The Cortland Democrat, Friday, July 19, 1901.
LAST HANGING IN CORTLAND.
Patrick O'Donohue Paid Death Penalty for Murder in 1853.
In view of the fact that one of Cortland county's honored (?) residents [John Truck] has been for several months past sleeping within the shadows of the electric chair, instead of the time honored hangman's scaffold, perhaps it would be interesting to many of the Democrat readers to know when, why and where the scaffold was first utilized in its official capacity here in Cortland and county. This happened on September 2, 1853. The victim was Patrick O' Donohue, who was then hung for the murder of Mrs. Jane Kinney of Truxton on September 3, 1852. The particulars attending the bloody tragedy are briefly stated as follows:
Patrick O'Donohue was a man with quite a large family and lived near where Mrs. Jane Kinney resided. Among his children was a girl, Elizabeth, a young miss of ten years, who had been forbidden to visit the home of Mrs. Kinney. But one day the young lady disobeyed and went. Knowing that the consequences would be something terrible, Elizabeth's two elder sisters secreted her in a ledge of rocks and then informed the father that she had been stolen. Accompanied by his wife and two or three of the other children, O'Donohue hastened from his work in the woods in a high state of excitement. He had been made to believe that the abductor was the husband of Mrs. Kinney, whom he thought to be his enemy. A son was added to the band of searchers, and after a brief look the search was abandoned in the middle of the forenoon.
At about this time Mrs. Kinney and her daughter, Amanda Jane, were on a visit to a neighboring family, and hastened to the home of the O'Donohues. As they drew near the gate they were met by O'Donohue, who demanded his daughter. Not knowing the circumstances, Mrs. Kinney gave him a negative answer, at which O'Donohue flew into a terrible rage, leveled his gun and fired at Mrs. Kinney, the contents, however, merely grazing her side, causing her to stagger. Hastily reversing the position of his gun he struck her several blows with the stock dislocating her neck and causing her death. The daughter had fallen from fright in the meantime, and seeing her in this condition O'Donohue plunged the bayonet into her body. The dying girl tried to elude his efforts, but it was useless. This time another neighbor, Charles McKnight, appeared on the scene, having been attracted there by certain suspicious actions of O'Donohne's son, to the place where the deed had been committed. He arrived only in time to see the dying girl breathe her last. When he approached O'Donohue, he in turn was threatened, but managed to get a fair view of the murdered victims. The heartless wretch still thirsted for more blood and called for more caps that he might add another to the list. Before leaving him Mr. McKnight advised him to go to the village and give himself up, supposing him to be crazy, and if so, not being responsible for his acts and perhaps might escape the hangman. This advice was finally accepted by O'Donohue. who with his wife and son did go over the hills to the village, where he was arrested, but not before he had returned to his victim to complete his horrible work by plunging the crimsoned steel into her breast.
He was indicted at the October term of county court, 1852, and tried at the following July court of oyer and terminer. Hon. Schuyler Crippin presiding, assisted by associates John S. Dyer and Noah H. Osborne. R. H. Duell, district attorney, assisted by Gen. Nye, appeared in behalf of the people, Horatio Ballard and Daniel Gott of Syracuse, as counsels for the prisoner. The charge of the judge was able, forcible and pointed, and the jury after an absence of forty minutes returned to the court with a verdict of "guilty of murder." O'Donohue was sentenced to death on August 3, 1853, and on September 2, only a month lacking a single day the sentence was duly carried into effect and O'Donohue breathed his last upon the scaffold, a year lacking one day after the time the murders had been committed.
This was Cortland county's first "necktie party." That the verdict was a just one and ably carried out the reader must admit to be a fact. Justice in those early days was a trifle tardy at times and Judge Lynch was perhaps too lenient to be popular with the taxpayers. This was in 1853. Not half a century later, another sits in the shadows and wonders as do many of our readers, if the times have changed for the better. Have they, reader?
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| Daniel S. Lamont. |
Daniel Lamont to Rule Northern Pacific.
Chicago, July 14.—Daniel Lamont, former secretary of war, will become president of the Northern Pacific railway early in August unless James J. Hill changes his plans within the next two weeks. Mr. Hill is vice-president of the company, with headquarters in New York. In tendering Mr. Lamont the presidency, Mr. Hill is said to be redeeming a promise made to Mr. Lamont in 1897, which he was then unable to keep.
When Mr. Lamont left the Cleveland cabinet it was with the promise of Mr. Hill, given some time before the Cleveland administration closed, that he should be made president of the Northern Pacific. At that time Mr. Hill expected he would be able to keep the promise. Mr. Hill's plans, to his and Mr. Lamont's great disappointment, were frustrated by the Mellen interests. To-day Mr. Hill is in control of the road, and he has forced the retirement of President Mellen.
That Mr. Mellen would leave the road was ascertained yesterday upon good authority. It was also stated the Northern Pacific slate had been made up and would go through without a hitch. It was further ascertained that Mr. Hill would have preferred to make his son Lewis Hill, head of the road, but that he finally decided to redeem his promise to Mr. Lamont.
CORTLAND'S ELECTRIC ROAD.
More Popular This Year Than It Ever Was Before.
Under the present management the electric street car lines of Cortland have made many innovations that are giving it a popularity never before enjoyed since the road was first built, and the result is apparent in the immense patronage which it is receiving. While the park line has in previous years been very liberally patronized by Cortland, Homer and McGrawville people, it must be confessed that there were but few attractions at the park, and visitors went more for the ride than for any anticipated amusements or entertainments.
This year Manager Duffey is giving the people something to see and to enjoy. Excellent moving pictures are displayed on certain evenings, a merry-go-round delights hundreds of children and grown people as well, bears, monkeys and other animals attract crowds.
Dances of a high order are frequently given, and altogether the Cortland park is an ideal spot for an afternoon or an evening outing.
Another feature that will commend itself to the public is the inauguration of a system of excursion rates from Cortland to Homer and to McGrawville which allows our people to take a delightful cool ride to either place for one-half the regular fare, provided the passenger returns on same car.
A special car may be chartered for a trip over the entire length of the road, a ride of about 20 miles, for $8, regardless of the number of passengers it carries. Nearly all the open cars seat forty people comfortably, but one carries fifty. A ride of this kind with a stop at the park occupies about four hours. Cars will call for the party anywhere within the city of Cortland and return it to the same place for this rate.
A special car from Cortland to McGrawville costs $5, the car waiting for the party at that end for any reasonable time. A special car for McGrawville to Cortland costs $6.50. The difference in the rate is caused by the fact that a special in this direction calls for two trips of the car, one over to get the party and the second to take it back again.
A car from Cortland to Homer costs $4, one for Homer to Cortland costs $5, the difference in rate being caused by the necessity for two trips in the latter case.
PAGE FOUR—BRIEF EDITORIALS.
Mr. Carnegie says that making money is a gift. He might have added that donating it is another.
Boer sympathizers want to go buccaneering before England gets on the seas with those 154 new warships.
Andrew Carnegie has offered $750,000 to San Francisco for a public library. Cortland is still waiting to hear from him.
Reports from the Philippines indicate that the work of pacification is still going on, but it is not yet completed.
Naval Constructor Hobson wants an appropriation of $25,000,000 a year for the next fifteen years for his department. Mr. Hobson must not suppose that life is all bread and cheese and kisses.
It is claimed that at Sterling, Ill., some eggs were hatched by the sun during the recent hot spell. If they had been in Cortland they would have been roasted before they could have been hatched.
Now just as the Chinese are finishing with the powers along comes an earthquake that kills three hundred of them. When you consider what the powers have done to the Chinaman and how the earthquakes afflict him and the fact that he has to eat rats, you can readily understand that it isn't any fun to be a Chinaman.
It doesn't require a fat pocket book in order to take in the Pan-American exposition. That is one of the best features of the big show. There are plenty of rooms to be had in well appointed private houses, in rather exclusive neighborhoods, at a dollar a day per individual, and the restaurant keepers of Buffalo are satisfied with a fair price for good food.
There is great commotion in the navy department at Washington as to who wrote Dewey the instructions to destroy the Spanish fleet at Manila. A dozen claim the honor. Why not settle it by giving the credit to Admiral Sampson? The navy department has given him everything in sight, and Sampson had about as much to do with the Manila victory as the Santiago triumph. Schley won that victory; Sampson gets the credit. Why not give him the honors belonging to Dewey now and be through with the whole business?
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| "Rough Rider" Theodore Roosevelt. |
The Machine Not For Roosevelt.
The interest that Illinois and other middle-western Republican states are manifesting in the cause of Theodore Roosevelt appears to be distasteful to some of the New York Republican statesmen. Recent dispatches from Washington quote Representative Sherman of Utica as saying: ''Governor Odell is making a splendid record, and the country will hear from him. New York will be for him for the Republican presidential nomination, and with a continuation of the record he is making he can go before the country with a practical certainty of winning. Governor Odell's administration is the talk of New York.''
Mr. Sherman a view of this matter is endorsed by former Representative James M. E. O'Grady of Rochester, who is thus quoted in the same dispatch: ''Governor Odell's popularity is not confined to the cities, but is general throughout the state. The farmers are talking of him for president with great earnestness."
The Washington correspondents say that considerable significance attaches to these utterances, in the opinion of the political observers at the national capital, and it must be admitted that they are significant, at least, of an intention to make it appear that the governor alone can hope for the New York's support for the presidential nomination in 1904, at the outset, at any rate. Of course New York's support is not absolutely essential to the nomination of a New Yorker, but it can hardly be dispensed with except in extraordinary circumstances. The fact that it is already allotted to Odell by two eminent Republicans in close touch with the state machine may be accepted as indicating that the Roosevelt proposition is not acceptable to the machine, and that efforts are to be directed toward putting it out of consideration.—Binghamton Leader.
CORONER SANTEE'S TRIBULATIONS.
Midnight Call to Investigate Fake Story of Murdered Girl.
Great men have their trials and tribulations just the same as people in more humble spheres, but in their cases there is a feeling of outraged official dignity that does not apply to ordinary mortals A case in point is that of Coroner E. M. Santee, who is suffering the pangs of mental torture because of a fake story sprung upon him Sunday night, at an hour when he prefers the quietude of his couch.
Whether it was a put-up job on the coroner is not known for a certainty, but somehow or other a report became circulated in Cortland and Homer late Sunday night that a young (and presumably beautiful) lady had been found on one of L. J. Fitzgerald's farms between Cortland and Homer, with her throat cut from ear to ear. Such a ghostly story could but help travel with the speed of the wind, and it soon became circulated pretty thoroughly. Very naturally such a tragedy must come under the argus eye of a coroner, and along about 12 o'clock Dr. Santee was rung up by telephone and informed of the report. Now the doctor is a hustler whenever official duties come his way, and it was not many seconds ere he was mounted on his wheel and on his way to the alleged scene of the tragedy.
Every farm owned by Mr. Fitzgerald was visited but no continuation of the story could be obtained, and the doctor decided that he was the victim of some wag.
It was certainly a cruel hoax and the coroner is justly indignant over the affair.
HERE AND THERE.
The custom of women going without hats is becoming very popular. The bareheaded woman, like the shirt waist man, has become an assured fact. She can be seen walking, driving, shopping, at the park, in the theater and in the church. And the fad, except from the milliner's point of view, is a sensible one. Women and men, as well, wear their hats too much. If they wore them less there would be less headache, and nervous disorders and far fewer bald heads.
The birth rate in Cortland has been above par the past week.
The Sunday schools are getting in their enjoyable picnics these days.
Samuel L. Proctor of 43 James-st. died Sunday last of blood poisoning.
Mrs. L. C. Kinney of Reynolds-ave. fell Tuesday afternoon and broke an arm.
Our "What You Want' column is proving a winner for those who patronize it.
The Traction company is reaping a benefit from the hot weather, trolley rides being very popular.
Said of Tuesday afternoon: The rain descended and the flood came and there was a deuce of a time at the corner of Railroad and Church-sts.
The Marathon Independent of this week states that Samuel Parsons, who has issued several directories of Cortland, died at Belle Isle last Wednesday.
The "Candy Kitchen'' is no more known in Cortland, "Grand Central Restaurant" being the new name designated by Barney & Co. for the dining rooms formerly conducted by Rood & Co.
Miss Grace Wallace will give a dancing party at the park this evening in honor of her friend and guest Miss Helen Straat of New York. McDermott's orchestra will furnish the music.
A game of ball will be played tomorrow afternoon between the A. O. H. team and the All Cortlands on Athletic field. There will be much fun, if no scientific playing. Game called at 3:30.
Thomas Fahey, a Lackawanna brakeman who is well known over the entire line from Syracuse to Binghamton, fell from the top of a milk car at Chenango Forks last Sunday and was seriously injured.
After flopping around several times the Standard finally admits that the Democrat was right last March when it stated that the Lackawanna company would build new passenger and freight depots in Cortland this season.
A meeting of the stockholders of the Cortland & Homer Electric company, of the Cortland County Traction company and of the Cortland Park Land company will be held tomorrow forenoon, all for the purpose of electing directors.
Mrs. Garry Chambers gave a delightful reception Wednesday afternoon from 3 to 6 o'clock at her home in Tompkins-st. The house was prettily decorated with maiden-hair ferns, and the verandah was enclosed with large flags, producing a pleasing effect.
The red tape attending the redeeming of unused revenue stamps will result in many people suffering the loss of a few stamps rather than go to all the trouble of long statements and affidavits. This will increase the government's revenue as was possibly intended.
It was a mighty lucky circumstance for Cortland that Al Goldsmith caught that little yellow dog, else it would have never been recognized as a city by the Standard. Did you notice how quickly that paper changed the word "village" to "city" after the last issue of the Democrat? Advertising in this paper certainly pays.
Birds must not be killed and their nests must not be destroyed or robbed. The game law fixes the maximum penalty at $60 and an additional penalty of $35 for each bird or part of a bird taken or possessed. The following birds are not protected by law and may be killed with impunity: English sparrow, hawk, crane, crow, raven, crow-blackbird, common blackbird, kingfisher.
Mr. Thomas J. McEvoy has just received his Master of Arts diploma from Amherst College. This degree was conferred upon him at the last commencement for the professional studies and experience since graduation in 1897, an examination on Evolution and Lower Phychology [sic], and the preparation of a special thesis on The Training of the Will in the Intermediate Grades: A Discussion of School Management.
An esteemed contemporary published, not many miles from the Cortland postoffice, in an article descriptive of the last Cincinnatus excursion, says that "some of the cars were singing almost continuously," and that on "Monday night the railroad will have another ride from Cortland." Cars singing and railroads riding are novels no where else known except on the Erie & Central New York road, which is proof that Manager Fredericks is up to date.
All early morning wedding occurred Wednesday, when Mr. Edward Adsit and Miss Mayme Buckley were united in marriage at St. Mary's church by Rev. J. J. McLoghlin.
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