WATCHING EACH OTHER, EXPELLED FROM RUSSIA, JOHN BOND'S DEATH, ITHACA BAND, AND CORTLAND'S PHYSICIAN LEAGUE

 

Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, July 30, 1901.

WATCHING EACH OTHER.

Both Sides in Strike Awaiting Result of Conference.

PEACE CONFIDENTLY EXPECTED.

Strike Leaders Disinclined to Talk of the Situation, Though Expressing Hopeful Feeling That Settlement Is Near—Manufacturers Equally Reticent.

   PITTSBURG, July 30.—The following terms of settlement of the strike and the program for today come from an authoritative source and can be relied upon in all human probability as the outcome of the meeting of the conferees. Terms of probable settlement:

   The Amalgamated association is to drop contention for the signing of a scale for all mills. All mills are to be "open" mills in the fullest sense of the term. The company is to have the right to place a non-union man in any place and keep him there. In addition to the plants covered by the expired scale it is to be signed for the following: Dewees-Wood of McKeesport, Painter, Lindsay & McCutcheon and Clark mills of Pittsburg, and Monessen plants of the American Steel Hoop company. The question of making the Wellsville Sheet plant and the Monessen Tin Plate plant directly covered by the scale is to be settled by the conferees.

   The Amalgamated association is to have the privilege of organizing the men in any of the plants.

   Settlement program for today: The executive committee of the Amalgamated association will meet at headquarters at 10 o'clock in the morning and is expected to ratify the terms outlined by the New York conference.

   An informal meeting of conferees to represent the three operating companies in the joint conference is to be held at the same time.

   Manufacturers' conferees of the last meeting will be in readiness to meet the Amalgamated people possibly at the Amalgamated headquarters in the Bissell block possibly in the afternoon to sign the scales.

 

Jumped to Death In Fall Creek Gorge.

   ITHACA, N. Y., July 30.—Mrs. Hannah Smith, aged 73, committed suicide in Fall Creek gorge, near Fall Creek mill, yesterday by jumping from a ledge of rocks 30 feet high into the shallow creek. Thirty years ago this month her husband was killed in practically the identical spot by falling from this bridge with a heavy engine. Formerly Mrs. Smith was an extensive land owner in Ithaca and very wealthy.

 

George Kennan.

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

Expelled from Russia.

   George Kennan, the well-known writer, has been arrested in St. Petersburg and directed to leave the city and the country within twenty-four hours. During the period before his departure he was not permitted to communicate with any one nor to leave his house. He was, however, well treated.

   Mr. Kennan is known to American readers as a keen observer and a strong writer. As a traveler in Russia he has described what he saw, and he has done it so as to excite the indignation of his readers against the Russian government and their commiseration for its victims. But he has done all this in foreign countries and in a foreign language. Of course nobody suspects him of stirring up sedition in Russia, or of taking any part in Russian politics. The censorship affords the Russian government a convenient and congenial method of preventing his writings from doing any mischief by keeping them from the knowledge of Russian readers. The bureaucracy is not content with that, but must show its resentment of his criticisms by expelling him from the country as "politically untrustworthy."

   Mr. Kennan didn't take kindly to the idea of his expulsion, but he may consider himself as a monument of the forbearance of Russia, for a more revengeful government would have placed him in chains and sent him to Siberia.

   Such an incident as this, says the New York Times, illuminates for us the bureaucracy. It explains Nihilism, and goes far to justify it. What can an active-minded Russian possibly be but an opponent of the government, desirous of putting an end, in any feasible way, to a system that aims to crush out every breath of intellectual life, and that persecutes every Russian who presumes to think for himself? No wonder that Russian thought, denied its natural vent and suppressed, should at times explode with frightful results. In this view the poor "Autocrat of all the Russians" appears as having been strapped by the bureaucrats to the safety valve of an engine which is carefully prevented from blowing off steam by any other aperture.

 

HIS SKULL WAS FRACTURED.

John E. Bond Fell from the Roof of Fireman's Hall.

Was Painting the Roof—Came in Contact with Live Incandescent Light Wires—Thrown Forward Upon the Wires and then Fell to the Ground—Struck Squarely on His Head—Breathed but a Few Times—Wife was Away Visiting—His Companion was Shocked in Trying to Save Him.

   John E. Bond of 28 Maple-ave., a tinner in the employ of W. W. Bennett, met with a horrible death this morning at about 10:45 o'clock by coming in contact with live wires while on the roof of Fireman's hall and falling to the ground, a distance of about 25 feet. Bond and David Hammond were painting the roof of Fireman's hall. They first painted the roof of the main building and then set out to paint the roof of the two-story addition at the rear of [the main] and it was while doing this that the accident occurred.

   Hammond says that when they first went upon the main roof they talked about the network of wires that are up there, for telephone, fire alarm and electric light wires cross this. They were very careful at first, but about the first thing he did was to get against some kind of a wire that didn't hurt him any. Bond did the same soon after, and as no bad results came they grew more fearless. When they went down upon the roof of the addition they found other wires there. They knew nothing about these wires and Hammond says that he made the remark then to Bond that they ought to be more careful about taking hold of the wires or they might get hold of one that would burn them. Hammond had a long handled wide brush with which he was painting the body of the roof. Bond had a small narrow brush and was doing the fine work.

   Along the rear of the building hung two parallel incandescent light wires, the nearer one being about six or eight inches distant from the edge of the roof and about six inches below it. Bond was painting the flashing, or the piece of tin that folds over the edge of the roof. In doing this there are evidences that he was reaching around the nearer wire because two burns are found on the inside of his right arm above the wrist.

   The first Hammond knew about the accident he heard a peculiar buzzing of the wires behind him. He looked around and saw Bond lying across the two wires with feet and body entirely clear of the roof and with both hands grasping the wire. Absolutely horrified Hammond called to him, but got no answer. Then he sprang forward to assist him. Just then one of Bond's hands relaxed its hold upon the wire. Hammond says he reached forward and with his right hand took hold of this hand to draw the man back upon the roof, but the instant he touched him he himself received a terrific shock and was thrown backward. He struck twice on the roof before he finally landed fifteen feet back from the edge. He says he felt dazed and weak. He felt the electricity go out of the fingers of his left hand. He slowly got upon his feet again. Bond was still on the wires. Hammond started toward him, but did not dare to touch him again. He concluded to go for help. His only route was up the ladder to the main roof, draw the ladder up after him and lower it through the scuttle at the top of the building and down through the attic. He went as fast as he could, but as he felt he couldn't go very fast. He was two-thirds of the way up the ladder to the high roof when he saw Bond's body slide off the wires and fall head first toward the ground.

   Bond struck full on his head in the back alley. The distance was about 25 feet. Before Hammond could get down to the alley some firemen who were in the bunk room and who had seen the body shoot by a window had gone down to his aid. He was unconscious of course and breathing only in gasps. Medical attendance was summoned, but the man died inside of ten minutes. The skull was found to be fractured at the base of the brain and crushed in. This in itself would have caused death independent of any shock by the wire.

   Undertaker Wright's ambulance was called and the remains were taken to his undertaking rooms. Coroner Santee was summoned and viewed the remains. He found several burns on the right arm. He will hold an inquest Thursday morning at 9 o'clock.

   Just what happened and how it came about will probably never be known. It would seem that Bond should have been more burned than he was if the wires were alive all the time he lay upon them. They are well covered and the insulated covering is still on them except in a spot about eight feet away from where Bond was at work. There it is burned away for a distance of about two inches as though brought in contact with each other. But what should have brought them together here and held them together long enough for the insulation to burn off is a question. Certain it is that at just this time a circuit breaker at the powerhouse was thrown out by wires coming in contact somewhere in the city and all the lights all over the city went out for a few minutes till a new one could be put in. If the wires had come in contact at first and the circuit breaker was then thrown out and the wires at once became dead that would account for the reason Bond was not burned where he lay across the wires, but this explanation would be inconsistent with the idea of Hammond getting the shock when he tried to help Bond. An explanation of this mystery may come out at the inquest.

   How he came to be upon the wires at all is another question. Whether he lost his balance and fell forward upon them or whether he touched the wire he was painting around and was shocked and then was drawn forward upon them in the convulsion that followed, the shock is another possibility. No one saw the occurrence and probably no one will ever know just how it came about.

   At the time of the accident, Mr. Bond's family, consisting of his wife and two children, was in Chenango Forks, visiting Mrs. Bond's parents. The sadly afflicted wife was immediately notified of the death of her husband, but they cannot reach here till late in the afternoon, consequently no funeral arrangements have been made.

   Mr. Bond has lived in Cortland since the spring of 1898, when he with his family moved from Chenango Forks here and began working for Mr. Bennett. He was a native of Nova Scotia. In 1890 be married Miss Minnie Ockerman of Chenango Forks, and to them were born two children, Ivan, 9 years old, and Gladys, 6 years old. The funeral arrangements will be announced later.

 

FARE TO BE REDUCED.

Ten Cents Between Cortland and McGraw After Aug. 1.

   On and after Aug. 1 the fare on the electric road between Cortland and McGraw will be 10 cents, the same as between Cortland and Homer. The middle point where the fare will be increased from 5 to 10 cents in going either way will be the Stevens watering trough a mile beyond the Port Watson bridge. This will be a very agreeable notice to all the residents of McGraw. Labor tickets will be sold on this line the same as on the Homer line which will within certain hours still further reduce the fare to about 8 cents.

   The round trip trolley rides on this division will now be made for 10 cents the same as on the Homer division, provided one goes and comes on the same car. This division has recently been reballasted so that it rides very smoothly, and this will now be a favorite trip for Cortland people to take.

 

IT WAS A WET TRAIN

But the Tickets Will be Good on any Other Excursion.

   The Homer excursion to Cincinnatus over the E. & C. N. Y. railway line in open cars was abandoned last evening when the train had gone as far as Maybury on account of the rain that came with great force and drove the excursionists into the closed cars. The railroad officials did not take up the tickets on the trip, as they appreciate the fact that the success of the open air trips is dependent upon the public, so the tickets will be exchanged at the office of the company for tickets on any other excursion trip over the road. Any one who purchased a ticket for the ride last night can take another ride over the road on any evening or afternoon that the open car excursion trip is made.

   A large number of people, mostly from Homer, started on the trip, which made fair to be a very pleasant one, but by the time the train had reached McGraw the rain descended in torrents and the wind blew a gale. All who could get into the closed ears did so and the rest protected themselves as best they could, and then the train returned to Cortland, getting here at 8:20.

   The Homer people should remember that on the first Cortland excursion the party got wet and there has not been another rainy night since till last night and in the meantime there have been many delightful excursions. Don't be discouraged. It will be better next time.

 

AND NOW FOR A DOG CATCHER.

Mayor Brown Looking for the Right Man to Appoint.

   Mayor Chas. F. Brown has asked for and received the resignation of Dog Catcher Goldsmith, consequently that office is vacant. Mr. Brown gives assurance that the work of catching dogs is going to be carried out, and intimates that the city will pay the catcher for every untagged canine he gets hold of. The office is now vacant and there is a good chance for a hustler to do something.

 

Conductor Patrick Conway with the Ithaca Band.

THE ITHACA BAND.

Splendid Programs for the Two Free Concerts on Thursday.

   One has only to think of the known excellence of the Ithaca band and to glance at the two programs published below to realize what a rich treat the Traction company is preparing for those who go to the park on Thursday afternoon and evening of this week. And it is absolutely free. The public will no doubt be largely in evidence there on both occasions. The afternoon concert begins at 3:30 o'clock and the evening concert at 8:15. There will be a ten minute service on the electric road. The following are the two programs:

 

A PHYSICIANS' LEAGUE.

Effort to Compel Payment from Those Who Are Able to Pay.

   The physicians of the city have started a movement toward organizing a doctors' league for the purpose of aiding in their collections. A meeting was held at the Y. M. C. A. rooms last Friday night for the purpose of discussing plans for the league, but no definite course was settled upon. A committee of three was chosen to draft a constitution and by-laws, and this committee will report at a meeting of the physicians next Friday night. At the last meeting, fifteen of the twenty-one doctors of the city were present.

   Several plans were discussed at the meeting. In all probability a delinquent list will be made out from the books of the different doctors. This list, however, will not include the names of those who are too poor to pay, and it is not the object of the league to cut out this class of people, but it is their object to get a class of people who pay for the luxuries of life, but who forget the physician as soon as the call has been made.

   The plan was discussed of depositing $10 each as a guaranty that no one whose name appears on the delinquent list shall be made more than one call by any of the doctors. Many of the doctors are in favor of giving all delinquents sixty days in which to place themselves in good standing before the list is made out, and this will probably be the idea of the league.

 

BREVITIES.

   —New display advertisements today are—Mitch's Market, Meats, etc., page 5.

   —The Cortlandville grange will have a social at A. V. Smith's on the Groton road Friday evening of this week. It is hoped every member will attend. Ice cream and cake to be served.

 

NEW SCHEDULE OF PRICES.

Adopted by Three Hotels In Cortland to Begin Aug. 1.

   The Cortland House, The Kremlin and the Messenger House have adopted a new scale of prices for table board which will go into effect on Aug. 1, as follows:

   Table board, per week, $4.50.

   Dinners and suppers, per week, $3.50.

   Single meals, .50.

   Dinners by the week, each .40.

   Mrs. DORR C. SMITH, Cortland House.

   ALBERT ALLEN, Kremlin.

   J. H. MOURIN, Messenger House.

 

STRIKE TO END SOON, GREAT DROUGHT ENDED, CONSOLIDATION POSSIBLE, THREE MEETINGS, AND SINUS OPERATION

 

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, July 29, 1901.

STRIKE TO END SOON.

Believed That It Will Be Settled This Week.

QUIET AS TO THAT CONFERENCE.

Strike Leaders Have Nothing t o Say, Except to Admit That They Had Talk With Morgan—Conference Said to Have Been Arranged by Col. Harvey.

   PITTSBURG, July 29.—The strike of the steel and tin workers of the Amalgamated association against the United States Steel corporation will probably be settled this week. The conference held in New York Saturday between the officials of the United States Steel corporation and President Shaffer and Secretary John Williams of the workers' organization has resulted in paving the way for a renewal of negotiations between the two conflicting interests.

   President Shaffer and Secretary Williams of the Amalgamated association returned from New York yesterday. In Pittsburg, little was known of the conference but the greatest interest in the outcome was shown among the manufacturers.

   Secretary Williams was found at his home last evening and admitted that he had been with President Shaffer in New York and had seen J. P. Morgan, but as to "what had taken place there, he said with firmness that he was pledged to secrecy and could not talk. If there was anything to be given out, it would have to come from President Shaffer. When asked if he regarded the situation hopeful for a settlement, he declined to even offer an opinion. He was also asked if the terms as printed in the papers, which covered the settlement of the strike, were correct. He replied that they were purely guess work. No terms could possibly be made without the full consent of the general executive committee of the organization. It is learned here that a meeting of the executive board has been called for Tuesday.

   Additional information regarding the New York meeting of the industrial leaders was afterward picked up from reliable sources. It was stated that the two Amalgamated officials left Pittsburg late on Friday night and when they arrived in New York went- direct to the private office of J. P. Morgan in the banking house in Wall street. The meeting between the Pittsburg men and Mr. Morgan lasted from about 11 o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. At no time did the conference adjourn to the Empire building, where the head offices of the United States Steel corporation are located. During the conference President C. M. Schwab and Judge E. H. Gary were present most of the time. Another conferee was Mr. Dawkins, one of Mr. Morgan's partners.

   The Amalgamated officials directed their attention almost entirely to Mr. Morgan and President Schwab. They went over the ground on which the strike began and discussed a settlement basis. After getting the views of the steel officials and giving theirs in return Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Williams left the office and spent their time away from public places, avoiding hotels and taking their meals in restaurants.

   In explanation of the hurried trip that the officers made to New York on Friday night, it was said that until nearly 5 o'clock in the afternoon neither of the officers knew that they would be required to leave Pittsburg and had made some plans for entirely different purposes. Prior to that time Colonel George B. M. Harvey, manager of Harper Brothers, the publishers, of New York, was a caller at the office of President Shaffer. When Colonel Harvey left the invitation to go to New York had been extended and had been accepted.

   It was positively stated yesterday that the meeting between the heads of the Amalgamated association and the steel corporation was due to no other person or persons than Colonel Harvey and that there were no others present at any time before or after the visit of Colonel Harvey to help the cause along.

   It is believed that before the end of the week the mills will be all ready to run again, providing repairs are completed that have been undertaken since the strike began.

   Should the whole project fail of coming to an amicable end, however, the fight promises to be more bitter than ever. For this reason those back of the present negotiations are extremely anxious to have everything kept as quiet  as possible and that nothing should be made public regarding the basis for a conference until it had been accepted by both sides.

 

GREAT DROUGHT ENDED.

General Visitation of Showers Throughout Corn Belt.

FALL OF RAIN WAS PLENTIFUL.

All Crops Not Irreparably Ruined Will Be Benefitted, Late Crops the Most. Lower Temperatures Accompanied the Rain, Which Promises to Continue.

   WASHINGTON, July 29—Weather bureau advices from the great corn belt are the most encouraging that have come to hand for the past 40 days, showing, in the opinion of the forecaster, that the great drought has been broken by a general visitation of showers in many portions of the sections, and with a prospect of their continuation.

   Coincident with the fall of rain has come reduced temperature. With few exceptions the temperatures reported were not above the normal height, no maximums of 100 degrees F. being reported. West of the Mississippi they were generally in the neighborhood of 90 degrees. The forecasters, while not making any specific predictions as to the effect of the rain on the crops, expressed the opinion that all those crops which have not been irreparably ruined will be benefitted by the breaking of the drought.

   The late crops naturally will be helped by the rain the most. The reports show that during the past 24 hours showers were quite general in the corn belt and were heavy over much of the state of Iowa and over the part of the corn belt not visited by rains, including western Nebraska, southern Missouri and Oklahoma.

   Today there will be showers throughout the corn belt region except in its extreme western portion and southern Indiana and southwestern Ohio and they will continue generally on Tuesday in Ohio and the Mississippi valleys.

   There also have been showers and thunderstorms in the northern tier of states, from New England to the Dakotas, in northern New Mexico, northern Arizona and southern Utah and the west gulf coast.

 

Good Reports From All Over Kansas.

   ATCHISON, Kan., July 29.—The drought in northern Kansas, which lasted without interruption since April 15, was broken Saturday night and yesterday. The Missouri Pacific railroad has received reports from all its stations 300 miles westward from the Missouri river and northward into Nebraska, and all except two or three report a downpour of from a fourth of an inch to two inches. The rain was steady and lasted in most places for three or four hours. The parched earth absorbed the moisture as fast as it fell.

 

NOVELTY IN ENGINES.

The Diesel Requires No Stoker and Emits No Smell or Smoke.

   The Diesel engine is a new thing rich with promise. It has no boiler and no furnace; it requires no stoker; it emits no smell or smoke. I have seen a 22 horsepower specimen at work near Manchester, writes a correspondent of the London News, and the principle is equally applicable to an engine of 2,200 horsepower. Its fuel is various. The Manchester specimen feeds on air and oil—ordinary air and oil of the coarsest and cheapest. Gases—including, it is believed, one that is at present a waste product—and coal dust also in conjunction with air, are alternative articles of diet. In any case, the Diesel requires only half as much food as other engines.

   And now to give some clew to the why and wherefore. The returning piston in the latter stage of the stroke compresses air until it is sufficiently hot to ignite oil that is gradually injected, and the resulting expansion propels the piston again. The inodorous and invisible product of combustion is expelled from the cylinder by a current of air having play during the earlier stage of the piston's return. An initial thrust of the piston is secured by the introduction of compressed air from a special reservoir.

   It only remains to explain how it is that the new engine gives forth neither smoke nor smell. Complete combustion of fuel is the ideal that Mr. Diesel has aimed at and apparently achieved. The smell that comes from oil motors and the smoke that arises from chimneys (it has been explained to me) both represent fuel which, owing to a deficiency of available oxygen, has escaped combustion and employment. In the new engine air and oil (or other fuel) are balanced, or, rather, the former is introduced in excess of the quantity necessary for the consumption of the latter.

 

Fast mail train at Cincinnatus, N. Y.

CONSOLIDATION POSSIBLE

BETWEEN THE E. & C. N. Y. R. R. AND THE ELECTRIC ROAD.

Perhaps Not to be Owned by Same Company, but to be Operated in Harmony With Each Other—An Old Move Takes on New Life—Frank Battles, President of the Electric Road, Inspects the Cincinnatus Road.

   Some months ago there was talk between the owners of the electric road and of the E. & C. N. Y. R. R. of a consolidation between the two organizations. Nothing came out of it and the matter was dropped. But it has now taken on new life. A few weeks ago some of the advantages of the E. & C. N. Y. R. R. were brought to the attention of Mr. Frank Battles, the new president of the Traction company. He made a trip to Baltimore and had a long conference with the owners of the Cincinnatus road. Last Saturday when he came to Cortland to attend the annual meeting of the Traction company he brought with him a letter of introduction from the owners of the steam road to Mr. L. N. Frederick, the general manager of that road. Saturday afternoon in company with Mr. Frederick he went over the road from Cortland to Cincinnatus, making a careful inspection of it. He expressed himself as favorably impressed with its advantages and with its general condition. He will make a report of what he has seen and learned to some capitalists whom he represented in the inspection and later on it will be seen what will come of it. There is nothing sure as regards change, but the advantages of a consolidation or of a harmonious arrangement are apparent to all.

   It appears that the earnings of the E. & C. N. Y. R. R. have increased during the last two years a little more than 50 per cent. The earnings have all been turned right back into improvements upon the road in bettering the road bed, the stations and the rolling stock. All of these are now in excellent condition so that it will not be necessary to use near as much money in improvements in the future as has been laid out in the past and, on the other hand, the traffic is constantly increasing, both in tickets and freight.

   There is now a double service between Cortland and McGraw, with practically parallel lines. There is not enough business done in that town to warrant this. The two roads are in open competition and both are cutting rates, so that practically neither is paying anything on this division. With only one road between Cortland and McGraw there would be good earnings. The Traction company has seriously contemplated taking up its tracks and using the materials to extend the Cortland and Homer division to Little York. It seems more likely that a new company would be formed to purchase the E. & C. N. Y. R. R. rather than that the two companies as at present constituted should consolidate, though the owners might be largely the same individuals. If this should be done it would be to all intents and purposes a consolidation, for a harmonious arrangement between the two, would be made. The tracks of the electric road would then be taken up east of the present park junction and used for the Little York extension, and a new right of way would be secured from some point in the vicinity of the [Elm St. extension] park switch down to the present line of the steam road just east of the Tioughnioga river bridge. Upon this the trolley cars would be run down to the E. & C. N. Y. tracks, and the steam road from that point of union would be fitted for electricity over to the McGraw station. A switch would be put in at McGraw and passengers could be landed in McGraw at exactly the same point as now. Trolley cars would run over the entire line with the same frequency as at present. The trolley road, however, would do no freight business. That would all be left to the steam road.

   This in the main is the plan if it can be worked out. Whether or not it can be remains to be seen. It would be an advantage to both companies if it could and no disadvantage to the public. The public would get just as good service as at present and at just as low rates. The two organizations could then divide the passenger and freight business between themselves, the trolley road taking the passengers and the steam road the freight. As it is, both companies try t\o do both kinds of business. There is only so much to be done in McGraw and not enough to make it any object for either company when both are trying to do it.

 

THREE MEETINGS HELD.

Electric Company, Land Company and Traction Company Elect Directors and Officers.

   Three annual meetings adjourned from the previous week were held last Saturday at their respective offices. The first was the stockholders' meeting of the Cortland & Homer Electric company held at 10 A. M. The following directors were elected: C. D. Simpson, Frank Battles, Edwin Duffey.

   At a subsequent meeting of the directors the following officers were elected for the ensuing year:

   President—C. D. Simpson.

   Vice-President—Frank Battles.

   Secretary and Treasurer—Edwin Duffey.

   At 10:30 o'clock occurred the stockholders' meeting of the Cortland Park Land Co. The following directors were elected: H. Bergholtz, Clarence D. Simpson, Hugh Duffey, B. F. Taylor, H. A. Dickinson, Edwin Duffey.

   At a subsequent meeting of the directors the following officers were elected:

   President—H. Bergholtz.

   Secretary and Treasurer—Edwin Duffey.

   At 11 o'clock occurred the stockholders' meeting of the Cortland County Traction Co. The following directors were elected: C. D. Simpson, Wm. B. Walte, New York; Frank Battles, George H. Fisher, Philadelphia; Herman Bergholtz, Ithaca; H. P. Simpson, Scranton; G. H. Garrison, Troy; B. F. Taylor, Hugh Duffey, Edwin Duffey, E. H. Brewer, Cortland.

   At a subsequent meeting of the directors the following officers were elected:

   President— Frank Battles, Philadelphia.

   First Vice-President—C. D. Simpson, Scranton.

   Second Vice-President—Hugh Duffey, Cortland.

   Secretary and Treasurer—Edwin Duffey, Cortland.

 

Trolley Cars on Thursday.

   On Thursday of this week when the Ithaca band plays at the park the Traction company is calculating upon handling a great crowd of people. For this reason the park cars will not run through Main-st., but will instead leave the Cortland House corner for the park every ten minutes. The McGraw car will run only between McGraw and the park switch. Any park car may be taken by McGraw passengers and transfers will be issued for a transfer at the park junction to the McGraw car. [Paid ad.]

 

S. S. Knox.

Nathan Lewis Miller.

RAILROAD-ST. PAVING.

BIDS CALLED FOR TO MAKE NECESSARY REPAIRS.

Matter of Suing the Jamestown Construction Company to Recover the Cost of the Repairs to be Decided Upon Later—The Discussion of the Subject.

   Every member of the board of public works was present at the adjourned meeting last Saturday night, which was held to consider the matter of repairing the Railroad-st. pavement. City Attorney N. L. Miller and Engineer H. C. Allen were also in attendance upon the meeting. The whole matter of the brick pavement was gone over, and it seemed at the close that the board was fully determined to make the repairs and sue the company for the amount of the repairs. This was not decided upon by a resolution of the board, however, but a resolution was passed calling for sealed bids to do the work. The specifications for the work have been prepared by Engineer Allen, and these will be advertised weekly for two weeks in the Cortland STANDARD, the Syracuse Herald and the Binghamton Republican.

   President of the board Judge Knox stated at the opening of the meeting that the Jamestown Construction Co. had notified the board that nothing would be done by it in relation to the pavement. The board had offered to settle with the company for $1,000, and this offer had been left unaccepted, therefore the board thought best to hold a meeting and to advise with the city attorney and the city engineer in regard to the matter. The company, he said, takes the grounds that the defects have arisen from imperfect specifications, but there are many defects that exist independent of what the specifications might have been, and if a suit had to be carried on with the Jamestown people, every bar should be put up that is possible.

   Mr. Allen was called upon to give the board any information that he might have in connection with the pavement. He said that he had gone over the Railroad-st. pavement to ascertain the defects as to settlements, cracked bricks, defective curb stones, etc. He had read the guaranty that the Jamestown company gave the city of its work, and he expressed the opinion that the guaranty would hold for all the repairs if any guaranty would hold. The defective bricks were found principally where tar was used for a filler instead of cement. In fact 90 per cent of the broken bricks occurred at such places. He explained the buckling of the pavement at the points where the water is carried at crossings by the culverts, saying that in order to build the culverts it was necessary to make a bulge in the pavement. As the bricks expanded the force would extend to the weakest point, and this point was of course the place where it was built on an upward curve. This caused the buckling at these points. He suggested as a remedy for this that curbstones might be set out in the pavement at these points on a level with it, as far as there was a perceptible curve in the pavement. The bricks would butt against these and there would be no chance for any buckling. He thought the bricks used were not of the best quality, but they were found to be in good condition where the cement filler was used.

   Mr. Allen also stated before the board that if he had been going to bid on the job and had the opinion in regard to the specifications that the Jamestown company claims to hold, he would have added enough to his bid to cover the repairs that they claim to have known would be necessary to make. And he added, "You gentlemen do not know but what the Jamestown people did reckon on that basis."

   The board considered the matter throughout from the taxpayers' standpoint. Mr. Duffey said that if it were a personal matter, he would sue the company if he knew that it would cost him four times as much as he could realize from it. The Jamestown people, he said, had turned them down after the board had given good figures for a settlement. He had been favorable and anxious for a settlement because then the city could go on and make the repairs as it saw fit. Someone suggested that maybe the board had been too anxious for a settlement and that the company had taken this as a suggestion that the matter would not be pressed.

   City Attorney Miller was asked for his opinion in the matter and stated that from what he had learned of the case since his present relations with the city began, he thought there would be no difficulty in getting a judgment against the company.

   It was then decided to call for bids for repairing the street and to decide the matter of a suit at a later date.

 

Operation at the Hospital.

   Mrs. A. D. Kingsbury of Waverly, formerly of Cortland, was operated upon at the hospital on Saturday. An opening was made from the frontal sinus down into the nose. The difficulty which led to the operation was caused by a very severe attack of grip two years ago. The patient is doing well and a complete recovery is anticipated.

 

BREVITIES.

   —There were 15,000 people at Sylvan Beach Saturday on the occasion of the annual hop growers' picnic.

   —The regular monthly meeting of Victor Haymakers, No. 357, will be held this evening at 8 o'clock in Red Men's hall.

   —The excursion train from Cincinnatus to Cortland Saturday night, brought 364 excursionists, a large share of whom went to the park.

   —The annual reunion and picnic of the Homer family will be held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. B. P. Homer at Newark Valley, Aug. 14. All relatives are invited.

   —George Remaw, aged 67 years, died this morning at his home near the gas works on the Homer road. The funeral will be held Wednesday at 10 A. M. at the house.

   —The Lehigh Valley R. R. sold eighty tickets from Cortland Saturday to Sylvan Beach to the hop growers' picnic, and ninety tickets yesterday to the same place on the regular Sunday excursion.

   —The Binghamton Sunday Star and the weekly Chronicle have consolidated under the name of toe Star-Chronicle. The new paper will be issued on Sundays, but is in this form of the former Chronicle.

   —The observation train excursion from Homer and Cortland to Cincinnatus occurs tonight. Cars leave Homer at 6:30 to connect with the train. Observation train leaves Lehigh Valley station at 7:10 o'clock. The Homer band accompanies the party.

   —New display advertisements today are—M. W. Giles, Special prices, page 8; A. S. Burgess, Clothing sale, page 7; Bingham & Miller, Clothing, page 8; J. W. Cudworth, Optical goods, page 5; City Steam laundry, Laundry work, page 5; W. J. Perkins, Sanitary powders, page 4; C. F. Brown, Colic cure, page 6; Glann & Clark, Shoes, page 7; D. H. Cook, Assembly park, page 7; C. F. Thompson, Honey, page 5.