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| USS MARCHIAS (PG-5). |
Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, April 24, 1902.
TWICE SURRENDERED.
Bocas Del Toro Recaptured by the Government.
AMERICAN OFFICER IN CHARGE.
On Notice of Bombardment by Government Vessel the Liberals Again Gave Up the Town—Left In Barges and Launches of United Fruit Company.
Colon, April 24.—Shortly after the arrival of the United States gunboat Machias at Bocas del Toro, April 14, the captain of the gunboat, Lieutenant Commander Henry McCrea, notified the Liberals located at Old Bank, a settlement on an island about two miles from Bocas, that the gasoline launches and the barges belonging to the United Fruit company must be returned to their owners within 36 hours. Before this specified time had elapsed and by means of the launches and barges in question, the Liberal forces at Old Bank affected a landing at Bocas. This occurred early in the morning of Thursday, April 17.
The liberals immediately attacked the entrenchments of the government troops and a stubborn fight ensued, which lasted all day. In the evening the government forces, finding they were outnumbered by the Liberals and that they had only five thousand rounds of ammunition left, decided to surrender. They handed the town of Bocas over to Lieutenant Commander McCrea who had it policed during Thursday night. He handed the town over to Colonel Buendia the following morning.
Previous reports as to the number of men killed in the Bocas engagement are exaggerated. It now appears that only 25 men were killed and 30 wounded on both sides. The government forces lost eight men killed.
Upon the arrival of the government gunboat General Pinzon off Bocas del Toro Saturday morning, notice was given that her commander intended to bombard the town at the expiration of 24 hours. It is reported that Lieutenant Commander McCrea endeavored to have this period prolonged to 90 hours but the government General Gomez, the military governor of Colon and in command of the Pinzon, declined to extend the specified time. As the liberal forces were without cannon and unable to hold Bocas, they finally agreed to surrender the town.
Under the terms of this surrender, thirty six hours were given the Liberals to retreat to Chiriquí Grande with the arms and ammunition they had brought with them, but they were not allowed to take what they had captured at Bocas.
The capitulation further set forth that the revolutionists must evacuate Chiriquí Grande 25 hours after arriving there. Prior to the expiration of 30 hours, in which the revolutionists were to evacuate Bocas, they left the town in the launches and barges belonging to the United Fruit company.
It is reported that when the government forces entered Bocas they found that money had been taken from the treasury building. It is further reported that property of the Chinese merchants at Bocas had been looted.
The [Columbian] government authorities are quite dissatisfied over the terms of the capitulation of Bocas.
The Pinzon has left Bocas for Chiriquí Grande to effect the evacuation of the revolutionists in that quarter. The Machias is still at Bocas. She is expected to return to Colon shortly.
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| General Jacob H. Smith. |
CAMPAIGN IN MINDANAO.
Baldwin Has Captured Sułtan's Fort. Deprecates Return to Malabang.
Manila, April 24.—The orders from Washington reconvening with the same members the court martial appointed to try General Jacob H. Smith (who was in command of the United States troops on the Island of Samar), on the charge of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline were well received locally.
A telegram from Lieutenant Colonel Frank D. Baldwin, who is operating against the Moros on the island of Mindanao, says he is being continually harassed by the enemy. He has captured Sultan Pualo's fort.
General James F. Wade, in command of the American forces in Cebu, telegraphs deprecating the return of Lieutenant Colonel Baldwin to Malabang. He thinks a prompt advance will soon settle the difficulty, with little or no bloodshed. The Moros, he points out, at present are not united, but they assuredly would be so if the Americans relinquished the ground they have now gained.
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| Judge Alton B. Parker. |
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| William H. Clark. |
THE CORTLAND CLAN
Holds Its Second Annual Reunion and Banquet in New York City.
MANY FORMER RESIDENTS WERE PRESENT.
Addresses by Judge Alton B. Parker, Franklin Pierce, Mrs. Mary Louise Eastman, Joshua C, Sanders, William H. Clark and Arthur J. Baldwin—Dr. David Eugene Smith the Toastmaster—Judge Edward B. Thomas the President for Next Year—Other Officers.
The second annual reunion and dinner of the Cortland county society of New York City was held at the rooms of the Aldine association, upon the twelfth floor of the Constable building, 111 Fifth-ave. in New York, on Tuesday of this week at 7 o'clock. The Cortland county people in the Metropolitan district who are known to the committee now number upwards of 200, and it is probable that there are still many more. The committee is trying to secure the names and addresses of all who are eligible to membership and hope to have as many as possible come to these reunions each year. The first reunion was held a year ago and proved to be so thoroughly enjoyable in every sense of the word that it was the unanimous sentiment that they be continued. This year there were 112 present and it is possible that at the third reunion there will be still more in attendance.
No place could have been better suited for such a gathering than that chosen for this year. The rooms are spacious and elegantly furnished, the dressing rooms ample, the diningroom was well arranged and the service was well nigh perfect.
The officers for this year were:
President—J. Maus Schermerhorn.
Secretary—Charles Oliver Dewey.
Treasurer—Seymour M. Ballard.
Executive Committee—James M. Milne, Algernon S. Norton, Charles H. Duell, L. D. Baldwin.
Introduction Committee—Dr. and Mrs. Charles W. Sanders, Mr. and Mrs. Seymour M. Ballard, Dr. and Mrs. Burt D. Harrington, Mr. and Mrs. Gage E. Tarbell, Mr. Henry Clark Johnson.
Renewing Old Friendships.
By 7 o'clock the members of the clan began to gather in the parlors and an hour or more was spent most enjoyably. Friends exchanged greetings who had not met in years; others had seen each other for the last time at the gathering a year ago. Many wondered why they did not meet more frequently. The secret of this is no doubt the great distance between different districts of the city. Dr. David Eugene Smith commenting upon this fact during the course of the evening said he had asked Arthur Baldwin why he did not come up and see him. "Why,'' Mr. Baldwin had replied, "it is further up to your house than it is up to Cortland." Many were surprised to learn that other friends were in the city and perhaps had been for years. Altogether it was a joyful occasion.
Shortly before 9 o'clock the invitation came to pass into the diningroom. With the exception of the head table which extended across one end of the room the other tables were all circular in form and accommodated from six to eight people at each.
The souvenir menu card was printed in green with a maple leaf upon the first page. Small cakes of maple sugar from Cortland county were upon the tables and were designed as souvenirs. They were all carried away when the company dispersed, but the manner of conveyance differed in different cases. Aside from the menu card there was at each place a printed list of the names of all the known Cortland county people in the city. This was an aid toward securing a complete list as all were requested to give to the secretary the names of any which did not appear there which might be known to the reader.
Menu and Toast List.
The menu and toast list were as follows:
Toastmaster, David Eugene Smith, Columbia University faculty.
The Music.
While the menu was being served a quintet of Hungarians in native and fantastic costume furnished the most delightful music, both instrumental and vocal. Their instruments were two mandolins, a banjo, a guitar, and a violin. Their instrumental selections included both classical and popular airs, while their vocal numbers were jolly, rollicking songs, some one taking a solo and the others joining in the chorus and all accompanying upon their instruments. Not a word could be understood, but there was no mistaking the general sentiment and the jollity was contagious, and they were encored again and again.
Officers for Next Year.
It was nearly 10 o'clock when Mr. J.Maus Schermerhorn, the president of the association, called the assemblage to order and called upon Hon. Charles M. Duell, as chairman of the nominating committee, to report on the officers for the next year. The committee reported as follows:
President—Judge Edward B. Thomas.
Vice-Presidents—Judge Alton B. Parker, Franklin Pierce.
Treasurer—Seymour M. Ballard.
Secretary—Dr. Charles O. Dewey.
Executive Committee—Dr. James W. Milne, Rev. John B. Calvert, D. D., A. S. Norton, L. D. Baldwin.
In making the nominations Mr. Duell referred to Mr. Ballard as a fitting man to handle the finances of the organization because every one trusts him and he trusts nobody.
Mr. Schermerhorn remarked that he thought that excellent nominations had been made and in the absence of any decided opposition to the candidates he should declare them all elected without even submitting the matter of vote. The approval of the company of this novel manner of election was indicated by hearty applause.
Mr. Schermerhorn then introduced Dr. David Eugene Smith as the toastmaster of the evening.
Dr. Smith was in his happiest mood and was exceedingly felicitous in introducing the various speakers. The proudest elective office in New York state, he said, is that of chief justice of the court of appeals, and it gave him great pleasure to introduce as the first speaker the honored guest of the evening, a Cortland county boy, the Hon. Alton B. Parker, chief justice of the court of appeals.
Judge Alton B. Parker.
Judge Parker's words were listened to with the keenest appreciation and deepest pleasure as he spoke of the old days in the county and of some of its former residents. He referred to Dr. Frederick Hyde as a physician whose reputation extended far beyond the boundaries of the county, and whose heart was as large and as kind as his skill as a practitioner was great. He told of his own boyhood days upon the farm 4 miles west of Cortland and of how a young man who lived a mile further west made strenuous efforts to go through college and had very little money to help himself along. He broke down under the strain and had to come home and during one of the most severe winters in his recollection this young man was seriously ill there. The family had no money, nothing to pay a doctor's bill, but for seven weeks through sunshine and storm, through drifts that sometimes filled the road, Dr. Hyde always once, sometimes twice a day drove out there to see that young man, though there was no prospect that a doctor's bill could ever be paid even in part. He remembered one morning after a particularly stormy night his father suggested that he go over to Neighbor Eggleston's and get Joe to come out with his ox team and join him with his own team in breaking the road out up the hill, for they knew that at some time before the sun went down that night Dr. Hyde would surely be trying to get up that hill to see his patient. The two boys went out with their ox teams, but little did the speaker think that morning as they were struggling through the drifts that the time would come when Joe would have broken the record by winning the nomination and election for a third term as county judge in the old county, but if he works as hard in the discharge of his duties in that office as he did that morning in the snowbanks he has surely earned the honor.
Judge Parker spoke of Col. Daniel S. Lamont as a Cortland county boy who had achieved distinction. Though he had not lived in the old county in years every resident of this county always claims him as its own. Beginning as the editor of The Democrat he has steadily advanced till he became the chief adviser of the president of the United States.
There is another Cortland county boy, Judge Edward B. Thomas of the United States court, Eastern district of New York, who is the author of two of the most valuable works on legal subjects to be found in any law library. He remembered him as a sunny faced boy coming home from college, always a favorite of every one with whom be came in contact.
There is a common belief that a holder of public office may die but that he never resigns, but the exception has been made. A son of Cortland county has recently resigned one of the most important and responsible appointive offices in the nation, and he had been trying this evening to find out why the Hon. Charles H. Duell resigned the office of United States commissioner of patents.
The speaker has not a single unpleasant recollection of Cortland. There may have been incidents that seemed unpleasant at the time, but the unpleasant phase of them has all softened and disappeared with years. Even that long coat that John Morris made several sizes too long for him, at the solicitation of his mother so that he might have room to grow in it, now seems pleasant, though that same coat, because of its fit or misfit, was the source of a fistic duel in the old graveyard back of the academy with Charlie Duell acting as umpire.
The speaker remembered the long steps of Constable Joe Bates as he came after him and others at one time for eating Mr. Carpenter's apples without proper authority, and those same steps seem pleasant now, though perhaps he had better not dwell too vividly upon the particular parts of that incident.
There is one sentiment that the speaker felt very confident that every former resident of Cortland county would approve of and he would suggest it in closing: "Be it ever so lowly there's no place like home—like Cortland county."
Franklin Pierce.
Franklin Pierce, Esq., was introduced as a former citizen of both Marathon and Homer, N. Y. Mr. Pierce said that to look over the company assembled one would imagine that Cortland county was all emigrating and that in a few years there wouldn't be any Cortland county. The speaker felt a little delicate about making any comparisons between the county and the city. He remembered that Mark Twain said once he didn't want to say much about either heaven or hell because he had friends in both places. Like Mark he had friends in both Cortland county and in New York City.
But the spirit of Cortland county is loyalty, simplicity and sincerity. You can get closer to people in the country than you ever can in the city. Did Frank Straat ever have any man in New York City come up behind him and slap him on the back and say "Hello, Frank, how are you, glad to see you." That is sincerity and you lack it in the city.
Up in the country there is a loyalty lacking in New York. The people up there even stood by us if we lost a case for them in court. The speaker remembered an Irish client he had up in the county who said to him as they came out of court after having lost their case, "Well, we got beat but you did give the other fellow a dam good basting." No client in New York would stand by you like that.
There is a directness and simplicity in the country not found here. It is said that a sign was once displayed at the gate of heaven, ''This door is not to be used for a week. Go around to the side door." The gate of Cortland county is Marathon. You don't have to go around by way of Taylor or Solon to get in. When Cal Hatheway used to try his cases in court in Cortland county, the first question asked of a juror was "Do you live in Solon?" and that question answered in the affirmative was plenty of reason why the other side didn't want him.
There are no such friendly relations down here as in the country. You don't know your neighbors. The life is too rapid. There is no time for any one to develop. The boy becomes a man while you wait. You don't run across such men down here as Peck Squires of Marathon or Tom Kennedy of Homer—men whom you grow better for meeting and knowing.
The men up the country don't need a pull and don't want one. All they need is a fair field and a fair chance. The men coming to prominence in the cities today are not city born or city bred, but they are the farmer lads, who care for nothing but a fair chance, and who are brought up to fight fair and to fight to win.
Mrs. Mary L. Eastman.
Mrs. Mary Louise Eastman of the Jamaica Normal school, for many years of the Cortland Normal school, was introduced with a reference to the "sweet county" and to "sweet women" as she was assigned her toast of "maple sugar." Mrs. Eastman referred to the remarks of the previous speaker concerning the warm friendships of the country and said that this too had its drawbacks, for it is in the country that everybody knows all about everybody's business, all about the family, what a person's salary is and how he spends it, what the ladies paid for their last spring hats and how often the men go to church. Buffalo Bill has just come to New York and he made hardly a ripple, but in the country everybody turns out to see him. The schools are closed so that the boys can attend the show, and incidentally the head of the house goes too to look after them.
Mrs. Eastman told a number of good stories, and concluded by saying that all her experiences in Cortland county had been sweet and all full of enjoyment.
Joshua C. Sanders.
Mr. Joshua C. Sanders of New York City, one of the oldest of the former residents of Homer, was present. No one who was there could be so well qualified as he to speak of the early patriarchs and of the olden days, and because his especial fitness was so thoroughly recognized he kindly consented on short notice to take the toast and most acceptably substituted for the one to whom it had been assigned. Mr. Sanders said he would like to go back to the cradle—not to his old cradle, but to the modern cradle with wheels. He would like to live life over after the most approved up-to-date fashion. He recalled the days of his boyhood and of the mode of living then. Nearly all the inhabitants of the county were farmers then except in Cortland and Homer. There were a few professional men in the two villages, such as Judge Woods and Judge Nelson. It was a farming country. The settlers nearly all came from New England. They were honest, hardy and sterling. We should be thankful for such ancestry.
The first thing to be done when a settlement was made was to arrange for school houses, for every household had a numerous family of children. They secured the ablest teachers to be found, but some of them would not compare favorably with the teachers of the present day. The speaker remarked that his teacher told him to skip fractions when he got to them because fractions didn't amount to much anyway.
Mr. Sanders attended the first Sunday-school taught in Cortland county. It was in a little schoolhouse near where the county house now stands. Miss Brown was the teacher. The people opposed the idea first. They couldn't think of school on Sunday in a schoolhouse, but when they found that only the Bible was being taught they withdrew their opposition. The speaker was given a card which was said to be good for one mill in cash for coming to Sunday-school, when he got ten of them he could have exchanged them for a cent, but he never got the ten. The first church in the county was also briefly referred to.
The farm is an excellent place to bring up boys and colts, said the speaker, and he had heard that they sometimes raised calves there too. Boys and colts often need the same kind of training.
A reference was made to the classical names of Cortland county and the statement was made that while other states have Homers, there is but one Virgil.
There are many beautiful women in Cortland, and it is also an excellent place for ladies from away to go to get good husbands. The minister said in the hearing of his daughter, "It's the business of my life to save young men," and the daughter responded, "O pa, save me a nice one."
A number of reminiscences were given in regard to the speaker's own connection with the different towns, and his words were of interest to all.
William H. Clark.
Mr. William H. Clark of the Cortland Standard responded to the toast "The Present of Cortland." Mr. Clark referring to Cortland quoted the words of the only living ex-president of the United States, "the land remains stable." He said there is probably less water and less trout in this vicinity now than in the days to which Judge Parker had referred. Then there were but six trout to one fisherman. Now there are six fishermen to one trout. The climate of Cortland is the same as in former days. There is as much of it to the acre as ever, and little prospect of its diminishing. After a lucid interval of a few years, the forecasters last fall said that the coming winter would surpass the recollections of the oldest inhabitants, and they were right. The winter had been much like the Minnesota year described as "nine months of winter and three months blamed late in the fall."
The maple sugar of the county was present to be sampled, and there was no doubt of its genuineness. The county had had the largest run of sap and had made the greatest amount of sugar in years.
All present had been sharing in the pride of being born in Cortland county, though some might not have had that rare privilege. It is said that if one be born in Boston it is not necessary to be born again. The Cortland county emigrants nearly all have that same idea, with the locality changed. This gathering is one to warm the hearts of all former residents of the old county. It melts away all the city coldness. Many may find the city a satisfactory substitute for the country but all may not find substitutes as satisfactory as did the spinster who said she had a parrot, a monkey and a cat—the parrot to swear, the monkey to chew tobacco and the cat to stay out all night. What did she want of a husband? Mr. Clark closed with a quotation from Whittier expressing the love of the country hills.
Arthur J. Baldwin.
Mr. Arthur J. Baldwin was the last speaker. He told of the coming of his ancestors to the old county and of their settling near the Gracie swamp. He told also of how nearly it came about that his father's family should have moved away down into Virginia and he wouldn't have been born in Cortland county after all; but he sympathized with the man who dissuaded his father from going by the remark, ''I'd rather have an acre of blue sky in old Cortland than the whole state of Virginia." A reference was made to Judge Parker as the Cortland county boy who was perhaps destined to become the standard bearer of his party in state and nation to lead it to victory.
John D. Rockefeller was born just over the line out of Cortland county and had achieved great success in the financial world. If he had done so much outside of Cortland county what could he not have done if he had chanced to have been born across the line in Virgil? The story was related of an incident famous in the town of Harford of a lawsuit in which Franklin Pierce who had just spoken had been an attorney. The case had been tried again and again and the juries all disagreed. Finally they secured one supposedly fair minded citizen and agreed to leave it all to him. The evidence was presented to him in due legal form and the lawyers summed up. The jury of one retired and of course had supper the first thing. Then he went into a bedroom to deliberate and locked the door. They heard him sleeping soundly all night. Next morning he ate a hearty breakfast and announced that he was ready for court. Both sides were anxiously waiting. The verdict was called for and the one juror reported that the jury had disagreed. The case was never tried again.
Mr. Baldwin then told of picking stones from the farm down in Lime Hollow. He said all who had ever been through Lime Hollow would appreciate the point. On his father's farm every meadow had to be plowed up once in three years. They began by picking stones. They plowed and then picked stones. They dragged and picked the field over again. They sowed and rolled and after the hay crop was out and the horse rake had been over it they picked stones each year. Last year he came up to Cortland to visit his father. They drove down to the old farm and there they saw a man and a boy picking stones. His prophesy for that section of Cortland county would be that if one could look in on that farm a hundred years from now he would still find some one picking stones.
But Mr. Baldwin drew from this idea of unceasing work a thought that country life gives persistence and perseverance that helps a man all his days. There is something that finds no compensation from any other source. The proof of this is the prominence of country bred boys in every advance of life.
Preserve the Landmarks.
Dr. Smith spoke of the old landmarks that are to be found in this county and wished there might be a way of preserving them. When the present generation is gone if the landmarks are not already fixed they will be gone forever. There is a society in Cortland, the Daughters of the American Revolution, which would like to preserve these. Similar societies in New England are doing this work. If a half dozen men present would like to drop in $26 each to provide markers and to help carry the work along he would gladly put in that sum, and he named Mr. Ballard as a possible treasurer for the fund.
The letters of regrets and the list of those present will be published tomorrow.
FARMERS WANT TELEPHONES.
Many on the Scott Road to Put Them in Soon.
The Home Telephone company is putting in two more circuits of wire on the Scott road, one of which is to be extended as far as the village of Scott. This is one of the most popular of the farmers' lines of telephones connected with the Cortland exchange. It is said that at least half of the farmers on that road will have telephones when the two new circuits are completed.
THE A. M. E. ZION MISSION
Receives Help for Maintenance from Various Sources.
Rev. Dr. David Keppel's lecture upon "Uncle Sam's Home Farm," given in the First Baptist church last evening for the benefit of the A. M. E. Zion mission, was very well attended and held the undivided attention of the audience. The lecture was not only pleasing in a sense of entertaining, but was instructive as well. The Baptist choir and the Excelsior male quartet furnished excellent music. The receipts were $13.98.
The mission feels very grateful to the lecturer for his kindness to it in delivering the splendid lecture for the mission's benefit, to the trustees of the First Baptist church for the use of the church, [and] to the choir and quartet for their excellent music and to Mr. B. L. Bentley for his services at the organ.
This morning the mission received a donation of $5 from the Presbyterian church through Mr. H. F. Benton, clerk of the session, for which the A. M. E. society is also very grateful. In fact the mission is, in the words of the pastor Rev. Mr. Davis, "most thankful to all who have helped them in any way."
BREVITIES.
—A regular meeting of the L. O. T. M. will be held this evening at 7:30 o'clock at Vesta lodge rooms.
—New display advertisements today are—Baker & Angell, Shoes, page 7: Sig Sautelle, Santelle's circus, page 8.
—Cortlandville lodge, No. 470, F. & A. M., will leave on a special car this evening at 7 o'clock to visit Homer lodge.
—A regular cottage prayer meeting will be held at 7:30 o'clock Friday evening at the home of Mr. Dewitt Haskins, 99 Main-st., Martin block.
—Cortland commandery, No. 50, Knights Templar, will confer the order of Red Cross at their regular conclave Friday evening at 8 o'clock.
—A regular meeting of Canton Cortland, No. 27, at 8 o'clock tonight. The P. M. degree will be conferred on several candidates. A full attendance is desired.
—Many items of local news are left over today to make room for the account of the reunion of the Cortland County Society of New York which was held on Tuesday night.
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