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| Life Magazine cover May 22, 1902. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, May 9, 1902.
HEARING ON WATER CURE.
More Witnesses to the Torture Before Senate Committee.
Washington, May 9.—Sergeant Dube said that while doing duty at Jaro, in the island of Panay, he conveyed a native apparently of wealth and education, to the house of Lieutenant Conger, Eighteenth infantry, where the lieutenant, Major Glenn and three privates of the Eighteenth infantry administered the "water cure" apparently without any cause. The witness described the burning of houses during a march across Panay and told of their native guide cutting off the head of a Filipino with a bolo, before the troops could get him to surrender.
Sergeant Manning said that the first time he saw the "water cure" administered was at Leon, island of Panay. He said some of the Filipinos were supposed to have knowledge of the murder of Private O'Hearn, and Captain Gregg ordered witness and the men under him to apply the water cure to them. Captain Gregg instructed him to be careful not to "abuse" the prisoners. The witness then described the cure and said some times it would take a good deal of water to make the victim talk and some times only a little.
He was closely pressed by Senators Culberson and Rawlins for information tending to show that it was the general understanding in the army that the water cure was to be applied wherever information was sought to be secured, but the witness declared that no such rule obtained in his company.
Bret Harte.
Bret Harte's Funeral.
London, May 9.—The body of Bret Harte was buried at Frimley (Surrey) Thursday in the presence of his widow, son, daughter and a few friends. Many beautiful wreaths were placed upon his coffin. Bret Harte left sufficient literary material for the publication of a new volume of condensed novels.
John Hay.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
The Panama Canal Treaty.
A most important step has been taken toward the solution of the Isthmian canal problem by the signing of a treaty by Secretary Hay and the Colombian minister for a perpetual lease of the strip of land through which the Panama canal is located. By this treaty the sudden deadlock in the negotiations, which was produced by the declaration of the Colombian government that it would have to be consulted before the selling of the Panama Canal company's property was consummated, is removed, and the company is granted, unreservedly, the power to dispose of its entire right, title and interest to the United States, while all the questions relating to land franchises, revenues, rentals, etc., are satisfactorily settled.
A strip of land six miles in width is to be perpetually leased to the United States, the lease to run by hundred-year periods and to be renewable at the option of the United States. By this treaty, the terminal cities Panama and Colon, the waters of the terminal harbors, and the islands adjacent, are brought under the control of the United States government. While no definite price is fixed by Colombia for these concessions, on the ratification of the treaty the United States is to pay to Colombia the sum of $7,000,000, in exchange for which Colombia foregoes all revenues from rental from every other source connected with the canal for a period of fourteen years from the date of the final ratification. Meanwhile the terms of the rental are to be agreed upon. This may be either a lump sum paid in cash to an annual stipend to be paid for the remaining eighty-six years of the lease.
Should the two governments disagree as to the terms of the rental, the question is to be decided by a tribunal of five members, two named by the United States, two by Colombia, and the fifth to be the presiding member of the Hague International Arbitration court, or the president of one of the republics not allied to either party. This important document is not, as has generally been supposed, a mere protocol, but it is a full treaty, and as such will probably be sent to the senate by the president immediately upon the passage of an act authorizing the construction of the canal.—Scientific American.
BIG DEAL IN REAL ESTATE.
New Brick Block to Replace Old Wickwire Building.
Messrs. A. J. Goddard of Cortland and W. S. Goddard of New York have negotiated with Wickwire Brothers for the purchase of the old block and site on the north side of Railroad-st. and the deed of the property will be transferred in a few days. The lot to be transferred has a frontage of 108 feet and is 110 feet deep. The buyers have also the privilege of a few more feet frontage if it is needed by them.
The plans of Mr. Goddard and his brother, who is a lumber dealer in New York, are to tear down the old building that is now on the site and to build thereon a fine three story building. The lower floor will be used for stores, the second floor will be either fitted up for flats or possibly arranged for offices, while the third will be made into two large halls for clubrooms or other purposes.
The old building is a wood frame one and has been built many years. It is the starting place of the Wickwire wire cloth factory. It is now occupied by S. J. Parmiter's repair shop; the Idle Hour billiard parlor; L. R. Lewis, manufacturer of milk coolers and feed cookers; F. S. Bliven, bicycle store; W. H. Morgan, harness store and the branch office of the Post-Standard.
Mr. Goddard stated this morning that he did not know as yet whether they would begin building this summer or wait until next season. He expects his brother here from New York next week, and after he gets here the matter will be decided. The consideration will be about $11,000.
REGATTA AT ITHACA, N. Y.
Syracuse in the Race Will Add Interest to the Event.
With the announcement of the Cornell navy management that Syracuse university will have a crew in the big Cornell-Harvard boat race on Cayuga lake on Memorial Day, interest in the contest is trebled. It is the debut of the boys of the Saline City on Cornell waters and they promise to make the struggle interesting for Ithacans. Every man in Syracuse who did not row at Poughkeepsie last June is eligible to row in the race, and as five new men have displaced men who rowed in the Syracuse varsity crew last summer it looks as though the Central City boys would put in a strong bid for first place at the finish line. Cornell alumni living within a radius of fifty miles of Syracuse plan to run a special train from Syracuse to Ithaca while at least 5,000 undergraduates and citizens of the Salt City will journey to the blue waters of Cayuga to see one of the greatest rowing contests of the year.
FOUNTAIN PENS.
Cortland Supply Co. Receives Notice from Washington.
HEARING SET DOWN FOR MAY 12.
To Show Why Mail Should Be Further Delivered—Assistant Attorney General Puts the Auburn and Wilkesbarre Companies Out of Business.
Postmaster Brown this morning received a notification from Washington to continue to hold the mail of the Cortland Supply Co. and received also a letter from the company which he was requested to have delivered. He delivered it in person. The letter was a notification that on Monday, May 12, at 10 a. m. at Washington a hearing would be given at which time the Supply company would have the opportunity of showing that it conducted a legitimate business and of explaining why its mail should be delivered to it and should no longer be withheld.
A Standard man called upon Mr. F. E. Reynolds of the Cortland Supply Co. and inquired if he would go to Washington for the hearing. Mr. Reynolds replied that he should not go, but would make his answer by letter or should have his attorney answer for him by letter.
The Auburn and Wilkesbarre companies have already received their answers to their requests to continue in the fountain pen business and the requests are denied. The Auburn Bulletin of May 8 says:
The fountain pen scheme as evolved from the endless chain idea, which bade fair to enrich the few and which seemed to hold out alluring inducements to the many, has been about played out, the United States government having set the seal of its disapproval upon the method of doing business by denying the use of the mails to persons engaged therein. Thousands of Auburnians and residents of this vicinity are interested in the decision because Auburn was one of the centers of this kind of trade and because some people worked for concerns to their own pecuniary profit, while others worked and did not earn much.
The scheme is familiar to the general public and during the brief operation of it the business in the postoffices of Wilkesbarre, this city and other places, increased at a ratio that threatened to put the clerks out of business. As was to have been expected, the postoffice department heard of the scheme because of the complaints of dissatisfied people and sent inspectors here and to Wilkesbarre to look into the methods of the pen concerns and report.
Visit of Inspectors.
The inspectors found no trouble here in securing from the various concerns the full details of their business, it being explained to them in its entirety.
They made no comment but reported back to Washington. The next development was an order from the postoffice department to Postmaster Clark to hold all mail addressed to Hull & Talladay pending an investigation. This was quickly followed by a similar order concerning the mail of the Auburn Pen company (H. M. Cameron). The postmaster at Wilkesbarre received at the same time a similar order to hold the mail of Van Kirk & Robins, the first of the concerns to do business in this city.
Hearing at Washington.
John W. Talladay of Hull & Talladay, accompanied by his attorney George W. Nellis hustled off to Washington to convince the postal authorities that the pen business was entirely legitimate. The best he could get, however, was a hearing in the case of his own concern and all other concerns affected, which was set for Thursday last, May 1. Mr. Talladay and his lawyer were on hand as were the Wilkesbarre people and their lawyers. In the meantime mail for the concerns had accumulated at an alarming rate in the Auburn and Wilkesbarre offices because of the order to hold it.
An Impossible Proposition.
Yesterday, upon the report of Assistant Attorney General Tyner, who has charge of the legal business of the postoffice department, the postoffice department issued an order denying the use of the mails to Van Kirk & Robbins, the Wilkesbarre concern which was in business just nine weeks and which during that time, the postal authorities declared, has been engaged in operating the most extensive endless chain scheme that has ever been brought to the attention of the department. The company promised for a consideration of $2.50 and the writing of 120 letters, to give a fountain pen and $8 to all patrons complying with the conditions. This Assistant Attorney General Tyner says, is an impossible proposition, inasmuch as the letters all hold out similar promises and if returns are received from all of them it simply means more and more promises, increasing with the ratio of the growth of the chain.
During the nine weeks the scheme was in operation the Wilkesbarre promoters delivered 19,000 pens. The period of operation was too short to show the ultimate proportions the scheme would eventually have attained, but it is estimated that during the nine weeks the company received about $50,000 in cash and made promises to pay an amount aggregating $154,000. If the scheme had been honest, Mr. Tyner says, the loss to the company on the nine weeks alone would have been $104,000.
Van Kirk & Robins started their scheme Feb. 1. They had absolutely no capital and obtained desk room in a Wilkesbarre office building through the kindness of a friend. A month later their offices occupied two floors of the biggest office building in the town and they employed fifty clerks to answer their large and ever increasing correspondence.
Postoffice Swamped.
Had they been left to continue their scheme unmolested, a large force of additional clerks would have been necessary in the Wilkesbarre postoffice and when the scheme was denied the use of the mails pending a hearing before the department, 500 letters were being received every hour for the Van Kirk firm. The postoffice was absolutely swamped with the volume of mail. Had yesterday's order not been issued, Van Kirk & Robins would have been millionaires inside of a year, the authorities declare. This latter declaration is fully in accord with what Mr. Talladay said when his firm's mail was stopped.
The schemes of Hull & Talladay and the Auburn Pen company did not differ materially from, if they were not identical with, the plan of the Wilkesbarre concern.
Hull & Talladay did the largest business of any of the concerns established here and its period of existence was almost as long as that of the Wilkesbarre firm. It is said upon pretty good authority that Hull & Talladay made money—how much is not stated—but there is no question that if the business had been allowed to continue they would have made a snug sum.
The Auburn Pen company practically quit when the order to hold the mail was issued and its retirement from business will be easy.
Some smaller concerns than those mentioned quit before complaint was made against them.
It is understood that this order of the postoffice department is to be made to apply to all schemes in which the endless chain idea is used.
In the vault of the local postoffice are over 50,000 and perhaps as many as 60,000 letters and postals for Hull & Talladay and the Auburn Pen company which have been gathered at the office since the order was received to hold up the mail of these two concerns. For Hull & Talladay alone there are fully 30,000 postals and from 12,000 to 15,000 letters while the balance belongs to the Auburn Pen company.
KNOWN IN CORTLAND.
Was Formerly a Military Man in City of Binghamton.
Binghamton, May 9.—Charles M. Durkee, whose death occurred in this city Sunday and whose funeral was held Wednesday was well known in Cortland, especially among the members of Cortland's former military company. Captain Durkee had command of the Twentieth Separate company of this city shortly after the organization of the Cortland company and made several official trips to that city. Later when connected with the firm of Fancher & Durkee and afterward while representing a crockery firm on the road he made Cortland a stopping place and won for himself the high regards of Cortland's merchants.
FORMER VIRGIL MAN
Now Conducting a Great Sanitarium at Stamford, Ct.
Dr. Amos J. Givens of Stamford, Ct., a former resident of the town of Virgil and a member of the Cortland county society of New York, and a regular attendant upon its reunions, is conducting a large sanitarium at Stamford for the treatment of mental and nervous diseases and for narcotic and alcoholic habitués. The grounds occupy 30 acres of land close to the shore of Long Island Sound. The sanitarium includes a main building and five cottages. A recent number of the New York Observer devotes a whole page to the sanitarium, both as to reading matter and illustrations.
Postcard showing south end of Little York Lake.
Restocking Little York Lake.
Mr. James A. Wood is putting into Little York lake 20,000 pike and perch fry from the state hatcheries. This is the first time the state has ever restocked that lake.
A Day for Furs and Mittens.
"It seems to me that we have had a very short summer," remarked Cabman Ike Finn, as he looked out of the Messenger House window this morning at the snow as it came tumbling to the pavement. Nevertheless he pulled on his big winter overcoat and thick mittens and braved the chilling atmosphere of the young winter.
BREVITIES.
—Chenango county's new jail is to cost $26,800, and the contract for building it has been let for that sum to A. B. Carman of Binghamton.
—Mowing a lawn in a snow storm is quite an unusual sight, but it was seen on Tompkins-st this morning during the high wind, light rain, and fine snow.
—The regular meeting of the Tioughnioga chapter of the D. A. R., which was to have been held at the home of Mrs. G. H. Smith Monday, May 12, will be held at the home of Mrs. J. D. Sherwood, 30 North Church-st. instead.
—New display advertisements today are—Gas Light Co., Gas ranges, page 7; C. F. Thompson, Strawberries, page 5: E. M. Mansur, Strawberries, page 2; New York store, Specials, page 2; Simmons, Clothing, page 2.
—There was a joint meeting of the Home and Foreign Missionary societies of the First M. E. church Wednesday evening at the home of Mrs. Charles T. Peck, 18 Greenbush-st. After the business session Mrs. Peck invited the ladies into the diningroom where fine refreshments were served.
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