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| Grand Hotel at 31st Street and Broadway. |
The Cortland Democrat, Friday, January 18, 1901.
NEW YORK LETTER.
HOW THE LARGE CITY HOTELS ARE LOOTED BY GUESTS.
Amusing Traits of the Hospital Fakir—The Brooklyn Navy Yard a Point of Interest—Difficulties of Street Travel in the City—A Bonanza for Tramps—Plenty of Pie and Cake.
It is apparently not necessary to follow the wars in order to study the ethics of loot. The managers of the hotels of New York are able to furnish full and detailed information regarding that subject, but the politeness of their craft would probably lead them to speak of souvenirs and souvenir collectors instead of loot and looters. It is said to cost one large hotel $10,000 a year to replace the various articles its guests appropriate. They are not particular about the size of a thing. Silver spoons, knives and forks share popularity with coffee pots, table linen, and in fact almost any thing of a portable nature. It seems to be unanimously agreed that women are the greatest purloiness [sic]. When meals are served them in their rooms the silver and china disappear. It is of course the souvenir and not the intrinsic value of the article taken that depletes the hotel sideboards. If the name of the hotel is a well known one, that makes an article the more valuable. One hotel lost heavily from souvenir fiends until the steward put away all the good silver and provided thinly plated ware. Then he marked several hundred large spoons "Take one," and the result was all that could be hoped for; they were left on his hands. Men, quite as well as women are affected by this souvenir craze. A large Broadway hotel at one time used large handsome brass cuspidors costing $3 each, but so many men packed them away in their valises when they left, that porcelain ones were substituted.
Every hospital in New York knows the hospital faker, whose trade it is to appear to be ill. His object is to get into the wards where the beds are clean and board is free and it gratifies his vanity to have anxious physicians bend over him cudgeling their brains in an effort to reconcile his often contradictory symptoms. These professional fakirs take unlimited pride in all their accomplishments. One of the shining lights of the gentle art of hospital faking who was recently unmasked by physicians at Bellevue can at will be stricken with nearly every malady known to science. Without apparent effort he can develop a death-like pallor, his pulse flutters and altogether he looks like a man about to die. The usual method adopted by one of these fakirs is to select a crowded corner in the central part of the city, and in common parlance "throw a fit," while having convulsions and frothing at the mouth (by means of a piece of soap he has been careful to provide), oftentimes one of his pals goal through the pockets of the crowd. An ambulance appears on the scene, he is taken to the hospital, and remains there as long as his deception lasts. The members of the guild who can control their pulses and are intelligent enough to keep up the appearance of illness indefinitely are comparatively few. The human instinct betrays the awkward fakir at once, and the detection of even the most accomplished one is only a matter of time.
One of the most interesting points in New York is the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the stranger cannot be said to have seen the city unless the Navy Yard is visited. In time of peace the visitor merely applies to the captain of the yard for a permit to look about and is then free to inspect the various buildings and interesting objects as he pleases. If one wishes however to go aboard any of the vessels in dry-dock, it is necessary to apply to the officer in charge. Walking about the yard the patriotic visitor looks with pride upon the big guns captured from the English and Spanish. They stand there year after year, everlasting testimonials to the prowess and valor of the American sailor. Drawn up high and dry on shore, are eight or ten torpedo boats, the names of which became familiar household words during the Spanish War. In the great dry-docks may be seen immense fighting machines undergoing repairs. The officers and men cheerfully and courteously show visitors about the ships, explaining the complicated mechanism of the big guns and showing how the sailors live aboard ships. It may just as well be admitted that the gallant sailor bestows especially careful attention upon the young lady visitor, which is of course just as it should be.
At no point within the city limits is traffic heavier or more congested than at the Manhattan entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge and it quite frequently happens that a cable car strikes a brewery wagon, or other vehicle so violently as to spill its contents in all directions. One day last week, a wagon drawn by a serene old white horse moved slowly up Park Row towards the Bridge entrance. The wagon bore the legend ''Great Excelsior Pie Works'' and its pilot was a diminutive boy, who as afterwards learned, answered to the name of "Willum.'' As the pie cart neared the Bridge the watchful eye of a grip man on a car coming down Park Row spied it, selected it as a victim, and immediately the cable car in a humorous playful manner rammed the pie wagon amid ships with almost the force of a Man-of-War. What followed the collision almost beggars description. Every kind of pie known to the civilized world shot out to all points of the compass in profuse abundance. The newsboys arrived first on scene from their haunts in Printing House Square, they came in droves. The tramps and 'pan-haulers' from lower Park Row and the Bowery next appeared to partake of the bountiful feast spread before them. To add to the confusion some practical joker turned in a call for an ambulance. Poor "Willum" could only stand and view the awful carnage while great tears rolled down his cheeks. There was some discussion by prominent citizens on the corner as to whether "Willum's" grief was caused by what had already happened, or by thoughts of what might take place, when he returned to his father with his tale of wow; a big policeman who ordered the crowds that gathered to see the fun to "Gowan now" licked his great chops in a conspicuous manner, and a grinning little street urchin, whose face was covered with nice red berry pie, noticing the policeman, yelled out to another little gamin, "Gee, I'll bet dat cop is a pie-mouth too." Finally, "Willum" with the assistance of the crowd righted his wagon and the old white horse piloted by "Willum" as before moved off towards the Staten Island Ferry.
Front page photo, best copy.
CHARTER AMENDMENTS.
The Cortland Charter to be Revised by the Legislature.
Hon. Henry A. Dickinson, member of assembly from this county, informed us the past week that he should make an effort to have the Cortland city charter amended by the legislature. He did not say in what form the amendments would be presented, but it is understood that one important change will be the separating of the boards of police and fire commissioners, making two distinct boards instead of one as provided by the present charter. This will give the mayor more political pap to deal out to the faithful.
Another of the proposed amendments will take from the board of health the power to employ any doctor except the regular city physician, while the third relates to the sale of paving and other city bonds.
Comment on the proposal amendments must be deferred until their exact nature can be learned.
KILLED WITH A CLUB.
A Quarrel Over Cider Results in Murder Near Groton.
A special from Groton to the Ithaca Journal says: In a quarrel Sunday night at Grotto, three miles west of Groton, Lafayette Teeter was struck on the head with a club, dying from the effects of the blow to-day.
Teeter was at the house of Theodore Underwood, and it is reported that both drank heavily of cider. It is said that when the supply ran out he wanted more and insisted upon going down cellar to get some. This, it is said, precipitated the quarrel during which, it is alleged. Underwood struck Teeter the blow resulting in his death. Teeter was about 50 years of age and single. Underwood is about 35 and married.
Typhoid Fever Not Caused by Milk.
Since the prevalence of typhoid fever in Cortland, many theories have been advanced as to the cause of the epidemic, one being that milk was the cause of the fever. We have never believed in the latter theory for a moment and examinations of stables and cows made the past week by a member of the board of health of the city refutes the idea that milk sold in Cortland is in any way responsible for the epidemic. The fact that the families of the milkmen, who it is presumed use as much or more milk than city people, have in no case been stricken with typhoid fever is another strong argument why the cause must be looked for elsewhere.
Life a Century Ago.
One hundred years ago a man could not take a ride on a steamboat.
He could not go from Washington to New York in a few hours.
He had never seen a n electric light or dreamed of an electric car.
He could not send a telegram
He couldn't talk through the phone, and he had never heard of hello girl.
He could not ride a bicycle.
He could not call in a stenographer and dictate a letter.
He had never received a typewritten communication.
He had never heard of the germ theory or worried over bacilli and bacteria.
He never looked pleasant before a photographer or had his picture taken.
He never heard a phonograph talk or saw a kinetoscope turn out a prize fight.
He never saw through a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary with the aid of a Roentgen ray.
He had never taken a ride in an elevator.
He had never imagined such a thing as a typewriting machine or a typewriter.
He had never used anything but a wooden plough.
He had never seen his wife using a sewing machine.
He had never struck a match on his pants or anything else.
He couldn't take an anaesthetic and have his leg cut off without feeling it.
He had never purchased a 10-cent magazine which would have been regarded as a miracle of art.
He could not buy a paper and learn everything that had happened the day before all over the world.
He had never crossed an [iron] bridge.
In short, there were several things that he could not do, and several things he did not know.
John Wanamaker.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.
The Vice Crusades.
The attention of the country has been directed more or less during the past few weeks toward the hopeful crusades against vice, now carried on in the Democratic city of New York and in the Republican city of Philadelphia. The Republican press of this state meanwhile has been at least versatile in covert suggestions, reckless in implied inferences and brutally frank in avowed statements, that vice, open, flagrant and rampant is the certain concomitant, if not the natural and sole outgrowth of Democratic control of municipal affairs. The Republican press has kept well in the background the fact that Republican ex-Postmaster General Wanamaker recently has said in a newspaper article over his own signature that ''no American city has ever been the victim of such corruption and depravity as Philadelphia is today.'' The Republican press has kept carefully veiled from view the letter to Bishop Potter of New York from the Philadelphia reformers, urging him to come and help them. That letter was signed by the most eminent professional and business men of the city, including three bishops of the church, and contained the following extract:
"Among the cities suffering from these causes, (municipal misgovernment and corruption,) Philadelphia occupies a most unenviable position. New York in the worst days of Tweed hardly surpassed the conditions surrounding us, and this is made all the more aggravating because with us the offenders are masked as Republicans. Crime runs rampant, policy shops, gambling houses, the illegal sale of liquor, houses of ill repute are not only tolerated, but are protected by the powers that should suppress them.''
Could a more realistic or revolting picture of the active, energetic city of New York be painted by the New York reformers than here is painted by the Philadelphia reformers of the staid, conservative city of Brotherly love? The only correction needed in the painting is that in New York the offenders are masked as Democrats. The fact is, neither party has letters patent on municipal corruption. It is not a question of party politics, nor within the absolute control of any party organization, Crime and vice were as flagrant and disgusting under the reform administration of Strong as it is or has been under the control of Tammany, despite the fact that the Strong administration was much more expensive.
In New York and in Philadelphia are cesspools of corruption and depravity, and presumably proportionate to their population. The same comparative statement will apply to lesser cities and even to villages. That the Democratic party stands charged as to the creator of crime in our cities is due in part to the fact that the majority of the older cities in our country are Democratic, and to the additional verity that the Democratic and Republican press of the country work on entirely different lines. If a Democrat be charged with malfeasance in office, his party press forthwith becomes his relentless prosecutor, with hardly one as his defender. Let a Republican be charged with an official crime, and the large majority of Republican newspapers at once are his strenuous defenders, and ultimately his efficient whitewashers. Deny it who will, that these framers of public opinion are of no avail in determining public bias. The fact remains: the question of the existence of criminal dishonesty in our large cities is in a marked degree the effect of centralization of power. Power breeds crimes. The question is not one so much of governmental policy as of governmental practices. The system of levying tribute on gambling palaces and hells of prostitution as a release from prosecution is alike in essence with the political system of levying tribute on trusts and illegal combinations of capital in return for past or future protection in their questionable, yea, illegal transactions. The general symptoms are the same in both cases. It is the same element of commercialism in politics, the same greed of gain. Both alike are protected by the powers that should crush them.
These conditions have existed, and will continue to exist, until the people rise and with availing might strike down the growing menace of commercialism until the people, with that determination which commands success, visit with condign punishment and disgrace the venal giver, even more than the venal taker, of bribes or tribute or favors for public services of whatever kind or nature.
From the committees of five and fifteen in New York and the reform committee of Philadelphia, under the leadership of Bishop Whitaker, Ex-Senator Edmunds and Dr. Weir Mitchell, some beneficial results will come. Even if the results be but temporary they may serve to open the eyes of the people to search for the source and thus lead to its ultimate purification. Let the committees by all means reach after the principals and not be content with the punishment of the accessories of the crime. Wherever the smutch is found there let cleansing be. Let the committees keep close in mind that the pictures of some deep-dyed criminals are found elsewhere than in the Rogues' gallery. Let full and ample evidence be adduced. Let it be fairly sifted and on whomsoever the crime is fastened let summary and condign punishment be meted out in full and fair measure without fear or favor. But let not the beacon lights of partisanship be mistaken for the purifying fires of reform. Let the question of partisan advantage be entirely eliminated from the process of purification. Let every person be presumed innocent until proven guilty, but let no guilty one escape. Let facts speak, not prejudices. Let proofs be adduced to the end that the public conscience shall at last be spurred into activity and shall call a halt on that system of venality which reaches downward for the very official head of our body politic.
HERE AND THERE.
The number of grip patients continues to increase.
The winter is half gone, but the worst of it is to come.
The Y. M. C. A. is increasing in membership very materially.
The Collins store, occupied by Hudson & Co., is receiving a new steel ceiling.
The grip struck the Lackawanna employees in Cortland pretty solid the past week.
The Conservatory of Music gave a delightful concert in the Y. M. C A. rooms Wednesday evening.
Read the opening chapter of our new serial story, which will be found on second page of this issue.
There are but very few houses to rent in Cortland this season. At least, house hunters seem unable to find what they want.
E. B. Cummings' horse made a lively exhibition of itself in Main-st. Monday. The damage was not as great as the excitement.
The regular meeting of the Political Equality club will be held at the home of Mrs. I. V. Johnson, 144 South Main-st., at 2:30 p. m.
A game of basket ball, free to all, will he played tomorrow evening between the Normal and Y. M. C A. teams, in the latter's gymnasium.
Mayor Brown is causing several samples of city well water to be analyzed, for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of typhoid fever in Cortland, if possible.
The hospital rummage sale this week is proving a great success. There seems to be plenty of goods of all descriptions on sale, and the buyers are doing their share.
The Home Telephone company has issued its first list of subscribers, and another will be issued soon, as new phone connections are being made as rapidly as possible.
The Cortland County Ministerial association met in this city Monday, the attendance being larger than usual. The morning sermon was preached by Rev. F. M. Williams of South Otselic.
Indications now point very strongly to the establishment of a canning factory in Cortland, responsible parties taking hold of the matter with a determination to push the enterprise to a success.
Taxpayers of the city of Cortland should pay their taxes to G. J. Maycumber, city chamberlain, within thirty days from January 18, if they would save the heavy fee to be exacted later.
Miss Blanche Bennett, a trained nurse from Syracuse, whose home was in Canaseraga, died in this city last Sunday of typhoid fever. She came to Cortland as nurse in the family of Dever Truman.
Whenever the snow is in proper condition the boys who attend the Central school very seriously annoy pedestrians and people driving in the streets by throwing snow balls This sport indulged in among themselves is all right, but they should be compelled to stop pelting people who are about their business.
C. L. Davis of 15 Venette-st. gave a supper last Thursday evening to several of his brother railroad employees. Following the feast, cards and other games were enjoyed, and later some fine banjo and guitar music was listened to. A poem by Baggageman George J. Miller was an enjoyable feature of the evening.
The new Congregational chapel in Elm-st. is a very pretty structure, and the people of the East side will have a convenient and tasty place of worship. It is expected that services will be held in the new structure on Sunday next.
Mrs. John M. Wilson died Wednesday morning at her late home, 11 Venette-st., aged 39 years and 11 months. She had been ill for several months. The funeral will be held at the home on Saturday at 10 o'clock, burial at McGrawville.
Hubert R. Maine, who has been suffering from typhoid fever and who underwent an operation at the hospital last week for tubercular peritonitis, is in a very dangerous condition. While some hopes are entertained for his recovery, the chances seem much against it, to the sincere regret of a very large circle of friends.
Several changes have taken place at the Lackawanna depot in Cortland the past week. H. F. Zimmerman, for some time past day operator, has been given the agency at Saquoit station on the Utica division, and A. H. Mudge, Jr., has been promoted from night to day operator, and J. R. Hart of Greene takes the position of night operator.
When an unmarried ball player joins the Cortland team he is doomed to marriage, thanks to the many beautiful and accomplished young ladies of this city. The latest candidate for matrimonial honors is P. J. O'Brien, Cortland's short stop last year, who was married on Monday to Miss Maggie Garrity. The ceremony was performed in St. Mary's church by Rev. J. J. McLoghlin.
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