats:
First—Those whose Democracy is warm and active only when they are the continual beneficiaries of the party, or the would-be candidates for party honors.
Second—Those whose Democracy rests on self-interest and whose party fealty in any campaign is contingent only on a computation of debits and credits to their personal advantage.
Third—Those who masquerade in Democratic livery only to make more certain their own criminal purchase by the corrupt hireling assents of the opposing party.
Fourth—Those whose Democracy is staunch only when in the general enunciation of Democratic doctrines each statement must in detail be in unison with their own personal whims or prejudices, or their own infallible judgment.
Fifth—Those who are greater and wiser than the Democratic party, and who believe that the life of the party is only co-existent with their own.
Sixth—Those who, Democrats in name or environment, are eagerly awaiting for a plausible excuse to warrant desertion.
And finally, let those who are Democrats from conviction be heartless in lopping off excrescences in the party, be vigorous in dealing condign punishment on ambushed traitors, sycophants and time-servers, but be hearty in their welcome of those who, mistaken and misled, would now enter the Democratic fold in the full belief in Democratic principles, and in the full faith in Democratic opportunities.
HERE AND THERE.
The snow storm of yesterday came very near the blizzard classification.
The wire mills have began working day and night forces.
Teachers should bear in mind the association meeting at Marathon to-morrow.
O. L. Crofoot has moved his livery to the barn on the north side of Orchard-st.
A charity ball for the benefit of the city hospital will be held on the evening of Dec. 28.
The annual election of officers of Cortlandville grange will be held on Friday evening, Dec. 14.
The Universalist Woman's Aid association will hold its eighth annual convention in Cortland next year.
A. D. Wallace returned Wednesday night from Bear River, in the North Woods, with a fine buck which he shot.
There are several bad places in the wooden sidewalks about town that should be repaired before winter sets in.
Three coal trains were run over the Lackawanna road last Sunday, an unusual occurrence for that day of the week.
Edward C. White's magnificent production of ''Two Little Vagrants'' will be presented at the opera house Saturday, Dec. 1.
The statement that oranges will be cheap this year will be good news to Cortland people, who are great lovers of this delicious fruit.
The rummage sale by the ladies of Grace church is under full swing and crowds throng the salesroom in Court-st. afternoon and evening.
Five tramps were corralled by the police Tuesday night, and were ordered out of town the following morning by Judge Davis by the through lightning route.
That was a stinging defeat suffered by the Normal football team last Saturday afternoon, when it went down under the sluggers from Athens, Pa., to the tune of 29 to 0.
Friday, Nov. 23, will be the annual donation day at the hospital, which will be open from 2 to 8 p. m. for the reception of the public. All appropriate gifts will be acceptable.
The fire department was called out Monday noon by a small blaze in the house of Mrs. A. L. Rose, 23 Washington-st. Their services were not needed however, as a few pails of water extinguished the fire.
In a walk about town on any Sunday evening one hears anywhere from ten to twenty phonographs sending out music, speeches or other entertainment which strikes the owner's fancy.
Mrs. J. T. Davern & Co. will, to the regret of our people generally, remove to Binghamton about February 1 next, where they will locate on Court-st. and devote their attention entirely to the wholesale trade.
A motion made in supreme court at Syracuse last Saturday to open the default in the case of Maude Graham against the Syracuse. Binghamton & New York railroad company was granted. This action is for injuries growing out of the Blodgett Mills accident.
The annual meeting of the Ladies' Aid and Home Mission society will be held in the Congregational church at Homer this evening at 3 o'clock. There will be reports given and the election of officers, followed by a short musical program. Banner will be served at 1 o'clock.
That fire alarm bell has a way of occasionally disturbing the slumbers of our citizens by striking at unseasonable and unreasonable hours of the night. It had one of those spells Tuesday night, and we suggest that the police smoke out the spooks and put a stop to the custom.
A brief item published in the Democrat three weeks ago to the effect that Cortland has four unmarried ministers was copied into at least fourteen of our exchanges. The brethren of the press thus kindly give our city clergymen considerable free matrimonial advertising. (And now there are five.)
It requires considerable excavation to bring the sidewalks to grade on Groton-ave., but the property owners are doing nobly. Among the many fine jobs is the work done in front of I. H. Holcomb's premises. Mr. Holcomb says he will have his place in tip-top shape if he doesn't lay up a cent.
Charles R. Lord, reporter for the Standard, was married last Saturday to Miss Maud L. Grannis, of 25 Union-st., the ceremony being performed by Rev. O. A. Houghton. Charles is a most genial companion, and Miss Grannis shows excellent judgment in placing her future in the care of the Lord.
One of those wheelbarrow election bets, which have become a fad in these latter days, was paid in this city last Saturday afternoon. John Allen of 116 Elm-st. believed that Bryan would be elected, and Bert Dyke pinned his faith in McKinley. Allen lost, but like a gentleman, he carried out the terms of the wager by wheeling Dyke from the shops of the Forging company to the Messenger house. The cause of the ride was fully explained to the spectators by a large sign carried by the winner.
Jack Wallace's cake walk drew a full house Monday evening and the entertainment was fully equal to the expectations of the patrons. The singing of Miss Lela Cooper of Syracuse was especially fine. The committee, consisting of A. J. White, R. H. Davis, C. H. Buell, A. W. Williams and Lawrence Dudley, awarded the prize in the professional cake walk to Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Williams, with Joseph Anderson and his sister Miss Emily of Buffalo a close second.
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